by Van Powell
CHAPTER IV "QUIPU BILL"
Romance! Adventure. To Cliff, Tom and Nicky the ancient capital city ofthe Inca empire was built on those two words.
Not that Cuzco, when they reached it, had any of its old treasures;Spanish invaders had stripped it centuries before. But the memory wasthere among the ruins.
The native Peruvian Indians--over whom the Incas had ruled, for theIncas were a superior tribe which governed its subjects kindly butfirmly--these natives were shiftless, poor and inclined to be lazy.
But to the three adventurers, with their imaginations fired by whatCliff had read and what Mr. Whitley had told them on the boats, Cuzcostill echoed to the tramp of armies carrying bows and arrows, swords andlight shields; the great square shook again to the shouts of hostsgathered for ceremonies and feasting in the rites of their worship ofthe Sun.
"It is certainly interesting," declared Cliff, as they stood near thestripped temple which had once rivaled in splendor any other place ofworship ever built. "The gold cornice is gone and so is the silver andso are the emeralds and ornaments. But we can imagine them. And noticehow perfectly the edges of these stones are ground and fitted andmatched."
"How big they are, too," Nicky added, "tons, some of them must weigh.The Incas had no beasts of burden to haul things--how they ever gotthese stones cut and shaped and hauled here and lifted into place--it istoo much for me."
"Patience and time did it," Tom said, "I believe they say it took fiftythousand men twenty years and more to build one great palace or temple."
"With their hands--and without iron tools," Cliff added, "they mixedsome tin with copper and made an alloy that they could make almost ashard as steel. But their roads and their aqueducts and their buildingsall took labor and plenty of it."
"Isn't it time we started for the hotel?" Tom glanced at his watch,"Quipu Bill Sanders is to come to see us at four."
They agreed and turned to retrace their way around the ruin.
As they rounded a corner Cliff, in the lead, stopped sharply, insurprise. While there was one chance in a thousand that they shouldencounter the very Indian who had been with the Spaniard in Amadale, itwas certain that the fellow into whom Cliff had almost banged had turnedand seemed to stiffen when he saw them.
He stood facing a slender fellow, almost a boy, whose well developed legmuscles made Cliff think of a runner. With a swift word under his breathas the trio of chums stared, the Indian sent the youth off; and he was arunner and no mistake. He went lightly but with almost incredible speeddown the road. The stalwart Indian paid no attention to Cliff buthastened away.
"Do you think he was----?" Nicky whispered.
"He jumped," Tom replied.
"Ought we to follow him?" Nicky wondered.
Cliff thought not. The runner was gone, the Indian might have beensurprised to see white youths turn suddenly into view. Cliff could seeno advantage to be gained by following.
They crossed the square to enter one of the four straight avenues whichquartered the city. Cuzco was beautifully laid out, every ancient streetas straight as if made by a surveyer's lines. Presently they reached the"tambo" or inn.
Bill Sanders was already there: he and John Whitley were in thecourtyard around which all the rooms opened. Bill was squatted on hisheels, cowboy fashion, with a knife in his hand, idly whittling a stick.
As he saw them and stood up they saw that he was tall and very thin; sothin, in fact, that he looked more like an underfed man than a tough,sinewy, sturdy mountaineer. However his skin was brown with healthyexposure and his grip, when they shook hands, made Nicky wince a little.
Quipu Bill Sanders had the eyes of a fox and the courage of a lion; andhe was cunning, too; but his cunning was not the stealthy, wicked sort.
"You know who I am," he greeted. "Let's see if I know which of you iswhich."
Cliff, who had discovered a little skein of colored yarn at the roadsidenear the inn entrance and who had paused to glance at it and slip itaimlessly in his pocket as some decorative native object about which hewould ask later, came forward at once.
"You're Cliff," said Bill. "The others stood back for you. And this isTom--because he sort of fits his name, for he looks quiet and has amanly grip. Of course there's only Nicky left so this must be Nicky."
They smiled at his deduction and felt as though they had known him for along time, he was so easy to meet. He already called Mr. Whitley by hisfirst name, insisted they call him Bill, and alluded to them as"comrade" or "comrade Cliff."
"How is it you are called 'Quipu' Bill?" Nicky asked at once.
Bill squatted and began work on his stick again.
"The Incas didn't have any alphabet or writing to keep their records andhistory," Bill answered, "Nor any stone carvings such as you see inEgypt. When they wanted to send a message or make a record, or evenfigure up accounts, they used wool yarn of different colors and wove ittogether with different knots. The colors meant something and so did theplacing of the knots and the number and the way they were made.
"They called these records or messages 'quipus' and a fellow whounderstood them, could make them and read them, was a 'quipucamayu.'"
"And you studied and got to be one of them," Nicky guessed.
"Yep! So I shortened it down to just the name of the yarn message."
"Were they like this? Isn't this one?" asked Cliff, recalling what hehad found. He produced it. Bill nodded.
"That's one. Where did you get it?"
Cliff told him. Bill dropped his stick and became suddenly mightyserious.
"Why--look here! This is queer. This thing is a message about two grownmen and some children and mountains and the snowy pass--and war--orambush----"
He began to study the short woven length with its knotted strands andits weave of colors, some white, a bit of red and other colors mingled.
Then he looked up as he saw Tom's eyes turn toward the road, visiblefrom the courtyard. They all looked. A youth--it might be the one theyhad seen before--was searching. He went along, head bent low, eyes onthe road, turning from side to side.
Bill rose, dropping the quipu carelessly into his left coat pocket.Cliff, who was always observant, noted it though he paid littleattention, being too busy wondering what Bill meant to do.
He went to the road and called. The youth turned, came back to him.There was a brief exchange of words, too far away to be heard. Then Billput a hand in his pocket, drew out an object of woven yarn. The boyishfellow almost snatched it and while Bill called and pretended to be veryangry the boy dashed out of sight and Bill strolled back to the party.
"For Pete's sake!" exclaimed Mr. Whitley, appearing exasperated. "Yougave him that quipu."
"I gave him that quipu--yep."
"But--with the Spaniard visiting America to forestall that letter andwith our lads seeing the Indian give that runner a quipu--don't you seethat the message might have been about us?"
Bill nodded. "It all hooks up. It likely was," he agreed.
John Whitley stared, as did Nicky and Tom. Was this new acquaintance asmuch on their side as he claimed to be?
"Wasn't that the same boy you saw?" John Whitley inquired.
"It was, sir," Nicky answered. "He had a bright yellow thing-umjig onhis head."
Bill whittled one side of his stick to satiny smoothness. "Now I don'tknow your mind and you don't know mine," he said, "But----"
"Wait!" broke in Cliff. "You dropped that quipu into your left handpocket, Bill. I think--I'm sure--I saw you take what you gave him out ofthe other side of your coat."
Bill grinned approval. "Right as can be," he agreed. "I had picked up anold quipu in my diggings to show you fellows and that's the one I gavehim." He showed them the other one, still where he had dropped it in hispocket. "He's taking--to whoever he's sent to find--a quipu that has ahistory or record of how a great sky god, or courtier of the Sun-godthat they worship--of how this Chasca came to earth and brought great
peace and prosperity to the Inca people."
"Why, that fits in with my plan!" exclaimed Cliff.
"So it does," said Mr. Whitley.
They had a long discussion. Bill told them that he "figured" that theIndian who had been with the Spaniard had been sent out from the hiddencity to try and prevent the letter from being delivered.
"They must have learned about it," he said, "and guess they tried tostop it. Then, when they failed, they let us come on down here, where weare, in a way of speaking, right in their hands----"
"That means that Cuzco is as far as our young chums will go," said Mr.Whitley seriously. The youthful faces became downcast. "I promised notto take you into danger," continued their Captain, as Bill named him,"and so Cuzco will be your stopping place." There was no argument. TheCaptain's word was law.
But events were to compel a change in Mr. Whitley's ideas.