urope."

"I don't think there is much chance of that, Bertie. India was the only
place where there was any fighting going on, and it seemed as if, since
Napoleon was crushed, Europe would become permanently pacific. Still, I
do hope that when we are at Lima we shall get hold of a pile of English
newspapers. The consul is sure to have them."

"I don't suppose we shall want to stay there many days, Harry, for we
shall be eager to start the search for the enchanted castle Dias has
told us of. We saw quite enough of Lima during the ten days that we
were there."

"Is the pass a bad one up to Cerro, Dias?"

"There are some very bad points, senor. It never was a good one, but as
nothing has been done to the roads for at least a hundred years, it
must have got into a very bad state. I have been down it twice with
travellers, the second time ten years ago, and it was bad enough then.
It is likely to be worse now."

"Well, as the road is used so little, Dias," Harry said, "there is no
fear of brigands."

"I hope not, senor; but there may be some, though they would not be
there in the hope of plundering travellers. But desperate men are
always to be found in the mountains--men who have committed murders and
fled from justice. They are able to live on what they can shoot, and of
course they can get fish in the streams, and when they are tired of
that can come down here, where they will find plenty of turkeys, and
pheasants, and other game, besides the maize, and fruits, and other
things in the old plantations. Sometimes they will take a little
plunder from the small villages. Anyhow, they do not fare altogether
badly. Therefore one can never feel certain that one is safe from them,
even when travelling over tracks where travellers seldom pass. Still,
we may very well hope that we shall not have the bad luck to fall in
with them."

"I hope so, Dias. We did not come out here to fight. So far we have
been very fortunate, and have not had to fire a shot, except at those
wretched savages."

The next day's journey took them far up