The Treasure of the Incas: A Story of Adventure in Peru

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER IX

  THE SIGNAL STAR

  During the afternoon Dias, who had been keeping a careful look-out atthe cliffs, said to Harry: "I think, senor, that the savages areleaving the hills. An hour ago I saw a man walking along where wegenerally see them; he was going straight along as if for some fixedpurpose, and I thought at once that he might be bringing them somemessage from the people below us. I lost sight of him after a bit, butpresently I could make out some men moving in the other direction. Theywere keeping back from the edge, but I several times caught sight oftheir heads against the sky-line when there happened to be some littleirregularity in the ground. They were not running, but seemed to me tobe 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 sentfor, 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 tocatch them all together, for I have no fear that they will stand whenthese fireworks begin to go off among them."

  "What is the drawback, then?"

  "It is, senor, that they have either been collected because they havegiven up the hope of catching us at present, and are going to scatterand 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 outtill they are within twenty or thirty yards of us. At most you and yourbrother could fire four shots, then you would take up your rifles. Weshall have then only four shots left. If they continue their rush whereshall 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 theother. Then the end would come. Two on each side would not be able tokeep back the rush of two or three score. In two minutes it would beall over."

  "Yes, Dias, I see that if they were determined to storm the place andtake us alive they could do it; but we have the fireworks."

  "I did not think of that. Yes; but having once worked themselves up andbeing mad with excitement, even that might not stop them, though Ishould think it would. Yes, I believe we might feel assured that weshould 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 wehad best stay and defend ourselves; but we can't be sure that that istheir motive for assembling. They may, as you say, be going to moveoff, leaving perhaps half a dozen men to watch the entrance and reportif we attempt to escape. That would be fatal, and our only chance wouldbe to leave everything behind and endeavour to climb up one side or theother; and even that might not avail us, as there may be one or two menup there to see if we make off that way. I am more inclined to thinkthat this is the course that they will take rather than risk a heavyloss of life. They must have a good idea of what it would cost them totake 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, theydo not like moving at night, and if they attack it will not be untilshortly before daybreak. There is sure to be a palaver when the men whohave been on the hills come down. It will be too late then for them togo back before night, so that I think we are pretty sure to find themall in the ravine this evening. If, when we get there, we find theplace empty, we must come to a decision as to what our best course willbe. In that case I think we ought to climb the hills and make our wayup the mountains as rapidly as possible. We could calculate on eight orten 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 beable to follow our traces and overtake us before we reach a point wherethey would not dare follow us. In that case, of course we should haveto give up all hope of finding the gold valley, and lose the mules withall 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 carrya glowing brand, and when he got there, was to sling his gun behind himand hold twelve squibs in one hand and the brand in the other. Whenthey approached within throwing distance of the savages, they were tolay their guns down beside them, and then Harry was to put the ends ofhis squibs against his brand, and hurl the whole of them among theIndians. A few seconds later Bertie was to do the same, while Harryfired one barrel of buck-shot. Bertie was to fire as Dias threw a dozencrackers, and then Jose was to throw his squibs. Then all were to throwsquibs and crackers as far as they could go; and the other two barrelsof buck-shot and Jose's musket were to be poured in. By this time theycalculated the savages would be in full flight, and the three riflescould then be used.

  Harry was to hand his rifle to Dias before the firing began, and he andBertie were to slip fresh cartridges into these guns and recap thembefore sending off the last batch of their fireworks, so as to havethem in readiness either to empty their contents into the flyingIndians, or to cover their retreat should the fireworks fail to effectthe panic they hoped for. Their pistols were also to be reserved untilthe Indians fled. Donna Maria was to stay by the water, and start atonce on her way back if Dias shouted to her to do so. Every step of theplan settled upon was repeated again and again, until there was nopossibility of any mistake being made. Maria had not attended thecouncil; her confidence in her two white friends was unbounded, andBertie's invention of the fireworks had placed him on a level with hisbrother in her estimation. She therefore quietly went on with herpreparations for dinner without concerning herself as to the details ofthe affair.

  As soon as it was dark and the meal eaten, the tents were struck, thebaggage all rolled up and packed on the animals, and the fireworksdivided. When everything was in readiness they went together and made abreach in the breast-work wide enough for the mules to pass. At nineo'clock Maria was seated in the carrying-chair, and strapped on to herhusband's back; then four brands were taken from the fire and the partystarted. When within fifty yards of the lower end of the ravine Josewent forward, and, returning in a few minutes, reported that no savageswere on guard. A fire was burning outside the mouth of the ravine wherehe had seen them on the evening before, and from the reflection on therock he believed that another fire was alight inside. His report causeda general feeling of relief, for their great fear had been that thenatives might have made off before their arrival.

  When they stepped out from the water Dias set Maria down. "Youunderstand, Maria," he said: "the moment I call, you are to start upthe river."

  "I understand," she said. "I have my knife, and if you do not rejoin meI shall know how to use it."

  "We shall rejoin you, Maria," Dias said confidently. "I believe that atthe first volley of fireworks they will be off. They must be more thanhuman if they are not scared, as they never can have heard of suchthings before."

  Keeping close to the rock wall, they went along in single file untilwithin forty or fifty yards of the fire; then, going down on theirhands and knees, they crawled up a slight rise, from the top of whichthey could see a hundred or more natives gathered round a fire. One wasaddressing the others, who were seated listening attentively. Layingthe guns down to be ready for instant action, and keeping themselvesconcealed in the herbage, Harry took his bundle of squibs from hispocket. They were but lightly tied together; slipping off the string heapplied the ends to the brand. There was a sudden roar of fire, andwaving them once round his head he hurled them into the midst of theassembly. There was a yell of astonishment as the missiles flew hitherand thither, exploding with loud reports. The last had not explodedwhen 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 Harrythrew his squibs and Bertie fired a volley of buck-shot. For a momentthe savages were paralysed, then many of them threw themselves on theirfaces in terror of these fiery demons, while others started in headlongflight.

  "Send them off as quick as you can!" Harry shouted, as he dischargedhis second barrel into the flying natives. Bertie followed suit, andthen both paused to reload while Dias and Jose hurled their remainingfireworks. 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 littleparty 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 Mariajoined them a minute later. More than a score of natives lay dead orbadly 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 thesavages 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 theboldest may venture back again to look after their comrades. At anyrate, 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 aremore frightened than hurt. After we have gone many of them will be ableto crawl down to the river. Savages frequently recover from wounds thatwould kill white men; and even if no others come down, those who arebut slightly wounded will help the more incapable. We have cleared theway for ourselves, which was all we wanted, and have taught them alesson they are not likely to forget for many years to come. Let us goback at once and bring down the mules. I suppose you will sit down bythe stream, and wait till we come back, Maria?"

  "Yes," she said, "there is nothing to be afraid of now; but you canleave me one of your pistols in case one of these savages may beshamming 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 knowthat 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 themshould move and try to crawl away, don't fire at them; but if they lookabout and seem inclined to make mischief, shoot at once."

  Coming down with the animals the three men carried torches in eachhand. The mules reached the mouth of the torrent without accident, andthe llamas were then lifted off the baggage mules which had carriedthem, and all were turned loose to graze on the rich grass near theedge of the river. Jose and Dias went to the fire in the ravine, andreturned laden with burning brands, and a fire was soon blazing nearthe water. Two of them kept watch by turns at the spot from which theyhad fired, lest any of the wounded Indians should, on recovering, tryto avenge their loss by sending arrows down amongst the party. Duringthe night four of the fallen Indians, after first looking roundcautiously, crawled away, and the watchers could hear them running fastthrough 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 Josehad swum over. Dias, on examination, found that the water, even in thedeepest part, was not more than breast-high. Accordingly he returned;Maria, kneeling on one of his shoulders and one of Harry's, was carriedacross without being wetted. Then they joined the animals, which weregrazing a short distance away, and set off without delay. Although theykept a sharp look-out they saw no more of the Indians. They ascendedseveral more streams unobserved. Rough carvings on the face of severalof the rocks led them to carry their excursions farther than usual, butbeyond 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 therewere some marks by which you would be directed in the gold valley; itis quite likely that other marks might have been placed in the valleysso that the real ones would not be particularly noticed."

  "That is possible, senor; they would certainly do everything they couldto prevent anyone not in the secret from knowing. The mark I have tolook for first is a serpent. It is carved on a rock at the end of avalley."

  "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 thehiding-place very difficult to find, so that even when the valley wasknown, it would need the guidance of the star to take us to the rightplace."

  "That might be so, Dias, if it were a hidden treasure that we werelooking for; but as, according to your account, it is simply anextraordinarily rich deposit in the river, I hardly see why theguidance of the star should be necessary when once the valley wasknown."

  "That I cannot tell you, senor; but I am sure that it must be difficultto find, for the Spaniards searched everywhere for gold, and althoughthe records of most of their discoveries still exist, there is nomention of such a find, nor is there is any word of it among the Indiantraditions."

  A week before the appointed date they found themselves in theneighbourhood where they felt sure the cleft must lie. Mount Tinta wastwenty miles in front of them, and from that point a range of mountainstrended 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," Dias 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 theyunloaded the mules, Harry exclaimed: "See, Dias, there is a cleft inthat peak! From here it looks as if it were a mere thread, and as ifsome giant had struck a mighty sword-cut into it."

  "That is right. Sure enough, senor, this must be the valley. Now, letus look about for the serpent."

  The search did not take them long. An isolated rock rose a quarter of amile from the mouth, and on this was a rude representation of aserpent. The next morning they explored the valley thoroughly to apoint where, five miles higher, it ceased abruptly, the rocks closingin on either side, and the stream coming down in a perpendicular fallfrom a point some eighty feet above them. Going down the river, theywashed the gravel again and again, but without obtaining even as muchgold as they had found several times before.

  "I cannot understand it," Harry said, as they sat down to their meal atdusk. "Your tradition says nothing about hidden treasure, and yet theredoes not seem to be gold in the stream."

  "It may be higher up, senor. We must ascend the hills on each side ofthe valley, and come down upon the river higher up."

  Harry was on watch that night, and at one o'clock he roused the othersup. "See!" he exclaimed later on; "there is a bright star apparentlyabout a foot above the peak. I should think that must be the star. Nodoubt that will rise in exact line behind the cleft on the 21st, thatis four days from now; probably it can only be seen when we are exactlyin the line with the cleft and the position of the gold. This cleft isundoubtedly very narrow--no doubt the result of an earthquake. Itcertainly goes straight through, and very likely it is some hundredyards across, so that unless we are exactly in the line we sha'n't seeit. As soon as it is dark on the 21st we will all go some distance upthe valley, where it is only about four or five hundred yards across.We will station ourselves fifty yards apart across it, then one of usis sure to see the star through the cleft. We had each better take twosticks with us. Whoever sees the star will fix one in the ground andthen go backwards for a hundred yards, keeping the star in sight, andplant the other; then the line between those two sticks ought to leadus to the spot."

  Each night the star rose nearer to the cleft. "There is no doubt weshall see it in the proper position to-morrow night," Harry said on the20th of the month. "That certainly is strong proof that the traditionhanded down to you, Dias
, is correct."

  They employed the next day in again searching for some indication thatmight assist them, but in vain. Dias and Jose both asserted that thetiny rift in the rocky peak looked wider from the middle of the valleythan at any other point, and even Harry and his brother admitted thatit could scarcely be seen from the foot of the hills on either side,and therefore it was agreed that Dias, Harry, and Jose should taketheir places only some forty yards apart across the centre; Maria andBertie going farther, near the sides of the hills. When midnightapproached they took their stations. Suddenly Harry, who was standingby the side of the rivulet, exclaimed, "I see it!" It was more than aminute later before Dias saw it, while it was three or four minutesbefore Jose spoke, by which time Harry had crossed the streamlet andfixed his second rod some distance on the other side. Dias and Jose didthe 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 campingplace.

  "It is curious that I should have seen it before either of you, whenyou were standing so close to me," Harry said. "It was lower than Iexpected, and it is evident that the cleft must continue much fartherdown than we thought, and that it must be extremely narrow at thebottom. It is certainly a splendid guide, and there can be no mistakingit. Unless I had been standing on the exact line, I should not havenoticed the star till later, and the crack is so much wider towards thetop that it could probably be seen on a line half a mile across. Itwill be strange if we cannot find the place in the morning. Certainlywe 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 havechanged its course considerably."

  Dias shook his head. "It can hardly be that, senor, because, in thatcase, anyone who had examined the valley could have found it. I beginto think that it must have been a mistake about its being merely a richplace in the river, and that it must be some vast treasure, perhapshidden by the people before the Incas, and kept by them as a certainresource when needed. We shall have to search, I think, for somewalled-up cave in the rocks. We have already looked for it, but notseriously; and besides, there are many boulders that have fallen, andformed a bank at the foot of the cliff."

  "Well, we shall know in a few hours. I feel absolutely certain that theline between those two sticks will lead us to it."

  None attempted to sleep, and as soon as it became light they took picksand shovels and started up the valley. Harry gave an exclamation ofsurprise as, standing behind the first stick, he looked towards thesecond. "The line goes to the middle of that waterfall," he said.

  This was so; for the stream made two or three sharp bends between thespot 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 alarge deep pool. Can a treasure be buried in that? If so, it will behard indeed to get it."

  Harry did not reply; his face was white with excitement. He walkedforward slowly till he reached the edge of the pool. It was somefifteen yards across, and the colour of the water showed that it wasvery deep.

  "I will dive, Harry," Bertie said; "I have gone down more than once infive fathoms of water to pick up an egg that has been thrownoverboard." He stripped and swam out to the middle of the pool anddived. 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 gonedown seven fathoms."

  "Thank you, Bertie," Harry said quietly; "we will make up our mindsthat if it is there, we sha'n't get it at present. The foot of thevalley is so flat that it would need a cut at least a mile long to letthe water off, and we should therefore require either an army of men ora regular diving apparatus, which there would be no getting this sideof England. However, it may not be there. Let us search now behind thefall."

  There were some four or five feet clear between the sheet of water andthe rock. At times, as Harry pointed out, there would be an even widerspace, for the weather had been dry for the past two months, and thequantity of water coming down was but small, while in the wet season amighty flood would shoot far out from the rock. The width of the streamin the wet season was shown by the broad bed of what was now but arivulet. Looking upwards as they stood, the wall actually overhungthem, 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 bythese rocks piled up for the purpose. On the other hand, they may havefallen. I think that is the most likely explanation, for as the topprojects beyond the bottom it is possible that some time or other therewas a big fall."

  They searched every foot of the rock within reach, but there were nosigns of any man's handiwork. The rock was solid, thickly covered withdripping moss and ferns which had flourished in the mist and spray thatrose from the foot of the fall. This they had ruthlessly scraped offwith their picks. Silently they went out again at the end, and stoodhopelessly looking at the fall. It was some time before Harry said, "Wemust move some of those stones now. Let us go at once and cut down someyoung trees, for we can do nothing with our hands alone, but must uselevers. For that purpose we shall want straight wood, and strong. Wehad better get half a dozen, in case some of them break; make themabout ten feet long, and from four to six inches thick, and sharpenedslightly at the lower end."

  In an hour the levers were ready.

  "We had better breakfast before we begin, Dias. Your wife went off toprepare it when we came out from the waterfall. I dare say it is readyby this time."

  In half an hour they were back again. They chose the central spotbehind the fall, and then set to work. Some of the rocks were dislodgedwithout much difficulty, but to move others, it was necessary to firstget 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 thenrenewing their work. By evening they had made an opening four or fivefeet wide at the top, and six feet deep, close to the wall. It was nowgetting dark, and all were fagged and weary with their work, the lightwas fading, and they were glad to return to camp. Maria came out tomeet them. She asked no questions, but said cheerfully, "I have a goodolla 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 themules, Jose, and taken them down to water."

  "I think," Bertie said, when they had finished their meal, "that wemight splice the main brace."

  "I do think we might," Harry laughed. "We have not opened a bottlesince we started, and certainly we have worked like niggers since seveno'clock this morning. I will open the case; it is screwed down, and Ihave 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 notunderstand what he said."

  "It is a sea expression, Dias. After a hard day's work the captainorders that the main brace shall be spliced, which means that the crewshall have a glass of grog--that is, a glass of spirits and water--tocheer and warm them after their exertions. Jose, will you bring ablazing 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 ofgood brandy. Is your kettle boiling still, senora? We shall want hotwater, sugar, and five of the tin mugs. Have you any of those limes wepicked the other day?"

  "Yes, senor."

  "That is good. Just a slice each will be an improvement." Harry mixedfour mugs, and a half one for Maria. "There, Dias!" he said. "You willallow that that is a considerable improvement on pulque."

  He and his brother had already lighted their pipes. The other three hadmade cigarettes. Dias and Jose were loud in their commendations of thenew beverage. Donna Maria had at first protested that she never touchedpulque, and this must be the same sort of thing. However, after sippingdaintily, she finished her portion with evident satisfaction. They didnot si
t up long, and as soon as they had finished their first smoke allretired to bed, leaving for once the llamas and mules to act assentries. As soon as it was fairly daylight, they drank a cup of coffeeand started again to work. Harry went first into the hole they hadmade, and, kneeling down, struck a match to enable him to see the rockmore thoroughly. He gave a slight exclamation, then said: "Open yourknife, Bertie, and come in here and strike another match. I want bothmy 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 ofhis 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 andthen sat up.

  "That is the top of a cave," he said. "Do you see, this crack alonghere is a straight one. That, I fancy, was the top of the entrance tothe cave. That stone under it has a rough face, but on the top andsides it is straight. It is fitted in with cement, or something of thatsort, and is soft for some distance in, and then becomes quite hard. Ican 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. "Ithink you are right, Harry. Those three stones would never fit togetherso closely if they had not been cut by hand, though, looking at theface, 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 saidas he joined them; and the three went out beyond the fall, for thenoise of the water was too great for them to converse withoutdifficulty behind the veil of water. Jose stayed behind to examine.

  "Well, Dias, we have found the place where the treasure is hidden, butI don't think that we are much nearer. Certainly we have not strengthsufficient to clear away those fallen stones, and probably the cave isblocked by a wall several feet thick. We should want tools andblasting-powder to get through it. No doubt it is a natural cave, andit seems to me probable that they altered the course of the streamabove, so that it should fall directly over the entrance. I thinkbefore we talk further about it we will go up there and take a look atit. If we find that the course has been changed that will settle thematter."

  It took them an hour to climb the hill and make their way down to thegorge through which the river ran. They examined it carefully.

  "It must always have come along here," Dias said. "There is no otherpossible channel; but there are marks of tools on the rocks on eachside of the fall, and the water goes over so regularly that I think therock must have been cut away at the bottom."

  "It certainly looks like it, Dias. The rocks widen out too, so thathowever strong the rush of water may be it will always go over in aregular sheet. Let us follow it along a little way."

  Fifty yards farther on, the gorge widened out suddenly, and they pausedwith an exclamation of astonishment. Before them was a wide valley,filled to the spot where they were standing with a placid sheet ofwater four or five hundred yards wide, and extending to another gorgefully 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 hillshere?"

  "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 dreamthat there was anything beyond that fall."

  Harry had sat down and thought for some minutes, looking over the lakewithout speaking.

  "I am afraid, Dias," he said at last, "that your tradition was a trueone after all, and that the gold lay in the bed of a stream in thevalley we now see filled up."

  "But it must always have been a lake, senor," Dias said after thinkingfor a minute, "and could not have been shallower, for there is no otherescape than the waterfall; and however heavy the rains it could nothave risen higher, except a few feet, as one can see by the face of therock."

  "It may have had some other way out," Harry said.

  Dias looked carefully round the side of the valley. "There is no breakin the hills that I can see, senor."

  "No; but my firm conviction is that the top of that cave that we foundbehind the fall is really the top of a natural tunnel through which thestream originally flowed. There are two or three reasons for this. Inthe first place, it is certainly remarkable that there should be a caveimmediately behind that fall. I thought at first that the stream abovemight have been diverted to hide it, but the ravine is so narrow thatthat could not be possible. In the next place, your tradition hasproved absolutely true in the matter of the star, and in the hour ofits appearance in the exact line to the mouth of that cave. Howcorrectly the details have been handed down from generation togeneration! If they are right on that point it is hardly likely thatthey can be inaccurate on other points, and that the tale of anextraordinarily rich treasure could have been converted into one of anexceptional deposit of gold in the bed of a river.

  "I think that the passage was probably closed by the old people whenthey were first threatened by the invasion of the Incas. No doubt theywould choose a season when the stream was almost dry. They had, as theremains of their vast buildings will show, an unlimited supply oflabour. They would first partially block up the tunnel, perhaps for thefirst fifty yards in, leaving only a small passage for the water to runthrough. They might then close the farther end with sacks of sand, andhaving the other stones all cut, and any number of hands, build it upbehind the sacks, and then go on with the work till it was solid; thenno doubt they would heap stones and boulders against the face of thewall. By the time the Incas had conquered the country the valley wouldbe a lake many feet deep. The Incas, having gained an abundant supplyof treasure elsewhere, would take no steps towards opening the tunnel,which in any case would have been a terrible business, for the pressureof water would drive everything before it. Having plenty of slavelabour at their disposal, they knew that it could be done at any timein case of great necessity, when the loss of the lives of thoseconcerned in it would be nothing to them. When the valley became fullthe water began to pour out through this gap, which perhaps happened tobe immediately over the mouth of the tunnel, or it may have beenaltered by a few yards to suit, for they were, as we know from some oftheir buildings, such good workmen that they could fit slabs of thehardest stone so perfectly together that it is hardly possible to seethe joints. Therefore they would only have to widen the mouth of thegorge a little, and fit rocks in on either side so that they would seemto have been there for all time; and indeed the natural growth of fernsand mosses would soon hide the joints, even if they had been roughlydone."

  "And that all means, Harry--?" Bertie asked.

  "That all means that we have no more chance of getting at the gold thanif 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 thelake, or by blasting the stone in the tunnel. The one would requireyears of work, with two or three hundred experienced miners, and tentimes as many labourers. The other would need twenty or thirty miners,and a hundred or two labourers. There is possibly another way; but asthat would require an immense iron siphon going down to the bottom ofthe lake, along one side of this ravine, and down into the bottom ofthe pool, with a powerful engine to exhaust the air in the first placeand 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-powerengine, the lake could be pumped dry in time; but to transport theplant for such an engine and its boiler across the mountains would bean enormous undertaking; and even were it here, and put up and going,the difficulty of supplying it with fuel would be enormous. Certainlyone could not get up a company with capital enough to carry out any oneof the schemes merely on the strength of an Indian tradition; and withthe uncertainty, even if they believed the tradition, whe
ther theamount 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 spokenon the way. Bertie tried to follow the example of his brother, and takethe matter coolly. Dias walked with his head down and the air of acriminal going to execution. The disappointment to him was terrible. Hehad all along felt so confident that they should be successful, andthat he should be enabled to enrich those he considered as thepreservers of his life, that he was utterly broken down with the totalfailure of his hopes.