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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure of the Incas, by G. A. Henty
+#15 in our series by G. A. Henty
+
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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
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+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, Senor 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, senor; 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, senor."
+
+"I have just arrived from England, and bring a letter to you from Senor
+Barnett, with whom you travelled for two or three years some time ago."
+
+The man's face lit up with pleasure. "Will you enter, senor. Friends of
+Senor 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 senor; 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, senor. 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, senor. It is a very grave one, and
+had any other man than Senor 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 Senor 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, senors, 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, senors, 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, senor, 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 Senor Pasquez, who received them very cordially.
+
+"So you are going to follow the example of Senor Barnett and spend some
+time in exploring the country and doing some shooting. Have you found
+Dias?"
+
+"Yes, senor, 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, senor," 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 Senor 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 Senor
+Barnett."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A STREET FRAY
+
+
+"Now, senor," 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, senor. 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
+Jose. 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, senor; yours and the one I ride will be enough. Jose 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, senor--I have talked it over with
+my wife"--he paused for a moment, and then said: "She wishes to go with
+me, senor."
+
+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, senor, 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, senor; you will find her useful. You have already seen that
+she can cook well; and if we have Jose 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,
+senor, 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 Jose 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, senor," 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, senor? There are the mules to buy, and the
+tents to be made--they should be of vicuna 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 Jose. By the
+by, we shall want a tent for him."
+
+Dias smiled. "It will not be necessary, senor; 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 Jose 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 Senor
+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, senor, 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 senors 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 Senor 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senors, 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, senor; 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, senor; 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 Jose 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Jose 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.
+
+Jose 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 Jose, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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 vicunas, 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor. 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, senor; 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 Senor Pasquez, for if we do fall into the hands of any of
+these gentry, we can lose practically nothing."
+
+"No money, senor, 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 Jose, 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, Jose 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 vicuna 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, senor, 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
+Senor 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, senor,
+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, senor, 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, senor, 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 Jose; 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 Jose 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 Jose 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
+Jose collected dried sticks. A fire was soon lighted, and Maria began to
+prepare breakfast.
+
+"Is it unhealthy here, Dias?"
+
+"Not here, senors; 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Montana, 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, senor," 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, senor," 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, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor. 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, Jose 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 Jose 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. Jose
+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 Jose 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, senor," 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; Jose 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 Jose, 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, senors."
+
+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, senor, they are too frightened by the thunder and lightning to think
+of doing so."
+
+"What are all those cries we hear?"
+
+"Those are monkeys, senor. 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, senors, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, I do not think it necessary. Jose 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 Jose
+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, senor. 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 Jose 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, senor. 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 Jose 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, Jose?"
+
+"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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Jose 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. Jose and I will keep watch to-night."
+
+"We will take turns with you, Dias."
+
+"No, senor; 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, senor,
+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, senor; 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 Jose can take the next."
+
+"Jose 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.
+Jose, 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor, 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, senor," 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, senor. 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, senor," 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, senor?"
+
+"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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor."
+
+He turned out at once. Jose was already feeding the mules.
+
+"You had better come along with me, Jose, 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, Jose took up the old musket he
+carried and accompanied Harry.
+
+"What have you got in that gun, Jose?"
+
+"The charge of buck-shot that you gave me the other day, senor."
+
+"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."
+
+Jose 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 Jose 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, senor," 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 Jose 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
+Jose. He returned in two hours.
+
+"There are several places where I am sure the savages could come down.
+Now, senors, breakfast is ready; I will leave Jose here, and we will go
+and talk matters over while we eat. The tents are only a hundred yards
+away, so that if Jose 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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Jose, 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, senor. 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 Jose. With his rifle and the
+two double-barrelled guns and Jose'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, senor," 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 senor 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
+senor 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 senor 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 Jose I will carry your
+double-barrelled guns with me, senor, if you will let me have them. When
+we get to the other end I will take up my station there. Jose 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, senor. 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, senor," 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, Jose 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 Jose 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, senor; 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 Jose 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: "Jose will go down to-night, senor. 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, senor. 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 Jose 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, Jose will have to be very careful."
+
+"He will be careful, senor. 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, senor. We will
+start in an hour's time, so that Jose 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 Jose, who came back and had a long talk with Dias.
+
+"We are ready now, senor."
+
+"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 Jose will take no weapons?"
+
+"Only a long knife, senor, that may be useful if he comes upon one of them
+suddenly."
+
+At the barricade Jose 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, Jose!" Harry said. "Now, be careful. It would be a great grief
+to us if anything happened to you."
+
+"I will be careful, senor. 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, senor. 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 Jose, 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 Jose 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 Jose is putting on his clothes, tell
+me what he has found out."
+
+"I have not heard much, senor. 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 Jose while the latter was dressing.
+
+"You must feel horribly cold, Jose," 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 canon."
+
+"He would have been angry, Jose, 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 Jose 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, Jose," 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, senor. 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 Jose 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, senor,"
+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. Jose 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, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor,
+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, senor! 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor?"
+
+"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, senor; 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
+Jose 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 Jose'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 Jose 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 Jose hurled their remaining fireworks. By
+this time the last of the natives had leapt up and fled. Jose'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, senor," 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."
+
+"Jose will wait with her," Dias said. "Now, Jose, 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, Jose; 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. Jose 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 Jose 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor, 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, senor. 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 Jose 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 Jose 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 Jose spoke, by which time Harry
+had crossed the streamlet and fixed his second rod some distance on the
+other side. Dias and Jose did the same. Bertie did not catch sight of it
+for some time after Jose, 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, senor, 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,
+Jose, 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, senor. 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. Jose, 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, senora? We shall want hot
+water, sugar, and five of the tin mugs. Have you any of those limes we
+picked the other day?"
+
+"Yes, senor."
+
+"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 Jose 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, senor,"
+
+"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, senor," 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. Jose 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, senor," 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor, 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, Jose 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, senor, 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. Jose 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, senor."
+
+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, senors, our presence will pacify
+them."
+
+They all moved towards the mules, which were standing huddled together.
+Dias and Jose 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, senor, 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, senor; 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, senor, 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, senor; 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 Jose 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, senor. 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. Jose, 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, senor; at night their presence is to be dreaded."
+
+"I am afraid we have lost a mule."
+
+"I think not, senor. 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; Jose ran and brought a flaming
+brand from the fire. Blood was streaming from both the animal's shoulders.
+
+"It stuck its claws in, senor, 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, senor," 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, senor," 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, Jose," 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor."
+
+"Is there no other way of crossing the mountains than by this pass?"
+
+"There is a pass, senor, between Ayapata and Crucero, but it is a very bad
+one."
+
+"And where should we be then, Dias?"
+
+"Well, senor, 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, senor; 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, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor, 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, senor; 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, senors, 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, senor. 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, senor; 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 Jose, who was walking with a leading mule twenty
+paces behind.
+
+"Turn them back again, Jose. 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 Jose 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, senor," 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, senor. 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor, 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. Jose, 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 Jose and Maria to lift.
+Shall we build it up now, senor? 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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor," 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, senor," 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, senor?" 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, senor?"
+
+"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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senors," 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, senor, 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor. 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, senor. At the same
+time, it would be as well to keep one on watch all night. Jose 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor," 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, senors. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor," 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, senor?"
+
+"I give you my word of honour that is all, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor. Perhaps we had better put our gold dust and money in
+Jose'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 Jose 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 senors 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 Jose 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, senors," 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, senors; 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, senors, 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
+Jose 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 Jose 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, senor, 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 Jose, 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 Jose 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 Jose 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?"
+
+"Jose 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 Jose 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor. 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,
+senors."
+
+Maria ran out as they came up.
+
+"The saints be praised," she exclaimed, "that you are with us again,
+senors!"
+
+"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 Jose and the convoy. The brothers mounted the two
+horses, and Dias and Maria rode on one mule, and led three behind them.
+Jose 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, senor. 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, senors. 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, senors, 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, senor. 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 Jose, 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 senors 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.
+
+"Senors," 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senors, 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 Senor 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senors, 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 Jose, accompanied by Maria, and an early start was made on
+the following morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CASTLE OF THE DEMONS
+
+
+"To-morrow, senor," 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor," 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, senor, 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, senor, 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, senor; 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 Senor 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.
+
+Jose, 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, senor, 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,
+senor?"
+
+"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, senor;
+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, senors," 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, senor, 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, senor, and get the poles," Dias said. "You may as well
+come with me, Jose. 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, senors, 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, senor, 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 Jose'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, senor; 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 Jose 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, senor, 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 Jose 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 Jose 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, senor; 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. Jose 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor; 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, senor; 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, senor. 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, senors," 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, senor, 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, senor, 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.
+Jose, you have got some pulque in your gourd, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, senor."
+
+"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, senor, 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 Jose'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 senors, 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, senor, 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, senor, 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 vicunas, 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 Jose 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. Jose 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, senor. 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 Jose with
+you?"
+
+"I think not, senor, for I should say that four baggage mules will be
+ample, and I can lead them myself; and certainly you will find Jose 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, senor; 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 Jose, 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, Jose. 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, senora, 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, senor; 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, Jose 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, senor, and I sha'n't be long before I get
+an olla ready for you."
+
+"Well, Jose, 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, senor, 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, senor," 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, senor! 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, senor."
+
+"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 Jose 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, senors," 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 Jose 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, senor?"
+
+"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, senora? That swim in the sea has given us a
+prodigious appetite. Did you enjoy it?"
+
+Maria nodded.
+
+"It is very nice, senor; 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 Jose!"
+
+"Well, Jose, 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, Jose," 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, Jose, 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, senor; 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 Jose 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, senors," 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 Jose 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 Jose 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor."
+
+"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, senor, 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 Jose 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 Jose 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. Jose dropped the sledge. "I can't do it, senor; 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, Jose. No, no; you have got to learn."
+
+"Would it not be well, senor," 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, senor, 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 Jose as well as to the brothers, and then Jose 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. Jose volunteered to take
+the first turn to hold the drill.
+
+"You understand, Jose, 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 Jose, who sat with a leg on each side
+of the drill. Dias stood facing Harry, Bertie behind Jose 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?"
+
+Jose 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 Jose 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, senor; 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor, 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, Jose. 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. Jose, 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 Jose, and Donna Maria followed. "Jose
+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 Jose 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, senor?'
+
+"No, the air may be bad, Jose. 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 Jose 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 Jose 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 Jose 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, senor. 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 Jose, 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 Jose 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, senor; 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, senor," 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, senor," 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, senor," 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, senor; 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, senor; 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, Jose,
+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 Jose, 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 Jose a very heavy blow."
+
+"I have hit him a heavy blow, senor, 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, senor."
+
+"Then there is an empty space behind!" Harry shouted joyfully. "However,"
+he went on in changed tones, "we must see to Jose first. That blow may
+have fractured his arm. Let me look, Jose. 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, Jose, and
+get her to bathe your wrist with cold water, and put on a bandage."
+
+"Now, senor, 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 Jose 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, senor!" 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, senor?" 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. Jose 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor, 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 Jose, 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, senor; 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, senor; what should I do all day with myself?"
+
+"I am glad, senor, 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, senor."
+
+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, senor?" 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, senor; 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, senor, and grateful we shall both be to you,"
+Maria said; "and so will Jose, 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, senor, 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, senor; but I shall want another bellows. Jose 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 Jose, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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, senor! 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 Jose 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 Jose.
+
+"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, Jose, and Maria arrived at Callao, having left the
+mules at Lima.
+
+"Was it got off all right, senor?" 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, senor, 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, senor. 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, senor. 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. Jose 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, senors," 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."
+
+Jose was almost equally affected. "You will never come back, senor," he
+said, as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
+
+"I may some day, Jose. 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 Jose 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Incas, by G. A. Henty
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure of the Incas, by G. A. Henty
+#15 in our series by G. A. Henty
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+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
+
+Character set encoding: Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Treasure of the Incas, by G. A. Henty
+
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