Chapter 20While it would be a gross lie to describe our journey north as uneventful, the hazards that beset us were not so far out of the common way as to be worthy of much note. A year before, I would have considered wild animals, swamps, storms, and marauding savages to be matters of considerable interest, but coming at this time they struck us merely as annoyances. Being, as we were, well armed and not in such a hurry as might have inspired us to run headlong into risks, we cut a poor but cautious pace, and about a month after setting out we stumbled upon the Lucinian colony, filthy, ragged, and not spectacularly well nourished, but essentially unhurt.
Just as reassuringly, we were still in possession of the gold, jade, and turquoise Quetzalxochitl had supplied us with to ease — and, n
