they started; the guide (who was a real Indian) walking barefoot
before, Mr. Adams, Mr. Grigsby and Charley riding in single file after,
the two pack bullocks plodding behind, and another Indian, to drive
them, trudging at the rear of all.

The narrow trail led first through a large tract of sugar-cane growing
much higher than one's head, and forming a thick, rustling green wall
on either side. As the little cavalcade proceeded, the Indian guide,
who wore a peaked plaited straw hat called jipijapa, a pair of white
cotton pantaloons, and a heavy-bladed knife--a machete--hanging at his
waist, with his machete occasionally slashed off a cane, to suck.

Suddenly the trail left the cane, and plunged into the jungle; and for
most of this day the party did not see the sun again. Here the guide
did a queer thing: he halted a moment, took off his pantaloons and hung
them about his neck. Evidently this was the sign that the plantation
and town had been left behind!

The horses' hoofs clattered and slipped; and looking down, Charley saw
that he was riding over a rude pavement, made by flat stones embedded
in the soft soil. This, then, was the ancient Royal Road--the Treasure
Trail from Panama! The stones were tilted and sunken and covered with
mud; a thicket of plants and brush crowded either edge, and gigantic
trees, enveloped with flowering vines, towered over, forming an emerald
archway through which a few faint sunbeams filtered to fleck the way.
Monkeys swung from branch to branch, and jabbered and gathered
cocoanuts and other fruit; gayly colored parrots flew screaming, or
hung upside down and screamed. The whole dense forest was alive with
strange animals and strange cries. Charley's eyes and ears were
constantly on the alert. He was having a great experience.

Ever the old road led on. In places it disappeared, swallowed by mud
and vegetation. There were numerous holes, where the stones had sunk
or been displaced; and picking their way the tough little horses and
the panting bullocks floundered to their knees. The trail seemed to be
climbing; it also was growing rougher. It crossed dank, dark ravines;
skirted their sides; and wound along the rim of precipices so deep that
the sight made Charley dizzy.

Toward noon the customary daily thunderstorm descended. So they halted
under a spreading plantain tree, whose leaves, broader even than banana
leaves, really were very good umbrellas. Here they ate their l