It was past midnight, and the camp fire, which Dick had bountifully
replenished with stout branches from the neighbouring clump of bush, the
last thing before stretching himself out to sleep, had dwindled to a
mass of dull red smouldering embers, when the white-clad figure of an
elderly man, copper-hued, bald-headed, and clean shaven, approached with
stealthy footsteps the recumbent bodies of the two slumbering
Englishmen. Bending over first one and then the other, he held a
saturated cloth toward their nostrils in such a manner that the sleepers
were permitted to inhale, for about a minute each, the faint, fragrant
fumes that emanated from it; then, abandoning all further caution, he
withdrew from the fire a half-consumed branch and waved it in the air
until the smouldering stump was fanned afresh into flame; when, the
torch having served its purpose as a signal, he flung it back upon the
almost extinguished fire. A couple of minutes later those to whom this
man had signalled approached the camp fire, and while two parties of
four each raised the recumbent and now unconscious figures of the
Englishmen to their shoulders, the remainder carefully gathered together
and took possession of the weapons and other belongings of their
prisoners, after which, at a signal from their leader the entire party
moved off, marching inland away from the lake. Relieving each other at
frequent intervals, for they found their unconscious burdens heavy--
especially those who were told off to carry Dick--the party marched a
distance of nearly eight miles, until, in a sequestered valley among the
hills, they reached the ruins of what had evidently at one time been a
city of considerable importance, built equally on both sides of an
ice-cold mountain stream. Most of the buildings were in ruins; many,
indeed, had been razed almost to their foundations--possibly to provide
material for the maintenance in repair of those that remained intact,
but there were sufficient of the latter to afford accommodation for
fully three thousand people, and all of these were inhabited. Many of
the inhabited buildings were of considerable size, but, with one
solitary exception, architectural grace and beauty were conspicuously
absent, the buildings being, with the exception mentioned, constructed
of large blocks of stone so perfectly worked that the joints of the
masonry were scarcely perceptible, but without ornament or adornment of
any kind whatever, and roughly roofed with thatch. The exception was in
the case of the temple, which, like so many in ancient Peru, was
dedicated to the Sun. This structure was erected upon the summit of a
low mound, scarcely important enough in height to be termed a hill, yet
high enough to allow the building to dominate all the rest of the town,
and was built of a beautiful white, fine-grained stone, very much
resembling alabaster. Also, in startling contrast to all the other
buildings in the town, it was admirably proportioned, and elaborately
ornamented with bold mouldings, cornices, and other architectural
ornaments which, although somewhat barbaric in design, were nevertheless
exceedingly effective. But its chief glory lay in the pair of immense
bronze doors of its main entrance, the entire surface of which was most
exquisitely engraved with a series of pictures representing the
ceremonial of sun worship. The building stood upon an immense
quadrangular base of massive masonry, the sides of which were worked
into steps; and some idea of the age of the structure could be gained
from the fact that immediately opposite the main entrance the steps were
worn away to a depth of nearly three inches by the innumerable
multitudes of worshippers who had passed up and down them. The pavement
of the interior was of marble of various colours, worked into an
elaborate pattern; and beneath this pavement there were chambers for the
confinement of prisoners, and other and more sinister purposes.
It was in one of these subterranean chambers that our friends Phil and
Dick recovered consciousness on the morning following their arrival at
the shore of the Sacred Lake; and their amazement at awaking to find
themselves bound hand and foot on the cold stone floor of a dimly
lighted dungeon, whereas they had fallen asleep in the open, may be
readily imagined. Their first and most natural impression was that they
had again fallen into the hands of the Spaniards; but they were
disabused of this idea when, an hour or two later, four stalwart
copper-hued, sharp-featured men, with long, straight black hair, clean
shaven, clad in white, sleeveless tunics, with sandals on their feet,
and each armed with a short, broad-bladed sword of copper, entered the
cell, leaving two coarse earthenware basins liberally filled with what
looked like stiff porridge, and two jars containing water. Placing
these upon the floor, two of the four proceeded to unbind the hands of
the prisoners, while the other two drew their copper swords and
stationed themselves at the door of the cell, with the evident purpose
of frustrating any attempt at escape which the prisoners might be
ill-advised enough to make. Then Phil, inspired by that knowledge which
he had so mysteriously acquired, at once recognised that he and his
companion had fallen into the hands of a body of aboriginal Peruvians,
and his face cleared.
"We are all right, Dick," he exclaimed, joyously; "these fellows are
evidently a surviving remnant of the original inhabitants of the
country, of whose existence Vilcamapata told me, and whose language I
speak. It will only be necessary for me to tell them who we are, and
they will free us at once." But when he addressed first one and then
another of the quartette, they paid no attention whatever to what he
said, contenting themselves with signing to the prisoners to eat and
drink. Instead of obeying, however, Phil continued to talk to them,
alternately explaining, ordering, and finally threatening the men; and
it was not until, some twenty minutes later, when they proceeded to bind
the hands of both behind their backs again, that Stukely realised, too
late, that the quartette were evidently deaf and dumb. Thus Phil missed
his breakfast that morning, while Dick, the practical one of the two,
secured his, having fully availed himself of the opportunity afforded by
his unbound hands to eat and drink.
In this eminently unsatisfactory and comfortless fashion the hapless
prisoners passed the ensuing ten days, seeing nobody but the four deaf
mutes, who twice daily brought them food and water, and stood over them
while they ate and drank, afterward securely binding them again;
although this seemed to be an altogether unnecessary act of cruelty;
since so strongly constructed was their place of confinement--even the
door being a massive slab of stone--that, had they been entirely
unbound, they could not possibly have forced their way out.
At length, however, on the twelfth day of their captivity, some two
hours after their morning meal had been served to them, they were quite
unexpectedly visited by their four deaf-and-dumb jailers, who, having
unbound their ankles, signed to them that they were to leave the noisome
hole where they had hitherto been confined; and when the pair passed
through the stone door they found themselves in a long passage, where
they were immediately surrounded by an escort of a dozen soldiers armed
with sword, spear, and shield, all of bronze, and wearing breastplates
and helmets of polished bronze, the latter adorned with the tail
feathers of some bird that gleamed with a brilliant metallic golden
lustre. Hemmed in by these, the prisoners were marched along the
passage until they reached a flight of stone steps which the party
ascended, finding themselves, at the top, in a long, spacious, lofty
corridor, lighted at intervals by circular openings high up under the
flat stone ceiling. Along this corridor also the prisoners were marched
until they reached a doorway closed by two bronze doors, at which the
officer of the party first knocked, and immediately afterwards thrust
open, revealing a room in which were congregated some thirty men attired
in a garb that Phil at least instantly recognised to be priestly. By
these the pair were at once taken over from the armed guard; who
thereupon retired and were no more seen. At one end of the room stood a
table upon which lay heaped a quantity of flowers, and two stalwart
priests having taken possession of each of the prisoners, the latter
were led to the table, and the flowers, which had been arranged in the
form of two long festoons, were thrown round their necks, crossed over
their breasts, passed round their waists, and finally tied in front,
with the long ends drooping almost to their feet. They were evidently
being decked as the victims of some sort of sacrifice!
Then Phil suddenly wrenched himself free from the hands of the two
priests who were putting the finishing touches to his adornment, and
spoke in a low voice to the assembled concourse of priests. What he
said was wholly incomprehensible to Dick, for it was in a tongue of
which young Chichester had no knowledge, but it had a most extraordinary
effect upon the priests, who first seemed stricken dumb with amazement,
and finally overwhelmed with paralysing fear. For several minutes,
while Phil spoke, in accents of mingled indignation and reproach, the
priests stood silent and motionless, with many mingled emotions
displaying themselves upon their expressive countenances; but when at
length he concluded his tirade by pronouncing certain words in an
unmistakably threatening tone of voice, the whole assemblage, as though
moved by the same impulse, threw up their hands with an action that
clearly expressed the deepest profundity of horror, and then
incontinently with one accord prostrated themselves on the marble floor
at the feet of the two prisoners, uttering howls of sorrow and abject
entreaty. For perhaps five minutes Phil permitted them to remain in
this posture; then suddenly he shouted a single word which had the
instant effect of reducing the prostrate ones to silence, when he again
addressed them, this time in gentler tones; and when he at length
concluded, the party rose slowly and humbly to their feet, after which
two of them stepped forward and, with every appearance of the deepest
reverence, proceeded to untwine the garlands of flowers and release the
pair from their bonds. Finally, the erstwhile prisoners were taken in
charge by two of the priests, who first conducted them to an apartment
wherein were all the requisites for a bath, together with a complete
change of clothing, and afterward to another room, very luxuriously
furnished, in which they found not only a choice though evidently
hastily provided meal, but likewise all their weapons, ammunition, and
other belongings. While this was being done the remainder of the
priesthood filed into the temple--where a vast congregation had
assembled to take part in a specially arranged festival in honour of the
full moon, to be accompanied by a sacrifice--to explain, as best they
could, to the assembled multitude that an unfortunate and most
regrettable mistake had been made; and that, consequently, although the
festival would proceed, no sacrifice beyond that of a pair of goats
would be offered!
To Dick Chichester this sudden and extraordinary change in the fortune
of himself and his friend was utterly incomprehensible; and no sooner
were they once more alone than he turned to Phil and demanded an
explanation. But, to his great surprise, Stukely, for almost the first
time since that memorable night when they had escaped from Cartagena
together, seemed inclined to be reticent; he professed himself not to
understand wholly the sudden and remarkable turn which affairs had
taken, appeared thoughtful, and inclined to be silent; and would only
say that the Peruvians had mistaken them for a couple of Spaniards, and
that they had consequently escaped a terrible death by the very skin of
their teeth. And when Dick further pressed him with several very
obvious questions, the only reply which he could extort was, that in the
excitement of the moment certain words, the meaning of which he did not
in the least understand, had involuntarily escaped his lips, and that it
was undoubtedly those mysterious words which had wrought the singular
change in the priests' attitude toward them; of which change he had felt
himself justified in taking the utmost advantage immediately that it
became apparent. He added that, although danger seemed for the moment
to be past, the situation was still exceedingly difficult and delicate,
demanding the utmost care and circumspection in handling; and he wound
up with an earnest request to Dick to cease from questioning him
further, as he wished to think the matter out and decide upon the plan
of action which it would be best to pursue under the circumstances.
A week ensued during which Dick and Phil saw very little of each other,
for the latter was engaged during practically the whole of each day in
conference with either the chief priest or the authorities who governed
the town, and sometimes with both together; while at night Stukely
manifested an unmistakable desire to be left alone to puzzle out some
problem that seemed to be worrying him.
But at length, when they had been exactly a week in the town, Phil
returned late in the evening to the quarters which he and Dick had been
jointly occupying in the temple; and it was at once apparent to the
younger of the two that the troubles and difficulties with which Stukely
had been wrestling were at an end, for he was once more his former self,
frank, genial, self-reliant, and in exuberant spirits.
"It is all right at last, Dick," he exclaimed, flinging himself down
upon a couch; "I have straightened everything out; and to-morrow we
start for the Sacred Island, with labourers, tools, provisions, and in
short, everything that we require. And, as things have turned out, it
was very fortunate for us that we fell into the hands of these people;
for otherwise we should never have succeeded in penetrating to the
hiding-place of the treasure and getting safely away again. Now,
however, we are going there with their full knowledge and approval--they
have even insisted on furnishing us with all the help we may require--
consequently we shall have nothing to fear from those who are guarding
the island, and who, had we approached as strangers, would certainly
have destroyed us."
"In that case," said Dick, "I suppose we ought to congratulate ourselves
upon what has happened, although I do not hesitate to acknowledge now
that I thought it was all up with us when we were hauled up before the
priests, last week, and decorated with flowers. But what has happened
to bring about this fortunate turn in our affairs? Don't you think that
you may as well explain the whole affair to me?"
"Certainly I will," agreed Stukely, "indeed it is necessary that you
should understand the situation, in order that you may know how to
comport yourself in the presence of the people.
"First of all, then, this town is called Huancane. It was a place of
very considerable importance in the time of the Incas, being, in fact,
one of the places to which the Inca was in the habit of resorting during
the period of the extreme summer heat, both on account of its proximity
to the lake, and also because of the exceptional salubrity of the
climate. Now, at the time of the conquest of the country, a few
Spaniards settled here; upon which the Peruvians, in accordance with a
pre-arranged policy, entirely abandoned the town and retired to certain
secret hiding-places among the mountains, believing that the Spaniards
could not possibly contrive to exist here, if left entirely to
themselves. But, to the astonishment of the Peruvians, the Spaniards
not only contrived to exist, but they steadily increased and multiplied
to such an extent that there were some three hundred of them settled
here, and supporting themselves entirely upon the products of the
valley. Then came a change respecting which the Peruvians of to-day are
exceedingly reticent, but one thing is certain, Huancane developed a
remarkable and mysterious unhealthiness of climate that rapidly cleared
it of every Spaniard, so that for two or three years the town was
uninhabited and fell rapidly into decay; after which the Peruvians
returned to it, and have been here ever since. So much for the history
of Huancane.
"Ever since that time the Peruvians have been very jealously on the
watch against any return of the Spaniards to this part of the country; a
watch for them has always been maintained; and when, from time to time,
small parties have appeared in the neighbourhood they have--well--
vanished. Our friends here are very reticent about these
disappearances, too.
"Now, it seems that on the day of our arrival at the margin of the lake
we were seen and watched all day, under the impression that we were
Spaniards; and when night came and we slept, a party stole upon us,
stupefied us in some fashion--they did not explain how--and brought us
eight miles or so from our camp to the town, where, as I understand,
rather elaborate preparations were subsequently made for our dispatch
from this world to the next.
"That plan, as you know, fell through in consequence of certain remarks
which the exigencies of the situation prompted me to make. I somehow
had an idea that we were being mistaken for Spaniards; and the
decorating of us with those wreaths of flowers also seemed to me a
sinister sign; I therefore concluded that the moment for an explanation
had arrived; and I began by informing them that we were not Spaniards,
but were such inveterate enemies of them that we had sailed across the
Black Water in a great canoe for a whole moon and more with the express
object of fighting them. Then, suddenly, that story of Vilcamapata's
came into my head, and I hinted that there was more than met the eye in
the fact of our presence in this country. I suddenly assumed a high and
mighty demeanour, reproached them for their blindness and inability to
recognise the friends who stood before them, and finally, moved by some
impulse for which I am wholly unable to account, rapped out certain
words that flashed into my mind, of which I knew not the meaning, but
which I somehow seemed to understand were words of power. And they
were, too; for, from what has since transpired, I understand that they
were the mysterious words the utterance of which by a complete stranger
was to be the sign to the Peruvians that Manco Capac, the first of the
Incas, had returned to earth to free them from the hated Spanish yoke!
"Now, of course, I know that the utterance of those magic words at what
was, for us, a most critical moment, was a very extraordinary, almost a
miraculous thing; but I have had very little time to dwell upon it thus
far; for when I saw the astonishing result of the words which I had
spoken, my mind was at once exercised with the task of turning the
utterance to the best possible account. But here I was met by a great
difficulty, for while the attitude of the priests became instantly
changed from relentless hostility to submissiveness so complete as to be
absolutely servile, I was without the knowledge which would have
supplied the key to the situation, and I therefore had to conduct myself
with the utmost circumspection lest I should say or do something which
would nullify the good effect which I had unwittingly produced. By
adopting an attitude of extreme reticence, however, and allowing the
others to do all the talking, I gradually attained to the knowledge that
I am regarded as the reincarnated Manco; and now our copper-coloured
friends are all on fire with eagerness for me to initiate the operations
which shall eventuate in the expulsion of the Spaniard from this
wonderful country. Many of them are desirous that I shall at once
assume the style and title of Inca, make Huancane my headquarters, and
send forth a summons to all the Peruvians scattered throughout the
country to come in and enrol themselves under my standard--I understand
that, even now, there remain enough of them to sweep the Spaniards into
the sea, if properly led. And Dick, my lad, the idea is not without
attractiveness, by any means. I assure you that I have quite seriously
considered it--tried to picture myself as Inca--with you as Lord High
Admiral of my fleet, and Generalissimo of my army--and the prospect
appeals to me very strongly, so strongly, indeed, that I intend to give
it much further consideration. For, somehow, I feel that the position
would exactly suit me, and that I should suit the position. The task of
driving out the Spaniard and restoring the country to its position of
former power and splendour would provide us both with many years of
strenuous work and wild adventure, eh? Meanwhile, however, there are
several formidable obstacles in the way of an immediate adoption of the
proposal, and these obstacles I have laid before the chief priests and
the half-dozen nobles who govern this place, and they have recognised
the reasonableness of my contention, and are willing to leave everything
in my hands. We arrived at a complete understanding and agreement upon
this matter to-day; and I thereupon boldly informed them that the first
step which I proposed to take was to secure possession of certain
treasure, the existence and situation of which has been revealed to me;
and that I demanded their assistance in the task of its recovery. There
were one or two of them who were shrewd enough to enquire in what way I
proposed to employ the treasure when I had secured it; but that question
I refused to answer, hinting that, in the present position of affairs,
the less they knew about my plans the better it would be for everybody
concerned; and with that rather ambiguous assertion they have been
obliged to remain content. The outcome of the whole affair, however, is
that to-morrow we start for the Sacred Island, accompanied by a gang of
thirty labourers provided with the necessary tools; so now I think I may
say that, with one very important exception, all our troubles are over."
"And pray what is that one important exception?" demanded Dick.
"The question of how we are going to convey the treasure home when we
have secured possession of it," answered Phil.
"Ah!" responded Dick, emphatically, "yes; that is going to be a puzzler.
For there are only us two; and--"
"Quite so," interrupted Phil, "there are only us two, as you say.
Nevertheless, I am not going to worry myself unduly over it, for I have
no doubt that the problem will solve itself, as all the others have
during our wonderful journey. And Dick, my son, the resolution which
has brought us two, all alone, from Cartagena to this spot, will not
fail us when the time comes for us to decide how we will transport our
treasure to England; so don't you worry either, lad. And now, good
night; I am tired to death, for I have scarcely slept a wink during the
last five or six nights."
The expedition which set out from Huancane on the following morning was
unexpectedly imposing from the point of view of the two Englishmen; for,
in addition to the thirty labourers promised by the authorities, there
were half a dozen llamas, four of which were harnessed to a couple of
vehicles somewhat resembling hammocks suspended from long poles, these
being intended for the accommodation of the Englishmen, while the other
two were loaded with food for the expedition, each labourer carrying his
own tools. Each llama had its own driver; the expedition therefore
consisted of thirty-eight people, all told, including the two white men.
Its route lay along the eastern side of the lake; and it covered a
distance of twenty-five miles before camping for the night. On the
following day, when the afternoon was well advanced, the party arrived
at a point where at a distance of some three miles from the shore, a
small islet rose out of the bosom of the lake, the highest point of
which was crowned with a group of extensive and very imposing-looking
ruins. This islet the guide in charge of the expedition declared to be
the Sacred Isle; and Phil, strong in the assurance springing from the
knowledge of which he was so mysteriously possessed, agreed with him.
The next question was, how to reach the islet, for there were no boats
or craft of any kind upon the lake; but that difficulty was quickly met
by the labourers, who at once set to work to cut a large quantity of
reeds, which they bound together in such a fashion that they formed a
commodious and exceedingly buoyant raft, upon which the entire party,
with the exception of the llamas and their drivers, crossed over the
first thing on the following morning.
The passage of the raft from the mainland to the island, propelled as
she was by paddles only, occupied about an hour and a half; and as the
unwieldy craft gradually approached her destination the two white
passengers on board her began to realise that the island ahead was
considerably larger than they had first imagined, being fully a hundred
acres in extent; while the character of the ruins made it clear that not
only had the island been chosen, for some inexplicable reason, as the
site upon which to erect a vast and very magnificent temple dedicated to
the worship of the Sun, but that a monastic establishment of
corresponding importance had also been founded there. Now, however, the
whole of the buildings were roofless and in ruins; yet, even so, they
were sufficiently imposing to imbue Dick at least with several new and
startling ideas regarding the extent of the civilisation to which the
Peruvians had attained under the rule of the Incas. As for Phil, he
seemed to have undergone a complete yet subtle transformation during
that short journey across the waters of the lake; his eyes blazed with
eagerness, his nostrils dilated as though after a prolonged absence he
was once more breathing his native air; he carried himself with a new
and kingly dignity that somehow seemed to render him unapproachable; he
gave his orders with the calm finality of tone of an absolute monarch;
his knowledge of the place which he was approaching was so intimate as
to be positively uncanny, as was evidenced when the raft drew near the
island: those in charge would have run her ashore at the nearest point,
but as soon as Stukely perceived what they would be at he turned to them
and said rebukingly:
"Not there; not there! bear away to the south. Do you not know that
there is a bay on that side of the island, with a wharf at which we can
land comfortably and conveniently?"
Apparently the Peruvians did not know; yet when the balsa rounded the
point, there was the bay, and there the stone pier or wharf of which
Phil had spoken!
The first thing to be done, upon their arrival, was to instal the party
in as comfortable quarters as the ruins afforded; and this was
accomplished more easily than had seemed possible at the first glance.
For although, as viewed from the lake, not only the temple but also all
the other buildings had appeared to be roofless, a closer inspection
revealed the fact that one of the small chambers which formed a part of
the main building of the temple was still intact, even to its coved roof
of solid masonry; and this Phil at once ordered to be cleared out and
prepared for the reception of Dick and himself; while, as for the rest,
a building was soon found which, with the aid of a few branches cut from
the neighbouring grove of trees, and a quantity of rushes, which grew
abundantly along the margin of the bay, could be quickly covered in
sufficiently to render it habitable. These preparations kept the
Peruvians busy for the remainder of that day; and while they were thus
employed Phil and Dick devoted themselves to a minute inspection of the
temple proper.
This had evidently at one time been a magnificent building, probably the
finest of its kind in the entire country; but now it was in a state of
utter ruin, its beautiful roof and walls having been stripped entirely
of the massive hammered and engraved gold and silver plates which, Phil
asserted, had once adorned them, while its marble pavement was heaped
high with immense fragments of masonry, some of which were evidently
portions of a boldly moulded cornice that had once adorned the inner
walls of the structure, while others bore upon their faces signs of
having been exquisitely sculptured in alto or basso rilievo. It was a
melancholy sight, even to the unimpressionable Dick, this irreparable
ruin of a once noble and surpassingly beautiful building; but Phil, as
he gazed round him in silence, was so deeply moved that, for the moment,
he seemed to have entirely forgotten the object of his visit to the
place; seeing which, Dick at length wandered away and left his friend to
himself and his own mysterious self-communings.
Later on, when they again met to partake together of the evening meal
which had been prepared for them, Phil, who, though still in a somewhat
melancholy mood, seemed to have become once more almost his normal self,
endeavoured to explain to Dick the emotions which had swayed him all
through the day.
"It was one of my strange fits, again, that overcame me," he said. "You
know, Dick, that I have been subject to them, off and on, as far back in
my life as I can remember. They come upon me without previous warning
or apparent cause, sometimes in the form of extraordinarily vivid
dreams, and sometimes as more or less vague memories, awakened by a
chance sound, or sight, or odour. Either of these apparently slight
causes has sufficed, at times, to recall scenes in which I seem to have
been an actor far back in the past; so far back, indeed, that if they
really occurred at all it must have been long before I--that is to say,
my present body--was born. Now, don't laugh at me, lad; no doubt, when
I talk thus, I must seem to you to be stating absurdities,
impossibilities; for you have often told me that you have never
experienced the curious sensations of which I speak; but let me tell you
that, however extraordinary they may seem to you, to me they appear the
most natural thing in the world, because they occur to me so frequently,
and because they began to come to me when I was still too young to
recognise their extraordinary character. The most remarkable thing
about them, to my mind, is that they all seem to bear a close
relationship to each other; they all appear to refer to the same period
of time, and the same locality; that locality being this country of
South America, and especially Peru. Is it not a strange thing that I
should have dreamed of being associated with a people, one of whom I
instantly recognised in the person of Vilcamapata? And is it not
equally strange that in my dreams I should have acquired a knowledge of
the language spoken by him and these people who are now with us? Yet
you know that such was actually the case. And now I tell you, Dick,
that when I stood among the ruins of this once splendid temple to-day,
the feeling was strong upon me that I was not standing within its walls
for the first time! I could shut my eyes and recall a dim and
tantalising vision of it in all its pristine glory; I seemed to again
see those ruined walls standing erect and perfect, with their decoration
of gold and silver plates and ornaments, their sculptured panels, their
heavy cornice, and the magnificent golden roof surmounting all. Oh, it
is tantalising to remember so much and yet so little; to have these
memories flash athwart one's mind only to vanish again before one has
time to fix and identify them! Why do they not come to me perfectly--if
they must come at all? These fleeting memories puzzle and perplex me;
nay, more, they worry me; for I cannot help thinking that they must have
a purpose; if I could but know what it is.
"And now, to turn from generalities to particularities. I am worried as
to the locality of the hidden treasure. You will remember that
Vilcamapata's last words to us were that something--which I have always
believed to be the treasure--lies beneath the great marble floor of this
temple; and until to-day I have believed that I had but to come here and
straightway find the entrance giving access to the vaults in which the
treasure lies hidden. Yet I have spent the whole day in wandering among
the ruins in search of that entrance--without success; I have been quite
unable to find any opening which promises to lead to the underground
part of the structure. And all day, too, I have been haunted by an
elusive memory of some secret connected with, the hiding of the
treasure, which memory continually seems to be on the point of becoming
clear and illuminating, only to fade away into nothing again. We are
here, however; that is the great point; and I swear that I will not go
away again without the treasure, even though it should be necessary to
raze the temple to its foundations, stone by stone, in order to find
it!"
For a time it seemed that nothing short of such drastic measures would
serve the purpose of the two adventurers; for, search as they would,
they could find no door or opening of any description giving access to
the chambers which Vilcamapata had given them to understand existed
beneath the floor of the main building; indeed, so far as their
discoveries went, there might have been no such chambers at all,
although Phil was most positive as to their existence. But they made a
beginning of a kind, by setting the labouring gang to work to clear away
all the debris and rubbish which lay piled high upon the temple floor;
and in the course of a fortnight sufficient progress had been made to
lay bare about one-fourth of the marble floor at the eastern end of the
building, including the once beautiful but now sadly damaged altar
dedicated to sacrifices to the Sun. And then the secret which had so
persistently eluded Phil was revealed; for one of the rear corners of
the altar had been broken away by the fall of a heavy mass of masonry
from the roof, exposing the interior of the structure, which, it now
appeared, was hollow. But it revealed more than that; it revealed the
fact that the massive slab which formed the rear of the lower portion of
the altar was movable, being pivoted on stone hinges at one end, so that
by applying pressure in a certain way to the other end it could be made
to swing inward, giving access to a flight of steps leading downward.
The hinges, it is true, had become stiff from long non-usage, so that it
now needed the united strength of half a dozen men to revolve the slab,
but when once it was forced open it remained so, and there was no
further trouble in that respect. Yet, even then, it was found to be
impossible to penetrate to the subterranean chambers at once, for when
an attempt was made to do so, the torches which the would-be explorers
carried refused to burn in the mephitic atmosphere; and time therefore
had to be allowed for the exterior air to penetrate and displace the
poisonous vapours which had accumulated in the chambers during the many
years that they had remained hermetically sealed.
At length, however, after the process of ventilation had been permitted
to proceed for nearly a week, the air in the subterranean passages was
found to be fresh enough to be breathed without much difficulty, and to
allow of the torches burning in it with scarcely diminished luminosity,
and the search for the treasure chamber was resumed. And now it was
discovered that the labyrinth of passages and chambers extended far
beyond the area covered by the superstructure, many of the chambers
having evidently been used as prison cells, in some at least of which
the unhappy prisoners had been interned and apparently left to perish of
hunger and thirst; for, upon being broken open, they were found to still
contain the mummified bodies of the unfortunate wretches; while others
seemed to have been used by the priests as places of retirement and
meditation. One exceptionally large chamber, too, had been used as the
place of interment for the successive chief priests of the temple; for
their bodies also, withered and shrunken in the dry atmosphere of the
place, were found ranged round the walls of the mausoleum, clad in their
sacerdotal vestments, and enthroned in bronze chairs of very beautiful
and elaborate workmanship.
Finally, after the two Englishmen had been exploring this elaborate
system of underground chambers for nearly three hours, they came upon
the object of their search--and stood for awhile breathless and dumb in
the presence of apparently incalculable wealth!
The chamber was by far the largest that the pair had thus far entered;
so large indeed was it that the light of the torches which they carried
was not nearly powerful enough to illuminate the entire chamber. But
even what they beheld at the first glance was enough to take their
breath away; for upon forcing open the door they found themselves
confronted by an enormous mass of dull white, frosty-looking metal
which, upon closer inspection, proved to be composed entirely of
bricks--hundreds, thousands of them--of pure silver, each brick weighing
about thirty pounds, or just as much as a man could conveniently lift
with one hand. For several minutes the pair stood gazing enraptured at
this enormous mass of precious metal, experiencing such sensations as it
is given to few men to feel--for it must be remembered that both had
been brought up amid such conditions that the possession of a few
hundred pounds would be regarded by them as wealth! Then, as if moved
by the same impulse, they turned to each other and burst into a torrent
of mutual congratulation, mingled with expressions of amazement that
there should be so vast a quantity of wealth in the world. For a few
joyous minutes they could scarcely speak rationally to each other, so
intense was their delight; but presently they pulled themselves together
and proceeded with their investigations. Passing round the enormous
pile of silver they were again brought to a stand by a pile of metal of
almost equal size, but this time it was dull ruddy yellow in colour--in
fact, gold! Gold, piled up like the silver in a solid mass also
composed of bricks a trifle larger than those of the less valuable
metal, being actually of such a weight that a brick was as much as one
man could conveniently lift with both hands. But this was not all; for
beyond this pile of gold bricks they came upon row after row of great
leather sacks which, upon being opened, were found to contain more gold,
either in the form of rough nuggets, just as they had been taken from
the mine, or dust which had evidently been washed out of the sand of
some river. The sight came near to driving them demented, for there
were tons of the precious metal; far more of it indeed than they could
possibly hope to ever carry away. But even this was not all; for at the
far end of the chamber they came upon three great bronze coffers of
elaborate and exquisitely beautiful workmanship, which, upon being
opened, were found to be more than half-full of crystals--diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds--that reflected the light of their torches in a
perfect blaze of vari-coloured effulgence so dazzlingly brilliant that
for the moment they could scarcely credit the evidence of their eyes.
And with all this at the end of their journey, they had been jealously
hoarding and guarding first the pair and latterly the remaining one of
the emeralds that had formed the eyes of the idol, and the few gold
scales that had decorated its clothing! The idea seemed so absurd, so
supremely ridiculous, that when it occurred to Phil and he mentioned it
to Dick, the pair of them burst into peal after peal of laughter that
soon became hysterical; indeed the pair were very much nearer to being
driven crazy than either of them dreamed of, by the sudden sight of such
incalculable wealth. Fortunately for them, however, they were in the
pink of health and condition, thanks to their long, arduous journey
through the wilderness and their continuous life in the open air; and
since a sound mind goes with a sound body, their mental processes were
in the best possible condition for withstanding the shock, thus suddenly
brought to bear upon them; and eventually after their hysterical
outburst of joy had spent itself, they once more became rational beings,
and fell to discussing the momentous question of how all this treasure
was to be transported to England. They soon came to the conclusion that
to transport it all to England--or rather to the coast, for, once there,
the rest should be easy--would be an impossibility; and they finally
decided to take the gems, and as much of the gold as they could find
means of conveyance for. This last, namely, the means of conveyance to
the coast, was the problem that now confronted them; and they eventually
agreed that there was only one way of solving it, and that was by
returning to Huancane and enlisting the services of the high priest and
the other authorities of the town in their favour. Accordingly, with
that object in view, they closed the door of the treasure chamber again,
and made it temporarily secure; after which they returned to the upper
air and electrified their Peruvian followers by directing them to make
immediate preparations for a return to Huancane; and such was the energy
which they contrived to infuse into the natives that they not only
crossed to the mainland but also accomplished a very satisfactory return
march before sunset, that night.
The return of the adventurers to Huancane with the news that the secret
hiding-place of the treasure had been discovered caused the utmost
rejoicing among the inhabitants, for somehow the idea that the elder of
the two strangers was the reincarnated Manco Capac had got abroad, and
what is more, had found general acceptance; and now every native in the
place, and for miles round, was in a perfect fever of impatience that
operations for the recovery of the country from the Spaniards should be
pressed forward with all possible speed. Therefore when Phil intimated
that he required a strong transport train to assist in the conveyance of
the treasure to the coast, nobody thought of demanding his reasons for
the conveyance of the treasure out of the country; they simply, one and
all, devoted their energies to the collection of the train and the armed
guard which Phil declared would also be necessary. And when Stukely,
determined to avail himself to the utmost of their obliging mood,
further intimated that he would also need at least thirty Peruvians to
man the ship which he intended to capture, the said Peruvians of course
to proceed across the Great Water with him, he met with no difficulty in
securing as many volunteers as he needed. But the formation and
equipment of such an expedition as Phil had demanded was not to be
accomplished in a day, or even a week; therefore while men, animals, and
arms were being got together at Huancane, a messenger, armed with the
necessary authority, was sent forward along the route which would be
followed by the caravan, with instructions to the natives all along the
route to collect a certain quantity of food for the men and fodder for
the animals, in order that the passage of the expedition to the coast
might be expedited as much as possible. While this was being done, Phil
and Dick, having taken formal leave of the Huancane authorities,
returned to the Sacred Island, and, assisted by a dozen Peruvians,
proceeded to transport to the mainland as much of the treasure as they
thought they would be able to convey to the coast. This, of course, was
soon done, and then all that remained to them was to wait patiently for
the transport train, without which they could do nothing really worth
the doing.
At length, after they had been idly waiting for nearly three weeks, the
train duly arrived. But what a train it was! Two hundred llamas, with
a driver for every ten beasts; two hundred and fifty armed men to
protect the caravan from possible--but not very probable--attack by the
Spaniards; and forty men, every one of whom were prepared to follow Phil
to the world's end and back, if need be. Ten of the llamas were
intended for the transport of provisions on the march from one village
to another, and were already loaded to the full extent of their
capacity; four were harnessed to the curious hammock-like arrangements
which had been provided for the accommodation of Phil and his friend on
the march; and the remaining hundred and eighty-six animals, as well as
the forty volunteers for sea service, were available for the
transportation of treasure, each llama being provided with a pair of
saddle bags the broad connecting band of which sank so deeply into the
wool of the creature that there was not the slightest fear of the bags
slipping.
This transport train was so very much stronger than the Englishmen had
dared to hope for that they instantly recognised the possibility of
carrying away nearly twice the quantity of gold which they had
originally arranged for; and the day following the arrival of the train
was accordingly devoted to the transport of further gold bricks from the
island to the mainland, until a full load was provided for every animal,
including those which were harnessed to the hammocks, Phil and Dick
preferring to make the journey on foot.
On the following morning, however, the imposing caravan started, with
the first light of day, upon its journey toward the coast, winding its
way along the eastern margin of the Sacred Lake until it reached its
southern extremity, when it swerved away to the south-westward across
the valley in which the lake lay embosomed, toward the towering
snow-peaks of the western cordillera of the Andes. The first three days
of the journey were quite pleasant and uneventful, for during that time
the caravan was winding its slow way across the mountain valley; but on
the fourth day the train entered a mountain pass which the Peruvians
asserted was known only to themselves--and which they had chosen in
order to avoid the possibility of collision with the armed forces of the
Spaniards; and thenceforward, for four full days, the train wound its
perilous way along narrow pathways bounded on the one hand by towering,
inaccessible, rocky cliffs, and on the other by ghastly precipices, of
such awful depth that their bases were frequently hidden by the wreaths
of mountain mist floating far below; across frail swing bridges
stretched from side to side of those awful, fathomless rifts called
_barrancas_ which seem to be peculiar to the Andes; or up and down
steep, rugged, almost precipitous slopes where a single false step or a
loose stone would send man or beast whirling away down to death a
thousand feet below. But the llamas seemed to be more sure-footed than
mountain goats, and despite their loads they scrambled up and down
apparently inaccessible places, or plodded sedately along the narrowest
and most dizzy ledges without accident, while the Peruvians seemed to be
absolutely at home among the peaks and precipices.
But at length, after four full days of incessant peril, the train
emerged from the last mountain pass and found itself upon a sloping,
grassy plateau on the western slope of the Andes, with the limitless
Pacific stretching away into the infinite distance, and the perils and
hardships of the journey were at an end; for thenceforward the road
wound its serpentine way downward through a series of ravines that, wild
and savage enough at first, gradually widened out into gentle, grassy,
tree-clad slopes that led down to the sandy plains which lie between the
lower spurs of the Andes and the ocean. It took the train two days to
cross these plains, which, under the neglect of the Spaniards, were fast
returning to the desert state from which, under the wise rule of the
Incas, they had been reclaimed; and finally, on the seventeenth day of
the journey the entire train arrived safely at the little Peruvian
village on the site of which the important port of Arica now stands.
And thanks to the precautions adopted by the guide of the party, not a
Spaniard had been encountered on any part of the journey.
But the good luck of the party did not end here; for on the very night
of their arrival a small Spanish coasting craft of about seventy tons
was sighted by the light of the full moon, becalmed in the offing; and
manning four fishing canoes with the forty Peruvian volunteers, Dick and
Phil paddled off and took her without the slightest difficulty, towing
her safely into the bay before sunrise, where they brought her to an
anchor. Her crew of fifteen Spaniards were easily disposed of by the
return train, who took them far enough up into the mountains to render
it impossible for them to do any harm, and then turned them adrift. The
craft herself--named _El Ciudad de Lima_--proved, upon examination, to
be a very fine, stanch little vessel, nearly new, in ballast; she
therefore required nothing to be done to her to prepare her for her long
voyage, save the storage of a sufficient quantity of water and
provisions; and this, with the assistance of the Peruvians, was soon
obtained. Before sailing, however, Phil, at Dick's suggestion, had her
completely emptied of all her ballast and stores of every description,
and then hauled close in to the beach, in a sheltered position, and
careened, so that her bottom might be carefully examined, and all weed
removed from it. Then, when this was done, the gold bricks were stowed
right down alongside her keelson, upon plenty of dunnage, and on top of
them was stowed the gems, packed in strong wooden boxes, the joints of
which were afterward caulked and well paid with pitch, the boxes finally
being thickly coated all over with pitch. Then, on top of and all round
the gold and the boxes of gems, a sufficient quantity of sand to ensure
ample stability was placed; and on top of that again the water and
provisions were stowed. To do all this to Dick's satisfaction demanded
nearly a month's strenuous labour; but when it was all finished and the
little craft--re-christened _Elisabeth_--was finally ready for sea, Dick
pronounced her fit to face the heaviest weather and the longest voyage.
As she was only a small craft, the pair decided that twenty of the forty
Peruvian volunteers would suffice as a crew, and these twenty were
selected because of their superior fitness for the work of sailors, as
exemplified during the preparation of the little ship for sea.
At length, everything being ready, the little craft hove up her anchor
and sailed out of the bay on her long voyage round the southern
extremity of America and up through the vast Atlantic ocean. To say
that this voyage, undertaken in so small a vessel, and with a crew of
men who had never before looked upon the sea, was an adventurous one,
full of peril, and marked by countless hairbreadth escapes from capture
and shipwreck, seems superfluous; indeed so full of adventure was it
that a detailed description of what the little vessel and her crew went
through would require a larger volume than the present for its adequate
recital. It must suffice therefore to state that the adventurers
ultimately arrived safely and with their precious cargo intact in
Plymouth Sound, some six months after her departure from the Peruvian
fishing village, to the unbounded astonishment and delight of those who
had long given up Phil and Dick for dead. The meeting with old
friends--and relatives, so far as Dick was concerned--the landing and
eventual disposal of the gems and gold, with every necessary precaution,
must be left for the reader to picture in detail; but it may be
mentioned that while Dick purchased a big estate and built himself
thereon a magnificent mansion not far from Plymouth, speedily becoming
one of Plymouth's most important citizens, using his enormous wealth
wisely and well, and ultimately earning his knighthood for his valiant
conduct in assisting to disperse the Spanish Armada, Phil Stukely was so
enamoured of the idea of returning to Peru, becoming its Inca, and
driving out the Spaniards, that he actually fitted out an expedition
with that intent. How he fared and what ultimately became of him it may
perhaps be the privilege of the present historian some day to relate.
My story of the great and wonderful adventure of Philip Stukely and Dick
Chichester is ended; yet upon reading the pages which I have with so
much labour compiled I am conscious of a certain sense of
incompleteness, conscious that something still remains untold. I feel
that to let the narrative go forth to the world without offering some
sort of an explanation of the source of Stukely's extraordinary and
uncanny knowledge of Indian lore, and of the ancient Peruvian language--
which he had never learned--would be unfair to the reader.
But in the rough yet voluminous notes of the adventure which Sir Richard
Chichester amused himself by jotting down at his leisure after his
return to England, which he left to his heirs at his death, and which
fell into my hands some twenty years ago, I find no word which throws
the slightest light upon the subject. Yet from the time when I first
skimmed through those notes I have been moved by an ardent desire to put
them into narrative form, in order that Englishmen of to-day may be
afforded yet one more example of the indomitable courage and tenacious
perseverance that distinguished their forefathers during the stirring
and glorious days of good Queen Bess. But until quite recently I have
been deterred from undertaking the pleasant task, for the reason that
certain portions of the narrative are of such a character as either to
strain the credulity of the reader to breaking point, or to cause him to
denounce the good Sir Richard as a--shall we say--perverter of the
truth. And I should be exceedingly reluctant to do anything which would
produce the latter result; for it seems perfectly evident, from
contemporary records, that the worthy knight was held in highest esteem,
by all who were brought into contact with him, as a man of unimpeachable
honour and probity, whose word was always to be relied upon, and who was
so unimaginative, so thoroughly matter-of-fact, and of so simple,
straightforward a character generally, as to be completely above the
suspicion of any slightest tendency to embellish a story by the
perpetration of an untruth. Quite recently, however, I was made
acquainted with certain extraordinary facts which may possibly bear upon
the matter, and which, although not absolutely conclusive, appear to
corroborate Sir Richard's astounding statements; and as they may perhaps
prove of interest to the reader, I now set them forth.
It chanced that a few months ago I was a guest at a dinner party at
which men only were present, and that I was seated next to a very
brilliant young American physician who was devoting himself especially
to the study of Heredity. It being his hobby, he soon contrived to turn
the conversation toward that topic, and, after a few general remarks,
told several very startling stories illustrative of certain contentions
which he advanced. Among others he related the case of a young Western
farmer whose ancestors had emigrated from the little village of
Langonnet, in Brittany, to America, some two hundred and fifty years
ago. They had passed through the usual vicissitudes of fortune
experienced by the early settlers, and in process of time had become so
absolutely Americanised that even their very name had become corrupted
almost out of recognition as of French origin. The young farmer in
question possessed only a very elementary education, and had never been
taught French, yet almost from the moment when he first began to speak
he occasionally interpolated a French word in his conversation, and the
practice extended as he grew older. Finally, it transpired that certain
property in the neighbourhood of Langonnet which his ancestors had
abandoned as practically worthless had become so valuable that enquiries
as to the whereabouts of the owners had been set on foot, the
descendants had been with much difficulty traced, and the young farmer,
as being the person most directly interested, crossed to France to
investigate. And now comes the marvellous part of the story. The young
man had no sooner arrived in Langonnet--which, be it remembered, he was
now visiting for the first time in his life--than he began to recognise
such of his surroundings as remained unaltered since the emigration of
his French ancestors, and, more strange still, perhaps, was able to
converse in the Breton dialect with little or no difficulty by the time
that he had been twenty-four hours in the village!
The point which the narrator sought to illustrate and emphasise was that
not only is heredity responsible for the transmission and persistence of
certain peculiarities of face, form, and character, but also that in a
few isolated cases it has actually been known to _transmit knowledge_!
As soon as my neighbour had finished his story and replied to several
comments upon it, I put to him the case of Philip Stukely, asking him
whether he thought that the uncanny knowledge manifested by that
gentleman was also due to heredity, to which he replied that he had not
a doubt of it, and that, if I chose to investigate, I should probably
discover either that Phil had Peruvian blood in his veins, or that some
long dead English ancestor of his had once been in Peru and remained
there for several years. I have not yet been able to undertake the
suggested investigation, and were I able to do so I am afraid that after
so great a lapse of time it would be found impossible to pursue it very
far; but I cannot help thinking that the story of the American physician
tends to explain to some extent, if not completely, the source of
Stukely's amazing and otherwise inexplicable gift of knowledge, and
accordingly I offer the suggestion for what it may be worth.