head of the weathercock."

 

"It gave it a very ornamental appearance; and that weathercock was never

before watched so regularly by the people of the village as it was from

that time till the hat was blown away in a gale."

 

"That I can quite believe. Still, Mr. Barnett told me that the rector

lodged a complaint about it."

 

"He might complain as much as he liked; there is no law in the land, as

far as I know, that makes the fixing of a straw-hat upon a weathercock a

penal offence. It did no end of good in the village, gave them something

to talk about, and woke them up wonderfully."

 

"And there were other things too, I think," his brother went on.

 

"Oh, well, you need not go into them now! they are an old story. Besides,

I fancy I have heard of various tricks played by Mr. Midshipman Harry

Prendergast, and, as I heard them from your lips, I cannot doubt but that

they were strictly veracious. Well, this is jolly now. When are we going

to begin to get our outfit?"

 

"We will lose no time about that. But really there is not much to get--a

couple of good rifles and two brace of pistols, with a good store of

ammunition, those clothes you have just bought, and two or three suits of

duck for the voyage. I shan't get any special kit until we arrive there,

and can take the advice of people at Lima whether we had better travel in

European clothes or in those worn by the Peruvians. Of course saddles and

bridles and all that sort of thing we can buy there, and we shall want a

small tent to use when we get into out-of-the-way places. I shall take

three hundred pounds in gold. I have no doubt we can exchange it into

silver profitably; besides, it is much more handy for carrying about. I

shall go down this afternoon and see Prosser and secure a berth."

 

"I think you will have to arrange that with the captain. Very few of our

ships have accommodation for passengers, but the captains are allowed to

take one or two if they like."

 

"All right! At any rate I must go to the office first. They can refer me

to the skipper if they like; that would be better than my going to him

direct."

 

 

 

 

CUSCO PERU II

 

THE START

 

 

Harry Prendergast went down to Leadenhall Street and saw the managing

owner of the _Para_. As Bertie had anticipated, Mr. Prosser, after hearing