'
"Even in the light of the lamp I saw Valera turn pale, but he was a
Spaniard and a man of courage.
"'I agree, senor,' he replied. 'If my information is correct we shall
find the way.'
"I must explain that the information to which he referred had been
supplied by a native girl who loved him. That this clearing was a
meeting-place she had denied. But she had admitted that it was possible
to obtain access to it, and had even described the path." He paused.
"She died of a lingering sickness."
Colonel Menendez spoke these last words with great deliberation and
treated each of us to a long and significant stare.
"Presently," he added, "I will tell you what was nailed to the wall of
her hut on the night that she fell ill. But to continue my narrative.
On the following evening, suitably equipped, Valera and myself set out,
leaving by a side door and striking into the woods at a point east of
the hacienda, where, according to his information, a footpath existed,
which would lead us to the clearing we desired to visit. Of that
journey, gentlemen, I have most terrible memories.
"Imagine a dense and poisonous jungle, carpeted by rotten vegetation in
which one's feet sank deeply and from which arose a visible and
stenching vapour.
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