yself thus on landing, at
the urgent advice of a friend, though my good cudgel--which has sufficed
for all my needs hitherto--is more to my mind, besides being useful as a
mountain staff. But why do you ask? Is there much probability of the
belligerents coming so far among the hills?"

"Wherever carrion is to be found, there you may be sure the vultures
will congregate. There is booty to be got here among the hills; and
whether the soldiers belong to the well-trained battalions of Chili, or
the wretched levies of Peru, they are always prepared, for plunder--
ready to make hay while the sun shines. I only hope, Senhor Armstrong,
that--but come, let us advance and see before the sun sets."

Turning abruptly as he spoke, the man mounted his mule and rode briskly
up the winding road, followed by the Indian girl and our Englishman.

At the second turning of the road they reached a spot where an opening
in the hills revealed the level country below, stretching away into
illimitable distance.

As had been anticipated, they here came upon the mills they were in
quest of. The Peruvian reined up abruptly and looked back.

"I feared as much," he said in a low tone as the Englishman rode
forward.

Rendered anxious by the man's manner, Lawrence Armstrong sprang from his
mule and pushed forward, but suddenly stopped and stood with clasped
hands and a gaze of agony.

For there stood the ruins of his early home--where his mother had died
while he was yet a child, where his father had made a fortune, which, in
his desolation, he had failed to enjoy, and where he finally died,
leaving his possessions to his only child.

The troops had visited the spot, fired no doubt with patriotic fervour
and knowing its owner to be wealthy. They had sacked the place, feasted
on the provisions, drunk the wines, smashed up, by way of pleasantry,
all the valuables that were too heavy to carry away, and, finally,
setting fire to the place, had marched off to other fields of "glory."

It was a tremendous blow to poor Lawrence, coming as he did fresh from
college in a peaceful land, and full of the reminiscences of childhood.

Sitting down on a broken wall, he bowed his head and wept bitterly--
though silently--while the Peruvian, quietly retiring with the Indian
girl, left him alone.

The first paroxysm of grief over, young Armstrong rose, and began sadly
to wander about the ruins. It had been an extensive structure, fitted
with all the