"But, father, we thought you intended first to explore this town of
Potosi for the buried treasure left there by the fugitive Incas before
they fled to the South," said Jack.
"I know, Jack," Mr. Hampton explained, "but Don Ernesto and I have
talked the matter over from every angle, and have decided against going
to Potosi at this season. The summer months are January and February.
And even in summer, it is bleak in that region. The hottest day ever
recorded in Potosi went to only about 59 in the shade. The elevation is
great; Potosi is built on top of a mountain, and there is no fuel. The
mountains are bare of timber, and a camping expedition would run grave
danger of freezing.
"For three hundred years, Potosi has been the center of a silver mining
region that has given up wealth seemingly without exhaustion. More than
two billion ounces of silver have been taken from the mountain on which
it stands, and the mines are still in operation. It is probably the most
famous mountain in the world, this Cerro of Potosi.
"It was from Bolivia," Mr. Hampton added, "that the Inca civilization
started on its career of conquest. Combination of two Indian races, the
_Aymares_ and the _Quibchuas_, the first warlike and the second
industrious, the Inca nation absorbed other civilizations, brought wild
tribes under subjection, and set up an empire remarkably like that of
Rome. And yet," added Mr. Hampton, "there were earlier civilizations of
which next to nothing is known, which also had reached a high state of
development." He spoke not only of the Chimu civilization of which
Ferdinand earlier had told the boys, but added that ruins on the shores
of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia showed there was a civilization in that
region antedating that of Egypt.
"However," said he, "I digress. The point is that, because of the rigors
of winter in Bolivia, we shall not try for the hidden Inca treasure but
shall seek to make our way at once to the Enchanted City."
The above conversation took place several days after the boys had
returned from Almahue, and when Mr. Hampton and Senor de Avilar got back
to Santiago.
"The discovery of this manuscript," Mr. Hampton continued, "is what has
lifted the legend of the Enchanted City out of the mythical. It may be a
hoax, of course. There is always the possibility that someone went to
infinite pains to perpetrate a joke. Yet the evidence is against that.
Apparently the manuscript is very ancient. And Senor de Avilar's
experts, to whom he has submitted it, say that the writing and spelling
are those of an educated Spanish gentleman of the period of the
Conquerors. There were few enough educated men at that time; Pizarro and
Diego de Almagro, his comrade, you know, could neither read nor write.
Yet there were educated men, of course, and one such must have been this
Luis de Pereira, gentleman adventurer, wrecked with de Arguello.
"Since two men, reaching Concepcion in 1557, first gave the outside
world the tale of the Enchanted City, many expeditions have set forth in
search of it. None were successful. At length, a century and a half
later, Fray Menendez, a Franciscan explorer and missionary, after two
years of systematic search, declared the story mythical. And that has
come to be the general opinion. Yet early in the nineteenth century,
silver drinking cups were found among a tribe of forest Indians in the
south, and once more a party of explorers set out. This time, they
started from Punta Arenas, in Patagonia, trying to follow northward the
route pursued by de Arguello. They disappeared, were never heard of
again."
"Perhaps they reached the Enchanted City and stayed there," suggested
Frank, who, like Jack and Bob, was listening with absorbed interest.
"That may have been the case," said Mr. Hampton, "supposing, of course,
that such a place existed. But, what I was going to say, was that the
discovery of this manuscript of Luis de Pereira puts a new complexion on
the matter. While he was not a geographer, and could not give latitude
and longitude, yet he was a keen observer. And his manuscript gives very
definite natural locations of mountains and river, by which we can be
guided. Further, we know the Enchanted City lay on the southern borders
of the land of the Auraucanos."
"Oh," interrupted Jack, "those are the Indians, the great fighters, that
Ferdinand told us about."
"Yes," said his father, "and it is a good thing for us that they are
more amenable today, or we would not even consider an expedition that
would bring us into touch with them. They are the only unconquered
people of South America."
"And the Incas never conquered them, in spite of their powerful armies?"
asked Jack, more in the hope of drawing out his father than by way of
surprise, for the answer to his question Ferdinand earlier had given.
"The Incas were a great people," said his father, not averse to
informing the boys about a race with the modern descendants of whom they
presently might come in contact, "but they could not conquer the
Auraucanos. Neither could the Spaniards, despite armor and cannon. Not
even the Chilians, with the improved weapons of modern times could
conquer the Auraucanos. They are the finest tribe or race of Indians
inhabiting the southern portion of the continent, and it is their
intermarriage with the whites in the last forty or fifty years which has
helped make Chile what it is today--a country with many qualities which
distinguish it from its sister republics.
"The Auraucanos were a nomad, pastoral race, numbering some 400,000 at
the time of the Incas, some writers estimate. They were imbued with a
high order of intelligence, and with a courage unsurpassed. The value of
military organizations was appreciated by them. Indeed, in later years,
of which we have record, they developed several very fine generals,
military tacticians of a high order, such as Latuaro and Caupolican.
Although nomads, they had a ruling family from time immemorial, and from
this family the Chief always was drawn. The hereditary principle
obtained, and the eldest son of a departed Chief ruled in his father's
place unless he was incapable of assuming command of his fellow
warriors, in which case the strongest and bravest warrior was selected.
"When Valdivia, the conqueror of Chile, crossed the river Biobio and
started to penetrate Auraucanian territory, the Auraucanos opposed his
passage. In the beginning, in pitched battle, the Auraucanos with their
bows and arrows, their stone tomahawks, and their wooden sabers edged
with flint, were defeated by the mounted Spaniards, clad in armor. Then
they took to the forest and adopted guerrilla tactics, picking off
single Spaniards and small parties. Every foot of the way was contested,
and when the Spaniards had penetrated a hundred miles south of the
Biobio, the Auraucanos gathered in massed columns and by their daring,
courage and disregard of death overwhelmed the Spaniards and annihilated
them.
"During the Colonial period, the Spaniards renewed the warfare at
frequent intervals, but without success. The Indians had learned how to
use the weapons which they had captured, and obtained repeated
victories. In the end, the Spaniards made peace. The river Biobio was
fixed as the boundary between Auraucania and the colony of Chile.
"The Chilians also were unable to overcome the Auraucanos. In the end,
however, in 1881, the Auraucanian tribal chiefs held a grand council,
and decided to cast in their lot with the people who had overthrown the
Spaniards. They incorporated themselves as citizens of Chile. Probably,
German colonists had something to do with the change of attitude. For
after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848 in Germany, a number of ardent
German revolutionists fled to Chile and settled the city of Osorno, in
Auraucanian territory. They intermarried with the Auraucanos, and today
more German than Spanish is spoken in that part of Chile, and there are
many German-language newspapers printed there."
"Oh," said Jack, in a tone of disappointment, "then they are civilized
Indians today."
His father smiled.
"That is one of the most flourishing parts of the Republic of Chile," he
said. "Yet along the Andes, there is a branch of the Auraucanos that is
still recalcitrant, and whose freedom no government has thought fit to
challenge, because of the apparent barrenness of that mountainous
country. However, that is the region into which we must penetrate. I
don't know whether Ferdinand has told you, but old accounts of the
Enchanted City declare that the Indians of the neighborhood were well
paid by the Incas to preserve inviolate the secret of the location of
their city. This tribe of recalcitrants may be those Indians."
Frank had been sitting with his chin in his hand, thinking. Now he spoke
up.
"Do you think, Mr. Hampton, that there is any likelihood the Enchanted
City is still flourishing?" he asked. "That it is still inhabited by
descendants of the ancient Incas and the Spaniards?"
"That is a hard question to decide, Frank," was the reply. "It would
seem likely that if it continued to flourish, some of its sons would
yearn to see the outside world, and would make the journey and bring
forth news of his home. Inasmuch as nothing of the sort has occurred,
the probability would seem to be that in some fashion or other the
population was wiped out and the Enchanted City fallen to ruin and
decay.
"As I say, that seems by far the most likely supposition. It does not
seem possible, in the first place, that a great city could continue in
existence unknown to the rest of the world for centuries. Curiosity is
one of the basic qualities of human nature. The older folks might be
content to let well enough alone, to remain secluded and unknown in
their city, ringed round by mountains, protected from intrusion by the
great tunnel, by trackless forests, arid deserts and staggering
precipices. But the more adventurous younger spirits, as I say, would
want to know what lay over the hills, and would adventure forth."
"But what would wipe them out?" asked Bob, always the practical.
Mr. Hampton shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps a plague. Perhaps the
Auraucanos. Who knows? Maybe, some cataclysm of nature like an
earthquake. There are cities in South America today that we know of,
which were ruined in a matter of minutes, by earthquake.
"No, the probabilities all are that, if we do find the Enchanted City,
we will find it in ruins and uninhabited except by wild beasts. Yet what
a wonderful experience it would be to explore those ruins, and what
treasure would be stored there."
Frank nodded.
"Just the same," he said, "I'd like the experience of stepping out of
the present into the past, of walking from a mechanical civilization
into an Inca city."