Secrets of the Andes Page 17

  CHAPTER XVII

  The Old Man's Tale

  At once Bob and Joe were breathless with interest. They had oftenheard of Inca secrets but had thought them nothing more than myths.Now, as this strange old man stood before them, the youths wondered ifthere might have been some truth in the fantastic tales told of Incamysteries.

  The old man hesitated for several minutes, staring off into space.Then, when the youths were becoming impatient with the long silence,he continued, speaking in a low voice.

  "Far, far away, in the heart of a huge mountain, is a narrow tunnelthat leads to a large cavern of Inca secrets." Again the strangerhesitated, looking below at Cuzco.

  "Why doesn't he hurry?" thought Joe, almost saying the words aloud.

  Finally the old man continued.

  "This cave is so large that it occupies the entire mountain," he wenton. "It is lighted with a strange brilliance, that comes mysteriouslyfrom the outside. But ah! The Incas were marvelous inventors. Theycould do many things that we Americans cannot do."

  "Then you are an American?" inquired Bob quickly.

  The old man nodded.

  "I spent my early years in the United States," he explained."Graduated from college and set out to be a scientist. Then I becameinterested in Inca ruins and came here to look for them. My entirelifetime I have spent in these mountains, looking for ruins andtreasure."

  "Treasure?" cried Joe. "Is there treasure here?"

  "Undoubtedly there is," was the answer. "In fact I believe I havefound some."

  The young men were all excitement.

  "Tell us about it!" begged Joe.

  "I am not certain that I have found any," the stranger said. "But Icame across a sort of bin that is covered with a heavy stone block.Alone I am not able to lift it off. I firmly believe that in the binis something valuable. This is in that cave I told you about." Hestopped and glanced about; then, satisfied that no one else was near,he continued: "It is a long, hard journey to this wonderful place.There is a secret trail, that is known only to myself. And to add tothat, there is a single entrance to the cave. It cannot be openeduntil you press a hidden button."

  He stopped a moment and gazed thoughtfully at the young men.

  "You saved my life," he went on, looking at Bob gratefully. "For thisI will gladly give you half of any treasure in the bin, if we can findany. Will you make the trip with me?"

  For a few moments the youths said nothing. They wondered if there wasreally any treasure in the bin. And they wondered, too, if it might bepossible to locate still more in the near-by mountains.

  "I am willing to go," said Bob at last. "It won't put us out any, I'msure. I think we can arrange it some way. Maybe Dad----"

  He got no further, for at that moment the old man raised a hand forsilence.

  "Of course your dad is all right," he said conclusively. "But I do notwish to take anyone but you and your friend here with me. Even yourfather might without thinking tell someone about this secret, and thenwe would lose everything. And I want no one else to know."

  "Then," began Bob, "you want only Joe Lewis here and myself--my nameis Bob Holton--to go with you?"

  "You are right," came the reply. "And my name is Rander--_Doctor_Rander. I would be much better satisfied if only we three went."

  "I think it can be arranged," Bob told him. "What direction do we haveto go?"

  "East. Almost straight east from Cuzco. But of course there are manyroundabout paths that we must follow, and much of the way is over notrail at all."

  "We'll let you know a little later, if that is all right," said Bob."Where can we get in touch with you?"

  Dr. Rander explained that he was staying in a little adobe hut at theother edge of Cuzco and that he had a sufficient number of mules tocarry the provisions needed.

  "How soon do you want to start?" inquired Joe, who was anxious to makethe trip.

  "I am ready any time," the old man said. "If you wish, we will starttomorrow."

  Bob explained that they would talk it over with their fathers and callon their friends that night. With this, the youths headed back tocamp, not desiring to lose more time even in seeing the ruins at thetop of the hill.

  "What do you think of it?" asked Bob a little later, as he and hisfriend came in sight of the monoplane.

  "I think a lot of it," Joe answered. "Why, it will be wonderful!"

  "Don't be too sure that we can go," Bob reminded him. "It all dependson what our dads think. If they're afraid to let us leave theexpedition and start out with this Dr. Rander, why, I suppose thatwill end it all. And the old man won't let anyone else go with us."

  "Funny he'd tell us about that secret, isn't it? If he had kept still,he'd have had all the treasure for himself. But then, I suppose he wasso glad you saved his life that he was more than willing to let you inon it. Then, too, he's not sure of finding it."

  At the camp, the boys found their fathers and others awaiting them.

  "What do you think of the ruins?" asked Mr. Holton, as the chums cameup.

  "We don't know much about them," returned Joe. "But there's somethingelse we want to tell you."

  While the men listened, Joe told of seeing the old man climbing up thesteep hill and of Bob's saving his life when he fell. He told of thesecret treasure that the stranger said was in the Andes, and of theold man's desire for the two youths to accompany him in the mountains.He finished by saying that he believed it might be worth while to go.

  "Perhaps you're right," came from Mr. Holton. "It might pay you to gowith him. Do you think he can be trusted?" Mr. Holton had great faithin the judgment of his son and Joe.

  "Don't know why not," said Bob. "He seemed so glad that he had notfallen down the cliff that he was happy to tell us about thetreasure."

  "There isn't a chance of his being crazy, is there?" asked KarlSutman, who was also listening to the conversation.

  "Oh, of course there's a chance," replied Bob, "but I'd be willing tobet anything that he isn't."

  "We can go with him, can't we?" queried Joe, glancing especially athis father. "We may find treasure, after all."

  "I see no reason why you shouldn't," came from Mr. Lewis. "Of courseyou'll be careful. And there's very little danger of getting lost,with all the native huts scattered about. What do you think, Howard?"

  "Like you," Mr. Holton replied. "After all, Bob and Joe are able totake care of themselves. If Karl will stay in the vicinity of Cuzcountil they get back, it will ease matters some. Or, if the boys willbe gone too long, Karl can come on with the rest of the expedition tothe valley of the Comberciato, and then return later to pick up Boband Joe in Cuzco."

  "I'll be glad to do it," Karl Sutman said, and so the matter remainedsettled.

  That evening Bob and Joe went to Dr. Rander's hut at the edge ofCuzco. The old man seemed glad to see them, offering them the bestchairs he had.

  "Now about the secrets," he began, after he had closed the door andmade sure that no one was near. "First of all, we must keep itstrictly to ourselves. If, while on our way, anyone should ask why weare going into the mountains, we must not tell them."

  "For one thing, we're going to take movies of the country," said Joe,and then explained this in full to the old man.

  The youths spent all evening at the old man's hut. When at last theywere ready to leave, they had agreed on one thing: They were to startearly the next morning.

  As they walked silently back to the camp, gazing up at the starlitsky, Bob and Joe wondered what would be their adventures for the nextfew weeks. Would they actually come into possession of valuabletreasure?