"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