During the interim of letter writing in readiness for the anticipated opening of courier communication with St. Lucia and Anelcoy, Captain Greenwood had advised Correliana of his wish that the padre and sailors Jack and Bill should meet the steamer at the latter place. His despatch urged haste, as he was about to leave the gold spit, which they were then working; its deposits had become nearly exhausted. When she made the wishes of the captain known, Abdul Nycaster, the son of the mayorong, volunteered to act as courier under the conduct of a party of lower river Indians. These Indians, called by the Mestizoes, Vermojotes, ranked next to those of the upper valleys in trustworthy intelligence, so that no fears were entertained for the safety of those intrusted to their care.
A few mornings after the despatch of the courier and his party, the Dosch resumed the historical thread of his narration.
You can well imagine, the chronicler exclaims, the enthusiastic admiration of the Prætor Indegatus’s children for the Manatitlans, when they saw the anxious expression of their parents’ faces give place to an unspeakable joy, which imparted its radiance alike to his former adherents and foes. In evidence of their grateful sincerity they were unremitting in their endeavors to perfect themselves for the duties of censors and teachers, as well as in the more direct returns of material aid to their benefactors’ affections, from their success in raising and training falcons, which promised the means for the speedy accomplishment of a reunion with colonistic correlatives. A year and a half had scarcely passed before the volantaphs were able to extend their flights a day and a third’s distance in stretch over the ocean, for their own instruction in the management of the birds free from exhausting irritation, as well as to accustom them to devour their food while sustained with parachute and outstretched wings. The volantaphs, while disengaged from the active duties of their profession, kept the democratic instincts of the Heracleans in mindful dread of harboring thoughts of disaffection, held in legacy from hypocrisy, the progenitorial mother of hatred and misrule, as they had been taught, with lessons of chagrin, that their thoughts were no longer their own. The result of this knowledge enforced sincerity, which begat cheerful confidence in association, an effect that soon became manifest to the besiegers. Elasticity of thought, unprejudiced by suspicion, soon imparted its health-giving impression to the movements of the body, and action of the senses, directing them to the cultivation of useful occupations devoted to the common welfare. This freedom, in surcease from the treacherous enactments of suspicion, produced symptoms of reviving alacrity in the unanimity of action, which the savages detected from their perch on the brink of the falls’ precipice, with puzzled surprise, evinced by the changing increase of numbers, and curious gaze of the watchers. The first practical use made of the falcons had been devoted to watching the Indians to learn their projected intentions, with the purpose of defeating them by anticipation without loss to the Heracleans. The unaccountable improvement in the condition and cordiality of the citizens made the savages more wary and watchful. The river savages, suspicious of the valley Indians, kept a large body of their number constantly before the gates to prevent treachery. From couriers, which had been sent to the most distant of the river tribes, it was evident that some new and more energetic scheme was in progress to bring the siege to a close. While the valley harvesting was in progress, the volantaphs had observed long trains of loaded llamas proceeding up the Lepula and Vermejo valleys, and their destination was traced to a cave in the basaltic continuation of the falls’ precipice, about a mile to the north of the city. Giganteo explored the cave, and found that it contained extensive stores of dried fish, squillated meats, (hardened by the combined action of heat, pressure, and smoke), corn and maize parched, ready for grinding, in preparation for their favorite murmiel, also dried fruits in abundance. As the extent of the hoard foreboded large auxiliary accessions he was alarmed, and only thought of adding to the defenses of the city. While in flight around the city to examine if there was in the walls an accessible foothold for the savages, an accidental discovery suggested the idea of appropriating the stores of the cave for the benefit of the Heracleans.