we have gathered is only
about twenty ounces."

"Well, gentlemen, I shall be delighted to have you as my guests as long
as you are willing to stay."

"We are greatly obliged to you," Harry said, "and will gladly be your
guests. To-morrow the animals need a rest, and we shall enjoy one too.
Next morning we must be going on, as we have been away longer than we
ought, and want to get down to Lima quickly."

They had great difficulty in getting away from Huaca, where the good
priest made them extremely comfortable, and was very loath to let them
go. However, at dawn on the second day they started for Cerro, and
arrived there forty-eight hours later after a rough journey through the
Mils.

"We never know in Peru, when we go to bed, who will be president when
we wake," Dias said that evening. "There have been a dozen of them in
the past five years. Lamar, Gamarra, La Fuente, Orbegozo, Bermudes, and
Salaverry succeeded one another; then Santa Cruz became master. Nieto
had the upper hand for a bit, and at that time there was no travelling
on the roads, they were so infested by robbers; one band was master of
Lima for some time. Then the Chilians occupied Lima; Santa Cruz was
defeated, and Gamarra came in again. None of these men was ever supreme
over the whole country. Generals mutinied with the troops under them,
other leaders sprang up, and altogether there has been trouble and
civil war ever since the Spaniards left. That is why the country is so
full of robbers. When an army was defeated, those who escaped took to
the hills and lived by plunder until some other chief revolted, then
they would go down and join him; and so it has gone on."

"Who composed those armies? because the fields seem to have been well
cultivated, and the peasants are quiet enough."

"Yes, senor, for the most part they take no part in these affairs. The
men who compose the armies were in the first place the remains of those
who fought against the Spaniards. When the Spaniards left the country
these men had nothing to do, and were ready to enlist