He imagined that a soldier was coming to seize and kill him; that the meat-pot in which he was to be cooked was already on the fire, while the skulls of other unfortunates that had been eaten were lying in a heap near one of the tents.

He alluded apparently to four skulls which I had taken out of an ancient burial cave.

In explanation I will say that some time ago he had been arrested for some crime and had broken away from jail; soldiers, or rather, the police, were after him, and he mistook Mr.Hartman for one of his pursuers and ran for safety.
The incident proved somewhat unfortunate for us.

In consequence of the wild stories he told about us, the Indians, of a suspicious nature anyway, sent messengers all over the sierra, warning the people against the man-eaters that were coming.

Our strange proceedings in Cusarare, namely, the photographing, had already been reported and made the Indians uneasy.