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Title: The Treasure of the Incas

Author: G. A. Henty

Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7070]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on March 5, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS ***




This eBook was produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks
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The Treasure of the Incas
A Story of Adventure in Peru

BY
G. A. HENTY




[Illustration: IT DID NOT TAKE LONG TO TRANSFER THE SACKS INTO THE BOAT
_Page 339_]




PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION


The mysterious loss of a large portion of the treasure of the Incas has
never been completely cleared up. By torturing the natives to whom the
secret had been entrusted, the Spaniards made two or three discoveries,
but there can be little doubt that these finds were only a small
proportion of the total amount of the missing hoards, although for years
after their occupation of the country the Spaniards spared no pains and
hesitated at no cruelty to bring to light the hidden wealth. The story of
the boat which put to sea laden with treasure is historical, and it was
generally supposed that she was lost in a storm that took place soon after
she sailed. It was also morally certain that the Peruvians who left the
country when the Spaniards became masters carried off with them a very
large amount of treasure into that part of South America lying east of
Peru. Legends are current that they founded a great city there, and that
their descendants occupy it at the present time. But the forests are so
thick, and the Indian tribes so hostile, that the country has never yet
been explored, and it may be reserved for some future traveller,
possessing the determination of my two heroes, to clear up the mystery of
this city as they penetrated that of the lost treasure-ship. It need
hardly be said that the state of confusion, misrule, and incessant civil
wars which I have described as prevailing in Peru presents a true picture
of the country at the period in which this story is laid.

G. A. HENTY.




CONTENTS


CHAP.

    I. HOW IT CAME ABOUT

   II. THE START

  III. AT LIMA

   IV. A STREET FRAY

    V. AMONG THE MOUNTAINS

   VI. A TROPICAL FOREST

  VII. AN INDIAN ATTACK

 VIII. DEFEAT OF THE NATIVES

   IX. THE SIGNAL STAR

    X. A FRESH START

   XI. BRIGANDS

  XII. PRISONERS

 XIII. LETTERS FROM HOME

  XIV. THE CASTLE OF THE DEMONS

   XV. INVESTIGATIONS

  XVI. THE SEARCH BEGINS

 XVII. AT WORK

XVIII. DISAPPOINTMENT

  XIX. THE TREASURE

   XX. HOME




ILLUSTRATIONS


IT DID NOT TAKE LONG TO TRANSFER THE SACKS INTO THE BOAT.

AN INDIAN SPIES THE EXPEDITION.

THEY SAW APPROACHING A PEASANT WOMAN SITTING ON A MULE.

HARRY DROPPED THE BARREL OF HIS RIFLE INTO THE PALM OF HIS LEFT HAND.

Map of Peru

[Illustration: MAP OF PERU]




THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS




CHAPTER I

HOW IT CAME ABOUT


Two men were sitting in the smoking-room of a London club. The room was
almost empty, and as they occupied arm-chairs in one corner of it, they
were able to talk freely without fear of being overheard. One of them was
a man of sixty, the other some five or six and twenty.

"I must do something," the younger man said, "for I have been kicking my
heels about London since my ship was paid off two years ago. At first, of
course, it didn't matter, for I have enough to live upon; but recently I
have been fool enough to fall in love with a girl whose parents would
never dream of allowing her to marry a half-pay lieutenant of the navy
with no chance in the world of getting employed again, for I have no
interest whatever."

"It is an awkward case certainly, Prendergast," the other said; "and upon
my word, though I sympathize with you, I cannot blame Fortescue. He is not
what you might call a genial man, but there is no doubt that he was a
splendid lawyer and a wonderful worker. For ten years he earned more than
any man at the bar. I know that he was twice offered the solicitor-
generalship, but as he was making two or three times the official salary,
he would not take it. I believe he would have gone on working till now had
he not suddenly come in for a very fine estate, owing to the death, in the
course of two or three years, of four men who stood between him and it.
Besides, I fancy he got hints that in the general opinion of the bar he
had had a wonderfully good innings, and it was about time that younger men
had a share in it. What his savings were I do not know, but they must be
very large. His three sons are all at the bar, and are rising men, so
there was no occasion for him to go on piling up money for them. But, as I
say, he has always had the reputation of being a hard man, and it is
practically certain that he would never allow his daughter to marry a man
whom he would regard as next door to a pauper. Now, what are you thinking
of doing?"

"Well, sir, Miss Fortescue has agreed to wait for me for two years, and of
course I am eager to do something, but the question is what? I can sail a
ship, but even could I get the command of a merchantman, it would not
improve my position in the eyes of the parents of the lady in question.
Now, you have been knocking about all over the world, I do wish you would
give me your advice. Where is there money to be got? I am equally ready to
go to the North Pole or the Equator, to enter the service of an Indian
prince, or to start in search of a treasure hidden by the old bucaneers."

"You talk Spanish, don't you?"

"Yes; all my service has been in the Mediterranean. We were two years off
the coast of Spain, and in and out of its ports, and as time hung heavily
on our hands, I got up the language partly to amuse myself and partly to
be able to talk fluently with my partners at a ball."

The elder man did not speak for a minute or two.

"You have not thought of South America?" he said at last.

"No, Mr. Barnett; I don't know that I have ever thought of one place more
than another."

The other was again silent.

"I don't think you could do better anywhere," he said slowly. "It is a
land with great possibilities; at any rate it is a land where you could be
understood, and of course it would be folly to go anywhere without a
knowledge of the language. I was, as you know, five years out there, and
came home when the war broke out between Chili and the Spaniards. I have
been more in Peru than in Chili, and as Peru was still in the hands of the
Spanish, it would have been impossible for me to go there again as long as
the war lasted. Knocking about as I did, I heard a great deal from the
natives (I mean the Indians). I gathered from them a number of their
traditions, and I am convinced that they know of any number of gold mines
that were formerly worked, but were blocked up when the Spaniards invaded
the country, and have been kept secret ever since.

"The natives have never spoken on the subject at all to the Spaniards. If
they had, they would have been flogged until they revealed all they knew--
that is to say, they would have been flogged to death, for no tortures
will wring from an Indian anything he knows about gold. They look upon
that metal as the source of all the misfortunes that have fallen upon
their race. With an Englishman whom they knew and trusted, and who, as
they also knew, had no wish whatever to discover gold mines, they were a
little less reticent. I never asked them any questions on a subject in
which I had not a shadow of interest, but I certainly had some curiosity,
not of a pecuniary kind, because the matter had always been a riddle as to
the hiding-place of the Incas' treasures. And from what I learned I should
say it is absolutely certain that a great portion of these escaped the
search of their Spanish tyrants.

"Whether the men who were employed in the work all died without revealing
the secret, or whether it had been trusted to a chosen few, I know not;
but the natives believe that there are still a few among them to whom the
secret has been passed down from father to son. Anyhow, all had heard
vague traditions. Some said that part of the treasure was carried hundreds
of miles inland and given over to a tribe of fierce savages, in a country
into which no European can enter. Another tradition is that a portion of
it was carried off by sea in a great canoe, which was never heard of again
and was believed to have been lost. I am not for a moment supposing,
Prendergast, that if you went out there you would have the most remote
chance of discovering what the Spaniards, ever since they landed there,
have been in vain trying to find, and I certainly should not think of
recommending a mad-brained adventure, but undoubtedly there are many rich
gold mines yet to be found. There are openings for trade, too; and I can
give you introductions to merchants both in Chili and Peru. It is not a
thing I should recommend to everyone, far from it; but if you want to
combine adventure with a chance, however small, of making money, I don't
know that you can do better than go to South America. You are fitted for
no calling here; your income, counting your half-pay, would suffice to
keep you out there, and a couple of years of such a life would do you no
harm."

"It is just what I should like," the young man said enthusiastically;
"though I don't know how I should set to work if I did find a mine."

"You would have to bring home specimens, with particulars of the width of
the lode. Of course you would crush pieces up and wash them yourself, or
get your Indian to wash them; that would give you an approximate idea of
the percentage of gold. If it were rich, I could introduce you to men who
would advance money for working it, giving you a share of the profits.
They would send out a mining expert with you. He would verify your report,
and then you would take up the concession. I don't know whether there have
been any changes in the regulations, but there is no difficulty in
learning how to proceed from one or other of the men to whom I will give
you introductions. The thing would not be worth thinking of were it not
that the man who always went with me as guide and muleteer is an Indian,
and has, I am convinced, a knowledge of some of these places. He was with
me all the time I was out there. I saved his life when a puma sprang upon
him, and he more than once hinted that he could make me a rich man, but I
had no inclination that way, my income being sufficient for all my wants.
Still, on the chance that he is alive--and he was about thirty when he was
with me fifteen years ago, so it is probable that he is still to the fore
--I will give you a letter to him telling him that you are a dear friend of
mine, and that I trust to him to do any service he can for you just as he
would have done for myself. Had it not been for that I should never have
mentioned the matter to you. These old mines are the dream of every
Peruvian. They have been searching for them ever since the conquest of the
country, and as they have failed, it is absurd to think that an Englishman
would have the slightest chance of lighting upon a mine, still less of
finding any of the Incas' treasures. But with the Indian's aid it is just
possible that you may find something, though I should advise you most
strongly not to build in any way upon the chance. I consider that you
cannot possibly win Miss Fortescue; that being so, two years of knocking
about will not make your position worse, and by the time you come back,
you may have ceased to struggle against fate. It will afford you a remote
--but distinctly remote--opportunity of bettering your position, will give
you something else to think about besides that young lady's charms, and
you may even come to recognize that life is, after all, possible without
her. You may shake your head, lad; but you know children cry for the moon
sometimes, yet afterwards come to understand that it would not be a
desirable plaything."

"Well, at any rate, Mr. Barnett, I am extremely obliged for your
suggestion and for your offer of introductions. It is just the life that I
should enjoy thoroughly. As you say, the chance that anything will come of
it is extremely small, but at least there is a possibility, and I take it
as a drowning man catches at a straw."

"By the way, you mustn't think only of gold; silver is, after all, the
chief source of the riches of Peru, and there are numbers of
extraordinarily rich mines. It is calculated that three hundred millions
have been produced since the first occupation by the Spaniards.
Quicksilver is also very abundant; copper and lead are found too, but
there is not much to be done with them at present, owing to the cost of
carriage. There is good shooting in the mountains on the eastern side of
the Andes, and you will find plenty of sport there."

They talked over the matter for some time before they separated, and Harry
Prendergast became quite excited over it. On his return to his rooms he
was astonished to find the candles alight and a strong smell of tobacco
pervading the place. A lad of about sixteen leapt from the easy-chair in
which he had been sitting, with his feet on another.

"Hullo, Harry, I didn't expect you back so soon! The maid said you were
dining out, and I suppose that generally means one o'clock before you are
back."

"Well, what brings you here, Bert? I thought I had got you off my hands
for a year at least."

"I thought so, myself," the lad said coolly; "but circumstances have been
too strong for me. We were running down the Channel the night before last,
when a craft that was beating up ran smack into us. I don't know that it
was his fault more than ours; the night was dark, and it was very thick,
and we did not see each other until she was within a length of us. Luck
was against us; if she had been a few seconds quicker we should have
caught her broadside, but as it was she rammed us, knocking a hole in our
side as big as a house, and we had just time to jump on board her. Our old
craft went down two minutes after the skipper, who was of course the last
man, left her. The other fellow had stove his bow in. Luckily we were only
about a couple of miles off Dungeness, and though she leaked like a sieve,
we were able to run her into the bay, where she settled down in two and a
half fathoms of water. As soon as it was light we landed and tramped to
Dover. A hoy was starting for the river that evening, and most of us came
up in her, arriving at the Pool about three hours ago. It is a bad job,
Harry, and I am horribly put out about it. Of course nothing could be
saved, and there is all the new kit you bought for me down at the bottom.
I sha'n't bother you again; I have quite made up my mind that I shall ship
before the mast this time, and a five-pound note will buy me a good enough
outfit for that."

"We need not talk about that now, Bertie. You are certainly an unlucky
beggar; this is the second time you have been wrecked."

"It is a frightful nuisance," the boy said. "It is the kit I am thinking
of, otherwise I should not mind. I didn't care for the skipper. He seemed
all right and decent enough before we started, but I soon heard from
fellows who had sailed with him before that he was a tartar; and what was
worse, they said he was in the habit of being drunk two nights out of
three. However, that has nothing to do with it. I am really awfully sorry,
Harry. You have been a thundering good elder brother. I hated to think
that you had to shell out last time, and I have quite made up my mind that
you sha'n't do it again."

"Well, it cannot be helped; it is no fault of yours; still, of course, it
is a nuisance. Thank God that no harm has come to you, that is the
principal thing. Now, sit down and go on with your pipe, you young monkey.
I did not think you had taken to smoking."

"One has to," the lad said, "everyone else does it; and there is no doubt
that, when you have got the middle watch on cold nights with foul winds,
it is a comfort."

"Well, go on smoking," his brother said. "I will light up too. Now shut
your mouth altogether. I want to think."

They were silent for fully ten minutes, then Harry said;

"I told you about that business of mine with Miss Fortescue."

Bertie grinned all over his face, which, as he sat, was not visible to his
brother. Then with preternatural gravity he turned towards him.

"Yes, you told me about it; an uncomfortable business wasn't it?--surly
old father, lovely daughter, and so on."

"I will pull your ear for you, you young scamp," Harry said wrathfully,
"if you make fun of it; and I have a good mind not to say what I was going
to."

"Say it, Harry, don't mind my feelings," the lad said. "You can't say I
did not stand it well when I was here last week, and gave you no end of
sympathy. Go ahead, old fellow; I dare say I shall be taken bad some day,
and then I shall be able to make allowances for you."

"I'll have nothing more to say to you, you young imp."

"Don't say that, Harry," the lad said in a tone of alarm. "You know how
sympathizing I am, and I know what a comfort it is for you to unburden
yourself; but I do think that it won't be necessary to go into personal
descriptions, you know, or to tell me what you said to her or she said to
you, because you told me all that ten days ago, also what her tyrannical
old father said. But really seriously I am awfully sorry about it all, and
if there is anything that I can possibly do for you I shall be only too
pleased. I don't see that it would be any advantage for me to go and give
the old gentleman my opinion of him; but if you think it would, and can
coach me in some of his sore points, we might see how we could work upon
them."

"I always thought you were a young ass, Bertie," Harry said sternly, "but
I have not realized before how utterly assified you are."

"All right, Harry!" the lad said cheerfully; "hit me as hard as you like,
under the circumstances I feel that I cannot kick."

Harry said nothing for another five minutes.

"This is a serious matter," he said at last, "and I don't want any
tomfoolery."

"All right, Harry! I will be as serious as a judge."

"I am thinking of going away for two years."

The lad turned half round in his chair and had a good look at his brother.

"Where are you going to?" seeing by Harry's rather gloomy face that he was
quite in earnest.

"I believe I am going to Peru."

"What are you going there for, Harry?" the lad said quietly.

"I told you," the other went on, "that Mr. Fortescue said that he had no
personal objection to me, but that if I was in a position to give his
daughter a home equal to that which I wanted her to leave, he would be
content."

Bertie nodded.

"This seemed to me hopeless," Harry went on. "I told you that she was
willing to wait for two years, but that she couldn't promise much longer
than that, for her father had set his mind on her making a good match; he
has certainly put a tremendous pressure upon her. When I was talking at
the club this evening to Mr. Barnett--you know that he is our oldest
friend and is one of our trustees--I told him about it, and said that
though I was ready to do anything and go anywhere I could not see my way
at all to making a big fortune straight away. He agreed with me. After
talking it over he said he knew of but one way by which such a thing would
be at all possible, but the betting would be twenty thousand to one
against it. Of course I said that if there was even a possibility I would
try it. Well, you know he was in Peru for some years. He says that the
natives have all sorts of legends about rich mines that were hidden when
the Spaniards came first, and that it is certain that, tremendous as was
the amount of loot they got, a great part of the Incas' treasure was
hidden away. Once or twice there had been great finds-in one case two
million and a half dollars. It is believed that the secret is still known
to certain Indians. When he went out there he had a muleteer, whose life
he saved when he was attacked by some beast or other, and this man as much
as hinted that he knew of a place where treasure might be concealed; but
as Barnett was interested in beasts and plants and that sort of thing, and
had a comfortable fortune, he never troubled himself about it one way or
another. Well, he offered to give me a letter to this man, and he regarded
it as just possible that the fellow, who seems to be a descendant of some
of the people who were members of the Incas' court at the time the
Spaniards came, may have some knowledge of the rich mines that were then
closed down, and that he may be able to show them to me, from his feeling
of gratitude to Barnett. It is but one chance in a million, and as I can
see no other possibility of making a fortune in two years, I am going to
try it."

"Of course you will," the lad said excitedly, "and I should think that you
would take me with you."

"I certainly had not dreamt of doing so, Bertie. But if I have to keep on
getting fresh outfits for you, the idea has come into my mind during the
last half-hour that I could not do better."

"Harry, you are sure to be disappointed lots of times before you hit on a
treasure, and then if you were all by yourself you would get down in the
mouth. Now, I should be able to keep you going, pat you on the back when
you felt sick, help you to fight Indians and wild beasts, and be useful in
all sorts of ways."

"That is like your impudence, Bertie," the other laughed. "Seriously, I
know I shall be a fool to take you, and if I really thought I had any
chance to speak of I should not do so; but though I am going to try, I
don't expect for a moment that I shall succeed. I feel that really it
would be a comfort to have someone with me upon whom I could rely in such
a life as I should have to lead. It certainly would be lonely work for one
man. The only doubt in my mind is whether it will be fair to you--you have
got your profession."

"But I can go back to it if nothing good turns up, Harry. I can visit the
firm and tell them that I am going to travel with you for a bit, and hope
that on my return they will take me back again and let me finish my
apprenticeship. I should think they would be rather glad, for they always
build and never buy ships, and it will take them six months to replace the
_Stella_. Besides, it will do me a lot of good. I shall pick up Spanish--
at least, I suppose that is the language they speak out there--and shall
learn no end of things. As you know, we trade with the west coast of
America, so I should be a lot more useful to the firm when I come back
than I am now."

"Well, I will think it over, and let you know in the morning. I must
certainly consult Mr. Barnett, for he is your trustee as well as mine. If
we go I shall work my way out. It will be a big expense, anyhow, and I
don't mean, if possible, to draw upon my capital beyond three or four
hundred pounds. I believe living is cheap out there, and if I buy three or
four mules I shall then have to pay only the wages for the muleteers, and
the expenses of living. Of course I shall arrange for my income and half-
pay to be sent out to some firm at Lima. Now, you had better go off to
bed, and don't buoy yourself up with the belief that you are going, for I
have by no means decided upon taking you yet."

"You will decide to take me, Harry," the lad said confidently, and then
added with a laugh: "the fact that you should have adopted a plan like
this is quite sufficient to show that you want somebody to look after
you."

Harry Prendergast did not get much sleep that night He blamed himself for
having mentioned the matter at all to Bertie, and yet the more he thought
over it the more he felt that it would be very pleasant to have his
brother with him. The lad was full of fun and mischief, but he knew that
he had plenty of sound sense, and would be a capital companion, and the
fact that he had been three years at sea, and was accustomed to turn his
hand to anything, was all in his favour. If nothing came of it he would
only have lost a couple of years, and, as the boy himself had said, the
time would not have been altogether wasted. Bertie was down before him in
the morning. He looked anxiously at his brother as he came in.

"Well, Harry?"

"Well, I have thought it over in every light. But in the first place,
Bertie, if you go with me you will have to remember that I am your
commanding officer. I am ten years older than you, and besides I am a
lieutenant in the King's Navy, while you are only a midshipman in the
merchant service. Now, I shall expect as ready obedience from you as if I
were captain of my own ship and you one of my men; that is absolutely
essential."

"Of course, Harry, it could not be otherwise."

"Very well, then; in the next place I shall abide by what Mr. Barnett
says. He is your guardian as well as trustee, and has a perfect right to
put a veto upon any wild expedition of this sort. Lastly, I should hope,
although I don't say that this is absolutely necessary, that you may get
your employer's promise to take you back again in order that you may
complete your time."

"Thank you very much, Harry!" the lad said gratefully. "The first
condition you may rely upon being performed, and I think the third will be
all right, for I know that I have always been favourably reported upon.
Old Prosser told me so himself when he said that I should have a rise in
my pay this voyage. As to Mr. Barnett, of course I can't say, but I should
think, as it was he who put you up to this, he must see that it would be
good for you to have someone to take care of you."

"I think he is much more likely to say that I shall have quite enough to
do to take care of myself, without having the bother of looking after you.
However, I will go and see him this morning. You had better call upon your
employers."

"Don't you think I had better go to Mr. Barnett with you, Harry?"

"Not as you are now anyhow, Bertie. Your appearance is positively
disgraceful. You evidently had on your worst suit of clothes when you were
wrecked, and I can see that they have not been improved by the experience.
Why, there is a split right down one sleeve, and a big rent in your
trousers!"

"I got them climbing on board, for I had no time to pick and choose, with
the _Stella_ sinking under my feet."

"Well, you may as well go as you are, but you had better borrow a needle
and thread from the landlady and mend up the holes. You really cannot walk
through the city in that state. I will see about getting you some more
clothes when we get back, for I cannot have you coming here in these in
broad daylight. Here are three guineas; get yourself a suit of pilot cloth
at some outfitter's at the East End. It will be useful to you anyhow,
whether you go with me or ship again here."

"There is a good deal in what you say, Harry," Mr. Barnett said when
Prendergast asked his opinion as to his taking his brother with him. "Two
years would not make any material difference in his career as a sailor; it
simply means that he will be so much older when he passes as mate. There
is no harm in that. Two or three and twenty is quite young enough for a
young fellow to become an officer, and I don't think that many captains
care about having lads who have just got their certificate. They have not
the same sense of responsibility or the same power of managing. Then, too,
Bertie will certainly have a good deal of knocking about if he spends a
couple of years in South America, and the knowledge he will gain of
Spanish will add to his value with any firm trading on that coast. As far
as you are concerned, I think it would be a great advantage to have him
with you. In a long expedition, such as you propose, it is a gain to have
a companion with you. It makes the work more pleasant, and two men can
laugh over hardships and disagreeables that one alone would grumble at;
but apart from this, it is very important in case of illness.

"A lonely man laid up with fever, or accidental injury, fares badly indeed
if he is at a distance from any town where he can obtain medical
attendance, and surrounded only by ignorant natives. I was myself at one
time down with fever for six weeks in a native hut, and during that time I
would have given pretty nearly all that I was worth for the sight of a
white face and the sound of an English voice. As to the fact that it is
possible that the lad might catch fever, or be killed in an affray with
natives, that must, of course, be faced; but as a sailor he runs the risk
of shipwreck, or of being washed overboard, or killed by a falling spar.
Everything considered, I think the idea of his going with you is a good
one. I don't suppose that many guardians would be of the same opinion, but
I have been so many years knocking about in one part of the world or
another, that I don't look at things in the same light as men who have
never been out of England."

"I am glad you see it in that way, sir. I own that it would be a great
satisfaction to have him with me. He certainly would be a cheery
companion, and I should say that he is as hard as nails, and can stand as
much fatigue and hardship as myself. Besides, there is no doubt that in
case of any trouble two men are better than one."

"I cannot advance any money out of the thousand pounds that will come to
him when he is of age. By your father's will it was ordered that, in the
event of his own death before that time, the interest was to accumulate.
Your father foresaw that, like you, probably Bertie would take to the sea,
and as the amount would be fully two thousand pounds by the time he comes
of age, it would enable him to buy a share in any ship that he might, when
he passed his last examination, command; but I will myself draw a cheque
for a hundred pounds, which will help towards meeting expenses. I feel
myself to some extent responsible for this expedition. I somewhat regret
now having ever spoken to you on the subject, for I cannot conceal from
myself that the chance of your making a discovery, where the Spaniards,
with all their power of putting pressure on the natives for the past two
or three hundred years, have failed, is so slight as to be scarcely worth
consideration.

"I tell you frankly that I broached the subject chiefly because I thought
it was much better for you to be doing something than kicking your heels
about London, and mooning over this affair with Miss Fortescue. There is
nothing worse for a young man than living in London with just enough to
keep him comfortably without the necessity of working. Therefore I thought
you would be far better travelling and hunting for treasure in Peru, than
staying here. Even if you fail, as I feel is almost certain, in the object
for which you go out, you will have plenty to occupy your thoughts, and
not be dwelling continually upon an attachment which in all probability
will not turn out satisfactorily. I do not suppose that you are likely to
forget Miss Fortescue, but by the time you return you will have accustomed
yourself to the thought that it is useless to cry for the moon, and that,
after all, life may be very endurable even if she does not share it.
Therefore I propounded this Peruvian adventure, feeling sure that,
whatever came of it, it would be a benefit to you."

"No doubt it will, sir. I see myself the chance of success is small
indeed, but there is none at all in any other way. It is just the sort of
thing I should like, and I quite feel myself that it would be good for me
to have plenty to think about; and now that you have consented to Bertie's
going with me, I feel more eager than before to undertake the expedition.
The place is in rather a disturbed state, isn't it?"

"If you are going to wait until Peru ceases to be in a disturbed state,
Harry, you may wait another hundred years. The Spanish rule was bad, but
Peru was then a pleasant place to live in compared with what it is now. It
is a sort of cock-pit, where a succession of ambitious rascals struggle
for the spoils, and the moment one gets the better of his rivals fresh
intrigues are set on foot, and fresh rebellions break out. There are good
Peruvians--men who have estates and live upon them, and who are good
masters. But as to the politicians, there is no principle whatever at
stake. It is simply a question of who shall have the handling of the
national revenue, and divide it and the innumerable posts among his
adherents. But these struggles will not affect you largely. In one respect
they will even be an advantage. Bent upon their own factious aims, the
combatants have no time to concern themselves with the doings of an
English traveller, whose object out there is ostensibly to botanize and
shoot. Were one of them to obtain the undisputed control of affairs he
might meddle in all sorts of ways; but, as it is, after you have once got
pretty well beyond the area of their operations, you can regard their
doings with indifference, knowing that the longer they go on fighting the
fewer scoundrels there will be in the land.

"But even were they to think that it was mining, and not science or sport
that took you out there, they would scarcely interfere with you. It is
admitted by all the factions that Peru needs capital for her development,
and at present that can best be got from this country. The discovery of a
fresh mine means employment to a large number of people, and the increase
of the revenues by a royalty or taxation. English explorers who have gone
out have never had any reason to complain of interference on the part of
the authorities. You will find the average better class of Peruvians a
charming people, and extremely hospitable. The ladies are pretty enough to
turn the head of anyone whose affections are not already engaged. The men
are kindly and courteous in the extreme. However, you would have little to
do with these.

"In the mountains you would largely depend upon your rifle for food, and
on what you could get in the scattered native villages. The Indians have
no love for the Peruvians. They find their condition no better off under
them than it was under the Spaniards. Once they find out that you are
English they will do all in their power for you. It is to Cochrane and the
English officers with him that they owe the overthrow and expulsion of
their Spanish tyrants, and they are vastly more grateful than either the
Chilians or Peruvians have shown themselves to be."

On returning to their lodgings Harry met his brother, who had been into
the city.

"Old Prosser was very civil," said Bertie. "He said that as their ships
were chiefly in the South American trade it would be a great advantage for
me to learn to speak Spanish well. They had not yet thought anything about
whether they should order another ship to replace the _Stella_; at any
rate, at present they had no vacancy, and would gladly give me permission
to travel in South America, and would find me a berth to finish my
apprenticeship when I returned. More than that, they said that as I had
always been so favourably reported upon they would put me on as a
supernumerary in the _Para_, which will sail in a fortnight for Callao. I
should not draw pay, but I should be in their service, and the time would
count, which would be a great pull, and I should get my passage for
nothing."

"That is capital. Of course I will take a passage in her too."

"And what does Mr. Barnett say?"

"Rather to my surprise, Bertie, he did not disapprove of the plan at all.
He thought it would be a good thing for me to have you with me in case of
illness or anything of that sort. Then no doubt he thought to some extent
it would keep you out of mischief."

"I don't believe he thought anything of the sort. Did he say so?"

"Well, no, he didn't; but I have no doubt he felt it in some way a sort of
relief."

"That is all very fine. I know, when I have been down to his place in the
country between voyages, I have always been as well behaved as if I had
been a model mid."

"Well, I have heard some tales of your doings, Bertie, that didn't seem
quite in accord with the character you give yourself."

"Oh, of course I had a few larks! You cannot expect a fellow who has been
away from England for a year to walk about as soberly as if he were a
Methodist parson!"

"No, I should not expect that, Bertie. But, on the other hand, I should
hardly have expected that he would, for example, risk breaking his neck by
climbing up to the top of the steeple and fastening a straw-hat on the
head of the weathercock."

"It gave it a very ornamental appearance; and that weathercock was never
before watched so regularly by the people of the village as it was from
that time till the hat was blown away in a gale."

"That I can quite believe. Still, Mr. Barnett told me that the rector
lodged a complaint about it."

"He might complain as much as he liked; there is no law in the land, as
far as I know, that makes the fixing of a straw-hat upon a weathercock a
penal offence. It did no end of good in the village, gave them something
to talk about, and woke them up wonderfully."

"And there were other things too, I think," his brother went on.

"Oh, well, you need not go into them now! they are an old story. Besides,
I fancy I have heard of various tricks played by Mr. Midshipman Harry
Prendergast, and, as I heard them from your lips, I cannot doubt but that
they were strictly veracious. Well, this is jolly now. When are we going
to begin to get our outfit?"

"We will lose no time about that. But really there is not much to get--a
couple of good rifles and two brace of pistols, with a good store of
ammunition, those clothes you have just bought, and two or three suits of
duck for the voyage. I shan't get any special kit until we arrive there,
and can take the advice of people at Lima whether we had better travel in
European clothes or in those worn by the Peruvians. Of course saddles and
bridles and all that sort of thing we can buy there, and we shall want a
small tent to use when we get into out-of-the-way places. I shall take
three hundred pounds in gold. I have no doubt we can exchange it into
silver profitably; besides, it is much more handy for carrying about. I
shall go down this afternoon and see Prosser and secure a berth."

"I think you will have to arrange that with the captain. Very few of our
ships have accommodation for passengers, but the captains are allowed to
take one or two if they like."

"All right! At any rate I must go to the office first. They can refer me
to the skipper if they like; that would be better than my going to him
direct."




CHAPTER II

THE START


Harry Prendergast went down to Leadenhall Street and saw the managing
owner of the _Para_. As Bertie had anticipated, Mr. Prosser, after hearing
Harry's statement that he wished to take a passage to Callao in the vessel
advertised to start in a week's time, and that he was much obliged to them
for giving Bertie a berth as supernumerary midshipman, said:

"We shall certainly have pleasure in putting your brother's name on the
ship's books. He has already explained to me his desire to go out with
you; we have had every reason to be satisfied with him since he entered
our service, and he had better draw pay as usual, as his service during
the voyage will then count towards his time. As for yourself, we do not
book passengers, it is more bother than it is worth; but we have no
objection to our masters taking one or two. The addition of a mouth or so
practically makes very little difference in the amount of ships' stores
consumed. The masters pay us a small sum a head and make their own terms
with the passengers they take. In that way we are saved all complaints as
to food and other matters. Of course a passenger would put on board for
himself a stock of such wines, spirits, and little luxuries as he may
choose.

"You will find Captain Peters down at the docks. The last cargo has been
discharged, and they are giving an overhaul to the rigging and making a
few repairs; he is not a man to leave his ship if he can help it while
work is going on there."

Harry at once went down.

"Well, sir," the captain said, when he had told him that he wished to take
a passage to Callao, and that the owners had referred him to him, "I had
fully made up my mind that I would not take passengers again. On my last
voyage they were always grumbling at the food, expecting to be treated as
if they were in a first-class hotel."

"I am not likely to grumble, Captain; I have been knocking about the
King's service since I was fourteen."

"Oh, you are a royal navy man, are you, sir?"

"I am; I am a lieutenant."

"That makes a difference; and I have no doubt we can arrange the matter to
our satisfaction."

"I may tell you," Harry said, "that I have a younger brother coming out
with me. He is an apprentice nearly out of his time, and was on board the
_Stella_ when she was sunk in the Channel. Your owners have kindly
arranged that he shall go out with you as a supernumerary; that is one
reason why I wish to go in your ship."

The Master thought for a minute or two. "Well, Mr. Prendergast," he said,
"I like having one of you naval gentlemen on board; if anything goes wrong
it is a comfort to have your advice. If we have bad weather round the
Horn, could I rely upon you to give me a helping hand should I need it? I
don't mean that you should keep watch or anything of that sort, but that
you should, as it were, stand by me. I have a new first mate, and there is
no saying how he may turn out. No doubt the firm would make every enquiry.
Still, such enquiries don't mean much; a master doesn't like to damn a man
by refusing to give him a good character I dare say he is all right.
Still, I should certainly feel very much more comfortable if I had a naval
officer with me. Now, sir, I pay the firm twelve pounds for each passenger
I take as his share of the cabin stores; you pay me that, and I will ask
for nothing for your passage. I cannot say fairer than that."

"You cannot indeed, Captain, and I feel very much obliged to you for the
offer--very much obliged. It will suit me admirably, and in case of any
emergency you may rely upon my aid; and if you have a spell of bad weather
I shall be quite willing to take a watch, for I know that in the long
heavy gales you meet with going round the Horn the officers get terribly
overtaxed."

"And how about your brother?" the captain said; "as he is to be a
supernumerary, I suppose that only means that the firm are willing that he
shall put in his time for his rating. I have never had a supernumerary on
board, but I suppose he is to be regarded as a passenger rather than one
of the ship's complement."

"No, Captain, he is to be on the pay-sheet; and I think he had much better
be put into a watch. He would find the time hang very heavy on his hands
if he had nothing to do, and I know he is anxious to learn his profession
thoroughly. As he is to be paid, there is no reason why he should not
work."

"Very well; if you think so we will say nothing more about it. I thought
perhaps you would like to have him aft with you."

"I am much obliged to you, but I think the other way will be best; and I
am sure he would feel more comfortable with the other apprentices than as
a passenger."

"Are you going out for long, may I ask you, Mr. Prendergast?"

"For a couple of years or so. I am going to wander about and do some
shooting and exploring and that sort of thing, and I am taking him with me
as companion. I speak Spanish fairly well myself, and shall teach him on
the voyage, if you will allow me to do so. A knowledge of that language
will be an advantage to him when he comes back into Prosser & Co.'s
service."

"A great advantage," the captain agreed. "Most of us speak a little
Spanish, but I have often thought that it would pay the company to send a
man who could talk the lingo well in each ship. They could call him
supercargo, and I am sure he would pay his wages three or four times over
by being able to bargain and arrange with the Chilians and Peruvians. In
ports like Callao, where there is a British consul, things are all right,
but in the little ports we are fleeced right and left. Boatmen and
shopkeepers charge us two or three times as much as they do their own
countrymen, and I am sure that we could get better bargains in hides and
other produce if we had someone who could knock down their prices."

"When do you sail, Captain?"

"This day week. It will be high tide about eight, and we shall start to
warp out of dock a good half-hour earlier, so you can either come on board
the night before or about seven in the morning."

"Very well, sir; we shall be here in good time. I shall bring my things on
board with me; it is of no use sending them on before, as they will not be
bulky and can be stored away in my cabin."

"This will be your state-room," the captain said, opening a door. "I have
the one aft, and the first mate has the one opposite to you. The others
are empty, so you can stow any baggage that you have in one of them; the
second and third officers and the apprentices are in the deck-house
cabins."

"In that case, Captain, I will send the wine and spirits on board the day
before. Of course I shall get them out of bond; I might have difficulty in
doing that so early in the morning. You will perhaps be good enough to
order them to be stowed in one of the empty cabins."

"That will be the best plan," the captain said.

"When do the apprentices come on board?"

"The morning before we sail. There is always plenty to be done in getting
the last stores on board."

"All right! my brother will be here. Good-morning, Captain, and thank
you!"

The following morning at eleven Harry Prendergast was standing in front of
the entrance to the British Museum. A young lady came up. "It is very
imprudent of you, Harry," she said, after the first greeting, "to ask me
to meet you."

"I could not help it, dear; it was absolutely necessary that I should see
you."

"But it is of no use, Harry."

"I consider that it is of particular use, Hilda."

"But you know, Harry, when you had that very unpleasant talk with my
father, I was called in, and said that I had promised to wait two years
for you. When he found that I would not give way, he promised that he
would not press me, on the understanding that we were not to meet again
except in public, and I all but promised."

"Quite so, dear; but it appears to me that this is surely a public place."

"No, no, Harry; what he meant was that I was not to meet you except at
parties."

"Well, I should have asked you to meet me to-day even if I had had to
storm your father's house to see you. I am going away, dear, and he could
scarcely say much if he came along and found us talking here. You see, it
was not likely that I should stumble across a fortune in the streets of
London. I have talked the matter over with Barnett--you know our trustee,
you have met him once or twice--and we came to the conclusion that the
only possible chance of my being able to satisfy your father as to my
means, was for me to go to Peru and try to discover a gold mine there or
hidden treasure. Such discoveries have been made, and may be made again;
and he has supplied me with a letter to an Indian, who may possibly be
able to help me."

"To Peru, Harry! Why, they are always fighting there."

"Yes, they do a good deal of squabbling, but the people in general have
little to do with it; and certainly I am not going out to take any part in
their revolutions. There is not a shadow of doubt that a number of gold
mines worked by the old people were never discovered by the Spaniards, and
it is also certain that a great portion of the treasures of the Incas is
still lying hid. Barnett saved the life of a muleteer out there, and from
what he said he believed that the man did know something about one of
these lost mines, and might possibly let me into the secret. It is just an
off chance, but it is the only chance I can see. You promised your father
that you would never marry without his consent, and he would never give it
unless I were a rich man. If nothing comes of this adventure I shall be no
worse off than I am at present. If I am fortunate enough to discover a
rich mine or a hidden treasure, I shall be in a position to satisfy his
demand. I am going to take Bertie with me; he will be a cheerful
companion, and even now he is a powerful young fellow. At any rate, if I
get sick or anything of that sort, it would be an immense advantage to
have him with me."

"I don't like the idea of your going, Harry," she said tearfully.  "No,
dear; and if I had the chance of seeing you sometimes, and of some day
obtaining your father's consent to the marriage, all the gold mines in
Peru would offer no temptation to me. As it is, I can see nothing else for
it. In some respects it is better; if I were to stay here I should only be
meeting you frequently at dances and dinners, never able to talk to you
privately, and feeling always that you could never be mine. It would be a
constant torture. Here is a possibility--a very remote one, I admit, but
still a possibility--and even if it fails I shall have the satisfaction of
knowing that I have done all that a man could do to win you."

"I think it is best that you should go somewhere, Harry, but Peru seems to
be a horrible place."  "Barnett speaks of it in high terms. You know he
was four or five years out there. He describes the people as being
delightful, and he has nothing to say against the climate."

"I will not try to dissuade you," she said bravely after a pause. "At
present I am hopeless, but I shall have something to hope and pray for
while you are away. We will say good-bye now, dear. I have come to meet
you this once, but I will not do so again, another meeting would but give
us fresh pain. I am very glad to know that your brother is going with you.
I shall not have to imagine that you are ill in some out-of-the-way place
without a friend near you; and in spite of the dangers you may have to
run, I would rather think of you as bravely doing your best than eating
your heart out here in London. I shall not tell my father that we have met
here; you had better write to him and say that you are leaving London at
once, and that you hope in two years to return and claim me in accordance
with his promise. I am sure he will be glad to know that you have gone,
and that we shall not be constantly meeting. He will be kinder to me than
he has been of late, for as he will think it quite impossible that you can
make a fortune in two years he will be inclined to dismiss you altogether
from his mind."

For another half-hour they talked together, and then they parted with
renewed protestations on her part that nothing should induce her to break
her promise to wait for him for two years. He had given her the address of
one of the merchants to whom Mr. Barnett had promised him a letter of
introduction, so that she might from time to time write, for the voyage
would take at least four months and as much more would be required for his
first letter to come back. He walked moodily home after parting with her.

"Hullo, Harry! nothing wrong with you, I hope? why, you look as grave as
an owl."

"I feel grave, Bertie. I have just said good-bye to Hilda; and though I
kept up my spirits and made the best of this expedition of ours, I cannot
but feel how improbable it is that we shall meet again--that is to say, in
our present relations; for if I fail I certainly shall not return home for
some years; it would be only fair to her that I should not do so. I know
that she would keep on as long as there was any hope, but I should not
care to think that she was wasting her life. I was an ass to believe it
could ever be otherwise, and I feel that the best thing for us both would
have been for me to go away as soon as I found that I was getting fond of
her."

"Well, of course I cannot understand it, Harry, and it seems to me that
one girl is very like another; she may be a bit prettier than the average,
but I suppose that comes to all the same thing in another twenty years. I
can understand a man getting awfully fond of his ship, especially when she
is a clipper. However, some day I may feel different; besides, how could
you tell that her father would turn out such a crusty old beggar?"

"I suppose I did not think about it one way or the other, Bertie," Harry
said quietly. "However, the mischief is done, and even if there was no
chance whatever of making money I should go now for my own sake as well as
hers. Well, it is of no use talking more about it; we will go out now and
buy the rifles. I shan't get them new, one can pick up guns just as good
at half the price, and as I know something about rifles I am not likely to
be taken in. Of course I have got my pistols and only have a brace to buy
for you. You will have time on the voyage to practise with them; if you
did not do that you would be as likely to shoot me as a hostile Indian."

"Oh, that is bosh!" the boy said; "still, I certainly should like to be a
good shot."

After getting the rifles and pistols, Harry went into the city and ordered
six dozen of wine and three dozen of brandy to be sent on board out of
bond; he also ordered a bag of twenty pounds of raw coffee, a chest of
tea, and a couple of dozen bottles of pickles and sauces, to be sent down
to the docks on the day before the _Para_ sailed. Another suit of
seafaring clothes and a stock of underclothing was ordered for Bertie.
Harry spent the intervening time before the vessel sailed in looking up
his friends and saying good-bye to them, and drove down to the docks at
the appointed time, his brother having joined the ship on the previous
day.

The _Para_ was a barque-rigged ship of some eight hundred tons. At present
she did not show to advantage, her deck being littered with stores of all
kinds that had come on board late. The deck planks where they could be
seen were almost black, the sails had been partly loosed from the gaskets,
and to an eye accustomed to the neatness and order of a man-of-war her
appearance was by no means favourable; but her sides shone with fresh
paint, and, looking at her lines from the wharf, Harry thought she would
be both fast and a good sea-boat. She was not heavily laden, and stood
boldly up in the water. Nodding to Bertie, who was working hard among the
men, he went up on to the poop, from which Captain Peters was shouting
orders.

"Glad to see you, sir," the captain said; "she looks rather in a litter at
present, doesn't she? We shall get her all ataunto before we get down to
the Nore. These confounded people won't send their stores on board till
the last moment. If I were an owner I should tell all shippers that no
goods would be received within five or six hours of the ship's time for
sailing; that would give us a fair chance, instead of starting all in a
muddle, just at the time, too, when more than any other one wants to have
the decks free for making short tacks down these narrow reaches. I believe
half the wrecks on the sands at the mouth of the river are due to the
confusion in which the ships start. How can a crew be lively in getting
the yards over when they have to go about decks lumbered up like this, and
half of them are only just recovering from their bout of drink the day
before?"

Up to the last moment everyone on board was hard at work, and when the
order was given to throw off the hawsers the deck was already
comparatively clear. Half an hour later the vessel passed out through the
dock gates, with two boats towing ahead so as to take her well out into
the river; the rest of the crew were employed in letting the sails drop.
As soon as she gathered way the men in the boats were called in, the boats
themselves being towed behind in case they might again be required.

The passage from the Pool to the mouth of the river was in those days the
most dangerous portion of the voyage. There were no tugs to seize the
ships and carry them down to the open water, while the channels below the
Nore were badly buoyed and lighted, and it was no uncommon thing for
twenty vessels to get upon the sands in the course of a single tide.

The wind was light, and being northerly helped them well on their way, and
it was only in one or two reaches that the _Para_ was unable to lay her
course. She overtook many craft that had been far ahead of her, and
answered the helm quickly.

"She is both fast and handy, I see," Harry Prendergast, who had been
watching her movements with interest, remarked.

"Yes; there are not many craft out of London can show her their heels when
the wind is free. She does not look quite so well into the wind as I
should wish; still, I think she is as good as most of them."

"I suppose you will get down to Gravesend before the tide turns?"

"Yes, we shall anchor there. The wind is not strong enough for us to stem
the tide, which runs like a sluice there. Once past the Nore one can do
better, but there is no fighting the tide here unless one has a steady
breeze aft. I never feel really comfortable till we are fairly round the
South Foreland; after that it is plain sailing enough. Though there are a
few shoals in the Channel, one can give them a wide berth; fogs are the
things we have to fear there."

"Yes. I have never been down the river, having always joined my ships
either at Portsmouth or Plymouth, so I know very little about it; but I
know from men who have been on board vessels commissioned at Chatham or
Sheerness that they are thankful indeed when they once get round the Good
wins and head west."

"Well, Mr. Prendergast, I am against these new-fangled steamboats--I
suppose every true sailor is; but when the _Marjory_ began to run between
London and Gravesend eighteen years ago--in '15 I think it was--folks did
say that it would not be long before sailing craft would be driven off the
sea. I did not believe that then, and I don't believe it now; but I do say
that I hope before long there will be a lot of small steamers on the
Thames, to tow vessels down till they are off the North Foreland. It would
be a blessing and a comfort to us master mariners. Once there we have the
choice of going outside the Goodwins, or taking a short cut inside if the
wind is aft. Why, sir, it would add years to our lives and shorten voyages
by weeks. There we are, now, sometimes lying off the Nore, five hundred
sail, waiting for the wind to shift out of the east, and when we do get
under weigh we have always to keep the lead going. One never knows when
one may bump upon the sands. Some masters will grope their way along in
the dark, but for my part I always anchor. There are few enough buoys and
beacons in daytime, but I consider that it is tempting Providence to try
and go down in a dark night. The owners are sensible men and they know
that it is not worth while running risks just to save a day or two when
you have got a four months' voyage before you. Once past Dover I am ready
to hold on with anyone, but between the Nore and the North Foreland I pick
my way as carefully as a woman going across a muddy street."

"You are quite right, Captain; I thoroughly agree with you. More ships get
ashore going down to the mouth of the Thames than in any other part of the
world; and, as you say, if all sailing ships might be taken down by a
steamer, it would be the making of the port of London."

"Your brother is a smart young chap, Mr. Prendergast. I was watching him
yesterday, and he is working away now as if he liked work. He has the
makings of a first-rate sailor. I hold that a man will never become a
first-class seaman unless he likes work for its own sake. There are three
sorts of hands. There is the fellow who shirks his work whenever he has a
chance; there is the man who does his work, but who does it because he has
to do it, and always looks glad when a job is over; and there is the lad
who jumps to his work, chucks himself right into it, and puts his last
ounce of strength on a rope. That is the fellow who will make a good
officer, and who, if needs be, can set an example to the men when they
have to go aloft to reef a sail in a stiff gale. So, as I understand, Mr.
Prendergast, he is going to leave the sea for a bit. It seems a pity too."

"He will be none the worse for it, Captain. A year or so knocking about
among the mountains of Peru will do more good to him than an equal time on
board ship. It will sharpen him up, and give him habits of reliance and
confidence. He will be all the better for it afterwards, even putting
aside the advantage it will be to him to pick up Spanish."

"Yes, it may do him good," the captain agreed, "if it does not take away
his liking for the sea."

"I don't think it will do that. If the first voyage or two don't sicken a
lad, I think it is pretty certain he is cut out for the sea. Of course it
is a very hard life at first, especially if the officers are a rough lot,
but when a boy gets to know his duty things go more easily with him; he is
accustomed to the surroundings, and takes to the food, which you know is
not always of the best, with a good appetite. Bertie has had three years
of it now, and when he has come home I have never heard a grumble from
him; and he is not likely to meet with such luxuries while we are knocking
about as to make him turn up his nose at salt junk."

The tide was already turning when they reached Gravesend. As soon as the
anchor was down the steward came up to say that dinner was ready.

"I am not at all sorry," Harry said as he went below with the captain. "I
ate a good breakfast before I started at half-past six, and I went below
and had a biscuit and bottle of beer at eleven, but I feel as hungry as a
hunter now. There is nothing like a sea appetite. I have been nearly two
years on shore, and I never enjoyed a meal as I do at sea."

The crew had been busy ever since they left the dock, and the deck had now
been scrubbed and made tidy, and presented a very different appearance
from that which met Harry's eye as he came on board.

Johnson, the first mate, also dined with the skipper. He was a tall,
powerfully-built man. He was singularly taciturn, and took no share in the
conversation unless directly asked. He seemed, however, to be able to
appreciate a joke, but never laughed audibly, contenting himself with
drawing his lips apart and showing his teeth.

The wind was light and baffling, so that they did not round the South
Foreland until the seventh day after leaving dock. After that it was
favourable and steady, and they ran without any change until they
approached the line; then there was a fortnight of calm. At last they got
the wind again, and made a rapid run until within five hundred miles of
Cape Horn. The captain was in high glee.

"We have done capitally so far, Mr. Prendergast. I don't think I ever made
so rapid a run. If she goes on like this we shall reach Callao within
three months of starting."

"I don't think the weather will continue like this," the mate said.

This was the first original observation he had made since he had sailed,
and Harry and the captain looked at him in surprise.

"You think there is going to be a change, Mr. Johnson?" the captain said,
after a short pause to recover from his astonishment.

The mate nodded.

"Glass falling, sky hazy."

"Is the glass falling? I am ashamed to say I have not looked at it for the
past twenty-four hours. It has stuck so long at the same point that I have
quite ceased to look at it two or three times a day as I usually do."

"It has not fallen much, but it is sinking."

The captain got up from the table, and went to look at the glass.

"You are right, it has fallen a good eighth; but that may mean a change of
wind. Did you notice any change, Mr. Prendergast?"

"No, I can't say that I did. I looked up, as a sailor always does, when I
was on deck this morning, but it was clear enough then, and I have not
noticed it particularly since."

But when they went up on deck half an hour later both agreed that the mate
was right. The change overhead was slight, but away to the west a dull
reddish mist seemed to obscure the horizon.

"We will get the upper sails off at once, Mr. Johnson. These storms come
so suddenly off the coast that it is as well to lose no time in shortening
sail when one sees any indication of such a change."

The mate at once gave the necessary orders. The sailors started up with
looks of surprise.

"Look sharp, men!" the mate said. "We shall have wind, and plenty of it.
It will be here before long."

The men, who were by no means sorry for a spell of work after going so
long without shifting sail or tack, worked hard, and the white sheets of
canvas were soon snugly furled. By this time all the sailors who had been
to sea for any time recognized the utility of their work. The low bank had
risen and extended the whole width of the western horizon.

"What do you think, Mr. Prendergast? Have we got enough off her?"

"I don't know about your storms here, Captain; but if it were in the
Levant I should get every stitch of canvas off her excepting closely-
reefed topsails, a storm jib, and fore stay-sail. The first burst over,
one can always shake out more canvas. However, you know these seas, and I
do not."

"I think you are right. These pamperos, as we call them, are not to be
trifled with."

"In that case there is no time to be lost, Captain, and with your
permission I will lend a hand."

"All hands take in sail!" the captain shouted.

The mate led the way up the starboard shrouds, while Harry, throwing off
his coat, mounted those to port, closely followed by Bertie. Five minutes'
hard work, and the _Para_ was stripped for the struggle.

"That is a good job done," the skipper said to Harry as he reached the
deck.

"A very good job, sir. The wind may come, but we are prepared for it;
there is nothing like being ready in time."

"She is in good trim for it," said the captain, "not above two-thirds
laden, and as the wind is off the land, there is nothing to worry us
except the Falklands. I shall go outside them. Of course that will
lengthen the voyage, but with this westerly wind I should not care about
being between them and the mainland. You think the same, Mr. Prendergast?"

"I do, sir; they are a scattered group, and it would not be pleasant to
have them under lee."

It had grown sensibly darker, but the line of mist had not risen higher.
Harry remarked upon this.

"I almost doubt whether it is coming after all," he said.

The captain shook his head.

"It does not spread over the sky," he said, "because it is largely dust
blown off the land. After the first burst you will see that we shall have
a bright blue sky and a roaring wind, just as one gets it sometimes in an
easterly gale in the Channel. We shall have it in another five minutes, I
fancy. I don't think it will be very strong, or we should have had it here
before this."

It was not long before a dull, moaning sound was heard, the brown-red fog
changed its appearance, swirls of vapour seemed to dash out in front of
it, and the whole swelled and heaved as if it were being pushed forward by
some tremendous pressure in its rear.

The ship's head was pointing nearly east, the canvas hung down motionless,
and there was not a breath of wind.

"Hold on all!" the captain shouted. Half a minute later the billowly
clouds swept across the vessel, and a sudden darkness overspread them.
Then there was a glow of white light, a line of foam approached as fleet
as a race-horse, and with a shriek the gale was upon them. The vessel
shook from stem to stern as if she had struck against a rock, and her bow
was pressed down lower and lower until she seemed as if she were going to
dive head-foremost. But as she gathered way, her bow rose, and in a minute
she was flying along at some eighteen knots an hour.

"She is all right now, Mr. Prendergast," the captain said. "It is well we
stripped her so thoroughly, and that she is not heavily laden."

Four men had been placed at the wheel, and it needed all their strength to
keep her from yawing. In half an hour the sea began to get up, and the
captain laid her course south-east, which put the wind on her quarter.

"It is well we were not a degree or so farther south, Captain."

"Yes; it would have been as much as we could do to weather the Falklands;
for with this small amount of sail we should have made a terrible amount
of leeway. As it is, all is fair sailing."

The darkness gradually passed away, and in an hour after the gale had
struck her the _Para_ was sailing under a bright blue sky. Although but
few points off the wind, she was lying down till her lee scuppers were
under water. The spray was flying over her sparkling in the sun; the
sailors were crouched under the weather bulwark, lashed to belaying-pins
and stanchions to prevent themselves from shifting down to leewards. Six
hours later it was evident that there was some slight diminution in the
force of the wind.

"She is going about fourteen knots now," the captain said; "we can head
her more to the south. We must be nearly abreast of the islands, and
according to my reckoning forty or fifty miles to the east of them."

It was now dark, and the watch was sent below.

"To-morrow morning we shall be able to get some more sail on her," the
master said, "and I hope by the next morning the squall will be over, for
we shall then have made our southing, and the wind will be right in our
teeth when we turn her head west. There is no saying which way it will
come when the squall dies out. What do you think, Johnson?"

"We are pretty sure to get it hot from one quarter or another," the man
said. "I should say most likely from the south."

"Except for the cold that would be better than west," Harry remarked.

"Yes, if it is not too strong; but it is likely to be strong. After such a
gale as we have had, it seldom settles down for some time. As like as not
there will be bad weather for the next month."

The next morning when Harry went on deck he saw that the reefs had been
shaken out of the topsails and the spanker hoisted. There was still a
fresh wind, but it had backed round more to the south, and there was so
sharp a nip in it that he went below and put on a pea-jacket. Then he
beckoned to Bertie, who was off duty, to join him on the poop.

"That has been a smart blow, Bertie."

"Yes, but I had it worse than that the last time I came round the Horn. I
think we shall be shortening sail again before long. The clouds are
banking up to the south-west. She is a good sea-boat, isn't she?"

"She has behaved uncommonly well. We shall want all our clothes before
night, Bertie. It was May when we started, and it is nearly mid-winter
down here."

"There is one thing, we shan't have so much risk of coming across drifting
icebergs, most of them will be frozen up hard and fast down in the south.
They don't matter much when the weather is clear, but if it is thick one
has an awful time of it. On my first voyage it was like that, and I tell
you I didn't think I was going to see England again. We had some
desperately close shaves."

The wind speedily freshened, and by evening the ship was under close-
reefed canvas again. The clouds were flying fast overhead and the air was
thick. Before the evening watch was set the ship was brought round on the
other tack, and was running to the east of south.

"We will lie on this course till morning, Mr. Prendergast," said the
captain, "and then if the wind holds, I think we shall be able to make a
long leg and weather the Horn."

For six days the storm raged with unabated violence. The cold was intense,
the spray breaking over the bows froze as it fell, and the crew were
engaged for hours at a time in breaking up the masses of ice thus formed.
Harry had volunteered to take a watch in turn with the first and second
mates. The captain was almost continuously on deck. Twice they encountered
icebergs, and once in a driving snow-storm nearly ran foul of one.
Fortunately it was daylight, and the whole crew being on deck, they were
able to put the vessel about just in time. During this time the vessel had
only gained a few miles' westing. All on board were utterly exhausted with
the struggle against the bitter wind; their hands were sore and bleeding
through pulling upon frozen ropes, their faces inflamed, and their eyelids
so swollen and sore that they could scarcely see. Then the wind began to
abate, and more sail being got on the _Para_, she was able to lie her
course.




CHAPTER III

AT LIMA


Three days later the sky cleared, and the captain, getting an observation,
found that they had rounded the southernmost point of the Cape. Another
day and the _Para's_ head was turned north, and a week later they were
running smoothly along before a gentle breeze, with the coast of Chili
twenty miles away. The heavy wraps had all been laid aside, and although
the air was still frosty, the crew felt it warm after what they had
endured. The upper spars and yards had all been sent up, and she was now
carrying a crowd of canvas. The mate had thawed out under the more
congenial surroundings. He had worked like a horse during the storm,
setting an example, whether in going aloft or in the work of clearing off
the ice from the bows, and even when his watch was relieved he seldom went
below.

"Well, I hope, Mr. Johnson, we shall sail together until you get your next
step," the captain said. "I could not wish for a better first officer."

"I want nothing better, sir. She is a fine ship, well manned and well
commanded. I begin to feel at home in her now; at first I didn't. I hate
changes; and though the last captain I sailed with was a surly fellow, we
got on very well together. I would rather sail with a man like that than
with a skipper who is always talking. I am a silent man myself, and am
quite content to eat my meal and enjoy it, without having to stop every
time I am putting my fork into my mouth to answer some question or other.
I was once six months up in the north without ever speaking to a soul. I
was whaling then, and a snow-storm came on when we were fast on to a fish.
It was twenty-four hours before it cleared off, and when it did there was
no ship to be seen. We were in an inlet at the time in Baffin's Bay. We
thought that the ship would come back, and we landed and hauled up the
boat. The ship didn't come back, and, as I learned long afterwards, was
never heard of again. I suppose she got nipped between two icebergs.

"Winter was coming on fast, and the men all agreed that they would rather
try and make their way south overland than stay there. I told them that
they were fools, but I admit that the prospect of a winter there was
enough to frighten any man. I did not like it myself, but I thought it was
wiser to remain there than to move. Some of the men went along the shore,
or out in the boat, and managed to kill several sea-cows. They made a
sledge, piled the meat on it, and started.

"Meanwhile I had been busy building a sort of hut. I piled great stones
against the foot of the cliffs, and turned the boat upside down to form a
roof. The men helped me to do that job the last thing before they started.
Then I blocked up the entrance, leaving only just room for me to crawl in
and out. The snow began to fall steadily three days after the others had
gone, and very soon covered my hut two feet deep. I melted the blubber of
the whale in the boat's baler, for we had towed the fish ashore. The first
potful or two I boiled over a few bits of drift-wood. After that it was
easy enough, as I unravelled some of the boat's rope, dipped it in the hot
blubber, and made a store of big candles. There was a lot of meat left on
the sea-cows, so I cut that up, froze it, and stowed as much as I could in
the hut. I was bothered about the rest, as I knew the bears were likely to
come down; but I found a ledge on the face of the perpendicular rock, and
by putting the boat's mast against it I was able to get up to it. Here I
piled, I should say, a ton of meat and blubber. Then I set to work and
collected some dried grass, and soon I had enough to serve as bed and
covers. It took me a month to do all this, and by that time winter was
down on me in earnest. I had spent my evenings in making myself, out of
the skins of the three cows, breeches, high boots, and a coat with a hood
over the head, and in order to make these soft I rubbed them with hot oil.
They were rough things, but I hoped that I might get a bear later on.
Fortunately the boat had two balers, for I required one in which to melt
the snow over the lamp.

"Well, sir, I lived there during that winter. I did not find it altogether
dull, for I had several bits of excitement. For a month or so bears and
wolves came down and fought over the carcass of the whale. When that was
eaten up they turned their attention to me, and over and over again they
tried to break in. They had better have left me alone, for though they
were strong enough to have pulled away the rocks that blocked the
entrance, they could not stand fire. As I had any amount of rope, I used
to soak it in rock-oil, set it on fire, and shove it out of the entrance.
Twice small bears managed to wriggle up the passage, but I had sharpened
the boat-hook and managed to kill them both. One skin made me a whole
suit, and the other a first-rate blanket. Not that it was ever
unpleasantly cold, for a couple of my big candles, and the thick coating
of snow over it, kept the place as warm as I cared for. Occasionally, when
the bears had cleared off, I went out, climbed the mast, and got fresh
supplies down. They had made desperate efforts to get at the meat, but the
face of the rock was luckily too smooth for them to get any hold. When
spring came and the ice broke up, I planted the mast on the top of the
cliff with the sail fastened as a flag, and a month after the sea was
clear a whaler came in and took me off. That was how I pretty well lost
the use of my tongue, and though I am better than I was, I don't use it
much now except on duty."

"That certainly accounts for it," Harry said; "you must have had an awful
time."

"I don't think I minded it very much, sir. Except when I was bothered by
the bears I slept a good lot. I think at first I used to talk out loud a
good deal. But I soon dropped that, though I used to whistle sometimes
when I was cooking the food. I don't think I should have held on so long
if I had only had the sea-cow flesh, but the bears made a nice change, and
I only wished that one or two more had managed to crawl in."

"I wonder you were able to kill them with a boat-hook."

"I didn't, sir. You know every whaler carries an axe to cut the line if
necessary, and I was able to split their skulls as they crawled in before
they could get fairly on to their feet and use their paws. I was getting
very weak with scurvy towards the end; but as soon as the snow melted
plants began to shoot, and I was able to collect green stuff, so that I
was nearly well by the time I was picked up."

The weather continued fine all the time they were coasting up the Chilian
coast. They were a week at Valparaiso getting out the cargo they had
brought for that town, and did some trading at smaller ports; but at last,
just four months after leaving England, they dropped anchor off Callao.
"Well, it has been a jolly voyage, Harry," his brother said as they were
rowed ashore, after a hearty farewell from the captain and the first
officer.

"I am glad you enjoyed it, Bertie. I was sorry all the time I hadn't taken
a passage for you aft."

"I am better pleased to have been at work; it would have been awfully slow
otherwise. The mates were both good fellows, and I got on well with the
other apprentices. I tried at first not to turn out on night watch, as I
was not obliged to do so, but I soon gave it up; it seemed disgusting to
be lying there when the others had to turn out. It has been a jolly
voyage, but I am glad that we are here at last, and are going to set to
work in search of treasures."

"I had begun to think that we should not get on shore to-day," Harry said
as they neared the landing-place. "What with three hours' waiting for the
medical officer, and another three for that bumptious official whom they
call the port officer, and without whose permission no one is allowed to
land, I think everyone on board was so disgusted that we should have liked
nothing better than to pitch the fellow overboard. It was rather amusing
to watch all those boatmen crowding round shouting the praises of their
own craft and running down the others. But a little of it goes a long way.
It is the same pretty nearly at every port I have entered. Boatmen are
harpies of the worst kind. It is lucky that we had so little baggage; a
tip of a couple of dollars was enough to render the custom-house officer
not only civil but servile."

As they mounted the steps they were assailed by a motley crowd, half of
whom struggled to get near them to hold out their hands for alms, while
the other half struggled and fought for the right of carrying their
baggage. Accustomed to such scenes, Harry at once seized upon two of them,
gave them the portmanteaux, and, keeping behind them, pushed them through
the crowd, telling them to lead the way to the hotel that the captain had
recommended as being the least filthy in the place. They crossed a square
covered with goods of all kinds. There were long rows of great jars filled
with native spirit, bales of cinchona bark, piles of wheat from Chili,
white and rose-coloured blocks of salt, pyramids of unrefined sugar, and a
block of great bars of silver; among these again were bales and boxes
landed from foreign countries, logs of timber, and old anchors and chains.
Numbers of people who appeared to have nothing to do sauntered about or
sat on logs. In odd corners were native women engaged in making the
picanties upon which the poor largely exist; these were composed of fresh
and salt meat, potatoes, crabs, the juice of bitter oranges, lard, salt,
and an abundance of pepper pods.

"That is the sort of thing we shall have to eat, Bertie."

"Well, I should not mind if I had not got to look on at the making; they
smell uncommonly good."

The hotel was larger and even more dirty than the captain's description
had led them to expect. However, the dinner that was served to them was
better than they had looked for, and being very hungry after their long
wait, they did full justice to it.

"It might have been a good deal worse, Bertie."

"I should think so; after four months of salt junk it is splendid!"

A cup of really good coffee, followed by a little glass of native spirits,
added to their satisfaction. They had hesitated before whether to push on
at once to Lima or wait there till next morning. Their meal decided them--
they would start at daybreak, so as to get to Lima before the sun became
really hot. Harry asked the landlord to bargain for two riding mules and
one for baggage to be ready at that hour, and they then strolled out to
view the place, although Bertie assured his brother that there was nothing
whatever to see in it.

"That may be, Bertie; but we are not going to begin by being lazy. There
is always something to see in foreign lands by those who keep their eyes
open."

After an hour's walk Harry was inclined to think that his brother was
right. The houses were generally constructed of canes, plastered with mud,
and painted yellow. As the result of earthquakes, scarce a house stood
upright--some leaned sideways, and looked as if they were going to topple
over into the road; while others leaned back, as if, were you to push
against them, they would collapse and crush the inmates.

Their night was not a pleasant one. The beds were simple, consisting only
of hides stretched across wooden frames, but, as they very speedily found,
there were numerous other inhabitants. They therefore slept but little,
and were heartily glad when the first gleam of dawn appeared.

Slipping on their clothes, they ran down to the shore and had a bath. By
the time they returned breakfast was ready--coffee, fish, and eggs. The
mules did not appear for another hour, by which time their patience was
all but exhausted. The portmanteaux were speedily strapped on to the back
of the baggage mule, and they mounted the two others. The muleteer had
brought one for himself, and, fastening the baggage animal behind it, they
started.

It was six miles to Lima, but as the city is five hundred and twelve feet
above the sea, the ascent was steady and somewhat steep. The road was
desperately bad, and the country uninteresting, being for the most part
dried up. Occasionally they saw great mounds of adobe bricks, the remains
of the ancient habitations. As they neared the town vegetation became
general, small canals irrigating the country. Here were fruit and
vegetable gardens, with oranges, plantains, vines, and flowers.

Passing through a gate in the walls they entered the town, which afforded
a pleasant contrast to the squalid misery of Callao. The city, however,
could not be called imposing; the houses were low and irregular,
fantastically painted in squares or stripes, and almost all had great
balconies shut in with trellis-work.

Few of the houses had any windows towards the street, the larger ones
being constructed with a central courtyard, into which the rooms all
opened. The streets were all built at right angles, the principal ones
leading from the grand square, in which stood the cathedral and the palace
of the Spanish viceroys, the other sides consisting of private houses,
with shops and arcades below them. The hotel to which they had been
recommended was a large building with a courtyard, with dining and other
rooms opening from it, and above them the bedrooms. In comparison with the
inn at Callao it was magnificent, but in point of cleanliness it left a
great deal to be desired. After settling themselves in their room they
went out. The change in temperature since they had left Callao had been
very great.

"The first thing to do, Bertie, is to buy ourselves a couple of good
ponchos. You see all the natives are wearing them."

"We certainly want something of the sort, Harry. I thought it was heat
that we were going to suffer from, but it seems just the other way. To
judge from the temperature we might be in Scotland, and this damp mist
chills one to the bone."

"I am not much surprised, for of course I got the subject up as much as I
could before starting; and Barnett told me that Lima was altogether an
exceptional place, and that while it was bright and warm during the winter
months, from May till November on the plains only a few miles away, even
in the summer months there was almost always a clammy mist at Lima, and
that inside the house as well as outside everything streamed with
moisture. He said that this had never been satisfactorily accounted for.
Some say that it is due to the coldness of the river here--the Rimac--
which comes down from the snowy mountains. Others think that the cold wind
that always blows down the valley of the river meets the winds from the
sea here, and the moisture contained in them is thus precipitated. I
believe that a few miles higher up we shall get out of this atmosphere
altogether. Still, the ponchos will be very useful, for it will be really
cold up in the mountains. They serve for cloaks in the daytime and
blankets at night. The best are made of the wool of the guanacos, a sort
of llama. Their wool is very fine, and before we start we will get two of
coarser wool to use as blankets to sleep on, while we have the finer ones
to cover us."

There was no difficulty in finding a shop with the goods they wanted, and
the prices, even of the best, were very moderate. They next bought two
soft felt hats with broad brims.

"That is ever so much more comfortable. We will wait until to-morrow
before we begin what we may call business, Bertie. Of course I shall
deliver the other letters of introduction that Mr. Barnett gave me; but
the principal one--that to his former muleteer--is more important than all
put together. If anything has happened to him, there is an end of any
chance whatever of finding treasure. Of course he may have moved away, or
be absent on a journey with his mules, in which case we shall have either
to follow him or wait for his return."

"That would be a frightful nuisance."

"Yes; still, it is one of the things that we foresaw might happen."

"I vote we go at once, Harry, and see if he is here."

"I don't think we shall find him here; for Barnett said that he lived in
the village of Miraflores, five miles away on the north, and that if he is
not there, Señor Pasquez, to whom I have a letter, will be likely to tell
me where he is to be found, for he is often employed by him. However, I am
as anxious as you to see him. As it is only eleven o'clock yet, there is
no reason why we should not go to Miraflores. They will get mules for us
at the hotel, and tell us which road to take."

It was not necessary, however, to go into the hotel, for when they
returned, two or three men with mules were waiting to be hired. They
engaged two animals, and as the man of whom they hired them had a third,
and he was ready to accompany them for a small fee, they agreed to take
him with them.

Before they were a mile out of the town the mist cleared off and the sun
shone brightly. The heat, however, was by no means too great to be
pleasant. Miraflores was a charming village, or rather small town,
nestling among gardens and orchards.

"I want to find a muleteer named Dias Otero," Harry said to their guide as
they rode into the place.

"I know him well," he said. "Everyone about here knows Dias. His wife was
a cousin of my mother's."

"Do you know whether he is at home now?"

"Yes, señor; I saw him in Lima three days ago. He had just come down from
the mountains. He had been away two months, and certainly will not have
started again so soon. Shall I lead you to his house at once?"

"Do so; it is to see him that I have come to this town. He worked for a
long time with a friend of mine some years ago, and I have brought a
message from him. I may be some time talking with him, so when I go in you
can tie up your mules for a while."

"That is his house," the man said presently.

It lay in the outskirts of the town, and was neater than the generality of
houses, and the garden was a mass of flowers. They dismounted, handed over
the mules to their owner, and walked to the door. An Indian of some five-
and-forty years came out as they did so.

"Are you Dias Otero?" Harry asked.

"The same, señor."

"I have just arrived from England, and bring a letter to you from Señor
Barnett, with whom you travelled for two or three years some time ago."

The man's face lit up with pleasure. "Will you enter, señor. Friends of
Señor Barnett may command my services in any way. It is a delight to hear
from him. He writes to me sometimes, but in these troubles letters do not
always come. I love the señor; there never was a kinder master. He once
saved my life at the risk of his own. Is there any hope of his coming out
again?"

"I do not think so, Dias. He is strong and well, but I do not think he is
likely to start again on a journey of exploration. He is my greatest
friend. My brother and I were left under his charge when we were young,
and he has been almost a father to us. It is he who has sent us out to
you. Here is his letter."

"Will you read it to me, señor. I cannot read; I am always obliged to get
somebody to read my letters, and write answers for me."

The letter was of course in Spanish, and Harry read:

"Dear friend Dias,

"I am sending out to you a gentleman, Mr. Prendergast, an officer of the
British Navy, in whom I am deeply interested. His brother accompanies him.
I beg that you will treat them as you would me, and every service you can
render him consider as rendered to myself. From a reason which he will no
doubt explain to you in time, it is of the deepest importance to him that
he should grow rich in the course of the next two years. He asked my
advice, and I said to him, 'There is no one I know of who could possibly
put you in the way of so doing better than my friend Dias Otero. I believe
it is in his power to do so if he is willing.' I also believe that for my
sake you will aid him. He will place himself wholly in your hands. He does
not care what danger he runs, or what hardships he has to go through in
order to attain his purpose. I know that I need not say more to you. He
has two years before him; long before that I am sure you will be as
interested in him as you were in me. He has sufficient means to pay all
expenses of travel for the time he will be out there. I know that you are
descended from nobles of high rank at the court of the Incas when the
Spaniards arrived, and that secrets known to but few were passed down from
father to son in your family. If you can use any of those secrets to the
advantage of my friend, I pray you most earnestly to do so. I trust that
this letter will find you and your good wife in health. Had I been ten
years younger I would have come out with my friends to aid them in their
adventure, but I know that in putting them into your hands I shall be
doing them a vastly greater service than I could do were I able to come in
person."

When Harry ceased, the Indian sat for some time without speaking, then he
said:

"It is a matter that I must think over, señor. It is a very grave one, and
had any other man than Señor Barnett asked this service of me no money
could have tempted me to assent to it. It is not only that my life would
be in danger, but that my name would be held up to execration by all my
people were I to divulge the secret that even the tortures of the
Spaniards could not wring from us. I must think it over before I answer. I
suppose you are staying at the Hotel Morin; I will call and see you when I
have thought the matter over. It is a grave question, and it may be three
or four days before I can decide."

"I thank you, Dias; but there is no occasion for you to give a final
decision now. Whether or no, we shall travel for a while, and I trust that
you will go with us with your mules and be our guide, as you did to Mr.
Barnett. It will be time enough when you know us better to give us a final
answer; it is not to be expected that even for Señor Barnett's sake you
would do this immense service for strangers, therefore I pray you to leave
the matter open. Make arrangements for your mules and yourself for a three
months' journey in the mountains, show us what there is to see of the gold
and silver placers, and the quicksilver mines at Huanuco. At the end of
that time you will know us and can say whether you are ready to aid us in
our search."

The native bowed his head gravely.

"I will think it over," he said; "and now, señors, let us put that aside.
My wife has been busy since you entered in preparing a simple meal, and I
ask you to honour me by partaking of it."

"With pleasure, Dias."

It consisted of _puchero_, a stew consisting of a piece of beef, cabbage,
sweet-potatoes, salt pork, sausage-meat, pigs' feet, yuccas, bananas,
quinces, peas, rice, salt, and an abundance of Chili peppers. This had
been cooked for six hours and was now warmed up. Two bottles of excellent
native wine, a flask of spirits, and some water were also put on the
table. The Indian declined to sit down with them, saying that he had taken
a meal an hour before.

While they ate he chatted with them, asking questions of their voyage and
telling them of the state of things in the country.

"It is always the same, señors, there is a revolution and two or three
battles; then either the president or the one who wants to be president
escapes from the country or is taken and shot, and in a day or two there
is a fresh pronunciamiento. We thought that when the Spaniards had been
driven out we should have had peace, but it is not so; we have had San
Martin, and Bolivar, and Aguero, and Santa Cruz, and Sucre. Bolivar again
finally defeated the Spaniards at Ayacucho. Rodil held possession of
Callao castle, and defended it until January of this year. We in the
villages have not suffered--those who liked fighting went out with one or
other of the generals; some have returned, others have been killed--but
Lima has suffered greatly. Sometimes the people have taken one side,
sometimes the other, and though the general they supported was sometimes
victorious for a short time, in the end they suffered. Most of the old
Spanish families perished; numbers died in the castle of Callao, where
many thousands of the best blood of Lima took refuge, and of these well-
nigh half died of hunger and misery before Rodil surrendered."

"But does not this make travelling very unsafe?"

The Indian shrugged his shoulders.

"Peru is a large country, señor, and those who want to keep out of the way
of the armies and lighting can do so; I myself have continued my
occupation and have never fallen in with the armies. That is because the
fighting is principally in the plains, or round Cuzco; for the men do not
go into the mountains except as fugitives, as they could not find food
there for an army. It is these fugitives who render the road somewhat
unsafe; starving men must take what they can get. They do not interfere
with the great silver convoys from Potosi or other mines--a loaf of bread
is worth more than a bar of silver in the mountains--but they will plunder
persons coming down with goods to the town or going up with their
purchases. Once or twice I have had to give up the food I carried with me,
but I have had little to grumble at, and I do not think you need trouble
yourself about them; we will take care to avoid them as far as possible."

After chatting for an hour they left the cottage, and, mounting their
mules, returned to Lima.

"I think he will help us, Harry," Bertie said as soon as they set out.

"I think so too, but we must not press him to begin with. Of course there
is a question too as to how far he can help us. He may know vaguely where
the rich mines once existed; but you must remember that they have been
lost for three hundred years, and it may be impossible for even a man who
has received the traditions as to their positions to hit upon the precise
spot. The mountains, you see, are tremendous; there must be innumerable
ravines and gorges among them. It is certain that nothing approaching an
accurate map can ever have been made of the mountains, and I should say
that in most cases the indications that may have been given are very
vague. They would no doubt have been sufficient for those who lived soon
after the money was hidden, and were natives of that part of the country
and thoroughly acquainted with all the surroundings, but when the
information came to be handed down from mouth to mouth during many
generations, the local knowledge would be lost, and what were at first
detailed instructions would become little better than vague legends. You
know how three hundred years will alter the face of a country--rocks roll
down the hills, torrents wash away the soil, forests grow or are cleared
away. I believe with you that the Indian will do his best, but I have
grave doubts whether he will be able to locate any big thing."

"Well, you don't take a very cheerful view of things, Harry; you certainly
seemed more hopeful when we first started."

"Yes. I don't say I am not hopeful still, but it is one thing to plan out
an enterprise at a distance and quite another when you are face to face
with its execution. As we have come down the coast, and seen that great
range of mountains stretching along for hundreds of miles, and we know
that there is another quite as big lying behind it, I have begun to
realize the difficulties of the adventures that we are undertaking.
However, we shall hear, when Dias comes over to see us, what he thinks of
the matter. I fancy he will say that he is willing to go with us and help
us as far as he can, but that although he will do his best he cannot
promise that he will be able to point out, with anything like certainty,
the position of any of the old mines."

Next day they called on Señor Pasquez, who received them very cordially.

"So you are going to follow the example of Señor Barnett and spend some
time in exploring the country and doing some shooting. Have you found
Dias?"

"Yes, señor, and I think he will go with us, though he has not given a
positive answer."

"You will be fortunate if you get him; he is one of the best-known
muleteers in the country, and if anyone comes here and wants a guide Dias
is sure to be the first to be recommended. If he goes with you he can give
you much useful advice; he knows exactly what you will have to take with
you, the best districts to visit for your purpose, and the best way of
getting there. For the rest, I shall be very happy to take charge of any
money you may wish to leave behind, and to act as your banker and cash any
orders you may draw upon me. I will also receive and place to your account
any sums that may be sent you from England."

"That, sir, is a matter which Mr. Barnett advised me to place in your
hands. After making what few purchases we require, and taking fifty pounds
in silver, I shall have two hundred and fifty pounds to place in your
hands. Mr. Barnett will manage my affairs in my absence, and will send to
you fifty pounds quarterly."

"You will find difficulty in spending it all in two years," the merchant
said with a smile. "If you are content to live on what can be bought in
the country, it costs very little; and as for the mules, they can
generally pick up enough at their halting-places to serve them, with a
small allowance of grain. You can hire them cheaply, or you can buy them.
The latter is cheaper in the end, but you cannot be sure of getting mules
accustomed to mountains, and you would therefore run the risk of their
losing their foothold, and not only being dashed to pieces but destroying
their saddles and loads. However, if you secure the services of Dias
Otero, you will get mules that know every path in the mountains. He is
famous for his animals, and he himself is considered the most trusty
muleteer here; men think themselves lucky in obtaining his services. I
would send him with loads of uncounted gold and should be sure that there
would not be a piece missing."

Next day Dias came to the hotel.

"I have thought it over, señor," he said. "I need not say that were it
only ordinary service, instead of exploring the mountains, I should be
glad indeed to do my best for a friend of Señor Barnett; but as to the
real purpose of your journey I wish, before making any arrangement, that
the matter should be thoroughly understood. I have no certain knowledge
whatever as to any of the lost mines, still less of any hidden treasures;
but I know all the traditions that have passed down concerning them. I
doubt whether any Indians now possess a certain knowledge of these things.
For generations, no doubt, the secrets were handed down from father to
son, and it is possible that some few may still know of these places; but
I doubt it. Think of the hundreds and thousands of our people who have
been killed in battle, or died as slaves in the mines, and you will see
that numbers of those to whom the secrets were entrusted must have taken
their knowledge to the grave with them.

"In each generation the number of those who knew the particulars of these
hiding-places must have diminished. Few now can know more than I do, yet I
am sure of nothing. I know generally where the mines were situated and
where some treasures were concealed, and what knowledge I have I will
place at your service; but so great a care was used in the concealment of
the entrances to the mines, so carefully were the hiding-places of the
treasures chosen, and so cunningly concealed, that, without the surest
indications and the most minute instructions, we might search for years,
as men indeed have done ever since the Spanish came here, without finding
them. I am glad that I can lay my hand upon my heart and say, that
whatever may have been possessed by ancestors of mine, no actual details
have ever come down to me; for, had it been so, I could not have revealed
them to you. We know that all who were instructed in these were bound by
the most terrible oaths not to reveal them. Numbers have died under the
torture rather than break those oaths; and even now, were one of us to
betray the secrets that had come down to him, he would be regarded as
accursed. No one would break bread with him, every door would be closed
against him, and if he died his body would rot where it fell. But my
knowledge is merely general, gathered not only from the traditions known
to all our people, but from confidences made by one member of our family
to another. Full knowledge was undoubtedly given to some of them; but all
these must have died without initiating others into the full particulars.
Such knowledge as I have is at your disposal. I can take you to the
localities, I can say to you, 'Near this place was a great mine,' but
unless chance favours you you may search in vain."

"That is quite as much as I had hoped for, Dias, and I am grateful for
your willingness to do what you can for us, just as you did for Señor
Barnett."




CHAPTER IV

A STREET FRAY


"Now, señor," Dias said, "as we have settled the main point, let us talk
over the arrangements. What is the weight of your baggage?"

"Not more than a mule could carry. Of course we shall sling our rifles
over our shoulders. We have a good stock of ammunition for them and for
our pistols. We shall each take two suits of clothes besides those we
wear, and a case of spirits in the event of accident or illness. We shall
each have three flannel shirts, stockings, and so on, but certainly
everything belonging to us personally would not mount up to more than a
hundred and fifty pounds. We should, of course, require a few cooking
utensils, tin plates, mugs, and cups. What should we need besides these?"

"A tent and bedding, señor. We should only have, at the start, to carry
such provisions as we could not buy. When we are beyond the range of
villages in the forests we might often be weeks without being able to buy
anything; still, we should probably be able to shoot game for food. We
should find fruits, but flour we shall have to take with us from the last
town we pass through before we strike into the mountains, and dried meat
for an emergency; and it would be well to have a bag of grain, so that we
could give a handful or so to each of the mules. I am glad you have
brought some good spirits--we shall need it in the swamps by the rivers.
Your tea and coffee will save your having to buy them here, but you will
want some sugar. We must take two picks and a shovel, a hammer for
breaking up ore, a small furnace, twenty crucibles and bellows, and a few
other things for aiding to melt the ore. You would want for the journey
five baggage mules, and, of course, three riding mules. I could hardly
manage them, even with aid from you, in very bad places, and I would
rather not take any strange man with me on such business as we have in
hand. But some assistance I must have, and I will take with me my nephew
José. He has lost his father, and I have taken him as my assistant, and
shall train him to be a guide such as I am. He is but fifteen, but he
already knows something of his business, and such an expedition will teach
him more than he would learn in ten years on the roads."

"That would certainly be far better than having a muleteer whom you could
not trust, Dias. My brother and myself will be ready to lend you a hand
whenever you want help of any kind. We have not had any experience with
mules, but sailors can generally turn their hands to anything. Now, how
about the eight mules?"

"I have five of my own, as good mules as are to be found in the province;
we shall have to buy the three others for riding. Of course I have saddles
and ropes."

"But you will want four for riding."

"No, señor; yours and the one I ride will be enough. José at times will
take my place, and can when he likes perch on one of the most lightly
laden animals."

"How much will the riding mules cost?"

"I can get fair ones for about fifty dollars apiece; trade is slack at
present owing to the troubles, and there are many who would be glad to get
rid of one or two of their train."

"And now, Dias, we come to the very important question, what are we to pay
you for yourself, your nephew, and the five mules--say by the month?"

"I have been thinking the matter over, señor--I have talked it over with
my wife"--he paused for a moment, and then said: "She wishes to go with
me, señor."

Harry opened his eyes in surprise. "But surely, Dias, you could not think
of taking her on such an expedition, where, as you say yourself, you may
meet with many grave dangers and difficulties?"

"A woman can support them as well as a man," Dias said quietly. "My wife
has more than once accompanied me on journeys when I have been working on
contract. We have been married for fifteen years, and she has no children
to keep her at home. She is accustomed to my being away for weeks. This
would be for months, perhaps for two years. I made no secret to her that
we might meet with many dangers. She says they will be no greater for her
than for me. At first she tried to dissuade me from going for so long a
time; but when I told her that you were sent me by the gentleman who saved
my life a year after I married her, and that he had recommended you to me
as standing to him almost in the relation of a son, and I therefore felt
bound to carry his wishes into effect, and so to pay the debt of gratitude
that I owed him, she agreed at once that it was my duty to go and do all
in my power for you, and she prayed me to take her with me. I said that I
would put it before you, señor, and that I must abide by your decision."

"By all means bring her with you, Dias. If you and she are both willing to
share the dangers we should meet with, surely we cannot object in any
way."

"Thank you, señor; you will find her useful. You have already seen that
she can cook well; and if we have José to look after the animals when we
are searching among the hills, you will find it not unpleasant, when we
return of an evening, to find a hot supper ready for us."

"That is quite true, and I am sure we shall find your wife a great
acquisition to our party. The only difference will be, that instead of one
large tent we must have two small ones--it does not matter how small, so
long as we can crawl into them and they are long enough for us to lie
down. And now about payment?"

"I shall not overcharge you," Dias said with a smile. "If my wife had
remained behind I must have asked for money to maintain her while we were
away. It would not have been much, for she has her garden and her house,
and there is a bag hid away with my savings, so that if she had been
widowed she could still live in the house until she chose someone else to
share it with her; she is but thirty-two, and is as comely as when I first
married her. However, as she is going with us, there will be no need to
trouble about her. If misfortune comes upon us and I am killed, it is
likely she will be killed also. We shall have no expenses on the journey,
as you will pay for food for ourselves and the animals. You will remember,
señor, that I make this journey not as a business matter--no money would
buy from me any information that I may have as to hidden mines or
treasures,--I do it to repay a debt of gratitude to my preserver, Don
Henry Barnett, and partly because I am sure that I shall like you and your
brother as I did him. I shall aid you as far as lies in my power in the
object for which you are undertaking this journey. Therefore until it is
finished there shall be no talk about payment. You may have many expenses
beyond what you calculate upon. If we meet with no success, and return to
Lima empty-handed, I shall have lost nothing. I shall have had no expenses
at home, my wife and I will have fed at your expense, and José will have
learned so much that he would be as good a guide as any in the country.
You could then give me the three mules you will buy, to take the place of
any of mine that may have perished on the journey, and should you have
them to spare, I will take a hundred dollars as a _bueno mano_. If we
succeed, and you discover a rich mine or a hidden treasure, you shall then
pay me what it pleases you. Is it a bargain?"

"The bargain you propose is ridiculously one-sided, Dias, and I don't see
how I could possibly accept the offer you make to me."

"Those are my terms, señor," Dias said simply, "to take or to leave."

"Then I cannot but accept them, and I thank you most heartily;" and he
held out his hand to Dias, and the Indian grasped it warmly.

"When do you propose we shall start?"

"Will this day week suit you, señor? There are the mules to buy, and the
tents to be made--they should be of vicuña skin with the wool still on,
which, with the leather kept well oiled, will keep out water. We shall
want them in the hills, but we shall sometimes find villages where we can
sleep in shelter."

"Not for us, Dias. Mr. Barnett has told me that the houses are for the
most part alive with fleas, and I should prefer to sleep in a tent,
however small, rather than lie in a bed on the floor of any one of them.
We don't want thick beds, you know--a couple of thicknesses of well-
quilted cotton, say an inch thick each, and two feet wide. You can get
these made for us, no doubt."

The Indian nodded.

"That would be the best for travel; the beds the Peruvian caballeros use
are very thick and bulky."

"You will want two for yourself and your wife, and two for José. By the
by, we shall want a tent for him."

Dias smiled. "It will not be necessary, señor; muleteers are accustomed to
sleep in the open air, and with two thick blankets, and a leathern
coverlet in case of rain, he will be more than comfortable. I shall have
five leather bags made to hold the beds and blankets. But the making of
the beds and tents will take some time--people do not hurry in Lima,--and
there will be the riding saddles and bridles to get, and the provisions. I
do not think we can be ready before another week. It will be well, then,
that you should, before starting away, visit the ruins of Pachacamac. All
travellers go there, and it will seem only natural that you should do so,
for there you will see the style of the buildings, and also the
explorations that were everywhere made by the Spaniards in search of
treasure."

"Very well, Dias; then this day week we shall be ready to start. However,
I suppose I shall see you every day, and learn how you are getting on with
your preparations."

Bertie had been sitting at the window looking down into the street while
this conversation was going on. "Well, what is it all about?" he asked,
turning round as the Indian left the room. "Is it satisfactory?"

"More than satisfactory," his brother answered. "In the first place his
nephew, a lad of fifteen, who is training as a mule-driver, is going with
us, which is much better than getting an outsider; in the next place his
wife is going with us."  "Good gracious!" Bertie exclaimed, "what in the
world shall we do with a woman?"

"Well, I think we shall do very well with her, Bertie; but well or ill she
has to go. She will not let her husband go without her, which is natural
enough, considering how long we shall be away, and that the journey will
be a dangerous one. But really I think she will be an acquisition to the
party. She is bright and pretty, as you no doubt noticed, and what is of
more importance, she is a capital cook."

"She certainly gave us a good meal yesterday," Bertie said, "and though I
could rough it on anything, it is decidedly pleasanter to have a well-
cooked meal."

"Well, you see, that is all right."

"And how many mules are we to take?"

"Five for baggage, and three for riding. I have no doubt Dias's wife will
ride behind him, and the boy, when he wants to ride, will perch himself on
one of the baggage mules. Dias has five mules, and we shall only have to
buy the three for riding."

"What is it all going to cost, Harry?" Bertie said when his brother had
told him all the arrangements that had been made. "That is the most
important point after all."

"Well, you will be astonished when I tell you, Bertie, that if we don't
succeed in finding a treasure of any kind I shall only have to pay for the
three riding mules, and the expenses of food and so on, and a hundred
dollars."

"Twenty pounds!" Bertie said incredulously; "you are joking!"

"No, it is really so; the man said that he considered that in going with
me he is only fulfilling the obligation he is under to Mr. Barnett. Of
course I protested against the terms, and would have insisted upon paying
the ordinary prices, whatever they might be, for his services and the use
of his mules; but he simply said that those were the conditions on which
he was willing to go with me, and that I could take them or leave them, so
I had to accept. I can only hope that we may find some treasure, in which
case only he consented to accept proper payment for his services."

"Well, it is awfully good of him," Bertie said; "though really it doesn't
seem fair that we should be having the services of himself, his wife, his
boy, and his mules for nothing. There is one thing, it will be an extra
inducement to him to try and put us in the way of finding one of those
mines."

"I don't think so, Bertie; he said that not for any sum of money whatever
would he do what he is going to do, but simply from gratitude to Barnett.
It is curious how the traditions, or superstitions, or whatever you like
to call them, of the time of the Incas have continued to impress the
Indians, and how they have preserved the secrets confided to their
ancestors. No doubt fear that the Spaniards would force them to work in
the mines till they died has had a great effect in inducing them to
conceal the existence of these places from them. Now that the Spaniards
have been cleared out there is no longer any ground for apprehension of
that kind, but they may still feel that the Peruvians would get the
giant's share in any mine or treasure that might be found, and that the
Indians would, under one pretence or another, be defrauded out of any
share of it. It is not wonderful that it should be so considering how
these poor people have been treated by the whites, and it would really
seem that the way in which Spain has gone to the dogs is a punishment for
her cruelties in South America and the Islands. It may be said that from
the very moment when the gold began to flow the descent of Spain
commenced; in spite of the enormous wealth she acquired she fell gradually
from her position as the greatest power in Europe.

"In 1525, after the battle of Pavia, Spain stood at the height of her
power. Mexico was conquered by Cortez seven years before, Peru in 1531,
and the wealth of those countries began to flow into Spain in enormous
quantities, and yet her decline followed speedily. She was bearded by our
bucaneers among the Islands and on the western coast; the Netherlands
revolted, and after fierce fighting threw oft her yoke; the battle of Ivry
and the accession of Henry of Navarre all but destroyed her influence in
France; the defeat of the Armada and the capture of Cadiz struck a fatal
blow both to her power on the sea and to her commerce, and within a
century of the conquest of Peru, Spain was already an enfeebled and
decaying power. It would almost seem that the discoveries of Columbus,
from which such great things were hoped, proved in the long run the
greatest misfortune that ever befell Spain."

"It does look like it, Harry; however, we must hope that whatever effect
the discovery of America had upon Portugal or Spain, it will make your
fortune."

Harry laughed.

"I hope so, Bertie, but it is as well not to be too hopeful. Still, I have
great faith in Dias, at any rate I feel confident that he will do all he
can; but he acknowledges that he knows nothing for certain. I am sure,
however, that he will be a faithful guide, and that though we may have a
rough time, it will not be an unpleasant one. Now, you must begin to turn
to account what Spanish you have learned during the voyage; I know you
have worked regularly at it while you have not been on duty."

"I have learned a good lot," Bertie said; "and I dare say I could ask for
anything, but I should not understand the answers. I can make out a lot of
that Spanish _Don Quixote_ you got for me, but when Dias was talking to
you I did not catch a word of what he was saying. I suppose it will all
come in time."

"But you must begin at once. I warn you that when I am fairly off I shall
always talk to you in Spanish, for it would look very unsociable if we
were always talking together in English. If you ride or walk by the side
of the boy you will soon get on; and there will be Donna Maria for you to
chat away with, and from what we saw of her I should say she is sociably
inclined. In three months I have no doubt you will talk Spanish as well as
I do."

"It will be a horrid nuisance," Bertie grumbled; "but I suppose it has got
to be done."

Three days later Dias said he thought they might as well start the next
day to Pachacamac.

"We shall only want the three riding mules and one for baggage. Of course
we shall not take José or my wife. By the time we return everything will
be ready for us."

"I shall be very glad to be off, Dias. We know no one here except Señor
Pasquez; and although he has been very civil and has begged us to consider
his house as our own, he is of course busy during the day, and one can't
do above a certain amount of walking about the streets. So by all means
let us start to-morrow morning. We may as well go this time in the clothes
we wear, it will be time enough to put on the things we have bought when
we start in earnest."

Starting at sunrise, they rode for some distance through a fertile valley,
and then crossed a sandy plain until they reached the little valley of
Lurin, in which stand the ruins of Pachacamac. This was the sacred city of
the natives of the coast before their conquest by the Incas. During their
forty-mile ride Dias had told them something of the place they were about
to visit. Pachacamac, meaning "the creator of the world," was the chief
divinity of these early people, and here was the great temple dedicated to
him. The Incas after their conquest erected a vast Temple of the Sun, but
they did not attempt to suppress the worship of Pachacamac, and the two
flourished side by side until the arrival of the Spaniards. The wealth of
the temple was great; the Spaniards carried away among their spoils one
thousand six hundred and eighty-seven pounds of gold and one thousand six
hundred ounces of silver; but with all their efforts they failed to
discover the main treasure, said to have been no less than twenty-four
thousand eight hundred pounds of gold, which had been carried away and
buried before their arrival.

"If the Spaniards could not succeed in getting at the hiding-place,
although, no doubt, they tortured everyone connected with the temple to
make them divulge the secret, it is evident there is no chance for us,"
Harry said.

"Yes, señor, they made every effort; thousands of natives were employed in
driving passages through the terraces on which the temple stood. I believe
that they did find much treasure, but certainly not the great one they
were searching for. There is no tradition among our people as to the
hiding-place, for so many of the natives perished that all to whom the
secret was known must have died without revealing it to anybody. Had it
not been so, the Spaniards would sooner or later have learned it, for
although hundreds have died under torture rather than reveal any of the
hiding-places, surely one more faint-hearted than the rest would have
disclosed them. Certain it is that at Cuzco and other places they
succeeded in obtaining almost all the treasures buried there, though they
failed in discovering the still greater treasures that had been carried
away to be hidden in different spots. But Pachacamac was a small one in
comparison with Cuzco, and it was believed that the treasures had not been
carried far. Tradition has it that they were buried somewhere between this
town and Lima. Doubtless all concerned in the matter fled before the
Spaniards arrived, at any rate with all their cruelty the invaders never
discovered its position. The report that it was buried near may have been
set about to prevent their hunting for it elsewhere, and the gold may be
lying now somewhere in the heart of the mountains."

Harry Prendergast and his brother looked in astonishment at the massive
walls that rose around the eminence on which the temple had stood. The
latter had disappeared, but its situation could be traced on the plateau
buttressed by the walls. These were of immense thickness, and formed of
huge adobe bricks almost as hard as stone; even the long efforts of the
Spaniards had caused but little damage to them. The plateau rose some five
hundred feet above the sea, which almost washed one face of it. Half-way
up the hill four series of these massive walls, whose tops formed
terraces, stood in giant steps some fifty feet high. Here and there spots
of red paint could be seen, showing that the whole surface was originally
painted. The ascent was made by winding passages through the walls. On the
side of the upper area facing the sea could be seen the remains of a sort
of walk or esplanade, with traces of edifices of various kinds. On a hill
a mile and a half away were the remains of the Incas' temple and nunnery,
the style differing materially from that of the older building; it was
still more damaged than the temple on the hill by the searchers for
treasure.

Pachacamac was the most sacred spot in South America, vast numbers of
pilgrims came here from all points. The city itself had entirely
disappeared, covered deeply in sand, but for a long distance round, it
had, like the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and Mecca, been a vast cemetery,
and a small amount of excavation showed the tombs of the faithful,
occupied in most cases by mummies.

"We will ride across to the Incas' temple. There is not much to see there,
but it is as well that you should look at the vaults in which the
treasures were hid. There are similar places at Cuzco and several of the
other ruins."

"It may certainly be useful to see them," Harry agreed, and they rode
across the plain. Leaving their mules outside they entered the ruins. The
Indian led them into some underground chambers. He had brought a torch
with him, and this he now lit.

"You have to be careful or you might otherwise tumble into one of these
holes and break a limb; and in that case, if you were here by yourselves,
you would certainly never get out again."

They came upon several of these places. The openings were sometimes square
and sometimes circular, and had doubtless been covered with square stones.
They were dug out of the solid ground. For about six feet the sides of the
pit were perpendicular; in some it swelled out like a great vase with a
broad shoulder, in others it became a square chamber of some size.

"Some of these places were no doubt meant to store grain and other
provisions," the Indian said, "some were undoubtedly treasuries."

"Awkward places to find," Harry said; "one might spend a lifetime in
searching for them in only one of these temples."

"They were the last places we should think of searching," Dias said. "For
years the Spaniards kept thousands of men at work. I do not say that there
may not be some few places that have escaped the searchers, but what they
could not with their host of workers find certainly could not be found by
four or five men. It is not in the temples that the Incas' wealth has been
hidden, but in caves, in deep mountain gorges, and possibly in ruins on
the other side of the mountains where even the Spaniards never penetrated.
There are such places. I know of one to which I will take you if our
search fails elsewhere. It is near the sea, and yet there are not half a
dozen living men who have ever seen it, so strangely is it hidden.
Tradition says that it was not the work of the Incas, but of the people
before them. I have never seen it close. It is guarded, they say, by
demons, and no native would go within miles of it. The traditions are that
the Incas, when they conquered the land, found the place and searched it,
after starving out the native chief who had fled there with his followers
and family. Some say that they found great treasure there, others that
they discovered nothing; all agree that a pestilence carried off nearly
all those who had captured it. Others went, and they too died, and the
place was abandoned as accursed, and in time its very existence became
forgotten; though some say that members of the tribe have always kept
watch there, and that those who carelessly or curiously approached it have
always met with their death in strange ways. Although I am a Christian,
and have been taught to disbelieve the superstitions of my countrymen, I
would not enter it on any condition."

"If we happen to be near it I shall certainly take a close look at it,"
Harry said with a laugh. "I don't fancy we should see anything that our
rifles and pistols would find invulnerable."

It was getting dark by the time they had finished their inspection of the
rooms, so, riding two or three miles away, they encamped in a grove up the
valley. Next morning they returned to Lima. Dias had given out that the
two white señors intended to visit all the ruined temples of the Incas,
and as other travellers had done the same their intention excited neither
surprise nor comment.

On the following evening after dark Harry and his brother were returning
from the house of Señor Pasquez.

"It is a pleasant house," Harry said; "the girls are pretty and nice, they
play and sing well, and are really charming. But what a contrast it was
the other morning when we went in there and accidentally ran against them
when we were going upstairs with their father, utterly untidy, and, in
fact, regular sluts--a maid of all work would look a picture of neatness
beside them."

Bertie was about to answer, when there was an outburst of shouts from a
wine-shop they were passing, and in a moment the door burst open and half
a dozen men engaged in a fierce conflict rushed out. Knives were flashing,
and it was evident that one man was being attacked by the rest. By the
light that streamed out of the open door they saw that the man attacked
was Dias. It flashed across Harry's mind that if this man was killed there
was an end to all hope of success in their expedition.

"Dash in to his rescue, Bertie," he cried; "but whatever you do, mind
their knives."

With a shout he sprang forward and struck to the ground a man who was
dodging behind Dias with uplifted knife, while Bertie leapt on to the back
of another, the shock throwing the man down face forward. Bertie was on
his feet in a moment, and brought the stick he carried with all his force
down on the man's head as he tried to rise. Then, springing forward again,
he struck another man a heavy blow on the wrist. The knife dropped from
the man's hand, and as he dashed with a fierce oath upon Bertie the stick
descended again, this time on his head, and felled him to the ground. In
the meantime one of the assailants had turned fiercely on Harry and aimed
a blow at him with his knife; but with the ease of a practised boxer Harry
stepped back, and before the man could again raise the knife he leaped in
and struck him a tremendous blow on the point of his chin. The fifth man
took to his heels immediately. The other four lay where they had fallen,
evidently fearing they would be stabbed should they try to get on to their
feet.

"Are you hurt, Dias?" Harry exclaimed.

"I have several cuts, señor, but none of them, I think, serious. You have
saved my life."

"Never mind that now, Dias. What shall we do with these fellows--hand them
over to the watch?"

"No, señor, that would be the last thing to do; we might be detained here
for months. I will take all their knives and let them go."

"Here are two of them," Bertie said, picking up those of the men he had
struck.

Dias stood over the man Harry had first knocked down, and with a fierce
whisper ordered him to give up his knife, which he did at once. The other
was still stupid from the effect of the blow and his fall, and Dias had
only to take his knife from his relaxed fingers.

"Now, señor, let us be going before anyone comes along."

"What was it all about, Dias?" Harry asked as he walked away.

"Many of the muleteers are jealous, señor, because I always get what they
consider the best jobs. I had gone into the wine-shop for a glass of
pulque before going round to see that the mules were all right. As I was
drinking, these men whispered together, and then one came up to me and
began to abuse me, and directly I answered him the whole of them drew
their knives and rushed at me. I was ready too, and wounded two of them as
I fought my way to the door. As I opened it one of them stabbed me in the
shoulder, but it was a slanting blow. Once out they all attacked me at
once, and in another minute you would have had to look for another
muleteer. 'Tis strange, señors, that you should have saved my life as Mr.
Barnett did. It was a great deed to risk your lives with no weapons but
your sticks against five ruffians with their knives."

"I did not use my stick," Harry said. "I am more accustomed to use my
fists than a stick, and can hit as hard with them, as you saw. But my
brother's stick turned out the most useful. He can box too, but cannot
give as heavy a blow as I can. Still, it was very lucky that I followed
your advice, and bought a couple of heavy sticks to carry with us if we
should go out after dark. Now you had better come to the hotel, and I will
send for a surgeon to dress your wound."

"It is not necessary, señor; my wife is waiting for me in my room, she
arrived this afternoon. Knife cuts are not uncommon affairs here, and she
knows quite enough to be able to bandage them."

"At any rate we shall have to put off our start for a few days."

"Not at all, señor; a bandage tonight and a few strips of plaster in the
morning will do the business. I shall be stiff for a few days, but that
will not interfere with my riding, and José will be able to load and
unload the mules, if you will give him a little assistance. Adios! and a
thousand thanks."

"That was a piece of luck, Bertie," Harry said when they had reached their
room in the hotel. "In the first place, because neither of us got a
scratch, and in the second, because it will bind Dias more closely to us.
Before, he was willing to assist us for Barnett's sake, now it will be for
our own also, and we may be quite sure that he will do his best for us."

"It is my first scrimmage," Bertie said, "and I must say that I thought,
as we ran in, that it was going to be a pretty serious one. We have
certainly come very well out of it."

"It was short and sharp," Harry laughed. "I have always held that the man
who could box well was more than a match for one with a knife who knew
nothing of boxing. One straight hit from the shoulder is sure to knock him
out of time."

Next morning Dias and his wife came up early. The former had one arm in a
sling. As they entered, the woman ran forward, and, throwing her arms
round Bertie, she kissed him on both cheeks. The lad was too much
surprised at this unexpected salute to return it, as his brother did when
she did the same to him. Then, drawing back, she poured out her thanks
volubly, the tears running down her cheeks.

"Maria asked me if she might kiss you," Dias said gravely when she
stopped. "I said that it was right that she should do so, for do we not
both owe you my life?"

"You must not make too much of the affair, Dias; four blows were struck,
and there was an end to it."

"A small matter to you, señor, but a great one to us. A Peruvian would not
interfere if he saw four armed men attacking one. He would be more likely
to turn down the next street, so that he might not be called as a witness.
It is only your countrymen who would do such things."

"And you still think that you will be ready to start the day after to-
morrow?"

"Quite sure, señor. My shoulder will be stiff and my arm in a sling for a
week, but muleteers think nothing of such trifles,--a kick from a mule
would be a much more serious affair."

"You don't think those rascals are likely to waylay us on the road, and
take their revenge?"

"Not they, señor. If you could do such things unarmed, what could you not
do when you had rifles and pistols? The matter is settled. They have not
been seriously hurt. If one of them had been killed I should be obliged to
be careful the next time I came here; as it is, no more will be said about
it. Except the two hurt in the wine-shop they will not even have a scar to
remind them of it. In two years they will have other things to think
about, if it is true that Colombia means to go to war with Chili."

"What is the quarrel about, Dias?"

"The Colombians helped us to get rid of the Spaniards, but ever since they
have presumed a right to manage affairs here."

"Perhaps nothing will come of it."

"Well, it is quite certain that there is no very good feeling between
Chili, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru."

"I suppose they will be fighting all round some day?"

"Yes, and it will interfere with my business. Certainly we are better off
than when the Spaniards were here; but the taxes are heavy, and things
don't go as people expected they would when we got rid of the Spaniards.
All the governments seem jealous of each other. I don't take any interest
in these matters except so far as they interfere with trade. If every man
would attend to his own affairs it would be better for us all."

"I suppose so, Dias; but one can hardly expect a country that has been so
many years governed by a foreign power to get accustomed all at once to
governing itself."  "Now, señor, I shall be glad if you will go with me
and look at the stores that are already collected. I think you will find
that everything is ready."




CHAPTER V

AMONG THE MOUNTAIN


Two days later the mules were brought round to the door at sunrise, and
Harry and his brother sallied out from the hotel, dressed for the first
time in the Peruvian costume. They were both warmly clothed. On their
heads were felt hats with broad brims, which could be pulled down and tied
over the ears, both for warmth and to prevent their being blown away by
the fierce winds that sweep down the gorges. A thick poncho of llama wool
fell from their shoulders to their knees, and loosely tied round their
necks were thick and brightly-coloured scarves. They wore high boots, and
carried large knives stuck in a strap below the knee. The rifles were
fastened at the bow of their saddles, and their wallets, with provisions
for the day, were strapped behind. By the advice of Dias each had in his
pocket a large pair of green goggles, to protect their eyes from the glare
of sun and snow. They tied these on before coming downstairs, and both
agreed that had they met unexpectedly in the street they would have passed
each other without the slightest recognition.

"It is a pity, Harry," Bertie said seriously, "that you did not have your
portrait taken to send home to a certain young lady. You see, she would
then have been able to hang it up in her room and worship it privately,
without anyone having the slightest idea that it was her absent lover."

"You young scamp," Harry said, "I will pull your ears for you."

"If you attempt anything of the sort, I shall tie the brim of my hat
tightly over them. I really think it is very ungrateful of you not to take
my advice in the spirit in which I gave it."

"If you intend to go on like this, Bert, I shall leave you behind."

"You can't do it."

"Oh, yes, I can! I might give you in charge for some crime or other; and
in lack of evidence, the expenditure of a few dollars would, I have no
doubt, be sufficient to induce the judge, magistrate, or whatever they
call him, to give you six months' imprisonment."

"Then you are an unnatural brother, and I will make no more suggestions
for your good."

So they had come downstairs laughing, though feeling a little shy at their
appearance as they issued out of the courtyard. Speedily, however, they
gained courage as they saw that passers-by paid no attention to them.

They had spent the previous afternoon in packing the bundles, in which
every item was put away so that it could be got at readily, and in making
sure that nothing had been omitted. The five baggage mules were fastened
one behind another, and José stood at the head of the leading one. As they
came out Dias swung his wife on to a cushion strapped behind his saddle,
and mounted himself before her. Harry and his brother climbed into theirs.
They had both refused to put on the heavy and cruel spurs worn by the
Peruvians, but had, at the earnest request of the Indian, put them in
their saddle-bags.

"You will want them," he said. "You need not use them cruelly, but you
must give your mules an occasional prick to let them know that you have
spurs."

On leaving the town the road ran up the valley of the Rimac, a small
river, but of vital importance to the country through which it passes, as
small canals branching from it irrigate the land.

"The Spaniards have done some good here at least," Harry said to Dias, who
was riding beside him.

"Some of these canals were constructed in their time, but the rest existed
long before they came here, and, indeed, long before the Incas came. The
Incas' work lies chiefly beyond the mountains; on this side almost all the
great ruins are of cities and fortresses built by the old people. Cuzco
was the Incas' capital, and almost all the towns between the two ranges of
the Andes were their work. It is true that they conquered the people down
to the sea, but they do not seem to have cared to live here. The treasures
of Pachacamac and the other places on the plains were those of the old
people and the old religion. The inhabitants of the plains are for the
most part descendants of those people. The Incas were strong and powerful,
but they were not numerous. That was why the Spaniards conquered them so
easily. The old people, who regarded them as their masters, did not care
to fight for them, just as the Peruvians did not care to fight for the
Spaniards."

"I expect it was a good deal like the Normans in England," Bertie put in.
"They conquered the Saxons because they were better armed and better
disciplined, but they were few in number in comparison with the number
they governed, and in their quarrels with each other the bulk of the
people stood aloof; and it was only when the Normans began their wars in
France and Scotland, and were obliged to enlist Saxon archers and
soldiers, that the two began to unite and to become one people."

"I have no doubt that was so, Bertie; but you are breaking our agreement
that you should speak in Spanish only."

"Oh, bother! you know very well that I cannot talk in it yet, and you
surely do not expect that I am going to ride along without opening my
lips."

"I know you too well to expect that," Harry laughed, "and will allow an
occasional outbreak. Still, do try to talk Spanish, however bad it may be.
You have got cheek enough in other things, and cheek goes a long way in
learning to talk a foreign language. You have been four months at your
Spanish books, and should certainly begin to put simple sentences
together."

"But that is just what one does not learn from books," the lad said. "At
any rate, not from such books as I have been working at. I could do a
high-flown sentence, and offer to kiss your hand and to declare that all I
have is at your disposal. But if I wanted to say, 'When are we going to
halt for dinner? I am feeling very peckish,' I should be stumped
altogether."

"Well, you must get as near as you can, Bertie. I dare say you cannot turn
slang into Spanish; but you can find other words to express your meaning,
and when you cannot hit on a word you must use an English one. Your best
plan is to move along on the other side of Dias, and chat to his wife."
"What have I got to say to her?"

"Anything you like. You can begin by asking her if she has ever gone a
long journey with her husband before, how far we shall go to-day--things
of that sort."

"Well, I will try anyhow. I suppose I must. But you go on talking to Dias,
else I shall think that you are both laughing at me."

Five miles from Lima they passed through the little village of Quiraz.
Beyond this they came upon many cotton plantations, and in the ravines by
the side of the valley or among the ruins of Indian towns were several
large fortresses. They also passed the remains of an old Spanish town and
several haciendas, where many cattle and horses were grazing. They were
ascending steadily, and after passing Santa Clara, eleven miles from Lima,
the valley narrowed and became little more than a ravine. On either side
were rents made in the hills by earthquakes, and immense boulders and
stones were scattered about at the bottom of the narrow gorge. Four hours'
travelling brought them to Chosica, where the valley widened again near
the foot of the hills.

Here they halted for the day. There was an inn here which Dias assured
them was clean and comfortable, and they therefore took a couple of rooms
for the night in preference to unpacking their tents.

"It is just as well not to begin that till we get farther away," Harry
said. "We have met any number of laden mules coming down, and if we were
to camp here we should cause general curiosity."

He accordingly ordered dinner for himself and his brother, Dias preferring
to take his meal in a large room used by passing muleteers. The fare was
as good as they had had at the hotel at Lima.

"I am not sorry that we halted here," Bertie said; "I feel as stiff as a
poker."

"I think you got on very well, Bertie, with Mrs. Dias. I did not hear what
you were saying, but you seemed to be doing stunningly."

"She did most of the talking. I asked her to speak slowly, as I did not
manage to catch the sense of what she said. She seems full of fun, and a
jolly little woman altogether. She generally understood what I meant, and
though she could not help laughing sometimes, she did it so good-
temperedly that one did not feel put out. Each time I spoke she corrected
me, told me what I ought to have said, and made me say it after her. I
think I shall get on fairly well at the end of a few weeks."

"I am sure you will, Bertie; the trouble is only at the beginning, and now
that you have once broken the ice, you will progress like a house on
fire."

There were still four hours of daylight after they had finished their
meal, so they went out with Dias to explore one of the numerous burying-
grounds round the village. It consisted of sunken chambers. In these were
bones, with remains of the mats in which the bodies had been clothed.
These wrappings resembled small sacks, and they remarked that the people
must have been of very small size, or they could never have been packed
away in them. With them had been buried many of the implements of their
trade. One or two had apparently not been opened. Here were knitting
utensils, toilet articles, implements for weaving, spools of thread,
needles of bone and bronze. With the body of a girl had been placed a kind
of work-box, containing the articles that she had used, and the mummy of a
parrot, some beads, and fragments of an ornament of silver. Dias told them
that all these tombs were made long before the coming of the Incas. He
said that round the heads of the men and boys were wound the slings they
had used in life, while a piece of cotton flock was wrapped round the
heads of the women. Many of the graves communicated with each other by
very narrow passages; the purpose of these was not clear, but probably
they were made to enable the spirits of the dead to meet and hold
communion with each other.

"I don't want to see any more of them," Bertie said after they had spent
three hours in their investigations; "this sort of thing is enough to give
one a fit of the blues."

Beyond Chosica civilization almost ceased. The road became little more
than a mule track, and was in many places almost impassable by vehicles of
any kind. Nothing could be wilder than the scenery they passed. At times
rivers ran through perpendicular gorges, and the track wound up and down
steep ravines. Sometimes they would all dismount, though Dias assured them
it was not necessary; still, it made a change from the monotonous pace of
little over two miles an hour at which the mules breasted the steep
incline.

José rode on the first of the baggage mules, which was very lightly
loaded; he generally sang the whole time. When on foot, Donna Maria
stepped gaily along and Bertie had hard work to keep pace with her. He was
making rapid progress with the language, though occasionally a peal of
laughter from his companion told of some egregious error.

There were villages every few miles, but now when they halted they did so
as a rule a mile before they got to one of these. Dinner was cooked over a
fire of dead sticks, and after the meal Harry's tent was erected and the
bed spread in it. The Indians went on to the village for the night, while
Harry and his brother sat and smoked for a time by the fire and then
turned in. At daybreak Dias rode back leading their riding mules and a
baggage animal; the tent, beds, and the cooking utensils were packed up,
and they rode in to the village and passed on at a trot until they
overtook Maria and José, who had started with the other four mules when
Dias rode away. At last they reached the head of the pass, and two days'
journey took them to Oroya, standing on an elevated plateau some ten
thousand feet above the sea, and five thousand below the highest point of
the road.

The scenery had now completely changed. Villages were scattered thickly
over the plain, cultivation was general. The hillsides were lined by
artificial terraces, on which were perched chalets and small hamlets--they
had seen similar terraces on the way up. These were as the Spaniards found
them, and must at one time have been inhabited by a thriving population.
Even now gardens and orchards flourished upon them up to the highest
points on the hills. Oroya was a large place, and, avoiding the busy part
of the town, they hired rooms, as it was necessary to give the mules two
days' rest. On the first evening after their arrival they gathered round a
fire, for the nights were cold, and even in the daytime they did not find
their numerous wraps too hot for them.

"Now, Dias," Harry said, "we must talk over our plans. You said that we
would not decide upon anything till we got here."

"In the first place, señor, I think it would be well to go to the north to
see the Cerro de Pasco silver mine, they say it is the richest in the
world. It is well that you should see the formation of the rocks and the
nature of the ore; we may in our journeyings come across similar rock."

"It is gold rather than silver that one wants to find, Dias. I do not say
that a silver mine would not be worth a very large sum of money, but it
would be necessary to open it and go to a large expense to prove it. Then
one would have to go to England and get up a company to work it, which
would be a long and difficult matter. Still, I am quite ready to go and
see the place."

Dias nodded.

"What you say is true, señor. I could take you to a dozen places where
there is silver. They may be good or may not, but even if they were as
rich as Potosi the silver would have to be carried to Lima, so great a
distance on mules' backs that it would swallow up the profits. And it
would be almost impossible to convey the necessary machinery there, indeed
to do so would involve the making of roads for a great distance."

"At the same time, Dias, should you know of any silver lodes that might
turn out well, I would certainly take some samples, and send two or three
mule-loads of the stuff home. They might be of no good for the purpose for
which I have come out here, but in time I might do something with them;
the law here is that anyone who finds a mine can obtain a concession for
it."

"That is so, señor, but he must proceed to work it."

"I suppose it would be sufficient to put two or three men on for that
purpose."

"But if you were away for a year difficulties might arise. It would be
better for you only to determine the course of the lode, its thickness and
value, to trace it as far as possible, and then hide all signs of the
work, and not to make your claim until you return here."

"Very well, I will take your advice, Dias. And now about the real object
of our journey."

"I have been thinking it over deeply," Dias said. "First as to mines; at
present almost all the gold that is obtained is acquired by washing the
sands of rivers. Here and there gold has been found in rocks, but not in
sufficient quantities to make mining pay. The rivers whose sands are
richest in gold are in the mountains that lie behind Lake Titicaca, which
lies to the south of Cuzco and on the border of Bolivia. No one doubts
that in the time of the Incas there existed gold mines, and very rich
ones; for if it had not been so it is impossible to account for the
enormous amount of gold obtained by the Spanish conquerors, and no one
doubts that they got but a small portion of the gold in existence when
they arrived. It is of no use whatever for us to search the old ruins of
the Incas in Cuzco, or their other great towns; all that can be found
there has already been carried away.

"Now you see, señor, Huanuco, Jauja, Cuzco, and Puno all lie near the
eastern range of the Andes, and when the alarm caused by the arrogant
conduct of the Spaniards began, it was natural that the treasures should
be sent away into the heart of those mountains. The towns on the western
sides of this plateau, Challhuanca, Tanibobamba, Huancavelica, would as
naturally send theirs for safety into the gorges of the western Andes, but
all traditions point to the fact that this was not done by the Incas. As
soon as the Spaniards arrived and struck the first blow, the great chiefs
would naturally call together a band of their followers on whose fidelity
they could rely, load the treasures on llamas, of which they possessed
great numbers, and hurry them off to the mountains.

"It is among the mountains, therefore, that our search must be made. All
our traditions point to the fact that it was along the eastern range of
the Cordilleras, and the country beyond, that by far the greater portion
of the treasures were taken for concealment. At any rate, as we have but
eighteen months for the search it is on that side that we must try, and
ten times that length of time would be insufficient for us to do it
thoroughly. As to the gold mines, it is certain that they lie in that
portion of the range between Cuzco and Lake Titicaca. It was near Puno, a
short distance from the lake, that the Spaniards, owing to the folly of an
Indian, found great treasures in a cave. They would probably have found
much more had not a stream suddenly burst out which flooded the whole
valley and converted it into a lake. Which do you think we had better look
for first, gold mines or hidden treasures?"

"Of course that must depend on you, Dias, and how much you know about
these matters. I need not say that a hidden treasure would be of vastly
more use to me than the richest gold mine in the world. To obtain the gold
from a mine an abundance of labour is required, besides machinery for
crushing quartz and separating the gold from it. In the bed of a river, if
it is rich and abounding in nuggets, three or four men, with rough
machinery, could wash out a large quantity of gold in a short time, and a
place of that sort would be far better than a rich mine, which could not
be worked without a large amount of capital."

"I have heard tales of such places on the other side of the mountains to
the south. From time to time gold-seekers have returned with as much as
they could carry, but not one in a hundred of those that go ever come
back; some doubtless die from hunger and hardship, but more are killed by
the Indians. Most of the tribes there are extremely savage, and are
constantly at war with each other, and they slay every white man who
ventures into their country."

"Then is it not probable, Dias, that the gold could have come from their
country?"

"Not from the plains, but from the streams running down into them; and
although the Incas never attempted to subdue the tribes beyond the
mountains, they may have had bodies of troops to protect the workers from
incursions by these savages."

"Are there many wild beasts there?"

"In some parts of the mountains pumas and jaguars abound."

"That is not altogether satisfactory, though I should not mind if we fell
in with one occasionally. But how about game, Dias?"

"The chief game are the wild vicuñas, which are very numerous in some
parts; but they are very shy and difficult to hunt. Deer are plentiful,
and there are foxes, bears, and hogs; but the great article of food is
fish. On the plains the manatee, which is very like the seal, is caught;
turtles are found in great numbers, and the people make oil from their
eggs; and the buffo, a sort of porpoise, also abounds. The natives do not
eat these, except when very pressed for food; they catch them for the sake
of their oil. There are many kinds of fish: the sunaro, which I heard an
English traveller say are like the fish the English call the pike; these
grow to the length of seven or eight feet. And many smaller kinds of fish
are caught by throwing the juice of the root of the barbasto into small
streams. This makes the fish stupid, and they float on the surface so that
they may easily be caught by hand. There are also many sorts of fruit."
"Well, then, we ought to do fairly well, Dias."

"Yes, señor; but many of these creatures are only found in the forests and
in the rivers of the plains, and they are so much hunted by the savages
there that they are very shy. But there are some creatures with which we
certainly do not wish to meet, and unfortunately these are not uncommon. I
mean the alligators and the great serpents. The natives fear the
alligators much, for their weapons are of no avail against them, and they
would never venture to attack a great snake."

"And besides these, what other disagreeables are there, Dias?" Bertie
asked cheerfully.

"There is one other disagreeable," Dias replied, "and it is a serious one.
There are in the mountains many desperate men. Some have slain an enemy
who had friends influential enough to set the law in motion against them,
or have escaped from prison; some have resisted the tax-collectors; many
have been suspected of plotting against the government; and others are too
lazy to work."

"And how do they live?" Harry asked.

"They live partly on game and partly on plunder. They steal from
cultivators; they are paid a small sum by all muleteers passing through
the mountains; they rob travellers who are worth robbing; and sometimes
they carry off a proprietor of land, and get a ransom for him.
Occasionally they will wash the sand, and get gold enough to send one of
their number into a town to buy articles they require."

"And do they go in large bands?"

"No, señor; as a rule some ten or twelve keep together under the one they
have chosen as their chief. Sometimes, if people make complaints and
troops are sent against them, they will join to resist them; but this is
not often. The authorities know well enough that they have no chance of
catching these men among the mountains they are so well acquainted with,
and content themselves with stationing a few troops in the villages."

"And is it through the robbers or the savages that so few of the gold
explorers ever return?"

"It is chiefly, I think, from hardship," Dias said; "but undoubtedly many
who venture down near the Indians' country are killed by them. Some who
have done well, and are returning with the gold they have accumulated,
fall victims to these robbers. You must not, of course, suppose that there
are great numbers of them, señor. There may be some hundreds, but from
Huancabamba--the northern frontier of the western Cordilleras, where the
Maranon crosses the eastern range--down to Lake Titicaca on the one side,
and Tacna on the other, is nigh a thousand miles, and the two ranges cover
more square leagues than can be reckoned, and even a thousand men
scattered over these would be but so many grains of sand on a stretch of
the sea-shore."

"It certainly sounds like it, Dias; but perhaps those worthy people
congregate chiefly in the neighbourhood of the passes."

"That is so, señor; but even through these a traveller might pass many
times without being troubled by them."

"Have you fallen in with them often, Dias?"

"Yes; but, as you see, they have done me no harm. Sometimes, when I get to
the end of my journey, the mules are not so heavily laden as when I
started; but generally the people for whom I work say to me, 'Here are so
many dollars, Dias; they are for toll.' There are places in the villages
at the foot of the most-frequented passes where it is understood that a
payment of so many dollars per mule will enable you to pass without
molestation. In return for your money, you receive a ribbon, or a rosette,
or a feather, and this you place in your hat as a passport. You may meet a
few men with guns as you pass along, but when they see the sign they
salute you civilly, ask for a drink of wine if you are carrying it, then
wish you good-day. It is only in little-frequented passes that you have to
take your chance. I may say that though these men may plunder, they never
kill a muleteer. They know that if they did, all traffic on that road
would cease, and the soldiers would find guides who knew every path and
hiding-place in the mountains."

"Anyhow, I think it is well, Dias, that I took your advice, and handed
over my gold to Señor Pasquez, for if we do fall into the hands of any of
these gentry, we can lose practically nothing."

"No money, señor, but we might lose everything else, except perhaps the
mules, which they could not use in the mountains. But if they were to take
our blankets, and tents, and provisions, and your firearms, we should be
in a bad way if we happened to be a couple of hundred miles in the heart
of the mountains."

"Well, I don't think they will take them," Harry said grimly, "without
paying pretty dearly for them. With your gun and our rifles, and that old
fowling-piece which you got for José, which will throw a fairly heavy
charge of buck-shot, I think we can make a very good fight against any
band of eight men, or even one or two more."

"I think so," Dias said gravely. "It is seldom I miss my mark. Still, I
hope we shall not be troubled with them, or with the Indians. You see, it
is not so much an attack by day that we have to fear, as a surprise at
night. Of course, when we are once on the hills, José and I will keep
watch by turns. He is as sharp as a needle. I should have no fear of any
of these robbers creeping up to us without his hearing them. But I can't
say so much for him in the case of the Indians, who can move so
noiselessly that even a vicuña would not hear them until they were within
a spear's-throw."

"The spear is their weapon then, Dias?"

"Some tribes carry bows and arrows, others only spears, and sometimes they
poison the points of both these weapons."

"That is unpleasant. Are there remedies for the poisons?"

"None that I know of, nor do I think the savages themselves know of any.
The only chance is to pour ammonia at once into the hole that is made by
an arrow, and to cut out all the flesh round a spear-wound, and then to
pour in ammonia or sear it with a hot iron."

"That accounts for your buying that large bottle of ammonia at Lima. I
wondered what you wanted it for. When we get into the country these
unpleasant people inhabit, I will fill my spirit-flask with it, so that it
will always be handy if required. Now we understand things generally,
Dias. It only remains for you to decide where we had best leave the plain
and take to the mountains."

Dias was silent for a minute. "I should say, señor, that first we had
better journey down to Cuzco and then down to Sicuani, where the western
Cordilleras, after making a bend, join the eastern branch, and there cross
the Tinta volcano. On the other side are many gorges. In one of these I
know there is some very rich gold sand. Explorers have sought for this
spot in vain, but the secret has been well kept by the few who know it. It
has been handed down in my father's family from father to son ever since
the Spaniards came. He told it to me, and I swore to reveal it to none but
my son. I have no son, and the secret therefore will die with me. Whether
it has been passed down in any other family I cannot say. It may be, or it
may not be; but as I owe you my life, and also the debt of gratitude to
Señor Barnett, I feel that you are more to me than a son. Moreover, the
secret was to be kept lest it should come to the knowledge of the
Spaniards. The Spaniards have gone, and with them the reason for
concealment, so I feel now that I am justified in taking you there."

"I am glad of that, Dias. Assuredly the gold can be of service to no man
as long as it lies there, and it would be better to utilize it than allow
it to waste. I need not say how grateful I shall feel if you can put me in
the way of obtaining it."

"That I cannot absolutely promise," he said. "I have the indications, but
they will be difficult to find. Three hundred years bring great changes--
rocks on which there are marks may be carried away by torrents, figures
cut in the cliffs may be overgrown by mosses or creepers. However, if but
a few remain, I hope to be able to find my way. If I fail we must try
elsewhere; but this is the only one of which I have been told all the
marks. I know generally several places where great treasure was hidden,
but not the marks by which they could be discovered, and as we may be sure
that every measure was taken to hide the entrances to the caves, the
chances would be all against our lighting upon them. I may say, señor,
that, great as was the treasure of the Incas, that of the Chimoos or
Chincas, a powerful people who inhabited part of this country, was fully
as large; and traditions say that most of the treasures hidden were not
those of the Incas, but of the Chimoos, who buried them when their country
was invaded by the Incas.

"This is certainly the case with most of the treasures hidden to the west
of the mountains. It was so at Pachacamac; it was so at Truxillo, where
the Spaniards found three million and a half dollars of gold; and it is
known that this was but a small hoard, and that the great one, many times
larger, has never been discovered. Probably the secret has long been lost;
for if there are but few who know where the Incas buried their gold, it
may well be believed that the exact locality of the Chimoo treasures,
which were buried more than eight hundred years ago, is now unknown, and
that nothing but vague traditions have been handed down."

"That one can quite understand," Harry agreed, "when we consider how many
of the Chimoos must have fallen in the struggle with the Incas, and how
more than half the population were swept away by the Spaniards, to say
nothing of those who have died in the wars of the last thirty years. It
seems strange, however, that the treasures in the temple of Pachacamac
were left untouched by the Incas and allowed to accumulate afterwards."

"It was so generally regarded as the sacred city," Dias said, "that,
powerful as they were, the Incas did not attempt to interfere with it, as
to do so would certainly have stirred up a formidable insurrection of the
natives throughout the whole of their territory; and instead, therefore,
of taking possession of the temple and dedicating it to their own god,
they allowed it to remain untouched and the worship of the old gods to be
carried on there, contenting themselves with building a temple of their
own to the Sun-god close at hand."

"Whether any treasure we find belonged to the Incas or to the Chimoos is
of no consequence whatever. I certainly think that before entering upon
what would seem to be almost a hopeless search for such stores, we should
try this place that you know of. In that case it seems to me, Dias, that
if we had gone down the coast to Islay, and up through Arequipa to Cuzco,
our journey would have been considerably shorter."

"That is true, señor, but we should have found it difficult to take a
passage for our mules; the steamers are but small craft, with poor
accommodation even for passengers. And besides, until we had made all our
arrangements for the journey from Lima, I could hardly say that I had made
up my mind to bring you to this place. Only when you and your brother
saved my life did I feel that I was bound to aid you, even to the point of
divulging the secret. It is different now from what it was when it was
first handed down. At that time the Spaniards were mercilessly slaying all
known to be in the possession of any secret connected with gold, and every
discovery of gold entailed the forced labour of thousands more of the
natives. Well, señor, all that is changed; we are our own masters, and
those who find mines are allowed to work them on payment of certain
royalties. There is, therefore, no good in keeping a secret that has been
useless for hundreds of years."

"Certainly, Dias, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are
injuring no one by the act, and are besides doing a very good action to my
brother and myself.

"Well, Bertie," Harry said when Dias had left the room, "I think we may
congratulate ourselves. For the first time I really think there is a
chance of the expedition turning out a success."

"It certainly looks like it," Bertie agreed. "For your sake I hope it will
be so. As for me, I am quite content; what with Indians and brigands, wild
beasts, alligators, and snakes, the journey is likely to be an exciting
one."




CHAPTER VI

A TROPICAL FOREST


It took them over three weeks to reach Cuzco. They did not hurry, for they
wished to keep the mules in good condition for the serious work before
them. They were travelling across a plateau thickly dotted with villages
and small towns, and everywhere richly cultivated. Near the summit of the
mountains large flocks of alpacas were grazing, and lower down herds of
cattle and sheep, while near the plain were patches of wheat, barley, and
potatoes, which in turn were succeeded by fields of maize, apple and peach
trees, and prickly-pears. At the foot were fields of sugar-cane, oranges,
citron, pine-apples, cacao, and many other tropical fruits; while in the
deeper ravines cotton was grown in abundance for the wants of the
population. Here, in fact, were all varieties of climate, from the
perpetual snow on the summits of the lofty mountains to a tropical heat in
the valleys.

"If the Incas had been contented with this glorious plateau, which for
centuries constituted their kingdom, and had passed a law against the
gathering of gold and the mining for silver, they might still have been
lords here," Harry said one day. "There would have been nothing to tempt
the avarice of the Spaniards, for owing to the distance of the mines from
the coast, the cost of carriage would have been immense, and the long sea
journey would have rendered the exportation of the natural products of the
country impossible. Some of the more sober-minded of the Dons might have
settled down here and taken wives from among the daughters of the nobles,
and, bringing with them the civilization of Spain, become valuable
colonists. The Incas, before they extended their conquest over the whole
of the west of South America, must have been a comparatively simple
people, and would have had none of the habits of luxury and magnificence
that tempted the Spaniards. The gold of South America was the ruin of the
Incas, as it was afterwards the chief cause of the ruin of Spain."

"Well, Harry, then I should very strongly advise you to give up treasure-
hunting and to remain poor, for the curse of the gold may not have worked
itself out yet."

"I must risk that, Bertie. I have no desire for luxury or magnificence; it
is for a laudable purpose that I seek the gold. However, if you have any
scruples on the subject there is no occasion for you to have any share in
what I may discover."

"No, I think I will agree with you and risk it; though certainly at
present I don't see what advantage any amount of money would be to me."

The houses of the peasants were for the most part comfortable, although
small, for since the expulsion of the Spaniards, the people had had no
reason to make a pretence of poverty. During the Spanish rule no one
dared, by the size of his house or by his mode of living, to show signs of
wealth above his fellows, for to do so would be to expose himself to the
cruel exactions of the tax-collectors and local officials; and even now
they had hardly recognized the change that had taken place, and remained
wedded to the habits that had become rooted in them by centuries of
oppression.

The travellers had no difficulty whatever in purchasing food and forage on
the way. They always slept in their tents now, and preferred Donna Maria's
cooking to that which they could obtain in the small and generally dirty
inns in the towns.

By the time they reached Cuzco, Bertie was able to converse in Spanish
with some fluency. On the way he rode either beside Dias and his wife, or
with José; in either case an animated conversation was kept up, sometimes
on the stirring events of the war of independence and the subsequent
struggles, sometimes about life in England, its ways and customs,
concerning which neither Maria nor José had any knowledge whatever. Bertie
also endeavoured to gain some information concerning the history of Peru
prior to the rising against Spain; but neither the woman nor boy knew
anything of the subject beyond the fact that the Incas were great people,
and that the natives still mourned for them.

"You see that black apron most of the women wear over one hip, as a sign
of mourning; it is still worn for the Incas. They must have been good
people, and not cruel like the Spanish, or they would not be so much
regretted," Maria said. "I don't wear the apron, because both Dias and I
are of mixed blood, descendants on one side of natives, and on the other
of Creoles, that is of Spaniards whose families were settled here, and who
hated their countrymen just as much as we do. Well, there is Cuzco in
sight. I have never seen it, and am glad that we shall stay there for a
few days."

The old capital of the Incas lay at the end of a valley about two miles in
length, and about a mile in width. To the north of the city rose an abrupt
hill, crowned by the great citadel with its three lines of walls, the hill
being divided from those forming the side of the valley by two deep
ravines, in which flowed little streams that ran through the city. The
appearance of the town was striking. There were numerous churches, its
streets ran at right angles to each other, and the massive stone houses
dated from the early Spanish days, though they were surmounted for the
most part by modern brickwork additions. Where the great Temple of the Sun
once stood, the church of Santo Domingo had been built, a portion of the
splendid building of the old faith being incorporated in it.

"What is the use of staying here?" Bertie asked his brother impatiently,
two days after they had arrived at Cuzco. "I dare say these old ruins and
fortresses, and so on, are very interesting to people who understand all
about the Incas; but as I know nothing about them, I don't see how you can
expect me to get up any interest in an old wall because you tell me that
it is one of the remains of a palace belonging to some old chap I never
heard of. I shall be very glad when Dias says that the mules have had
enough rest and that we can set out on our business."

"I am afraid you are a Goth, Bert," Harry said, looking at him with an
expression of pity. "Here you are in one of the most interesting cities of
the world, a place that thousands and thousands of people would travel any
distance to investigate, and in forty-eight hours you are tired of it. You
have no romance in your nature, no respect for the past; you are a Goth
and a Philistine."

"I am afraid you are mixing up localities, Harry. I may be a Goth or a
Philistine, but perhaps you are not aware that these peoples or tribes had
no connection with each other. Your education in matters unconnected with
the Royal Navy seems to have been even more deplorably neglected than my
own."

"Shut up, youngster!"  "No, Lieutenant Prendergast, you are not on the
quarter-deck of one of Her Majesty's ships at present. You are not even
the leader of a small caravan on the march. We are in this locanda on
terms of perfect equality, save and except in any small advantage that you
may possess in the matter of years."

Harry laughed.

"Well, Bertie, I do not altogether disagree with what you say. If I had
come here to get up the history of the Incas, and investigate the ruins of
their palaces, I should be content to stay here for some weeks; but as it
is, I am really just as anxious as you are to be on the move. I was
speaking to Dias half an hour ago, and he says that in two more days we
shall be able to start again. We have been discussing how much flour and
other things it is absolutely necessary to take. Of course the better
provided we are the more comfortable we shall be; but on the other hand,
as Dias says, it is of great importance that the mules should carry as
little weight as possible.

"In crossing the passes we shall have the benefit of the old roads of the
Incas, but once we leave these the difficulties will be enormous. Dias
said that it might be better to dispose of our mules altogether and get
trained llamas in their place, as these can climb over rocks where no mule
could obtain a foothold. But then it would be necessary to take with us
one or two natives accustomed to their ways, and this would not suit us at
all. However, I do think that it would be worth while to take two or three
of these animals with us. They can carry a hundred pounds apiece; but as
we may be going over extraordinarily rough country, fifty pounds would be
sufficient. The advantage would be that we could establish a sort of
central camp at the farthest spot to which the mules could go, and then
make exploring expeditions with the llamas to carry provisions and tools.
The llamas are not bad eating, so that if we found no other use for them
they would assist our commissariat."

"How far can they go in a day, Harry?"

"Ten or twelve miles, and you may be sure that that is as much as we can
do when we are among the mountains."

"Then I should think they would be very useful. I suppose there will be no
difficulty in buying them?"

"None at all. A good many are brought in for sale to the market every day.
Of course it would be necessary to get strong animals accustomed to
burdens."

Before starting there was another long consultation between Harry and Dias
as to which course it would be better to adopt. The most-frequented pass
through the mountains was that to Paucartambo, forty miles north-east from
Cuzco, at the mouth of the pass that leads down into the plains. Between
this town and the Carabaya range, a hundred and fifty miles to the south,
was to be found the rich gold deposit to which Dias had referred. So far,
however, as the traditions he had received informed him, it was situated
near the slopes of the Tinta volcano, and between that and Ayapata. The
direct road to this spot was extremely difficult, and he was of opinion
that the journey could be more easily performed by going to Paucartambo
and then skirting the foot of the mountains.

"You will find no difficulty in obtaining food as you go along," he said;
"wild turkeys, pheasants, and other birds are to be met with in that
district. Moreover, there are many plantations which have been deserted
owing to the depredations of the Chincas, a tribe who live on the
tributaries of the Pueros, or as it used to be called, Rio Madre de Dios.
Here you will find fields of maize still growing, sugar-cane, cacao, and
rice. One after another the estates have been abandoned; at some of them
the whole of the people on the farms were massacred, and in all the danger
was so great that the proprietors found it impossible to work them. The
one drawback to that road is that we may fall in with the Chincas, in
which case they will certainly attack us. However, they are widely
scattered through the forests, and we may not fall in with them. On the
other hand, the track by the Tinta mountain from Sicuani is extremely
difficult and dangerous, We might lose several of our animals in
traversing it, and should have to depend entirely on what we carried for
food."

"Then by all means let us go the other way, Dias. Were we to lose some of
our mules it would be impossible to replace them, and it would be useless
to find gold if we could not carry it away."

Two days later they started, four llamas having been added to the caravan.
Dias explained that it would not be necessary to take any natives to
attend to these animals, as, once started, they would follow the mules
without difficulty, especially if they were fed with them before starting.
Three days' travelling brought them to the little town, which lay very
high up in the hills. The cold here was bitter, and the party needed all
their wraps, and were glad to get in motion as soon as it was light.
Passing over a range of mountains above Paucartambo, where a thin layer of
snow crunched under their feet, they began the tremendous descent into the
plain. In a short time the morning mist cleared away. The road led through
a tropical forest. It took them over three hours to reach the river
Chirimayu, a descent of eleven thousand feet in the course of eight miles.

Here they halted by the side of a splendid waterfall. The hills rose up
perpendicularly on every side except where the little river made its way
through the gorge; they were covered with brushwood, ferns, and creepers,
thick with flowers of many colours, while lofty palms and forest trees
grew wherever their roots could find a hold. Splendid butterflies of
immense size flitted about; birds of many kinds and beautiful plumage flew
hither and thither among the trees; humming-birds sucked the honey from
the bright flowers; parrots chattered and screamed in the upper branches
of the trees, and the foam and spray of the torrent sparkled in the sun.
Harry and his brother stood struck with admiration at the loveliness of
the scene, even Donna Maria and José ceased their chatter as they looked
at a scene such as they had never before witnessed.

"It is worth coming all the way from England to see this, Bertie."

"It is, indeed. If it is all like this I sha'n't mind how long Dias takes
to find the place he is in search of."

At a word from Dias they all set to work to take the burdens off the
animals. A place was cleared for the tents. When these had been erected
José collected dried sticks. A fire was soon lighted, and Maria began to
prepare breakfast.

"Is it unhealthy here, Dias?"

"Not here, señors; we are still many hundred feet above the plain. In the
forest there it is unhealthy for whites, the trees grow so thickly that it
is difficult to penetrate them, swamps and morasses lie in many places,
and the air is thick and heavy. We shall not go down there until we need.
When we must descend we shall find an abundance of maize, and fruits of
all sorts. The savages kill the people they find on the estates, but do
not destroy the crops or devastate the fields. They are wise enough to
know that these are useful to them, and though they are too lazy to work
themselves they appreciate the good things that others have planted."

"It is rather early to make a halt, Dias."

"We have work to do, señor. In the first place we must find a spot where
large trees stand on the bank of the torrent. Two or three of these must
be felled so that they fall across it; then we shall have to chop off the
branches, lay them flat side by side, and make a bridge over which to take
animals. After breakfast we must set about this work, and it will be too
late before we finish to think of going farther to-day."

"It is well that we bought four good axes and plenty of rope at Cuzco,"
Harry said.

"We shall want them very often, señor. Three large torrents come down
between this and the Tinta volcano, besides many smaller ones. Some rise
from the hills to the north of us. These fall into others, which
eventually combine to make the Madre de Dios. So far as is known boats can
descend the river to the Amazon without meeting with any obstacle, from a
point only a few miles from the head of the Pueros, which we shall
presently cross. The fact that there are no cataracts during the whole
course from the hills to the junction of the rivers, shows how perfectly
flat the great plain is."

"And did either the Incas or the Spaniards ever conquer the Chincas and
cultivate these splendid plains?"

"The Incas drove them back some distance, señor, and forced them to pay a
tribute, but they never conquered them. Doubtless they cultivated the land
for some leagues from the foot of the mountains, as did the Spaniards, and
it was considered the most fertile part of the Montaña, as their
possessions this side of the Cordilleras were called. The Spaniards tried
to push farther, but met with such stout opposition by the savages that
they were forced to desist."

All were ready when Maria announced breakfast. After the meal they sat
smoking for half an hour, reluctant to commence the heavy work before
them.

"We had better be moving, señor," Dias said as he rose to his feet, "or we
shall not get the bridge made before dark."

A hundred yards from the camp they found three large trees growing close
to each other near the edge of the stream. Bertie looked at them with an
air of disgust.

"This will be worse for the hands than rowing for twelve hours in a heavy
boat."

"I dare say it will," Harry agreed; "but it has got to be done, and the
sooner we set about it the better."

"I shall take off my flannel shirt," Bertie said.

"You had better not, señor," Dias said, as he saw what the lad was about
to do. "There are many insects here that will sting you, and the bites of
some of them swell up and turn into sores. Now, señor, I will take this
tree. The next is not quite so large, will you take that? I will help you
when I am finished with my own. Your brother and José can work by turns at
the other."

It was hard work, for the trees were over two feet across near the foot.
Dias had felled his before the others had cut half-way through, and he
then lent his aid to Harry, who was streaming with perspiration.

"You are not accustomed to it, señor. You will manage better when you have
had two or three months' practice at the work."

"I did not bargain for this, Harry," Bertie said as he rested for the
twentieth time from his work. "Jaguars and alligators, Indians and
bandits, and hard climbing I was prepared for, but I certainly never
expected that we should have to turn ourselves into wood-cutters."

"It is hard work, Bertie, but it is useless to grumble, and, as Dias says,
we shall become accustomed to it in two or three months."

"Two or three months!" Bertie repeated with a groan; "my hands are
regularly blistered already, and my arms and back ache dreadfully."

"Well, fire away! Why, José has done twice as much as you have, and he has
hardly turned a hair. I don't suppose that he has had much more practice
than you have had, and he is nothing like so strong."

"Oh, I dare say! if he has never cut, his ancestors have, and I suppose it
is hereditary. Anyhow, I have been doing my best. Well, here goes!"

Harry laughed at his brother's theory for explaining why José had done
more work than he had. He was himself by no means sorry that Dias had come
to his assistance, and that his tree was nearly ready to fall. José
climbed it with the end of a long rope, which he secured to an upper
bough. Dias then took the other end of the rope, crossed the torrent by
the tree he had felled, and when José had come down and Harry had given a
few more cuts with the axe, he was able to guide the tree in its fall
almost directly across the stream. Then he took Bertie's tree in hand. In
ten minutes this was lying beside the others. It took three hours' more
work to cut off the branches and to lay the trees side by side, which was
done with the aid of one of the mules. The smaller logs were packed in
between them to make a level road, and when this was done the workers went
back to the little camp. The sun was already setting, and Donna Maria had
the cooking-pots simmering over the fire.

"That has been a hard day's work," Harry said, when he and his brother
threw themselves down on the grass near the fire.

"Hard is no name for it, Harry. I have never been sentenced to work on a
tread-mill, but I would cheerfully chance it for a month rather than do
another day's work like this. The palms of my hands feel as if they had
been handling a red-hot iron, my arms and shoulders ache as if I had been
on a rack. I seem to be in pain from the tips of my toes to the top of my
head."

Harry laughed.

"It is only what every settler who builds himself a hut in the backwoods
must feel, Bert. It is the work of every wood-cutter and charcoal-burner;
it is a good deal like the work of every miner. You have been brought up
too soft, my boy."

"Soft be hanged!" the lad said indignantly; "it is the first time I have
heard that the life of an apprentice on board a ship was a soft one. I
have no doubt you feel just as bad as I do."

"But you don't hear me grumbling, Bert; that is all the difference. I
expect that, of the two, I am rather the worse, for my bones and muscles
are more set than yours, and it is some years now since I pulled at either
a rope or an oar."

Bertie was silent for a minute or two, and then said rather
apologetically:

"Well, Harry, perhaps I need not have grumbled so much, but you see it is
a pretty rough beginning when one is not accustomed to it. We ought to
have had a short job to begin with, and got into it gradually, instead of
having six hours on end; and I expect that the backwoods settler you were
talking about does not work for very long when he first begins. If he did
he would be a fool, for he certainly would not be fit for work for a week
if he kept on till he had nearly broken his back and taken the whole skin
off his hands by working all day the first time he tried it."

"There is something in that, Bertie; and as we are in no extraordinary
hurry I do think we might have been satisfied with felling the trees to-
day, and cutting off the branches and getting them into place to-morrow.
Still, as Dias seemed to make nothing of it, I did not like to knock off
at the very start."

"The meal is ready, señor," Maria said, "and I think we had better eat it
at once, for the sky looks as if we were going to have rain."

"And thunder too," Dias said. "You had better begin; José and I will
picket the mules and hobble the llamas. If they were to make off, we
should have a lot of trouble in the morning."

The aspect of the sky had indeed changed. Masses of cloud hung on the tops
of the hills, and scud was flying overhead.

Maria placed one of the cooking-pots and two tin plates, knives, and forks
beside Harry and his brother, with two flat cakes of ground maize.

"Sit down and have your food at once," Harry said to her. "The rain will
be down in bucketfuls before many minutes."

They were soon joined by Dias and José, the latter bringing up a large can
of water from the stream. They had just finished when large drops of rain
began to patter on the ground.

"Never mind the things," Harry said as he leapt to his feet. "Crawl under
shelter at once; it is no use getting a wetting."

All at once made for the tents; and they were but just in time, for the
rain began to fall in torrents, and a peal of thunder crashed out overhead
as they got under the canvas.

"This is our first experience of this sort of thing," Harry said, as he
and his brother lit their pipes half-sitting and half-reclining on their
beds. "I rather wondered why Dias put the tents on this little bit of
rising ground, which did not look so soft or tempting as the level; but I
see now that he acted very wisely, for we should have been flooded in no
time if we had been lower down. As it is, I am by no means sure that we
shan't have the water in. Another time we will take the precaution to make
trenches round the tents when we pitch them. However, we have got a
waterproof sheet underneath the beds, so I expect it will be all right."

"I hope so. Anyhow, we had better see that the edges are turned up all
round, so that the water cannot run over them. By Jove! it does come down.
We can hardly hear each other speak."

Suddenly the entrance to the tent was thrust aside.

"Here is a candle, señors."

It was thrown in, and Dias ran back into his own tent, which was but a few
yards away, before Harry could remonstrate at his coming out.

"The candle will be useful, anyhow," Bertie said. "It is almost pitch-dark
now. What with the sun going down and the clouds overhead, it has turned
from day into night in the past five minutes."

Striking a match he lit the candle, and stuck it in between his shoes,
which he took off for the purpose.

"That is more cheerful, Harry."

"Hullo! what is that?"

A deep sound, which was certainly not thunder, rose from the woods. It was
answered again and again from different directions.

"They must be either pumas or jaguars, which are always called here lions
and tigers, and I have no doubt Dias will know by the roar which it is. I
should not mind if it were daylight, for it is not pleasant to know that
there are at least half a dozen of these beasts in the neighbourhood. We
may as well drop the cartridges into our rifles and pistols. I believe
neither of these beasts often attacks men, but they might certainly attack
our mules."

The storm continued, and each clap of thunder was succeeded by roars,
snarls, and hissing, and with strange cries and shrieks. During a
momentary lull Harry shouted:

"Is there any fear of these beasts attacking us or the mules, Dias?"

"No, señor, they are too frightened by the thunder and lightning to think
of doing so."

"What are all those cries we hear?"

"Those are monkeys, señor. They are frightened both by the storm and by
the roaring of the lions and tigers."

"Which is the bigger, Harry, the puma or the jaguar?"

"I believe the jaguar is the bigger, but the puma is the more formidable
and fiercer. The latter belongs to the same family as the lion, and the
former to that of the leopards. The jaguar is more heavily built than the
leopard, and stronger, with shorter legs, but it is spotted just as the
leopard is. The puma is in build like the lion, but has no mane. Both prey
on animals of all kinds. The natives say they catch turtles, turn them
over on their backs as a man would do, and tear the shells apart. They
will also eat fish; but they are both scourges to the Indians and white
planters, as they will kill sheep, horses, and cattle. Of course, if they
are attacked by men and wounded, they will fight desperately, as most wild
creatures will; but if man does not molest them, they are quite content to
leave him alone, unless he chances to pass under a tree among the branches
of which they are lying in wait for prey. Both of them can climb trees."

"Well, I thought I should have slept like a log, Harry, after the work
that I have done, but what with the thunder and the patter of the rain,
and all those noises of beasts, I don't think I am likely to close my
eyes."

"We shall get accustomed to the noises after a time, Bert; but at present
I feel as if I were in the middle of a travelling menagerie which had been
caught in a thunderstorm. It is curious that all animals should be
frightened at lightning, for they cannot know that it is really
dangerous."

"Yes, I know. We had two dogs on the last ship I was in. A clap of thunder
would send them flying down the companion into the cabin, and they would
crouch in some dark corner in a state of absolute terror. They would do
just the same if cannon were fired in salute, or anything of that sort. I
suppose they thought that was thunder."

In spite, however, of the noises, Harry and his brother both dropped off
to sleep before long, being thoroughly worn out by the day's work. They
were awakened by Dias opening the front of their little tent.

"The sun is up, señors, and it is a fine morning after the storm. Maria
has got coffee ready, baked some cakes, and fried some slices of meat."

"All right, Dias! we will be out directly. We will first run up the bank a
short distance, and have a dip."

"You won't be able to swim, señor. The bed of the torrent is full, and no
swimmer could breast the water."

"All right! we will be careful."

Throwing on their ponchos, they went down to the stream and ran along the
bank.

"The water is coming down like a race-horse, Bert, but just ahead it has
overflowed its banks. We can have a bath there safely, though it is not
deep enough for swimming."

After ten minutes' absence they returned to the camp, completed their
dressing, and sat down to breakfast.

"What were all those frightful noises, Dias? Were they pumas or jaguars?"

"They were both, señor. You can easily tell the difference in the sounds
they make. The jaguar's is between a roar and a snarl, while the puma's is
a sort of a hissing roar."

As soon as breakfast was over, the tents were packed up and the mules and
llamas laden. Dias had given them a feed all round an hour before. The
course they should take had been already agreed upon; they must descend to
the plain, for it would be next to impossible to cross the ravines on the
mountain-side.

"Each stream coming down from the hills," Dias said, "must be followed
nearly up to its source, but for the next seventy or eighty miles the
search need not be so careful as it must be afterwards. The place cannot
be far from Tinta, but somewhere this side of it. We need not hurry, for
there are two months to spare."

"How do you mean, Dias?"

"On a day that answers to the 21st of March, Coyllur--that is a star--will
rise at midnight in a cleft in a peak. It can be seen only in the valley
in which the stream that contains the gold runs down. This is what my
father taught me; therefore there must be mountains to the south-east, and
this can only be where the Cordilleras run east, which is the case at
Tinta."

"That is excellent as far as it goes, if we happen to be in the right
valley at the time, Dias, but it would not help us in the slightest if we
were in any other valley. And we should have to wait a year before trying
in another place."

"Yes, señor, but there are marks on the rocks of a particular kind. There
are marks on rocks in other valleys, so that these should not be
distinguished by Spaniards searching for the place. I should know the
marks when I saw them."

"Then in that case, Dias, the star would not be of much use to us."

"I know not how that might be, señor, but as these instructions have been
handed down from the time when the Spaniards arrived, it must surely in
some way be useful, but in what way I cannot say."

"At any rate, Dias, what with those marks you speak of, and the star, it
will be hard if we cannot find it. I suppose you are sure that the place
is rich if we do light upon it?"

"Of that there can be no doubt, señor. Tradition says that it was the
richest spot in the mountains, and was only worked when the king had need
of gold, either for equipping an army or on some special occasion. At such
a time it would be worked for one month, and then closed until gold was
again required. However, as we go that way we shall explore other valleys.
Gold is found more or less in all of them. Possibly we may find some rich
spot which we can fall back upon if we fail in our search."

"But I hardly see how we can fail, with the star and those marks on the
rocks to aid us."

"The marks may have disappeared, señor, and in that case we may not be in
the right spot when the star rises; or again, the Incas may have closed
the approach in some way to make the matter sure. I cannot promise that we
shall find the gold; but I shall do my best with the knowledge that has
come down to me. If I fail, we must try in other directions. When the
Spaniards came, forty thousand of the Incas' people left Cuzco and the
neighbouring towns, and journeyed away down the mountains and out to the
west. Since then no reliable news concerning them has been heard, but
rumours have from time to time come from that direction to the effect that
there is a great and wealthy city there. I say not that if we failed here
we should attempt to find it. The dangers from the savages would be too
great. There would be great forests to traverse, many rivers to be
crossed. We might travel for years without ever finding their city. When
we got there, we might be seized and put to death, and if we were spared
we might not be able to make off with the treasure. I mention it to show
that gold may be found in many other places besides this valley we are
seeking."

"I quite agree with you, Dias, that unless we could get some indication of
the position of this city, if it now exists, it would be madness to
attempt to search for it. I want gold badly, but I do not propose that we
should all throw away our lives in what would be almost a hopeless
adventure. Even if I were ready to risk my own life on such a mad
enterprise, I would not ask others to do the same."

Crossing the stream, they made their way down through the forest. It was
toilsome work, as they often had to clear a way with axes through the
undergrowth and tangle of creepers. But at noon they reached level ground.
The heat was now intense, even under the trees, and the air close and
oppressive. On the way down Harry shot a wild turkey. When they halted,
this was cut up and broiled over a fire, and after it had been eaten all
lay down and slept for two or three hours.

"Ought we not to set a guard?" Harry had asked.

"No, señor, I do not think it necessary. José will lie down by the side of
the llamas, and even if the mules should not give us a warning of any man
or beast approaching, the llamas will do so. They are the shyest and most
timid of creatures, and would detect the slightest movement."

For the next three weeks they continued their way. During this time five
or six ravines were investigated as far as they could be ascended. Samples
were frequently taken from sand and gravel and washed, but though
particles of gold were frequently found, they were not in sufficient
quantity to promise good results from washing.

"If we had a band of natives with us," Dias said, "we should no doubt get
enough to pay well--that is to say, to cover all expenses and leave an
ounce or two of profit to every eight or ten men engaged--but as matters
stand we should only be wasting time by remaining here."

They had no difficulty in obtaining sufficient food; turkeys and pheasants
were occasionally shot; a tapir was once killed, and, as they had brought
hooks and lines with them, fish were frequently caught in the streams.
These were of small size, but very good eating. But, as Dias said, they
could not hope to find larger species, except far out in the plains, where
the rivers were deep and sluggish.

The work was hard, but they were now accustomed to it. They often had to
go a considerable distance before they could find trees available for
bridging the torrents, but, on the other hand, they sometimes came upon
some of much smaller girth than those they had first tackled. The labour
in getting these down was comparatively slight. Sometimes these stood a
little way from the stream, but after they were felled two mules could
easily drag them to the site of the bridge. When on the march, Harry and
his brother carried their double-barrelled guns, each with one barrel
charged with shot suitable for pheasants or other birds, the other with
buck-shot. Dias carried a rifle. Very seldom did they mount their mules,
the ground being so rough and broken, and the boughs of the trees so
thick, that it was less trouble to walk at the heads of their animals than
to ride.




CHAPTER VII

AN INDIAN ATTACK


One day when they returned from exploring a valley, Harry and his brother,
taking their rifles, strolled down an open glade, while Dias and José
unpacked the animals. They had gone but a hundred yards when they heard a
sound that was new to them. It sounded like the grunting of a number of
pigs. Dias was attending to the mules. Harry and Bertie caught up their
guns. Presently a small pig made its appearance from among some trees.
Harry was on the point of raising his gun to his shoulder when Dias
shouted, "Stop, do not shoot!"

"What is the matter, Dias?" he asked in surprise, as the latter ran up.

"That is a peccary."

"Well, it is a sort of pig, isn't it?"

"Yes, señor. But if you were to kill it, we might all be torn in pieces.
They travel through the forests in great herds, and if one is injured or
wounded, the rest will rush upon its assailants. You may shoot down dozens
of them, but that only redoubles their fury. The only hope of escape is to
climb a tree; but they will keep watch there, regardless of how many are
shot, until hunger obliges them to retire. They are the bravest beasts of
the forests, and will attack and kill even a lion or a tiger if it has
seized one of their number. I beg you to stroll back quietly, and then sit
down. I will go to the head of the mules. If the herd see that we pay no
attention to them, they may go on without interfering with us. If we see
them approaching us, and evidently intending to attack, we must take to
the trees and try to keep them from attacking the mules; but there would
be small chance of our succeeding in doing so."

He and José at once went up to the mules, and stood perfectly quiet at
their head. Harry and Bertie moved closely up, laid their double-barrelled
guns beside them, and then sat down. By this time forty or fifty of the
peccaries had issued from the trees; some were rooting among the herbage,
others stood perfectly quiet, staring at the group on the rise above them.
Seeing no movement among them nor any sign of hostility, they joined the
others in their search for food, and in a quarter of an hour the whole
herd had moved off along the edge of the forest.

"Praise be to the saints!" Dias said, taking off his hat and crossing
himself. "We have escaped a great danger. A hunter would rather meet a
couple of lions or tigers than a herd of peccaries. These little animals
are always ready to give battle, and once they begin, fight till they die.
The more that are killed the more furious do the others become. Even in a
tree there is no safety. Many a hunter has been besieged in a tree until,
overpowered by thirst, he fell to the ground and was torn to pieces."

"What do they eat?" Harry asked.

"They will eat anything they kill, but their chief food is roots. They
kill great numbers of snakes. Even the largest python is no match for a
herd of peccaries if they catch him before he can take refuge in a tree."

"Well, then, it is very lucky that you stopped us before we fired."

"Fortunate indeed, señor. By taking to the trees we might have saved our
lives, but we should certainly have lost our mules. Both pumas and tigers
kill the little beasts when they come across stragglers. And it is well
that they do, for otherwise the woods would be full of them, though
fortunately they do not multiply as fast as our pigs, having only two or
three in a litter. They are good eating, but it is seldom that a hunter
can shoot one, for if he only wounds it, its shrieks will call together
all its companions within a mile round."

"Then we must give up the idea of having pork while we are among the
mountains."

"Now, are you going to keep me here all day, Dias?" Maria called suddenly.
"It seems to me that you have forgotten me altogether."

Harry and Bertie could not help laughing.

Dias had, on returning to the mules, taken his wife and seated her on a
branch six feet from the ground, in order that, should the peccaries
attack them, he might be ready at once to snatch up his rifle and join in
the fight without having first to think of the safety of his wife. He now
lifted her down.

The action did even more than what Dias had said to convince Harry of the
seriousness of the danger to which they had been exposed, for as a rule
Donna Maria had scoffed at any offers of aid, even in the most difficult
places, and with her light springy step had taxed the power of the others
to keep up with her. These offers had not come from Dias, who showed his
confidence in his wife's powers by paying no attention whatever, and a
grim smile had often played on his lips when Harry or his brother had
offered her a hand. That his first thought had been of her now showed that
he considered the crisis a serious one.

"I thought Dias had gone mad," she said, as she regained her feet. "I
could not think what was the matter when he began to shout and ran towards
you. I saw nothing but a little pig. Then, when he came slowly back with
you and suddenly seized me and jerked me up on to that bough, I felt quite
sure of it, especially when he told me to hold my tongue and not say a
word. Was it that little pig? I saw lots more of them afterwards."

"Yes; and if they had taken it into their heads to come this way you would
have seen a good deal more of them than would be pleasant," Dias said.
"With our rifles we could have faced four lions or tigers with a better
hope of success than those little pigs you saw. They were peccaries, a
sort of wild pig, and the most savage little beasts in the forest. They
would have chased us all up into the trees and killed all the mules."

"Who would have thought it!" she said. "Why, when I was a girl I have
often gone in among a herd of little pigs quite as big as those things,
and never felt the least afraid of them. I must have been braver than I
thought I was."

"You are a good deal sillier than you think you are, Maria," Dias said
shortly. "There is as much difference between our pig and a peccary as
there is between a quiet Indian cultivator on the Sierra and one of those
savage Indians of the woods."

"I suppose I can light a fire now, Dias. There is no fear of those
creatures coming back again, is there?"

"No, I should think not. Fortunately they are going in the opposite
direction, otherwise I should have said that we had better stop here for a
day or two in case they should attack us if we came upon them again."

The next day, as they were journeying through the forest, at the foot of
the slopes José gave a sudden exclamation.

"What is it?" Dias asked.

"I saw a naked Indian standing in front of that tree; he has gone now."

"Are you sure, José?"

"Quite sure. He was standing perfectly still, looking at us, but when I
called to you he must have slipped round the tree. I only took my eyes off
him for a moment; when I looked again he was gone."

"Then we are in for trouble," Dias said gravely. "Of course it was one of
the Chincas. No doubt he was alone, but you may be sure that he has made
off to tell his companions he has seen us. He will know exactly how many
we are, and how many animals we have. It may be twenty-four hours, it may
be three or four days, before he makes his appearance again; but it is
certain that, sooner or later, we shall hear of him. Hunters as they are,
they can follow a track where I should see nothing; and so crafty are
they, that they can traverse the country without leaving the slightest
sign of their passage. The forest might be full of them, and yet the
keenest white hunter would see no footprint or other mark that would
indicate their presence."

"What had we better do, Dias?"

"We shall probably come to another stream before nightfall, señor. This we
will follow up until we get to some ravine bare of trees. There we can
fight them; in the forest we should have no chance. They would lie in
ambush for us, climb into the trees and hide among the foliage, and the
first we should know of their presence would be a shower of arrows; and as
they are excellent marksmen, we should probably be all riddled at the
first volley. There can be no sauntering now, we must push the animals
forward at their best speed. I will lead the way. Do you, señor, bring up
the rear and urge the mules forward. I shall try and pick the ground where
the trees are thinnest, and the mules can then go at a trot. They cannot
do so here, for they would always be knocking their loads off."

It was evening before they arrived at a stream. Here they made a short
halt while they gave a double handful of grain to each of the animals,
then they pushed on again until it was too dark to go farther.

"Will it be safe to light a fire, Dias?"

"Yes, that will make no difference. They are not likely to attack us at
night. Savages seldom travel after dark, partly because they are afraid of
demons, partly because they would be liable to be pounced upon by wild
beasts. But I do not think there is any chance of their overtaking us
until tomorrow. The man José saw may have had companions close at hand,
but they will know that we are well armed, and will do nothing until they
have gathered a large number and feel sure that they can overpower us.
They will probably take up the track to-morrow at daylight; but we have
made a long march, and can calculate that we shall find some defensible
position before they overtake us. José and I will keep watch to-night."

"We will take turns with you, Dias."

"No, señor; my ears are accustomed to the sounds of the forests, yours are
not. If you were watching I should still have no sleep."

The night passed without an alarm.

An hour before daylight Dias gave all the animals a good feed of corn, and
as soon as it was light they again started. They were already some
distance up the mountain, and after eight hours' travelling they arrived
at a gorge that suited their purpose. For two hundred yards the rocks rose
perpendicularly on each side of the stream, which was but some thirty feet
wide. No rain had fallen for some days, and the water was shallow enough
at the foot of the cliff for the mules to make their way among the fallen
rocks, through which it rushed impetuously. At the upper end the cliffs
widened out into a basin some fifty yards across.

"We cannot do better than halt here," Dias said. "In two or three hours we
can form a strong breast-work on the rocks nearly out to the middle of the
stream, where the current is too swift for anyone to make his way up
against it."

"Are they likely to besiege us long, Dias?"

"That I cannot say; but I do not think they will give it up easily.
Savages learn to be patient when roaming the forest in search of game.
Their time is of no value to them; besides, they are sure to lose many if
they attack, and will therefore try to get their revenge."

"They may have to give it up from want of food."

Dias shook his head.

"There are sure to be plenty of fish in the river, and they will poison
some pool and get an abundance. With their bows and arrows they can bring
down monkeys from the trees, and can snare small animals. However, señor,
we can talk over these things to-morrow. We had best begin the breast-work
at once while Maria is cooking dinner, which we need badly enough, for we
have had nothing but the maize cakes we ate before starting."

Working hard till it was dark, they piled up rocks and stones till they
formed a breast-work four feet high on both sides. Some twelve feet in the
centre were open. They had chosen a spot where so many fallen rocks lay in
the stream that it needed comparatively little labour to fill up the gaps
between them.

"I thought wood-chopping bad enough," Bertie said as they threw themselves
down on the ground after completing their labour, "but it is a joke to
this. My back is fairly broken, my arms feel as if they were pulled out of
the sockets, my hands are cut, I have nearly squeezed two nails off."

"It has been hard work," Harry agreed; "still, we have made ourselves
fairly safe, and we will get the walls a couple of feet higher in the
morning. We shall only want to add to them on the lower face in order to
form a sort of parapet that will shelter us as we lie down to fire, so it
won't be anything like such hard work. Then we will fill in the rocks
behind with small stones and sand to lie down upon."

"They will never be able to fight their way up to it," Dias said.

"We need have no fear on that score. The question is, can they get down
into this valley behind us; the rocks look very steep and in most places
almost perpendicular."

"They are steep, señor; but trees grow on them in many places, and these
savages are like monkeys. We shall have to examine them very carefully
when we have finished the wall. If we find that it is possible for anyone
to get down, we must go up the next gorge and see if we can find a better
position."

"I suppose you think we are safe for to-night, Dias?'

"I don't think they will try to come up through the stream. They have keen
eyes, but it would be so dark down there that even a cat could not see.
They will guess that we have stopped here, and will certainly want to find
out our position before they attack. One or two may come up as scouts, and
in that case they may attack at daybreak. Of course two of us will keep
watch; we can change every three hours. I will take the first watch with
your brother, and you and José can take the next."

"José had better sleep," Maria put in; "he watched all last night. My eyes
are as good as his, and I will watch with Don Harry."

Harry would have protested, but Dias said quietly:

"That will be well, Maria, but you will have to keep your tongue quiet.
These savages have ears like those of wild animals, and if you were to
raise your voice you might get an arrow in the brain."

"I can be silent when I like, Dias."

"It is possible," Dias said dryly; "but I don't remember in all these
years we have been married that I have known you like to do so."

"I take that as a compliment," she said quietly, "for it shows at least
that I am never sulky. Well, Don Harry, do you accept me as a fellow
watcher?"

"Certainly I shall be very glad to have you with me; and I don't think
that you need be forbidden to talk in a low tone, for the roar of the
water among the rocks would prevent the sound of voices from being heard
two or three yards away."

Accordingly, as soon as it became dark Dias went to the wall with Bertie.
José, after a last look at the mules, wrapped himself in a blanket and lay
down.

"I think I had better turn in to the tent," Harry said; "we have had two
days' hard work, and the building of that wall has pretty nearly finished
me, so if I don't get two or three hours' sleep to-night I am afraid I
shall not be a very useful sentinel."

Five minutes later he was sound asleep, and when his brother roused him he
could hardly believe that it was time for him to go on duty.

"Dias is waiting there. Will you come down?" the latter said. "You were
sleeping like a top; I had to pull at your leg three times before you
woke."

"I am coming," Harry said as he crawled out. "I feel more sleepy than when
I lay down, and will just run down to the stream and sluice my head, that
will wake me up in earnest, for the water is almost as cold as ice."

When he came back he was joined by Donna Maria, and, taking both his shot-
gun and rifle, he went forward with her to the barricade.

"So you have neither seen nor heard anything, Dias?"

"Nothing whatever, señor."

"I have had a good sleep, Dias; we will watch for the next four hours. It
is eleven o'clock now, so you will be able at three to take it on till
daylight."

"I will send and call you again an hour before that," Dias said. "If they
attack, as I expect they will as soon as the dawn breaks, we had better
have our whole force ready to meet them."

So saying Dias went off.

"This is scarcely woman's work, Donna Maria."

"It is woman's work to help defend her life, señor, as long as she can. If
I found that the savages were beating us I should stab myself. They would
kill you, but they might carry me away with them, which would be a
thousand times worse than death."

"I don't think there is any fear of their beating us," Harry said;
"certainly not here. We ought properly to be one on each side, but really
I shirk the thought of wading through the river waist-deep at that shallow
place we found a hundred yards up; it would be bad enough to go through
it, worse still to lie for four hours in wet clothes."

"Besides, we could not talk then, señor," Maria said will a little laugh,
"and that would be very dull."

"Very dull. Even now we must only talk occasionally; we shall have to keep
our eyes and ears open."

"I don't think either of them will be much good," she »aid; "I can see the
white water but nothing else, and I am sure I could not hear a naked
footstep on the rocks."

"It is a good thing the water is white, because we can make out the rocks
that rise above the surface. When our eyes get quite accustomed to the
dark we should certainly be able to see any figures stepping upon them or
wading in the water."

"I could see that now, señor. I think it will be of advantage to talk, for
I am sure if I were to lie with my eyes straining, and thinking of nothing
else, they would soon begin to close."

Talking occasionally in low tones, but keeping up a vigilant watch, they
were altogether hidden from the view of anyone coming up the stream, for
they exposed only their eyes and the top of their heads above the rough
parapet. No attempt had been made to fill up the spaces between the
stones, so that, except for the rounded shape, it would be next to
impossible to make them out between the rough rocks of the crest. Harry
had laid his double-barrelled gun on the parapet in front of him. He had
loaded both barrels with buck-shot, feeling that in the darkness he was
far more likely to do execution with that weapon than with a rifle.

They had been some two hours on watch when Donna Maria touched his arm
significantly. He gazed earnestly but could see nothing. A minute later,
however, a rock about fifteen yards away seemed to change its shape.
Before, it had been pointed, but just on one side of the top there was now
a bulge.

"Do you see them?" Maria whispered. "I can make out one above the rocks;
the other is standing against the wall."

[Illustration: AN INDIAN SPIES THE EXPEDITION.]

There was no movement for two or three minutes, and Harry had no doubt
that they were examining the two black lines of stones between which the
water was rushing.

"There are two others on this side, señor," Maria whispered.

The pause was broken by the sharp tap of two arrows striking on the stones
a few inches below their heads.

"Well, you have begun it," Harry muttered.

He had already sighted his gun at the head half-hidden by the rock. He now
pulled the trigger, and then, turning, he fired the other barrel, aiming
along the side of the canon where the two men seen by his companion must
be standing. The head disappeared, and loud cries broke from the other
side. The stillness that had reigned in the valley was broken by a chorus
of shrieks and roars, and the air overhead thrilled with the sound of
innumerable wings. Harry on firing had laid down the fowling-piece and
snatched up his rifle.

"Do you see any others?"

"Two have run away; the one against the rocks on the other side was
wounded, for I saw him throw up his arms, and it was he who screamed. The
man by him dropped where he stood; the one behind the rock is killed, I
saw his body carried away in the white water."

Half a minute later Dias and Bertie came up.

"So they have come, señor?"

"Yes, there were four of them. Your wife saw them, though I could only
make out one. They shot two arrows at us, and I answered them. The man I
saw was killed, and Donna Maria said that one on the other side also fell,
and another was wounded."

"That was a good beginning," Dias said. "After such a lesson they will
attempt nothing more to-night, and I doubt whether they will come down in
the morning. They can get sight of the barricades from that bend a hundred
yards down, and I don't think they will dare come up when they see how
ready we are for them."

"Well, we will work out our watch anyhow, Dias. Now that I see how sharp
Donna Maria's eyes are I have not the least fear of being surprised."

"I will stop with you," Bertie said; "I shall have no chance of going off
to sleep again after being wakened up like that."

"If you are going to stop, Bertie, you had better go back and fetch a
blanket, it is chilly here; then if you like you can doze off again till
your watch comes."

"There is no fear of that, Harry. I have been eight-and-forty hours on
deck more than once. I will warrant myself not to go to sleep."

In spite of this, however, in less than ten minutes after his return
Bertie's regular breathing showed that he was sound asleep. Harry and
Maria continued their watch, but no longer with the same intentness as
before. They were sure that Dias would not have lain down unless he felt
perfectly certain that the Chincas would make no fresh move until the
morning, and they chatted gaily until, at two o'clock, Dias came up.

"Everything is quiet here, Dias. My brother is fast asleep, but I will
wake him now that you have come up."

"Do not do so, señor; he worked very hard building the walls today. If I
see anything suspicious I will rouse him. We may have work tomorrow, and
it is much better that he should sleep on."

"Thank you, Dias! the fatigue has told on him more than on us; his figure
is not set yet, and he feels it more."

He walked back to the tents with Maria.

"If you wake just as daylight breaks please rouse me," he said.

"I shall wake, señor; I generally get up at daybreak. That is the best
time for work down in the plain, and I generally contrive to get
everything done before breakfast at seven."

Harry slept soundly until he was called.

"The sky is just beginning to get light, señor."

He turned out at once. José was already feeding the mules.

"You had better come along with me, José, and bring that gun of yours with
you. If the savages do attack, it will be well to make a forcible
impression on them."

Greatly pleased with the permission, José took up the old musket he
carried and accompanied Harry.

"What have you got in that gun, José?"

"The charge of buck-shot that you gave me the other day, señor."

"All right! but don't fire unless they get close. The shot will not carry
far like a bullet; but if fired when they are close it is better than any
bullet, for you might hit half a dozen of them at once."

José had been allowed to practise at their halting-places, and though he
could not be called a good shot, he could shoot well enough to do good
execution at thirty or forty yards.

Bertie was still asleep.

"Everything quiet, Dias?"

"I have seen nothing moving since I came out."

"Now, Bertie," Harry said, stirring his brother up with his foot. "All
hands on deck!"

Bertie sat up and opened his eyes. "What is up now?" he said. "Ay, what,
is it you, Harry, and José too? I must have been asleep!"

"Been asleep! Why, you went off in the middle of my watch, and Dias has
been on the look-out for over three hours."

"Oh, confound it! You don't mean to say that I have slept for over five
hours? Why didn't you wake me, Dias?" he asked angrily.

"Two eyes were quite enough to keep watch," Dias said. "I should have
waked you if I had seen anything of the savages. Besides, Don Harry said
you might as well go on sleeping if nothing happened, and I thought so
too."

"I feel beastly ashamed of myself," Bertie said. "I don't want to be
treated like a child, Harry."

"No, Bertie, and I should not think of treating you so; but you had had
very hard work, and were completely knocked up, which was not wonderful;
and you may want all your strength to-day. Besides, you know, you would
have been of no use had you been awake, for you could have seen nothing.
Donna Maria's eyes were a good deal sharper than mine, and I am quite sure
that, tired as you were, Dias would have seen them coming long before you
would. We had better lie down again, for it will be light enough soon for
them to make us out. How far do their arrows fly, Dias?"

"They can shoot very straight up to forty or fifty yards, but beyond that
their arrows are of very little use."

"Well, then, we shall be able to stop them before they get to that
ravine."

Presently, as it became light, a figure showed itself at the turn of the
ravine.

"Don't fire at him," Harry said; "it is better that they should think that
our guns won't reach them. Besides, if the beggars will leave us alone, I
have no wish to harm them."

In a minute or two the figure disappeared behind the bend and two or three
others came out. "They think that our guns won't carry so far, or we
should have shot the first man."

For a quarter of an hour there were frequent changes, until at least fifty
men had taken a look at them.

"Now there will be a council," Harry said as the last disappeared. "They
see what they have got before them, and I have no doubt they don't like
it."

"I don't think they will try it, señor," Dias said. "At any rate they will
not do so until they have tried every other means of getting at us."

Half an hour passed, and then Harry said. "I will stop here with my
brother, Dias, and you and José had better examine the hillsides and
ascertain whether there is any place where they can come down. You know a
great deal better than I where active naked-footed men could clamber down.
They might be able to descend with ease at a place that would look quite
impossible to me."

Without a word Dias shouldered his rifle and walked away, followed by
José. He returned in two hours.

"There are several places where I am sure the savages could come down.
Now, señors, breakfast is ready; I will leave José here, and we will go
and talk matters over while we eat. The tents are only a hundred yards
away, so that if José shouts, we can be back here long before the savages
get up, for they could not come fast through that torrent."

"It seems to me," Harry said after they had finished the meal, "that if
there are only one or two points by which they could climb down we could
prevent their doing so by picking them off; but if there are more, and
they really come on in earnest, we could not stop them."

"There are many more than that," Dias replied. "I made out certainly four
points on the right-hand side and three on the left where I could make my
way down; there are probably twice as many where they could descend."

"Then I should say that the first thing to do is to go up through the
gorge above and see whether there is any place that could be better
defended than this. If we find such a spot, of course we could move to it;
if not, we shall have to settle whether to go up the gorge till we get to
some place where the mules can climb out of it, or stay here and fight it
out. By camping on the stream at a point where it could not be forded, and
making a breast-work with the bales, stones, and so on, I think we could
certainly beat off any attack by daylight, but I admit that we should have
no chance if they should make a rush during the night."

"I will go at once," said Dias, "and examine the river higher up. If I can
find no place where the mules can climb, I am sure to be able to find some
spot where we could do so. But that would mean the failure of our
expedition, for we certainly could not go up the mountains, purchase fresh
animals, food, and tools, and get down to the place we are looking for
until too late."

"That would be serious, Dias, but cannot be counted against our lives. If
there is no other way of escape from these savages, we must certainly
abandon the animals and make our way back as best we can. In that case we
must give up all idea of finding this gold stream. The star would not be
in the same place again for another year, and even then we might not find
it; so we must make up our minds to do our best in some other direction.
That point we must consider as settled. I should not feel justified in
risking my brother's life, yours, your wife's, and your nephew's, by
remaining here to fight we know not how many savages--for there may be
many more than the fifty we saw this morning, and they may in a day or two
be joined by many others of their tribe."

"I should not like to lose all the animals and go back empty-handed," Dias
said after a silence of two or three minutes, "unless it were a last
resource."

"Nor should I, Dias; but you see, if we linger too long we may find it
impossible to retire, we may be so hemmed in that there would be no chance
of our getting through. For the day of course we are safe. The savages
will have to decide among themselves whether to give the matter up, seeing
that they are sure to lose many lives before they overpower us. Then, if
they determine to attack us, they will have to settle how it is to be
done. Numbers of them will go up to the top of the hills on both sides and
try to find a point at which they can make their way down; others,
perhaps--which would be still more serious--may go farther up into the
hills to find a spot where they could come down and issue out by the upper
gorge, and then our retreat would be altogether cut off. All this will
take time, so we may feel sure that no attack will be made to-day."

"I will start up the river at once, señor. Certainly the first point to be
settled is whether we can find a more defensible spot than this, the
second whether there is any way by which the animals can be taken up."

"There must surely be many points higher up where this can be done."

"Yes, señor, if we could get to them. But you saw we had difficulty in
making our way through this gorge; there may be others higher up where it
would be impossible either for us or the animals to pass."

"I did not think of that. Yes, that must be so. Well, you had certainly
better go at once. My brother will relieve José, and after the boy has
breakfasted he can return to his post, and Bertie can join me. I think if
I see the savages trying to find a path I will open fire upon them. I
don't say I should be able to hit them, for the top of those hills must be
eight or nine hundred yards' range, and it is not easy to hit an object
very much above or very much below you; but it is important that they
should know that our weapons carry as far as that; when they hear bullets
strike close to them they will hesitate about coming lower down, and
unless they do come within two or three hundred feet from the bottom they
cannot be sure of getting down."

Dias nodded. "That is a very good idea. Another cause of delay will be
that those at the top cannot see far down the rock on their own side, so
they will have to start by guess-work. Each party must fix upon the
easiest places on the opposite side, and then go back again and change
sides. I don't suppose they know any more of this place than we do. They
always keep down in the plains, and it is only because they met us down
there that they have followed us so far. I believe they will follow on as
long as they think there is a chance of destroying us, for they are so
jealous of any white man coming into what they regard as their country
that they would spare no pains to kill anyone who ventured there. Now I
will go, señor. You will keep near this end of the valley, in case there
should be an alarm that they are coming up the stream."

"Certainly; and my brother shall remain with José. With his rifle and the
two double-barrelled guns and José's musket they could hold the ravine
against anything but a rush of the whole tribe."

An hour later Harry saw a number of figures appear against the sky-line on
both sides. As they were clustered together, and would afford a far better
mark than a single Indian, he took a steady aim at the party on the
southern hill and fired. He had aimed above rather than below them, as,
had the ball struck much below, they might not hear it, whereas, if it
went over their heads, they would certainly do so. A couple of seconds
after firing he saw a sudden movement among the savages, and a moment
later not one was to be seen. Donna Maria, who was standing close by him
watching them, clapped her hands. "Your ball must have gone close to
them," she said, "but I don't think you hit anyone."

"I did not try to do so," he said. "I wanted the ball to go just over
their heads, so that they should know that even at that distance they were
not safe. I have no doubt that astonishment as much as fear made them
bolt. They'll be very careful how far they come down the side of the hill
after that. Now for the fellows on the other side."

But these too had disappeared, having evidently noticed the effect
produced upon the others. After a pause heads appeared here and there at
the edge of the crests. Evidently the lesson had impressed them with the
necessity for precaution, as they no longer kept together, and they had
apparently crawled up to continue their investigations. Beyond keeping a
watch to see that none had attempted to descend the slope Harry did not
interfere with them. At times he strolled to the breast-work, but no
movement had been seen in that direction. In two hours Dias returned.

"The gorge above is a quarter of a mile through, and very difficult to
pass. It is half-blocked with great rocks in two or three places, and
there would be immense difficulty in getting the mules over. Beyond that
it widens again, but the extent is not more than half what it is here. The
walls are almost perpendicular, and I do not think that it would be
possible to climb them at any point. Farther up there is another ravine.
It is very narrow--not half so wide as this--and the stream rushes with
great velocity along it. Two hundred yards from the entrance the rocks
close in completely, and there is a fall of water sixty or seventy feet
high."

"Well, that settles the point, Dias. We cannot get the animals out except
by the way they came in. As for ourselves, we might climb up at some point
in this ravine, but not in the others."

"That is so, señor," Dias said. "The outlook is a bad one--that is to say,
we may now be unable to reach the gold river in time--but so long as we
stay here we may be safe. We have plenty of provisions, we can catch fish
in the stream, and no doubt shall find birds in the bushes at the lower
part of the slopes. I doubt whether the natives will dare come down those
precipices at night. If they try to descend by day, we can very well
defend ourselves."

"The only question is, How long will it take to tire them out?"

"That I cannot tell. We know so little of the Chincas that we have nothing
to go upon. Some savages have patience enough to wait for any time to
carry out their revenge or slay an enemy; others are fickle, and though
they may be fierce in attack, soon tire of waiting, and are eager to
return to their homes again. I cannot think that they will speedily leave.
They have assembled, many of them perhaps from considerable distances;
they have had two days' march up here, and have lost at least two of their
comrades. I think they will certainly not leave until absolutely convinced
that they cannot get at us, but whether they may come to that decision in
two days or a month I cannot say."




CHAPTER VIII

DEFEAT OF THE NATIVES


Bertie, who had joined Harry when he saw Dias approaching, had listened
silently to their talk, then said:

"Don't you think that, by loading the mules and moving towards the mouth
of the next gorge just as it is getting dark, we might induce the Chincas
to think that we are going that way, and so to follow along the top of the
hills. We might, as soon as night has fallen, come back again and go down
the stream. Of course there may be some of them left to watch the mouth of
the ravine, but we could drive them off easily enough, and get a long
start before the fellows on the hills know what has happened."

None of the others spoke immediately; then Harry said:

"The idea is a good one as far as it goes. But you see at present we are
in a very strong position. If we leave this and they overtake us in the
woods, we shall not have the advantages that we have here."

"Yes, I see that, Harry; but almost anything is better than having to wait
here and lose our chance of finding that gold."

"We can't help that, Bertie. You know how much that gold would be to me,
but, as I said this morning, I will run no desperate risks to obtain it.
When I started upon this expedition I knew that the chances of success
were extremely slight, and that there might be a certain amount of danger
to encounter from wild beasts and perhaps brigands; but I had never
calculated upon such a risk as this, and certainly I am not prepared to
accept the responsibility of leading others into it."

There was again silence, which was broken at last by Dias.

"The proposal of the young señor is a very bold one; but, as you say, Don
Harry, after leaving our position we should be followed and surrounded. In
the forest that would be very bad. I should say let us wait for at least a
week; that will still give us time to reach the gold valley. By then the
savages may have left, and some other plan may have occurred to us; at any
rate, at the end of a week we shall see how things go. The Indians may
have made an attack, and may lose heart after they are repulsed. They may
find difficulty in procuring food, though I hardly think that is probable.
Still, many things may occur in a week. If at the end of that time they
are still here, we can decide whether to try some such plan as the young
señor has thought of, or whether to wait until the Indians leave, and then
return to Cuzco; for I feel certain that the place cannot be found except
by the help of the star."

"Well, then," Bertie said, "could we not hit upon some plan to frighten
them?"

"What sort of plan, Bertie?"

"Well, of course we could not make a balloon--I mean a fire-balloon--
because we have no paper to make it with. If we could, and could let it up
at night, with some red and blue fires to go off when it got up high, I
should think it would scare them horribly."

"Yes; but it would be still better, Bertie, if we could make a balloon big
enough to carry us and the mules and everything else out of this place,
and drop us somewhere about the spot we want to get to."

"Oh, it is all very well to laugh, Harry! I said, I knew we could not make
a fire-balloon; I only gave that as an example. If we had powder enough we
might make some rockets, and I should think that would scare them pretty
badly."

"Yes, but we haven't got powder, Bertie. We have plenty of cartridges for
sporting purposes, or for fighting; but a rocket is a thing that wants a
lot of powder, besides saltpetre and charcoal, and so on."

"Yes, yes, I know that," Bertie said testily. "My suggestion was that we
might frighten them somehow, and I still don't see why we shouldn't be
able to do it. Let us try to hit upon something else."

"There is a good deal in what the young señor says," Dias said gravely.
"All the Indians are very superstitious, and think anything they don't
understand is magic. It is worth thinking over: but before we do anything
else we might find out how many of them there are at the other end of the
ravine. Only a few may be left, or possibly the whole tribe may be
gathered there at nightfall. To-night nothing will be settled, but to-
morrow night I will go down the torrent with José I will carry your
double-barrelled guns with me, señor, if you will let me have them. When
we get to the other end I will take up my station there. José is small and
active. He could crawl forward and ascertain how many of them there are.
If he should be discovered, which is not likely, he would run back to me.
I should have four barrels ready to pour into them. That would stop them,
for they would think we were all there and were going to attack them, and
before they could recover from their alarm we should be back here again."

"That seems a good plan, Dias; but I do not see why Bertie and I should
not go down with you."

"It would be better not, señor. In the first place, they may have men
posted at their end of the ravine, and though two of us might crawl down
without being seen, just as they crawled up here, they would be more
likely to see four; in the next place, they might chance to crawl down the
hillside above just as we were going down the ravine, and Maria and the
animals would be at their mercy."

"They are hardly likely to choose the exact moment when we are to be away,
but I quite agree with you that the risk must not be run."

"Well," Bertie said, returning to his former idea, "if Dias can go down
there, I still think that somehow we might get up a scare."

Harry laughed.

"Well, you think it over, Bertie. If you can suggest anything, I promise
you that Dias and I will do our best to carry it out."

"Very well," Bertie replied gravely, "I will think it over."

"Now," Harry said, "we had better sleep in watches at night; one must be
at the breast-work, and one must listen for noises on the cliffs. It would
be hardly possible for a number of men to crawl down without exciting
suspicion or putting in motion some small stones."

"I do not think, señor," Dias said, "that it will be necessary to keep
that watch, for, as we knew from the noise when you fired last night,
there are numbers of birds and at least one beast--I fancy it is a bear
from the sound of its roar--up there, and it would be strange if a number
of men making their way down did not disturb some of them; indeed, if one
bird gave the alarm, it would put them all in motion; besides, there are
certainly monkeys, for I heard their cries and chattering when the birds
flew up. Still, it is perhaps as well that one of us should watch. Shall
we divide, as we did last night? only, of course, José takes his place
with you."

"I quite agree with you, Dias. Bertie, you had better get three hours'
sleep at once, and then after dinner we will sit by the fire here, smoke,
and listen, and Dias will watch the gorge and keep one ear open in this
direction too. It is a comfort to know that if we cannot get away by going
up the stream, the Indians cannot get down to attack us from that
direction."

Two nights and days passed. The Indians were still on the hills, and once
or twice men came down some distance, but a shot from Harry's rifle sent
them speedily back again. The third night Bertie was on watch; he saw
nothing, but suddenly there came three sharp taps. He discharged one
barrel of his gun at random down the ravine, and then held himself ready
to fire the other as soon as he saw anyone approaching. It was an anxious
minute for him before the other three ran up.

"What is it, Bertie; have you seen anything?"

"No, but three arrows tapped against the wall, so I fired one barrel to
call you up, and have been looking out for someone to take a shot at with
the other; but I have not seen anyone, though, as you may imagine, I
looked out sharply."

"It is probable that after the lesson they got the other night they did
not come so near, and that they merely shot their arrows to see if we were
still on guard. However, we may as well stay here for a bit to see if
anything comes of it."

Nothing happened, however, and they returned to the tents. Next morning
Bertie said to his brother:

"Look here, Harry, I have been thinking over that plan of mine. I really
think there is something to be done with it."

"Well, tell us your plan."

"In the first place, how much powder can you spare?"

"There is that great powder-horn José drags about with him to charge his
musket with. It will contain about a couple of pounds, I should say."
"That ought to do, I think."

"Well, what is your plan, Bertie?"

"In the first place, do you think that burned wood would do for charcoal?"

"It depends on what purpose you want it for."

"I want it to prevent the powder from going off with a bang."

"Oh, well, I should think that burned wood ground to a powder would be
just as good as charcoal. So you are still thinking of rockets? Your two
pounds of powder won't make many of them--not above two fair-sized ones,
and the betting is they would not go up."

"No, I am not thinking of rockets, but of squibs and crackers. I know when
I was at school I made a lot of these, and they worked very well. My idea
is that if we could crawl up close to where the Indians are assembled,
each carrying a dozen squibs and as many crackers, we could light a lot of
the crackers first and chuck them among them, and then send the squibs
whirling about over their heads, with a good bang at the end. It would set
them off running, and they would never stop till they were back in their
own forests."

"Well, I really do think that that is a fine idea--a splendid idea! The
only drawback is, that in order to carry it out we should want a lot of
strong cartridge-paper, and we have no paper except our note-books."

"I have thought of that, Harry, though it bothered me for a good long
time. You see, the cases are only to hold the powder and to burn regularly
as the powder does. At first I thought we might find some wood like elder
and get the pith out, just as we used to do for pop-guns, but that
unfortunately would not burn. We might, however, make them of linen."

"But we have no linen."

"No, but our leather bed-bags are lined with that coarse sort of stuff
they cover mattresses with."

"Tick, you mean?"

"Yes, tick. Now, it struck me that this would do for the crackers. We
should have to cut it in strips three or four times the width of the
cracker. Then we could get Maria to make us some stiff paste; starch would
be better, but of course we have none. Then, taking a strip of the cloth,
we would turn over one side of it an inch from the edge to make a sort of
trough, pour in the gunpowder, carefully paste all the rest of it and fold
it over and over, and then, when it begins to dry, double it up and tie it
with string. We should then only have to add touch-paper, which, of
course, we could make out of anything, and put into the end fold. We could
break up a few of the cartridges, soak them in wetted powder, and then cut
them up into small pieces and stick them into the ends of the crackers. I
think that would do first-rate. I have made dozens of crackers, and feel
sure that I could turn out a good lot of them now. The squibs will be
easier; we should only have to paste one side of the strips and roll them
up so as to form suitable cases. When these are dry we should put a
thimbleful of powder into each, and then fill them up with powder and
charcoal. In order to make sure of a loud bang we could undo a piece of
rope and wind the strands round each case for an inch and a half from the
bottom. Of course, when we had ground down the burned wood we would mix it
with powder and try one or two of the squibs, so as to find the
proportions of charcoal to be used."

"You have evidently thought it all out well, and I think it does you no
end of credit. I authorize you to begin the experiment at once. The first
thing, of course, will be to get some wood and char it. I should think
that you would require at least two pounds of that to two pounds of
powder; but you had better only do a little at first--just enough to make
an experiment. You know it will require ramming down well."

When Dias, who was on watch, returned he found Bertie at work burning
pieces of wood and scraping off the charred surface. Harry explained the
plan to him. As he had frequently seen fireworks at Lima, Dias quickly
grasped the idea.

"It is splendid, señor; those things will frighten them far more than
guns. They will think so many devils have got among them, and we will
heighten the effect by discharging every piece that we can among them. In
their confusion they will think it is the fireworks that are killing them.
That would be necessary, for otherwise when they recovered from the panic
and found that no one had been hurt, they might summon up courage to
return."

At noon the next day Bertie with assistance had four squibs and two
crackers ready for trial. The squibs contained respectively one, two,
three, and four parts of charcoal to one of powder.

"Don't hold them in your hand while you are trying the experiment, Bertie.
Lay them down on that stone one by one and touch them off with a burning
brand from the fire, and take care that you have a good long one."

All, with the exception of José who was on watch, gathered round. The
first squib exploded with a bang, the second did the same, but with less
violence, the third went off in an explosive spurt, the fourth burned as a
squib should do, though a little fiercely, and gave a good bang at the
end.

"They go off rather too rapidly, Bertie," Harry said; "we should want them
to whiz about in a lively way as long as possible. I should put in five
parts of that burned wood next time."

"I will try at once," Bertie said. "I have got lots of cases made, and
enough burned stuff to make eight or ten more."

The mixture was soon made and another case charged, Bertie ramming down
the mixture with a stick which he had cut to fit exactly, and a heavy
stone as a hammer. This was done after each half-spoonful of the mixture
was poured in. Then he inserted a strip of his touch-paper.

"I will take this in my hand," he said, "there is no fear of its
exploding. I want to throw it into the air and see how it burns there."

The touch-paper was lit, and when the mixture started burning Bertie waved
the squib high above his head and threw it into the air. It flew along
some fifteen yards and then exploded.

"I don't think you can better that, Bertie. But you might make the cases a
bit stronger; it burned out a little too quickly. We shall probably not be
able to get very close to them."

The cracker was equally satisfactory, except that they agreed that a
somewhat larger charge of powder should be used to increase the noise of
the explosion.

"Now, Bertie," Harry said, "we will put all hands on to the business.
Donna Maria shall make a good stock of paste, and cut the tick into strips
for both widths. You shall make the cases for the squibs. Dias and I will
take charge of the manufacture of charcoal. That will be a long job, for
as you have two pounds of gunpowder we shall want ten of this charred
wood."

"Not quite as much as that, Harry, because we shall want the powder alone
for the crackers and the bangs of the squibs, and also for making the
touch-paper for all of them."

"Well, we will say ten pounds, anyhow. We have a big stock of cartridges,
and can spare a few of them for so good a purpose."

They were soon at work. By night the cases were all made and drying, and
were left near the fire so as to be ready for filling in the morning.

Dias then said: "José will go down to-night, señor. Of course I shall go
with him. We must find out, in the first place, how near the mouth of the
ravine the savages are gathered, whether they keep any watch, and what
force they have. It will be well not to make ourselves known to them until
at least the greater part are gathered there. If we were only to scare a
small party, the others, when they came down, would know nothing of the
panic, and might take up the pursuit."

"I wish we had some means of driving them off the top of the hill, Dias."

"I don't see how that can be done, señor. But probably in another day or
two they will all go down of their own accord. They must by this time have
satisfied themselves that there is no getting at us from above, and that
it would be too dangerous to attempt a descent here under the fire of our
guns. They will be very likely, instead, to go down to-morrow or next day
to hold a general council, and in that case they may decide either to risk
climbing down at night, or to make a grand assault on the breast-work. Or,
if they cannot bring themselves to that, they may decide to leave half a
dozen men to watch the entrance, while the rest scatter themselves over
the forests. In that case the watchers would only have to go off and
summon them when we started again. As they might well imagine that we
should not find another position like this again, I expect that is what
they will do. If there are a hundred of them, they will find it difficult
to feed themselves long. Certainly the men on the hills will get little to
eat up there."

"Well, Dias, be sure you warn José to be careful. They may be posting
sentries at the mouth of the ravine, just as they are keeping them at this
end."

"They may be, but I do not think it is likely; they will know that we
could not abandon our animals, and that if we passed through they would
have no difficulty in over-taking us, and would then have us at their
mercy. The last thing they would want is to prevent us from leaving this
position. They certainly would not fear an attack from us, knowing that
there are but four of us and a woman. Therefore, I think it probable that
they will keep at some little distance from the entrance, so as to tempt
us to come out."

"I hope it is so, Dias. Still, José will have to be very careful."

"He will be careful, señor. He knows his own life will depend upon his
crawling along as noiselessly as a snake. If he is seen, of course he will
come at all speed back to me; and, unless he is hit by a chance arrow, he
will not run much risk, for by the time they are ready to shoot he will be
out of sight on such dark nights as these, and in the shade of the
mountains and trees. I shall be ready to send four barrels of buck-shot
among them when they come up. That is sure to stop them long enough to
allow us to get under the cover of your rifles before they can overtake
us.

"I don't think that you need be at all uneasy about him, señor. We will
start in an hour's time, so that José can get near them before they go to
sleep. They will probably have a fire burning, but if not the only guide
to their position will be the sound of their talking. He will strip before
he leaves me, so that if they catch sight of him, they will suppose that
he is one of themselves."

Bertie now relieved José, who came back and had a long talk with Dias.

"We are ready now, señor."

"Here is my fowling-piece. It is already loaded with buck-shot. Bertie has
taken down his rifle and gun, and will give you the latter as you pass. I
suppose José will take no weapons?"

"Only a long knife, señor, that may be useful if he comes upon one of them
suddenly."

At the barricade José stripped, retaining only a pair of sandals. These
were as noiseless as his bare feet, and would be needed, as in the dark he
might tread upon a thorny creeper, or strike against a projecting rock.

"Good-bye, José!" Harry said. "Now, be careful. It would be a great grief
to us if anything happened to you."

"I will be careful, señor. The Indians won't catch me, never fear."

Harry and Bertie both shook hands with him, and then he and Dias stepped
into the water, and, keeping close along by the wall of rock, started on
their perilous expedition.

"I don't like it, Bert," Harry said as they lost sight of them. "It seems
a cowardly thing to let that lad go into danger while we are doing
nothing."

"That is just what I feel, Harry. I would have volunteered willingly, but
he will do it a great deal better than either you or I could."

"There is no doubt about that," Harry agreed. "Of course when he is out
with the mules he often travels at night, and certainly both he and Dias
can see in the dark a good deal better than we can."

There was suddenly a slight movement behind them, and they turned sharply
round. "It is I, señor. I am anxious about Dias, and I didn't like staying
there by myself. I thought you would not mind if I came up and sat by
you."

"Certainly not," Harry said. "Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I do
not think there is any fear for Dias. He cannot be taken by surprise, for
he will hear by their shouting if they discover José, and you may be quite
sure that he will bring them to a stand with the four shots he will fire
among them as they come near, and so will get a good start. They might run
faster than he can in the forest, but will scarcely be better able to make
their way up the torrent."

When Dias had been gone twenty minutes their conversation ceased, and they
sat listening intently. In another ten minutes, which seemed an hour to
them, Harry said, "The savages can keep no watch at their end of the
torrent, and José must have got safely away."

Very slowly the time passed.

"They must have been gone an hour," Bertie said at last.

"Quite that, I should think, Bertie. At any rate, we may feel assured that
all has gone well so far. For, though we might not hear the yells of the
savages over the rustle and roar of the torrent, we should certainly hear
gunshots."

Another half-hour passed, and then to their relief they heard Dias call
out, "All is well!" some little distance down. In three or four minutes
they could see the two figures approaching. "Give me your guns, Dias,"
Harry said, "and then I will help you up the rocks. They might go off if
you were to make a slip. Now, while José is putting on his clothes, tell
me what he has found out."

"I have not heard much, señor. As soon as he rejoined me we started off,
and, coming up the torrent, we had not much chance of talking. He told me
that there were many of them, and that they were camped at some little
distance from the stream, just as I thought they would be."

"I will stay here, Harry," Bertie said. "You can hear the news and then
come and tell me."

"Very well. I will be back before long."

Dias, his wife, and Harry walked down towards the tent, and Bertie chatted
with José while the latter was dressing.

"You must feel horribly cold, José," he said.

"I am cold, now I think of it. I did not notice it while I was watching
the savages. When I took to the water again I did feel it. Maria will make
me a cup of hot coffee, and then I shall be all right again. It was good
fun to look at them, and know that they had no idea that I was so close.
If I could have understood their language, I should have learned something
worth telling. I felt inclined to scare them by giving a tremendous yell,
and I know I could have got away all right. They were sitting round a big
fire and would not have been able to see in the dark. I should have done
it, only I thought Dias would have blamed me for letting them know that
one of us had come down the cañon."

"He would have been angry, José, and so would my brother, for they would
certainly have set a watch afterwards, which would have spoilt all our
plans. Now run along, your teeth are chattering, and the sooner you get
something warm and wrap yourself up in your blankets the better."

The fire had burnt low when the others returned, but an armful of sticks
was thrown upon it at once. The kettle had been left in the embers at its
edge by Maria when she started, so that after it had hung in the blaze for
two or three minutes it began to boil, and coffee was soon ready. At this
point José ran in, and after he had drunk a large mugful he told them what
he had learned.

"When I left Dias at the mouth of the ravine," he said, "everything seemed
quiet. I walked along the edge of the stream for fifty yards, keeping my
ears open, you may be sure, and I saw a light glow close under the rocks
some distance on the other side of the river. I followed the stream down
till I came to a place where there was a quiet pool, and there I swam
across, then very carefully I made my way to where I could see the light.
It was quite three hundred yards from the river. As I got near I could
hear talking; I crawled along like a cat, and took good care not to
disturb a leaf, or to put a hand or a knee upon a dried stick, for I could
not tell whether they had anyone on watch near the fire. I perceived no
one, and at last came to a point where I could see the flame. It was in an
opening running a hundred feet into the mountains, and perhaps forty feet
across at the mouth.

"In this were sixty or seventy savages sitting or standing round a fire,
which had evidently been made there so that anyone coming down to the
mouth of the ravine should not see it. The fire was not a very large one,
and a good many of the men were gathered outside the little hollow. Some
of them were talking loudly, and it seemed to me that they were
quarrelling over something. Sometimes they pointed up to the top of the
hills, sometimes towards the mouth of our ravine. I would have got close
if I had understood their language. Presently I saw some of them lying
down, so that I could see that the quarrel, whatever it was about, was
coming to an end, and that they were going to lie down for the night. As I
could learn nothing further I crawled away and went down to the place
where I had swum the river before, and then crept quietly up to Dias, who
was on the look-out; for although I had seen no one as I had passed
before, there might still have been some of them on the watch."

"You have done very well, José," Harry said. "We have learned two things.
First, that they are not keeping watch at the mouth of the ravine, either
because they feel sure that we will not try to escape, or because they
wish us to leave and are giving us the opportunity of doing so. In the
second place, you have learned what force they have got down there, their
exact position, and the fact that they were evidently arguing how they had
best attack us. Well, from what you say there is every chance that we
shall be able to come upon them without being noticed till we are close
enough to throw our fireworks among them. Really the only thing for us to
learn is whether many of them are still at the top of the hill."

"I hardly think there can be many; only a few have shown themselves to-
day. They must know very well that we would not venture to climb up during
the day, and that it would be next to impossible for us to do so in the
dark, even if we made up our minds to abandon the animals and all our
stores."

"Well, I should say, Dias, there is no reason why we should put the matter
off. It will not take us long to load all the squibs to-morrow. My opinion
is that at dusk we had better saddle the mules and pack everything on them
in readiness for a start; then at ten o'clock we can go down and attack
the savages. The best moment for doing so will be when they are just lying
down. When we have sent them flying we will come up the torrent again, and
start with the mules as soon as it is daylight. It would be next to
impossible to get them down in the dark, as they might very easily break
their legs, or by rubbing against the wall shift their packs and tumble
them into the water."

"It would be a pity to waste time, señor. I will get some torches made to-
morrow. Some of the trees have resin, and by melting this I can make
torches that would do very well. By their aid we could get the mules down
without waiting for daylight. As they have already come up the torrent,
they will have less fear in going down, for the stream will help them
instead of keeping them back. I will go first with José and his mule; she
is as steady as a rock, and where she goes the others will follow; and
with five torches along the line they will be able to see well enough."

"Four torches, Dias. Your wife rode coming up, and she had better ride
going down."

"She can hold a torch as she sits; it does not matter to us if we get wet
to the waist, but it would be very uncomfortable for her. We shall have to
put the largest burdens on to the mules. One of the riding mules could
carry the two llamas, or if you think that that is too much, we can tie
each across a separate mule. They were more trouble coming up than all the
mules put together. We had pretty nearly to carry them through the deep
places, though at other points they leapt from rock to rock cleverly
enough."

"I am not going to be left behind if you are going to the fight, señor,"
Donna Maria said, "if you will give me one of your pistols."

"We could manage that, I should think," Harry said. "We can put you on one
of the steadiest mules when we first go down, and with one at each side of
you we can manage it very well. José must go on a hundred yards ahead to
see whether any of the savages are on the watch at their end, and if so,
you must wait till we have cleared them out. You see, we shall have no
hesitation in shooting any of them if necessary, and though that would
bring the rest of them down on us, yet when our squibs and crackers begin
to fly among them, you may be sure they won't face us for an instant."

Dias grumbled that his wife had better stay where she was till they went
back for the mules; but Harry said: "I do think, Dias, that she had better
go with us. It would be cruel to leave her now that we are going into a
fight--leave her all alone to tremble for our lives, with a knowledge that
if things should go wrong with us the savages will soon be up here."

"Well, señor, if you think so, there is no more to be said."

"I am not going to be made a trouble of," Maria said. "I shall go down on
foot like the rest of you. I will take some other clothes with me, so that
when you all come back for the mules I can change into them."

"Perhaps that would be the best plan," Harry agreed. "Now I will go back
and take Bertie's place. It is my turn to be on watch, and he will be
wanting to hear the news."

"Well, Harry, is it all right?" Bertie asked as he heard his brother
coming up to him.

"It couldn't be better! There are sixty or seventy of them in a sort of
little ravine three hundred yards away, on the left-hand side of the
river. They don't seem to be keeping guard at all, and if they are not
more careful to-morrow night we shall take them completely by surprise. We
are going to saddle all the mules directly it gets too dark for any of the
fellows on the hills to see us, then we must set to work and pull down
enough of the barricade here to allow them to pass. We ourselves, when we
go down, will cross at that shallow place above here, and go down the
river at that side, otherwise we sha'n't be able to cross it except at
some distance beyond the other end of the torrent. Of course the mules
must go down this side, as we shall want to turn to the right when we get
off. We shall make our attack about ten o'clock."

Bertie went off, and three hours later Dias relieved Harry. As soon as it
was light the next morning Bertie and José set to work to fill the cases--
there were a hundred squibs and fifty large crackers.

Donna Maria after breakfast went out and returned with a number of
flexible sticks of about half an inch in diameter; these she carried into
her tent, where she shut herself up for the forenoon. When, at one
o'clock, she came out with the result of her work, it resembled a chair
without legs and with a back about a foot wide and three feet high.

"What in the world have you got there, Donna Maria?" Bertie asked.

"Don't you know?"

"No, I have never seen a thing like it before."

"This is the thing the porters use for carrying weights, and sometimes
people, over the Cordilleras. You see that strap near the top goes round
the man's forehead, and when there is a weight in the chair these other
straps pass over his shoulders and under his arms, and then round whatever
is on the seat."

"But what is going to be on the seat?"

"I am," she laughed. "Dias is so overbearing. It had all been arranged
nicely, as you know; and then when he spoke to me afterwards he said, 'The
first thing to-morrow morning, Maria, you will set to work to make a
porter's chair, and I shall carry you down the stream. No words about it,
but do as you are told.' Generally Dias lets me have my own way, señor,
but when he talks like that, I know that it is useless to argue with him.
And perhaps it is best after all, for, as he said to me afterwards, it is
a nasty place for men to get along, but for a woman, with her petticoats
dragging and trailing round her, it would be almost impossible for her to
keep her footing."

"Well, I thought the same thing myself when we were talking about it
yesterday," Bertie said. "Of course I did not say anything, but I am sure
Dias is right. I found it very hard work to keep my footing, and I really
don't believe that I could have done it if I had been dressed as a woman.
And Dias can carry you like that?"

"Carry me, señor! he could carry three times that weight. He has cut
himself a staff seven or eight feet long this morning to steady himself,
but I don't think there was any need for it. Why, it is a common thing for
people to be carried over the Cordilleras so, and Dias is stronger a great
deal than many of the men who do it. As he said, if I had been going
through on foot you would all have been bothering about me. And it is not
as if two people could go abreast, and one help the other. There is often
only room between the rocks for one to pass through, and it is just there
where the rush of the water is strongest."




CHAPTER IX

THE SIGNAL STAR


During the afternoon Dias, who had been keeping a careful look-out at the
cliffs, said to Harry: "I think, señor, that the savages are leaving the
hills. An hour ago I saw a man walking along where we generally see them;
he was going straight along as if for some fixed purpose, and I thought at
once that he might be bringing them some message from the people below us.
I lost sight of him after a bit, but presently I could make out some men
moving in the other direction. They were keeping back from the edge, but I
several times caught sight of their heads against the sky-line when there
happened to be some little irregularity in the ground. They were not
running, but seemed to me to be going at a steady pace. Since then I have
been watching carefully, and have seen no one on the other side. I think
they have all been sent for, and will be assembled this afternoon at the
mouth of the torrent."

"I am very glad to hear it, Dias; that is just what we wanted."

"In one way--yes," Dias said. "It would be a great thing for us to catch
them all together, for I have no fear that they will stand when these
fireworks begin to go off among them."

"What is the drawback, then?"

"It is, señor, that they have either been collected because they have
given up the hope of catching us at present, and are going to scatter and
hunt till we venture out, which would be the worst thing possible; or they
have made up their minds to make a rush upon us."

"Don't you think that we can beat them back?"

"Not if they are determined, señor. You see, we can't make them out till
they are within twenty or thirty yards of us. At most you and your brother
could fire four shots, then you would take up your rifles. We shall have
then only four shots left. If they continue their rush where shall we be?
There would be two of us on one wall and two on the other. There would be
four shots to fire from one side and four from the other. Then the end
would come. Two on each side would not be able to keep back the rush of
two or three score. In two minutes it would be all over."

"Yes, Dias, I see that if they were determined to storm the place and take
us alive they could do it; but we have the fireworks."

"I did not think of that. Yes; but having once worked themselves up and
being mad with excitement, even that might not stop them, though I should
think it would. Yes, I believe we might feel assured that we should beat
them back, and if so, we should hear no more of them."

"If I knew that they would come," Harry said, "I would certainly say we
had best stay and defend ourselves; but we can't be sure that that is
their motive for assembling. They may, as you say, be going to move off,
leaving perhaps half a dozen men to watch the entrance and report if we
attempt to escape. That would be fatal, and our only chance would be to
leave everything behind and endeavour to climb up one side or the other;
and even that might not avail us, as there may be one or two men up there
to see if we make off that way. I am more inclined to think that this is
the course that they will take rather than risk a heavy loss of life. They
must have a good idea of what it would cost them to take the place."

"What do you think we had better do, then, señor?"

"I think we had better attack them as soon as possible after nightfall. It
is likely that they will do nothing before morning; as you say, they do
not like moving at night, and if they attack it will not be until shortly
before daybreak. There is sure to be a palaver when the men who have been
on the hills come down. It will be too late then for them to go back
before night, so that I think we are pretty sure to find them all in the
ravine this evening. If, when we get there, we find the place empty, we
must come to a decision as to what our best course will be. In that case I
think we ought to climb the hills and make our way up the mountains as
rapidly as possible. We could calculate on eight or ten hours' start, and
by keeping as much as possible on the rocks, might hope to get so high
among the mountains that they would not be able to follow our traces and
overtake us before we reach a point where they would not dare follow us.
In that case, of course we should have to give up all hope of finding the
gold valley, and lose the mules with all our belongings, which would
cripple us terribly."

"Very well, señor; I think that is the best plan."

"Then we will settle to start at nine o'clock, Dias."

They then discussed the arrangements for the attack. Each was to carry a
glowing brand, and when he got there, was to sling his gun behind him and
hold twelve squibs in one hand and the brand in the other. When they
approached within throwing distance of the savages, they were to lay their
guns down beside them, and then Harry was to put the ends of his squibs
against his brand, and hurl the whole of them among the Indians. A few
seconds later Bertie was to do the same, while Harry fired one barrel of
buck-shot. Bertie was to fire as Dias threw a dozen crackers, and then
José was to throw his squibs. Then all were to throw squibs and crackers
as far as they could go; and the other two barrels of buck-shot and José's
musket were to be poured in. By this time they calculated the savages
would be in full flight, and the three rifles could then be used.

Harry was to hand his rifle to Dias before the firing began, and he and
Bertie were to slip fresh cartridges into these guns and recap them before
sending off the last batch of their fireworks, so as to have them in
readiness either to empty their contents into the flying Indians, or to
cover their retreat should the fireworks fail to effect the panic they
hoped for. Their pistols were also to be reserved until the Indians fled.
Donna Maria was to stay by the water, and start at once on her way back if
Dias shouted to her to do so. Every step of the plan settled upon was
repeated again and again, until there was no possibility of any mistake
being made. Maria had not attended the council; her confidence in her two
white friends was unbounded, and Bertie's invention of the fireworks had
placed him on a level with his brother in her estimation. She therefore
quietly went on with her preparations for dinner without concerning
herself as to the details of the affair.

As soon as it was dark and the meal eaten, the tents were struck, the
baggage all rolled up and packed on the animals, and the fireworks
divided. When everything was in readiness they went together and made a
breach in the breast-work wide enough for the mules to pass. At nine
o'clock Maria was seated in the carrying-chair, and strapped on to her
husband's back; then four brands were taken from the fire and the party
started. When within fifty yards of the lower end of the ravine José went
forward, and, returning in a few minutes, reported that no savages were on
guard. A fire was burning outside the mouth of the ravine where he had
seen them on the evening before, and from the reflection on the rock he
believed that another fire was alight inside. His report caused a general
feeling of relief, for their great fear had been that the natives might
have made off before their arrival.

When they stepped out from the water Dias set Maria down. "You understand,
Maria," he said: "the moment I call, you are to start up the river."

"I understand," she said. "I have my knife, and if you do not rejoin me I
shall know how to use it."

"We shall rejoin you, Maria," Dias said confidently. "I believe that at
the first volley of fireworks they will be off. They must be more than
human if they are not scared, as they never can have heard of such things
before."

Keeping close to the rock wall, they went along in single file until
within forty or fifty yards of the fire; then, going down on their hands
and knees, they crawled up a slight rise, from the top of which they could
see a hundred or more natives gathered round a fire. One was addressing
the others, who were seated listening attentively. Laying the guns down to
be ready for instant action, and keeping themselves concealed in the
herbage, Harry took his bundle of squibs from his pocket. They were but
lightly tied together; slipping off the string he applied the ends to the
brand. There was a sudden roar of fire, and waving them once round his
head he hurled them into the midst of the assembly. There was a yell of
astonishment as the missiles flew hither and thither, exploding with loud
reports. The last had not exploded when Bertie's handful flew among them;
then came the parcel from Dias, and at the same moment Harry poured a
barrel of buck-shot among them, followed by a volley of crackers, while
almost simultaneously Harry threw his squibs and Bertie fired a volley of
buck-shot. For a moment the savages were paralysed, then many of them
threw themselves on their faces in terror of these fiery demons, while
others started in headlong flight.

"Send them off as quick as you can!" Harry shouted, as he discharged his
second barrel into the flying natives. Bertie followed suit, and then both
paused to reload while Dias and José hurled their remaining fireworks. By
this time the last of the natives had leapt up and fled. José's musket and
the three rifles cracked out, and then the little party rose to their feet
and joined in a wild "Hip, hip, hurrah!"

"You can come up, Maria; they have all gone!" Dias cried out; and Maria
joined them a minute later. More than a score of natives lay dead or badly
wounded round their fire.

"What are we to do with the wounded?" Bertie asked.

"We can only leave them where they are," Harry said. "Some of the savages
may have wandered away, or not have come down from the hills, and will
return here unaware of what has happened, or one or two of the boldest may
venture back again to look after their comrades. At any rate, we can do
nothing for them."

"It would be better to shoot them, señor," Dias said.

"No, I could not bring myself to do that," Harry said. "Buck-shot, unless
they strike in a body, are not likely to kill. I expect they are more
frightened than hurt. After we have gone many of them will be able to
crawl down to the river. Savages frequently recover from wounds that would
kill white men; and even if no others come down, those who are but
slightly wounded will help the more incapable. We have cleared the way for
ourselves, which was all we wanted, and have taught them a lesson they are
not likely to forget for many years to come. Let us go back at once and
bring down the mules. I suppose you will sit down by the stream, and wait
till we come back, Maria?"

"Yes," she said, "there is nothing to be afraid of now; but you can leave
me one of your pistols in case one of these savages may be shamming dead."

"José will wait with her," Dias said. "Now, José, you strike up a song.
You are generally at it, and as long as they hear you they will know that
some of us are still here, and will not venture to move."

"You take my gun, José; it is loaded," Harry said. "If any of them should
move and try to crawl away, don't fire at them; but if they look about and
seem inclined to make mischief, shoot at once."

Coming down with the animals the three men carried torches in each hand.
The mules reached the mouth of the torrent without accident, and the
llamas were then lifted off the baggage mules which had carried them, and
all were turned loose to graze on the rich grass near the edge of the
river. José and Dias went to the fire in the ravine, and returned laden
with burning brands, and a fire was soon blazing near the water. Two of
them kept watch by turns at the spot from which they had fired, lest any
of the wounded Indians should, on recovering, try to avenge their loss by
sending arrows down amongst the party. During the night four of the fallen
Indians, after first looking round cautiously, crawled away, and the
watchers could hear them running fast through the bushes till they were
beyond the light of the fire.

At dawn a start was made. The river was crossed at the pool where José had
swum over. Dias, on examination, found that the water, even in the deepest
part, was not more than breast-high. Accordingly he returned; Maria,
kneeling on one of his shoulders and one of Harry's, was carried across
without being wetted. Then they joined the animals, which were grazing a
short distance away, and set off without delay. Although they kept a sharp
look-out they saw no more of the Indians. They ascended several more
streams unobserved. Rough carvings on the face of several of the rocks led
them to carry their excursions farther than usual, but beyond a few ounces
of gold, washed from the stream, they found nothing.

"They must have been put here for some purpose," said Dias.

"I have been thinking it over, Dias, and I should not be surprised if, as
you thought, they were done to deceive searchers. You told me there were
some marks by which you would be directed in the gold valley; it is quite
likely that other marks might have been placed in the valleys so that the
real ones would not be particularly noticed."

"That is possible, señor; they would certainly do everything they could to
prevent anyone not in the secret from knowing. The mark I have to look for
first is a serpent. It is carved on a rock at the end of a valley."

"In that case the indication of the star would not be necessary, Dias."

"That may be, señor; but the valley may be a large one, and the hiding-
place very difficult to find, so that even when the valley was known, it
would need the guidance of the star to take us to the right place."

"That might be so, Dias, if it were a hidden treasure that we were looking
for; but as, according to your account, it is simply an extraordinarily
rich deposit in the river, I hardly see why the guidance of the star
should be necessary when once the valley was known."

"That I cannot tell you, señor; but I am sure that it must be difficult to
find, for the Spaniards searched everywhere for gold, and although the
records of most of their discoveries still exist, there is no mention of
such a find, nor is there is any word of it among the Indian traditions."

A week before the appointed date they found themselves in the
neighbourhood where they felt sure the cleft must lie. Mount Tinta was
twenty miles in front of them, and from that point a range of mountains
trended off almost at right angles to that which they were following. One
lofty peak some thirty miles to the south-east rose above another.

"I believe that that is the peak," Bias said.

"I don't see any signs of a cleft in it, Dias."

"No, señor; it is a very narrow one."

The next day they halted at the mouth of another valley, and as they
unloaded the mules, Harry exclaimed: "See, Dias, there is a cleft in that
peak! From here it looks as if it were a mere thread, and as if some giant
had struck a mighty sword-cut into it."

"That is right. Sure enough, señor, this must be the valley. Now, let us
look about for the serpent."

The search did not take them long. An isolated rock rose a quarter of a
mile from the mouth, and on this was a rude representation of a serpent.
The next morning they explored the valley thoroughly to a point where,
five miles higher, it ceased abruptly, the rocks closing in on either
side, and the stream coming down in a perpendicular fall from a point some
eighty feet above them. Going down the river, they washed the gravel again
and again, but without obtaining even as much gold as they had found
several times before.

"I cannot understand it," Harry said, as they sat down to their meal at
dusk. "Your tradition says nothing about hidden treasure, and yet there
does not seem to be gold in the stream."

"It may be higher up, señor. We must ascend the hills on each side of the
valley, and come down upon the river higher up."

Harry was on watch that night, and at one o'clock he roused the others up.
"See!" he exclaimed later on; "there is a bright star apparently about a
foot above the peak. I should think that must be the star. No doubt that
will rise in exact line behind the cleft on the 21st, that is four days
from now; probably it can only be seen when we are exactly in the line
with the cleft and the position of the gold. This cleft is undoubtedly
very narrow--no doubt the result of an earthquake. It certainly goes
straight through, and very likely it is some hundred yards across, so that
unless we are exactly in the line we sha'n't see it. As soon as it is dark
on the 21st we will all go some distance up the valley, where it is only
about four or five hundred yards across. We will station ourselves fifty
yards apart across it, then one of us is sure to see the star through the
cleft. We had each better take two sticks with us. Whoever sees the star
will fix one in the ground and then go backwards for a hundred yards,
keeping the star in sight, and plant the other; then the line between
those two sticks ought to lead us to the spot."

Each night the star rose nearer to the cleft. "There is no doubt we shall
see it in the proper position to-morrow night," Harry said on the 20th of
the month. "That certainly is strong proof that the tradition handed down
to you, Dias, is correct."

They employed the next day in again searching for some indication that
might assist them, but in vain. Dias and José both asserted that the tiny
rift in the rocky peak looked wider from the middle of the valley than at
any other point, and even Harry and his brother admitted that it could
scarcely be seen from the foot of the hills on either side, and therefore
it was agreed that Dias, Harry, and José should take their places only
some forty yards apart across the centre; Maria and Bertie going farther,
near the sides of the hills. When midnight approached they took their
stations. Suddenly Harry, who was standing by the side of the rivulet,
exclaimed, "I see it!" It was more than a minute later before Dias saw it,
while it was three or four minutes before José spoke, by which time Harry
had crossed the streamlet and fixed his second rod some distance on the
other side. Dias and José did the same. Bertie did not catch sight of it
for some time after José, and Maria did not see it at all. Then they went
back to their camping place.

"It is curious that I should have seen it before either of you, when you
were standing so close to me," Harry said. "It was lower than I expected,
and it is evident that the cleft must continue much farther down than we
thought, and that it must be extremely narrow at the bottom. It is
certainly a splendid guide, and there can be no mistaking it. Unless I had
been standing on the exact line, I should not have noticed the star till
later, and the crack is so much wider towards the top that it could
probably be seen on a line half a mile across. It will be strange if we
cannot find the place in the morning. Certainly we searched in the stream
just where I was standing, and found nothing. But, of course, it is
possible that in all this time it may have changed its course
considerably."

Dias shook his head. "It can hardly be that, señor, because, in that case,
anyone who had examined the valley could have found it. I begin to think
that it must have been a mistake about its being merely a rich place in
the river, and that it must be some vast treasure, perhaps hidden by the
people before the Incas, and kept by them as a certain resource when
needed. We shall have to search, I think, for some walled-up cave in the
rocks. We have already looked for it, but not seriously; and besides,
there are many boulders that have fallen, and formed a bank at the foot of
the cliff."

"Well, we shall know in a few hours. I feel absolutely certain that the
line between those two sticks will lead us to it."

None attempted to sleep, and as soon as it became light they took picks
and shovels and started up the valley. Harry gave an exclamation of
surprise as, standing behind the first stick, he looked towards the
second. "The line goes to the middle of that waterfall," he said.

This was so; for the stream made two or three sharp bends between the spot
where he had crossed it and the foot of the falls.

"'Tis strange!" Dias said; "we have examined that spot more than once.
There are great stones and boulders at the foot of the fall, and a large
deep pool. Can a treasure be buried in that? If so, it will be hard indeed
to get it."

Harry did not reply; his face was white with excitement. He walked forward
slowly till he reached the edge of the pool. It was some fifteen yards
across, and the colour of the water showed that it was very deep.

"I will dive, Harry," Bertie said; "I have gone down more than once in
five fathoms of water to pick up an egg that has been thrown overboard."
He stripped and swam out to the middle of the pool and dived. He was down
about a minute, and on coming up swam to the shore. "I could find no
bottom, Harry," he panted. "I am sure I must have gone down seven
fathoms."

"Thank you, Bertie," Harry said quietly; "we will make up our minds that
if it is there, we sha'n't get it at present. The foot of the valley is so
flat that it would need a cut at least a mile long to let the water off,
and we should therefore require either an army of men or a regular diving
apparatus, which there would be no getting this side of England. However,
it may not be there. Let us search now behind the fall."

There were some four or five feet clear between the sheet of water and the
rock. At times, as Harry pointed out, there would be an even wider space,
for the weather had been dry for the past two months, and the quantity of
water coming down was but small, while in the wet season a mighty flood
would shoot far out from the rock. The width of the stream in the wet
season was shown by the broad bed of what was now but a rivulet. Looking
upwards as they stood, the wall actually overhung them, and they could see
the edge where the water poured over unbroken.

"There may be a cave here," Harry went on, "and it may be covered by these
rocks piled up for the purpose. On the other hand, they may have fallen. I
think that is the most likely explanation, for as the top projects beyond
the bottom it is possible that some time or other there was a big fall."

They searched every foot of the rock within reach, but there were no signs
of any man's handiwork. The rock was solid, thickly covered with dripping
moss and ferns which had flourished in the mist and spray that rose from
the foot of the fall. This they had ruthlessly scraped off with their
picks. Silently they went out again at the end, and stood hopelessly
looking at the fall. It was some time before Harry said, "We must move
some of those stones now. Let us go at once and cut down some young trees,
for we can do nothing with our hands alone, but must use levers. For that
purpose we shall want straight wood, and strong. We had better get half a
dozen, in case some of them break; make them about ten feet long, and from
four to six inches thick, and sharpened slightly at the lower end."

In an hour the levers were ready.

"We had better breakfast before we begin, Dias. Your wife went off to
prepare it when we came out from the waterfall. I dare say it is ready by
this time."

In half an hour they were back again. They chose the central spot behind
the fall, and then set to work. Some of the rocks were dislodged without
much difficulty, but to move others, it was necessary to first get out the
smaller ones, on which they rested. So they toiled on, stopping for half
an hour in the middle of the day for food, and then renewing their work.
By evening they had made an opening four or five feet wide at the top, and
six feet deep, close to the wall. It was now getting dark, and all were
fagged and weary with their work, the light was fading, and they were glad
to return to camp. Maria came out to meet them. She asked no questions,
but said cheerfully, "I have a good olla ready, I am sure you must want
it."

"I feel almost too tired to eat," Bertie said.

"You will feel better when you have had some coffee. I have fed the mules,
José, and taken them down to water."

"I think," Bertie said, when they had finished their meal, "that we might
splice the main brace."

"I do think we might," Harry laughed. "We have not opened a bottle since
we started, and certainly we have worked like niggers since seven o'clock
this morning. I will open the case; it is screwed down, and I have a
screwdriver in the handle of my knife;" and he rose to his feet.

"What does Don Bertie want?" Dias said. "I will get it, señor. I do not
understand what he said."

"It is a sea expression, Dias. After a hard day's work the captain orders
that the main brace shall be spliced, which means that the crew shall have
a glass of grog--that is, a glass of spirits and water--to cheer and warm
them after their exertions. José, will you bring a blazing brand with you?
I shall want it to see the screws."

In a few minutes he returned.

"This is brandy, Dias. I don't suppose you have ever tasted a glass of
good brandy. Is your kettle boiling still, señora? We shall want hot
water, sugar, and five of the tin mugs. Have you any of those limes we
picked the other day?"

"Yes, señor."

"That is good. Just a slice each will be an improvement." Harry mixed four
mugs, and a half one for Maria. "There, Dias!" he said. "You will allow
that that is a considerable improvement on pulque."

He and his brother had already lighted their pipes. The other three had
made cigarettes. Dias and José were loud in their commendations of the new
beverage. Donna Maria had at first protested that she never touched
pulque, and this must be the same sort of thing. However, after sipping
daintily, she finished her portion with evident satisfaction. They did not
sit up long, and as soon as they had finished their first smoke all
retired to bed, leaving for once the llamas and mules to act as sentries.
As soon as it was fairly daylight, they drank a cup of coffee and started
again to work. Harry went first into the hole they had made, and, kneeling
down, struck a match to enable him to see the rock more thoroughly. He
gave a slight exclamation, then said: "Open your knife, Bertie, and come
in here and strike another match. I want both my hands."

"I have a torch here, señor,"

"That is best; then light it, Bertie."

There was just room at the bottom for Bertie to stand by the side of his
brother, who was lying down.

"Hold the torches as low as you can, Bertie."

Harry picked away with the point of his knife for a minute or two and then
sat up.

"That is the top of a cave," he said. "Do you see, this crack along here
is a straight one. That, I fancy, was the top of the entrance to the cave.
That stone under it has a rough face, but on the top and sides it is
straight. It is fitted in with cement, or something of that sort, and is
soft for some distance in, and then becomes quite hard. I can just see
that there are two stones underneath, also regularly cut."

He made room for Bertie to lie down, and held the torch for him. "I think
you are right, Harry. Those three stones would never fit together so
closely if they had not been cut by hand, though, looking at the face, no
one could tell them from the rock above them."

Dias next examined the stones.

"There is no doubt that that is the entrance to a cave, señor," he said as
he joined them; and the three went out beyond the fall, for the noise of
the water was too great for them to converse without difficulty behind the
veil of water. José stayed behind to examine.

"Well, Dias, we have found the place where the treasure is hidden, but I
don't think that we are much nearer. Certainly we have not strength
sufficient to clear away those fallen stones, and probably the cave is
blocked by a wall several feet thick. We should want tools and blasting-
powder to get through it. No doubt it is a natural cave, and it seems to
me probable that they altered the course of the stream above, so that it
should fall directly over the entrance. I think before we talk further
about it we will go up there and take a look at it. If we find that the
course has been changed that will settle the matter."

It took them an hour to climb the hill and make their way down to the
gorge through which the river ran. They examined it carefully.

"It must always have come along here," Dias said. "There is no other
possible channel; but there are marks of tools on the rocks on each side
of the fall, and the water goes over so regularly that I think the rock
must have been cut away at the bottom."

"It certainly looks like it, Dias. The rocks widen out too, so that
however strong the rush of water may be it will always go over in a
regular sheet. Let us follow it along a little way."

Fifty yards farther on, the gorge widened out suddenly, and they paused
with an exclamation of astonishment. Before them was a wide valley, filled
to the spot where they were standing with a placid sheet of water four or
five hundred yards wide, and extending to another gorge fully a mile away.
Bertie was the first to find his voice.

"Here's a go! Who would have thought of finding a lake up in the hills
here?"

"I did not know there was one," Dias said. "I have never heard of it. But
that is not strange, for no one who came up the valley would dream that
there was anything beyond that fall."

Harry had sat down and thought for some minutes, looking over the lake
without speaking.

"I am afraid, Dias," he said at last, "that your tradition was a true one
after all, and that the gold lay in the bed of a stream in the valley we
now see filled up."

"But it must always have been a lake, señor," Dias said after thinking for
a minute, "and could not have been shallower, for there is no other escape
than the waterfall; and however heavy the rains it could not have risen
higher, except a few feet, as one can see by the face of the rock."

"It may have had some other way out," Harry said.

Dias looked carefully round the side of the valley. "There is no break in
the hills that I can see, señor."

"No; but my firm conviction is that the top of that cave that we found
behind the fall is really the top of a natural tunnel through which the
stream originally flowed. There are two or three reasons for this. In the
first place, it is certainly remarkable that there should be a cave
immediately behind that fall. I thought at first that the stream above
might have been diverted to hide it, but the ravine is so narrow that that
could not be possible. In the next place, your tradition has proved
absolutely true in the matter of the star, and in the hour of its
appearance in the exact line to the mouth of that cave. How correctly the
details have been handed down from generation to generation! If they are
right on that point it is hardly likely that they can be inaccurate on
other points, and that the tale of an extraordinarily rich treasure could
have been converted into one of an exceptional deposit of gold in the bed
of a river.

"I think that the passage was probably closed by the old people when they
were first threatened by the invasion of the Incas. No doubt they would
choose a season when the stream was almost dry. They had, as the remains
of their vast buildings will show, an unlimited supply of labour. They
would first partially block up the tunnel, perhaps for the first fifty
yards in, leaving only a small passage for the water to run through. They
might then close the farther end with sacks of sand, and having the other
stones all cut, and any number of hands, build it up behind the sacks, and
then go on with the work till it was solid; then no doubt they would heap
stones and boulders against the face of the wall. By the time the Incas
had conquered the country the valley would be a lake many feet deep. The
Incas, having gained an abundant supply of treasure elsewhere, would take
no steps towards opening the tunnel, which in any case would have been a
terrible business, for the pressure of water would drive everything before
it. Having plenty of slave labour at their disposal, they knew that it
could be done at any time in case of great necessity, when the loss of the
lives of those concerned in it would be nothing to them. When the valley
became full the water began to pour out through this gap, which perhaps
happened to be immediately over the mouth of the tunnel, or it may have
been altered by a few yards to suit, for they were, as we know from some
of their buildings, such good workmen that they could fit slabs of the
hardest stone so perfectly together that it is hardly possible to see the
joints. Therefore they would only have to widen the mouth of the gorge a
little, and fit rocks in on either side so that they would seem to have
been there for all time; and indeed the natural growth of ferns and mosses
would soon hide the joints, even if they had been roughly done."

"And that all means, Harry--?" Bertie asked.

"That all means that we have no more chance of getting at the gold than if
it were lying in the deepest soundings in the Pacific."

Bertie sat down with a gasp.

"There is no way of getting that water out," Harry went on quietly,
"except by either cutting a channel here as deep as the bottom of the
lake, or by blasting the stone in the tunnel. The one would require years
of work, with two or three hundred experienced miners, and ten times as
many labourers. The other would need twenty or thirty miners, and a
hundred or two labourers. There is possibly another way; but as that would
require an immense iron siphon going down to the bottom of the lake, along
one side of this ravine, and down into the bottom of the pool, with a
powerful engine to exhaust the air in the first place and set it going, it
is as impracticable, as far as we are concerned, as the other two.

"In the same way I have no doubt that, with a thousand-horse-power engine,
the lake could be pumped dry in time; but to transport the plant for such
an engine and its boiler across the mountains would be an enormous
undertaking; and even were it here, and put up and going, the difficulty
of supplying it with fuel would be enormous. Certainly one could not get
up a company with capital enough to carry out any one of the schemes
merely on the strength of an Indian tradition; and with the uncertainty,
even if they believed the tradition, whether the amount of gold recovered
would be sufficient to repay the cost incurred.

"Well, we may as well go down to dinner."

He shouldered his pick and led the way back. Scarce a word was spoken on
the way. Bertie tried to follow the example of his brother, and take the
matter coolly. Dias walked with his head down and the air of a criminal
going to execution. The disappointment to him was terrible. He had all
along felt so confident that they should be successful, and that he should
be enabled to enrich those he considered as the preservers of his life,
that he was utterly broken down with the total failure of his hopes.




CHAPTER X

A FRESH START


Not until he got to the camp did Harry look round. When he caught a
glimpse of the guide's face he went up to him and held out his hand.

"You must not take it to heart, Dias; it has been unfortunate, but that
cannot be helped. You have done everything you could in the matter, and
brought us to the right spot, and no one could tell that when we got
within half a mile of the gold river we should find the valley turned into
a deep lake. We can only say, 'Better luck next time'. We would say in
England, 'There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it'. I
have never felt very sanguine myself about this; it has all along seemed
too good to be true. Of course we are disappointed, but we may have better
luck next time."

"But I don't know, señor, with certainty of any other place. No one was
ever entrusted with more than one secret, so that if the Spanish tortures
wrung it out of him two treasures would not be lost."

"We need not talk any more about this place, Dias. I see your wife has got
some of the fish that we caught yesterday fizzling on the fire. Now I
think of it, I am very hungry, for it is six hours since we had our coffee
this morning. After we have had our meal we can discuss what our next move
had better be."

While they were speaking, José had been rapidly telling Maria the
misfortune which had befallen them, and the tears were running down the
woman's cheeks.

"You must not feel so badly about it, Maria," Harry said cheerfully; "you
see my brother and I are quite cheerful. At any rate, no one is to blame.
It would have been an enormous piece of luck if we had succeeded, but we
never looked on it as a certainty. Anything might have happened between
the time the gold was shut up and now, though we certainly never expected
to find what we did. We only thought it possible that we might have the
luck to find the treasure. Now you had better look to those fish, or we
shall lose our breakfast as we have lost our gold, and this time by our
own fault. We are as hungry as hunters all of us; and in fact we are
hunters, although we have not brought any game with us this time."

The woman wiped away her tears hastily, and, taking off the fish which she
had put on when they were coming down the hill, she laid them on plates
with some freshly-baked cakes. The fish were excellent, and Bertie, as
they ate, made several jokes which set them all laughing, so that the meal
passed off cheerfully.

"Now for the great consoler," Harry said, as he took out his pipe. "When
we have all lighted up, the council shall begin. Never mind clearing away
the plates now, Maria; just sit down with us, there is wisdom in many
counsellors. Now, Dias, what do you think is the best course for us to
adopt at present?"

"Unless you wish to stay here and make further search?"

"By no means, Dias," Harry said; "for the present, I have seen enough of
this side of the mountains. We will get back to Cuzco and make a fresh
start from there."

"In that case, señor, there is no doubt as to the best route. There is a
pass over the mountains just on the other side of Mount Tinta; it leads to
the town of Ayapata, which lies somewhere at the foot of that peak. I have
never been there, but I know its situation. It is a very steep pass, but
as it is used for mule traffic it cannot be very bad. Once we have passed
over it on to the plateau we shall not be more than seventy or eighty
miles from Cuzco."

"That is quite satisfactory. We will set off to-morrow."

"We had better catch some more fish, for we have had no time for hunting
lately," Maria said. "The meat we ate yesterday was the last we had with
us. If we cut the fish open and lay them flat on the rocks, which are so
hot one can scarcely hold one's hand on them, they will be sufficiently
dry by sunset to keep for two or three days, and before that you are sure
to shoot something."

The river was full of fish, and in half an hour they had caught an
abundance, having fifteen averaging eight pounds apiece. These were at
once cut open, cleaned, and laid down to dry.

"The fishing on this river would let for a handsome sum in England," Harry
laughed; "and I think the fish are quite as good as trout of the same
size. The only objection is that they are so tame, and take the bait so
greedily, that, good as the stream is, they would soon be exterminated."

That evening there was a slight stir among the animals which had just lain
down. José leapt up and walked towards them.

"There is something the matter, Dias," he cried; "the llamas are standing
up with their ears forward. They see or hear something."

"It may be pumas or jaguars," Dias said. "Take your gun, señor."

He picked up his rifle, and Harry and Bertie followed suit, and further
armed themselves with their shot-guns.

"You had best come with us, Maria," her husband said. "There is no saying
where the beasts may be. See! the mules are standing up now and pulling at
their head-ropes. Let us go among them, señors, our presence will pacify
them."

They all moved towards the mules, which were standing huddled together.
Dias and José spoke to them and patted them.

"You stand at their heads, Maria," the former said, "and keep on talking
to them. We must see if we can discover the beasts. There is one of them!"
he exclaimed, but in a low tone. Do you see the two bright points of
light? That is the reflection of the fire in his eyes."

"Shall I fire?"

"No, señor, not yet. If we were only to wound him he would charge us; let
us wait till he gets closer. Probably there are two of them, male and
female, they generally go about in pairs."

Even as he spoke the seeming sparks disappeared.

"He has moved," Dias said; "he will probably walk round us two or three
times before he makes up his mind to attack."

"If he would go near the fire we could get a fair shot at him, Dias."

"He won't do that, señor; he will most likely go backwards and forwards in
a semicircle, getting perhaps a little closer each time."

Ten minutes passed and then Maria said:

"There are two of them. I can see their outlines distinctly."

"Do you think, if we were to fire a gun, they would move off, Dias?"

"They might for a time, señor, but the probability is that they would come
back again. They have smelt the mules, and are probably hungry. It is
better to let them attack us at once and have done with it."

A minute or two later there was a snarling growl.

"They are jaguars," Dias said.

Again and again the threatening sound was heard, and in spite of Maria's
efforts the mules were almost mad with fright.

"We had better lie down beyond them," Dias said. "There is no doubt the
beasts will come from that side. If we posted ourselves behind them the
mules might break loose and knock us over just as we were taking aim."

They lay down side by side on the grass with their rifles at their
shoulders.

"I can see them now, Dias," Harry whispered, "not more than fifty yards
away. I think we could hardly miss them now."

"You could not if it were daylight, señor; but in the dark, when you can't
see the end of your rifle, you can never be certain about shooting."

The beasts had now apparently made up their minds to attack. They crouched
low, almost dragging their bellies on the ground, and one was somewhat in
advance of the other.

"That is the male ahead," Dias whispered. "Do you and your brother take
aim. I will take the female, and José will hold his fire of buck-shot till
she is within a length of us."

"How shall I know when it is going to spring?"

"When it stops, señor. It is sure to stop before it springs."

"Aim between the eyes, Bertie, and fire when I do," Harry whispered to his
brother, who was lying next to him.

When within twelve yards the jaguar halted.

"Now!" Harry said, and they discharged their rifles at the same moment,
and, dropping them, grasped the shot-guns.

The jaguar fell over on one side, clawing the air, and then recovered
himself. As he did so two charges of buck-shot struck him on the head, and
he rolled over and remained motionless.

Dias had fired at the same moment, but he had not stopped the second
jaguar. José, instead of waiting, hastily discharged his gun, and in
another instant a dark body bounded over their heads on to the back of one
of the mules, which it struck to the ground.

Harry and Bertie leapt to their feet, and discharged their second barrels
into the jaguar's body. It turned suddenly round and attempted to spring,
but its hindquarters were paralysed; and Bertie, pulling out his pistol,
fired both barrels into its head. The brute at once fell over dead, and
the lad gave a shout of triumph.

"Thank goodness that is over without accident!" Harry said. "They are
formidable beasts, Dias."

"In the daytime, when one can see to aim, they can be killed easily
enough, señor; at night their presence is to be dreaded."

"I am afraid we have lost a mule."

"I think not, señor. He was knocked down by the shock, but he had his
saddle on, and the brute had no time to carry him off."

The mule rose to its feet as they spoke; José ran and brought a flaming
brand from the fire. Blood was streaming from both the animal's shoulders.

"It stuck its claws in, señor, but has not made long gashes. I should say
that these wounds were caused by the contraction of the claws when you
finished her with your pistol. The animal will be all right in a day or
two; and as our stores have diminished, we need not put any load on it for
a time."

"I hope you were not frightened, Maria?" Bertie said

"I was a little frightened," she said, "when the mule came tumbling down
close to me, and I could see the jaguar's eyes within a few yards of me,
but I had my dagger ready."

"It would not have been much good," Dias said, "if the beast had attacked
you."

"I think you showed no end of pluck," Bertie said. "If he had come close
to me, and I had got nothing but that little dagger in my hand, I should
have bolted like a shot."

"I am sure that you would not, señor," she said. "You are a great deal too
brave for that."

Bertie laughed.

"It is all very well to be brave with a rifle in your hand and another gun
ready, to say nothing of the pistols. By the way, I thought Harry had
given you one of his?

"So he did, but I had forgotten all about it. If I had thought of it I
should have used it."

"It is just as well that you did not," Harry said. "If you had done so,
the brute would have made for you instead of turning round to attack us."

"Now, señor," Dias put in, "we had better drag the jaguars away; the mules
will never get quiet with the bodies so close to them."

It needed all his strength and that of his companions to drag each of the
bodies fifty yards away.

"Now, José," Dias said when they returned, "you had better give the
animals a feed of maize all round. They will settle down after that. I
shall keep watch to-night, señor. It is not likely that any more of these
beasts are in the neighbourhood; but it is as well to be careful, and I
don't think any of us would sleep if someone were not on the look-out."

"I will relieve you at two o'clock," Harry said.

"No, señor, I have not been on the watch for the past two nights. I would
rather sit up by the fire to-night."

Two days later they arrived at the foot of the pass. Just as they gained
it they met two muleteers coming down it. Dias entered into conversation
with them, while the others erected tents, preparing to camp.

"What is the news, Dias?" Harry asked as he returned.

"The men say, señor, that the pass is very unsafe. Many robberies have
taken place in it, and several men, who endeavoured to defend themselves
against the brigands, have been killed. They were questioned by four armed
men as they came down, and the goods they were carrying down to Ayapata
were taken from them. They say that traffic has almost ceased on the
road."

"That is bad, Dias."

"Very bad, señor. We need not be afraid of brigands if they meet us as we
travel along the foot of the hills, but it would be another thing in the
passes. There are many places where the mules would have to go in single
file, and if we were caught in such a spot by men on the heights, we might
be shot down without any chance of defending ourselves successfully."

"That is awkward, Dias. It is a scandal that these brigands are not rooted
out."

"People are thinking too much of fighting each other or their neighbours
to care anything about the complaints of a few muleteers, señor."

"Is there no other way of crossing the mountains than by this pass?"

"There is a pass, señor, between Ayapata and Crucero, but it is a very bad
one."

"And where should we be then, Dias?"

"Well, señor, it would take us along the other side of the mountains to
Macari. From that place there is an easy path to La Raya; there we are on
the plateau again, and have only to travel by the road through Sicuani to
Cuzco."

"In fact, it would double the length of our journey to Cuzco?"

"Yes, señor; but if you liked, from Crucero you might go down to Lake
Titicaca. There are certainly good mines in the mountains there."

"Yes, but is there any chance of our finding them?"

"I can't say that, señor, but I fear that the chance would be very small."

"Then it is of no use trying, Dias. We saw at the last place what pains
the old people took to hide places where gold could be found, and if there
had been rich mines among these mountains you speak of, no doubt they
would have hidden them just as carefully. The question is, shall we go up
this pass as we intended, and take our chance, or shall we go by this
roundabout way?"

By this time José had lit a fire, and they had seated themselves by it.

"One hates turning back, but we are not pressed for time. As far as I can
see, my only chance is the feeble one of finding treasure in the place you
spoke of up the coast above Callao. It is now four months since we left
Lima. Travelling straight to that place would take us how long?"

"Well, señor, if we go round by Ayapata to Crucero, and then to Macari, it
would be nearly a thousand miles."

"Quite a thousand, I should think. That is three months' steady work. By
the time we get there it will be about a year from the time we left
England. I have seen quite enough of the mountains to know that our chance
of finding anything among them is so small that it is not worth thinking
of. It seems to me, therefore, Dias, that we might just as well, instead
of going south over these difficult passes, return by the foot of the
mountains as we have come, going through Paucartambo, crossing the rivers
that flow north and fall somewhere or other into the Amazon, and keeping
along it till we come to Cerro de Pasco. There we should be nearly in a
line with this place you know of, and can keep due west--that is to say,
as nearly due west as the mountains will allow. It would be three or four
hundred miles shorter than by taking the pass at Ayapata. We should have a
good deal of sport by the way, and should certainly have no trouble with
the brigands till we got to Cerro. Of course it is possible that we might
fall in with savages again, but at any rate they are not so formidable as
brigands in the passes. What do you say to that?"

"It is certainly shorter, señor; and, as you say, we should have no
trouble with the brigands, and we should also escape the troubles that
have been going on for some years, and are likely, as far as anyone can
see, to go on for ever. We were very fortunate in not meeting any of the
armies that are always marching about."




CHAPTER XI

BRIGANDS


Three months were spent in the journey to the foot of the pass leading up
to Cerro. They had good shooting, and found no difficulty in providing
themselves with food. Fish were plentiful in the streams, and in some of
the long-deserted plantations they found bananas, grapes, and other fruits
in abundance, together with sugar-canes, tomatoes, maize growing wild, and
potatoes which were reverting to the wild type. They met neither with
alligators nor large serpents, for they kept on the lower slopes of the
foot-hills, as much as possible avoiding the low forest lands, where they
might come in contact with the savages. For the same reason, they had no
opportunity of taking any of the great fish found in the sluggish rivers,
but had an abundance of smaller fish in the bright mountain streams. They
killed two tapirs and several pumas and jaguars. Their two llamas, having
one night wandered away from the mules, were killed by these beasts. But
as the stores were a good deal lighter than when they started, this was no
great misfortune. Occasionally they followed streams up into the hills,
and did a little washing for gold when they halted for a day or two there.

"We have had a good time of it," Harry said as they sat round the fire,
"and I am almost sorry that it is over, and that this is our last day of
wandering where we like, shooting and fishing, and above all, camping in
pleasant places. We have been very fortunate in not meeting any of the
savages since the fight we had with them four or five months ago. It is a
splendid country for sport, and except that we should like it a bit
cooler, and could have done without some of the thunder-storms, it is a
grand life. For a time now we are going back to a sort of civilization,
filthy inns, swarms of fleas, and fifteenth-rate cooking."

"It is not so much the fault of the cooking," Maria said, "as of the meat.
Here we get fish fresh out of the stream, and birds shot an hour or two
before they are eaten. We pick our fruit from the trees, instead of buying
it after it has been carried miles and miles to the market. We have a
capital stock of coffee, tea, and sugar. Among the old plantations we pick
cocoa and pound it fresh, and boil it. As we brought plenty of pepper and
spices, it would be hard indeed if one could not turn out a good meal. And
then, señors, you always come to eat it with a good appetite, which is all
in favour of the cook."

"Yes, I grant that you have had all those advantages, Maria, but it is not
everybody who makes the best of them. I can safely say that since we
started we have never sat down to a bad breakfast or dinner. Now, for a
bit, we are going to lead a different sort of life. We shall be on beaten
tracks. We shall meet lots of people. It is strange to think that, except
for those peasant muleteers we met at the foot of the pass by the Tinta
volcano, we have not seen a soul except the savages--who have souls, I
suppose--since we left Paucartambo more than six months ago; and yet
somehow we do not seem to have missed them. I wonder what we shall find
when we get up to Cerro, and who will be president then."

"I wonder what they are doing in Europe!" Bertie said. "We have heard no
later news than what we had when we went on board a ship sixteen months
ago. There may have been great wars all over Europe."

"I don't think there is much chance of that, Bertie. India was the only
place where there was any fighting going on, and it seemed as if, since
Napoleon was crushed, Europe would become permanently pacific. Still, I do
hope that when we are at Lima we shall get hold of a pile of English
newspapers. The consul is sure to have them."

"I don't suppose we shall want to stay there many days, Harry, for we
shall be eager to start the search for the enchanted castle Dias has told
us of. We saw quite enough of Lima during the ten days that we were
there."

"Is the pass a bad one up to Cerro, Dias?"

"There are some very bad points, señor. It never was a good one, but as
nothing has been done to the roads for at least a hundred years, it must
have got into a very bad state. I have been down it twice with travellers,
the second time ten years ago, and it was bad enough then. It is likely to
be worse now."

"Well, as the road is used so little, Dias," Harry said, "there is no fear
of brigands."

"I hope not, señor; but there may be some, though they would not be there
in the hope of plundering travellers. But desperate men are always to be
found in the mountains--men who have committed murders and fled from
justice. They are able to live on what they can shoot, and of course they
can get fish in the streams, and when they are tired of that can come down
here, where they will find plenty of turkeys, and pheasants, and other
game, besides the maize, and fruits, and other things in the old
plantations. Sometimes they will take a little plunder from the small
villages. Anyhow, they do not fare altogether badly. Therefore one can
never feel certain that one is safe from them, even when travelling over
tracks where travellers seldom pass. Still, we may very well hope that we
shall not have the bad luck to fall in with them."

"I hope so, Dias. We did not come out here to fight. So far we have been
very fortunate, and have not had to fire a shot, except at those wretched
savages."

The next day's journey took them far up into the hills, and they camped
that night at the upper end of a deep ravine. It had been a hard day's
work, for at several points the mules had to be unloaded and taken up
singly, and the loads then carried up. Fortunately, the packs were now
very light, and were carried or hauled up without much difficulty.

In the morning they again started. They were just issuing from the ravine
when a party of ten armed men made their appearance from amongst some
rocks, and shouted to them to halt. Dias rode in front.

"You speak to them, Dias. Keep them for a minute in talk if you can, and
then take shelter behind that boulder."

Then Harry ran back to José, who was walking with a leading mule twenty
paces behind.

"Turn them back again, José. Halt a little way down, and then come up;
there are some brigands ahead. Bertie, bring up your rifle and the two
shot-guns. Tell Maria to remain with the mules."

Then he ran back again just as a shot rang out, and, dodging among the
fallen rocks, he took shelter behind one abreast with Dias. "Was it you
who fired?" he asked.

"No, one of the brigands. The ball went through the brim of my sombrero. I
think they are talking to each other, they know there is no hurry."

"Hail them again, Dias, but don't show yourself above the rock."

"What do you want? Why did you fire at me?"

"We want everything you have got," a voice came back--"your mules and
their burdens, and your arms. If you will give them up without resistance,
we will let you up the pass without hindering you."

"Tell them that you must talk it over with the others, Dias."

"Well, we will give you five minutes," the man called back. "If you do not
accept our terms, we will cut your throats."

Dias stood up, and walked quietly down the rugged pass. At the point where
the mules stopped, the rock rose almost perpendicularly on each side.

"Maria," he said, "do you and José take off the saddles and bags and fill
up the spaces between these rocks on each side. Get the animals in behind
them. You stop with them, Maria. I have got five minutes, and will help
you."

"You had better go up at once, señor," he went on to Bertie, "and help
your brother, so that they may not get sight of you. However, I am afraid
they know how many we are. It was foolish to light that fire yesterday
evening, I expect they were somewhere near and caught sight of us, and no
doubt one of them crept quietly down to find out what our force was.
Seeing there were but four of us, they thought they could take us all
easily here in the morning without firing a shot. But as your brother and
I happened to be going on first, they thought they would parley. They
would be sure that if they attacked us, we should kill two or three of
them at least before we had finished with them. And as they reckoned that
we should gladly accept their terms, they would get all they wanted
without trouble, and could shoot us afterwards if they felt inclined."

Bertie had by this time got the guns unstrapped, and had filled his
pockets with cartridges. He now went forward, and as he kept among the
rocks he was able to get within four or five yards of his brother without
being seen, as the mouth of the pass was almost blocked with great
boulders.

"I cannot get any nearer without running the risk of being seen. I have
loaded the double-barrelled guns."

"Stay where you are then, Bertie. I don't think they will make a rush, and
if they do, you can use them as well as your rifle. Of course I have my
pistols and you have yours. I don't believe they will venture to attack in
daylight, our trouble will be after dark."

"Now, then, the five minutes are up!" the brigand shouted.

"I am coming!" Dias shouted back.

As he approached, Harry said: "Stand by the side of a rock, Dias, so as to
be able to shelter as soon as you have given them the answer; they are
likely enough to fire a volley."

"We will give you nothing," Dias shouted. "Anything you want you had
better come and take."

Three men raised their heads above the rocks and fired. Almost at the same
instant Harry's rifle and Bertie's cracked out, the heads disappeared, and
a fierce yell of rage showed that one, if not both of the shots had found
their mark.

"You had better clear off," Harry shouted. "There are four of us, and we
have eight barrels between us, to say nothing of two brace of pistols."

A volley of curses was hurled back in reply.

"Now, Dias, what do you think is our best move?"

"I don't know, señor. I fancy there are only eight of them now. You and
your brother could hardly miss marks like their heads at thirty paces."
"If I were quite sure that there are no more of them I should say that, as
soon as it becomes dark, we had better creep forward and fight them. It
would be better to do that than wait for them to attack us. But there may
be, and very likely are, more of these bands among the hills. Besides,
Dias, we don't want to lose one of our number, and we could hardly hope to
get through unscathed, for if we were to try to push on they would have us
at a tremendous advantage. They would hide among the rocks and shoot us
down before we had time to level a gun at them. Now that we have killed
one, if not two of their number, they will certainly try to get their
revenge, and will harass us all the way up the pass."

"It is not only that, señor; it is the booty they expect to take."

"They could not expect much booty," Harry said, "for our baggage animals
only carry small loads."

"Gold does not take up a large bulk, señor; and I have not the least doubt
that they believe we have been gold-hunting, and have probably a big
amount of gold dust among the baggage."

"I did not think of that, Dias. If they believe we have gold we will take
it as granted that they will do their best to get it. Well, do you think
it would be a good thing to make a rush?"

"No, señor, it would be throwing away our lives. They will guess that we
shall probably attempt such a thing, and I have no doubt that they will
move away, if they haven't done so already, and hide themselves among
other rocks. Then if we dashed forward to the place where they had been,
they would pour a volley into us and finish us at once; for if they were
lying twenty yards away they ought certainly to hit every one of us, as
they have eight shots to fire. At present I have no doubt they are
talking, and I think we can safely get back to where we piled up the
saddles and bales. We can defend ourselves better there than here. We can
then talk matters over quietly."

"That will be the best plan, Dias, certainly."

Keeping under cover as well as they could they retired to the barricade,
thirty yards lower. José, aided by Maria, had completed the defence. They
had not, however, attempted to block the passage between two great rocks.
It was but three feet wide; the rocks lay about six feet from the cliffs
on either side, and these spaces were partly filled by smaller fragments.
Wherever there were open spaces the blankets had been thrust in from
behind. Dias had done the greater part of the work before he went up to
answer the demands of the bandits, but the others had laboured very hard
to finish it.

"Well done!" Harry said as they passed through the entrance.

"I told them not to close the path," Dias said. "We can do that now we are
all together. Most of the rocks are too heavy for José and Maria to lift.
Shall we build it up now, señor? I am sure they cannot force their way
through while we four are holding the barricade."

"Certainly not, Dias, and I have no fear of their attempting it. But I
think it would be as well for us to close it, otherwise we could not cross
from one side to the other without exposing ourselves."

It took them two hours' hard work--the harder because the stones had to be
thrown into the passage from the sides, as the brigands might be crouching
among the rocks higher up waiting for an opportunity to get a shot. At the
end of the two hours the gap was filled up to the height of six feet.

"Now we can talk matters over quietly, Dias," Harry said. "We may take it
that, whether they attack by day or by night, we can beat them off. There
is a little rill of water that trickles down along the centre, so we need
not fear being driven out by thirst, and we have food enough to last us a
fortnight. That is settled; but they may stay there for any time, and
without exposing ourselves to sudden death we cannot find out whether they
are still hanging about or not. Of course one very important question is,
are they going to be joined by others?"

"I think they certainly will be, señor. As many of these fellows are
hiding among the hills as would make a good-sized regiment, and they have
only to send off two or three of their number with the news that a party
of gold-diggers with five laden mules are shut up in this ravine to gather
any number of them. They would come as quickly as vultures to a dead
horse. It must be a long time since they had any really valuable plunder,
and the fact that we have five baggage mules besides the three riding ones
would show that we had probably been a very long time away, and might
therefore possess a lot of gold."

"Are there any other passes near?"

"The nearest, señor, is on the other branch of the Palcazu--the river we
followed till we entered the passes--and is about thirty miles to the
north. The pass starts from a spot about fifteen miles above the junction,
and goes up to Huaca, a place that is little more than ten miles south of
Huanuco. From Huaca we could either follow the road to Cerro, or strike
across the Western Cordilleras to Aguamiro."

"Then I think, Dias, that our best plan will be to go down again into the
valley we left yesterday morning, and then strike across for the mouth of
this pass you speak of. You know the direction?"

"I know the general direction, although I have never been along there."

"Well, Dias, you must be the guide. I should say the sooner we start the
better. My idea is this: If you with your wife and José will start at
once, so as to be down the pass before it gets dark, my brother and I will
remain here. You will leave our riding mules at the point where the track
is good enough for us to gallop on."

"We should not like to leave you, señor," Maria said.

"I have not the least fear of their attacking us, and with our rifles and
double-barrelled guns and pistols we could beat them off if they did. I
can't see any better way of getting out of this scrape, and am quite
willing to adopt this plan."

"I don't see any other way, señor," Dias said. "The plan is a good one;
but I wish I could stay here with you."

"But that would be impossible, Dias, for there would be no chance of our
finding the mouth of this pass by ourselves."

"Why could we not all go together?" Maria asked.

"Because if there were no one here the brigands might discover that we had
gone, within an hour or so of our starting. They might fire a shot or two,
and, finding that we did not answer, crawl gradually down till they got
here, for it must seem possible to them that we should return down the
pass; and as there is no getting the baggage mules to go fast, we might
very well be overtaken--I don't mean by those eight men, but by a
considerable number."

"But how are you to find your way, señor?" Dias said.

"We shall follow the valley down till we come to the spot where you have
struck off. You can fasten a white handkerchief to a stick and put it in
some bare place where we are sure to see it. I want you to halt when you
get to the river somewhere opposite the mouth of the pass. We will ride
nearly due north, and when we strike the river will follow it down till we
reach you."

"We can't halt opposite the mouth of the pass, for the river there is
already some size, and we could not cross it. I shall keep along near the
foot of the hills--the water there is shallow enough to ford. Then I will
follow it down until, as you say, near the entrance to the pass, and there
stop on the bank till you come."

"That will do very well. In that case it won't matter much where we strike
the stream, as our mules can swim across easily enough--they have had
plenty of practice during the past six months. However, we will turn off
north where we can see your signal."

"When will you leave, señor?"

"To-morrow morning. I have no fear of their attacking during the night,
for they can hardly bring other bands down here before morning. As soon as
it gets dark we will light two torches and put them down at the foot of
the barricade, so that we shall be in the shadow. These will show them
that we are still here, and they won't care to venture down into the
circle of light. We have let them know what a formidable amount of
firearms we have, and have given them a lesson that we can shoot
straight."

"They certainly would not come, señor, as long as your torches are
burning, but three hours are as much as you can reckon upon their
burning."

"Well, we have a dozen left now, Dias, and when they burn out we must
light two more and throw them over and trust to their burning as they lie
among the stones. Of course we should not think of going down to stick
them upright, for the scoundrels will probably be watching us as closely
as we are watching them. However, I shall manage to keep the lights going
till daybreak, and shall start a good hour before that. We shall have to
go down cautiously, and I should like to be well away with the mules
before they discover that we have left. Now, the sooner you are off the
better. Breakfast has been ready for the past hour. You had better eat it
and get under weigh as soon as you can. After you have gone one of us will
keep watch while the other eats. I have no doubt there will be plenty left
for our supper."

"Yes, señor, and enough cakes to carry you on till you join us."

Half an hour later the party started, Dias having muffled the mules'
hoofs, so that the clatter, as they passed over the rocks, might not be
heard above.

"Now, Bertie, you go down to breakfast. When you have done come up and
relieve me. You have no occasion to hurry, for it is absolutely certain
that they won't dare to attack till they get reinforcements."

When Bertie returned he said, "Here is a lot of food, Harry, they have
hardly eaten anything. There is plenty for us to-day and to-morrow."

"That is just like them, Bertie; but I daresay they will camp in five or
six hours. It feels quite lonely without them."

"That it does. It is really the first time we have been alone since we
left Lima, except, of course, when we were out shooting together."

"Be sure you don't show your head above the barricade, Bertie. You must do
as I have been doing, sit down here and look out through this peep-hole
between these rocks Shove your rifle through it, so that, if you see a
head looking out from between the rocks up there, you can fire at once."

In half an hour Harry came back and sat down by his brother, and, lighting
their pipes, they chatted over the events of their journey and the
prospect before them.

"I am afraid, Harry, the journey will be a failure, except that we have
had a very jolly time."

"Well, so far it has not turned out much; but, somehow or other, I have
great faith in this haunted castle. Of course the demons Dias is so afraid
of are probably Indians, who are placed there to frighten intruders away,
and they would not keep watch unless they had something to guard. I cannot
understand how it has escaped the notice of the Spaniards all these years.
I had not much faith in their stories until we found how true they were in
all particulars as to what they call the golden river. There is one
satisfaction, however: if the place is really a castle, it can hardly have
disappeared under the lake. Of course if it is in ruins we may have a lot
of difficulty in getting at the vaults, or wherever else treasure may have
been buried; but unless it is a very big place, which is hardly probable,
the work would be nothing compared with the draining of the lake."

"We have got nearly a year in hand, Harry, and can do a lot of work in
that time, especially if we use powder."

"Yes; but, you see, we ought to allow at least five months for getting
home. Still, no doubt if I felt justified in writing to ask for another
three or four months, saying I had great hopes of finding something very
good in a short time, she would stand out against her father a little
longer. I shall write directly we get to Lima to say that, although I have
so far failed, I do not give up hope, and am just starting on another
enterprise that promises well."  Bertie held up his finger. "I think I
heard somebody move. It sounded like a stone being turned over." For two
or three minutes he lay motionless, with his finger on the trigger. Then
he fired.

"What was it, Bertie?"

"It was a man's leg. I suddenly saw it below that rift behind the rock. I
expect he had no idea that his foot showed there. I am pretty sure I hit
it, for I had time to take a steady aim, and the foot disappeared the
instant I fired. If he did not know it was exposed, there was no reason
why he should have moved at all if he hadn't been hit."

"It was better to hit his foot than his head, Bertie. It is equally good
as a lesson, if not better, for though we don't mean to let them kill us,
I don't want to take life unless it is absolutely necessary. Well, after
that proof of the sharpness of our watch they are not likely to make any
fresh move."

The day passed slowly. They took it by turns to keep watch, and just
before dusk Harry said, "I think, Bertie, that we might pull out the
leaves and bush that Dias shoved into one of these gaps when he took the
blankets and things out. I could push the torch through and fix it there,
that would save having to cross the barricade. It is quite possible that
one of those fellows may be keeping as sharp a look-out as we are doing,
and it is as well not to set one's self up as a mark. If I put it through
now it won't show much, while if I wait till darkness falls it will be an
easy object to fire at. You keep a sharp lookout while I am doing this,
and if you see either a head or a gun try to hit it."

Harry accomplished the operation without drawing a shot, and as soon as he
had fixed the torch he again stopped the hole up behind it.

"It is evident that they are not watching us very closely," he said. "If
they have not sent for help, they have gone off. With two of their men
killed and two disabled, the fight must have been taken out of them. We
will watch by turns to-night. It is six o'clock now; will you sit up till
eleven, or shall I?"

"I don't care a bit. Which would you rather take?"

"I don't care;--however, I may as well take the first watch. We will start
at five, so rouse me at four. If they come at all, which is possible, but
not probable, it will be between four and five."

At ten o'clock Harry could see a glow of light at some distance from the
mouth of the ravine, and in the stillness could occasionally catch the
sound of voices. When he woke Bertie at twelve the lad looked at his watch
and said, "You are an hour late in calling me, Harry."

"Yes, I had no inclination for sleep. The fellows have been reinforced. Of
course I don't know to what extent, but I should say pretty strongly. They
have lit a big fire some distance from the ravine. They would not have
dared to light one if they had not felt themselves strong enough to fight
us. No doubt they have half a dozen men on watch where we first saw them,
and these would give notice if we were coming. I think we may as well fire
a couple of shots, it will show them that we are here and on guard. They
will suppose we thought we heard someone coming down to reconnoitre our
position."

They both fired over the top of the barricade.

"I see you have renewed the torch, Harry," Bertie said as they reloaded.

"Yes, I have done so twice. I was very careful, however, as I feared they
might be watching. I did not wait for the lighted one to burn out, but
passed the other one out, putting the end of my poncho round my hand and
arm, so that they could hardly be noticed even by anyone within ten yards,
and certainly could not be seen from up there. As I pushed it through I
lighted it at the stump of the old torch and then withdrew my hand like a
shot. I did the same thing again an hour ago with equal success, so it is
evident that they are not keeping a very sharp look-out above, and have no
fear of our making a sortie, hampered as we are by our animals."

The torch was changed again at four o'clock, and a little later Bertie
heard a slight noise.

"I think they are coming, Harry," he said quietly.

Harry was at once on his feet. "Use your rifle first, Bertie, and sling it
over your shoulder before you give them the two barrels of buck-shot, so
that you can start to run at once if we don't stop them."

"Yes, I am certain they are coming," he said, after listening for two or
three minutes. "We have got two or three torches left, and I will give
them the benefit of them."

He went back to the embers of the fire, lighted the torches, and,
returning to the barrier, threw them twenty or thirty yards up the ravine.
There was a hoarse shout of anger, and then a dozen shots were fired.
Bertie's rifle cracked out in return, and Harry's followed almost
immediately. A dark group of some twenty or thirty men were rushing
forward, and had just reached the line where the torches were burning,
when four barrels of buck-shot were poured into them. Three or four fell,
the rest fled at once, and the cries and oaths showed that many of them
were wounded.

"They won't venture again for the present," Harry said. "You may be sure
they will hold a council of war, so load again and then we will be off."

Two minutes later they were making their way carefully down the rocky
passage, Harry carrying the bundle they had made up of the unconsumed
provisions. As they had to exercise great care in climbing over the rocks,
the day was just breaking when they came upon two mules that had been left
behind for them. They rode cautiously until they were quite out of the
ravine, and then started down the valley at a gallop. In an hour Bertie
exclaimed, "There is the flag!" They rode to it and then turned off to the
north, slackening their pace to a trot. The animals were in good
condition, as they had of late been making short marches, and at eleven
o'clock they came upon the river. Here they waited for an hour, gave a
couple of cakes to each animal, and ate the rest themselves. The river was
some fifty yards across, but the mules only needed to swim about half this
distance. The brothers kept beside them, placing one elbow on the saddles
and holding their rifles and ammunition well above the water. They were
soon across, and, mounting, followed the river down, letting the animals
go their own pace, and sometimes walking beside them, as they wished to
keep them fresh for the next day's work. At five in the afternoon they saw
smoke ahead of them, and, riding faster now, soon joined their companions,
who hailed their arrival with shouts of joy.

"We have been terribly anxious about you, señors," Dias said, "and
regretted deeply that we deserted you."

"It was not desertion, Dias; you were obeying orders, and were on duty
guarding the baggage. There was really no cause for uneasiness; we were
certain that we could beat them off if they ventured to attack us."

"And did they do so?"

"They made a feeble attack this morning at four o'clock, but we were ready
for them. They might have carried the barricade had we only had our
rifles, but buck-shot was too much for them. Of course we brought down two
with our rifles; but there must have been over a score of them, and the
four barrels of buck-shot did heavy execution. Some of them fell, and I
fancy most of the others got a dose of shot, as they were all in a close
body. I will tell you all about it after we have had supper."

"I have got it ready," Maria said. "We have been expecting you for the
past hour, and I was sure you would have good appetites when you arrived."

After the story had been told Dias said: "That was a capital plan of
keeping the torches burning all night, and especially of throwing two of
them up the ravine when you heard the fellows coming. Of course they
calculated on getting within fifteen yards or so before you saw them.
Well, there is no fear of our hearing any more of them. I expect you must
have been gone hours before they found out that you had left,

"I should not be surprised if, after they had recovered from their defeat,
half of them made a big circuit over the hills--no doubt they know every
foot of them--and, coming down at the bottom of the ravine, built a strong
barricade, making up their minds to guard both ends until we were obliged
to surrender from want of food. Having suffered so heavily, they would do
everything in their power to prevent any of us from getting out alive."

"In that case they must have been prepared to wait for some time, Dias,
for they knew we had eight animals to eat."

"They would not have lasted long, señor, for we have only a few handfuls
of grain left, and there is not enough forage in the ravine to last them a
couple of days."

"I expect they would have tried to get us to surrender, by offering to let
us pass if we would give them half of the gold they thought we had with
us. There is no chance of our being followed, I suppose, Dias?"

"Not the slightest. When at last they discover that we have gone, they
will come down the pass and find where the mules were left standing. They
will then see that only two of us had remained at the barricade, and will
guess at once that the rest left hours before. They will therefore
conclude that, being on foot, they have no chance of overtaking us, even
if they could find the track."

"No, I expect by this time they are dancing with rage, and as likely as
not quarrelling furiously among themselves. How far do you think we have
ridden to-day?"

"Nearer sixty miles than fifty, señor."

"Yes, I suppose we have. And if we had come straight here?"

"It would have been nearly fifteen miles shorter. But if they pursued they
would not come that way, because they would not be able to get across. I
think they would have to go round and ford the river some miles higher
than you did. They could never swim across with their guns and ammunition
to carry."

"I should not count on that, Dias. They might come straight here, as they
would guess that we had made for this pass, and they might make bundles of
reeds to carry their guns and ammunition across, and swim over."

"That would be possible," Dias admitted reluctantly, "and if they knew
that the five mules were all loaded with gold they might be tempted to
follow; but that they could only guess. I have no doubt, too, that many of
them had been walking for hours across the mountains before the attack,
and as you fired into the thick of them, a fair share must have been too
much wounded to start on a forty-miles' tramp.

"No, señor. I do not think there is any chance whatever of their pursuing
us. Besides, I chose a spot where the ground was hard and rocky to plant
that flag. And they would have a good deal of difficulty in ascertaining
in what direction we went from there."

"We pulled up the flag-staff and threw it away among the bushes a mile and
a half farther, and of course brought the handkerchief with us."

"I don't think we need give another thought to them, señor. At the same
time, it would be as well to keep one on watch all night. José and I will
be on guard by turns. Neither of you slept a wink last night, so you must
not keep watch this time."

"I sha'n't be sorry for a good sleep, for the meal we have eaten has made
me drowsy. However, if you hear the least noise, wake us at once."

"That I will do, señor. It is a great deal more likely to be made by a
wild beast than by a brigand."

The brothers were sound asleep in a few minutes, and did not wake till
Dias called them, and said that Maria had coffee ready.

"What sort of a pass is it to-day, Dias?"

"Not a very bad one, señor. The one we tried yesterday hadn't been used
for very many years, there is regular traffic up and down this; not
valuable traffic, for Pozuco is a small place. They send up fruit and
dried fish, and the oil they get from the fish; and bring back cloth, and
such things as are required in the village."

"So there is nothing to tempt brigands to infest the pass and rob
travellers!"

"No, señor. When I last went through it I heard no talk of them at all.
They are more likely to infest the hills beyond Cerro, for near that place
really valuable captures can be made."

"That accounts for their being able to gather so many men to attack us."

The journey up the pass occupied two days. They met three or four small
parties of men with donkeys or mules, but all these when questioned said
that the pass was perfectly open, and that it was a very rare thing indeed
for anyone to be robbed on the way. Late in the evening of the second day
they arrived at Huaca, and were advised to go to the priest's house, as
the accommodation at the inn was so bad. The man who directed them there
was the head man of the place, and they gladly accepted his offer to guide
them to the priest's house.

"It would be the best way, señor," Dias said. "I know a man here who would
willingly put us up, and who has a yard where the mules could pass the
night."

"Very well, Dias. Be sure you buy a good stock of grain. They have scarce
had any for the last three days."

The priest--a cheery, hearty man--received Harry and Bertie cordially when
they were introduced as English travellers, especially when he found that
they could both speak Spanish fluently.

"It is a pleasure to receive British travellers," he said. "Cochrane and
Miller have done more for us than any of our own countrymen. It is not
often that travellers come this way. I have heard of two or three going to
Cuzco, but they never come farther north than Cerro. I shall be delighted
if you will stay two or three days here, señors. We get so little news of
the world that it would be a great pleasure to us to hear what is going on
outside this unfortunate country."

"We can give you but little news, for it is more than a year since we left
England, and we have heard nothing of what is doing in Europe, as we have
been travelling and shooting at the foot of the mountains between the
bottom of this pass and Tinta volcano."

"And gold seeking?" the priest asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"We have occasionally washed the sands in the streams, but have not found
enough to repay our work. The amount we have gathered is only about twenty
ounces."

"Well, gentlemen, I shall be delighted to have you as my guests as long as
you are willing to stay."  "We are greatly obliged to you," Harry said,
"and will gladly be your guests. To-morrow the animals need a rest, and we
shall enjoy one too. Next morning we must be going on, as we have been
away longer than we ought, and want to get down to Lima quickly."

They had great difficulty in getting away from Huaca, where the good
priest made them extremely comfortable, and was very loath to let them go.
However, at dawn on the second day they started for Cerro, and arrived
there forty-eight hours later after a rough journey through the Mils.

"We never know in Peru, when we go to bed, who will be president when we
wake," Dias said that evening. "There have been a dozen of them in the
past five years. Lamar, Gamarra, La Fuente, Orbegozo, Bermudes, and
Salaverry succeeded one another; then Santa Cruz became master. Nieto had
the upper hand for a bit, and at that time there was no travelling on the
roads, they were so infested by robbers; one band was master of Lima for
some time. Then the Chilians occupied Lima; Santa Cruz was defeated, and
Gamarra came in again. None of these men was ever supreme over the whole
country. Generals mutinied with the troops under them, other leaders
sprang up, and altogether there has been trouble and civil war ever since
the Spaniards left. That is why the country is so full of robbers. When an
army was defeated, those who escaped took to the hills and lived by
plunder until some other chief revolted, then they would go down and join
him; and so it has gone on."

"Who composed those armies? because the fields seem to have been well
cultivated, and the peasants are quiet enough."

"Yes, señor, for the most part they take no part in these affairs. The men
who compose the armies were in the first place the remains of those who
fought against the Spaniards. When the Spaniards left the country these
men had nothing to do, and were ready to enlist under anyone who raised a
flag and promised them pay. Of bourse there are many men in the towns who
are too lazy to work, and who help to keep up the supply of armed men. The
good God only knows when these things will come to an end. A few of those
who have come into power really loved their country, and hoped to
establish order and do away with all the abuses caused by the men who were
appointed to offices by one or another of those tyrants; but most of them
were ambitious soldiers, who led mutineers against the chief of the
moment. If Heaven would but destroy or strike with blindness the soldiers
--and above all, every official in Peru--the country might hope for peace
and good government. The best man who has ever fought out here since Lord
Cochrane left the place was General Miller, your countryman, who was
splendidly brave. He was always true to his word, never allowed his
soldiers to plunder, and never ill-treated those captured in battle. Ah!
they should have made him president, but it would never have done. As the
Chilians were jealous of Lord Cochrane, the Peruvians were jealous of
Miller, first because he was a foreigner, secondly because his uprightness
and fidelity were a reproach to their ambition and treachery, their greed,
and their cruelty. Besides, he understood them too well, and if all Peru
had asked him to be president, he knew well enough that conspiracies
against him would begin the next morning. Ah, he was a great man!

"Well, señor, I think that before we start it will be well that I at least
should go on to Ayapata and find out what is doing. That would only delay
us two days, and we might be better able to judge as to which route to
take. They may be fighting in the north, and we do not want to get mixed
up in any way in their quarrels."

"I think that would be a very good plan, Dias. You start in the morning,
and we will stay quietly here till you come back with the news. If many
brigands are in the pass they might get to hear of us from someone going
over from this side, and take it into their heads to come down. I would
certainly rather not have to fight with you away."

Accordingly next morning Dias went on ahead. On the following evening he
rejoined them.

"There is fresh trouble in the south, señor. Colonel Vivancohidas has
declared himself Regenerator of Peru, and is now marching against Gamarra,
and General Castilla is advancing against him. The fighting will be
somewhere near Arequipa. Whichever wins will presently cross the mountains
and make for Cuzco."

"Then that settles it, Dias. Certainly I have heard nothing in Gamarra's
favour, but a great deal against him, since I landed, and I care nothing
about either side; but I hope the new man will win, because I think that
any change from Gamarra will be an improvement."




CHAPTER XII

PRISONERS


When they arrived at Cerro de Pasco they found that the division of
Gamarra's army stationed in the district had mutinied and had declared for
Vivancohidas, and were killing all those known as adherents of Gamarra.
All traffic was at a stand-still. Numbers of the soldiers who did not
choose to join in the mutiny had taken to the hills, and were pillaging
convoys and peaceful travellers alike.

"I think, señor," Dias said, "that instead of crossing the Cordilleras to
the west, as we had intended, it will be better for us to go south, skirt
the lake of Junin, and make for Oroya. That is the route generally taken,
for the passes west are terribly difficult. I have traversed this route
many times, and when going with merchandise I always go through Oroya,
though in returning from Cerro I take the shorter route."

"Very well, Dias, you are the best judge of that. It is a great nuisance
that this rising should have taken place just as we want to traverse the
country, but it can't be helped. I will go to the head-quarters of Quinda
--he is established at the mayor's house here--and get a pass from him.

"It would be well, perhaps, if you were to go with me, Dias, to confirm my
statement that we have been shooting and hunting. I hope he will give us a
pass, so that we shall not be interfered with by his men gathered at
different points on the road to Oroya. I hear that a considerable portion
of his force have already marched forward."

The Peruvian colonel questioned Harry closely as to his motives for
travelling there.

"I suppose," he said, "you have been searching for gold. We are sorely in
need of funds, and I shall feel myself obliged to borrow any gold that you
may have collected for the use of my army, giving you an order on the
treasury at Lima, which will, of course, be honoured as soon as the
authority of President Vivancohidas is established."

"I do not doubt the goodness of the security," Harry said quietly,
"although possibly I might have to wait some time before the order was
cashed; but while hunting I have not come upon any treasure. We have
occasionally, when halting at streams, amused ourselves by doing a, little
gold-washing, but when I tell you that during the eight months since we
started from Cuzco we have only collected about twenty ounces of gold, you
may well suppose that no good fortune has attended us."

"Is that all, señor?"

"I give you my word of honour that is all, señor; and as I shall have to
lay in a store of provisions and so on for my journey down to Lima, you
may well imagine that it would be a serious inconvenience to me to part
with it."

"Quite so, señor; so small a sum as that would not go far among the four
thousand men under my command. However, I shall have pleasure in giving
you the pass that you ask. You have had good sport, I hope?"

"As good as I expected. We kept ourselves in food, and have seen a
splendid country, which I hope some time will again be cultivated, and add
to the wealth of your country."

After a further exchange of compliments Harry returned to the inn where
they had put up.

Next morning, after purchasing some coffee and other stores that were
needed, they set out.

"Now we are all right, Dias," Harry said as they started.

"I hope so, señor; but from what I heard yesterday evening several strong
bands of disaffected soldiers are in the hills between this and Oroya.
Quinda's troops have by no means all joined him, and several companies
that broke off have stationed themselves in the hills along this road.
They have stopped and robbed more than one mule train with silver from the
mines there. They have not meddled, as far as I hear, with Quinda's
troops, but have simply seized the opportunity of perpetrating brigandage
on a large scale."

"Well, we must take our chance, Dias. Fortunately we have money enough at
Lima to replace the animals. We have pretty well finished all our stores,
and beyond the tents and the bedding, which would be a matter of a hundred
dollars, there is nothing worth thinking of; still, certainly I do not
want to lose it. I hope we sha'n't fall in with any of those scoundrels."

"I hope not, señor. Perhaps we had better put our gold dust and money in
José's boots. They are less likely to examine him than they are us.

"You had better put half in his boots, and give the other half to my wife
to hide about her clothes. We shall want some money, if we are robbed, to
take us down to Lima. With the gold dust we could get a couple of mules
and enough provisions to take us down there. We should be in a very
awkward position if we found ourselves penniless."

They stopped for the night at a little village close to the lake. There
was but one small room at the inn, but at the other end of the straggling
village there was a yard where the mules could stand, and a loft where
Dias, Maria, and José could sleep.

Harry and his brother had lain down but an hour on their blankets when
there was a shouting in the street, and two or three shots were fired.
They leapt up.

"We had better hide our rifles and pistols," Harry said, "under that
ragged bed that we did not care about sleeping on. We may possibly get
them again even if we are robbed of everything else."

A minute later four or five men with a lantern rushed into the room. They
were all armed with muskets, and one carried a torch.

"Who are you?" this man asked.

"We are English sportsmen," Harry said. "We have been shooting for some
months at the foot of the hills, and are now returning to Lima. There are
our guns, you see."

"We will take you before the captain," the man said. "Bring those guns
along, Pedro and Juan."

The village was in an uproar. Some fifty men were occupied in searching
the houses and in appropriating everything they thought useful. One house
had been set on fire, and near this a man in an officer's uniform was
standing. He heard the report of Harry's and Bertie's capture.

"English sportsmen, eh! How long have you been shooting?" he asked.

"Eight months."

"Eight months! Then guard them securely, Montes; they are doubtless rich
Englishmen, and we shall get a good ransom for them. English señors who
come out here to shoot must be men with plenty of money; but likely enough
they are not sportsmen, but gold-seekers. However, it matters little."

"I protest against this," Harry said. "Our consul at Lima will demand
satisfaction from the government."

The other laughed.

"Government!" he said, "there is no government; and if there were, they
would have no power up in the hills."

So saying he turned away.

Plunder that had been collected was brought in and divided among the
party, four of the men with muskets keeping guard over the prisoners.

"I don't see anything of Dias and the mules," Bertie said in English.

"No, I have been expecting to see them brought up every minute. Now I am
beginning to hope that they have got safely off. I think the fellows began
their attack at our end of the village.

"You know how watchful Dias is. Very likely he or José were up, and you
may be sure that the moment they heard the uproar they would drive the
mules out and be off. You see only two of them are laden, and they could
have thrown the things on to their backs and been off at once. He would
know that it was useless to wait for us. I expect he would turn them off
the road at once and make down towards the lake. If these fellows had
caught him and the mules they would certainly have brought them up here
before this."

"I hope he got off--not so much because of the mules, as because I am sure
that, if he gets fairly away, he will do what he can to help us."

"I am sure he will, Bertie. We must make the best of it. There is one
thing, we have got a good month before us. It will take them all that time
to go down to Lima about our ransom and return; and it is hard if we don't
give them the slip before that."

A quarter of an hour later the band started with their booty and prisoners
for the hills.

"I don't suppose they will go far," Harry said. "Quinda has got his hands
full, and will be wanting to start as soon as he can to join Vivancohidas.
He won't lose time in hunting the scoundrel who has caught us, so I expect
the band make their head-quarters in some village at the foot of the
hills."

This turned out to be so. After a march of four hours the band halted in a
village in a valley running up into the hills. The prisoners were thrust
into an empty hut, and four men with muskets told off as their guard. Next
morning the captain of the band came in.

"I shall require a hundred thousand dollars for your ransom," he said.

"We could never pay such a sum," Harry said. "We are not rich men. I am a
lieutenant on half-pay in the English navy, and, having nothing to do at
home, came out with my brother for a year's sport. I could not pay a tenth
of that sum."

"That we shall see," the man said. "If you cannot pay, your government
can. You will at once write to your consul at Lima, telling him that if
this hundred thousand dollars are not handed over to my messenger within
four days of his arrival there, you will both have your throats cut."

"I will write the letter if you wish," Harry replied quietly, "but you
won't get the money. If you like to say ten thousand dollars, I dare say
the consul will do his best to raise that amount."

"One hundred thousand is the smallest sum," the man said angrily. "He can
get it out of the government there. They will not choose to risk having
trouble with your country for the sake of such a sum."

"Gamarra is away," Harry said, "and it is pretty certain that he will not
have left a hundred thousand dollars in the treasury; and even if he has,
you maybe sure that his people there would not give it up, for he wants
every penny for his war expenses."

The man shrugged his shoulders.

"So much the worse for you. Write as I told you; here is paper, pen, and
ink. Do not write in English. I will come back in a quarter of an hour for
it."

"This is awkward, Bertie. It is evident that I must write. As to their
paying twenty thousand pounds, the thing is absurd; if he had mentioned
two thousand they might have considered the matter. What I hope is that
they will not send up anything. I feel certain that we shall be able to
get away from here within a month; and if they were to send up one or two
thousand pounds, we should probably miss the fellow on the way. In that
case we should have to repay the money when we got to Lima, which I
certainly should not see my way to do--anyhow, until I got to England,
when I could, of course, sell out some of my stock. There is nothing here
that we could use as invisible ink. If there were, I would risk writing a
message with it; but even then it is fifty to one against their bringing
it to light. Well, here goes!" and he wrote in Spanish the required
message.

The robber on his return read it through, turned the paper over to see
that nothing was written on the back, and held it up to the light.

"That will do," he said. "Now let me warn you, don't attempt to escape.
You won't succeed if you do, and the sentries have orders to shoot you
down should you attempt it."

The time passed slowly. The brigand was evidently determined to give them
no chance of escaping, and four sentries remained round the hut, one at
each corner. In the daytime the prisoners were allowed to sit at the door
of the hut, but they were shut up at nightfall. The guards were not
allowed to speak to them, and there was therefore no chance of offering
them a bribe. On the evening of the fifth day they had, as usual, been
shut up, and were chatting over the situation.

"If they continue to guard us like this, Bertie, I really don't see a
shadow of a chance of getting away. We calculated on there being one, or
perhaps two sentries at the door, and thought we could have cut a hole
through that adobe wall at the back and crept out through it; but as there
is a guard at each corner, I don't see a chance of it. The fellows are
evidently afraid of their captain, and each keeps to his corner, and sits
there and smokes and drones out songs, but they never move till they are
relieved. Of course we must make the attempt if we see no other way of
escaping. But I have still great hope that Dias will somehow or other try
to get us out, though how he can do it I don't know."

They observed that the sentries were not changed in any military way. Five
minutes before sunset the four men who were to relieve those on guard came
sauntering up. The former guard ordered the captives into the hut and
bolted the door, and then after a short chat with the others went off, the
new sentries having already taken their posts at the corners of the hut.
On the fifth evening after their capture they saw approaching a peasant
woman sitting on a mule. A man was walking beside her. Behind the woman
was a small barrel, and two packs and two small wine-skins hung on each
side.

"Harry," Bertie exclaimed, "I believe that is Dias and Maria!"

"It is," Harry said. "Thank God they have found us! Twenty to one they
will get us out. What have they got with them, I wonder?"

They stopped in the road opposite the house, which was the end one in the
village.

"You are not to come nearer," one of the sentries shouted.

"I am sure I don't want to come nearer," the woman said pertly. "You don't
think you are so handsome that I want to get a better sight of your face?"

"What have you got there?" the man asked. "We shall be coming off duty in
ten minutes."

"Well, we have got a little of everything," she said. "As pretty sashes as
there are in the country, beautiful silk neckerchiefs, silver brooches for
your sweethearts, and for those who purchase freely a glass of the best
pisco spirit."

"Well, wait, and I dare say we shall lay out a dollar or two."

A minute or two later four other men sauntered up, and began to talk to
Maria, who slipped off her mule. The guards, fearful that the best
bargains would be sold before they could get forward, hurried the
prisoners into the hut and bolted the door. The brothers heard a great
deal of talking and arguing, and ten minutes later the sentries came up to
their usual post.

"I would not mind betting odds," Bertie said with delight, "that Dias has
drugged that spirit."

"I expect so, Bertie. He would be sure that they could not resist it, for
it is the best spirit there is in Peru."

For a time the sentries talked, saying that the pedlars' goods were cheap
and the spirit as good as any they had ever tasted. "We had great
difficulty in getting her to sell us a second glass each; and she was
right, for she had not much of it, and it must help her rarely to sell her
goods. The husband seemed a surly sort of chap. I wonder such a pretty
little woman would marry such a fellow."

"I suppose he was well-to-do and she was poor," another said; "such is
generally the case when you see a marriage like that. I dare say he makes
a good thing of it; the goods are as cheap, though, as they would be in
Lima."

Gradually the talking ceased, and within an hour there was perfect quiet
outside the hut. Half an hour later they heard footsteps coming quietly up
to the door. They held their breath; but instead of, as they expected,
hearing the bolt drawn, they heard the new-comers going round the hut,
pausing a minute at each corner. Then they again stopped at the door; the
two bolts were shot back, and the door opened.

"Come, señors," Dias said; "it is quite safe. We have put them all to
sleep. Here are their muskets and pistols. You had better take them, in
case we are pursued, which is not likely. At any rate, should one of them
wake the want of a gun will mean delay in raising the alarm.

"Don't speak, señors; it is as well to keep quiet till we are fairly off."
He shut the door and rebolted it, and then led the way down into the road.

Not a word was spoken till they had gone a hundred yards, and then Harry
said: "You have done us another good turn, Dias; we did not see any
possible way of getting out; but we both agreed that if you could find us
you would."

"Of course, señors, you could not suppose that Maria and I would go
quietly off."

"How did you manage to get away, Dias?"

"It was easy enough. After what we had heard of these brigands I made up
my mind that I would not unsaddle the mules, nor take the packs off the
two loaded ones. The burdens were not heavy, for we have little but our
bedding and the tents left, and I thought they might as well stay where
they were, and in the morning we could shift them on to the others. I told
José to watch about half the night; but I was standing talking to him, and
smoking my last cigarette, when he said suddenly, 'I can hear a noise at
the other end of the village.'

"The evening was still, and I could also hear the sound of many footsteps,
so I ran and pulled down the bar at the back of the yard, called Maria,
and told her and José to take the mules straight down to the lake, and
then to follow the bank. Then I ran to warn you; but before I got half-way
I heard shouts and firing, and knew that I was too late, so I ran back to
the lake, where I overtook the mules, and we mounted and went off at a
trot. When I got a quarter of a mile away I told the others to go on to
Junin, which we knew was twenty miles away, and put up there till I joined
them. Then I ran back to the village, and, keeping myself well behind a
house, watched them getting ready to start, and saw you. There was nothing
to do but to follow you. I did so, and observed where they had shut you
up, and I waited about for some hours, so as to see how you were guarded.

"I saw their captain go into your hut twice. When he came out the second
time he had a paper in his hand. He went to the house he has taken
possession of, and I kept a good watch over that. Presently two
lieutenants came out, talking together. They entered another house, and
ten minutes afterwards issued out again, dressed in ordinary clothes, such
as a muleteer or a cultivator fairly well off would wear, and returned to
the captain's house, and stayed there for a good half-hour before they
came out again. Two horses had been brought round to the door. The captain
came out with them, and was evidently giving them some last instructions.
Then they rode off, saying good-bye to some of the men as they passed
through the village.

"Knowing the ways of these bandits, I had no doubt the paper I saw their
captain bring out of the hut where you were was a letter he had compelled
you to write to request a large sum of money to be sent in exchange for
you; and as I felt certain that we should rescue you somehow, I thought it
was a pity that this letter should go down, so I started at once to follow
them. They had not got more than a quarter of an hour's start of me, and
by the line they had taken I saw that they intended to go to Junin. I did
not think it likely that they would enter the place, because they would be
sure to meet some of Quinda's men there; but would probably sleep at some
small village near it, and then make a circuit to strike the road beyond
the town.

"Fortunately I had some money in my pocket, and at the first farm I came
to I bought a mule. You see, señor, I had not lain down the night before,
and had done a fair day's work before I started to follow your captors. I
had walked twenty miles with them, and had been busy all the morning. I
knew it could not be much less than thirty miles to Junin, and that if I
could not find them there I should have to push on after them again the
next morning, so I gave the farmer what he asked for his mule, and started
at once on it barebacked. It turned out to be a good animal, and I rode
hard, for I wanted to get down to Junin before the two men. I reckoned I
should do that, because, as they were going a very long journey, they
would not want to press their horses, and besides would prefer that it
should be dark before they stopped for the night.

"When I got to Junin I found Maria and José, who had put up the mules at
the only inn there. I set Maria to watch on the road leading into the
town, and went out with José to a little village a mile back, where I made
sure the fellows would stop. I was not long in finding out that they had
arrived about half an hour after I had ridden through, and had put up at
the priest's. That was good enough for me. We went back to the town. I had
some supper, which I can tell you I wanted badly, for I had been afraid of
going into the brigand's village to buy anything, as, being a stranger, I
might have been asked questions, so I had had nothing since the night
before. I had found that there was a road from the place where they had
stopped, by which they could ride along by the lake without going into the
town; so José and I ambushed there an hour before daylight, thinking that
they would be off early. We were right; for in a quarter of an hour they
came along. Day was just breaking, so we could make out their figures
easily enough, and as they were not five yards away as they passed, we
were not likely to miss them. Well, I found the paper you had written in
the coat-pocket of one of them, together with two hundred dollars, no
doubt for the expenses of his journey. We hid the two bodies under a heap
of stones."

"Then you killed them, Dias?" Harry said, in a tone of surprise.

"Of course! what else would one do with them? They were brigands, and they
had attacked a peaceable village and killed several people. Even if I had
not wanted to get your paper it would have been a very meritorious
action."

"Oh, I am not blaming you, Dias, at all! There was no other way of getting
the paper, and it may be regarded as an act of necessity. And what did you
do with their horses?"

"José went on with them, and I returned to the town again and started with
Maria and the mules. We journeyed to a village half-way to Oroya. Of
course we overtook José a mile or two after we had left Junin. There we
put up at a quiet place and talked over the situation. We knew that there
was no particular hurry, for we read your letter, and knew that no harm
would come to you for a long time. It would be a month at least before
they would expect the men back with the money. There was another letter,
addressed to Don Mariano Carratala, whom I know to be a busy politician in
Lima. The money was to be paid to him; at least he was to receive it from
the two men immediately they left the British consul's house, and he was
to hold it for Valdez, which is the name of the brigand."

"I thought he would not trust the men to bring up a sum like that."

"It would be enough to tempt the most incorruptible Peruvian, and
certainly the men he sent down would have taken good care never to come to
this part of the country again if they had got the money into their
possession. I don't think either it would have been safe in the hands of
Carratala, if he did not know that sooner or later he would get a knife
between his shoulders if he kept it. Next morning Maria and I started
back, bringing with us four mules, the fastest we had. We rode on two and
led the others. I knew some people at Junin, for I have often passed
through the town when I have been bringing down silver from Cerro, and one
managed to get for us that little barrel of pisco. I was sure that no
soldier would refuse a glass; but it was almost a sin to give such liquor
to the dogs. Then we bought peasants' clothes, and a parcel of goods such
as travelling hawkers carry.

"You know how we succeeded. Of course we had drugged the pisco heavily,
and knew that two glasses would send any man off to sleep in half an hour.
As soon as it was dark, Maria went on with the mule. We shall find her
half a mile from here at a deserted hut where we left the other three
mules."

"Well, Dias, you have assuredly saved our lives. Guarded as we were, there
was not the slightest chance of our getting away by ourselves; and as the
British consul certainly could not have raised the sum they demanded, we
should have had our throats cut when the messengers returned empty-handed.
Valdez is not the man to go back from his word in that respect."

"It is a pity you have lost your arms, señor."

"Yes, we have certainly lost our double-barrelled guns, but our rifles and
pistols are hidden in the straw of the bed in the room where we slept. We
had just time to hide them before the brigands burst into the room."

"Then we can recover them, señor. Of course I intended to ride straight to
Junin, but it won't make very much difference. We will ride to the
village, get the rifles and pistols, and then follow the road by the lake.
It is now only nine o'clock; we can be there by one easily, and reach
Junin by morning. It will be perfectly safe to rest there. I suppose your
guards will be relieved about twelve o'clock?"

"Yes, that was the time we heard them changed."

"They will most likely discover that you have gone then. When they find
the four guards sound asleep, they are sure to unbolt the door and see if
you are there, then of course they will give the alarm at once. But I
hardly think they will even attempt to pursue. They are infantry, and none
of them are mounted but the officers, which means that at present only
Valdez himself has a horse. They would know that you had been assisted,
and that probably horses were waiting for you somewhere. There is the hut,
señors."

Maria ran out as they came up.

"The saints be praised," she exclaimed, "that you are with us again,
señors!"

"The saints are no doubt to be praised," Harry said, "but we feel at
present a good deal more indebted to Dias and yourself than to them. We
are indeed grateful to you both, and you managed it splendidly. My brother
and I felt so confident that you would do something to get us out, that we
were not in the least surprised when we recognized you and Diaz got up as
travelling hawkers."

"You did not tell them that we were with you?"

"No. Fortunately they asked no questions at all, and took us for
Englishmen travelling by ourselves. They may have thought of it
afterwards, but in the hurry of carrying off their booty they apparently
gave the matter no attention. If they had done so they would probably have
sent a party out in pursuit of the mules. Even if they had not done so,
they would have been sure to look with some suspicion at two hawkers
arriving at such an out-of-the-way village at such a time."

"Well, we had better be moving at once," Dias said. "We are going down to
the village where they were captured, Maria. They hid their rifles and
pistols there when they found the place was in the hands of the brigands."

Three minutes later they started. There was a full moon, so they were able
to ride fast, and it was just midnight when they arrived at the village.
When they knocked at the house where their rifles had been left, the
proprietor looked out from the upper window in great dismay, fearing that
the brigands might have returned. However, as soon as he recognized the
party he came down and opened the door. The arms were found where they had
been hidden, and in five minutes they were again on their way, and arrived
at Junin at five o'clock. It was necessary to wait here twenty-four hours
to rest the animals. The next morning they started as soon as it was
light, and picked up José and the convoy. The brothers mounted the two
horses, and Dias and Maria rode on one mule, and led three behind them.
José rode another and led four. The horses and the mule Dias had bought
were sold at Oroya, and after purchasing enough provisions for the rest of
their journey they started for Lima, having concluded that it would be
better, now that they were on the main track, to follow it instead of
striking across the hills.




CHAPTER XIII

LETTERS FROM HOME


There was some little discussion over the amount of supplies that it would
be necessary to purchase.

"Travelling quietly, the journey will not occupy over fourteen days,"
Harry said. "Do not get anything more than is absolutely necessary. It is
evident that the whole country is in a disturbed state, and it is as well
to have nothing to lose. We can buy nearly everything we want in the way
of meat and flour at villages we pass through. Therefore, if we have
enough tea, coffee, and sugar there will be really no occasion to buy
anything more. We have still two or three bottles of spirits left, and you
can buy pulque everywhere. There is a proverb two or three thousand years
old, 'The empty traveller can sing before the robber'. We are reduced to
that condition, except for our tents, bedding, and blankets, and they have
done good service and would not cost much to replace. There remain, then,
only the animals. They would certainly be a serious loss to us."

"Brigands would not want to take them. They would not be of the least use
to them in the mountains. I would not say the same of parties of disbanded
soldiers making their way down to Lima or Callao, who might prefer riding
to travelling all that distance."

"The brigands might take our rifles and pistols, Dias."

"Yes, they would be sure to do that, señor. But we have had more than our
share of bad luck already, what with the brigands in the Cerro pass, and
these rascals we have just had to do with. I will enquire when the last
silver convoy went down. If one has gone during the past five or six days,
we could overtake it soon, for we can do two days' journey to its one. If
no convoy has gone forward later, and there is one starting shortly, it
might be worth our while to wait for it, for by all accounts the road down
to Lima is infested by discharged soldiers, and ruffians of all kinds from
Callao and Lima."

"Have the convoys an escort?"

"Yes, señors. The silver mines have always a considerable force in their
pay. They used to have troops from the division stationed here, but what
with the constant revolutions, and the fact that more than once the
escort, instead of protecting the convoys, mutinied and seized them, they
found it better to raise a force themselves. They do not take Creoles,
preferring pure-bred Indians, who are just as brave as the Creoles, if not
braver, and can be relied upon to be faithful to their trust. The
consequence is that, in spite of the disturbed state of the country, it is
a long time now since one of their escorts has been attacked, especially
as the robbers would find great difficulty in disposing of the silver, as
each ingot is marked with the name of the mine it comes from.

"They might, of course, melt it up again; but even then there would be a
difficulty, as the law is very strict as to the sale of silver, and a
certificate has to be obtained from the local authorities in every case,
stating where it was obtained. This is hard upon the natives, for many of
the little mines are worked among the mountains, and the rascals, to whom
all official positions are given in reward for services done to the party
which happens to be in power for the time, take good care to fleece the
Indians heavily before they will give them the necessary documents.
Nothing can be done here, señors, without greasing the palms of two or
three people, and the grease has to be pretty heavily laid on."

Dias went out and made enquiries. "There will be no convoy for another
fortnight. One went down ten days ago."

"I certainly shall not wait another fortnight, Dias. As to an escort, less
than a dozen men would be useless, and as they would be a fortnight at
least going down, and as much returning, even if you could get twelve men
who could be relied upon, it would be a very expensive job. We might as
well risk losing our baggage, and even our guns. The great thing will be
to reduce the weight as much as possible. Four cotton beds take up a lot
of space, and I think in any case I should have bought new ones at Lima;
at any rate they can go. The blankets and ponchos we could, of course,
carry behind us. So that practically there are only the two tents, cooking
utensils, and the stores, which will not weigh many pounds, to carry, and
with our clothes the whole will make a ridiculously small load even for
one mule. We had better get rid of the pickaxes and shovels, they would
fetch pretty nearly as much here as we should give for new ones at Lima.

"Thus, then, with Donna Maria riding one of the mules, there would be our
five selves and three led mules, of which only one would be laden. That
would offer no great temptation to plunderers; and as we shall all have
guns across our shoulders, they would see that it would not be worth while
to interfere on the very slight chance that the one laden mule might be
carrying anything valuable."

"I agree with you, señor. Our appearance would be that of a party of
travellers who have been exploring the old ruins, or, as has been done
before, endeavouring to ascertain whether the rivers on the east are
navigable down to the Amazon. Besides, the bulk of the people here do not
forget what they owe to Englishmen, and the fact that you are of that
nation would in itself secure good treatment for you among all except
desperate men."

Accordingly they started the next morning. Maria rode, in Amazon fashion,
on a mule between her husband and Harry. Bertie followed with José, to
whose saddle the three baggage mules were attached in single file. They
were undisturbed on their journey. Three or four times they were hailed by
men on the rocks above as they went through difficult points of the pass.
The reply of Dias, that the two gentlemen with him were Englishmen who had
been exploring the ruins and doing a little shooting among the hills,
generally satisfied them. One or two, however, who enquired what the mule
was carrying, were invited by him to come down and see, though at the same
time they were informed that the load contained nothing but blankets and
cooking vessels, and enough provisions to last them on the way.

When, within two days' journey from Lima, a party of rough men came down
into the road, Dias rode forward to meet them and repeated his usual
story. "You can examine the mule if you like," he said, "but I warn you
not to interfere with us; the English señors are not men to be meddled
with. They are armed with rifles, and each carries a brace of double-
barrelled pistols. They are dead shots, too, and you may reckon that it
will cost you over a dozen lives were you to interfere with them.
Moreover, the other muleteer and myself could give a fair account of
ourselves. Rather than have trouble, however, two of you can come forward
and see that my statement as to what the mule carries is correct. Its
burden would not fetch fifty dollars at Lima."

Two of the men came forward and examined the mule's burden, and felt the
saddles of the others to see that nothing was concealed there. When they
rejoined their party one who appeared to be their leader came forward.

"Señors," he said, "I regret that we have stopped you; but we are poor
men, and are obliged to take to the road to live. Perhaps your honours
would not mind giving us ten dollars to buy food at the next village."

[Illustration: THEY SAW APPROACHING A PEASANT WOMAN SITTING ON A MULE.]

"I have not many dollars left," Harry said, "but if you really need food
you are welcome to ten of them, for we shall need nothing more than what
we carry till we arrive at Lima." He handed him the ten dollars, and then,
showing him his purse, said, "You see there are but five others."

With many thanks the man retired, and he and his companions took off their
hats as Harry and his party rode through them.

"Another such stoppage," Harry said with a laugh, "and we shall have to
fall back upon our little stock of gold-dust."

However, they met with no more trouble, and on the following evening rode
into Lima and took up their quarters at the hotel. Dias asked that he
might go on with the mules to his home.

"In the first place, señor, we want to know how things have gone on in our
absence. We had arranged with neighbours to look after the garden and the
house. They were glad to do so, as the garden was a fruitful one. They
were to take all they could raise and keep it well planted, so that
whenever we might return we should find our usual supply of fruits and
vegetables. In the next place, Maria is nervous about my staying here
after what happened last time. We may take it as certain that the friends
of the men we hurt will take the chance of paying off the score if they
can find an opportunity. I shall come in each day to see if you have any
orders for me."

"There will be no occasion for that, Dias. We have quite made up our minds
to wait here for a week before starting on our next expedition, so if you
will come over in four days that will be quite soon enough. You can
overhaul the blankets and bags, and see that those good enough to keep are
put in good repair, and those worn out replaced. We shall want quite as
many stores as those we took last time, for there are very few villages
except on the sea-shore, and we shall find difficulty in replenishing our
stock. We shall have to buy double-barrelled guns in place of those we
lost, but that we shall do ourselves. We have plenty of ammunition and
cartridges for the rifles and pistols, but we had only a few shot
cartridges left when we lost the guns."

As soon as Dias had gone on with the mules Harry went to the British
consul's and found three letters waiting there for him, two from Miss
Fortescue and one from Mr. Barnett. He put the former into his pocket to
be read and enjoyed privately, but opened that of Mr. Barnett at once. It
was in answer to that Harry had written at Cuzco.

"My dear Harry," he said,

"Your first letter was quite satisfactory. I was glad to find that you had
reached Lima without encountering more than a stiffish gale, which was as
well as you could have expected. I was still more glad that you had found
Dias alive and willing to accompany you. Your letter from Cuzco has now
reached me. I think you were extremely lucky to get through that street
broil without any damage to either of you. It was certainly a hazardous
business to interfere in an affair of that kind without having any weapons
except the sticks you carried. Still, I can well understand that, as you
would certainly have lost the services of Dias had you not done so, it was
worth running a good deal of risk; and, as you say, it had the natural
effect of binding him to you heart and soul.

"I feel very uneasy about you both, and have blamed myself many a time for
suggesting this scheme to you. I can only say that it is really the only
possible way in which it seemed to me you could carry out the task set
you. In fairy stories it is, so far as I can remember, a not uncommon
thing for a king to set some task, that appears absolutely hopeless, to
the suitors for his daughter's hand, and the hero always accomplishes the
impossible. But this is always done with the assistance of some good
fairy, and unfortunately good fairies are not to be met with in the
present day. I have great faith in Dias, but fear that he is a very poor
substitute for a fairy godmother. Still, I am convinced that he will do
all in his power, and will even strain his conscience severely, by
conducting you to places where his traditions lead him to believe that
gold, either in the shape of mines or hidden treasure, is to be found.

"Your search will not improbably lead you into places where the Indians
have won back their own from the civilization introduced by the Spaniards,
and I have always heard that on the eastern side of the Cordilleras the
natives entertain a deadly hatred for whites, and attack all who endeavour
to penetrate into the forest. Don't be too rash, lad. Remember that it
will not add to your lady-love's happiness to learn that you have been
massacred in your attempt to carry out your knight-errant adventure, and
if you are careless about your own life, don't forget that its loss will
probably entail the loss of your brother's also. Dangers, of course, you
must meet and face, but remember that prudence is a valuable aid to
bravery.

"I am glad to know that Dias has taken his wife with him. A woman is a
very useful adjunct to an expedition such as yours. Of course in some ways
she is necessarily a trouble, and always a responsibility. Still, if, as
you say is the case with her, she is a good cook, this makes a wonderful
difference in your comfort, and certainly adds to the chance of your
preserving your health. And in the next place, should you fall ill, or be
mauled by a tiger or puma, she will make a far better nurse than Dias
himself would be. Now that you are cutting yourself adrift from
civilization, I shall not expect to hear from you again for a long time. I
shall try and not be uneasy; but really, Harry, I do feel that I have
incurred a very heavy responsibility, and may, with the best intentions in
the world, have sent you and Bertie to your death. I have, as you directed
me, addressed this to the care of our consul, and it must be many months
before you receive it, many months more before I again hear from you.
Should you require more money, draw upon me. I have always a good balance
standing at the bank, therefore do not hesitate to draw, in case the
amount sent out to you quarterly does not prove sufficient to carry out
any scheme you may have in hand.

"With all good wishes for your own and Bertie's welfare,

"I remain,

"Your affectionate guardian,

"JAMES BARNETT."

When he returned to the hotel he handed Mr. Barnett's letter to Bertie to
read, and said:

"Stop down here in the patio, Bertie; I have two letters that I want to
read quietly."

Bertie laughed.

"All right, Harry; take your time over them; I won't disturb you."

It was dusk now, and when Harry went to his room he lit a couple of
candles and seated himself in a large cane arm-chair and opened his
letters.

The first one consisted chiefly of expressions of pleasure at his arrival
at Callao, of remarks upon the voyage, of complaints as to the long time
that had passed without news of him, and of assurances of affection.

The second was, like Mr. Barnett's, in reply to his letter from Cuzco.

"My dearest Harry,

"After reading your letter I have been more and more impressed with my
heartlessness in allowing you to undertake such a journey as you have
before you. I ought to have been braver. I ought to have refused
absolutely to allow you to go. The prospect of your being able to overcome
my father's objections really amounts to nothing, and I ought to have said
that I would not accept the sacrifice, and would not allow you to run such
risks; that it would be better and kinder for both of us to accept the
inevitable, and not enter upon such a struggle with fate.

"Do not think that I am already growing weary of waiting, and that my
heart is in any way changed. It is not that. It is anxiety about you, and
the feeling how wrong I was to let you go. Were there even a shadow of
chance of your success I would wait patiently for years. I do not say that
my life is a pleasant one. It is not. My father is still bitterly angry
with me for, as he says, throwing away my chances; that is to say, of
marrying a man I do not care for, simply because he is rich. But I can
bear that. Mother is very very good, and does all in her power to cheer
me; but, as you know, she has never been much more than a cipher,
accustomed always to submit to my father's will, and it is wonderful to me
that in our matter she has ventured, not openly to oppose him, but to give
me what strength and comfort she can.

"I hardly know how I should have got on without her comfort. My father
hardly speaks to me. He treats me as if I had been convicted of some
deadly sin, and is only restrained from punishing me in some way because,
by some blunder or other, contumacy against the will of a father has been
omitted from the penal code. Seriously, Harry, it makes me unhappy, not
only for myself but for him. Until I was unable to give in to him in this
question he has always been the kindest of fathers. I am sure he feels
this estrangement between us almost as much as I do, but believes that he
is acting for my good; and it is a great pain to him that I cannot see the
matter in the same light as he does. Of course to me it is most ridiculous
that he should suppose that my happiness depends upon having a title, and
cutting a figure at court, and that sort of thing; but there is no arguing
over it, and I am as thoroughly convinced that my view is the correct one
as he is that it is utter folly.

"However, I am almost as sorry for him as for myself, and would do almost
anything short of giving you up to make him happy. However, do not think
that I am very miserable, because I am not. Somehow, though I can't give
any good reason for my belief, I do think you will succeed. I do not say
that I think for a moment you are likely to come home with the sum my
father named as necessary; that seems to be quite hopeless. But I think
somehow you may succeed in doing well; and though some people might
consider that he was justified in refusing his consent to what he might
think was a bad match, he could not do so with any justice were I to
determine upon marrying a gentleman with some fortune. He thinks a great
deal of public opinion, and would know that even chat would be against
him. But Indeed, Harry, I am beginning to doubt whether in the end I shall
be able to sacrifice my life to his unfortunate mania, that I must marry
what he calls well. I love you, and told him that if at the end of two
years you were not in a position to claim my hand, I would give in to my
father's wishes. I will keep my promise so far, that I will not run away
with you or marry you in defiance of his command. But as I have agreed to
wait for two years for you, I may ask you to wait another two years for
me.

"When I think of you going through all sorts of dangers and hardships for
my sake, I feel that it would be downright wickedness to turn against you
if you find that you cannot perform an impossible task. Instead of this
separation making you less dear to me, it is affecting me in quite the
other way. My thoughts are always with you. How could it be otherwise? I
have worked myself up to such a pitch that I have almost resolved that,
when the two years are up, I will say to my father: 'I shall ask Harry to
release me from my promise to him, and for two years, Father, I will go
about and allow men a fair chance of winning my love. If at the end of
that time I have met no one to whom I can give my heart, I will then go my
own way, and if Harry will take me I will marry him.' It will require a
great deal of courage to say so; but you are doing so much to try and win
me, that it would be hard indeed if I were to shrink from doing a little
on my part.

"Still, it would make it easier for me if you should have the good fortune
to bring home something; not because, as I have told you many times, I
should shrink for a moment from renouncing all the luxuries in which I
have been brought up, and for which I care so little, but because it
would, in his eyes, be a proof of how earnestly you have striven to do
what you could to meet his requirements. I did not mean to say this when I
began my letter, but it seems to me that it will give you heart and
strength in your work, and that you will see from it that I, too, have
taken my courage in my hand, and show you that your love and faithfulness
shall some day have the reward they deserve.

"God bless you and keep you, dearest,

"Your loving HILDA."

Harry read the letter through again and again, and at last Bertie came in.

"What! at it still, Harry?" he said with a laugh. "You must have got your
letters by heart by this time. I have been sitting in the patio by myself
for two mortal hours expecting you to come down. At last I said to myself,
'This sort of thing will bring on madness. When a healthy sailor forgets
that his brother is waiting for supper, to say nothing of himself, it is
clear that there is something radically wrong.'"

"It is evident, Bertie, that at present you know nothing of human nature.
If there had been anything radically wrong in this letter I should
probably have been down long ago. It is just the contrary. Hilda says that
if I don't succeed here, she will give herself, or rather her father, two
years, and at the end of that time, if she doesn't find someone she likes
better, she will marry me, whether he likes it or not--at least, that is
what it comes to."

"I congratulate you, old boy. At the same time, it is evident that she
would not have been worth her salt if she had arrived at any other
conclusion. Now, having settled that comfortably, let us go and have
something to eat. You appear to forget altogether that you have had
nothing since breakfast, and it is now past eight o'clock."

"You boys think of nothing but eating," Harry grumbled.

"Well, up till now, Harry, from the time we started, I have observed that
you have a very healthy appetite yourself, and I can tell you it has cost
me half a dollar in bribing the cook to stay on beyond his usual hour. I
did not like to tell him that you were engaged in reading a love-letter
fifty times, so I put it delicately and said that you were engaged in
business of importance. It went against my conscience to tell such a
buster."

"There, come on, Bertie. I had begun to hope that you were growing into a
sensible fellow, but I am afraid that there is no chance of that now, and
that you will continue to be a donkey to the end of your life."

Harry had told Dias that they had better take two or three days at home
before they came into Lima again, but to his surprise the muleteer came in
at ten o'clock next morning.

"Well, Dias, I did not expect to see you again so soon. You have found
everything right at home, I hope?"

"No, señor, I am sorry to say I did not. Three days after we left here our
house was burnt down."

"Burnt down, Dias! I am sorry indeed to hear that. How did it happen? I
thought you said that you had locked it up, and left no one there."

"That was so, señor. The people who took over the garden were to go into
the house once a week to see that everything was in order; but as this
fire broke out only three days after I left, they had not entered it.
Everyone says that it must have been fired on purpose, for the flames seem
to have burst out in all parts at once. No one in the town thought that I
had an enemy in the world, and all have been wondering who could have had
a grudge against me. Of course we need not go very far to guess who was at
the bottom of it."

"I suppose not, Dias. It must have been those scoundrels we gave such a
thrashing to."

"There is no doubt of that, señor. But this time they have got the best of
me, for they know very well that I have no proof against them, and that it
would be useless to lodge any complaint."

"I am afraid it would, Dias. Is it quite burnt down?"

"The walls are standing, señor. It takes a good deal to burn adobe."

"What do you suppose it would cost to put it in the same condition as
before, with the furniture and everything?"

"No great thing, señor; two hundred or two hundred and fifty dollars. It
would not be as much as that if it hadn't been that Maria had left her
festa dresses and her silver trinkets behind. There was not much furniture
in the house; but I think I could replace everything for about two hundred
dollars, and I have a good deal more than that laid by."

"I shall certainly make that up to you, Dias. It was entirely your
kindness in deciding to take us on Mr. Barnett's recommendation, and to
undertake this journey, that brought the ill-will of these scoundrels upon
you. Of course it is of no use doing anything now, but when our search is
over I shall certainly see that you are not in any way the loser."

"No, señor; if I could not replace it myself I might accept your kind
offer, but I can do it without breaking very heavily into my savings. And
indeed their attack on me was the outcome of an old grudge. I have been
long regarded as a fortunate man, and truly I have been so. If there was a
job for five mules, and I was disengaged, I always had the first offer."

"But that was not fortune, Dias; that was because you were known to be
wholly trustworthy."

"There are few muleteers who are not so, señor; it is rarely indeed that
muleteers are false to their trust. I can scarce remember an instance. We
Indians have our faults, but we are honest."

"Well, perhaps your getting the first job to go with foreign travellers
may have been a piece of good fortune, but it is because these were so
well satisfied with you that others engaged you. Trustworthiness is not
the only thing wanted in a muleteer; willingness, cheerfulness, and a
readiness to oblige are almost as important for the comfort of travellers.
Well, do you think these fellows will try and play you another trick,
Dias?"

"I hope they will," Dias said savagely, "that is, if they don't have too
much odds against me. I owe them a big score now, for twice they have got
the better of me. I should like to get even with them."

"Well, Dias, I hope they won't try anything of the sort. If anything
should happen to you, I should not only be extremely sorry for your sake
and your wife's, but it would destroy the last chance I have of carrying
out my search for treasure. Do you think that if I were to go to the
consul and lay a complaint against them, on the ground, in the first
place, of their attack on you, and now of burning your house, it would
have any effect?"

"If you were to make a complaint it might do, señor; it certainly would
not were I to do so. A little bribe would, of course, be necessary; you
cannot do anything without that. The officials here are all Gamarra's men,
and there is not one of them who would not take a bribe. But would it be
worth while, as we are only going to stay here a week? And if you got them
imprisoned they would be out again before I came back, and would be more
anxious than ever to get rid of me."

"There is a good deal in that, Dias. As, of course, we shall be away, and
starting for home again as soon as we return here, their spite would be
directed entirely against you."

"I hope, señors, that while you stop here you will never go out without
your pistols. It is against you they have a grudge now more than me; it
was owing to you that they failed in killing me."

"We will do so; and we won't carry sticks this time, so that if they see
us going along they will think we are unarmed."

Whenever they went out after dark, indeed, Harry and Bertie had an idea
that they were followed, and on their way home each invariably carried a
cocked pistol in his pocket, ready for instant use. It was well that they
did so, for on returning late one evening from Señor Pasquez, four men
suddenly sprang out upon them.

They were on their guard, and their arms went up in an instant, and two
shots were fired. As the pistols were almost touching the men's heads when
the trigger was pulled, both the assailants dropped dead, and the others
at once took to their heels.

"There are two of Dias's enemies wiped out," Harry said quietly. "I hope
the others will give us a chance before we leave. Well, let us walk on
before the watch comes along. It would ruin our plans altogether if we
were kept here for an indefinite time while enquiries are being made."

The next morning they heard from their waiter at breakfast that two men
had been found dead in the street.

"They are muleteers," he said, "but are known to be bad characters, and
are suspected of having been concerned in several murders. It is evident
that they made a mistake this time, and have got what they deserved. They
are known to be associated with others. There were five of them; one was
killed in a knife fight some months ago, and a search has been made for
the others, but it is not likely that they will be caught. They were
probably concerned in the affair, and knowing that they would be suspected
of having a hand in this, and that their character will go against them, I
expect they went off at once to the foot of the hills, and won't be heard
of again for some time to come."

"I think it a pity they were not all shot. It is a shame that in a town
like this people cannot walk in the streets after dark without the risk of
being assassinated."

Dias was very pleased when, on coming up that morning, he heard of what
had happened. He quite agreed that the other men would almost certainly
have taken to the mountains.

"Even if they have not, señor, you are safe from another attack. Now they
know that you carry pistols, and are prepared for them, they will let you
alone."

"When we come back here, Dias, we will give you a brace of our pistols,
and I trust you will carry them in your pocket ready for use after dark,
whether you are in Lima or at Miraflores."

"Thank you, señor. I do not think they are likely to show their faces here
again for a long time; but at any rate I will be on my guard, and will
gratefully accept your offer of the pistols. Now, señors, I must set to
work to-day to get in our stores for the next journey. I have made a list
of what we shall want."

"Well, I have plenty of money, Dias, for I find two remittances from home
awaiting me here. We have already bought two double-barrelled guns and a
stock of ammunition, principally buck-shot, for we shall not be doing much
big game shooting. We can always buy food at the sea-side villages."

Three days later all was in readiness. The mules were brought up from
Miraflores by José, accompanied by Maria, and an early start was made on
the following morning.




CHAPTER XIV

THE CASTLE OF THE DEMONS


"To-morrow, señor," Dias said, "you will see the spot I was telling you
about, where, as the traditions say, the spirits of our ancestors inhabit
the ruins of a building so old, that it was ancient when the Incas first
came here. They are still there, and men who have been rash enough to
approach the spot have been found torn to pieces as if by wild beasts; but
none go near now."

"Did the Spaniards never go there?"

"I know not, sir; but 'tis likely they never even heard of it. The country
is all dry and barren, and there were no mines to tempt them. The Indians
never speak of it; those who were alive when the Spaniards came had some
reasons for not doing so; and even now you could go to the nearest
village, which lies more than twenty miles away, and ask the people about
it, but they would only say that they had never heard of it, that no such
place existed, for they believe that even to speak of it would bring dire
disaster. We Indians are Christians; the Spaniards made us so. We make the
sign of the cross, and we bow before their images and pictures, and once a
year we go to their churches; but among the tribes east of the mountains
that is all. We believe in the traditions of our fathers and in the demons
of the forest; and though on this side of the hills, where the Spaniards
held a tight grip upon us, the people have well-nigh forgotten their old
faith, they still believe in many of the tales they have learned from
their fathers, and this of the Castle of the Demons, as it is called, is
as strong as ever in these parts."

"Have you ever seen the castle, Dias?"

"I have seen it, señor. There is only one point from which it is visible.
We shall go there to-morrow, it is ten miles from here. The castle lies in
a rift of the rock. I should say that in ancient times this opened to the
sea, but the building closed the entrance. Whatever it may have been, it
does not rise above the summit of the cliff, which goes down as straight
as a wall for miles on the sea-face. The rift on the land side of the
castle seems to have a width of about fifty feet, and I could see openings
which were, I suppose, windows. The rocks on each side are higher than the
castle itself, so that anyone coming along would not see it until he
looked down upon it."

"But of course it is visible from the sea, Dias?"

"It would have been visible in the old days without a doubt, señor, but it
cannot be seen now. The stones are the colour of the rocks beside them.
They are stained and broken, and unless a boat went along within a very
short distance none would dream that there was a break in the cliff there.
I heard that from a fisherman whose boat was driven in by a gale and well-
nigh lost. He said that he could see that the stones, which are very
large--much larger than any of those in the remains of the buildings of
the Incas--were not in regular lines."

"It is very strange that anyone should have taken the trouble to build a
place in such a singular position. Is there not any legend as to its
construction?"

"There is a tradition, señor, that it was built as a prison, by the king
of those times, a thousand years before the Spaniards came, and even
before the people whom the Incas conquered came into the land, and that it
was a place of imprisonment, some say of a wife, others of a son, who had
rebelled against him. Some say that it was built by the demons, but as it
happened long before our people came here, none can know."

"Well, Dias, it seems to me that this old place is very likely to have
been used as a hiding-place for treasure. As to these tales about demons,
of course they are ridiculous. I took your advice when we were being
opposed by fierce Indians, but when it is a question of demons, I can
trust to my revolvers and rifles against a legion of them."

"Well, señor, you are the master. I have led you here as I promised. There
may be treasure here or there may not. If you will go, you must; but I
pray you not to command me to go with you. I would have followed you to
the death through the swamps and forests on the other side, but I dare not
risk being torn to death by demons and being left without burial."

"I do not press you to go, Dias. I respect your convictions, though I do
not share in them. I have had a year of travel with you, and we have had
many adventures together. This will be my last before I return home. Here
at least there seems to me a chance of finding treasure, an infinitely
better chance than any we have had, except in the gold valley. Here is a
mysterious castle, of whose very existence the Spaniards seem never to
have heard. It is just the place where treasure might be hidden. If it has
guardians, they must be human, and also there can be but few. The urgent
necessity for secrecy was so great, that it must, like all the other
secrets, have been confided to a few only. Maybe but one or two old men
are there, of whom certainly I need not be afraid. I have told you why I
came here, and why I feel so anxious to find a valuable mine, or part of
the lost treasures of the Incas. So far I have failed altogether, and I
should be a fool as well as a coward were I not ready to run some slight
risk in searching this mysterious castle."

"So be it, señor. I say not that you may not succeed. It may be that the
demons have no power over white men. If you go and return safely I will go
with you, and, should you find treasure, aid you to carry it away. I will
lead you to within two miles of it, and will wait three days for your
return. If you come not then, I will return to my place and mourn for
you."

"Very well, Dias, you may count upon my return long before the three days
are up. Now, in the first place, take me to the point from which I can
have a view of the castle."

"We have had a long journey to-day, señor, and it is two hours' journey
from here. We had better rest and go in the morning."

Harry nodded.

"We will be off early. You say it is ten miles from the spot where we
shall see it. If we start at daybreak I can be there before noon, which
will give me plenty of time for a first look round the place. We have got
some torches left. I shall want them, for possibly there may be some
chambers underground into which we shall have to penetrate. We may take it
as certain that, whether the old people hid a great treasure from the
Incas, or the Incas hid one from the Spaniards, they did not leave it
about in rooms, but stowed it away in vaults like those we saw at
Pachacamac, and these will certainly want a lot of looking for."

"I will help you look, señor, and will work there as long as you like in
the search, if you return and tell me that you have seen and heard nothing
of the demons that are said to be there. I am not afraid of danger when I
know that it is men that we have to do with. But I dread being strangled
and torn, as the legends say that all who have ventured here have been."

"But according to your own account, Dias," Bertie laughed, "that was long,
long ago, and the demons may have got tired of guarding a place that no
one came near, and have gone elsewhere in search of victims."

Dias shook his head gravely. In spite of his life as a muleteer, and his
acquaintance with Englishmen, he was as superstitious as the rest of his
countrymen. The nominal Christianity enforced by the Spaniards upon the
natives was but skin-deep, and thus they clung with undying fidelity to
the superstitions and traditions that had been handed down from generation
to generation, and had been preserved with a tenacity that even the
tortures of the Spaniards had failed to shake. The failure to obtain the
gold which they confidently expected to find in the valley had still
further strengthened his belief that it was destined that these treasures
should never be discovered; and although when there he had listened
gravely to Harry's explanations of the manner in which the lake had been
formed, his own conviction that all this was the work of demons had been
unshaken. If, then, a spot, which even the tradition handed down to him
had in no way connected with the guardianship of demons, was so firmly
watched, how much more must this be so at a spot which all legends agreed
was inhabited by demons, and had been the scene of so many executions by
them of those who had ventured near.

As Bertie and his brother sat together by the fire that evening after the
others had retired to rest, they talked long over the matter; for just as
when they had approached the gold valley, their excitement had increased
with every day's journey. Harry felt that this was his last chance, his
only hope of gaining the object for which he had left England.

"It is strange, Harry," Bertie said, "that the natives should believe
these absurd stories about demons. Dias seems, in every other way, as
sensible a fellow as one can want to meet, but in this respect he is as
bad as any of them."

"It is not extraordinary, Bertie, if you remember that it is not so very
long ago since people at home believed in witches who sailed through the
air to take part in diabolic ceremonies, and brought about the death of
anyone by sticking pins into a little waxen image, and that even now the
peasantry in out-of-the-way parts of the country still hold that some old
women bewitch cows, and prevent milk turning into butter however long they
may continue churning. Fairy superstitions have not quite disappeared, and
the belief in ghosts is very wide-spread.

"When you think of that it is not surprising that these poor ignorant
natives still have implicit faith in the traditions of their ancestors. It
is possible that this old place is still inhabited by Indians, who have
been its guardians for ages, and if not now, may have had charge of it
long after the Spaniards came here, and murdered any who ventured to
approach the place. We know that the tradition of the gold valley has been
faithfully maintained in the family of Dias; this may also be the case in
the family to which the guardianship of this old place was entrusted, but
to my mind it is less likely. In the case of the gold valley there was
nothing for those in the secret to do but to hold their tongues; but to
supply guardians to this place from generation to generation must have
been a much more irksome task, and it may have been abandoned, either from
the dislike of those who had to spend their lives in such a monotonous
business, or by their families dying out. I certainly don't want to have a
fight with men who are only following orders passed down to them for
hundreds of years. If they attack us, we shall have to fight; but I
sincerely trust that we may find the place deserted, for, fight or no
fight, I mean to get the treasure if it is there."

"I should think so," Bertie agreed. "The treasure is absolutely of no use
to them, and may be no end of use to you."

"To both of us, Bertie. If there is a treasure, you may be sure it is a
large one, ample for both of us, and to spare. Of course we shall have
trouble in getting it away--the gold would be invaluable to any of these
rascally adventurers who are a curse to Peru. I really want to see the
place, even putting aside the question of the treasure, for it must have
been extraordinarily well hidden if the Spaniards never came upon it; and
I think there can be no doubt whatever that in this respect the traditions
must be true. The whole thing would have been upset if the Spaniards had
once paid a visit there, for, from what we saw at Pachacamac and Cuzco,
they spared no exertions whatever to root out likely hiding-places. The
treasure, if there is one, will be difficult to find, but I have got
nearly a year yet, and if necessary I will spend the whole of it in
digging. Dias could go and get provisions for us. Of course he must not
always go to the same place. Sometimes he can go up to Huaura, sometimes
down to Chancay or Ancon. This place, he has told me, lies a mile or two
south of the Salinas promontory, which would partly account for its
escaping notice, for the road from Huaura, as we see on the map, skirts
the foot of the hill, and goes straight on to Chancay and Ancon, and there
is no earthly reason why anyone should go out to the promontory. People
here don't leave the roads and travel eight or ten miles merely to look at
the ocean, especially when by following the straight line they would see
it without trouble. Well, we have both had hard work during the past year,
what with felling trees to make bridges, chopping logs for fires, making
roads practicable by moving rocks out of the way, occasionally using our
picks where Dias thought that there was a lode, and carrying mules'
burdens up and down steep places.

"Altogether it has been a sort of backwoodsman's life, and if there are
treasure-vaults in this place I think we shall be able to get at them,
however thick and heavy the stones may be on the top of them."

"I am game," Bertie said. "There is a lot more excitement in working when
possibly a treasure lies under your feet than in chopping away at trees,
some of which are so hard as almost to turn the edge of an axe. The place
cannot be very large, so it won't take us very long if we are obliged to
tear up every foot of it. I suppose there cannot be above three feet of
stone over the mouths of any of these vaults."

"I think, Bertie, that when we have once investigated the place and
settled on our plans, we had better send Dias and José down to Callao to
get three or four kegs of powder and some boring tools, besides a supply
of provisions. We should get on a lot faster with these than with only
pickaxes. We shall want a couple of strong iron crowbars for lifting slabs
of stone, and of course some fuse for the mines."

"We should have to be careful not to put too much powder in, so as not to
bring the whole thing down about our ears."

"Oh, we should not want to make a mine of that sort, but only to blast the
stone as they do in quarries and mines. We should have to make a hole to
begin with, by means of our picks and crowbars, in one corner of the room,
two or three feet wide; then we must make a couple of holes the size of
the boring tool, a foot or so away, according to the hardness of the
ground, put in charges and fire them, and in that way blow down the rock
into the hole we had made; and so we should go on until we had done the
whole floor. Of course, the bigger the hole we first make--that is to say,
the wider the face it has--the easier we shall blow the stone down
afterwards. I have watched them blasting stone at Portland, and at some
galleries they were making at Gibraltar, and I know pretty well how it is
done. Of course it is hard work driving the borers down, for that we shall
want two or three sledges of different weights. It will make our arms ache
at first, but after a week or two we shall be able to stick to it fairly
well. Now we had better turn in. We shall start at daybreak tomorrow. It
will take us two hours to reach the spot from which Dias said we could see
the place, and another three hours to get to the castle. That will give us
a long afternoon to take our first look over it."

"There, señor," Dias said, when at eight o'clock in the morning they
stopped on a projecting spur of the hill, "that is the castle!"

From where they stood they could see that the ground fell away into what
was at first a mere depression, but gradually deepened into a valley half
a mile wide. Still farther down the sides became more precipitous, and in
the distance the valley was closed in by rock walls, and appeared to come
to an end. That it did not do so was evident from a streak of bright green
in the centre of the valley, showing that a small stream must run down it.
From the point at which they stood they could see the level line of the
plateau near the cliff facing the sea, and on the surface of this a dark
zigzag line marked the course of the ravine. Then, when apparently close
to the termination of the flat land by the cliffs, the dark streak widened
out somewhat. Through a small but powerful telescope which Harry carried
he could make out distinctly the upper part of what might be a house.

"It is a strange-looking place for a castle to be built," he said, "but it
quite answers to your description, Dias. There are certainly some
openings, which may have been windows. I am sure no one looking from here,
and ignorant that such a place existed, would notice it, and of course
from the valley it could not be seen at all. Even from this height I do
not think I can see more than ten or twelve feet of the upper part. But
surely it must be noticeable to anyone coming along the cliffs?"

"It may be, señor, but I cannot say. Certainly no native would go along
there even in the daytime. Still, it does seem likely that in the Spanish
time some must have ridden along the top of the cliffs, and if they had
seen the castle it would certainly have been searched. Assuredly it has
not been so. I have been at Ancon and Salinas many times, and have talked
with the people there. They would never speak on the subject to one of
white blood, but knowing that I was of native blood, and belonged to one
of the families to whom the secret could be strictly trusted, they were
ready enough to talk about the Castle of Demons. Had the Spaniards ever
searched it they would have known, and the place would no longer be
feared; but all say that from the time of the conquest by the Spaniards no
living being has, as far as is known, entered it."

"Then the Incas knew of it, Dias?"

"I think so, señor, though I have not heard that any of them ever lived
there; but tradition says that the vessel in which a great store of
treasure was sent away from Pachacamac, and which, as is proved by Spanish
writings, was never heard of afterwards, and doubtless was sunk in a great
storm that came on two or three days after it sailed, was intended to be
landed and hidden in this castle, which they thought might well escape the
observation of the Spaniards."

"And even among your traditions there is no allusion to what became of
this treasure ship?"

"No, señor; all traditions say that it was never heard of from the day it
sailed. Had it landed at that castle the secret would have been handed
down to some of the native families, just as that of the golden valley and
of other hidden treasures has been. But there can be no doubt that the
ship was lost with all her treasure."

"Well, we need not talk any more about it now, Dias; we shall learn
nothing more, however long we stay here and stare at it."

They stopped half an hour for breakfast and then rode down the valley.
When they got near the spot where it closed in Harry saw by the pallor on
the native's face that he was beginning to be greatly alarmed.

"You had better stop here, Dias. My brother and I will go on and explore
this ravine and have a look at the place. We will take some ropes with us,
for the ravine may be blocked by falls of rocks, and we may have to let
ourselves down. Evidently the water gets to the sea, or this valley would
be a lake like that in the golden ravine, for although it is but a mere
driblet of water now, you can see by the banks that a considerable amount
comes down in the wet season. How it gets past the castle I don't know; I
can only suppose that there is a passage for it underneath the building.
We will take both our guns, Bertie, and our pistols. That there are no
demons we are quite sure, but the place may have been used as a hiding-
place for outlaws and brigands, who could find no better spot, as there
was no fear whatever of its being discovered. We will take some bread and
meat in our haversacks and a flask of spirits. Perhaps we shall be away
longer than we expect, Dias, but at any rate we will not stop there after
dark."

Tears were in the Indian's eyes as Harry and Bertie said good-bye to him
and started, and when he saw them enter the ravine he sat down with his
elbows on his knees and cried unrestrainedly. His wife went up to him and
put her hand on his shoulder.

"Do not sorrow, Dias; as for me, I have no fear, though I love them as
well as you do. I do not say that there may not be demons in the castle--
everyone says there are;--but though these may strangle our people who
break the orders that were given that none should go near, I do not
believe they can hurt our white friends. You saw that they had no fear;
you know how brave they are, and how they laughed at the idea of the
demons having any power over them. Do you think I could smile and talk if
I thought they were in danger? Still, as there is no need to prepare
dinner yet, I will tell my beads over and over again. We shall know if any
harm comes to them if we hear them fire their guns, for it is certain that
they would do so. Even if a legion of demons attacked them they would
never run away, but would fight till the last."

"I love them," Dias said; "I love them as my own sons. At first, when they
came to me from Señor Barriett, it was for his sake that I consented to
accompany and aid them; but from that night when they saved my life by
rushing, with no weapons save their sticks, into the midst of five men
with drawn knives, I felt how noble they were, and I loved them not only
for the sake of my life, but for their bravery. Since then my feelings
have grown every day. Have they not treated us as equals, as they would do
people of their own race--us who, by every Peruvian with white blood in
his veins, are looked down upon?"

"It is true, Dias. They have laughed and joked with us, and have treated
me with as much respect as if I had been of pure Spanish blood, and have
always done everything they could to make things easy for me. I will not
believe God and the Holy Virgin can permit them to be overpowered by the
evil ones. Should it be otherwise, should they never return, I should be
inconsolable. It would be to me as if you yourself had died, and I should
be ready to stab myself to the heart at the thought that we had brought
them here."

"I could not live after it either, Maria; but, as you say, I will trust
that God will protect them."

He cut down two rods and fastened them together in the form of a cross,
and then he and his wife knelt before it and repeated innumerable
paternosters and Ave Marias, crossing themselves as they did so.

José, as soon as he had removed the burdens from the mules and turned them
out to graze at the edge of the streamlet, came and joined them in their
supplications, occasionally breaking off from the repetition of the only
prayers he knew, and in his native language imploring the saints to
protect their friends.

"There is no humbug about Dias," Bertie said as they left the others. "He
is really in a blue funk."

"Yes, he is quite in earnest; and we know that he is no coward in other
matters,"

"Certainly not. He showed any amount of pluck in the affair with the
Indians. But he seems such a bright, sensible sort of chap, that it is
quite funny to hear him going on about his demons. I should not be
surprised at anything the ordinary peasant might believe, but it is
different with a man like Dias."

"You know, Bertie," Harry said, coming to a sudden stop, "I think we are
making a mistake going on into this ravine. I have no belief that the
place is inhabited; still, there may be desperadoes, and perhaps a few
fanatics. It is quite possible that a certain number of families bound
themselves to keep watch here, and formed a little community that has
lasted to the present day."

"But how could they have lived?"

"We will talk that over, Bertie, if we find any of them there. Now we must
turn back. It is not more than a mile at the outside to the place where we
can climb the hillside. In that way we shall be able to look down into
this ravine, and take a general view of the place. We shall know what we
are doing then, whereas if we were to go on through the gorge without
knowing anything about it, we might find ourselves caught in a trap. It
won't make half an hour's difference, for the ground up there will be as
good walking as it is here, while we might find all sorts of obstacles in
this ravine, and with two guns apiece, ammunition, pistols, coils of rope,
food, and so on, we should find it awkward work climbing among heaps of
rocks.

"You were saying, How could a group of people exist here for centuries
without any communication with the outside world? Well, I don't suppose
they could. They might get water from the stream, and possibly there may
be some way of getting down to the sea-shore; anyhow, this stream must
find a passage when it is in flood. They might have been able to get
enough fish for their wants; but a fish-and-water diet would scarcely be
sufficient.

"At the same time we are by no means sure that they could have had no
communication with the outside, for just as some families may have been
ordered to live here, others may have been instructed to supply them with
food. The watchers may have had a store of gold-dust sufficient to last
them all this time, and their friends outside may have brought them a
sheep or two, and corn and other articles of necessity once a week. There
could have been no difficulty in doing so. The stories of demons, and
probably the murder of inquisitive people who tried to pry into what was
going on, created such a dread of the place that those in the secret would
come and go without the slightest difficulty. Conceivably, young men may
from time to time have gone out for a year into the world and brought back
wives with them, or girls may have been sent by the people in league with
them outside, and obtained husbands, which is less likely. I should think
it was more probable that young boys and girls would be kidnapped, and
brought in here from time to time. All this is pure guesswork, of course,
but nevertheless there may be people here, and it is just as well to take
a look round from above before we trust ourselves inside the place."

On gaining the plateau they followed the crest of the valley until they
came to a spot where the ravine appeared to end. They found that in fact
it made a sharp turn. It was here only some ten feet wide, but soon
broadened out to thirty. Fifty yards farther there was another sharp bend,
the ravine narrowed to twenty feet, and the sides became absolutely
perpendicular. Twenty yards farther still they saw something like a wall
about thirty or forty feet high stretching across the gorge, which was
here some seventy feet deep. About twenty feet from the foot there was a
steep ascent of rocks, such as might have fallen there by a slip from one
side or the other. Above these a perpendicular wall rose for another
twenty-five feet. Harry and his brother looked at it in surprise from the
height at which they stood. Its appearance was precisely that of the wall-
precipices on each side. It was rough and uneven, and they could see no
signs of any joints.

"It looks as if it were natural," Bertie said, "but it can't be."

"No, it must certainly be artificial, but it is a wonderful imitation, and
certainly anyone coming up the ravine would suppose that bank of rocks at
the foot had fallen from its face; but we know that it can't be that, for
the water makes its way through. Besides, you see it is only three feet
wide at the top, and then there is a narrow ledge a couple of feet wide,
which was evidently made for the garrison to stand upon and shoot their
arrows at anyone attempting to come up the ravine. Behind the slope is all
rough rocks, except just below our feet, where there is a narrow stone
staircase of regularly-cut steps. It is so narrow that it could not be
noticed by anyone standing here, unless they bent over to look straight
down as I am doing. Well, it is just as well that we made the circuit, for
we certainly could not have climbed over there."

Another sharp turn, and the ravine ran straight towards the castle. They
hurried on, and when they had gone fifty yards stood at the edge of a
roughly circular pit. It was seventy or eighty feet across, narrowing at
each end. At one end was the ravine at whose mouth they were standing, and
directly opposite, in what might be called the neck of the bottle, stood
the Castle of the Demons. It was some fifty feet in width, and as it stood
back about forty feet up the neck it could hardly be seen at any point
except that at which they were standing. There was no door or other
opening at less than some twenty-five feet from the ground. At that height
was a broad aperture about four feet high and twelve wide. Above this were
several smaller openings about four feet square. The singular point in the
structure was a rough arch of rock, which extended above it and formed its
roof. This arch projected thirty or forty feet in front of the building,
so that the latter had the appearance of standing in a great cave.

"What an extraordinary-looking place!" Bertie said in a low voice.

"Extraordinary, but how splendidly chosen for concealment! You see the top
of the rock above it is level with the ground on either side. This would
perfectly well account for people riding along the line of the cliffs, and
passing over without dreaming that there was a house below them. Even if
they went to the edge on this side, they would simply see this deep pit
and the ravine beyond, but could not by any possibility obtain a sight of
the house unless they came round to nearly where we are standing, which
they could have no possible motive for doing. Besides, you see, all the
way we have been passing through a thick bush; and I have no doubt that in
the old time a wood stood here, possibly planted by the builders of the
house. Of course the arch existed before the house was built. The stratum
below was probably softer, and the stream gradually trickled through, and
perhaps in some great flood, when this basin was full, burst its way out,
after which the rock gradually fell until it formed that great natural
arch."

"Well, let us go round and have a look at the other side."

They found that the width of the arch to the sea cliff was a hundred and
fifty feet.

"If the castle extends to this face, Bertie, it is a hundred feet across,
but from here we can't see whether it does so. It is probably built flush,
however, as Dias said that it was not noticeable from the sea, and had the
arch projected beyond it it could certainly have been seen."

"Well, Harry, if you will tie a rope round my waist you can let me down,
and I will have a look at it. You can hold me easily enough if you stand
twenty feet back from the edge, and you won't have to pull me up, because
I can easily climb up the rope by myself. I need not go down more than
thirty or forty feet, and I can do that easily enough."

"Oh, I could pull you up, Bertie."

"Well, you could do that if by any chance I should get tired; then I could
give a shout, and you could haul on the rope."

"There are lots of stumps of trees here, Bertie, and I can take half a
turn round one of them and so let you down easily; then when you shout I
will fasten the rope there and come to the edge, and I can hear whether
you want me to haul or not. Of course it must depend whether there are any
jagged rocks sticking out. If so, it would be better for you to climb, as
the rope might chafe against them if I pulled."

"I understand." Bertie laid down his weapons and water-flask, made a loop
at the end of one of the ropes they had brought large enough for him to
sit in, then he looked for a spot where the short grass extended to the
very edge. "This is a good place, and the rope won't chafe as it runs over
that. Now I am ready. If you will go back to that stump fifteen feet away
and let it out gradually, I will be off."

He knelt down, and putting the rope over his head took a firm hold of it
just above the loop, and then crawled backwards, his brother keeping the
rope taut. "Slack it out gradually now," Bertie said; "I am just over."

Directly afterwards his shoulders disappeared. Harry let the rope slowly
out until he calculated that fifty feet were over the cliff, then he
fastened it very securely round the stump and went forward to the edge.

"Are you all right, Bertie?" he shouted.

"Quite right."

The face of the rock was very even, and there was nothing for the rope to
chafe against. Harry lay down at the edge, keeping a firm hold of the rope
to prevent himself from slipping over, and was able to look down on
Bertie.

"Well, Bertie, what is it?"

"It is the wall of the house, I have no doubt, but it is so cleverly built
that I can scarcely see where the arch ends and the house begins. Looking
quite close I can see where the stones join, but their face has been left
rough; and as it is just the same colour as the rocks, and lines have been
cut down its face, and cracks made across it answering to the lines in the
rock on both sides, I am sure I should not have known it was built up
unless I had examined it. It is much narrower on this side than on the
other--not more than twenty-five feet, I should say. There seem to be some
irregularly-shaped holes in what looks like a fissure in the middle. I
suppose they are to light the rooms on this side of the house, but they
are certainly too small to be noticed from the sea."

"Does the sea come right up to the foot of the cliff?"

It was a minute before the answer came. "The water comes to the foot, but
there is a line of rocks running along forty or fifty feet farther out.
Some of them seem to be thirty feet out of the water; at one end they
touch the cliff, and at the other there is a free passage. The water is
very clear, but as far as I can judge I should say there is a depth of a
fathom or a fathom and a half between the rocks and the cliff. Certainly a
boat could row in to a position underneath where I am."

"Is there anything more?"

"No."

"You don't see an entrance down here?"

"No."

"All right! Then you may as well come up again. Can you climb up?"

"Easily."

"Well, hail me if you want me to haul."

Harry went back to the stump, unwound the rope until it was only half a
turn round it, and then, holding it firmly, stood ready to haul up.




CHAPTER XV

INVESTIGATIONS


Harry was relieved when, a few minutes later, Bertie's head appeared above
the edge, and directly afterwards he crawled over. "My arms have
strengthened ever so much with our work. I could have done it before, but
it would have been hard work."

"Well, so far so good, Bertie. There is no doubt that it is one of the
best hiding-places in the world, and I am not a bit surprised that the
Spaniards never found it. Now we will go back to the edge of the ravine
and have a good look from that side."

As they went along he said, "Let us have a look at these bushes, Bertie.
The soil is very thin about here, and I wonder that the trees grew."

"These are pines," Bertie said, "and in the mountains we often saw pines
growing among rocks where there did not seem a handful of soil for them."

On examining they found several old stumps, and thrusting a ramrod down
Harry found, to his surprise, that the soil was from three to four feet
deep. He tried again a little farther off, and found that it was two feet;
further still, it was only one.

"The tree must have stood in a hole in the rock," he said. "Try another
one, Bertie." The same results were obtained. "That explains it, Bert.
Evidently when they planted the trees to prevent this place from being
seen from the hills, they cut away the rock in circles about twelve feet
across and made cup-shaped holes, which they filled up with earth. When
they planted the young trees I dare say at first they watered them. They
could easily enough fetch water up from the stream. When the trees got
fairly rooted they would be able to leave them alone, perhaps giving them
a good watering once every two or three months. Whenever the rains came
they would be able to give up watering altogether, for in these basins the
earth would keep moist for a very long time. It would be a big job, but no
doubt the king who built the place had all his tribe at work on it. It is
probable that the Incas had established themselves at Cuzco for many years
before they came down to this place, and the trees may not have been
planted till their coming was first heard of. In that case there would be
plenty of time to hide the place before they came down and searched the
shore. We know that the Chimoos resisted them for a considerable time
before they were finally conquered. Well, for whatever purpose this place
was built it is one in which either the Chimoos or the Incas, if they ever
found the place, would be likely to hide treasure, which is satisfactory.
Now we will sit down here for a short time and watch both windows. You
look at the two top lines, Bertie, and I will look at the two lower lines.
I certainly do not see any signs of life. That is how the water gets out,"
and he pointed to a roughly-shaped arch about twelve feet wide and as many
high. Through this the little stream disappeared. "I expect there is a
similar passage at the other end."

"There may have been," Bertie said. "I was hanging so close to the wall
that there may very well have been one without my being able to see it.
But it looks pitch-dark in there. If there were much of an opening we
ought to see the light, for, as we agreed, it can't be more than a hundred
feet long."

[Illustration: HARRY DROPPED THE BARREL OF HIS RIFLE INTO THE PALM OF HIS
LEFT HAND.]

"That is the first place we will investigate, Bertie. The question of how
we are to get into the house wants some thinking over. That lowest window
is a good twenty-five feet above the ground."

"Of course if we had a grapnel we could fasten it to the end of a rope and
chuck it in."

"We shall have to make something of that sort. If the window had been on
the other side instead of this it would have been easy enough, because I
could have lowered you and slipped down the rope afterwards, but that arch
sticking out so far on this side makes it impossible. All that we can do
now is, as far as I can see, to lower ourselves down on to the top of that
wall in the ravine, then go and examine the tunnel. We have got plenty of
rope to lower ourselves from here on to the wall."

They watched the building for another twenty minutes. "I am convinced that
no one is there," Harry said. "I have not seen as much as a shadow pass
any of the windows since. If people did live in it they would naturally be
on this side of the house, because the rooms here are better lighted and
more cheerful, and no doubt they are the principal rooms, as the house
narrows so much at the other end."

"Well, let us try it," Bertie said. "If there is a strong force here we
should only have to make a bolt back to that narrow staircase. We could
hold that against a whole tribe."

They rose and walked along the edge of the ravine till they were above the
wall, then, fastening the rope to a stump, they slid down on to it.

"So far so good," Harry said, as, holding their rifles in their hands,
they went down the steps. Then he suddenly stopped. "Hullo," he exclaimed,
"here are two skeletons!"

They were not quite skeletons, for the bones were covered by a parchment-
like skin, and there were still remains of the short skirt each had worn
in life. A spear lay beside each. With difficulty the brothers passed down
without treading upon them.

"They must have been here a long time, Harry," Bertie said when they got
to the bottom.

"Any time," the other said. "In the dry air of these low lands there is
scarce any decay. You remember those mummies we saw. I believe iron or
steel will lie here for years without rusting. They may have been here for
a couple of hundred years or more."

"I wonder what killed them, Harry?"

"I have no idea. You see, one was lying almost on the other with his arms
round his body, as if he had died trying to lift him up. If they had been
shot by arrows they would still be sticking into them; if they had been
killed by people pursuing them they would probably be lying upon their
backs, for they would naturally have faced round at the last moment to
resist their pursuers, whereas there are no signs of injury. This settles
the point that there is no one in the house. Had it been inhabited, the
bodies would have been removed from the path, for it is by this that
people would go out and return. There may have been a ladder down from the
wall; the only other way they could have got out would have been through
that passage to the sea. A boat may have been kept there; but even if that
had been so, we should scarcely have found those bodies on the steps.
Well, we shall have plenty of time to talk over that."

They walked across the open space until they approached the building. For
a height of twenty feet it was constructed of stone, above that it
appeared to be made of the great adobe bricks which had been so largely
used at Pachacamac, and in others of the old ruins they had seen.

"There is no question that it must have been built by the Chimoos or some
race before them," Harry said; "the Incas could have had no possible
reason for erecting such a place. Well, now for the tunnel."

The little stream only occupied two feet of the passage. They were
therefore enabled to walk down dry-foot.

"We ought to have brought a torch with us," Bertie said.

"I don't think we shall want that; there is a sort of thin blue light, the
reflection of the light upon the water outside, though I don't know why it
should be so blue."

The reason was soon manifest. The passage sloped downwards, and when they
had gone some fifty feet their progress was arrested by water which
appeared of a deep-blue colour.

"That is it," Harry said. "You see the roof comes down into the water
twenty feet off, and the light has come up under it. They sloped this
passage to make the water flow out below the surface of the sea, so that
the opening could not be seen from without. By the light I should not say
that the opening is more than six inches under the water. I don't know how
the tides are, but if it is high tide now, the top of the opening would be
eighteen inches out of water at low tide, for, as you know, the tide only
rises about two feet on this coast. In that case a boat would be able to
come in and out at low tide, but of course a man wanting to come in or go
out could easily dive under at any time. Well, that settles that point for
the present. It was a clever plan; any amount of water could flow out in
flood time, and yet no one who took the trouble to come behind that ledge
of rocks we saw would have any idea that there was an opening. I think now
that we had better go back, Bertie; in the first place because we can do
nothing until we have manufactured a grapnel of some sort, and in the next
place because every moment we delay will add to the anxiety of our friends
in camp. We must have been away three hours, I should say."

They ascended the steps, fastened the short rope round a block at the top
of the wall across the ravine, and lowered themselves down. They had to
proceed with great care while making their way down the slope composed of
rough and jagged rocks, Once at the bottom of the ravine, however, they
walked briskly on. They had scarcely issued from the entrance when they
saw a stir in the camp in the distance and heard a shout of delight, and
then Dias dashed off to meet them at the top of his speed.

"Thanks to all the saints, señor, that you are safe! You do not know how
we have suffered. We have prayed ever since you started, all of us. Once
or twice I threw myself down in despair, but Maria chided me for having so
little faith in God to keep you from evil, and cheered me by saying that
had harm come to you we should assuredly have heard the sound of your
guns. Have you been in the castle?"

"No, Dias, we have not been in--for the good reason that we could not get
in, because the only entrance is fully twenty-five feet from the ground.
We cannot enter until we have made some contrivance by which a rope can be
fixed there, or manufactured a ladder, which would be the best way and
save a lot of trouble, if we could get a couple of poles long enough. We
thought that we would come back when we had seen all there was to be seen
outside the place."

The Indian's face fell. "Then you do not know what is in the house,
señor?"

"No; but we are certain that there is no one there, and that probably no
one has been there for the past two hundred years, and perhaps a good deal
longer."

"And the demons have not interfered with you?"

"The demons knew better," Bertie laughed.

"They may not be powerful in the daytime," Dias said in an awed tone. "It
is at night that they would be terrible."

"Well, Dias," Bertie said, "everyone knows that the demons cannot
withstand the sign of the cross. All you have to do is to make a small
cross, hold it up in front of you and say, '_Vade retro, Satanas!_' and
they will fly howling away."

"Seriously," Harry said, "you know it is all bosh about demons, Dias."

"But the church exorcises evil spirits. I have seen a priest go with
candles and incense to a haunted house, and drive out the evil spirits
there."

"That is to say, Dias, no spirits were ever seen there afterwards, and we
may be very certain that no spirits were ever seen there before, though
cowardly people might have fancied they saw them. However, to-morrow we
shall get inside, and Bertie and I will stop there all night, and if we
neither see nor hear anything of them you may be quite sure that there are
none there."

"But the traditions say they have strangled many and torn them, señor;
their bodies have been found in the daytime and carried off."

"It is quite possible that they were strangled and torn there, but you may
be sure that it was the work not of demons, but of the men who were set to
guard the place from intruders. Well, those men have gone. We found two
skeletons, which must have been there at least a hundred years, perhaps a
great deal more. They were lying on the stairs, the only way of getting
into the place, and they would have been removed long ago if anyone had
been passing in or out."

By this time they had arrived at the camp. "I knew you would come back all
safe, señors," Donna Maria said triumphantly; "I told Dias so over and
over again. But what have you seen?"

"I see something now--or rather I don't see something now that I should
like to see," Bertie laughed. "I thought you would have got a good dinner
ready for me, but I do not see any signs of its being even begun."

The woman laughed. "I have been too busy praying, señor, and have been
keeping up Dias's spirits. I never knew him faint-hearted before, and it
really almost frightened me; but I will set about getting dinner at once."

"No, no," Harry said; "we are really not hungry. We had a good meal before
we started. So do you three sit down and I will tell you all we have
seen."

The three natives listened with intense interest. When he had done, Maria
clapped her hands. "It must be a wonderful place," she said. "I wish I had
gone with you, I will go to-morrow if you will take me."

"Certainly we will take you, Maria; and I have no doubt that Dias will go
too."

"I will go as far as the place," said Dias, "but I will not promise to go
in."

"I won't press you, Dias. When we have slept there a night I have no doubt
you will become convinced that it is quite safe. And now about the ladder.
We shall really want two to be comfortable--one for getting up to the
window, that must be made of wood; the other, which will be used for
getting up and down the wall in the ravine, may be made of ropes. But I
think that that had best be hung from the top of the ravine above it, so
as to avoid having to climb over those rough stones at the foot, which are
really very awkward. One might very well twist one's ankle among them."

"I will go at once, señor, and get the poles," Dias said. "You may as well
come with me, José. We passed a wood in the valley about five miles off;
there we can cut down a couple of young trees. If we put the saddles on
two of the riding mules, when we have got the poles clear we can fasten
the ends to ropes and trail them behind us."

"We shall also want some of the branches you cut off, Dias. You had better
say thirty lengths of about two feet long, so that we may place the rungs
nine inches apart. You had better get poles thirty feet long, for we may
not have just the height by a couple of feet."

The two natives at once rode off, and the brothers set to work to collect
sticks for the fire.

"It is too bad, señors, that this should not have been done while you were
away, but we thought of nothing but your danger."

"You were perfectly right, Maria; if we were in peril, you did the best
thing of all to obtain help for us. As to the dinner, there is no hurry
whatever for it. What have you got to eat?"

"There is nothing, señor, but a few of the fish we fried two days ago, and
the ham that we smoked of that bear."

"I will take the line, then, and go down and try to catch some fresh
fish," Bertie said. "There is a good-sized pool about half-way between
here and the ravine. I might get some fish there."

"I will take my gun, Bertie, and go up to the bushes by the ravine, and
see if I can get a bird or two. There is no other shelter anywhere about
here."

In half an hour the lad brought a dozen fish into the camp. None of them
were above half a pound, but they were nearly of a size.

"These will be very nice," the woman said with a smile as he handed them
to her. "I have thrown away the others. I do not think we dried them
enough; they were certainly going bad. I have heard your brother fire
several times, and as he does not often miss, I have no doubt he will
bring us something."

Twenty minutes later Harry was seen coming along. When he arrived he threw
down a large bunch of wild pigeons.

"There are ten brace," he said. "That will give us four apiece. I found
nothing in the bushes, but I suddenly remembered that when we went across
from the ravine to the house, lots of wild pigeons rose from the sides of
the rocks. We did not give them a thought at the time, our attention being
fixed upon the building. But when I got nothing above, I suddenly
remembered them, and concluded that they had their nests in the crannies
of the rocks. So I walked along to the top, and as I did so numbers of
them flew up. I shot a couple; most of the others soon settled again, but
some kept flying round and round, and in ten minutes I got as many as I
wanted. Then of course I had to go down into the ravine by the rope and
the steps to gather them up. I returned the way we did, by the rope we had
left hanging from the top of the wall."

Maria was already at work on the birds. Taking them by the legs, she
dipped them for a minute into a pot of boiling water, and as she took them
out Bertie pulled off the feathers. Then she cut off the heads and feet,
cleaned them, and spitted them on José's ramrod, and, raking out a line of
embers from the fire, laid the ends of the ramrod on two forked twigs
while she attended to the fish.

"But they will be done before the others arrive," Bertie said.

"No, señor; there they come! They will be here in a quarter of an hour.
The cakes are ready and hot, so we will lay the pigeons on them, and they
will be nicely flavoured by the time that we have eaten the fish and are
ready for them."

Dias and José soon arrived at a gallop, with the long poles trailing
behind them and a fagot of short sticks fastened to each saddle.

"Those are capital poles, Dias," Harry said as he examined them--"strong
enough for anything. We will chop notches in them for the rungs to lie in.
There will be no fear then of their shifting, which they might do if the
lashings stretched. Now, we have got a capital dinner just done to a turn,
so you see we have not been lazy while you were away.

"You see," he said, after they had finished breakfast, "my shooting has
quite settled the point that no Indians are in the castle. If there had
been they would certainly have come to the windows to see who was firing.
I kept an eye on the castle between each shot, and saw no signs of any
movement. It is a capital thing that so many pigeons live among the rocks.
If we content ourselves with say five brace a day, they will last us a
long time, and will be a change from salt and dried meat, which we should
otherwise have to depend upon, for we cannot be sending away for fresh
meat two or three times a week. We can get fish, though I don't suppose
that will last very long, for the pool will soon be fished out, and I
don't think that there is water enough in other places for fish of that
size."

"We can get them from the sea, Harry. We have got plenty of large hooks
and lines, which we used on the other side of the mountains. If any of the
window openings on that side are large enough, we can let down the lines
from there. If not, we can do it from the top where I went down."

"I should not like that," Harry said. "One might slip on that short
grass."

"Well, one could dive out through the passage and sit on that ledge of
rocks, and fish either inside them or in the sea outside."

"Yes, we might do that, Bertie, and certainly it would be a first-rate
thing if we could get plenty of fish. It would keep us in good health and
make a nice change. I think to-morrow morning, Dias, we had better fix our
camp close up to the mouth of the ravine. Out here in the open valley we
can be seen from the hills, and if anyone caught sight of the animals, it
would very soon get talked about, and we should have a party down here to
see who we were and what we were about."

"Yes, señor, that would be much better. I should not have liked to go
nearer this morning; but now that you have been there twice, and have
returned safely, I am ready to move."

"It would certainly be better; besides, it would save us a couple of
miles' walk each time we wanted a meal. However, when we once set to work
I have no doubt we shall establish ourselves in the castle. Of course one
of us will come down morning and evening to see to the animals."

As soon as the meal was finished they set to work to make the ladder. A
short stick was cut as a guide to the space that was to be left between
the rungs. Bertie and José marked off the distances on the two poles, and
Dias and Harry with their axes cut the grooves in which the sticks were to
lie. Then the poles were laid a foot apart, and the work of pressing the
sticks into their places began. They agreed that the ropes should not be
cut up, as they would be wanted for fastening on the loads whenever the
mules went to fetch food or powder. Two of the head-ropes were used on
each side, and a firm job was made.

"When you go, Dias, for the powder and so on, you must get another supply
of rope. We shall want a longer ladder than this in the ravine, and also a
rope to lift powder and firewood and so on into the castle, and perhaps
for other things that one does not think of at present. Tomorrow we will
unfasten the cord by which we descended to the wall, as we shall not want
to use that in future. I think to-morrow, when we go to the castle, as you
and José do not mean to accompany us, you might take your axes and cut
down a lot of those stumps among the brushwood, split them up, and pitch
them into the courtyard of the castle. It would be well to lay in a good
stock of firewood. We shall want it for cooking and lighting of an
evening. We have only one or two torches left, and we shall want a
cheerful fire."

"I may go with you to-morrow, may I not?" Maria said.

"Certainly you may, if you wish."

"I should like to," she said. "In your company I sha'n't be a bit afraid
of demons; and I want to see the place."

"That is right, Maria, and it shows at any rate that your curiosity is
stronger than your superstition."

"If Maria goes I will go," Dias said. "I don't like it; but if she went
and I didn't I should never hear the last of it."

"Very well," Harry said with a laugh, "I do think she would have the
better of you in the future if you didn't. So you see you will be both
conquering your superstitions--she, because her curiosity is greater; you,
because you are more afraid of her tongue than you are of the demons."

"A woman never forgets, señor; if she once has something to throw up in a
man's teeth it comes out whenever she is angry."

"I suppose so, Dias. Bertie and I have had no experience that way, but we
will take your word for it."

The next morning they moved the mules and all their belongings to the
extreme end of the valley. Then they had an early breakfast. José took up
his axe and the others their arms; the former turned back for the point
where he could climb the hill. Dias and Harry took the heavy end of the
ladder, Bertie the light one, and they started up the ravine. Maria
followed with a store of bread that she had baked the day before. It was
hard work carrying the ladder up the rocks at the foot of the wall. When
it was securely fastened there, they mounted and dragged it up to them.

When they came out into the open space there was a pause. "It is, as you
said, a strange place, señor."

"It is, Dias, an extraordinary place; and if the people who built it
wanted, as I suppose they did, to avoid observation, they could not have
chosen a better. When those trees were growing it would have been
impossible to catch eight of them without coming down the ravine."

"It looks very still," Dias said in a doubtful voice.

"That is generally the case when a place is empty, Dias, Now let us go on
at once and get the ladder up."

As soon as the ladder was in position Harry mounted, closely followed by
Bertie. Dias hesitated; but a merry laugh from his wife settled the point,
and he followed with an expression of grave determination on his face. As
soon as he was on the ladder his wife followed him with a light step.

As Harry reached the top, he found that the sill of the window was two
feet and a half above the floor of the apartment. He stepped down and then
looked round. The room occupied the whole width of the house, and was some
twenty feet wide. Four rows of pillars ran across it, supporting the roof
above. The ends of the room were in semi-darkness. It was not above ten
feet in height. There were rude carvings on the pillars and the walls.

By the time he had made these observations the others had joined him. "I
see people there," Dias said, in an awed voice, pointing to one end of the
room. Harry dropped the barrel of his rifle into the palm of his left
hand. After gazing two seconds he placed it on his shoulder, saying,
"There are people, Dias, but they won't do us any harm;" and he walked in
that direction. Two figures lay on the ground; four others were in a
sitting position, close to each other, against the end wall. Some bows and
arrows and spears lay near them. All were dressed in a garment of rough
cloth. Harry walked up to one and touched it on the head with the muzzle
of his gun.  As he did so it crumbled away; the bones rattled on the stone
floor as they fell. Donna Maria gave a little cry.

"They are dead!" she exclaimed. "They must have been dead years and years
ago."

"Two or three hundred, I should think. Your legends are evidently true,
Dias. There was a party left here to keep strangers from entering this
place. Now, before we go farther, let us think this out. We will sit down
on the ledge of the window. But before we do so, take a good look at their
arms and skulls, Dias. You have often been with travellers to the ruins;
let us hear what you say."

Dias, who was now assured that he had only to deal with human beings,
examined them carefully, looking at the ornaments that still hung round
their necks, and then said: "They are not the old people, señor; these
were Incas."

"That is an important point; now let us see how this is to be explained.
Now," he said, as they sat down, "it is clear that the Incas did know this
building. They may have discovered treasures here or they may not; but it
would certainly seem that they were as anxious as the Chimoos had been to
keep its existence a secret, and it is certain that they must have had
some interest in doing so. We have reason to believe that the Spaniards at
least did not know of it. There is no doubt whatever that these men were
not killed in fight; on the contrary, their sitting position proves that
they died quietly, and probably at the same time. We see no signs of food;
we may find some as we search the place. If we do not, we must take it
that they either died from an outbreak of some epidemic or from hunger.
And it is quite probable that the two skeletons on the steps were two of
their companions who were going out to seek for food, and that they fell
from weakness; one clearly died in the act of trying to lift the other.
What do you think of that, Dias?"

"I think that what you say is likely. But why should they have died from
hunger?"

"It is probable that others were in the secret, and were in the habit of
bringing provisions to them, and perhaps of relieving them at certain
periods. We know that there were fierce battles in the early times of the
Spaniards. In one of these battles the whole of those who were acquainted
with the secret may have fallen. Or it may have been earlier after the
conquest had been completed, when the Spaniards drove tens of thousands of
men to work as slaves in the mines. The people here may have remained at
their post, hoping for relief until it was too late. Two of the strongest
may have started at last, but have been too weak to climb the steps, and
died there. Their comrades may have never known their fate, but have sat
down to die here, as you see. I should think it probable that the second
of my suggestions is likely to be the right one, and that this did not
take place until perhaps a hundred years after the arrival of the
Spaniards, otherwise those legends of men who came near this place being
killed would never have been handed down. If all this is as I suggest,
either the Incas knew that the Chimoos had buried treasure here, or they
themselves buried some, although, as you say, there is no tradition of
treasure having been taken here. But it is possible that that treasure
ship, which undoubtedly sailed from some place along the coast and was
never again heard of, really came here; that her treasure was landed, and
the vessel then destroyed. In either case, there is strong reason for hope
that there is treasure somewhere in this castle if we can but find it."

"We will find it," Bertie said confidently. "What you say must be true.
These Indians would never have been fools enough to sit here and die
without some good reason for it. Well, I vote that before we do anything
else we clear these bones out."

"We can do that the first thing to-morrow morning, Bertie. We can't just
throw them out of the window. The bones are of men who died doing their
duty to their country. We will leave them as they are to-day, and to-
morrow we will bring up one of the big leather bags, place the bones in
it, and take them down into the valley and bury them."

"Then you won't sleep here to-night, Harry?"

"No; I have not a shadow of superstition, but I do not think it would be
lively here with those things at the end of the room. Now, let us look
about a bit.

"This was evidently the great hall of the place; do you not think so,
Dias?"

"Yes, señor; the house gets narrower as it nears the sea. This is by far
the best lighted room on this side. No doubt the rooms on this floor were
the abode of the chief who built it, and his principal followers; the
others would be above."

"Well, we will light the two torches. Yes, there is no doubt that this was
the room. You see there are brackets against all the pillars for holding
torches. Before we go farther we will see what they are made of."

He took his knife out of his pocket and went up to one of the brackets,
which consisted of bars of metal an inch and a half square and eighteen
inches long. They widened out at the end, and here was a round hole about
two inches in diameter, evidently intended to put the torch in. The metal
was black with age. He scraped a few inches off one of them with his
knife. "Silver!" he exclaimed. "It would have been better if they had been
gold. But as there are four on each pillar, and twelve pillars, they would
make a tidy weight. That is a good beginning, Bertie. If they are the same
in all the rooms there would be several tons of it."

There was but one door to the room; through this they passed. Dias, now
that there was some explanation for what he considered the work of the
demons, had a more assured air. One passage led straight on; two others
ran parallel to the wall of the room they had left.

"We will examine these first," Harry said. "It is likely enough they lead
to the stairs to the lower room. There must be two floors below us, one
above the level of the top of the tunnel, the other below that must be
divided in two by it."

As they advanced into the passage there was a strange and sudden clamour,
a roaring sound mingled with sharp shrieks and strange little piping
squeaks. Maria ran back with a shriek of alarm, and there was a strange
rush overhead. The torches were both extinguished, and Harry and his
brother discharged their rifles almost at the same moment. Dias burst into
a shout of laughter as they both dropped their weapons and swung their
double-barrelled guns forward. "What on earth is it, Dias?"

"It is bats and birds, señor. I have seen them come out of caves that way
many times. I dare say the place is full of bats. The birds would only
come into rooms where there is some light."

Turning round they saw quite a cloud of bats flying out through the door.

"Confound it!" Harry said. "They have given me the worst fright I ever had
in my life."

They went back to the room, they had left. Both Hairy and Bertie had lost
every tinge of colour from their faces.

"I am very glad, Harry," Bertie said, with an attempt at a laugh, "that
you were frightened. I was scared almost out of my life."

Maria had thrown herself down on her face.

"Ah, señors," Dias said triumphantly, "you thought they were demons!"

"I did not think they were demons, Dias, but what they were I could not
tell you. I never heard any such sound before. I am not ashamed to say
that I did feel badly frightened. Now, see to your wife, Dias."

"There is nothing to be afraid of, Maria. What are you lying there for?"

The woman raised herself slightly. "Are you alive?" she said in a dazed
way.

"Alive? of course I am! You don't suppose I am going to be frightened at a
lot of bats? There, look at them, they are still streaming out."

"It is all right, Maria," Harry said. "You have had a fright; and so have
Bertie and I, so you need not be ashamed of yourself. It is all very well
for Dias to laugh, but he says he has seen such things before."

"If you were afraid, señor, I need not be ashamed that I was; I really did
think it was the demons."

"There is no such thing, Maria; but it was as good an imitation of them as
you are ever likely to see."

"I was in a horrible funk, Maria," Bertie said, "and I am only just
getting over it; I feel I am quite as pale as you. What are you looking so
pleased about, Dias?" he asked almost angrily.

"I am pleased, señor, now I have got even with Maria. The first time she
says to me 'demons', I shall say to her 'bats'."

"Now, let us start again," Harry said as they all laughed. "But instead of
going down, we will go upstairs. I have not pulled myself quite together
yet, and I don't suppose you have."

"No, my knees are quite wobbling about, and if I saw anything, I certainly
could not aim straight just at present. And it's rum; we had the main-mast
struck by lightning off the Cape one voyage I made, and I did not feel a
bit like this."

"I dare say not, Bertie. We all feel brave in dangers that we are
accustomed to; it is what we don't know that frightens us. We will sit
here on the window-sill for another five minutes before we move again.
José, you have got some pulque in your gourd, I suppose?"

"Yes, señor."

"Then we will all take a drink of it. I don't like the stuff, but just at
present I feel that it won't come amiss at all."

Some of the spirit was poured into a tin mug they had with them, and mixed
with water, with which they had filled their water-bottles from the stream
before starting.




CHAPTER XVI

THE SEARCH BEGINS


In a few minutes all were ready to go on again. Harry had asked Maria if
she would like to go down the ladder and wait till they returned.

"No, señor, I should not like it at all. I don't care how full of bats the
rooms are, now that I know what they are. As for Dias, I have no doubt
that the first time he heard them he was just as frightened."

"No, I was not; but I dare say I should have been if the man I was with--I
was then only about José's age--had not told me that the cavern was full
of bats. There was a great storm coming on, and he proposed that we should
take shelter there. We brought the mules into the mouth of the cave, and
he said, 'Now, we will light a torch and go in a bit farther, and then
you will be astonished. It is a bat cavern, and I have no doubt there are
thousands of them here. They won't hurt us, though they may knock out our
torch, and the noise they make is enough to scare one out of one's senses,
if one does not know what it is.' Though I did know, I own I was
frightened a bit; but since then I have been into several such caves, so I
knew in a moment what it was. I ought to have warned the señors, for an
old house like this, where there is very little light, is just the place
for them."

"But there were birds too, Dias."

"Yes, I expect they were nearer. Perhaps some of them were in the other
rooms, where they would be close to the openings. But they were probably
scared too by the noise of the bats, and as the windows behind were too
small for them all to fly out together, they made for the light instead."

"Well, now, let us start," Harry said, getting up.  They again lit their
torches, and this time found everything perfectly quiet in the passage.
Two or three yards beyond the spot at which they had before arrived they
saw a staircase to the left. It was faintly lighted from above, and,
mounting it, they found themselves in a room extending over the whole
width and depth of the house. The roof at the eastern end was not
supported by pillars, but by walls three feet wide and seven or eight feet
apart. The first line of these was evidently over the wall of the room
they had left. There were four lines of similar supports erected, they had
no doubt, over the walls of rooms below. The light from the four windows
in front, and from an irregular opening at the other end some three feet
high and six inches wide, afforded sufficient light for them to move about
without difficulty. There were many signs of human habitation here. Along
the sides were the remains of mats, which had apparently divided spaces
six feet wide into small apartments. Turning these over they found many
trifles--arrow-heads, bead-necklaces, fragments of pots, and even a
child's doll.

"I expect this is the room where the married troops lived and slept,"
Harry said; "there is not much to see here."

The two stories above were exactly similar, except that there were no
remains of dividing mats nor of female ornaments. They walked to the
narrow end. Here the opening for light was of a different shape from those
in the rooms below. It had apparently been originally of the same shape,
but had been altered. In the middle it was, like the others, three feet
high and six inches wide, but a foot from the bottom there was a wide cut,
a foot high and three feet wide. As they approached it Dias gave an
exclamation of surprise. Two skeletons lay below it. "They must have been
on watch here, señor, when they died," he said as they came up to them.

"It is a rum place to watch," Bertie said, "for you cannot see out."

"You are right, Bertie, it is a curious hole."

The wall was over two feet thick; all the other openings had been driven
straight through it, and, as they had noticed, were doubtless made in the
stones before they were placed there, for inside they were cleanly cut,
and it was only within three inches of the outer face that the edges had
been left rough. This opening was of quite a different character. It
sloped at a sharp angle, and no view of the open sea could be obtained,
but only one of the line of rocks at the foot of the cliffs. It was
roughly made, and by the marks of tools, probably of hardened copper, it
had evidently been cut from the inside.

Harry stood looking for some time. "I cannot understand their cutting the
hole like this. It could not be noticed from the sea that there was an
opening at all; that is plain enough. But why make the hole at all when
you can see nothing from it? And yet a watch has been placed here, while
there was none at the other places where they could make out any passing
ship."

"Perhaps," Bertie said, "it was done in order that if from the other
places boats were seen approaching, they could chuck big stones down from
here and sink any boat that might row inside the rocks into the entrance
to the passage, which, as this is in the middle of the room, must be just
under us."

"In that case they would have kept a supply of big stones here. I have no
doubt whatever that it was made some time after the castle was built, and
I should say, judging by its unfinished state, the work was done in haste.
But what for, goodness only knows. Well now, having made no discoveries
whatever on the upper floor, we will go down. It is certain that there can
be no great treasure hidden under any of these floors, there is not depth
enough for hiding-places. I counted the steps as we came upstairs, and
there cannot be much more than two feet between the floor of one room and
the ceiling in the next. I fancy that this is of single stones, each the
flooring length of the space between the half-walls. You see that there is
a long beam of stone running on the top of the dividing wall, and the ends
of these stones appear to rest on it. It is below that we must look for
hiding-places."

They descended to the first floor. They found that the space behind the
great room was divided into a number of chambers. All of these, with the
exception of the small one on the sea-face, were necessarily in absolute
darkness, and in all were brackets for torches, similar to those in the
principal chamber. Bertie counted them, and found that, including those
first met with, they numbered one hundred and twenty-three.

"How much do you think they weigh apiece?" he asked Harry when the tour
was finished.

"I have not the slightest idea, Bertie. I should think about fifteen
pounds, but it may be five pounds less than that. They would certainly
give a very nasty knock on the head."

"Oh, I was not thinking of knocks on the head. If there are a hundred bars
at fifteen pounds apiece, it is a big amount of silver; if they are only
ten pounds each--and really I think that is nearer the mark--they weigh a
thousand pounds. What is silver worth a pound?"

"It varies. You can put it at five shillings an ounce; that would be three
pounds sterling for one of silver--three thousand pounds in a rough
calculation for the lot."

"Well, that is not a bad beginning, Harry; it would pay all the expenses
and leave a couple of thousand over."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "A drop in the ocean as far as I am
concerned, Bertie. Still, it is a beginning; and you may be sure that they
did not take all this trouble to guard this castle for the sake of three
thousand pounds' worth of silver."

They now went down to the next floor. Here there were two staircases, and
the space was divided into two parts by a wall along the centre. There
were no openings whatever for light. One half had evidently been devoted
to arms. Here still lay hundreds of spear-shafts, tens of thousands of
arrows, piles of hide shields, and caps of the same material.

"This store must have been larger than was required for the garrison of
the place," Harry said, "it must have been a reserve for re-arming a whole
tribe."

Besides the arms there were great bales of rough cloth and piles of skins,
all in a marvellous state of preservation owing to the dryness of the air.
After thoroughly examining the room they went up the stairs leading into
it and descended those into the adjoining chamber. This was divided into
compartments by transverse walls four feet shorter than the width, thereby
leaving a passage through from end to end. Here in confusion--for the most
part turned inside out--were sacks of matting and bags of leather. One of
the compartments was filled with great jars arranged in tiers. Some of the
compartments were quite empty.

"I think, señor, that these were stores of loose grain, probably maize. I
do not see a single grain left."

They looked carefully round with the torches. "This carries out our idea,
Dias, that the people upstairs died of hunger. I have no doubt, as you
say, that the sacks did contain grain. If these had been cleared in the
ordinary way there would certainly remain a good deal loosely scattered
about. They might have been full or half-full at the time the place was
left as we found it. Possibly, instead of ten men, the garrison may have
been ten times as strong at first, but in the fifty or hundred years
before the last survivors died they may have dwindled to a tenth of that
number. However, it is plain that, as you say, the store of food was not
carried away, but was consumed to the last grain. In the same way you can
see, by the way the sacks and bags are tumbled about and turned inside
out, how careful was the search for any remnant that might have been
overlooked when they were first emptied. It all points to starvation."

Three of the largest divisions bore evident traces that at some time or
other, animals, probably llamas or vicuñas, had been closely penned there.
Another had been occupied by a store of hay, some of which still remained.
When they had thoroughly examined this room, Harry looked at his watch and
said, "It is late in the afternoon--our torches are nearly finished;
however, there is time for a casual look round at the cellars below. To-
morrow we will begin a regular search there."

They descended by the staircase to the basement.

"How narrow this place is!" Bertie exclaimed. "It is not much more than
half the width of the room above."

"Of course it is not; the two rooms above occupied the whole width of the
house, these only occupy the width between the passage and the rock-wall
on each side. You see, the tunnel is twelve feet wide, and we may take it
that these walls are at least three feet thick--it is not as if they had
been built of brick, or even of stones cut to shape. They knew nothing of
the arch, and, as you saw outside, this came up nearly to a point. The
stones were longer and longer with each course, each projecting over the
one below it, until, when they were within two feet of joining, a very
long slab was laid across them. The stones may be three feet wide at the
bottom and ten feet at the top, and you see the wall extends over here in
the same way--as of course it must have done, otherwise the whole thing
would have overbalanced and fallen in before that slab at the top was
added. So, you see, there is the width of the tunnel, twelve feet, and the
two walls, say six feet more, to be taken off the fifty feet. So the
cellars by the side of the passage can only be about sixteen feet and a
half at this end, which is what they seem to be, and will go away to
nothing at the other end, as we shall see presently."

The first thing they saw was a sunken tank in the floor. This was full of
water. It was about four feet square, and on sounding it with one of the
ramrods, they found it was about the same in depth, the water coming to
within a foot of the top. It was against the wall facing the ravine.

"This must have some connection with the stream. Otherwise it would have
been dry long ago."

"We did not see any hole when we went down the passage," Bertie said.

"No. Most likely a hole something like this was cut in the rock outside,
and a pipe driven to the bottom of this cistern. They would only have to
fill the one in the tunnel with cut blocks to within a foot of the
surface, and with smaller stones to the same level as the bed of the
stream; then the water in the cistern would always be level with that
outside. They put it in this end so as to be well out of reach of the salt
water farther in. They were no fools who built this place. However closely
they were besieged, and even if the enemy occupied the space in front of
the house, their water-supply was secure."

"But in time of floods, Harry, if the water rose a foot in the passage--
and we saw it did more than that--it would flood the whole of this
basement."

"That is so, Bertie; but you may be sure that there was some provision
against that. They would have some valve that they could shut, or possibly
there was a block of wood covered with leather that they could push into
the pipe at the bottom of this cistern."

Beyond a considerable store of firewood, in large and small blocks,
nothing could be seen in the chamber.

"I expect these two places were used as prisons," Harry said, "though in
case a very large force were assembled some may have slept here. At
ordinary times the upper rooms would be quite sufficient. But you see they
had to build the whole height of the rocky arch, and they wanted the
entrance to the place to be so far above the ground-level that it would be
extremely difficult for an enemy to climb into it. A hostile force could
only have come in at that entrance, and a small body of determined men
might have held it against a host. These lower chambers were simply
cellars; the store-rooms were above them, and the habitable part of the
castle. Now let us look at the chamber on the other side; no doubt we
shall find it just like this."

This proved to be the case. There were another cistern and more piles of
firewood, otherwise it was empty. After a short survey they returned to
the main chamber, bringing up with them two of the empty leather bags. In
these they placed the bones of the dead, the remains all crumbling when
touched, as the first skeleton had done. The bags were lowered to the
ground, and the four searchers descended and carried them to the mouth of
the ravine. In a spare bag which they brought with them they placed the
bones of the two skeletons on the steps, and then carried them all out to
the open valley.

"We will bury them when we move the camp down here to-morrow morning,"
Harry said. "We forgot the two up at that window. That is no matter, we
can throw them out to-morrow; they will lie as well at the bottom of the
sea as in the earth here."

Not much was said as they returned to the castle. They had been a very
silent party all day. The gloom and darkness, the way in which their
voices echoed in the empty hall, had exercised a depressing effect on
them; and Donna Maria, generally the most talkative of the party, had not
quite recovered from the shock which the exit of the bats had given her.
It was not until she had cooked a meal, and they all sat down to it, that
they quite recovered their spirits. They had found José awaiting their
return. He had a blazing fire, having brought down as much firewood as he
could carry, and Dias had briefly told him the result of their
explorations.

"Well, Harry, what do you think altogether?" Bertie asked after the meal
was over.

"I think we ought to be very well satisfied," he replied. "Everything has
borne out the ideas we had. The castle may have been built as a fortress
by some great chief, certainly before the time of the Incas, or it may
have been used for a prison. The ornaments and things we found showed that
it was known to the Incas. They would have had no occasion to use it when
they were undisputed masters of the country, but when the troubles came
with the Spaniards a garrison was placed here, and possibly some of their
chiefs took refuge in the place. Then came the time when all opposition to
the invaders ceased, and only a small body of men were left here to guard
the secret, and the treasure if there were any. Generations may have
passed before the last of the garrison died of hunger, and probably all
others who were in the secret fell in some insurrection or died in the
mines. All this seems plain enough, except that possibly there was no
treasure. That left by the Chimoos may have been discovered by the Incas.
I should think it extremely likely that the ship Dias mentioned as setting
out with a large amount of treasure was intended to land its stores here.

"It may have done so, or it may have sunk at sea. I am inclined to think
that it was lost, because the traditions concerning these hidden treasures
seem to be extremely accurate; and yet, as Dias says, none tell of any
Inca treasure being concealed here. However, it is quite possible that the
treasure did come here and was landed, and that the ship was then broken
up, so that it might be supposed she was lost at sea, and that this was
kept so profound a secret by the men here, that the news was never
generally known even among the natives. So far our search to-day has been
successful, but I see that a hunt for the treasure will be a very
difficult one. Certainly in the upper chambers there doesn't appear any
possibility of such a hiding-place existing. The whole space is accounted
for. The walls are all of solid stone, and have no special thickness. If
the roofs had been arched there might be empty spaces on each side of the
spring of the arch, but they are supported by pillars or walls, with only
just space between the floors for the beams of solid stone. Of course it
is in the lowest room that one would expect to find hiding-places like
those we saw at Pachacamac." He paused.

"Well, why should they not be there, Harry?"

"Because, as we saw, the floor is at most twelve inches above the water-
level. How is it possible that they could have constructed chambers below
that level, that is in the bed of a torrent? It is probable that the solid
rock lies many feet below the bed of the stream. A portion of that great
arch must from time to time have fallen into it; and it may be that the
river once ran forty or fifty feet below its present level. In all the
places that we have seen these treasure chambers were formed in solid
adobe foundations, as the temples always stood on artificial terraces.
With all our appliances at the present time it would be next to impossible
to sink in a stratum of great rock fragments below the water level, and I
do not believe that the old people here could have done so even had it
been a solid rock. The difficulties of excavating chambers in it would
have been enormous. They could split rocks with the grain, and all the
stone walls we have seen were made of regular pieces, and evidently formed
of stone so split. They were able to give them a sort of facing with great
labour, but the tools they had were not made of material hard enough to
work in solid rock, and the labour of excavating such chambers would have
been stupendous. Therefore I am at a loss to imagine where any such
chambers can be in that castle."

Dias nodded gravely. He had been with travellers who had done a great deal
of excavation, and he was able to understand Harry's argument. Maria, who
was listening attentively, also understood it. José simply rolled
cigarettes and smoked them. It was a matter for his elders, and he did not
even try to follow what Harry was saying. There was some minutes' silence,
and then Bertie said, "But the floors are all even."

"What do you mean, Bertie?" Harry asked in a puzzled tone.

"I mean, Harry, that they run straight along. There is no dip in them."

"Of course there isn't. Who ever heard of building floors on the slope?"

"Yes, that is what I mean. We know that the tunnel slopes down its own
height. It is twelve feet high at the entrance, and at the lower end it is
some inches below the level, so it falls twelve feet at least. At the end
where the cistern is, the floor of the basement is only a few inches above
the bottom of the passage; therefore at the other end it must be twelve
feet above the water-level."

"You are right, Bertie!" Harry exclaimed. "What a fool I was not to think
of it! There must be a space underneath it a hundred feet long, sloping
from nothing down to twelve feet. There is room for a dozen chambers such
as those we saw on each side of the tunnel. Well done, Bertie! you have
given me fresh hope. It would be a splendid hiding-place, for any
searchers who came down and saw the water in the cistern would believe at
once that, as neither the Chimoos nor the Incas could have known how to
build under water, there was no use in searching for hidden chambers under
this floor. You see, neither of them had any knowledge of cement or
mortar. All their bricks and stones are laid without anything of the sort;
and whatever amount of labour was available no chamber could be made under
water, for as fast as holes were dug the water would come in, and even if
they could line it with stone-work the water would penetrate through the
cracks. Now, Dias, that we see with certainty where we have to dig, we can
make our preparations. I will write down a list of the things we decided
the other day we should want:--Six kegs of powder, two hundred feet of
fuse, four boring-tools, six steel wedges, the smallest smith's fire you
can buy--for we shall have to sharpen the tools,--six borers, a large
bundle of torches, four sledge-hammers--we have enough pickaxes and
shovels,--and another fifty fathoms, that is a hundred yards, of rope. I
don't know anything else that we shall want in the mining way.

"You and your wife had better settle what provisions you must get. We
shall certainly need a good supply of flour--a couple of sacks, I should
think--tea, coffee, and sugar, dried or salted meat. And you might get a
supply of smoked fish. I have no doubt that we shall catch fresh fish here
in the sea, but we shall all be too busy to spend much time on that. You
had better get three or four gallons of pulque; one cannot be always
drinking coffee. We have still got a good stock of whisky and brandy. Your
wife will certainly want a good supply of red pepper and other things for
her stews. It would not be a bad thing to have a couple of crates of
poultry. Don't pack them too closely, or half of them will be smothered
before you get them here. Dead meat would be of no use, for it won't keep
in this heat. We can turn them all out in the courtyard in front of the
castle, and they can pick up their living there among the lower slopes of
the cliffs. We can give them a few handfuls of grain a day. Don't get too
many cocks, and let the hens be young ones. They ought to supply us with
plenty of eggs and some broods of chickens. You must calculate what the
weight will be, and take the mules accordingly."

"Very well, señor. I need not be away more than three days at most. It is
only about twenty miles to Ancon."

"You might take the two llamas down with you and sell them there. They
have done good work, and I should not like to kill and eat them. So mind
you sell them to someone who wants them for carriage work. We shall not
require them any more for that purpose. Will you want to take José with
you?"

"I think not, señor, for I should say that four baggage mules will be
ample, and I can lead them myself; and certainly you will find José useful
here."

Dias and his wife then withdrew a short distance from the fire, and
engaged in an animated conversation as to the things she required.

"Don't stint matters," Harry said, raising his voice. "We may be here for
the next two or three months, and the less frequently you have to go down
to buy things the better. It would be easy to account for your first
purchases by saying that you were going on an expedition to the mountains,
but you could not go to the place with the same story again."

"There are other places I can go to, señor; but I will get a good store of
everything this time."

Dias started at daybreak with four mules and the two llamas. The others
rolled up the tent-beds and the remaining stores, loaded up the other
mules, and moved down to the mouth of the ravine. Here they pitched the
little tents again.

"They will form a central point for the mules to come to," Harry said. "We
will leave the sacks of maize here, but give the animals a good feed now.
They will be sure to keep close to the spot. All the other things we will
carry into the castle; but before we start we will bury these bags of
bones."

When this was done, and the saddles taken off and piled together against
the rocks, the other things were made up in portable packets, and they
started up the ravine. They made three journeys before everything was
brought to the foot of the ladder leading up to the window. Then the two
brothers mounted, and hauled the things up with a rope which José, who
remained below, fastened to them. When the last was up he went to the foot
of the rock and brought several armfuls of the wood he had thrown down on
the previous day. This was also hauled up.

"You had better fetch some more, José. We mean to keep a big fire burning
here night and day; it will make the place cheerful. I will have a fire
also burning where we are at work below. Now, señora, we will rig up some
blankets on a line between the pillars at the end of the room opposite to
that in which we found the skeletons, so as to make a special apartment
for you and Dias. We will spread our beds at night near the fire."

The screen was soon made. A cord was run from the wall to the pillar next
to it, some five feet above the floor, and three blankets were sufficient
to fill the space.

Harry was about to make another line from the pillar, when Maria said:

"I would rather not, señor; I am not a bit afraid. This screen is quite
large enough, and it will be more cheerful not to be shut up altogether,
as then, when I am lying down, I can see the reflection of the fire on the
walls, and it will be much more cheerful."

Then a blazing fire was lit. The wood was almost as dry as tinder, and
burnt without smoke. It was built almost touching the back wall, in which,
some five feet above the fire, Harry with a pick made a hole four inches
deep.

While he was doing this, José went down and cut a sapling four inches in
diameter, growing in a cleft on the rock, and from this cut off two six-
foot lengths and brought them up. One end of the thickest of these was
driven into the hole and tightly wedged in there, the other end was lashed
securely to an upright beam.

"There, Maria," he said when it was finished, "you will be able to hang
your pots and kettles from that at any height you like above the fire.
Now, you can set to work as soon as you like, to get breakfast for us. We
have been at work for four or five hours, and have good appetites."

"I have the cakes ready to bake, señor, and I sha'n't be long before I get
an olla ready for you."

"Well, José, what do you think of the place?" Harry asked.

"I should like it better if it were not so big," the lad said. "I shall
want a broom, señor, to sweep out the dust."

"It is three inches deep," Maria said.

"I should not bother about that, Maria; it would be a tremendous job to
sweep such a big room, and the dust is so fine that it would settle again
and cover everything. Besides, it will be a good deal softer to lay our
beds on than the stones would be, so I think you had better let it remain
as it is, especially as you are fond of going about without your shoes. I
think I will rig up a blanket against the doorway. It will make the place
look a good deal more snug, and will keep the bats from returning."

"I am not afraid of the bats, now I know what they are; but I should be
constantly expecting them to rush out again."

"I expect a good many went back last night," Harry said. "We won't put the
blankets up till after dark. They are sure to come out again; then, as
soon as they have gone, we will close it, and they won't be able to get in
when they come back before daybreak."

Harry's expectations were fulfilled. At dusk a stream of bats rushed out
again, but this time quite noiselessly. The rush lasted for three or four
minutes. As soon as they had gone, the blankets were hung up, and fastened
across the doorway.

"They will be puzzled when they come back."

"Yes, señor," Maria said; "but when they find that they can't get in here,
they will come in through the openings above."

"So they will; I did not think of that. But when they once find that they
cannot get out here in the evening, they will go out where they came in,
and we shall have no more trouble with them. I don't know whether they are
good to eat?"

Maria gave a little cry of horror.

"Oh, señor! I could not eat such horrible things!"

"Their appearance is against them, Maria; but when people eat alligators,
frogs, snakes, and even rats, I don't see why a bat should be bad.
However, we won't touch them unless we are threatened by starvation."

"I should indeed be starving before I could touch bats' flesh, señor."

"Well," Harry said, "if people eat monkeys, rats, and squirrels--and it
seems to me that a bat is something of a mixture of the three--one might
certainly eat bats, and if we are driven to it I should not mind trying;
but I promise you that I won't ask you to cook them."

They chatted for another hour, and then Maria went off to her corner. The
brothers spread their beds by the fire, and José had his blanket and
poncho, and it was arranged that any of them who woke should put fresh
logs on the fire.

They were all roused just before dawn by a squeaking and twittering noise.
They threw on fresh logs, and as these blazed up they could see a cloud of
bats flying overhead. They kept on going to the doorway, and when they
found they could not get through they retired with angry squeaks. The
light was gradually breaking, and in a few minutes all had flown out
through the opening. Harry and his brother followed them, and could see
them flitting about the upper windows. Presently, as if by a common
impulse, they poured in through the various openings.

"I don't suppose we shall see any more of them," Harry said, "and I own
that I shall be glad. There is something very weird in their noiseless
flitting about, and in the shadows the fire casts on the ceiling."

"They are a great deal larger than any bats I have seen," Bertie said.

"I have seen as large, or larger, at Bombay and some of the towns on the
coast."

"They bite people's toes when they are asleep, don't they?"

"Yes, the great vampire bat does, but I have never heard of any others
doing so. They live on insects, and some of them are, I believe,
vegetarian."

"Are vampire bats found here?"

"I do not think so; I fancy that they inhabit Java and other islands in
the Malay Archipelago. However, they are certainly rare, wherever they
come from, and you can dismiss them altogether from your mind."

"I was glad when I heard your voices, señors," Maria said when she
appeared a quarter of an hour later. "I knew they would not hurt me; but I
was horribly frightened, and wrapped myself up in my blanket and lay there
till I heard you talking, and I heard the logs thrown on the fire; then I
felt that it was all right."

"I don't suppose they will come again, Maria."

After drinking a cup of coffee, with a small piece of maize cake, Bertie
said:

"What is the programme for to-day?"

"We can't do much till Dias comes back. We may as well go down and have a
look at the lower rooms. I don't think there is much dust on the floor
there, but while José is away looking after the mules we will cut enough
bushes to make a couple of brooms. We shall want the place swept as clean
as possible, so that we can look about, but I don't think there is the
least chance of our being able to move the stones. Before we do anything
we will go down to the pool and have a swim, and dive out through the
entrance and have a look at those rocks."

"That is right," Bertie said. "I was longing for one yesterday morning,
but of course the first thing to be done was to examine this place."

"Would it be safe for me to bathe, señor?"

"Quite safe, Maria; the slope is very gradual, and you need have no fear
of getting out of your depth suddenly. We will be off at once, Bertie."




CHAPTER XVII

AT WORK


Harry and his brother went to the edge of the pool, where they undressed
and waded out. They found that the bottom of the passage sloped more
gradually at the edge of the water than it did higher up, and they were
able to walk out till they came to the point where the roof dipped into
the water. They dived, and in a few strokes came up beyond the roof.

"This is glorious!" Bertie said. "We have often bathed in pools, but this
is a different thing altogether. It is more than a year since we had our
last dip in the sea, the day we arrived at Callao."

Although there was little or no wind, the rollers were breaking on the
line of rocks outside, pouring over the lower points in volumes of foam,
and coming in broken waves up the passage.

"We mustn't go beyond the point, Bertie, or we may be dashed against the
foot of the cliff. We will climb up that rock to the left; it is not too
steep, and I think we can manage it. From there we shall get a good view
of this side of the house and of the situation in general."

It required considerable care to climb the rocks, and more than once they
hurt their feet on sharp projections. The top of the rock, however, was
smooth by the action of time and sea, and they were able to sit down on it
in comfort.

"The castle is just as you described it, Bertie; and certainly no one
sailing past, however close he came outside these rocks, would be able to
detect it. No doubt the stone of which it is built is the same as that of
the cliffs. Most likely it was taken from the ravine where the passage now
is, and had fallen from the arch above. It might have been more noticeable
at first, but now it is weathered into exactly the same tint as the
cliffs. The openings are very dodgily placed, and a stranger would not
dream that they went many inches in. Now, from where we stand we can look
up into that curious opening on the top story. I have been puzzling over
that ever since I saw it, but can't think of any possible reason for its
having been cut like that, except to enable them to throw stones on to any
boat that came into this passage behind the rocks; and yet that can hardly
have been the case, for, as I remarked, there are no stones piled up
there. Certainly they had a very large number of arrows, but stones would
be very much more useful than arrows against a boat almost under their
feet. However, that does not concern us now. This line of rocks must
greatly aid in hiding the house from the sea. They are higher than you
thought they were, looking down at them from above. We are quite thirty
feet above the water, and at two or three points they are at least ten or
twelve feet higher. Of course a short way out no one would be able to see
that they were detached from the cliff, or that there was any passage
whatever behind them.

"Besides, they break the force of the waves. If it was not for them it
would be impossible for any boat to come up close to the face of the
house, and a heavy storm might even break down the wall altogether. A
tremendous sea would roll in here in a westerly gale; and if it hadn't
been for these rocks it would have been necessary to build the lower part
of the house absolutely solid to resist the sea. It is possible that the
rocks were higher than they now are when the place was first constructed,
in which case the house might have been almost entirely hidden from sight.
Well, we may as well go back again, Bertie; we know all there is to be
known about this side."

They swam back into the tunnel, dressed, and went out.

"We have come out, Maria," Bertie called. "The coast is clear for you. The
water is not so deep as we thought it was, and you can walk out to the
point where the roof comes down on to the water without getting out of
your depth."

It did not take them long to cut a number of switches to serve as brooms,
and a couple of handles. They carried them up into the house, and lashed
the switches firmly on to the handles. The work was rough, but the brooms
when completed were large, and, although not strong enough for heavy work,
would do well to sweep aside the thin layer of almost impalpable dust on
the floor below.

"Shall we take wood down there, Harry?"

"No; I think a fire would be a drawback rather than an assistance. It
would be very valuable if we were working at one spot, but it could give
no general light in a place a hundred feet long. We will take a torch
down, and hold it and sweep by turns. We shall only want, to begin with,
to make a clear path a couple of feet wide down the middle. Of course
later on we shall clear it all. That will be sufficient to enable us to
see how the floor is constructed, whether with big blocks or small ones,
how closely they are fitted together, and so on. It is certainly unlikely
that we shall find any indication as to where chambers exist."

It took but a very short time to clear the path; the dust was so light
that one sweep of the broom cleared it away. When they got to the farther
end they returned to examine the floor. For four or five feet from the
cistern the rock had been evidently untouched, except to cut off any
projecting points. Then there was a clear line running across the path.
Bertie held the torch down close to it. Harry knelt down and examined it.

"This is a clean cut, Bertie. It is evidently solid above this, but the
stone is not quite the same colour on each side of it, and it looks as if
they had cut away the rock here and begun to build so as to keep the floor
level. The cut may be six inches deep and it may be a foot, that doesn't
matter. The face of this stone is very smooth, but it is not cut; it is, I
think, the face of the natural fracture. Move the torch along and let us
see where the next join is. Ah, here it is!"

The slab was four feet across.

"You had better sweep the dust off both ways, Bertie, so that we may see
what size it is."

It was, they found, about eight feet long.

"It has straight edges, Harry, almost as straight as if it had been sawn."

"Very likely it was sawn, Bertie; They could have had no tools that would
cut a hard stone like this regularly, but as they were certainly clever
builders they must have employed some means to do it. Possibly they used a
saw without teeth, for however much they might have hardened the copper,
the teeth could not have stood, but if they had a hard copper band fixed
like the saw some masons use, and kept the stone moistened with fine sand,
they might have cut into it. Of course it would have been a slow process;
but they would not have needed to go far into the stone, for when they got
down two or three inches they might have broken it through by dropping a
heavy weight on the end. It would not have mattered if the fracture had
not been straight below the cut, for only on the surface would they have
wanted to fit accurately to the next stone. In another way they might have
got a straight edge, that is, by driving very dry wedges into the cut made
by the saw, and then moistening them. I know that great stones can be
split in that way. They may have used both methods. However, it doesn't
matter to us much how they did it. It is clear that they could in some way
or other cut stones. As they took the trouble to do so here, we may
conclude that they were anxious to have a smooth floor that would be
extremely difficult to get up.

"They would never have taken all this trouble if they had merely been
making a floor for a cellar. For that purpose it would only have been
necessary to throw rocks and stones of all sizes into the vacant space
below, and when it was nearly full, to level it with small stones and
sand. That they chose to undertake such tremendous labour as the making of
so regular a floor as this must have been, shows that they had some very
strong motive for doing so."

Going carefully along the track they had cleared, they found that the
stones were of different sizes; some were but two feet wide, others as
much as ten, but all fitted so closely together that it was difficult to
see the joints.

"It is going to be a hard job to get these out, Bertie," Harry said, when
they had completed their examination, "and it is lucky for us that the
room gradually narrows from sixteen feet wide to two at the other end, and
when we stepped it we made it eighty feet long. We need not take up the
stones near the rock wall, for the ravine would naturally narrow as it
went lower, and the depth would be greatest by the side of the wall of the
tunnel."

"Well, we shall soon blow up the stones when we have got the powder."

"I hope so, Bertie; but I see that we shall have difficulty unless these
top stones are extraordinarily thick."

Bertie looked surprised. "Why, I should have thought the thicker they were
the more difficult to break up."

"Beyond a certain point that would be so. But suppose they are six inches
thick, you may take it for granted that underneath there will be rubble,
loose stuff, except where any chambers may be built. If we were to bore a
hole through this top layer the powder, instead of splitting the stones
up, would expend its force among the loose stuff beneath it; and besides,
instead of remaining in its place, it might get scattered, and we would
then get no explosion at all."

"Then we should only have to make the hole four inches deep, Harry?"

"As a result of which there would only be two inches of tamping over the
powder, and this would blow right out, as if from a little mortar, and
would have no effect whatever upon the stone. I have no doubt that we
shall find some way to get over these difficulties, but it is evident that
the work will not be all clear sailing."

"Of course we shall manage it somehow, Harry, even if we have to smash up
all the stones with the sledge-hammers Dias will bring us."

"Is breakfast nearly ready, señora? That swim in the sea has given us a
prodigious appetite. Did you enjoy it?"

Maria nodded.

"It is very nice, señor; but I should have liked it better if the water
had not been so blue. It seems so strange bathing in blue water."

"You will soon get accustomed to it," Bertie laughed. "There are no pools
except that one two miles up the valley. Besides, it is much nicer to have
a great bathing chamber all to yourself. Here comes José!"

"Well, José, are the mules all right?" he shouted.

"Yes, but I had difficulty in catching them. They had evidently been
frightened by something, and were three miles up the valley with their
coats all staring. It must have been either a puma or a jaguar. Of course
they must have got wind of him in time; but as, fortunately, they were not
tethered, they were able to get away from him."

"I should think he must be up somewhere among the bushes, José," Harry
said. "We had better go down tonight and see if he returns again. We shall
be losing some of the mules if we don't put a stop to his marauding
Besides, it will be very dangerous for you, José, cutting the wood up
there, if he is lurking somewhere. It is fortunate that you escaped
yesterday."

"I expect he was on the other side of the ravine, señor; and even if he
had not been, the sound of the chopping would have scared him. They will
not often attack in the daytime."

When they had finished their breakfast José asked what he should do next.

"There is nothing else to do, so it would be as well to take our pickaxes
and get some of those brackets out of the walls. We will begin with the
other rooms of this floor and leave these here till the last."

"I will come and hold a torch for you, señors," Maria said. "I like to be
doing something. I will wash up first, and then I shall have nothing to do
till it is time to get ready for dinner. Now I know there is a savage
beast about I should not like to go down the ladder."

"There is very little chance of his coming down the rocks," Harry said.
"He is more likely to be lying somewhere on the other side watching the
mules."

No move was made until the woman was ready to start. Then they lit two
torches. She took one and Bertie the other, while José and Harry took two
picks. It was hard work, for the brackets were driven far into the pillars
and walls. It was necessary to knock away the stones round them to a depth
of two or three inches before they could be got out. They worked one at
each side of a bracket, relieving each other by turns, and after four
hours' work only eighteen brackets had been got out. As far as they could
tell by lifting them, the weight was somewhat greater than they had at
first supposed. Harry could hold one out in each hand for a minute and a
half, Bertie and José for a little over half a minute, and they agreed
that they must be about twenty pounds each.

By this time their shoulders ached, and it was agreed that they had done a
good day's work. For the rest of the day they did nothing but sit on the
sill of the window and smoke quietly. The next day's work was similar, and
twenty more brackets were got out. Late in the afternoon they saw Dias
coming down the steps, and at once went down the ladder to meet him.

"Have you got everything, Dias?"

"I think so, señor, and I can tell you that the mules have had a pretty
heavy load to bring back."

"Well, we will go with you at once, Dias, and bring some of the things up.
I expect you have had nothing to eat since the morning. Before you do
anything else you had better go in. Your wife has been keeping a dish hot
for you, as she did not know when you might arrive."

"I shall not be long before I come and help you, señor. I have unsaddled
the mules and turned them out to graze."

"It is just as well, Dias, for there is a beast somewhere about that gave
them a fright last night. We will get all the eatables up to-night, the
powder and drills and hammers we can very well leave till to-morrow
morning."

It took them four trips to bring the provisions over, for it required two
of them to carry each sack of flour, and indeed all had to give their aid
in getting them up the rocky slope at the foot of the wall.

"No one seemed to think it unusual, your taking so large a load, I hope,
Dias?" Harry said as they sat down to their evening meal.

"No, señor. The man I bought the powder of was a little surprised at the
amount I wanted; but I said that I might be absent many weeks in the
mountains, and might want to drive a level in any lode that I might
discover. I led him to believe that I had seen a spot in the mountains
that gave good indications, and that two of my comrades were waiting there
for my return to begin work at it. I sold the llamas to a man who carries
goods from Ancon up to Canta, and got the same price that you gave for
them."

Harry then told him the work on which he had been engaged since he had
been away.

"Of course there is no hurry about the brackets, but as we could do
nothing else without the powder and drills, it was just as well to get
them out, as otherwise we might have been delayed when we had done our
other work. We think that they weigh twenty pounds each, so that
altogether they will be worth nearly four thousand pounds. Not a bad
start. I am afraid we sha'n't make such quick work down below."

"We shall see," Dias said cheerfully, for now that his fear of the demons
had passed he was as eager as Harry himself to begin the search for the
treasure.

"Has Maria seen any more bats?"

"Yes, she has seen some more bats," his wife said, "but no demons. Dias,
what do you think? Don Harry suggested that we might eat the bats."

"I have heard of their being eaten," Dias said, "and a man who ate them
raw told me that he had never enjoyed anything more. But I should not like
to try it myself, unless I were driven to it as he was."

"How was that, Dias?"

"He was a muleteer, señor, and was up in the mountains. He had a cargo of
silver on his mule, and during the day he had seen some men who he doubted
not were brigands on the top of the ravine he passed through. He knew of a
cavern where he had once taken refuge with the animals during a storm. It
lay on the hillside some twenty or thirty yards away from the road. The
entrance was hidden by bushes, and he had first noticed it by seeing a
bear come out as he was passing along. He had his pistols, and thought
that it was better to risk meeting a bear than a brigand. He arrived
opposite the cave just as it became dark, and at once led the mules up
there. He first lighted a torch--the muleteers always carry these with
them--and then went in with his pistols ready, but there were no signs of
a bear anywhere near the entrance.

"He drove the mules in and put out his torch. The entrance had been only
wide enough for the laden animals to pass, but it widened out a great deal
inside. He took off the loads, piled them up in the narrow part to make a
barricade, and then sat down at the entrance and listened. He soon heard
five or six men come down the road talking. They were walking fast, and
one was saying that he could not be more than half a mile ahead, and that
they should soon catch him. When they had gone, he went some distance in
the cave and relighted his torch. He went on and on. The cave was a very
large one, and when he had gone, as he thought, four or five hundred
yards, it branched off into three. He took the middle one, and followed it
for a long way. At last it opened into a large chamber from which there
were several passages. Here he found a large number of things that had
evidently been stolen from muleteers. There were at least a dozen mule
loads of silver; goods of all kinds that had been brought up from the
coast; the ashes of fires, and a great many bones and skins of llamas, and
some sacks of flour.

"He thought he would now return to the mules; but apparently he entered
the wrong passage, for he went on till he felt sure he ought to be in the
chamber where he had left the animals, and he was turning to go back when
he tripped over a stone and fell, and his torch went out. Then he felt in
his pocket for his box of matches, and to his horror found that it had
gone. It must have dropped out when he was examining the passages. He did
not think much of it at first, but he had passed several openings on his
way, and in the dark he probably turned down one of these. At any rate he
lost his way somehow, and wandered about, he thinks, for hours; but it
might have been much less, for he told me that he quite lost his head. At
last he came out into a place where he could only feel the rock on one
side of him, and knew that he must be in a large chamber.

"Looking up he saw, to his joy, a faint light, and moving a little, caught
sight of a star. He was utterly worn out, and threw himself down. He was
awakened by a strange rustling sound, and looking up saw that daylight was
breaking, and that a stream of bats was pouring in through a hole, which
was about three feet wide. He made several efforts to climb up to it, but
failed. The bats hung thickly from every projecting point in the rocks. He
hurt himself badly in one of the attempts to get up, and twisted his foot.
All day he lay there. Then the idea struck him that he would kill a bat,
cut it open, and use it as a poultice to his foot. The creatures did not
move when he touched them, and he cut off the head of one of them and
split it open. He did this three or four times during the day, and felt
that the application was easing the pain of his ankle.

"When it became dusk the bats flew out again, and he knew his only chance
was to keep his ankle perfectly rested. In the morning he killed some more
bats. He was by this time tortured with thirst, and sucked the blood of
one of them, and in the afternoon ate one raw. Another night passed, and
in the morning he felt so much better that he could make another trial. He
ate another bat to give him strength, and in the middle of the day made a
fresh attempt. He had while lying there carefully examined the wall of
rock, at the top of which was the opening, and had made up his mind at
what point would be best to try. This time he succeeded. He made his way
down the hillside, and found that he was a quarter of a mile higher up the
pass than the spot at which he had left the mules. He hobbled down, and to
his delight found his animals still in the cavern.

"He had when he first got there opened their sack of grain in order to
ensure their keeping quiet. There was still some remaining at the bottom.
He lost no time in loading them and leading them out, and made his way
down the pass without seeing anything of the robbers. Afterwards he went
back there with a good supply of torches, found his way to the cave, and
brought down two mule-loads of silver. Gradually he brought the rest of
the goods down, and today he is a rich man."

"Well, I think under those circumstances, Dias, I would have eaten bats
myself. It was certainly a clever idea of his to convert them into
poultices, though the general opinion is that cold bandages are the best
for a sprained ankle."

Then they discussed their plans for the next day. "I know nothing about
blasting, señor. You give me instructions, and I will do my best to carry
them out; but it is useless for me to talk of what I know nothing about."

"There is a lot of common sense in that, and yet in every work, Dias,
sometimes while a skilled man is puzzling how to do a thing a looker-on
will suggest a satisfactory plan. That treasure has been buried there I
have no doubt whatever. They would never have gone to the labour of paving
those cellars as carefully as they have done unless for some special
purpose. The floor was undoubtedly made when the house was built, and if
we find treasure-chambers there they will be those of the old people. Of
course they may have been discovered by the Incas, and when they in turn
wanted to bury treasure this place might occur to them as being
particularly well fitted to escape search by Spaniards. However, to-morrow
we shall learn something more about them. The first thing to do in the
morning, when we have brought up the rest of the goods, is to sweep the
floors of those chambers carefully. When we have done that we will
determine where to set to work."

Two trips brought up the powder and instruments.

"We will take one of the kegs of powder down with us," said Harry, "and
leave the other five in the empty room behind this. It is just as well not
to have them in this room; the sparks fly about, and some things might
catch fire. I don't think there is any real danger, but, at the same time,
it is best to be on the safe side."

"There are a dozen pounds of candles in this bundle, señor. You did not
tell me to get them, but I thought they might be useful."

"Thank you, Dias! they certainly will be useful. What are they?--tallow?"
"Yes, señor."

"Then before we go down we will get a couple of pieces of flat wood, and
drive a peg into each, sharpened at the upper end. Candles stuck on these
will stand upright, and we can put them down close to where we are
working. They will give a better light than a torch, and leave us all free
to use the tools. Did you think of buying some more tinder?"

"Yes, señor, I have five boxes, and half a dozen more flints."

They carried the keg of powder, the sledges, drills, and wedges
downstairs, and then Dias and José set to work to sweep out the two
chambers. The work was easy, but they were obliged to stop several times,
being almost choked with the light dust. Harry and Bertie offered to take
their turn, but the others would not hear of it, and they were glad to go
up to what they called their drawing-room until the work was done and the
dust had settled a little. Then they examined the pavement carefully with
their torches. They had hoped that they might find either copper rings, or
at least holes where rings had been fastened, but there were no signs
whatever of such things in either of the chambers.

"We will begin to work half-way down," Harry said. "Of course the treasure
may lie near the cistern end, but the depth below the floor would be very
shallow there. More likely the chambers would be at the deep end. If we
begin in the middle we may be pretty sure that we have not passed them. We
will begin rather nearer the passage wall than the other, as the depth
there will be greater. It does not matter which stone we take, one is as
likely as another. Step ten paces from the cistern, Bertie, and the stone
you stop on we will try first."

When Bertie came to a stand-still they carefully examined the pavement.
"You are standing on one of the cracks, Bertie; I will stay there while
you all bring the tools along."

"Shall I open the powder?" Bertie asked.

"No. It is no good doing that until we have quite decided what we are
going to do. The wedges certainly won't go into this crack. I think our
best plan will be to sink a bore-hole about two inches from the crack. We
will drive it in in a slanting direction towards the edge, and in that way
it will have more chance of blowing a piece out. First of all, we must
make a slight indentation with a pick, otherwise we sha'n't get the bore
to work. I will begin."

He took a pick and struck several blows.

"It is very hard stone," he said. "I have scarcely made a mark upon it."

He worked for some time, and then let Bertie take the pick. The lad struck
a blow with all his strength, and then dropped the pick with a loud cry,
wringing his hands as he did so.

"You have jarred your hands, Bertie; you should not hold the haft so
tightly."

"It did sting!" Bertie said. "I feel as if I had taken hold of a red-hot
poker. It has jarred my arm up to the shoulder; I can't go on at present."

"You try, Dias."

Dias went more carefully to work, knelt down on one knee, and proceeded to
give a number of what seemed light blows.

"That is better than I did, Dias. The stone is crumbling into dust, and we
shall be able to use the borer in a short time. Perhaps it will be better
after all to drive the hole down straight. It will be easier to begin
with; when we see how thick the stone is we shall know better how to
proceed."

In ten minutes Dias had made a hole a quarter of an inch deep.

"Now, give me one of the borers--that one about two and a half feet long.
I will hold it, and you strike to begin with, Dias, only mind my fingers.
Keep your eye fixed on the top of the borer, and take one or two gentle
strokes to begin with; then, when you know the distance you have to stand
from it, do your best. You needn't really be afraid of striking my
fingers. I shall hold the drill at least a foot from the top."

Dias began very carefully, gradually adding to the strength of the blows
as he got the right distance, and was soon striking hard. After each blow
Harry turned the borer a slight distance round. When he heard the native's
breath coming fast he told José to take a turn. The lad was nervous; the
first blow he struck only grazed the top of the borer, and narrowly missed
Harry's fingers. José dropped the sledge. "I can't do it, señor; I am
afraid of hitting your fingers. I will sit down and hold it; it does not
matter if you hit me."

"It would matter a good deal, José. No, no; you have got to learn."

"Would it not be well, señor," Dias said, "to take the borers and three
hammers outside, and try them in soft ground? We could work them there
till we all got accustomed always to hit them fair. There would be no
occasion for them to be held, and we should get confident. I could have
hit twice as hard as I did, if I hadn't been afraid of missing it."

"I think that is a very good plan, Dias. The loss of a day or two will
make no difference. We shall make up for it afterwards."

Accordingly the drills and hammers were all taken up, and they were soon
at work. Two or three gentle taps were given to the borers, to make them
stand upright, and then all four began work. At first they often either
missed the heads of the borers or struck them unevenly.

"It is well, Dias, that we carried out your suggestion, as I see I should
have had an uncommonly good chance of getting my fingers smashed, or a
wrist broken. I have missed as often as any of you."

They stopped frequently for breath, and at the end of an hour were glad to
lay down their hammers. Dias was comparatively fresh; his practice as a
woodsman now did him good service.

"I should have thought from the number of trees that I have helped to cut
down," Bertie said, "that I could hit pretty hard, but this is a great
deal stiffer work. I should say that this hammer is at least twice the
weight of the axe, and it is the lightest of the four. I ache a good deal
worse than I did when I first chopped that tree down."

"So do I, Bertie. We will stick at this till we get accustomed to the
work. By doing so we shall gain strength as well as skill."

"I will get some grease, señor, from Maria, and then I will rub your
shoulders, and arms; that will do you a great deal of good."

"Thank you, Dias! It would be a good plan."

Dias did this to José as well as to the brothers, and then José in turn
rubbed him.

They waited half an hour, and then Harry said: "Let us have another
spell." This time a quarter of an hour sufficed. "It is of no use, Harry;
I can't go on any longer," Bertie said. "I feel as if my shoulders were
broken."

"I am beginning to feel the same, Bertie. However, we are all hitting
straighter now. We will go up into the shade and take it quietly for two
or three hours; then we will have a spell again."

However, after the rest, they all agreed that it would be useless to try
again, for they could not lift their arms over their heads without feeling
acute pain. Three days were spent at this exercise, and at the end of that
time they had gained confidence, and the heads of the drills were no
longer missed.

After the first day they only worked for a quarter of an hour at a time,
taking an hour's rest. The pain in their arms had begun to abate. On the
following day they practised striking alternately, three standing round
one borer. They found this at first awkward, but by the end of the day
they were able to strike in regular order, the blows falling faster after
each other on to the drill.

"I think we shall do now," said Bertie. "No doubt we shall hit harder with
a fortnight's practice, and shall be able to keep it up longer. However, I
think that even now we have sufficient confidence in striking to be able
to hold the borer without any fear of an accident."

The next day they began work early in the cellar. José volunteered to take
the first turn to hold the drill.

"You understand, José, you must turn it round a little after each stroke,
and in that way it will cut the hole regularly."

Harry took his place on one side of José, who sat with a leg on each side
of the drill. Dias stood facing Harry, Bertie behind José holding the
torch so that its light fell strongly on the head of the drill. At first
the two men struck gently, but gradually, as they grew confident,
increased the weight of their strokes until they were hitting with their
full power. After ten minutes they stopped. "Let us look at the hole,"
Harry said. "How far has it got down?"

José moved his position and Harry examined the hole. "About an eighth of
an inch," he said. "Let us scrape the dust out of it."

"Shall we take a spell now, Harry?" Bertie said.

"No, we will wait five minutes and then go on again, and after that we
will change places with you, relieving each other every twenty minutes."

The work went on, and at the end of two hours the hole was three inches
deep. Another hour and a half and the drill suddenly went down.

"We are through it," Bertie said, "and I am not sorry."

"Now I will lift the drill up gently, Bertie; do you kneel down, and when
I stop, take hold of it close to the floor, so that we may see the
thickness of the stone."

"Five inches," he said as he measured it. "Now put on a little grease,
Dias. I will lower it again, and we shall be perhaps able then to get some
idea of what is underneath."

He lowered the drill and turned it round two or three times, and then
carefully raised it. Some sand and little stones were sticking to it.

"Sand and gravel," he said. "That settles that point. Now we have done a
good morning's work, and let us go up and have breakfast."

Maria looked enquiringly at them. "I was just coming down for you. Well,
what have you done?"

"We have drilled one hole, Maria, and none of us have got our fingers
smashed, so I think we have every reason to be satisfied with our first
experience at the work."

As they breakfasted they talked matters over. Harry said that he was
certain that the thickness of the stone was not sufficient for them to
break it up by blasting. "We shall have to try some other plan. It is
equally certain that we cannot smash the stone with the sledge-hammers,
and I don't think that the wedges would break it. Of course if we got one
stone out it would be comparatively easy to lift the next, as we could put
the crowbars under it. If we can do it in no other way, we must drill a
line of holes close to each other right across the stone, and we might
then break off the piece between them and the crack and get our crowbars
under the slab. It might be worth while to drill holes a foot apart, from
the point where we have begun to the other end of the room. Of course if
we found that gravel and stones were everywhere under the slabs we should
learn nothing; but the opening to the chambers is probably covered by
another stone, and if we found that, we could put in one or two more holes
so as to be sure that it was flat, in which case we might smash it
somehow. Of course, if we don't come upon a flat stone we shall conclude
that they put a layer of sand and fine gravel over the slabs covering the
vaults, and must then, as I say, get up one stone and gradually lift all
the rest, clearing out the gravel as we go to the depth of a foot or so.
In that way we shall make sure that we shall not miss any chamber there
may be.

"I think that would certainly be the best plan. At present we are groping
altogether in the dark, and it will take us a fortnight at least to make
that row of holes close to each other, as you propose."




CHAPTER XVIII

DISAPPOINTMENT


Six more days were spent in driving holes according to Harry's plan. The
result was in all cases the same. Sand and small stones were brought up
attached to the grease. They had now sunk the holes at a much more rapid
rate than at first, for they were accustomed to the work, their muscles
had hardened, and they were able to strike more frequently and with
greater force. They would have got on still more quickly had it not been
for the trouble in sharpening the drills. These were heated in the small
blacksmith's fire Dias had brought. They were first placed in the fire,
but this was not sufficiently hot to raise them beyond a dull red glow.
When this was done a shovelful of glowing fragments was taken from the
fire and placed on the hearth, and among these the small bellows raised
the ends of the drills to a white heat, when of course they were easily
worked. At first they had some difficulty in tempering them. Sometimes,
when cooled, the points were too soft, at other times too brittle; but at
the end of a week they had arrived at the proper medium. But one of the
party had to work steadily to keep the drills in good order.

Bertie was daily employed at this work, as José generally failed to give
the proper temper to the tools. Bertie, however, generally managed to get
in two or three hours' work below. Although perfectly ready to do his
share, he was by no means sorry to be otherwise employed for a part of the
day, and as he was now able to talk Spanish with perfect fluency he and
Donna Maria maintained a lively conversation whenever they were together.
All the party, however, were glad when Sunday came round and gave them a
day of complete rest; then they would bathe, fish, shoot pigeons, or lie
in the shade, each according to his fancy, and recommence work with fresh
vigour the next morning.

Just a fortnight after they had begun work they were about to begin a hole
in a fresh stone. Talking it over, they had come to the conclusion that
this was the most likely spot in the cellar for the situation of an
underground chamber. Farther on there would scarce be width for one, for
it was here but eight feet across. Where they had already tried there
would scarcely have been depth enough. This seemed to them to be the happy
medium.

Before setting to work Dias passed his torch over the stone. Presently he
stopped. "Will you light two of the candles, señor; the torch flickers too
much to see very plainly."

Somewhat surprised, for no such close examination had been made before,
the candles were lighted and handed to him. Dias knelt down, and, with his
face close to the stone, moved about carefully, examining it for some
minutes without speaking.

"This stone, señor, is broken," he said at last, "broken into a dozen
pieces, and they have been so carefully fitted together again that the
dust that settled upon it quite prevented our seeing it till we swept it
again just now, and it was only because there was a tiny chip out where I
first looked that I noticed it."

Harry knelt down and also examined the stone. Like all the others, it had
not been faced with tools. Consequently, although roughly even, there were
slight irregularities in the surface. Now, as Dias pointed them out to
him, he saw that there were lines running through it here and there.

"Look here, señor. The stone has been struck here. Here are some dents."

These were scarcely noticeable. The surface had taken the same colour as
the rest of the stone. They were of irregular size, and from a quarter of
an inch to an inch in diameter, and nearly in the centre of the stone,
from which point several of the cracks started.

"It certainly looks as if the stone had been struck with something heavy,"
Harry said. "I should think, by the appearance, some very heavy piece of
rock must have been dropped upon it."

"Yes, señor, very heavy rock--so heavy that there must have been many men
to lift it."

"It must have been heavy indeed to break up this slab."

"Perhaps it is not so thick as the others," Dias suggested.

"I don't like it, Dias. Well, let us set to work. We will try the wedges
there. They were no use against the solid stone, but they might move these
pieces. Put one of the borers just at the place from which these cracks
start--at least, I suppose they are cracks--and let us drive it in for an
inch. You hold it, José. Don't turn it, we want it to go in just in a line
with this crack. I know we cannot drive it in far, but at least we may
make it go deep enough to give a wedge a hold in it."

Five such small holes were made in a crack that seemed to form a rough
circle, then the wedges were put in, and they began to work with sledges.
In ten minutes Harry, examining the place carefully, said: "The bit of
stone is breaking up. There are lines running across it from the wedges.
Give me the heaviest sledge." He swung it round his head and brought it
down half a dozen times in the centre of the wedges. The cracks opened so
far that he could see them without stooping.

"Now we will try with the crowbars," he said.

In ten minutes a fragment of the stone was got up; then they hammered on
the wedges again, and a piece of rock, which was roughly seven or eight
inches in diameter, broke completely off.

"It is only about two and a half inches thick," Harry said as he drew one
of the fragments out. And, holding the candle to the hole, he went on:
"And there is another slab underneath. That settles it. We are at the top
of one of these vaults. The question is, is it empty? I am afraid it is.
This stone has evidently been broken up and fitted in again with wonderful
care."

"Why should it be fitted in carefully if they emptied the chamber?"

"That I can't tell you, Dias, and it is of no use trying to guess now.
First of all, we will get the rest of the stone up. It won't be difficult,
for now that we have made a start we can use our crowbars. José, run up
and tell my brother to come down. We shall want him to help with the
crowbar; and besides, he would, of course, wish to be here, now that we
are on the point of making a discovery one way or the other."

In a minute Bertie came down with José, and Donna Maria followed. "José
tells me you have broken a hole in one of the stones," Bertie exclaimed as
he ran up,

"We have got a bit out of a broken stone, Bertie. This stone had been
broken before, and evidently not by accident. It is only half the
thickness of the others, and, as you can see, there is another slab
underneath."

"Who can have broken it, Harry?"

"That question we cannot decide, but I should say probably the Incas. We
agreed that it was very possible they discovered the hidden treasures of
the Chimoos. They must have learned, as the Spaniards did, how cleverly
these places were hidden, and it must have been as evident to them as it
is to us, that if there was a hiding-place here, this must be the spot."

When one or two more pieces of the stone had been got out by the aid of
crowbars, the rest was removed without the least difficulty. Another slab
two feet square was exposed. In the middle of this was a copper ring, and
the slab fitted, into a stone casing about eighteen inches wide. As soon
as this casing was cleared, Dias and José took their places on one side,
the two brothers on the other. A crowbar was thrust through the ring, and
all of them, taking hold of the ends, lifted with all their strength. At
first the stone did not move, but at the second effort it lifted suddenly.
It was the same thickness as the one they had broken, and, on being moved,
was easily handled. The torches were thrust down, and all peered eagerly
into the vault. So far as they could see it was empty.

"Shall I jump down, señor?'

"No, the air may be bad, José. Run up and bring down a short length of
rope, twenty feet will be ample. Now, let your torch drop down, Dias. If
it burns, it will be safe for us to go down; if not, we must keep on
dropping blazing brands into it till they burn."

As, however, the torch burnt brightly, Harry lay down, and, saying, "Hold
my legs, Bertie!" looked down into the vault. Eighteen inches below the
surface, the hole widened out suddenly. A minute later Harry's head
appeared above the surface again,

"It is empty," he said in as cheerful a voice as he could manage. "Of
course it is a disappointment," he went on, "but I felt certain that it
would be so directly we found the stone was cracked. The only hope was
that the first finders of the treasure afterwards used the place for the
same purpose. That they thought it possible they might do so is clear by
the care with which they fitted the stones together."

None of the others spoke. The disappointment was a heavy one. Bertie broke
the silence by saying; "Well, better luck next time. They may have found
out this place, but there may be others which they did not find."

"Quite so, Bertie. Now we have got up one stone, It will be comparatively
easy work getting up the others. We will take up every stone to the end,
and then work back till we get to a place where there is not more than a
couple of feet between the bottom of the stone and the top of the rock."

At this moment José ran into the room with the rope. Harry took it, and
dropped one end until it nearly touched the floor below. "Hold on," he
said, "and I will slip down first." Half a minute later he stood at the
bottom of the chamber, beside the torch, which was still burning.

"It is only about three feet across at the bottom," he said; "the wall by
the passage goes straight up, on the other side it is the bare rock, so it
is almost wedge-shaped. It is twenty feet long, and five feet high up to
its roof, that makes it nearly seven to the upper part of the mouth." The
vault was absolutely empty. He moved about for a minute and then said:
"Gold has been stored here. There are particles of gold at the bottom, and
there is gold-dust in the cracks of the broken face of the rock. Now I
will come up again. Hold the rope tight; I will climb about a yard, and
then I can get my fingers on the ledge."

He was soon up. "Now, do any of you want to go down?" Dias and José shook
their heads; and Bertie grumbled, "I don't want to look at the beastly
hole; it has been trouble enough to get at it."

"Well, I think we will not do any more to-day, Dias. It has rather taken
the heart out of one. Still, we could not expect to hit upon the treasure
for the first time. We will go up and talk it over, and when we have
smoked a pipe or two we shall be more inclined to take a cheerful view of
the matter. We won't talk about it till we have got to the end of our
second pipe."

The tobacco did its usual work, and it was with quite a cheerful voice
that Bertie broke the silence: "The Incas must have been pretty sharp
fellows to find that hole, Harry?"

"Well, very likely they heard that the Chimoos had treasure there. Indeed
they must have known, because, you see, not one of the other stones is
broken, so they evidently knew where that chamber was situated."

"Yes, I suppose that was it. Well, we are in fine working order now, and
we sha'n't be very long getting the other stones up."

"Not very long this side anyhow, Bertie. We shall want some short blocks
of wood to put under the stones as we raise them. I expect they are all
five inches thick, and they must be a very big weight. Evidently it is
going to be a longish job. As we have been a fortnight without fresh meat,
Dias had better go off and buy half a dozen sheep. We won't have dead meat
this time. He can bring them slung over the mules, and we can kill them as
we want them."

"We have not had fresh meat, but we have not done badly, Harry; we have
generally had a good many eggs and some pigeons, and José has brought us
in fish from that pool. But they have dwindled down lately. He only
brought in a couple of fish yesterday evening."

"Well, the pigeons are getting scarcer too, Bertie. We have killed a good
many, but the rest are getting very shy, and I think most of them must
have gone off and settled in new places on the face of the rocks above the
ravine. While Dias is away, we will try and lay in a stock of sea-fish. We
can swim out and sit on the rocks during the day, and lay our lines at
night. We have worked very hard for a fortnight, and we deserve a
holiday."

Dias, when he was spoken to, said he would start at once with four mules
for Huacha. "It is not above fifteen miles," he said, "and I can get there
this evening. I should think that I could buy the sheep there; if not, I
must go on to Huaura. Each mule will bring two sheep. Of course I could
drive them, but that would seem more singular."

"You had certainly better take the mules, Dias. Tie the sheep carefully on
them, so that they will not be hurt."

"I will take eight of the leather bags, señor. The sheep are not large,
and I will sling one on each side of the mules."

"Yes, it would be as well, while you are about it, to bring eight. You may
as well get some more coffee. We drink a lot of that, and like it strong.
If your wife thinks we shall want more sugar, or anything else, by all
means get some."

As soon as Dias started, the lines were got ready. They cut a couple of
saplings to serve as rods, and José, digging among the rocks, found plenty
of worms, beetles, and grubs for bait. In addition, they took a cake or
two of maize, to break up and throw in to attract the fish.

"We had better swim out in our flannel shirts and trousers," Harry said.
"They will soon dry, and they will keep off the sun. If we were to sit
there without them, we should get blistered from head to foot."

"Shall we fish outside the rocks, or inside, Harry?"

"We will try both; but I think we are likelier to catch most inside. I
should think a back-water like that would attract them."

They met with equal success on both sides of the rocks, and by evening had
caught over forty fish, at least half of which weighed over four pounds.
Then they set the long lines, each carrying forty hooks, and returned to
the castle with as many fish as they could possibly carry. Maria was
delighted with the addition to her larder, and she and José set to work at
once to clean and split them. In the morning they were hung in strings
from the broad window. Maria said they would get the benefit of the heat
from the walls, and any air there might be would be able to pass round
them.

By means of the night-lines they caught almost as many fish as they had
done with their rods, and that day they had the satisfaction of bringing
in more than they could carry in one journey.

"We have got plenty now to keep us going for another three weeks," Harry
said, "and we can always replenish our stock when we choose."

Dias returned at sunset carrying one sheep over his shoulders.

"I have left the others out there, señor; I don't think there is any fear
of their straying. There is no fresh grass anywhere except near the
stream, and moreover, being strange to the valley, they will naturally
keep near the mules."

Another month passed in continuous labour. The stones had all been taken
up in the basement they had first visited, but no other chamber had been
found. The parallel chamber had given them much trouble at starting, as no
stone had been found showing any cracks upon it, and they had had to blast
one stone to pieces before they could begin to cut up the others. No
chamber whatever had been discovered until they were within six feet of
the farther end. Then one was found, but it showed no signs whatever of
having ever been used.  "So far so bad," Harry said when the supper had
been eaten almost in silence; "but that is no reason why we should be
disheartened. If the Incas buried a treasure they may have thought it
prudent to choose some other spot than that used by the old people."

"But where could it be, Harry? You agreed that there was not sufficient
depth between the floors for any place of concealment."

"That is so, Bertie, of course. I have been thinking of it a lot during
the past few days, when the chances of our finding a treasure under the
basement were nearly extinguished. There are still the side walls."

"The side walls!" Bertie repeated. "Surely they are built against the
rock?"

"Yes, but we don't know how straight the wall of rock is. You see, they
did not build against it at all in the basement, but above that the side
walls begin. The rock must have been irregular, and as the walls were
built the space behind may have been filled in or may not. When they came
to build they may have found that there was a cavern or caverns in the
rock--nothing is more likely--and they may have left some sort of entrance
to these caverns, either as a place of refuge to the garrison if the place
were taken, or as a hiding-place. They might have thought it more secure
for this purpose than the underground chamber, which was their general
hiding-place. At any rate it is possible, and to-morrow I vote that we
have a thorough inspection of the walls of the storeroom below this. That
would be the most likely place, for near the sea-level the chances of
finding caverns would be much greater than higher up."

Bertie's face brightened as Harry proceeded.

"It certainly seems possible, Harry. Of course the other place seemed so
much more likely to us that we have never given the side walls a thought.
We may find something there after all. I do hope we may, old boy. I cannot
believe that after things have gone altogether so well with us, and we
have been twice so near finding treasure, that we should fail after all.
Which side shall we begin on?"

"We will have a look at them before we decide, Bertie. We have not really
examined them since the first day; I really forget what stores we found in
the two side-rooms."

An examination in the morning showed that the passage near the entrance to
the rock on the left-hand side had been used for fuel, that on the other
side was filled at the upper end with skins for some distance, and spears
and sheaves of arrows were piled against the outer wall along the rest of
the distance.

"Which do you think is the most likely hiding-place?"

"I should say the right-hand passage. The other with the fire-wood in it
might be visited every day, but the spears and arrows would only be wanted
in case of any attacks upon the castle, or to arm a large force going out
to give battle there. They would naturally put anything they wanted to
hide in the passage less likely to be visited."

"That does seem probable," Bertie agreed; "therefore, hurrah for the
right-hand side!"

"I still think, señor," Dias said, "that there must be treasure concealed
somewhere. I should not think a guard would have been placed here, and
remained here so many years still keeping watch, as we find they did at
that big loophole on the top floor, unless there was something to watch."

"Quite so, Dias. I have thought that over in every way, and I can see no
possible motive for their being here except to prevent the place from
being examined. That was needless if there was nothing to guard, and
nothing to take away, except these silver brackets, which in those days
would scarcely have been worth the trouble of getting out and carrying
away. There must be treasure somewhere. We know now that it is not in the
basement, and we will try these side walls, even if we have to blow half
of them in; there is no doubt that the stones are at least as thick as
those at the end, but they will not be difficult to manage. I noticed in
the upper story that they had not taken the trouble to fit them nearly so
accurately as they did those of the outer walls. I don't say that they
didn't fit well, but the stones were of irregular sizes, and I have no
doubt that in many places we could prize them out with a crowbar. Once an
opening is made, there will be no difficulty in getting a lot of them out,
as the old people did not use cement or mortar. Well, to-morrow morning we
will move all the spears and arrows across to the other side of that
passage and have a good look at the stones, but we will go up first and
look at the side walls of all the other rooms and see if they are of the
same build. There may be some difference which we have not noticed. You
see all the side walls of this room are built like those in front. I
didn't notice whether it was the same in the other rooms."

"I will look at once," Dias said, lighting a torch at the fire.

"No, señor," he said, when in ten minutes he returned; "none of the walls
on this floor are built of stone like this. This was the grand chamber,
the stones are all nearly one size, and so well fitted that you can hardly
see where they join each other. In the other rooms they are not so, but
the stones are, as you noticed above, irregular in size, and although they
fit closely, there is no attempt to conceal the cracks."

"Thank you, Dias! Well, we won't look any more to-night; we shall see in
the morning if the room below us is built in the same way. I have no doubt
it is. At any rate we have done enough for to-day. There is some whisky
left in that bottle, Bertie, and we may as well make ourselves a glass of
grog. Maria, you had better get down that jar of pulque. We will drink to
better luck next time."

The woman smiled faintly. She did not often do so now, her spirits had
gradually gone down as the hopes of success faded.

"Now, Maria," Harry said, "you had better take a glass of pulque for
yourself. I know you don't often touch it, but you have been working so of
late that I think you want it more than any of us."

"I cannot help feeling low-spirited, señor," she said. "I have so hoped
that you would find the treasure you wanted, and marry this lady you love,
and it would be such joy for us to have in some small way repaid the
service you rendered us, that I felt quite broken down. I know I ought not
to have been, when you and your brother bear the disappointment so
bravely."

"'It is of no use crying over spilt milk', which is an English saying,
Maria. Besides, it is possible that the milk may not be spilt yet, and
until lately your good spirits have helped us greatly to keep ours up. If
I were once convinced that we had failed, I have no doubt I should feel
hard hit; but I am a long way from giving up hope yet. There is treasure
here, and if I have to blow up the whole of the old place I will find it.
I have got six months yet, and in six months one can do wonders. Anyhow,
these brackets will pay us very well for our work. I certainly should not
have earned half the sum in any other way in the same time. And even if I
fail in my great object, I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that I
have done all in my power to gain it. She will know that I have done my
best. I have always told her, when I have written, how much I owe to you
and Dias, how faithfully you have served me, and how you have always been
so bright and pleasant. I have no doubt it has cheered her up as well as
me."

Maria was wiping her eyes now. "You are too good, señor; it is so little I
can do, or Dias either, to show our gratitude."

"Nonsense! You show it in every way, even in the matter-of-fact way of
always giving us excellent food, which is by no means unimportant. Now we
will all turn in, and make a fresh start to-morrow morning."

They were up at daybreak, and after taking their usual cup of coffee lit
the torches and descended the stairs to the floor below.

As soon as they reached the right-hand wall, Harry exclaimed: "Why, this
is built in the same way as the one we have left! The stones are squared
and fitted together as closely as those in the drawing-room. Then why
should that be, except in that one room? The side walls all the way up are
roughly built. Why should they have taken the trouble on this floor to
build these, which are only meant as store-rooms, when even in the rooms
above, which were meant for the habitation of the chief and his family,
the rough work was deemed sufficiently good? There must have been some
motive for this, Dias."

"There must have been, señor; it is certainly strange."

"First of all, let us clear the wall and take a general view of it.
Guessing won't help us; but I have the strongest hopes that behind one of
these stones lies a cavern. By the way, Dias, take a torch and go into the
next chamber and see if the stones are solid there."

"They are just the same as those here," Dias said when he returned.

"I would rather that it had been the other way," Harry said, "for then I
should have been more sure that there was some special reason for their
building them in this way here."

It took them all half an hour's work to move the spears and arrows to the
other side.

"Do you think, Harry, if we were to tap the stones we should be able to
find whether there is a hollow behind any of them?"

Harry shook his head.

"Not in the least. I have no doubt these stones are two or three feet
thick, and there could be no difference in the sound they would make if
struck, whether they were filled in solid behind or had no backing. To
begin with, we will make a careful examination of the walls. Possibly we
shall see some signs of a stone having been moved. It would be very much
more difficult to take one of the great blocks out and put it in again
than it would be to get up one of the paving-stones."

When they had gone about half-way along, examining each stone with the
greatest care, Bertie, who was ahead of the rest, and passing the candle
he held along the edge of every joint, said, "Look here! this stone
projects nearly half an inch beyond the rest."

The others gathered round him. The stone was of unusual size, being fully
two and a half feet wide and four feet long, the bottom joint being two
feet above the floor.

Bertie moved along to let the others look at the edge. He was keeping his
finger on the joint, and they had scarcely come up when he said, "The
other end of the stone's sunk in about as much as this end projects."

"Something certainly occurred to shift this stone a little," Harry said,
examining it carefully. "It is curious. If others had been displaced, one
would have put it down to the shock of an earthquake--a common enough
occurrence here--but both above and below it the stones are level with the
others, and nowhere about the house have we seen such another
displacement. Look! there is a heap of rubbish along the foot of the wall
here. Stir it up, Dias, and let us see what it is."

"It is sand and small stones, and some chips that look like chips of
rock."

"Yes, these bits look, as you say, as if they had been chipped off a rock,
not like water-worn stones. Though how they got here, where everywhere
else things are perfectly tidy, I cannot say. However, we can think that
over afterwards. Now for the stone! Let us all put our weight against this
projecting end. I don't in the least expect that we can move it, but at
any rate we can try."

They all pushed together.

"I think it moved a little," Harry said, and looked at the edge.

"Yes, it is not above half as far out now as it was."

"That is curious, for if it is as thick as we took it to be, it would
weigh at least a couple of tons. We won't try to push it in any farther. I
am sorry we pushed it at all. Now, give me that heavy sledge, José,
possibly there may be a hollow sound to it. I will hit at the other end,
for I don't want this to go in any farther."

He went to the stone beyond it first and struck two or three blows with
all his strength. Then he did the same with the stone that they were
examining.

"I don't think it gives such a dead sound," he said.

The others were all of the same opinion.

"Good! This is another piece of luck," he said. "We have certainly hit on
something out of the way."

"Your hammering has brought this end out again, Harry," Bertie said.

"So it has, and it has pushed this end in a little. Let us try again." But
although all took turns with the sledges, they could make no further
impression on the stone.

"Well, we will try the drills," Harry said. "In the first place, we will
find out how thick it is."

They at once set to work with the drill. Progress was slower than it had
been before, because, instead of striking down on the head of the drill,
they had now to swing the hammer sideways and lost the advantage of its
weight; and they were obliged to work very carefully, as a miss would have
seriously damaged the one holding the drill. It took them four hours'
steady work to get the hole in three inches. Ten minutes later, to their
astonishment, the drill suddenly disappeared. Dias, who was striking,
nearly fell, for instead of the resistance he had expected, the drill shot
forward; the hammer hit José, who had this time been holding the drill, a
heavy blow on the arm, causing him to utter a shout of pain.

Harry, who was sitting down having breakfast, having just handed his
hammer to Bertie, jumped to his feet.

"How did you manage that, Dias? I suppose it slipped off the head. You
must have hit José a very heavy blow."

"I have hit him a heavy blow, señor, and nearly tumbled down myself; but I
struck the drill fairly enough, and it has gone."

"Gone where, Dias?"

"I think it must have gone right through the hole, señor."

"Then there is an empty space behind!" Harry shouted joyfully. "However,"
he went on in changed tones, "we must see to José first. That blow may
have fractured his arm. Let me look, José. No, I don't think anything is
broken, but there is a nasty cut on the wrist. It is fortunate that you
were not striking straight down, Dias, for I am sure we have not put
anything approaching the strength into our blows, now we are hitting
sideways, that we exerted before. You had better go up to Maria, José, and
get her to bathe your wrist with cold water, and put on a bandage."

"Now, señor, what shall we do next?"

"Well, now that we know that its weight cannot be anything very great, and
that certainly to some extent it can be moved, we will try hammering again
at that end. Do you stand three or four feet beyond it, so as to be able
to bring your sledge down with all your strength just on the lower corner.
I will face you and strike six or eight inches above where you hit. Of
course we must both bring our hammers down at the same instant. We shall
be able to do that after two or three trials. Stand at the other end of
the stone, Bertie, and tell us if it moves at all."

After one or two attempts the two men got to swing their hammers so as to
strike precisely at the same moment, and when half a dozen blows had
fallen, Bertie said: "It comes out a little at each blow. It is not much,
but it comes."

Three or four minutes later he reported, "It is an inch and a half out
now, and there is room to get the end of a crowbar in here."

"That is curious," Harry said as he lowered his sledgehammer, and, taking
up the candle, examined the end where he had been striking.

"This is sunk about the same distance, Bertie. The stone must work somehow
on a pivot."

They now put a crowbar into the end Bertie had been watching, and all
three threw their weight on the lever. Slowly the stone yielded to the
pressure, and moved farther and farther out. It was pushed open until the
crowbar could act no longer as a lever, but they could now get a hold of
the inside edge. It was only very slowly and with repeated efforts that
they could turn the stone round, and at last it stood fairly at right
angles to the wall, dividing the opening into equal parts about two feet
four each.

"There is a pivot under it; that is quite evident. It may be a copper ball
in the stone below, or it may be that a knob of the upper stone projects
into a hole in the lower. However, it does not matter how it works. Here
is an opening into something. Dias, will you go upstairs and tell your
wife and José to come down? They had better bring half a dozen more
torches. Our stock here is getting low, and we shall want as much light as
possible. It is only fair that we should all share in the discovery."

Dias went off.

"Now, Bertie, we must not let our hopes grow too high. I think it is more
likely than not that we shall find nothing here."

"Why do you think so, Harry? I made sure we had as good as got the
treasure."

"I think, if there had been treasure," Harry went on, "that this stone
would have been closed with the greatest care. They would hardly have left
it so carelessly closed that anyone who examined the wall would have
noticed it, just as we did. We found the other places most carefully
closed, though there was nothing in them."

"Perhaps there was something that prevented them from shutting--a little
stone or something."

"But we know that that wasn't so, Bertie, because the stone yielded to our
weight; and if it did so now, it could have been shut with the greatest
ease originally, when no doubt the pivot was kept oiled, and the whole
worked perfectly smoothly. It is almost certain that they were able in
some way to fasten it securely when it was shut. What is that piece of
square stone lying there?"

"It fell down from above just as the slab opened."

Harry took it up. It was about six inches long by two inches square.

"It is a very hard stone," he said--"granite, I should say. I expect you
will find that it fits into a hole in the stone above."

"Yes, there is a hole here," Bertie said, feeling it; "the stone goes
right in."

"Well, I think, Bertie, you will find a hole in that end of the stone we
moved that it will fit."

Bertie crept in, and felt along the top of the stone.

"Yes, there is a hole here about the same size as the stone, but it is not
more than three inches deep."

"Then, that stone was the bolt, Bertie. You see it was pushed up, and the
door then closed; and when the stone was exactly in its place, it would
drop into the hole and keep it from moving, and nothing short of breaking
up the bolt would give an entrance. It is lucky that we did not push it
quite to; another quarter of an inch and that bolt would have fallen, and
we could not have moved it unless by smashing the whole thing into bits.
That was why they did not quite close the stone; they wanted to get in
again."

"Here come the others!"

Maria had been washing some clothes in the stream, and they had therefore
been longer in coming than if she had been in the room. They all looked
greatly excited.

"So you have found it, señor!" Dias exclaimed in delight.

"We have found an entrance into somewhere, but I am afraid it will be as
empty as the other chambers."

"Why do you think so, señor?" Dias asked in dismay.

Harry repeated the reasons he had given Bertie for his belief that the
stone must have been left in such a position as to be easily opened when
required.

"Why should it have been left so?"

"Because the treasure they expected had never arrived. It is possible that
when the Incas discovered the treasure in that chamber we searched, they
may also have found this entrance. It may have been shown to them by one
of the prisoners, and they may have broken the stone here into pieces as
they broke that over the chamber afterwards. Seeing what a splendid
hiding-place it was, they may have, when the Spaniards first arrived, made
another stone to fit, with the intention of using it for a hiding-place
themselves. The fact that the stone was left so that it could be at once
opened is conclusive proof to my mind that the treasure never came. That
heap of sand, small stones, and chips of rock is another proof that they
were ready to receive treasure, and it was probably swept out of the
chamber that is behind here, and would, of course, have been removed when
the treasure was put in and the door closed; but as the treasure never did
come, it was left where it lay. However, we will now go and see. I have
only kept you waiting because I did not want you to be disappointed."

One by one they crept through the opening. For four feet in, the passage
was the same width as the stone, but two feet deeper; then it at once
opened into a large cavern.

"This wall was four feet thick, you see, Dias. Apparently squared stone
was only used for the facing, as the stones are of irregular shape on the
back. This would be a natural cavern, and a splendid hiding-place it
makes. No doubt its existence was one of the reasons for building this
castle."

The cavern was some twelve feet wide and thirty feet high at the mouth;
the floor sloped up sharply, and the sides contracted, and met forty feet
from the mouth. The floor had been cut into steps two feet wide, running
across the cave and extending to the back. These steps were faced with a
perfectly flat slab of stone. The cave was empty.

The natives uttered loud exclamations of disappointment and regret.

Harry had so thoroughly made up his mind that nothing would be found there
that he surveyed the place calmly and in silence. Bertie imitated his
example with some difficulty, for he too was bitterly disappointed.

"You see, Dias," Harry went on quietly, "this place was prepared to
receive treasure. The steps have all been swept perfectly clean. You see,
the gold could be piled up, and no doubt the steps were cut and faced with
stone to prevent any gold-dust that might fall from the bags, in which, no
doubt, it would be brought, and small nuggets, from falling into the
cracks and crevices of the rock. I should say that in all probability they
expected that treasure ship that was lost, and had everything in readiness
for hiding the cargo here directly it came. It never did come. The door
was shut as far as it could be without the bolt falling down and fastening
it; then they waited for the ship; and if it did not arrive, other
treasure might be brought by land. Well, it cannot be helped. So far we
have failed. There may still be treasure hidden somewhere. We cannot say
that we have searched the place thoroughly yet."

For another six weeks they worked hard. The wall was broken through in
several places, but no signs of the existence of any other cavern or
hiding-place was discovered.

"I should give it up," Harry said, when at the end of that time they were
sitting gloomily round the fire, "but for one thing: I can see no possible
explanation why a party of men should have been left here, and a guard
kept, for perhaps a hundred years, perhaps more, and the stories about
demons been circulated, and people who ventured to approach been murdered,
unless there had been some good reason for it. That reason could only have
been, as far as I can see, that there was a treasure hidden here. I have
turned it over and over in my mind a thousand times, and I can think of no
other reason. Can you, Bertie, or you, Dias?"

"No," Bertie replied. "I have often thought about it; but, as you say,
there must have been some good reason, for no people in their senses would
have spent their lives in this old place, and starved here, unless they
had some cause for it."

Dias made no reply beyond shaking his head.

"You see," Harry went on, "they kept up their watch to the end. There were
those two skeletons of men who had died at their post at that curious
window where nothing could be seen. I hate to give up the search, and yet
we seem to have tried every point where there was a possibility of a
hiding-place existing."




CHAPTER XIX

THE TREASURE


The next morning Harry said:

"I will go upstairs to that look-out place again. I have been up there
pretty nearly every day, and stared down. I can't get it out of my mind
that the key of the mystery lies there, and that that hole was made for
some other purpose than merely throwing stones out on to any of those who
might go in behind the rocks. I have puzzled and worried over it."

"Shall I come up with you, Harry?"

"No, I would rather you didn't. I will go up by myself and spend the
morning there; some idea may occur to me. You may as well all have a quiet
day of it."

He lit his pipe and went upstairs. José went off to the mules, and Bertie
descended the ladder, and strolled round what they called the courtyard,
looking for eggs among the rocks and in the tufts of grass growing higher
up. Dias scattered a few handfuls of maize to the chickens and then
assisted Maria to catch two of them; after which he descended the ladder
and sat down gloomily upon a stone. He had become more and more depressed
in spirits as the search became daily more hopeless; and although he
worked as hard as anyone, he seldom spoke, while Harry and his brother
often joked, and showed no outward signs of disappointment. An hour
passed, and then Harry appeared suddenly at the window.

"Bertie, Dias, come up at once, I have an idea!"

They ran to the ladder and climbed up. The excitement with which he spoke
showed that the idea was an important one. "Now, Dias," he broke out as
they joined him, "we know, don't we, that a part of the Incas' treasure
was sent off by boat, and the belief of the Indians was that it was never
heard of again."

"That is so, señor. There was certainly a storm the day after it started,
and, as I have told you, it was never heard of again. Had it been, a
report of it would surely have come down."

"I believe, Dias, that the boat was dashed to pieces against that line of
rocks outside the entrance to the passage. We have reason to believe that
the people here were expecting the treasure to arrive, and had the
entrance to the cave in readiness to receive it. Certainly no better place
could have been chosen for concealment. The boat may have been coming here
when the storm broke and drove them towards the shore. They probably
attempted to gain the mouth of the cove, but missed it, and were dashed to
pieces against the rocks. The Indians on guard here no doubt saw it, and
would be sure that the heavy sacks or boxes containing the gold would sink
to the bottom. They would lie perfectly secure there, even more secure
than if they had been removed and placed in the cave, and could always be
recovered when the Spaniards left, so they were content to leave them
there. Still, they obeyed the orders they had received to keep watch for
ever over the treasure, and to do so knocked that strange hole through the
wall and always kept two men on guard there.

"So it must have gone on. They and those who succeeded them never wavered.
Doubtless they received food from their friends outside, or some of them
went out, as you have done, to fetch it in. Then came a time when, for
some reason or other--doubtless, as I supposed before, when the Spaniards
swept pretty nearly all the natives up to work in the mines, and they
themselves dared not issue out--the attempt to get food was made, when too
late, by the men whose skeletons we found on the steps when we first came
here; and the rest were all too feeble to repeat the experiment, and died
--the two sentinels at their post, the rest in the room where we found
them."

"Hurrah!" Bertie shouted, "I have no doubt you have hit it, Harry. I
believe, after all, that we are going to find it. That is splendid! I
shall dance at your wedding, Harry, which I had begun to think I never
should do."

"Don't be a young ass, Bertie. It is only an idea, and we have had several
ideas before, but nothing has come of them."

"Something is going to come of this, I am convinced; I would bet any money
on it. Well, shall we go and have a trial at once?"

"What do you think, Dias?" Harry said, paying no attention to Bertie's
last remark.

"I think it is quite possible, señor. Certainly, if the Indians had been
told to guard the treasure, they would do so always. You know how they
kept the secrets entrusted to them whatever tortures they were put to. If
the gold had been, as you say, lost amongst the rocks, I do think they
would have still watched the place. I thought it strange that they should
have made that hole, but when you said that they might have made it to
throw stones down it seemed to me to be likely enough; but the other
suggestion is more probable. Well, señor, I am ready to try it, but I am
not a very good swimmer."

"My brother and I are both good swimmers, and we will do that part of the
work. The hardest part will be getting it up, and you will be able to give
us your help at that."

"Well, let us be off," Bertie said; "I am all on thorns to begin. We shall
soon find it out. If it is there, it is almost certain to be at the foot
of the rocks, though, of course, it is possible that the boat sank before
striking them. At any rate, I feel sure she went down somewhere within the
area that can be seen through that hole. It won't take many days' diving
to search every yard of the bottom."

They hastily descended the ladder, and, divesting themselves of their
clothes, swam out through the opening. Dias climbed up on the rocks, the
others swam round by the ends of the barrier. The water was so warm that
they would be able to remain in it for any time without inconvenience.

"We need not begin here, Bertie; we are outside the line of sight. From
that hole I could not see the end of these rocks. We will start at the
middle, and work in opposite directions."

On arriving off the centre of the wall both dived. The depth was about
twelve feet, and as the water was perfectly clear, Harry could see four or
five feet round him. He was obliged to swim carefully, for the bottom was
covered with rocks, for the most part rounded by the action of the sea.
For an hour he continued his search, by which time he had reached nearly
the end of the line of rocks. Then he landed on a ledge of rock and sat
down, calling to Bertie to join him.

"We will rest for a quarter of an hour," he said, "and then begin again.
This time we will keep twenty or thirty feet farther out; it is more
likely to be there than close in. If the boat struck, the next wave would
sweep over her, and she would probably go down stern first, and her cargo
would fall out that way."

After their rest they started again, swam out a few strokes, and then
dived. Harry had gone down five or six times, when, on his coming to the
surface, he heard a shout, and saw Bertie swimming towards him.

"I have found them, Harry! There are a number of ingots, but they were so
heavy that I could not bring one of them to the surface."

As Harry reached him the lad turned round and swam back. "There they are,
just opposite that cleft in the rock! I looked directly I came up so as to
know the exact spot."

Harry trod water for half a minute, then took a long breath and dived.

It was as Bertie had said. Scattered among the rocks were a score of
ingots. They had lost their brilliancy, but shone with a dull copperish
hue, with bright gleams here and there where rocks had grated against
them. Putting one hand on a block of rock he lifted one of them with the
other.

"About twenty pounds," he said to himself. "Thank God, Hilda is as good as
won!" Then he rose to the surface. "Shake hands, Bertie; there is enough
there to make us all rich for life. Now we will get back again. We have to
think matters over, and see how they are to be got ashore. There is no
hurry; they have lain there for three hundred years, and would lie there
as much longer if we did not take them. We have found them, Dias!" he
shouted; and the latter gave a yell of delight. "Swim ashore, and we will
join you there."

Not another word was spoken until they had dressed and walked out.

"I am too excited even to think," Harry broke out. "It is time for dinner.
When we have had that and smoked a pipe I shall be able to talk calmly
over it."

Maria was wild with delight at the news, and laughed and cried by turns.
Even José, who was accustomed to take all things quietly, was almost as
excited. The woman was only called to herself when Harry said, laughing,
"Maria, for the first time since we started from Lima, you are letting the
dinner burn."

"To think of it!" she cried. "It is your fault, señor; you should not have
told me about it till we sat down."

"You won't have to cook much longer, Maria. You will be able now to have a
servant, and a house as big as you like, and a beautiful garden."

"I should not like that, señor; what should I do all day with myself?"

"I am glad, señor, glad for your sake," Dias said gravely. "To us it will
make no difference. You said there was enough there to make us rich.
Assuredly that is so; but not one peso of it will we touch. No man with
Indian blood in his veins, not even the poorest in Peru, would have aught
to do with an ounce of the Incas' treasures. When they were buried, a
curse was laid upon any who betrayed their hiding-place or who ever
touched the gold. It has brought a curse upon Spain. At the time the
Spaniards landed here they were a great nation. Now their glory has
departed; they no longer own the land they tyrannized over for three
hundred years, and we have heard that their power in Europe has altogether
gone. It must be the curse of the gold, or they would never have allowed
your great Englishman, Cochrane, with but two or three ships, to conquer
them here. My mind is easy as to the finding of the treasure. You came
here in spite of my prayers that you would not do so. It is you who have
made the discovery, not me. But I will take no share in the gold. From the
day I took it I should be a cursed man; my flesh would melt away, I should
suffer tortures, and should die a miserable death."  "Well, Dias, I will
not try to persuade you. I know that, Christian though you be, your native
belief still clings to you, and I will not argue against it; but I have
money of my own, and from that I will give you enough to make you
comfortable for life, and that you can take without feeling that you have
incurred any curse from the finding of this treasure."

"I thank you heartily," Dias said gratefully; "I thank you with all my
heart. I have ever been a wanderer, and now I will gladly settle down. I
do not desire wealth, but enough to live on in comfort with my wife, and
only to travel when it pleases me."

"You shall have enough for that and more, Dias."

After some more meat had been cooked and eaten, and he had smoked a pipe,
Harry said: "A boat would, of course, be the best thing, but there are
difficulties connected with it. There is no spot, as far as I know, where
we could land for fifteen miles on either side, and there would only be
small villages where everything we did would be seen and talked about.
There is no place where we could keep a boat here, for if even a slight
breeze sprang up the swell coming in round the passage between the rocks
and the cliff would smash her up in no time."

"That is so, señor."

Harry was silent again for some time, and then said: "The only plan I can
think of is to get some strong leather bags. Then we could take one down
with us when we dive, with a strong cord tied to it, put a couple of the
ingots into it, and you could haul it up on to the rocks, and so on until
we have finished a day's work. Then we could carry them to this side of
the rocks; there you could put them, three or four at a time, into the
bag, and drop them down in the water. We would swim up the tunnel and haul
them in, and then bring the bag back again. We sha'n't be able to get
anything approaching all the ingots, for a great many of them must have
gone in between the crevices of the rocks, and unless we broke it up with
powder, which would be next to impossible without a diving-dress and air-
pumps and all sorts of things, which cannot be bought in this country, we
could not get at them. However, we have only just begun to look for them
yet; we may come across a pile. Heavy as the sea must be on this coast in
a gale, I hardly think it would much affect a pile of ingots; their weight
would keep them steady even were big rocks rolled about.

"I think the best thing, Dias, would be for you to go off with two or
three mules. We shall soon be running short of provisions, and you had
better get enough flour and dried meat to last us for a month. I don't
suppose we shall be as long as that, but it is as well to have a good
store so as not to have to make the journey again. Then you had better get
twenty leather bags, such as those in which they bring the ore down from
the mountains. We have plenty of stout rope, but we shall want some thin
cord for tying the necks of the bags. You may as well bring another keg of
spirits, brandy if you can get it, a bag of coffee, and some sugar, and
anything else you think of. Now I am a millionaire we can afford to be
comfortable. By the way, we might as well this afternoon get the rest of
those silver brackets out. These are not a part of the Incas' treasure,
and you can take them as your share without fear of the curse. It would be
best for you to smelt them down; I know all of you natives can do that."

"Do you think that they are not part of the Incas' treasure, señor?" Dias
said doubtfully.

"Certainly not; they were undoubtedly here before the Incas' time. But
even had they been put there by Incas, you could not call them hidden
treasure. They might be part of the Incas' property, but certainly not
part of the treasures they hid."

"But it is altogether too much, señor; it is noble of you to offer it me."

"Not at all; we owe everything we find to you, and it would be only fair
that you should have at least a third of the gold. But still, if you won't
touch that, you must take the silver."

"But I heard you say that it was worth four thousand pounds."

"Well, if we are lucky we shall get twenty times as much, Dias."

"Certainly we will take it, señor, and grateful we shall both be to you,"
Maria said; "and so will José, who will inherit it all some day, as he is
the only relative we have. I agree with Dias about the gold. I have heard
so often about the curse on it that I should be afraid."

"Well, Maria, you see there is a lot of nonsense in all your
superstitions. You know it was one of them that this place was guarded by
demons. Now you have seen for yourself that it was all humbug. If you are
afraid about the silver, I will take it to England and sell it there and
send you the money it fetches; but that would give a great deal of
trouble. It will be difficult to get the gold safely away, without being
bothered with all this silver.

"You had better buy some bags of charcoal, Dias. I suppose you will use
that small hearth we have?"

"No, señor, it would take an immense time to do it in that. I will load
one of the mules with hard bricks."

"You will want two mules to carry a hundred, Dias--I think they weigh
about four pounds and a half each. Will that be enough?"

"Plenty, señor; but I shall want another bellows. José and I can work the
two of them, and that will make a great heat. We can melt two or three
hundred pounds a day. I have helped to make many a furnace up in the
mountains, and I know very well all about the way to build and work them."

"Very well, then, that is settled. You had better start to-morrow morning
with José, and we will spend the day in finding out a little more about
the gold."

Dias started the next morning, and the two brothers were in the water most
of the day. Harry found, as he had expected, that a great deal of the
treasure had sunk out of reach between the rocks; but he came upon one
pile, which had apparently been originally packed in sacks or skins, lying
in a heap a little farther out than they had before searched. He had no
doubt that this was the point where the stern of the boat had sunk, and a
considerable portion of the contents had been shot out, while the rest had
been scattered about as the boat broke up, and as the skins rotted their
contents had fallen between the rocks. There were, as nearly as he could
calculate, two hundred and fifty to three hundred ingots in the pile.

"I need not trouble about the rest," he laughed to himself. "Each ingot,
if it weighs twenty pounds, is worth a thousand. Two hundred of them would
make me as rich as any man can want to be. I can hardly believe in my
luck; it is stupendous. Fancy a half-pay lieutenant with two hundred
thousand pounds! Old Fortescue will become one of the most complaisant of
fathers-in-law."

The evening before Dias left, Harry had written a letter for him to post
at Callao, telling Hilda to keep up a brave heart, for that he hoped to be
at home before the end of the second year with money enough to satisfy her
father.

"I should not tell you so unless I felt certain of what I am saying. I
told you before I left that it was almost a forlorn hope that I was
undertaking, and that the chances were ten thousand to one against me. I
think now that the one chance has turned up, and I hope to be home within
two months of the time that you receive this letter."

He did not say more; but even now he could scarcely believe that the good
fortune had befallen him, and feared that some unlucky fate might
interfere between him and the fulfilment of his hopes. When Dias returned
after two days' absence the work began. Each morning they worked together
at bringing up the gold and piling the ingots on the rock. It was slower
work than Harry had expected, for on hauling the bag to the rocks it was
often caught by the boulders, and he and Bertie sometimes had to dive four
or five times before they could free it and get it ashore. The gold was
piled in the tunnel just beyond the water. In a fortnight the last ingot
they could get at was stored with its fellows--two hundred and eighty-two
in all.

They had repeatedly talked over the best plan of getting the gold away,
and finally concluded that it would be risking too much to take it into a
town, and that the best plan would be for Harry to buy a boat at Callao,
which, as a naval officer, would be natural enough. They decided to
procure three times as many bags as the ingots would really require, and
that they should put in each bag three ingots only, filling it up with
pieces of stone, so that the weight should not exceed what it would have
been were the contents heavy ore. Harry arranged that he would go down to
Callao, buy a large boat, and after having made several excursions, to
accustom the officials at Callao to seeing him going about, he would make
a bargain with the captains of two ships about to sail to England, to
carry about two tons each of ore, which he could put on board them after
dark, so as to avoid the extortion he would have to submit to before the
port officials and others would allow him to ship it. The question that
puzzled them most was the best way of taking the bags into the boat. Dias
was in favour of their being carried on the mules to a point lower down
the coast, at which they could be loaded into the boat.

"It would be only necessary to carry the gold," he said, "the stones to
fill the bags could be put in there."

The objection to this was that they might be observed at work, and that at
most points it would be difficult both to run the boat up and to get her
off again through the rollers. If the boat were brought round into the
inlet she could be loaded there comfortably. The only fear was of being
caught in a gale. But as gales were by no means frequent the risk was
small; and should a sudden storm come on when she was lying there, and she
were broken up, it would be easy to recover the gold from the shallow
water behind the rocks. This was therefore settled. Only half the treasure
was to be taken away at once, and not till this had been got on board a
ship and the vessel had sailed would the boat come back for the rest of
their treasure.

Dias was at once to start with the mules and carry the silver, in two
journeys, to a safe place among the mountains. There he could bury it in
three or four hiding-places, to be fetched out as he might require it,
only taking some fifty pounds to Lima. Here he was to dispose of a portion
of it to one of the dealers who made it his business to buy up silver from
the natives. As many of these worked small mines, and sent down the
produce once a month to Lima, there would be nothing suspicious in its
being offered for sale, especially as it would be known that Dias had been
away for a very long time among the mountains. It was necessary that the
sale should be effected at once, because Harry's stock of money was
running very low, and he would have to pay for the passages of Bertie and
himself to England, and for the freight of the gold. Dias was to dispose
later on of all the remaining stores, the powder and tools, and the three
riding mules.

Two days later the last of the silver brackets had been melted, and Dias
and Harry started with the eight mules, six of them being laden with the
silver. They struck back at once into the hills, and after travelling for
two days, ascended a wild gorge. "It is not once a year that anyone would
come up here, señor. There is no way out of it. We can bury the silver
here with a certainty that it will be safe from disturbance."

"Yes, it will be safe here; and as you want it you have only to make a
journey with a couple of mules to fetch as much as you require, carry it
home, and bury it in your garden or under the house; then you could from
time to time take a few ingots into the town and dispose of them. But to
begin with, I will borrow fifty pounds weight of it, and get you to
dispose of it for me at Lima. My money is beginning to run short. I shall
have to pay for the freight of the gold and my own passage home, and to
buy a boat large enough to carry half the treasure. It is not likely that
there will be two vessels sailing at the same time, in which case I shall
make two trips. As I should not put it on board until the night before the
ship sailed, of course I could go home with the second lot."

"I shall never know what to do with a tenth part of this silver, señor. It
would never do for me to make a show of being rich; the authorities would
seize me, and perhaps torture me to make me reveal the source of my
wealth."

"Well, there are thousands of your countrymen in the deepest poverty,
Dias; you could secretly help those in distress; a single ingot, ten
pounds in weight, would be a fortune to them. And when you die you might
get a respectable lawyer to make out a will, leaving your treasure to some
charity for the benefit of Indians, giving, of course, instructions where
the treasure is to be found."

"That is good," Dias said. "Thank you, señor! that will make me very
happy."

They had brought a pick and shovel with them, and, dividing the bags,
buried them at some distance apart, rolling stones to cover up the hiding-
places, and obliterating any signs of the ground having been disturbed. A
hundred pounds were left out, and with this in their saddle-bags they
arrived at Lima two days later.

Harry went on alone into Callao. He had no difficulty in purchasing a
ship's boat in fair condition. She carried two lug-sails, and was amply
large enough for the purpose for which she was required, being nearly
thirty feet long with a beam of six feet. He got her cheaply, for the ship
to which she belonged had been wrecked some distance along the coast, and
a portion of the crew had launched her and made their way to Callao; the
mate, who was the sole surviving officer, was glad to accept the ten
pounds Harry offered for her, as this would enable the crew to exist until
they could obtain a passage home, or ship on board some British vessel
short of hands. The boat was too large to be worked by one man, and seeing
that the mate was an honest and intelligent fellow, Harry arranged with
him to aid him to sail the boat, and each day they went out for some
hours. After spending a week in apparent idleness, and getting to know
more of the man, Harry told him that he had really bought the boat for the
purpose of getting some ore he had discovered on board a ship homeward-
bound.

"You know what these Peruvians are," he said, "and how jealous they are of
our getting hold of mines, so I have got to do the thing quietly, and the
only way will be to take the ore off by night. It is on a spot some eighty
miles along the coast. I am going off tomorrow to get it ready for
embarkation, and I shall be away about a week. I find that the _London_
will leave in ten days, and I shall get it put on board the night before
she sails. While I am away, look after the boat. The _Nancy_ will sail
five days later. I am going to put half on board each ship, as I am
anxious to ensure that some at least of the ore shall reach home, so as to
be analysed, and see if it is as rich as I hope. But be sure not to
mention a word of this to a soul. I should have immense trouble with the
authorities if it got about that I had discovered a mine."

"I understand, sir. You may be quite sure I shall say nothing about it."

"How are your men getting on?"

"Four are shipped on board the _Esmerelda_, which sailed yesterday, the
others are hanging on till they can get berths. I hope a few will be able
to go in the two ships you name, but they haven't applied at present. Some
of the crew may desert before the time for sailing comes, and of course
they would get better paid if they went as part of the crew than if they
merely worked their passage home."

"I am sorry for them," Harry said. "Here is another five pounds to help
them to hold on. As an old naval officer I can feel for men in such a
place."

Dias, after selling the silver, had, a week before, returned with the
mules to the castle, and on his arrival there had sent José to join Harry
and bring news to them of the day on which the boat would arrive. Dias and
Bertie were packing half the bags, of which the former took with him an
ample supply, to get the gold out on the rocks facing the entrance, so
that they could be shipped without delay. Great pains were taken in
packing the bags so that the three ingots placed in each should be
completely surrounded by stones. Anyone who might take a fancy to feel
them, in order to ascertain their contents, would have no reason to
suppose that they carried anything beyond the ore they were stated to
contain.

Harry had had no difficulty in arranging with the captain of the London to
take from a ton and a half to two tons of ore the night before he sailed,
and three days before this Harry started with the mate. There was but a
light breeze, and it was daylight next morning before they arrived. A pole
had been stuck up at the edge of the cliff just above the cavern, and as
it became dark a lantern was also placed there, so they had no trouble in
finding the entrance of the little cove.

"It is a rum-looking place, sir," the man said. "As far as I can see there
is no break in the cliffs."

"It is a curious place, but you will find the bags with the ore on the
rocks inside here ready for us, and my brother and one of my men waiting
there. They will have made us out an hour ago, so we can load up at once
and get out of this tiny creek. I don't want to stay in there any longer
than is necessary, for if there is anything of a swell we could not get
out again."

As they approached the place Harry gave a shout, which was at once
answered. The sails were lowered, and the boat passed round the edge of
the rocks.

"It is a rum place," the mate repeated. "Why, one might have rowed past
here fifty times without thinking there was water inside the rocks. Of
course you must have lowered the sacks down from the top?"

"It was a difficult job," Harry said carelessly; "but we were anxious to
get the things away quietly. If we had taken them down to the port we
should have had no end of bother, and a hundred men would have set off at
once to try and find out where we got the ore."

Bertie and Dias had everything ready, and as the boat drew up alongside
the rocks on which they were standing the former said, "Everything all
right, Harry?"

"Yes, I hope so. We are to put the ore on board the _London_ to-morrow
after dark; she will get up her anchor at daylight. You have got all the
bags ready, I hope?"

"Everything; the others will be ready for you when you come back for
them."

"The next ship sails in about a week. Now, let us get them on board at
once, I don't want to stop in here a minute longer than is necessary.
There is scarcely a breath of wind now; if it doesn't blow up a bit in the
morning, we shall have a long row before us to get there in time. This is
my brother, Owen; the other is a mule-driver, who has been my guide and
companion for the past year, and whom I am proud to call my friend."

"You don't want anything in the way of food, do you?" Bertie asked.

"We have got some here," Harry laughed. "I am too old a sailor to put to
sea without having provisions in my craft. Now, let us get the bags on
board."

It did not take them long to transfer the sacks into the boat.

"They are pretty heavy," the mate said, "I should say a hundredweight
each."

"About that," Harry said carelessly. "This ore stuff is very heavy."

As soon as all was on board Harry said: "Now we can put out at any moment,
but I don't want to leave till dark. We may as well begin to get the rest
of the bags out here at once. We might finish that job before we start.
Then you could come down with us, Bertie, and Dias could pack up the
remaining stores to-morrow and start for Lima with the mules, and his wife
and José.

"Very well, Harry. I think we can leave the sacks here safely."

"Just as safely as if they were ashore. So far as we know no one has been
in here for the past two hundred years, and no one is likely to come in
the next week."

By evening all the work was done. The mate had been greatly surprised at
the manner in which the bags had been brought on board, but had helped in
the work and asked no questions. As soon as it was dark they rowed out
from the cove. There was not a breath of wind. Bertie volunteered to take
the first watch, the mate was to take the next.

Harry was not sorry to turn in. He had had but little sleep for the past
week. Everything had seemed to be going well, but at any moment there
might be some hitch in the arrangements, and he had been anxious and
excited. Wrapping himself in his poncho he lay down in the stern of the
boat and slept soundly until morning.

"I have had a sleep," he said on waking. "I have slept longer to-night
than I have done for the past fortnight. Now I will take the helm. How
fast have we been moving?"

"We have not gone many miles, and if what tide there is hadn't been with
us we should not have moved at all, for the sails have not been full all
night. A breeze only sprang up an hour ago, and we are not moving through
the water now at more than a knot and a half; but I think it is
freshening."

"I hope it is," Harry said. "It is not often that we have a dead calm; but
if it doesn't spring up we shall have to row. With two tons and a half of
stuff on board it is as much as we can do to move two knots an hour
through the water."

"All right, sir! when you think it is time to begin, stir me up."

In half an hour the breeze had increased so much that the boat was running
along three knots an hour. By eight o'clock she was doing a knot better.
So she ran along till, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the wind died
away again, and they could just see the masts of the ships at Callao in
the distance.

"I should think that we are about fifteen miles off," Harry said.

"About that," Bertie replied. "We had better get our oars and help her
along, she is not going much more than a knot through the water an hour."

They got out the oars and set to work. Occasionally a puff of wind gave
them a little assistance, but it was one o'clock before they arrived
alongside the _London_.

A lamp was alight at the gangway as arranged, and two sailors were on
watch.

"The captain turned in an hour ago, sir," one of them said. "He left
orders that the mate was to call him if you arrived. We will soon have him
up."

In five minutes the mate and four other sailors were on deck.

"We have got a whip rigged in readiness," the officer said. "How much do
the packages weigh, sir?"

"They are leathern bags, and weigh about a hundredweight each."

"How many are there?"

"Forty-six."

"We have got the fore-hatch open, and can hand them down in no time. If
you will pass the boat along to the chains forward we shall be ready for
you. Shall I send a couple of hands down into the boat to hook them on?"

"No, you needn't do that."

As soon as the boat reached her station a rope with a couple of small
chains attached descended. One of the chains was fastened round a bag, and
this was at once run up. By the time the rope came down again the other
chain was passed round another bag, and in a quarter of an hour the whole
were on board and down in the hold. The captain had now come out,

"So you have got them off all right, Mr. Prendergast?"

"Yes. There are forty-six bags. We will say, roughly, two ton and a half;
though I doubt whether there is as much as that. At any rate, I will pay
you for the freight agreed upon at once. They have all got labels on them,
and on your arrival, after being handed into store, are to remain till
called for. I am coming on in the _Nancy_. I do not know whether she is
faster than you are or not. At any rate, she is not likely to be long
behind you."

"I think that possibly you will be home first, sir; the _Nancy_ made the
voyage out here a fortnight quicker than we did; but it depends, of
course, on what weather we meet with. I was on board her this afternoon,
and her captain and I made a bet of five pounds each as to which would be
in the port of London first. I shall have the anchor up by daylight. Now,
gentlemen, will you come down into the cabin and we will take a glass
together."

Harry did so, and after emptying a tumbler and wishing the captain a quick
and pleasant voyage, he got into the boat and rowed two or three miles
along the shore, as a landing at that time of night might cause questions
to be asked; and then they lay down and slept by turns until morning
broke. A light breeze then sprang up, and hoisting sail they returned to
Callao. The _London_ was already far out at sea.




CHAPTER XX

HOME


Two days later, Dias, José, and Maria arrived at Callao, having left the
mules at Lima.

"Was it got off all right, señor?" Dias asked.

"Yes. It was a pretty near touch, for we had to row nine hours, and only
saved our time by an hour."

"And when will you start again?"

"The _Nancy_ sails in four days, so I shall go down tomorrow morning. I
don't want to run the risk again of losing the boat."

"Well, we shall be stronger handed," Bertie said. "Of course I shall go
down with you; Dias says he will too; so we will be able to man four oars,
if necessary."

"What have you done with the goods?" Harry asked.

"I sold them all at Lima, señor, to the man I got them from. He took off a
third of the price, and said he could not have taken them if it had not
been that he had just got an order down from the Cerro mines, and was
short of some of the things they had ordered."

"That is all right, Dias."

Harry secured two rooms at the hotel, and they all sat talking far into
the night. "I hope you will get your silver down as comfortably as we have
got the gold."

"I have no fear about doing that, señor. The difficulty will be for me to
know what to do with it. I can never spend so much."

"Oh, nonsense, Dias!"

"I mean it, señor. Maria and I are quite agreed that we don't want any
larger house than we have got; and I know that if we did want a big one,
there would be all sorts of questions as to where I had got the money
from."

"There would be no difficulty in answering that, Dias. You told me how
your friend found five mule-loads of silver in the bats' cave. You have
only got to say that you found yours hidden away, which would be the
truth. José is nineteen now, and you will want to provide him with some
good mules, and to put by some money for him when he wants to marry and
settle. I know you spoke very highly of an institution at Lima for the
orphans of natives. You can hand them over some, and when you and Maria
don't want it any longer you can leave them the rest."

Maria cried bitterly in the morning when they said goodbye. "I shall love
you and pray for you always, señors," she sobbed. "I shall never forget
all your kindness."

"We owe you more than you owe us," Harry said. "You have always been ready
to do everything, and you have kept us alive with your merry talk and good
spirits. You may be very sure that we shall never forget you."

José was almost equally affected. "You will never come back, señor," he
said, as the tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I may some day, José. I think it likely that I shall some day get up a
company to drain that lake in the golden valley. The gold will be more
useful as money than lying there. It must depend partly upon whether the
country is settled. People will not put money into Peru as long as you are
always fighting here."

Maria and José would have accompanied them down to the boat the next
morning, but Dias pointed out to them that they were apparently only going
out for a day's sail, and that if there were any partings on the shore it
would at once attract the suspicions of the customs-house officials there.

Accordingly, after a painful farewell, Dias and the two brothers went down
to the boat, where the mate was already awaiting them. The voyage was as
successful as the previous one had been. On the return journey the wind
held, and they arrived alongside of the _Nancy_ by eleven o'clock; the
bags were all safely in the hold by midnight. The first mate of the ship
had two days before been taken with fever and sent ashore, and the captain
had gladly accepted the offer of Harry's assistant to take the berth of
second mate, that officer having succeeded to the post of the first. Harry
had told him that he could sell the boat, and he had, before starting on
the trip, done so, on the understanding that it would be found on the
beach in charge of Dias when the _Nancy_ had sailed.

Harry had given him another ten pounds to provide himself with an outfit,
and had also asked him to distribute twenty among his former shipmates for
the same purpose, as these had lost all their clothing except what they
stood in. The ship's dinghy, with a couple of hands, towed the boat, with
Dias in it, to the shore. The muleteer was greatly affected at parting
with Harry and his brother.

"It has been a fortunate journey for us both," Dias said, "and I shall
always look back to the time we spent together with the greatest
pleasure."

"Here is a piece of paper with my address in London. I know that you will
have no difficulty in getting letters written for you. Let me hear from
you once every six months or so, telling me how you are getting on, and I
will write to you. Good-bye! We shall always remember you, and be thankful
that we had so faithful a guide here, and, I may say, so faithful a
friend."

The voyage home was an uneventful one, save that they met with a heavy
storm while rounding the Horn, and for some days the vessel was in great
danger. However, she weathered it safely, and when she arrived in the
Thames she found that the _London_ had come up on the previous tide.

"If it hadn't been for that storm we should have beaten her easily," the
captain said. "But I don't mind losing that fiver, considering that we
have gained four days on her."

On landing, Harry went straight to the Bank of England and informed the
managers that he had two hundred and eighty-two ingots of gold, weighing
about twenty pounds each, which he wished to deposit in their vaults until
they could weigh them and place their value to his credit, and he
requested them to send down one of their waggons to the docks the next day
to receive them. On the following evening he had the satisfaction of
knowing that the whole of the treasure was at last in safe-keeping. Then
he took a hackney-coach and drove to Jermyn Street, where he had taken
rooms, having the night before carried there the trunks which he had
stored before he left England. He smiled as he spread out suit after suit.

"I don't know anything about the fashions now," he said, "and for aught I
can tell they may have changed altogether. However, I don't suppose there
will be such an alteration that I shall look as if I had come out of the
ark. Certainly I am not going to wait till I get a new outfit.

"It did not seem to me," he said to himself, "that I left a ridiculously
large wardrobe before I went. But after knocking about for two years with
a single change, it really does seem absurd that I should ever have
thought I absolutely required all these things. Now, I suppose I had
better write to the old man and say that I have returned, and shall call
upon him to-morrow. The chances are ten to one against my catching him in
now, and as this is rather a formal sort of business, I had better give
him due notice; but I cannot keep Hilda in suspense. I wonder whether she
has the same maid as she had before I went away. I have given the girl
more than one half-guinea, and to do her justice I believe that she was so
attached to her mistress that she would have done anything for her without
them. Still, I can't very well knock at the door and ask for Miss
Fortescue's maid; I expect I must trust the note to a footman. If she does
not get it, there is no harm done; if he hands it to her father, no doubt
it would put him in a towering rage, but he will cool down by the time I
see him in the morning."

He sat down and wrote two notes. The first was to Mr. Fortescue; it only
said:--

"Dear Sir,--I have returned from abroad, and shall do myself the pleasure
of calling upon you at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning to discuss with you
a matter of much importance to myself."

The note to Hilda was still shorter:--

"My darling,--I am home and am going to call on your father at eleven
o'clock tomorrow morning. I am two months within the two years.--Yours
devotedly,

"HARRY PRENDERGAST."

Having sealed both letters, he walked to Bedford Square. When the door
opened, he saw that the footman was one of those who had been in Mr.
Fortescue's service before he left.

"You have not forgotten me, Edward, have you?"

"Why, it is Mr. Prendergast! Well, sir, it is a long time since we saw
you."

"Yes, I have been abroad. Will you hand this letter to Mr. Fortescue. Is
he in at present?"

"No, sir; he and Mrs. Fortescue are both out. Miss Fortescue is out too."

"Well now, Edward, will you hand this letter quietly to Miss Fortescue
when she comes in?" and he held out the note and a guinea with it.

The man hesitated.

"You need not be afraid of giving it to her," Harry went on. "It is only
to tell her what I have told your master in my letter to him, that I am
going to call tomorrow."

"Then I shall be glad to do it," the man said--for, as usual, the servants
were pretty well acquainted with the state of affairs, and when Harry went
away, and their young mistress was evidently in disgrace with her father,
they guessed pretty accurately what had happened, and their sympathies
were with the lovers. Harry returned to Jermyn Street confident that Hilda
would get his note that evening. He had no feeling of animosity against
her father, It was natural that, as a large land-owner, and belonging to
an old family, and closely connected with more than one peer of the realm,
he should offer strong opposition to the marriage of his daughter to a
half-pay lieutenant, and he had been quite prepared for the burst of anger
with which his request for her hand had been received. He had felt that it
was a forlorn hope; but he and Hilda hoped that in time the old man would
soften, especially as they had an ally in her mother. Hilda had three
brothers, and as the estates and the bulk of Mr. Fortescue's fortune would
go to them, she was not a great heiress, though undoubtedly she would be
well dowered.

On arriving the next morning Harry was shown into the library. Mr.
Fortescue rose from his chair and bowed coldly.

"To what am I indebted for the honour of this visit, Mr. Prendergast? I
had hoped that the emphatic way in which I rejected your--you will excuse
my saying--presumptuous request for the hand of my daughter, would have
settled the matter once and for all; and I trust that your request for an
interview to-day does not imply that you intend to renew that proposal,
which I may say at once would receive, and will receive as long as I live,
the same answer as I before gave you."

"It has that object, sir," Harry said quietly, "but under somewhat changed
conditions. I asked you at that time to give me two years, in which time
possibly my circumstances might change. You refused to give me a single
week; but your daughter was more kind, and promised to wait for the two
years, which will not be up for two more months."

"She has behaved like a froward and obstinate girl," her father said
angrily. "She has refused several most eligible offers, and I have to
thank you for it. Well, sir, I hope at least that you have the grace to
feel that it is preposterous that you should any longer stand in the way
of this misguided girl."

"I have come to say that if it is her wish and yours that I should stand
aside, as you say, I will do so, and in my letters I told her that unless
circumstances should be changed before the two years have expired I would
disappear altogether from her path."

"That is something at least, sir," Mr. Fortescue said with more courtesy
than he had hitherto shown. "I need not say that there is no prospect of
your obtaining my consent, and may inform you that my daughter promised
not to withstand my commands as far as you are concerned beyond the
expiration of the two years. I do not know that there is anything more to
say."

"I should not have come here, sir, had there not been more to say, but
should simply have addressed a letter to you saying that I withdrew all
pretensions to your daughter's hand. But I have a good deal more to say. I
have during the time that I have been away succeeded in improving my
condition to a certain extent."

"Pooh, pooh, sir!" the other said angrily. "Suppose you made a thousand or
two, what possible difference could it make?"

"I am not foolish enough to suppose that it would do so; but at least this
receipt from the Bank of England, for gold deposited in their hands, will
show you that the sums you mention have been somewhat exceeded."

"Tut, tut, I don't wish to see it! it can make no possible difference in
the matter."

"At least, sir, you wall do me the courtesy to read it, or if you prefer
not to do so I will read it myself."

"Give it me," Mr. Fortescue said, holding out his hand. "Let us get
through this farce as soon as possible; it is painful to us both."

He put on his spectacles, glanced at the paper, and gave a sudden start,
read it again, carefully this time, and then said slowly:

"Do you mean that the two hundred and eighty-two ingots, containing in all
five thousand six hundred and forty pounds weight of gold, are your
property? That is to say, that you are the sole owner of them, and not
only the representative of some mining company?"

"It is the sole property, Mr. Fortescue, of my brother and myself. I own
two-thirds of it. It is lost treasure recovered by us from the sea, where
it has been lying ever since the conquest of Peru by Pizarro."

"There is no mistake about this? The word pounds is not a mistake for
ounces?--although even that would represent a very large sum."

"The bank would not be likely to make such a mistake as that, sir. The
ingots weigh about twenty pounds each. I had a small piece of the gold
assayed at Callao, and its value was estimated at four pounds per ounce.
Roughly, then, the value of the sum deposited at the bank is two hundred
and seventy thousand pounds."

"Prodigious!" Mr. Fortescue murmured.

"Well, Mr. Prendergast, I own that you have astounded me. It would be
absurd to deny that this altogether alters the position. Against you
personally I have never had anything to say. You were always a welcome
visitor to my house till I saw how matters were tending. Your family, like
my own, is an old one, and your position as an officer in the King's Naval
Service is an honourable one. However, I must ask you to give me a day to
reflect over the matter, to consult with my wife, and to ascertain that my
daughter's disposition in the matter is unchanged."

"Thank you, sir! But I trust that you will allow me to have an interview
with Miss Fortescue now. It is two years since we parted, and she has
suffered great anxiety on my account, and on the matter of my safety at
least I would not keep her a moment longer in suspense."

"I think that after the turn the matter has taken your request is a
reasonable one. You are sure to find her in the drawing-room with her
mother at present. I think it is desirable that you should not see her
alone until the matter is formally arranged."

Prendergast bowed.

"I am content to wait," he said with a slight smile.

"I will take you up myself," the other said.

Harry could have done without the guidance, for he knew the house well.
However, he only bowed again, and followed the old man upstairs.

The latter opened the door and said to his wife: "My dear, I have brought
an old friend up to see you;" and as Harry entered he closed the door and
went down to the library again.

"Nearly two hundred thousand pounds!" he said. "A splendid fortune! Nearly
twice as much as I put by before I left the bar. How in the world could he
have got it? 'Got it up out of the sea,' he said; a curious story.
However, with that acknowledgment from the bank there can be no mistake
about it. Well, well, it might be worse. I always liked the young fellow
till he was fool enough to fall in love with Hilda, and worse still, she
with him. The silly girl might have had a coronet. However, there is no
accounting for these things, and I am glad that the battle between us is
at an end. I was only acting for her good, and I should have been mad to
let her throw herself away on a penniless officer on half-pay."

Mrs. Fortescue waved her hand as Harry, on entering, was about to speak to
her.

"Go to her first," she said; "she has waited long enough for you."  And he
turned to Hilda.  He made a step towards her and held out his arms, and
with a little cry of joy she ran into them.  "And is it all right?" she
said a minute later. "Can it really be all right?"  "You may be quite sure
that it is all right, Hilda," Mrs. Fortescue said. "Do you think your
father would have brought him up here if it hadn't been? Now you can come
to me, Harry."  "I am glad," she said heartily. "We have had a very bad
time. Now, thank God, it is all over. You see she has only had me to stand
by her, for her brothers, although they have not taken open part against
her, have been disposed to think that it was madness her wasting two years
on the chance of your making a fortune. Of course you have done so, or you
would not be in this drawing-room at present."  "I have done very well,
Mrs. Fortescue. I was able to show Mr. Fortescue a receipt for gold
amounting to nearly three hundred thousand pounds, of which two-thirds
belong to me, the rest to my brother."  Mrs. Fortescue uttered an
exclamation of astonishment.  "What have you been doing, Harry?" she
asked--"plundering a Nabob?"  "Nabobs do not dwell in Peru," he laughed.
"No, I have discovered a long-lost treasure, which, beyond any doubt, was
part of the wealth of Atahualpa, the unfortunate monarch whom Pizarro
first plundered and then slew. It had been sent off by sea, and the vessel
was lost. It is too long a story to tell now."  "And Papa has quite
consented, Harry?"  Harry smiled.  "Virtually so, as you might suppose by
his bringing me up here. Actually he has deferred the matter, pending a
consultation with you and Mrs. Fortescue, and will give me his formal
answer to-morrow."  The two ladies both smiled.  "If he said that, the
matter is settled," the elder said; "he has never asked my opinion before
on the subject, and I have never volunteered it. But I am sure he has not
the slightest doubt as to what I thought of it. So we can consider it as
happily settled after all. If I had thought that there was the slightest
chance of your making a fortune quickly I should have spoken out; but as I
thought it absolutely hopeless, I have done what I could privately to
support Hilda, always saying, however, that if at the end of the two years
nothing came of it, I could not in any way countenance her throwing away
the chances of her life."  "You were quite right, Mrs. Fortescue. I had
fully intended to write to Hilda at the end of that time releasing her
from all promises that she had made to me, and saying that I felt that I
had no right to trouble her further; but from what she wrote to me, I
doubt whether her father would have found her altogether amenable to his
wishes even at the end of the two years."  A month later there was a
wedding in Bedford Square. Among those present no one was more gratified
than Mr. Barnett, whose surprise and satisfaction were great when Harry
told him in confidence the result of his advice, and especially of his
introduction to the Indian guide.  It had been arranged that nothing
should be said as to the source from which Harry had obtained his wealth,
as it was possible that the Peruvian government might set up some claim to
it, and it was in Mr. Fortescue's opinion very doubtful what the result
would be, as it had been discovered so close to the shore.  Harry never
took any steps with reference to the gold valley, for the constant
troubles in Peru were sufficient to deter any wealthy men from investing
money there.  The correspondence between him and Dias and his wife was
maintained until they died full of years and greatly lamented by numbers
of their countrymen to whom they had been benefactors.  Bertie never went
to sea again except in his own yacht, but when he came of age, bought an
estate near Southampton, and six years later brought home a mistress for
it.





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