lying down, quickly fell into a profound sleep, which lasted till late
in the afternoon.

That evening visitors came again, and we had a repetition of the
singing, dancing, and other pastoral amusements, till near midnight;
then, thinking to cheat my bedfellows of the night before, I made my
simple bed in the kitchen. But here also the vile _vinchucas_ found me,
and there were, moreover, dozens of fleas that waged a sort of guerilla
warfare all night, and in this way exhausted my strength and distracted
my attention, while the more formidable adversary took up his position.
My sufferings were so great that before daybreak I picked up my rugs and
went out a distance from the house to lie down on the open plain, but I
carried with me a smarting body and got but little rest. When morning
came I found that my horse had not yet recovered from his lameness.

"Do not be in a hurry to leave us," said my host, when I spoke of it.
"I perceive that the little animals have again fought with and defeated
you. Do not mind it; in time you will grow accustomed to them."

How _they_ contrived to endure it, or even to exist, was a puzzle
to me; but possibly the _vinchucas_ respected them, and only dined
when, like the giant in the nursery rhyme, they "smelt the blood of
an Englishman."

I again enjoyed a long siesta, and when night came resolved to place
myself beyond the reach of the vampires, and so, after supper, went
out to sleep on the plain. About midnight, however, a sudden storm of
wind and rain drove me back to the shelter of the house, and the next
morning I rose in such a deplorable state that I deliberately caught
and saddled my horse, though the poor beast could scarcely put one