Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

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NOTES OF A BOTANIST
three previous days were all silent. Two men ran
by my house to hide in the sugar-canes on the hillside,
but so terrified were they that they could not
reply a word to my inquiries.
I got my breakfast,
and about noon walked into the town to see if I
could make out what had happened. The hot sun
beat down into the streets, in which no living thing
was to be seen save a few lazy dogs and pigs lying
under the projecting eaves, and the houses were
all closed as if some inmate had died. I walked
on and on till I came to the house of Don Ignacio
Morey, who I knew had gone down to the Amazon
some weeks ; previously but I found his wife and
trembling children, naturally full of anxiety. From
them, however, I learnt that it was probably no
recruiting force, but a revolutionary one, that had
arrived. I returned to my house, and shortly afterwards
news was brought me that the insurgents
had sacked the Commandant's house, not leaving
therein so much as a cup, and that they were pre-
paring to sack other houses. I loaded my sixshooter
and my double-barrelled "Nock," and
prepared to defend my house ; but at this juncture
a report reached the insurgents that a mes-
senger had arrived from Colonel Ortiz, to warn the
local authorities of what had occurred ; and, armed
with bayonets, they proceeded to search the houses
where they supposed he might be hidden, but without
finding him. Then, fearing on the one hand
the arrival of Colonel Ortiz in their pursuit, and on
the other that news of their uprising should reach
Moyobamba before them, they began to prepare
for departing, and at nightfall started for Moyobamba
five days' journey away at the least where