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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.
CUSCO PERU 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."