United States or Venezuela ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
'We must be near the canning-factory at La Dorada. The horrible smell of the slaughter-house was borne to them on the river, and there were some big corrals close by the water, and a small wharf. 'It reminds me, thought Toffy, 'of the beastly beef-tea which I have had to drink all my life. 'Good heavens! cried Ross, 'they are firing the wharf! Purvis's chances are small if this is their game.
I don't know how many boats there were at La Dorada, but I would lay my life that Purvis took the precaution of sending them adrift or wrecking them before he got away. 'What is to be the next move? said Peter. 'I suppose we shall have to ride down to Taco to-night, said Dunbar. 'Yon man, he finished, in his nonchalant voice, 'has given me a good bit of trouble in his time.
They were both glad of visitors at whatever hour they arrived, and in the solitary life of the camp a belated horseman may often ride up after dusk. Peter explained that it was Señor Purvis, who owned the big estancia down at La Dorada, whom he was riding to overtake. 'He had better not ride about too much alone, said the Spaniard. 'There are some long knives about, and the señor is a short man.
He had been worried and unsettled all day, and he believed that it would be a good thing to let off steam by a ride over the camp; besides which, Toffy's letters had taken a good two hours to write, and Peter guessed they were important. He could easily overtake Purvis with them before he should reach La Dorada. 'I 'll sit up and trim the lamp like a faithful wife, until you return, said Toffy.
'We should not be far from La Dorada now, said Toffy, steering between the lines of stakes; 'but I can't see any signs of the steamer in this blackness. In the daytime the river was a pale mud-colour and very thick and dirty-looking. The moon came out for a moment and showed it like a silver ribbon between the grey banks. 'Easy all! said Toffy, sniffing the air.
Ross strolled in presently to discuss the matter again. 'I don't believe, he said, 'that Purvis is far off. 'He is a brave man if he is anywhere near La Dorada, said Dunbar. 'Purvis is a brave man, said Ross quietly. Peter was silent. Only last night he had had good reason to believe that the mystery of his brother's existence was going to be cleared up.
In this new-found El Dorada, Hillary had, it seems, been a labourer, and, if he told truth, to some purpose, though he was far from having completed the harvest which he meditated.
He knew he was riding a much better horse than the one Purvis was on, and still he failed to come up with him. The track on which he rode was clear enough, and his horse knew the way to La Dorada as well as any peon on the place. Peter took out his watch and looked at it in the moonlight.
'That must be my telegram now, said Dunbar, starting to his feet as a horse's hoofs were plainly heard in the stillness of the solitary camp. 'Well, I 'm damned, he said. He held the flimsy paper close to his near-sighted eyes, and read the message to the other men sitting at the table: 'Smith, or Purvis, at present on board his own steamer in midstream opposite La Dorada. Fully armed and alone.
He took advantage of his stay in his native town, and at Caceres, to try to raise recruits, both there and throughout Estramadura; they did not, however, come forward in large numbers, in spite of the title of Caballeros de la Espado dorada which he promised to bestow upon all who would serve under him. Then he returned to Panama, where affairs were not going so smoothly as he had hoped.
Word Of The Day