Buchan was ready to throw the lever of his engine and roll out of
Tucson, when a messenger handed him a packet bearing the postmark of
Peru. The missive showed signs of age, and, having traveled much, had
reached its destination at last. He tossed it into his tool box and an
hour later when speeding over the scorched deserts of Arizona, he
opened the packet. The letter was dated at Truxillo and read:
"Dear Don Juan--I have been ill for many months, and I feel that
my end is drawing nigh, but before I go I want to do something for
you. I have heard how Don Rodrigo so justly met his end, and with
this knowledge I die easier. You are young and strong, with a long
life of usefulness ahead, and I feel that in entrusting to you a
family secret, I am only doing that which I would have done had
Felicita lived. She was the last of our house and the heritage of
our family belonged to her. As it is, I make you my heir to the
valuable papers handed down to me from my ancestors. May they
prove to you a blessing. Would that I had more to give you. May
the blessings of the Virgin ever rest upon you.
"Julian."
Accompanying the letter was a parchment scroll, dated Lima, 1752. It
read:
"I, Jean Maldonado, do write of my extraordinary adventures in Nueva
Espanola, wherein I was duly appointed the Commander of an expedition
to the land of Quivera, in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola, in
the service of his excellency, the viceroy of Santa Fe. A barbarian
told us he would lead us unto a land to the far north, where shops
blazed with jewels and common cooking vessels were made of gold; that
the metal was so common as to be of no value. The king of this city
took his noonday meals beneath a golden canopy, hung with tinkling
silver bells. There was a sea upon which this king rode in a canoe,
which would carry twenty horses. Upon its prow was an idol of beaten
gold. The canoe was fitted with sumptuous cushions, upon which the
monarch took his siestas, to the music made by dancing maidens with
bells and castanets. Fish as large as horses abounded, and sweet fruit
bigger than a soldier's helmet grew upon the trees. The monarch who
ruled over this land was long-bearded, white-haired, and wore robes of
bright-hued, rich stuffs, and slept in a garden where trees were hung
with a thousand bells, which made exquisite music when shaken by the
wind. And this king worshipped the golden image of a woman, the Queen
of Heaven, and ate from gold and silver bowls, of which the dais he
sat upon was made. He spoke with vast assurance and said he would
conduct us thither whenever we should follow.
"We journeyed northward many leagues over mountains and came to a wide
valley watered by a stream. Farther on were high mountains and we
named them Sangre de Christo and marked three mountains 'Spanish
Peaks' on our map, that we might not miss our way. One day a pious
soldier saw the barbarian with his face in a pool of water, talking
with the devil. After that we were suspicious. After many days'
journey we found the city, but alas, it was mud huts, and the only
metal was a copper plate around the old chief's neck and by which he
sat great store. There were no golden vessels, no image of the Virgin,
no golden dais and no silver bells.
"The wicked barbarian then said he had led us into the desert to die.
Our soldiers were wroth and I ordered him hanged on a considerable
tree, to let him know there was a God in heaven and a King in Spain.
"We turned our steps backward after we had set up a cross, and
journeyed into the valley. Now there were many oxen come into the
valley of the figure and color of our bulls, but their horns were not
so great. They had a great bunch upon their fore shoulders and more
hair upon their fore parts than on their hind parts. They had a
horse's mane upon their backbone and much hair from the knees
downward. They had great tufts of hair hanging from their foreheads
and it seemeth that they had beards, because of the great store of
hair at their chins and throats. In some respects they resembled a
lion, and in some others the camel. They pushed with their horns, and
they overtook and killed horses. Finally, it was a foul and fierce
beast of countenance.
"We have stayed close to the mountains where we could flee to the
rocks if they pursued us. We were crossing the mountain, when we came
upon a spring near unto a huge cliff that sat on the edge like a
platter. We camped here many days until the bulls left the valley.
Some distance from the rock like a platter, Casteanda found gold in a
white rock, which we did beat up and saved much pure gold. Casteanda
journeyed to Santa Fe and returned with more donkeys, and we loaded
upon them much unbeaten rock. We all then journeyed back to Santa Fe,
for the barbarians were angry at our intrusion and we went in haste,
leaving more gold in the white rock than would load a ship's boat. I
cut in the rock, high up, the words:
"'Jean Maldonado.
"'Commander of an Expedition, reached this place, 1750.'
"All this, so that the subjects of Spain might know this country
belonged to His Majesty.
"We journeyed back to Santa Fe after many days of hardships and we
found a new Viceroy had been appointed and he demanded our gold. This
we were loath to give up, and after selling it to a trader for the
coin of the realm, we started across the country for New Orleans,
knowing well not to go south for the new Viceroy would pursue us and
take the gold.
"We journeyed along the banks of a considerable river by night and hid
ourselves by day. We saw many thousands of ferocious bulls grazing,
and when they ran the noise was like thunder and it made us afraid. We
crossed many rivers and finally came to a country of wooded hills
where the Barbarians were thick and ferocious.
"The Barbarians pursued us and we hid our gold and records in a cave
and rolled a stone over the hole and fled. They killed nearly all of
our expedition and our mules. Baptiste was sorely wounded in the
breast with an arrow and notwithstanding we bled him copiously, he
died.
"The treatment given us by the Barbarians irritated us exceedingly and
we fell upon them with swords when they were not in great numbers.
"We came to a river whose waters were red, like unto the color of the
tiles on the houses of Seville, and after journeying along its banks
for many nights, we came unto the River of the Holy Ghost, which
DeSoto discovered and here we found safety.
"While all these things were new in my mind I made another map in
order that I might take another expedition to the mine when the
Viceroy grew rich from the spoils of office and would trouble us no
more. But he did write unto the people of Spain that I would be hanged
upon my return to Santa Fe, therefore I desisted in returning. Being
extremely irritated at his conduct I sought my fortune in Peru, until
such time when he should be called to heaven, which call even now, in
my old age, has not yet been made, over which misfortune I have sorely
grieved."
Accompanying this document was a map with the Sangre de Christo range,
the Spanish Peaks, the River, Valley and flat cliff on edge, plainly
marked. The distance from Santa Fe and the mountain passes was clearly
indicated.
A month later Buchan was transferred on a run out of Santa Fe where
the hand of Fate and Chance again took part. He received a letter from
Mr. Robinson who had joined a surveying party and had fallen ill at
Saguache. The letter implored him to come, if he ever expected to see
him alive. True to his old time friendship, he lost no time in
reaching his bedside. Mr. Robinson lingered a few weeks and died. This
was more sad news for Hattie in her far-away home, amid the Santa
Lucia mountains. She alone remained of the happy family who had gone
to Arequipa with fond hopes for the future beneath those sunny skies.
I, the writer, had been with Carson a few days before prospecting in
the Sangre de Christo mountains, when by chance we rested at the
spring beside the peculiar shaped cliff. I noticed that Carson was
interested in the surroundings, but I thought nothing of it at the
time. The formation of the cliff appealed to my fancy, and I chanced
to mention it to Buchan one day when he became excited and asked to be
shown its whereabouts.
Together with Carson we visited the spot. Being an old prospector, I
soon discovered formations that looked like pay ore. My years of
experience in these mountains had taught me that a man might work a
lifetime and gain nothing, and again from the outcroppings of a stone
at grass roots he might develop a mine worth a million dollars.
Carson and Buchan were sanguine over our prospects, too much so, I
thought, for men who had no experience in mining.
I located the claim so as to include the cliff and spring and when I
made out the registration papers, I said: "Gentlemen, what shall we
call the mine?"
"Name it the Maldonado," said Carson.
"What!" exclaimed Buchan, turning an ashen paleness.
"The Major Domo," replied Carson, looking somewhat abashed.
"Name it the Aberdeen," said Buchan. "I like to hear that name spoken,
it was my old home in Scotland."