178 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN.
"North or South?" inquired the man.
"North," Dick answered.
The information seemed to afford the stranger no little satisfaction, and he again wrung Dick's hand with all the enthusiasm of a fellow-countryman.
"And may I ask what brings you here?" he continued.
Before, however, Dick had time to reply, the stranger had courteously raised his hat, and, looking round, Dick saw that his bow was intended for Mrs. Weldon, who had just reached the river-bank. She proceeded to tell him the particulars of how they had been shipwrecked, and how the vessel had gone to pieces on the reefs.
A look of pity crossed the man's face as he listened, and he cast his eye, as it might be involuntarily, upon the sea, in order to discern some vestige of the stranded ship.
"Ah! there is nothing to be seen of our poor schooner!" said Dick mournfully; "the last of her was broken up in the storm last night."
"And now," interposed Mrs. Weldon, "can you tell us where we are?"
"Where?" exclaimed the man, with every indication of surprise at her question ; "why, on the coast of South America, of course!"
"But on what part? are we near Peru?" Dick inquired eagerly.
"No, my lad, no; you are more to the south; you are on the coast of Bolivia; close to the borders of Chili."
"A good distance, I suppose, from Lima?" asked Dick.
"From Lima? yes, a long way; Lima is far to the north."
"And what is the name of that promontory?" Dick said, pointing to the adjacent headland.
"That, I confess, is more than I am able to tell you," replied the stranger; "for although I have travelled a great deal in the interior of the country, I have never before visited this part of the coast."
Dick pondered in thoughtful silence over the information he had thus received. He had no reason to doubt its accuracy; according to his own reckoning he would have
