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We returned to the farm with Mr Laffan, where we gave him our usual fare, dried beef and plantains; for we were not living luxuriously. Except some chica, we had no beverage stronger than coffee or cocoa to offer him; but he declared that such provender would serve him as well as any other. As soon as the meal was over, Mr Laffan begged to have a fresh horse, and insisted on accompanying us.
Neither Juan nor Mr Laffan could stay with me long, as they had to attend to their men, and every officer was needed. Captain Brown and Antonio looked after me, however; and the doctor assured me that, if I remained quiet, I might be able to sit my saddle again in a few weeks. "A few weeks!" I exclaimed; "I thought a few days would put me to rights, doctor."
It all depended on Mike's steady aim, therefore; and although I was a good shot, still I was thankful that he had the gun. He fired; and the brute, the moment that it was making its spring, fell over, snarling and hissing, with its shoulder broken. A blow on the head from my uncle's axe finished its existence. "You have rendered me good service, Laffan," said my uncle, when we got up to him.
I could thus obtain the information, while Mr Laffan remained on watch at some distance. The place at first appeared deserted; but at length I saw three persons. One was lying in front of a door-step, another was apparently watching him, both being badly wounded, while a third, leaning against the wall, watched me as I approached. "Friends," I asked, "what has happened lately in this town?"
Soon after this, on the shores of a small lake, we came upon a curious tree, which Mr Laffan pronounced to be the wax-palm, or the Ceroxilon andicola. From its appearance I should have supposed that it could only grow in the very warmest regions; but it is of so happy a constitution that it flourishes equally well in temperate and in cold climates.
Mr Laffan kept constantly jumping up and looking down the path by which we had come, in the hope of seeing our attendants; and just as the shades of evening were creeping over the mountains, he exclaimed, "There they are! I hope I am not mistaken." I could see several persons and animals winding round the side of the hill, so I called to Manoel, and asked him if he thought they were our friends.
His Reverence waved away her excitement gently. 'I know all about it, he said. 'Indeed I've been the means in a way of restoring Margret's daughter to her. You never knew your sister-in-law was married, Mrs. Laffan? An odd woman to drop her married name. We must call her by it in future. Mrs. Conneely is the name. But Mrs.
My tutor told him the story agreed on. "Oh!" he said, "you will follow me, for I must carry intelligence of the proceedings of the rascally rebels to Bogota." "A pleasant journey to you then, colonel," said Mr Laffan, giving him a higher title than was his due. "We Englishmen, unaccustomed to your wild mountains, cannot travel so fast."
In truth, it reminds me of Old Ireland, barring the palm-trees, and the cacti, and the chirramoyas, and the Indian corn, and those llama beasts," exclaimed Mr Laffan. Then looking at the Indian women who were tending the poultry, he added, "And those olive damsels.
He had probably no great confidence in his recruits, and thought it not unlikely that one of them might get up during the night and plunge a cuchillo in his heart. On awaking next morning, I proposed starting immediately. "Take my advice, and stow away breakfast first," observed Mr Laffan.
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