Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

ANIWEE;

OR,

THE WARRIOR QUEEN.

ANIWEE LEADING THE CHARGE (p. [270]).

ANIWEE;
OR,
THE WARRIOR QUEEN.
A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.

BY

LADY FLORENCE DIXIE,

AUTHOR OF

“REDEEMED IN BLOOD,” “GLORIANA; OR, THE REVOLUTION OF 1900,” “THE YOUNG CASTAWAYS,” ETC., ETC.

LONDON:

HENRY AND COMPANY,

BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.

1890.

Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.

Dedication.

TO

THE MEMORY OF

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

PRINCE LEOPOLD, DUKE OF ALBANY,

THIS VOLUME

Is respectfully Dedicated,

BY THE GRACIOUS PERMISSION OF

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE DUCHESS OF ALBANY.

God gave thee life,—a life of noble aims,

Brief, yet inspired by loftiness of thought,—

Thought, the great offspring of a mighty pow’r,

Which thou didst wield to lead thy fellow-men

Along great duty’s hard and ruggèd path.

Thine was a bright example. High aloft

Thy virtues flash’d their pure inspiring rays,

Piercing the murky clouds of human sin,

And lighting up the realm where goodness dwells.

To know thee was to love thee. Thine the pow’r

To weave thy spell around the hearts of men.

A noble life is wondrous, beautiful.

And such was thine, brief—yea, alas! too brief,—

Yet not one mis-spent hour could claim of thee

Its stern account, as o’er the bound’ry line,

Across the frontier, ’twixt life and death,

With fearless step thou sought’st the better land.

They call thee dead! Nay, surely ’tis not Death

To pass from one world to another realm?

’Tis but a pilgrimage, a heavenly tour

Throughout the vast creation of our God.

Nay, dead thou art not, for thy spirit lives,

And its pure influence will never die.

Hist’ry will bid the rising youth behold

A bright example and a stainless life.

If, then, to others ’tis a beacon light,

A model for the Imitator’s art,

Ah! surely, brief as was thy sojourn here,

Thou hast not dwelt amongst us all in vain.

F. D.

INTRODUCTION.

I was once a child myself, and dearly loved those books of adventure which told of strange lands and strange people I had never seen. Yet, when I read about the North American Indians and their wild ways, I would often wonder why there were so few books which told us about the Indians of South America and the beautiful countries contained therein; and I determined some day to visit those lands if I lived, and tell the generation of girls and boys following me all about them. Well, my young friends, I have told you a good deal in “The Young Castaways,” and now I am going to tell you still more in the following pages. I am going to tell you about a splendid unexplored country, and several adventures that happened therein, and I hope some day that some of you will go and see those countries, and penetrate even further into their mysteries, than did the girls and boys who figure in this book. Those amongst you who have read “The Young Castaways” will renew acquaintance with old friends, which, no doubt, will give you pleasure.

I remain, my dear girls and boys,

Your sincere friend,

THE AUTHORESS.

CONTENTS.

ANIWEE;

OR,

THE WARRIOR QUEEN.

A TALE OF THE ARAUCANIAN INDIANS AND THE MYTHICAL TRAUCO PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

Day was drawing to a close. The setting sun was glinting and gleaming on the sparkling mica rocks, which border the deep gorges and high cliffs of the gradually rising ground that leads upwards from the plains of Geylum in Patagonia, to Las Manzanas in the territory of the Araucanian or Warrior Indians. High above the mica rocks rise the hills that skirt the Andes chain, and from the summit of these hills, the scene is one of magnificence and glory.

So thought Aniwee, the youthful Warrior Queen, as she sat astride her horse, and watched the sunlight streaking the Rio Limay far below, and bathing in rose-coloured brilliance the snow-clad Cordilleras, which look down on the wooded ranges of hills beneath them, and which contain the splendid apple groves belonging to the great Manzaneros tribe.

When we last saw Aniwee she had just bidden Harry and Topsie Vane a tender and pathetic farewell. Those who have perused the pages of “The Young Castaways,” will remember that she was the only child and daughter of Gilwinikush, head Cacique of the Tehuelches or Patagonian Indians, and that at the age of fourteen and a half she had married Piñone, the only son of the great Cuastral, Lord of the Araucanian, Manzaneros, Chenna, or Warrior Indians. They will also remember how Aniwee had distinguished herself, how she had won the proud titles of Huntress and Warrior, and how at length she had become one of the Warrior tribe herself.

But Aniwee’s spell of wedded life was brief. Scarce a year and a half had passed away, when news was brought to her that Cuastral and Piñone had been treacherously slain by a party of Argentines who had lured them to attend an ostensible peace parliament, the Araucanians and Argentines—or, as these latter were better known to the Indians, the Cristianos—having previously been at war with one another.

Thus at the age of sixteen Aniwee had found herself deprived of her dearly loved husband, and the mother of a little baby girl, his child and hers. And so impressed were the Araucanians with their young Queen’s sagacity, courage, and devotion to their interests, that they had, without a dissentient voice, elected the child to be Cacique over them, and appointed Aniwee, its mother, as Queen-Regent.

Surely this was a triumph for Aniwee. Barely over the age of sixteen, and yet indeed a Warrior Queen—Queen of a mighty tribe, famed far and wide for its valour and its deeds of daring and renown.

Yet was Aniwee equal to the occasion. Had she not Cuastral’s death and her own Piñone’s death to avenge? Was not her beautiful adopted country hemmed in on all sides by foes—Chilenos on the one hand, Argentines on the other—and should she not fight to the very death in its defence? It was a country well worth fighting for, extending from Las Manzanas on the south to Mendoza far away in the north, and peopled by hundreds of the great Warrior tribe, dwelling in fixed tolderias, many amidst the rich groves of piñones, apples, and araucarias with which the country abounded. Considerable wealth had fallen to her share when the Caciques’ deaths were announced, all of which she purposed holding for her child. Large flocks and herds, stores of silver ornaments, immense troupiglias of horses, and numberless ponchos, mantles, etc., were stored away amongst her subjects and in their safe keeping. Her power was absolute, her word law, her army efficient and devoted. Little had Aniwee dreamt, only three years previously, when she chafed and fretted at her seemingly useless life in the Patagonian toldos of her father Gilwinikush, that in so short a time would she wield power over so magnificent a people as the Araucanians.

She had ridden almost to the boundary line of Araucanian territory for the fifth time that day, and had anxiously scanned the distant pampas of Patagonia with the true, unerring eye of an Indian. The reason for this was that ten days previously Aniwee had received joyous news, news which had brought the blood rushing to her cheeks with glad surprise, news in the shape of a letter from Harry and Topsie Vane, her dearly loved white friends, in which they apprised her of their intention to proceed at once to visit her, in the company of their uncle and aunt, Sir Francis and Lady Vane, and their three cousins, Freddy, Willie, and Mary.

On receiving this news, Aniwee was hunting away in the distant hills which fringe the Cordillera range beyond Las Manzanas, but immediately calling together her followers, she bade them summon from different parts three hundred picked warriors, and likewise gave orders to others to proceed at once to Las Manzanas, and prepare there the fixed tolderias for the reception of her white guests. Then Aniwee selected fifty of her best horses, a fine herd of cattle, and a flock of sheep, and sent them forward to the rendezvous, following herself with the little baby Cacique, and attended by the three hundred picked warriors, who had assembled quickly at her summons.

The letter from Harry and Topsie had been written from El Carmen or Patagones on the Rio Negro, and Aniwee had calculated, that if they started at once, they would reach Las Manzanas in ten days. She had sent forward a small escort preceded by a Chasqui, and then settled down to await their coming.

But when the day came for which she had timed their arrival, Aniwee grew feverish with excitement. All the morning and afternoon she had watched for her friends, but there were no signs of their coming. Then, as the sun sunk low over the distant prairies and lit to radiance the snowy Andes far away in the background, the youthful Queen aroused herself from the reverie into which she had fallen, and gave one last glance ahead. At once her dark eyes lit up with eagerness and expectation, a happy smile parted her lips, a low, glad cry escaped them as she stood straight up in her stirrups and waved a silken handkerchief around her head. The next moment she unslung from off her shoulders a neat Winchester repeater, and through the still evening air in quick succession rung the sharp reports of the rifle. A pre-arranged signal, evidently; for no sooner did these reports ring forth, than far down in a valley beneath, a succession of bright fires began to shoot up, a Union Jack flag floated from a high pole, and dusky forms came and went amid the lurid glare.

Just a faint cloud on the pampa. That was all that Aniwee’s gaze had rested upon, and yet her practised sight could not deceive her. She knew full well that it heralded the approach of a party of mounted persons, and Aniwee had not the slightest doubt as to who these persons were.

They were coming on at a smart pace, and the young Queen, after taking stock of the distance which yet lay between her and her white friends, turned her horse’s head in the direction of the Indian camp. A pretty steep descent she had to make, too, in order to reach it; but her steed was wary and sure-footed, and with the blood of the bagual or wild horse in him, not likely to make a mistake.

On reaching the tolderias Aniwee found her warriors busy adorning themselves with bright-coloured ponchos, and fastening on their silver spurs. A troupiglia of horses had been driven up, and the owners were picking out their steeds therefrom, and saddling and bridling them.

Each warrior carried a long lance, from the point of which a small pennon fluttered, and many of the Caciques and Caciquillos were conspicuous for the richness of their attire and the brightness of their silver ornaments.

A small boy, gaudily dressed, was awaiting outside Aniwee’s tolderia, and as she rode up respectfully held her bridle rein. As she sprung from her horse, a young man stepped forward to meet her.

If abundance of fine clothes, gleaming ornaments, and jingling spurs can make a man handsome in a woman’s eyes, then Inacayal might be styled good-looking. Now Inacayal was a Cacique of high degree, being none other than the son of Quintuhual, brother of the great Cuastral, and therefore first cousin to Piñone, Aniwee’s dead husband. In the natural course of events, and in accordance with the laws hitherto prevailing amongst the Araucanians, Inacayal ought to have been proclaimed paramount Cacique on the death of Cuastral and Piñone, inasmuch as this latter’s child was only a girl. But the example of Aniwee had so impressed the warriors, and both Piñone and Cuastral had been so highly respected and loved by the great tribe, that by a vast majority this people had declared that Guardia, Piñone’s baby girl, should reign over them; and, as we have already seen, Aniwee had been appointed Queen-Regent, with the full powers of an absolute Cacique.

Now this arrangement did not at all suit the ambition of Inacayal, who had every desire to wield the power entrusted to Aniwee. Had not he, Inacayal, accompanied Cuastral and Piñone on their great raid? Had he not, with his own eyes, seen them treacherously killed, and their bodies carried off by the Cristianos, and had he not brought back the news, expecting to see himself at once proclaimed Cacique? His anger and disappointment may well be imagined when affairs took the turn described, and he found himself supplanted by a mere baby, and a girl.

But Inacayal, though he had thought it politic to assume an air of submission and acquiescence, was far from feeling well disposed towards Aniwee. Very bitterly did he resent her intrusion where he had hoped to stand alone, and he had secretly made up his mind to work not only her destruction, but that of the little Guardia as well. A very King John was this crafty Inacayal.

“Do the friends of the Great Queen draw nigh?” he inquired, with a smile, after saluting Aniwee Indian fashion, by raising his right hand, shading his right eye, and touching his forehead with his thumb, middle, and right fingers.

“Yes, Inacayal,” she answered, with a glad laugh, “and they will be here ere the sun seeks its rest. Do you form up the companies of our warriors while I deck myself as befits a Warrior Queen.”

The young man’s eyes sparkled with anger and rage at these words, but deftly concealing his feelings, he again saluted respectfully and retired, Aniwee passing into her own tolderia.

This erection stood some seventeen feet high, being spacious enough inside to accommodate fifty persons. It was closed in all round by skin coverings, the doorway being fronted by a curtain of gay-coloured silk. All round the tolderia ran a kind of verandah, the canopy of which was formed of interwoven branches covered with bright green leaves. A small Union Jack flag ornamented the top of this structure, which inside possessed an air of comfort and civilisation, quite strange to behold. Several beds, made of the soft warm skins of the vicuña and guanaco, and raised from the ground on neatly arranged blocks of wood, stood side by side in line; and shields, bows and arrows, spears, guns and rifles, puma, guanaco, and vicuña heads were tastefully and skilfully hung from the woodwork and pine-posts, to which the hide walls of this spacious dwelling were attached. Lying on one of these beds, and cosily wrapped in a magnificent skunk and wild cat fur capa, was a little copper-coloured baby, with large dark eyes and a solemn grave face. Its tiny hands grasped two small silver bell ornaments, which they jingled together unceasingly. Every now and then the baby would break into a joyous laugh and crow with delight, sounds which instantly chased away the solemn look on its face, and brought in its place a merry, happy expression.

When Aniwee entered, baby at once dropped its playthings, and stretching out its little arms to the girl, gave vent to sounds of delight, judging by the smiles that wreathed its well-formed dark red lips. The young Queen at once responded to its evident invitation to approach, and crossing to the bed, lifted the tiny mite in her arms.

“Guardia, child of my heart,” she exclaimed tenderly, as the little creature clasped her round the neck, “was Guardia looking for Mamita?” Again the little Guardia crowed and laughed. She could not speak, being barely eight months old, but she could show how much she loved her young mother by the numberless caresses which she bestowed upon her.

Aniwee had however the important duty to perform of arraying herself in warrior attire.

“Graviel,” she called; and as she spoke a tall slim Indian youth arose from the side of the baby Cacique’s bed, by which he had been keeping watch. Whenever Aniwee left the child she always placed it in the care of this boy, for she knew that she could trust him. He had been Piñone’s favourite attendant, and Graviel worshipped the very ground that Aniwee trod on. He would have died before harm befel his charge.

“Graviel, take the Cacique,” observed Aniwee gravely, “and amuse her.”

The Indian youth obeyed, handling his baby chieftainess with the greatest care, and in a few moments he had completely engrossed her attention by singing to her in a low chanting voice.

Meanwhile Aniwee turned her attention to her attire. Drawing aside a silken curtain, she entered an alcove in the tolderia, which was reserved as her robing room, and was soon busy, aided by her Indian women. When she issued therefrom she looked splendid indeed. A magnificent crimson poncho hung over her shoulders adorned with sparkling golden threads, and she had on snowy-white drawers and neat potro boots, upon which silver spurs jingled. A short sword in a bright silver scabbard hung by her side, and on her head, poised slightly on one side, was a cap of crimson velvet encircled by a band of massive silver, from which drooped two grey ostrich feathers. Decidedly Aniwee looked very handsome, and every inch a Queen.

Under the soothing influence of Graviel’s chant the baby Queen had fallen asleep, and lay peacefully in the arms of her faithful young retainer. Bending over her, the girl mother imprinted a gentle kiss on her forehead. Even as she did so, the far-off sound of a bugle-call penetrated to the tolderia, and brought Aniwee at once to attention.

“Quick, Graviel!” she exclaimed. “Take the Cacique to Blancha, and bid her put the child to rest, and do you keep watch on the tolderia. Yonder bugle heralds the approach of the great British Caciques, whom Aniwee must hasten to welcome.”

A loud shout from three hundred warrior throats greeted her appearance. A milk-white horse waited her in front of the tolderia. In a moment Aniwee was in the saddle, and looking eagerly ahead. Ah! yes, indeed, her white friends were near. There was no mistaking Harry Vane’s loud and familiar “whoo whoop.” The next instant the white horse swept up the valley at full speed in the van of three hundred shouting warriors, brandishing their spears, firing off their guns, and charging upon the advancing party.

CHAPTER II.

It may be naturally surmised that Sir Francis and Lady Vane and their children, who had never before witnessed a South American Indian “Ceremony of Welcome,” were not a little startled on beholding Aniwee and her warriors charging to meet them in apparently so warlike a fashion. But to Harry and Topsie, it was neither an unusual nor a terrifying sight, accustomed as they had been during their sojourn amongst the Patagonians to scenes and occurrences of a like nature. Knowing, however, the punctilious etiquette of both Patagonians and Araucanians, in the matter of going religiously through the whole ceremony, our two young friends drew rein, and with a few reassuring words to their uncle, aunt, and cousins, awaited the Araucanian charge.

“It’s all right, Uncle Francis,” volunteered the young midshipman (for Harry had long overstepped the important boundary which separates the naval cadet from the midshipman); “they are not going to hurt us. But I say, watch them closely and all they do; for directly they form up quiet into line, we must go through exactly the same form of antics as they. Oh, Topsie! do look,” he continued somewhat eagerly; “there’s Aniwee, dear little Aniwee, as I live.”

“Little indeed,” laughed his sister slyly as she criticised the tall, graceful figure of the young Amazon on the rapidly approaching white horse. “If I’m not very much mistaken, Harry, old boy, she’s bigger than you. My word, she has grown since we saw her last!”

Ere Harry could reply, Aniwee and her warriors were upon them. Halting suddenly when within fifty paces of the new-comers, the warriors formed rapidly into columns of three abreast, and began galloping madly around the small party, firing off their guns and revolvers, shouting and yelling, and waving their bolas around their heads. This having been continued for several minutes, ranks were suddenly opened, and each man charged forward shouting, “Koue,” and thrusting at an imaginary foe. The supposed enemy having been dislodged, a halt was sounded, the Indians formed quickly into several long lines, and remained motionless as statues, conspicuous at their head being Aniwee, Inacayal, and other Caciques and Caciquillos.

“Now, aunt, now, uncle, come on, Freddy, Willie, and Mary, it’s our turn,” cried Topsie, as she brought her horse alongside her brother’s, and beckoned to Willie to fall in on the other side of her. The Araucanian escort, which had been sent forward by Aniwee to meet them, quickly formed into threes, and in another moment the little party were galloping as madly as the others had done, around the long lines of solemn Araucanians. Joining in the scrimmage, with loud barks of glee, was Topsie’s dog Shag, our dear old friend Shag of Castaway renown.

The shouting, firing, and galloping having come to an end, Harry and Topsie at once rode up to Aniwee with loud cries of welcome. It is not easy to describe the joy of the Indian girl at seeing her old friends again; for the Indian character is phlegmatic, and by no means demonstrative in its affections; and although Aniwee was an exception to this rule, she had a part to play before her warriors, and was bound to look dignified, as befitted a great Cacique.

But Harry and Topsie could see tears in her great dark eyes as she clasped their hands, and bade them welcome to Araucanian soil. They had heard all about the deaths of Cuastral and Piñone, and therefore avoided touching on delicate and painful ground by alluding to them.

“How big you have grown, Aniwee!” exclaimed Topsie, after the first greetings were over, and the Queen, with her guests, was riding along the valley towards the tolderias, followed by her warriors. “We left you a child, but you look like a woman now.”

“Aniwee is a woman,” answered the Indian girl with all the dignity of sixteen and a half summers. “Aniwee is no longer a child.”

They were conversing in Spanish, a language which, by the way, Harry had “got up” sufficiently to make himself understood in view of the visit to Aniwee. “He wasn’t going to be made a fool of again, and look like one, as had been the case in Patagonia,” he had declared, “when all the speaking and interpreting had been done by Topsie, and he had had to sit by and act the part of audience.” Of course, now that he had become a Spanish scholar, this was no longer necessary, and he rejoiced thereat exceedingly.

“Of course you are not a child now, Aniwee,” he answered in a somewhat important tone. “We are all three grown up. Let me see, you are sixteen and a half, and I and my sister celebrated our seventeenth birthday a few days ago. We are all of a great age.” Harry possessed the knack of saying funny things with a face grave as an owl. His remark tickled Topsie immensely, but was received by Aniwee with dignified complaisance.

“How old are your cousins?” she inquired, looking at Freddy, Willie, and Mary Vane, who were riding close alongside them.

“Well, that one there is a man,” observed Harry, indicating Freddy with his finger. “He is sixteen, and a great warrior. The other two are children still. The boy is fourteen, the girl thirteen,—just about the age you were, Aniwee, when we first met you. The boy, like myself, is a sailor, and the girl would like to be one too, if only the laws of our country would permit it.”

“Then women, too, are slaves in the great white land, the same as my father’s people are?” inquired the Indian girl, with a bitter smile.

“Oh no, Aniwee!” answered Topsie quickly; “not slaves. For you see, Aniwee, unlike the Patagonian women, they don’t do the whole work of the nation. The men have to work, too, and not simply feast, hunt, and make war as your father’s men do. All the same, women in our country can’t be warriors, or be sailors on ships, or attend Parliament. That is what my brother means.”

“And don’t they want to be warriors, and sea Caciques, and attend Parliamentos?” again inquired the young Queen.

“Some do, Aniwee,” replied Topsie. “I, for instance, and my cousin Mary, would like to be sea Caciques. But we must alter the laws before we can become so. Great changes often come quickly, however. If, four years ago, the Araucanians had been told that a woman would reign over them, they would have laughed to scorn the very idea. Yet, behold your little girl is head Cacique of the great Warrior tribe, and you are the Queen-Regent. Would this great people have acted thus if they had not recognised in you a fearless ruler and an undaunted warrior?”

The Indian girl’s cheeks flushed, as she listened to Topsie’s words.

“It is true!” she murmured; “and yet it was Piñone, my beloved Piñone, who made his people love me. He always called Aniwee their Warrior Queen, and it was he who gave her her first lessons in war. Piñone, love of Aniwee’s heart, where art thou?”

A plaintive, far-away look shone in the dark eyes of the young Warrior Queen as the memory of her beloved shot across her. Topsie was just meditating some cheerful remark, to drive away, if possible, sad thoughts from the girl’s mind, when shouts and yells were suddenly borne up the valley on the soft evening breeze. They came from the direction of the Indian camp. A look of horror overspread the features of Aniwee. Full well she knew the meaning of those cries. Reining up her horse, she turned suddenly round, and faced her warriors.

“Inacayal!” she called out in a commanding voice; “where art thou, cousin?”

In a moment the Cacique was by her side.

“Heard you not the war cry, Inacayal, or did Aniwee dream?” she inquired anxiously.

“The Queen did not dream,” he answered, with flashing eyes. “Hark! there it is again. Bid Inacayal speed quickly to the tolderias with two hundred of these warriors, and do thou, O Queen, remain here with the great white Caciques, in the care of the remaining hundred.”

A gleam of anger flashed in the girl’s eyes as she fixed them on the scheming chief.

“What!” she exclaimed proudly, “I, the Warrior Queen, skulk, hiding like a poltroon, behind my men? Inacayal, you are a strange counsellor. Know, however, that I will it otherwise. I will lead the two hundred to the rescue, and do you, with the remaining hundred, guard my guests. Do you hear, Inacayal! It is my command.”

A vicious, disappointed look came over the Cacique’s face, but he had no alternative than to obey. In quick, rapid tones Aniwee issued her orders, and then hurriedly explained the situation to Harry and Topsie, imploring them to remain where they were with their uncle, aunt, and cousins, “for,” she added significantly, “when the Indian’s blood is up, he might not distinguish you from the Cristianos, and then your fates would be death. Farewell for the moment. Aniwee goes to restore peace and defend her child.”

As she spoke she struck her silver spurs into her horse’s side, and with a loud cry sped along the valley, followed by the two hundred Araucanians whom she had bidden attend her.

“Well, Harry and Topsie, you have led us into a warrior land indeed,” exclaimed Lady Vane, laughing. “Hardly has your Queen welcomed us than she dashes away into strife and turmoil. What can it all mean?”

“I can’t make out, aunt,” answered Harry, just a shade anxiously. “Those cries we hear are war cries. You, who understand Spanish, heard what she said to us. Really, I think we had better obey her. I know Aniwee well, and can trust her. But what a scowling-looking chap the Cacique is, in whose care she has left us. I don’t half like his looks, do you, Uncle Francis?”

“I can’t say I am impressed by them, my boy,” answered Sir Francis quietly. “I’m a bit of a character reader, and it strikes me he entertains no good feeling to the young Queen. His expression was savage and sullen when she addressed him just now.”

Again shouts and cries came floating up the valley. The face of Inacayal wore a triumphant expression. Suddenly he turned to the warriors who surrounded him. “There is a fight down yonder,” he exclaimed. “Shall we stand idle while a woman bears the brunt of war? Say, brothers, shall we not charge?”

An approving shout greeted his suggestion, and before Sir Francis and Lady Vane, Harry, Topsie, and their cousins had fathomed what was going to happen, they felt themselves borne forward in the midst of a hundred or more stalwart warriors, all shouting and yelling like so many demons. Madly excited, Shag brought up the rear.

“We’re in for it, Topsie, and no mistake,” gasped Harry, as he got his horse tight by the head, and tried to check his headlong career. He had quite forgotten that this was a signal to go faster, so that the animal merely redoubled its efforts. In a few minutes they had dashed into the Indian camp.

What a sight they beheld! A scene of fierce turmoil indeed. Some hundred white men, surrounded by Aniwee and her braves, fighting desperately for their lives. They had sought to catch the Warrior Queen in a trap, and had been caught themselves, and now they saw no chance of escape from the furious Araucanians who pressed upon them.

A weird scene indeed! The sun had sunk, the gloom of night was already upon everything, throughout the camp huge fires gleamed and sparkled, lighting up the faces of the combatants, and giving them a strange, fantastic appearance. As Inacayal swept upon the scene with his bevy of warriors, he took it all in at a glance. His plan had failed.

Yet must he save the Cristianos whom his vile intrigues had lured to the spot. His had been the intention to rob the Queen-Regent of her baby child, during her brief absence and when all the warriors were withdrawn from the camp. For this purpose he had put himself in communication with the Cristianos, who, at war with the Araucanians, had willingly agreed to secure the little Guardia, in hopes of forcing her great tribe to accept disadvantageous and degrading terms of peace. As we have seen, Inacayal’s plan had failed.

CHAPTER III.

No sooner did these reserves of warriors make their appearance than a sudden wavering was seen in the ranks of the white men, who had hitherto kept well together and fought desperately. It seemed now as though they must be all cut to pieces and destroyed, surrounded as they were by three hundred of picked braves from the Warrior tribe. Aniwee was fighting like a young demon, and Harry and Topsie, as they sought shelter with the others of their party in the rear of the Queen’s toldo, could hear her war cry distinctly above the fierce shouts of the combatants. The colonists were all armed with guns and rifles, but they were at too close quarters with their assailants to make it possible to use them. They had therefore only their swords to depend on, and when these, in some instances, fell shivered from their grasp by the powerful stroke of some Araucanian’s axe, they had only a short stabbing knife, a revolver, and a small hatchet slung at their sides, to fall back upon.

The Araucanians, as we have seen, were all armed with long lances. They were stout, powerful, and ugly customers to encounter when, in serried array and with their lances well set, they swept down upon an enemy. But on this occasion lances were at a disadvantage, hemmed in as the combatants were by rocks, trees, and steep hillsides, where only hand to hand fighting was possible, and the warriors were obliged to have recourse to their short axes and stabbing knives. Already some twenty white men had fallen. Quarter was not asked for, because the Cristianos knew that it would not be given. Had they not been themselves the aggressors, and had they not themselves alone to thank for their present plight? They had come slinking as a fox does at night when he thinks the coast is clear, intent on a brutal and cruel act, and behold their reward!

Suddenly loud cries and shouts resounded through the valley down which Aniwee had charged so furiously, and amidst the din of the combat a few talismanic words brought the Queen and her warriors to attention.

“Help, help! To the rescue of the child Cacique; to the rescue of Guardia!”

An icy chill ran through Aniwee’s heart. Then the baby Queen for whom she was risking her life, the beloved child of her lost Piñone, was a prisoner after all? The thought was maddening; it thrilled her to the quick; it almost unnerved her; it certainly made her lose her presence of mind; it was the means of saving many a white man’s life.

“Hark!” she cried, reining up her horse. “Warriors, the Cacique is in danger. Forward to the rescue!”

Like lightning she had taken her animal by the head, turned it in the direction whence the cries had proceeded, and the next moment she and her warriors were streaming up the valley once more, leaving the Cristianos struck dumb with astonishment. But they soon aroused themselves to the situation as the voice of Inacayal rung out—

“Fools, would ye wait to be slain when the Gualichu gives you this chance of escape?”

In a moment they had understood, and leaving their dead to the mercy of Indians and condors, had paid attention to discretion, which is the better part of valour, by taking to flight.

When Aniwee, furious and crestfallen, returned at the head of her warriors, she found them gone.

Her first impulse was to start in pursuit, but her next evinced greater caution. It was quite possible that an ambush might have been laid to entrap her. She had been deceived by the false cry of danger to her child. She would not be befooled twice.

For there was the little Guardia safe and well in the arms of her nurse Blancha, with Graviel, her faithful attendant, covered with blood, standing near. The warriors presented a grim sight. Many of them were suffering from sword thrusts and hatchet cuts, and the gay ponchos, in which they had decked themselves to do honour to Aniwee’s guests, were in many instances torn and dishevelled and covered with blood. In a few brief, dignified words the Queen thanked them for their support, and bade them seek their toldos to dress their wounds; “but,” she added, “rest your spears against the sides of your tents, and be on the alert, for treachery may still lurk around. The Cristianos creep like snakes and slink like the pampa foxes. Be therefore on the watch.”

“But, Aniwee, you are wounded!” exclaimed Topsie, as she noticed blood coming from the young Queen’s arm.

“A ball from one of the Cristiano’s medicine engines did it,” she replied, with a laugh; “but it is nothing. Aniwee will wash it, and drive the traces away. Let us enter and prepare for the feast.”

On either side of the chief tolderia two others, nearly as large, were erected. These had been prepared for the use of Sir Francis and Lady Vane and their children, as well as for Harry and Topsie. Large fires, fed by huge billets of wood, blazed in front of these snug abodes, which were lighted up within by stone lamps filled with oil, and in which moss served the place of wick.

“Will the Queen allow me to dress her arm for her?” inquired Sir Francis Vane gallantly. “I am something of a medicine man.”

“The great white Cacique is kind,” answered the girl gratefully, “but I dare not let him. If I fell ill, or suffered from the wound, the tribe would blame you for it, therefore it must not be; but the Cacique knows that Aniwee is grateful.”

As she spoke the evil-featured Inacayal stood by her side.

“The Queen is hurt?” he inquired with affected solicitude. “Shall Inacayal call hither the medicine man?”

“No, Inacayal,” she answered quietly, “but bid him use his arts against the evil Gualichu. By whose black arts think you the Cristianos obtained an entrance here?”

The chief shrugged his shoulders, but glanced meaningly at the youth Graviel, who, still bloody and covered with wounds, stood near.

“You know well, cousin, that I like not the presence of Graviel, and that I have ever warned you that the boy is haunted by an evil spirit. It is Inacayal’s firm belief, that the approach of the Cristianos was not unknown to him.”

The Queen turned sharply round. “Graviel,” she commanded imperiously, “come here.”

The youth at once obeyed. Not till he had done so did Aniwee realise how grievously he was wounded. A nasty sword cut had slashed his cheek, his left arm hung powerless by his side, and one of his potro boots was saturated with blood, and cut clean through in one part.

“The Cristianos have made you weak as a child, Graviel,” exclaimed Aniwee. “How was it you became wounded thus? Did you take part in the fight?”

“Great Queen,” answered the youth proudly, “my duty was to be beside the young Cacique. I fought on her behalf till I could no more. Then you came to the rescue. It was well, for Graviel was well-nigh overpowered.”

“And how came the Cristianos to fall upon a peaceful camp like condors on the dead?” again inquired the Queen.

“How know I that?” answered the youth. “Graviel is not in the confidence of the evil one. But shall I tell the great Queen all that which I witnessed after her departure to meet the great white chiefs?”

Aniwee bowed her head. “Speak,” was all she said.

“It was thus, great Queen,” proceeded the youth excitedly. “I had surrendered the young Cacique to Blancha’s care according to the Queen’s command, and had gone outside the tolderia to keep my customary watch over the safety of the Pride of Piñone’s heart. I had watched the Queen and warriors up the valley out of sight, and having nothing else to do, strolled round the tolderias. Then it was that I thought I heard a rustling sound not far away. I halted, and stood still. Suddenly I saw gliding through the forest, like snakes crawl, the forms of several white-faced men. I ground my teeth as I recognised the hated Cristianos. There might have been six of them, though of their number I took no note; for, like the wailing of a sad blast at night, a despairing cry arose within the tolderia of the Queen. Next moment I saw a man spring forth through a rent in the hide, carrying something in his arms. Then arose once more the despairing cry, and I recognised the voice of Blancha. If I had doubted, my doubt was at once dispelled, for behold she came springing through the rent in the tolderia, her face distorted with fear and passion. At once the good Gualichu opened my eyes. I divined the cause. The Cristiano, whom I had seen spring forth from the toldo, had robbed the Araucanians of their brightest jewel. Guardia, under my especial care, had been stolen! As the lightning shoots from heaven, thus did Graviel spring to the rescue. With a cry of fury I rushed upon the loathsome creature, and before he was aware of my intention had torn the young Cacique from his grasp. Blancha rushed forward. I gave her the babe, then turned to face as best I could the men that pressed upon me. I fought desperately. Was not the treasure of Aniwee’s heart in peril? I would die, I resolved, ere harm again befel the young Cacique. My shouts brought around me the few men left in camp and the women as well. But the Cristianos seemed to swell in numbers. They came over the hill and pressed us sorely, and though we fought desperately we were driven back. I felt the cold steel of a Cristiano’s blade strike into my cheek, then my arm fell powerless by my side under a furious blow, and next the same cold steel struck into my leg. My eyes grew dizzy, pain made my brain reel, and I thought that death hovered above me. Then, my Queen, I heard thy war cry, I heard the thunder of thy warriors’ steeds, and Graviel knew that Guardia was saved.”

“Brave Graviel! Aniwee thanks thee deeply,” answered the young Queen with much emotion. “Inacayal, thou hast judged him wrongly.”

“Aniwee, thou art too trustful. I bid thee beware,” exclaimed the Cacique addressed. “Thou art nursing a snake in thy bosom.”

But the Queen waved him angrily on one side.

“Go, Graviel,” she commanded, turning to the young warrior; “go, wash thy wounds; Blancha will aid thee. Then lay thee on the couch which is next to that of the young Cacique, and Aniwee will, with her own hands, bring thee a draught of soothing medicine water. Aniwee will never forget how thou hast saved to her the child of her heart. Brave Graviel, thou hast thy Queen’s gratitude.”

Graviel’s eyes sparkled with pleasure as he raised his hand to his forehead in humble obeisance, and then turned to obey the will of his Queen; but the eyes of Inacayal shone with a malignant hatred which he could ill conceal. As Aniwee entered the toldo of her child he cast after her a meaning look, muttering as he strode away:

“The vicuña may strive to protect its young, but the power of the condor is greater. Yet shall Inacayal triumph.”

An hour later a great feast was held in the Queen’s tolderia, where Aniwee right royally entertained her guests. A cow had been killed, and some sheep as well, and these were roasted whole around a monster fire, where the braves of Aniwee were congregated. Loud was the rejoicing over the defeat of the hated Cristianos, and dire were the threats of vengeance which the Warriors promised to wreak in their next frontier raid. High and mighty were the speeches delivered and stories recounted of the deeds of valour performed by the speaker’s ancestors; yet when Aniwee stepped forth from the chief toldo and stood quietly in the gleam of the great fire, one long loud shout went up, and then silence fell.

“Warriors,” exclaimed the girl Queen, advancing a few steps forward and raising her hand above her head, “to-day has the evil Gualichu been defeated. Treachery sought to steal from you all the little Cacique, the child of Piñone, to carry her away as the puma does its prey. But she was saved—saved by the devotion of the youthful warrior Graviel, and protected by the few brave women and men of the Warrior tribe left within the camp. From her heart, Aniwee your Queen thanks them. Their deeds will be sung by the great tribe, and their children will tell their children, how a youth and a few brave women and men saved the baby Cacique, the child of Piñone.”

“And of Aniwee,” broke from hundreds of throats, “child of our Warrior Queen.”

“What a splendid sight!” exclaimed Lady Vane enthusiastically. “Children, I have never seen a scene more impressive.”

As in effect it was. Freddy, Willie, and Mary dreamt of it that night, as they lay comfortably curled up on their beds of warm skins. Full well they understood now how much Harry and Topsie had enjoyed themselves, when as young Castaways they had lived their free, exciting lives amongst the Patagonian Indians, and congratulated themselves in being where they were.

But all night long Aniwee watched by the fevered couch of the youth Graviel, who had preserved to her the child of her heart.

CHAPTER IV.

Harry and Topsie were awakened the morning following upon that of the fight, by the sounds of the Araucanians returning from the river’s side, where they had been to perform their morning ablutions. It must have been about dawn.

“I say, Harry,” observed his sister, raising herself up from off her couch of warm skins, “I should uncommonly like a plunge. I caught sight of a beautiful stream in the forest yesterday which I think I could find again. I daresay Aunt Ruby and Mary will be glad to be shown it, so I’ll just stir them up and ask them.”

“Right you are, old girl!” ejaculated Harry, yawning, “and I will pilot Uncle Francis, Freddy, and Willie. I know the stream you mean. It is not ten minutes’ stroll from here. Yes, a plunge will be uncommonly refreshing. I wonder how all the Warriors are, and Queen Aniwee! Does it not seem like a dream to you, to be back amongst these wild scenes again?”

“Well, you see, Harry,” remarked Topsie gravely, “these are not exactly old scenes, because you know although we saw something of the Araucanians when they joined the Tehuelches in the Patagonian pampas, we never entered their country. What a lovely one it is, to be sure!”

“Yes, indeed; and you were a brick to get uncle and aunt to come, Topsie. I am looking forward to a real good time of it after all the hardships I have gone through on the Pacific station,” continued Harry, with a sly twinkle in his eye.

“Oh, Harry, you conceited monkey!” laughed Topsie. “To hear you talk one would think you were martyred day and night, instead of living in clover, as you have been doing on father’s ship.”

“I say, what are you two jabbering about?” queried a sleepy voice from under a heap of skins, and Freddy’s head at length appeared in view. His hair was very much ruffled, and he looked extremely comical.

At the sight of him both his cousins burst into fits of laughter.

“Oh, Freddy, what a guy you look!” exclaimed Topsie.

Now Freddy in reality was a broad-shouldered, fine, handsome youth, with yellow hair and beautiful blue eyes. I think he just knew that he was not altogether plain, and therefore resented the description of his personal appearance given by his good-looking cousin.

“Guy, am I?” he pretended to remark indignantly. “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Look at yourself, Topsie. I never saw such a scarecrow in my life.”

“I tell you what, Freddy,” put in Harry, struggling to repress his laughter, “if you insult my charming sister I’ll sit on you, and squash you as flat as a pancake. Remember who I am, and who you are. Why, you are a mere fledgeling, aspiring to enter the army, while I am a full-blown officer in Her Majesty’s service.”

How this passage of arms might have ended I do not pretend to be able to say, but it was rudely interrupted by the entrance of Willie and Mary.

“Lazies!” cried this latter. “Why, I and Willie have been for ever such a long ramble, and we had a splendid swim in the Rio Limay far away below. We have seen the sun rise on those glorious Andes, and come across all sorts of funny and strange things. Oh, Topsie! I just do call this Paradise.”

“Well, did I not tell you how nice it was, miss?” put in Harry, “and you would not believe me. Now you see I am always right. But I say, Freddy, come on, old chap, and we’ll go and have a plunge. I’ll just ask Uncle Francis if he will come.”

“And I will ask Aunt Ruby,” put in Topsie, as she made for the tent’s entrance. “Come on, Shag, old boy.”

For Shag had risen and shaken himself demurely the moment he saw that it was his beloved mistress’s intention to leave the tent. He was just a little stiff after his long gallop of the day before, but that was no reason in Shag’s honest mind for taking him away from his mistress’s side.

On returning to the toldos about an hour and a half later, our white friends found a great bustle going on in the camp. Horses were being caught and saddled, the flock of sheep and herd of cattle were being driven in, and preparations for departure evidently being indulged in on an extensive scale.

“Ah! I see it is to be a case of forward to-day,” remarked Topsie in a pleased voice. “Now for a dash into the unknown.”

“But, Topsie, we must not forget to arrange with Aniwee for an expedition to the great gold mine of Or, which you know is the principal object of our presence here,” interposed Sir Francis. “Will you speak to her, or shall I?”

“Well, I think you had better let me do so, uncle,” answered his niece. “Aniwee is not superstitious to the same extent as are the Patagonians and Araucanians, still, you know, she will have to overcome these latter’s prejudices if she is to accompany us.”

As Topsie spoke the Queen entered. She looked a shade weary, and her wounded arm was stiff and painful. Her watch all night by the couch of the youth Graviel, had deprived her of the sleep which is so necessary to the young, after fatigue and excitement.

“Aniwee salutes the great Caciques,” she said, with an inclination of her head, and raising her right hand slightly. “Are they willing to accompany her to-day? A large herd of wild horses has been observed not an hour’s march from here, and the Caciques may like to join the Araucanos in attempting the capture of some of them. To-morrow we hunt the wild bull, and next day a puma fastness is to be stormed. The Caciques shall not want excitement or feel dull, if Aniwee can prevent it.”

“We will gladly accompany you, Aniwee, and we thank you much for your kind thoughts for our pleasure,” answered Topsie. “But, Aniwee, there is one thing I must tell you. My friends and myself desire to see the great gold mine of Or again, also the hut far up near the snows of the Andes peaks, where I, and you and my brother found that old white-haired man, living all alone. You remember it all, of course—how we went on with him to the mine of Or, while you went back to fetch Piñone; how, during our expedition to the mine, the old man died and was buried by the side of his long dead wife, on the banks of that dark mysterious river up which we had paddled to reach the mine; but I don’t think I ever told you the most wonderful thing of that wonderful adventure, how, in that old hermit of one hundred and thirteen years, I and my brother discovered an ancient relative, a great-great-uncle, in fact, whom every one thought had been drowned eighty years before; nor did I tell you, at the time, of the existence of the great gold mine of Or, which was discovered by Sir Harry Vane—for such was the name of the hermit—and shown to us. I did not make known its existence for the reason, that I wished to return later on and explore it in your company. And it is for this very purpose that we have sought you. Tell us, Aniwee. Will you come?”

The young Queen looked puzzled for a moment, and then replied:

“You know well that Aniwee has no fear. But she must consult the warriors of Piñone, and obtain their consent. Is she not pledged to rule over them for her child, and must she not consult their interests and those of the young Cacique?”

“You speak rightly and well, Aniwee,” put in Sir Francis; “you wish, in fact, to consult your people ere giving a definite reply? I am sure we respect your wishes.”

“The great Cacique understands Aniwee,” she answered in a grateful voice. “And now will they come to her toldo, and take some refreshment ere setting out on the trail?”

On entering Aniwee’s tolderia our white friends found a large fire burning therein. A pot, hanging on a tripod, simmered over the fire. Some fish on a gridiron stood near, and seven cups of steaming maté, with silver bombiglias stuck into each, stood round the fire.

To Harry and Topsie, this evidence of thoughtful attention on Aniwee’s part was all the more pleasing, inasmuch as they knew that it was not the custom of the Indians to eat before setting out on a journey. It was plain that she had not forgotten the habits of her white friends.

The baby Queen was rolling about on some skins, playing with her silver toys, and close by sat Graviel on a low stool. His face, arm, and leg were all neatly bandaged, the work of Blancha and Aniwee; for the former loved the handsome youth with tender devotion, and the latter made it her special care and pleasure to attend on Piñone’s favourite retainer, and the saviour of her child.

The scene at starting was a busy one. Every man and woman mounted their own especial horse, the women riding astride like the men—a sensible custom which white women would do well to imitate—as indeed did Lady Vane, Topsie, and Mary, who were all dressed in neat, comfortable knickerbockers, and well-fitting Norfolk jackets and stalking caps, with strong plain brown leather top riding boots, roomy and waterproof. A broad leathern belt encircled their waists, to which hung a sharp hunting knife and a bull-dog revolver in neat cases. Across one shoulder they carried a belt ribbed all round with rifle cartridges, and over the other shoulder each had a rifle slung. A similar attire and equipment composed Sir Francis’s, Harry’s, Freddy’s, and Willie’s rig-out, which possessed the merit of being comfortable and not too cumbersome.

They had brought two baggage horses with them, carrying a change of clothing for each, their surplus ammunition, and various presents for Aniwee and her Caciques, not omitting many a gaudy trinket for the common people. Aniwee was made intensely happy by the present of a beautiful rifle, which Sir Francis Vane had brought specially for presentation to the young Queen. Thus they set out. The cattle and sheep had preceded them, being driven forward by boys; and now the cavalcade consisted of about three hundred and fifty warriors, some thirty women and a few children, a fine troupiglia of mares and horses, and Aniwee, the baby Queen (or La Guardia Chica, as she was called by her subjects), attended by the faithful Blancha and Graviel, the latter sitting his horse stoically, in spite of the pain which he was evidently suffering. Our white friends completed the imposing-looking party.

The way led through grassy valleys and rock-strewn gorges, which presently debouched into hillocky plains, whereon guanacos could be discerned, feeding in small knots of twenty or thirty together. Now and then an ostrich would start up and scud away in front of the advancing party, or a small silver fox spring forth from its seat, and gallop hastily forward in search of safety; for the Indian dogs, although trained to hunt the ostrich and guanaco only at the word of command, were always allowed free play with the foxes.

Aniwee explained to her young friends that here ended the limit of the guanaco, which entirely disappeared as they went more inland, giving place to the vicuña, an animal greatly resembling him, only with softer fur, and a habitant of the mountains in contradistinction to the guanaco, which favoured the plains, and she promised them many an exciting stalk after the former.

Before long they fell in with vast stretches of shady woods, which looked cool and inviting from the hot plains; and when at length they came into close proximity to them, Harry and Topsie, Freddy, Willie, and Mary, all uttered loud cries of delight as they beheld in this forest a veritable fairy scene. From the trees in every direction high up the mountain sides, and stretching along the valleys far and wide, hung thousands of red-cheeked, yellow-faced apples, tempting to the sight and pleasant to the palate,—a scene enticing in the highest degree to the young people, who gazed thereon with rapture.

“Mother, what a lovely sight!” cried Mary, as she dropped her reins on her horse’s neck, and clasped her hands together. “Oh, mother! I never dreamt of anything so beautiful. Are we in fairyland, I wonder?”

“It would seem so,” answered Lady Vane, smiling, as they suddenly rode into a green sunny valley watered by a bright running stream, and hemmed in on each side by apple groves, for in the valley erected on either side of the stream stood some hundred or more tolderias, with crowds of busy Indian men, women, and children moving to and fro. All along the valley pastured fine herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and immense troops of horses. Truly a beautiful scene!

“See!” exclaimed Aniwee, proudly pointing towards it; “of all my great possessions I love that spot the best, for Piñone loved it.”

CHAPTER V.

No sooner did the Indians catch sight of the approaching cavalcade, than they hastened to meet it with loud cries of welcome. But these rejoicings were turned to anger when they learnt of the danger that had threatened their baby Cacique. As may be imagined, both Graviel, and those who had been instrumental in saving her from, and defending her against the Cristianos, came in for an extra share of applause and congratulation from the large body of Indians that thronged around their Queen. Graviel was at once carried off by his mother and relations to be carefully attended to. He was loth to leave his little charge’s side, and only consented to do so, on receiving strict orders from Aniwee to that effect.

Meanwhile La Guardia Chica, under the superintendence of Blancha, was carried to the chief toldo, and most of the warriors dispersed to their various tolderias to doff their gay war attires for the every-day habiliments of Araucanians, while Aniwee issued orders for the saddling and bridling of eight of her most wary-footed and renowned hunting steeds for the use of herself and her white friends.

“Will the white Caciques be ready to set off at short notice?” she inquired of Topsie, who was nearest to her.

“Most certainly, Aniwee,” replied this latter with alacrity. “We shall be ready whenever you are, and are all excitement and eagerness to see how the Araucanians hunt the baguales.”

“Aniwee remembers the two baguales which the Caciques captured in Patagonia,” continued the Queen. “Are they still alive?”

“Yes, Aniwee, alive and flourishing. I and my brother sent them across the sea to our own country; but the Araucanians capture them differently to what we did, I suppose?”

“You shall see,” remarked Aniwee briefly, “and you shall take part in the hunt. I will arrange for twenty-five of our best hunters to accompany me. You will all be provided with horses of my own, skilled in the chase and wary-footed, which know their business well. Meanwhile, yonder tall tolderias on either side of the chief one, are the two reserved for the white Caciques. You may wish to visit them ere setting out on the hunt. Has Aniwee spoken well?”

The question having been answered in the affirmative, every one repaired to their different quarters to make ready for the hunt.

“I think, young people, that I will remain behind,” remarked Lady Vane a little later on. “I have got a bit of a headache, and am somewhat tired. I think I shall rest for an hour, and then unpack the baggage panniers, get out the trinkets, and put everything straight in the toldos against your return. Topsie, dear, you can explain it to the Queen.”

“All right, Aunt Ruby. I see her coming now,” answered Topsie, and as she spoke Aniwee and her hunters rode up.

There were twenty men and five women amongst these hunters, all mounted on wiry-looking horses, and provided with stout lassoes and bolases. They each carried, in addition, a revolver and a short sharp knife, but no other arms, about half-a-dozen powerful-looking hounds accompanying them.

Our young friends, as well as Sir Francis, decided on taking their rifles; there was no knowing that they might not come in useful, they declared. And when they had mounted their well-bred, strong little steeds, they found that to each of their saddles was attached, not only a light lasso, but a pair of bolas as well.

“Oh, what fun!” exclaimed Willie in a delighted voice, as he found himself fully equipped for the fray. “I feel every inch an Araucanian hunter, don’t you, Mary?”

“I mean to have a good try to catch a horse to-day,” answered the girl, with a laugh; “though I can’t say I feel the adept that you profess to do, brother mine. However, have a care. Pride cometh before a fall. You know that, I suppose?”

They started, a gay party. The sun was shining brightly, the apple groves looked green, cool, and inviting. Far away wooded heights arose. These were the forests of araucarias, wherein abounded the luscious piñones so esteemed by the Indians; and high above these shady retreats dazzled the snowy Andes, resplendent in their robes of untrodden virgin snow. The spirits of our young friends were at their highest. They laughed and jabbered away at their fastest, Harry bubbling over with fun and mischief unquenchable. In vain his cousins and sister strove to suppress him. The happy young midshipman refused to be repressed.

They must have been riding for quite an hour, and had entered a large circular plain some five or six miles in circumference, when Aniwee and Sir Francis, who were riding about a hundred yards ahead, suddenly halted, and the former held up her hand warningly, as though to enjoin silence. Then indeed Harry became serious, and his mirth was at once checked.

No sooner had Aniwee made the sign described, than she lay flat along her horse’s neck, an attitude which was immediately imitated by all the hunters following in the rear of the children, and these latter and Sir Francis, perceiving their movements, were quick to imitate their dusky friends. As for Shag, who had been bounding along beside his mistress’s horse, he at once lowered his tail, and came quietly to heel in the rear of her steed, no doubt noticing the like action on the part of the Indian hounds.

“Baguales,” murmured the Indians half audibly as they rode slowly forward to join the Queen; yet look as hard as ever they could, our young friends could make out no sign of the wild horses, about which the Indians appeared so confident.

“Calificura, creep forward like a snake; be wary as the doe,” whispered the young Queen, as she signed to a big stalwart Araucanian to approach; and the man, with a low grunt, and still lying flat along his horse, trotted forward, and in a few minutes was out of sight.

“Lenketrou, let thy step be swift but silent, thy eye keen as the hovering hawk,” was the next remark with which Aniwee detached another of her followers from the group; and he too trotted forward and quickly disappeared. In this way the Queen sent forward some fifteen hunters, keeping around her five men, five women, and our young friends.

“I see them!” suddenly exclaimed Freddy in an excited whisper. “Look, Harry and Topsie, a splendid herd on the port hillside. There! can’t you see them? They seem to be moving towards the plain, and I can see some white specks amongst them.”

“I see them!” gasped Mary. It was her first sight of a herd of wild horses, and the thrill of excitement which rushed through her made her feel inclined to shout for joy. She wisely, however, restrained herself, for the slightest sound would have spoiled the anticipated sport.

The herd referred to could be plainly distinguished making its way down the rocky face of a somewhat steep incline, difficult enough to descend, but almost impossible of ascent on account of the roughness of the ground. Away to the right, a deep river shut out all outlet from the plain on that side, while straight ahead, high cliffs closed in, leaving only a narrow gorge some fifty yards wide through which anything could pass.

Suddenly two mounted figures could be discerned coming through the gorge from the far side. At the sight of them Aniwee nodded her head, and ejaculated the words “Calificura, Lenketrou.” In effect the two figures were no other than these Indians, whom the Queen had started forward from the hunting party, when the troop of wild horses was first distinguished.

No sooner did they show themselves, than a number of mounted horsemen appeared one after the other, along the left-hand ridge which looked down on the plain below. Almost simultaneously they began to whirl around their heads the coiled lassoes which they held in their right hands. The next moment, a distant shout rang forth, and in less time than it takes to tell, the herd had caught sight of the Indians, and were careering madly across the plain in the direction of the river.

With a loud yell the horsemen on the ridge charged down the steep slope at an amazing pace, and then Aniwee for the first time raised herself erect in her stirrups.

Whirling her lasso round her head, the young Queen shouted the order to charge. Full well the horses understood the signal; and almost before they knew where they were, our young friends found themselves racing across the plain at the top of their horses’ speed.

In their first fright, we have seen that the wild horses made straight for the river; but apparently recollecting that there was no outlet thence, they wheeled to the left, and bore away for the narrow gorge where, motionless as statues, Calificura and Lenketrou awaited them.

The Indians who had descended from the ridge made every effort to cut them off, but weight will tell. A mounted horse is no match for an unmounted one; and although the herd had a circle to perform, where the Indians had nothing but straight riding before them, the wild horses won. Heading them was a magnificent black stallion, whose long mane and tail swept grandly in the breeze.

But, lo! as he was about to enter the gorge, followed pell-mell by the troop behind him, he suddenly halted, gave a loud warning neigh, and stamped the ground furiously with his right forefoot. Immediately every one of the baguales came to a standstill, and huddled together behind their leader.

On came the Indians upon their racing steeds. The stallion raised his head and looked all round him, but wherever he looked he saw danger, and beheld the figures of his foes. The gorge was guarded, and behind him a long line of mounted horsemen were bearing rapidly upon the herd.

In a moment the monarch of the plains had made up his mind. There was but one chance of escape, one road to freedom. It was a dangerous attempt, yet was there no other; for it was now a question of making a supreme effort to be free, or surrendering at discretion. The game beast chose the former.

With a defiant neigh he wheeled round and trotted towards the steep ridge down which he and his troop had so lately descended, then breaking into a gallop, he charged straight at the left wing of the advancing Indians.

No sooner did Aniwee perceive his tactics, than she shouted her orders to close into the left wing’s assistance, and putting spurs to her horse made him literally fly along. Then our young friends perceived that the Indians, dropping their lassoes on their saddles, were each whirling a bolas round their heads. It was evident that they meant first to entangle their prey, and to use the lasso afterwards.

Both Harry and Topsie were experts with the bolas, and by no means bad lasso throwers. They therefore singled out their separate victims, and bore down upon them.

If the whole herd had been as plucky as their leader, and had charged as furiously against their attackers as the brave old veteran did, they would probably have broken through the Indians and got away scot free; but many of them became dazed and frightened by the terrific yells in which the Araucanians indulged, and breaking away from the others, began galloping madly about.

In a moment a score of bolases whizzed forth, and several horses and mares became hopelessly entangled in their meshes. As they reared and struggled to get free, the lassoes were cast about them, and the nooses being drawn tight, the poor animals were entirely overcome.

One of these, in falling, uttered a loud scream. It was a beautiful grey mare, and must evidently have been a favourite of the black stallion, for the moment he heard her scream he halted, and wheeling round charged back to her rescue.

The quick eye of Topsie caught sight of him approaching. She had just bolased a horse which was struggling on the ground, but her lasso was still free. As the furious animal galloped forward, she whirled it round her head, and with a grand cast landed the noose right over his ears. A skilful jerk made it safe round his neck, and Topsie, double notching the other end round the bent stern of her saddle-bow, sat firmly awaiting the shock.

And it was a shock with a vengeance. As the noose tightened around his massive neck, the lord of the harem reared straight on end, and pawed the air furiously. Coming to the ground he stood on his forefeet, and lashed out with his hind ones. Then he threw himself down, and rolled over and over in his anger, and finally springing up, dashed off at a mad gallop across the plain, with Topsie holding tight to the lasso following in his wake, while beside the girl galloped the faithful Shag.

It must have been an hour later. Several horses had been secured, and Aniwee had despatched some of the Indians to fetch a troupiglia of tame horses to assist in driving the wild ones in, when Harry startled every one by exclaiming:

“I say, where’s Topsie?”

But though eyes were strained all round there was no sign of the missing girl.

CHAPTER VI.

When the stallion started forward on his mad gallop, he pointed once more for the narrow gorge, from which he had already been turned by the presence of Calificura and Lenketrou. But those Indians, no sooner had they seen their fellows come to close quarters with the baguales, had galloped forward to take part in the fray, and themselves secure, if possible, a prize each, leaving the gorge for the nonce unguarded.

With his head thrown back and his tail furiously lashing his sides, the stallion held on his way. Although Topsie clung to the lasso like grim death, and kept it as tight as possible, it seemed to have very little effect in checking the animal’s speed. His blood was up, and he evidently meant fighting it out to the bitter end.

His quick eye had swept the gorge, and ascertained that the pass was clear, and for this outlet, therefore, he made as straight as a die. In a few minutes it was reached, entered, and traversed at the same headlong pace, and the hunter and hunted passed out of sight of the circular plain where the Indians and the others were engaged with the baguales.

And now Topsie was able to gauge for the first time the enormity of the task which she had set herself to accomplish. It was perfectly clear that the wild horse had no intention of giving in, and that his powers of endurance were unlimited. Then, too, the country they had entered was rough and hillocky, and some five or six miles ahead a dense, impenetrable forest appeared to intervene and to bar all further progress. It would be extremely awkward if the stallion took to the woods at this headlong pace, and nothing she could do, could apparently induce him to alter his course in any way.

As they galloped along, Topsie had an opportunity of testing the speed and stamina of the horse which she bestrode. Putting spurs to it, she endeavoured to get it to race up close alongside the wild one, when she thought by luck she might be able to put a bullet from her revolver through the sensitive part of his crest, and so bring him to the ground and stun him, in the same way as she had done to the two baguales, which she and Harry had captured at the outset of their wanderings in Patagonia two years before. Her horse was a game one and a good one, and he made a brave effort to obey his rider’s wishes. Gradually he crept up alongside the angry bagual, and Topsie, drawing her revolver, took as careful an aim as possible, and fired.

But the pace at which they were going made it impossible to fire true. The bullet just grazed the stallion’s crest, terrifying him more than ever, and infusing into him a new strength and an accelerated speed.

Thus they flew along. The thick forest ahead was growing nearer and nearer, and the position was becoming perilous in the extreme; so perilous indeed, that much as she hated doing so, Topsie was perforce obliged to acknowledge herself beaten, and to make up her mind to cast the stallion loose, and give up the struggle as hopeless.

But when she came to slacken and cast off the lasso, she found that the knot had become so tight in consequence of the enormous strain put upon it, that she was utterly unable to free the saddle from the line that now held her horse coupled to the wild one. What was she to do? The pace at which they were going was breakneck, and yet she had but two choices before her. One was to stick to her horse, and take her chance of being dashed to pieces as they entered the forest; the other was to throw herself off the animal. This latter alternative probably meant death, or a multiplicity of broken bones. She chose the former.

Grasping the lasso with both hands, she endeavoured, by a supreme effort, to draw the noose so tightly round the stallion’s neck as to choke him; but the running loop refused to do its work, and the wild horse went faster than ever.

I wonder what poor Shag thought of it all? He was straining his utmost to keep up with the racing animals, by no means an easy task, for Shag was a big, heavy dog, and not bred for racing. However, he did his best, and with his great red tongue lolling out of his mouth, struggled along.

They were within about two hundred yards of the forest, and Topsie had slipped her feet out of the stirrups, so as to be free for a spill, when a loud neigh sounded ahead. To this the stallion replied briskly, though chokingly; for the heavy strain on his neck was beginning to tell, and he was decidedly short of wind. The next moment a troop of wild horses swept into the open from a nook in the forest, where they had been seeking shelter from the hot sun, and stood staring wildly ahead. What they saw probably produced terrifying effects, for with loud neighs, screams, and whinnyings, they wheeled about and fled precipitately towards the forest, into which they quickly penetrated, and became lost to view.

Buoyed up with hope at the sight of his fellows, the stallion put on a tremendous spurt. After this everything was confused in Topsie’s memory. She had a faint recollection of entering the forest, then of hearing a loud crack, after that a crash and a bang, a whizzing in the brain, and then no more.