by Van Powell
CHAPTER VIII THE OUTCOME
What Cliff planned to do was based more on intuition than on anycarefully thought out ideas. When the excitement broke out it was earlymorning; by the time that the camp settled down again it was almost timefor dawn. As he returned to his tent with Tom and Nicky he had a suddenflash of inspiration and when he saw that in spite of their excitementhis two companions fell into futile speculation, he decided that what hewanted to do could be done only if he acted alone and at once.Discussion would only waste time; no one else could accompany him. Ofcourse he thought of consulting his elders; but like any young fellowwho had what appeared to be a bright idea he wanted to accomplish hisplan alone and not have to turn it over to someone else.
So Cliff slipped quietly out of camp as the first pale gray ofapproaching daylight threw the peaks ahead into jagged silhouette.
They had already gone down the pass; that way they had failed. Cliffturned upward. He moved quickly, alertly, progressing rapidly.
His intuition had told him that it was probable that the Indian, Huayca,if he really did mean to go to the Incas, would want to be able toreport to them what the white people did when their map was stolen.
That meant to Cliff that Huayca would only go far enough ahead to find asecure hiding place. He would not want to travel off into the nextstretch of pass, which was very close to a deeply cut ravine, withoutdaylight. He could hide and watch! He might!
"If I had to watch," Cliff thought, "I would find a place high up andout of sight. Not a tree, because I might be seen in a tree; but I wouldget up on a ledge if I could find one."
There were plenty of ledges because that part of the pass led throughfissures broken in the mountain by some great force of Nature in pastages. But the problem was to locate the right and most probable one inthe dark and then to ascend to its top.
Far above, toward the East, the sky began to glow with the first proofthat the sun was stoking his fires for a new day; in the pass nightstill fought to hold its own. The light gave the higher points a greaterprominence and helped Cliff while the darkness around him also helpedhim by hiding his moving form.
"From the shape of that ledge ahead," he said to himself, "I am comingto a bend in the pass; now that would be a fine spot if----"
He reached the bend; carefully he peered around. There ended thefissures; the pass, which had run between high cliffs, swung rathersharply around the nose of a ledge and ran along the side of an opendepth, a valley filled with mist; in the dark Cliff could not tell howdeep it was, nor how wide.
The ledge, right at the turn, projecting a trifle, and about sixty feetabove his head, was an ideal spot to spy from; if he could find a way upit would give him a place to see the pass toward the camp and alsoaround the bend.
"Such a ledge as that would be perfect for an ambush," he thought. Cliffhad read how the Incas, in their battles against the invading Spaniards,had ambushed soldiers in these mountain passes, dropping rocks frompoints above them, loosing flights of arrows, stunning them with stonesfrom the slings with which they were expert. Here was the spot for suchan attack.
How did the Incas get to such ledges? As he remembered his history,Cliff thought of a ladder woven of osier strands, tough vines that wereto be found in that country. Bridges were swung across mountain streamswith twisted ropes and cables of those stout vines; with plankssupported by them footways were made that swayed dizzily, dipped interrifying fashion, but that gave safe crossings to sure footedmountaineers.
He stepped off the rocky path into brush under the lip of the ledge and,almost as much by feeling as by sight, explored the side of the cliff.There was nothing, at first, to reward his search; but after some time,cleverly hidden among the brush, he found twisted, sturdy ropes thatwere so woven as to give the shape of a rude ladder with sagging butstaunch crosspieces of the same vines. The ladder ran upward as high ashis arms could reach, and without any hesitation Cliff began to climb.
From its location his ladder could not be seen until one got well aroundthe bend and there, for the light was better and he could see, the passran only a short way, then swung across one of those osier bridges,still kept in repair because this was one of the main-traveled paths.Amid the brush and stuff and with trees between it and the path, theladder was not apt to attract attention. Its withes felt pliant andfresh with sap. Cliff decided that it was not an old ladder, but a newone, recently placed; perhaps for the very purpose to which Huayca mightrecently have put it.
As he neared the top, Cliff became cautious. He lifted himself slowly sothat he would make very little noise. When his head was level with thetop of the ledge he protruded it upward with utmost care and spiedaround, his eyes just able to see.
The flat top of the ledge, he saw, was about an acre in extent. Itsloped slightly upward to the next sharp rise at the back and lightshowing from the brightening sky indicated a fissure, possibly anotherpass, in the cleft.
But his attention focused on a clump or mass of stone, quite large, nearthe middle of the level space.
In the pale light it bulked like a ghostly ruin. Cliff eased carefullyuntil he could get to the _pajonal_--short, yellow grass of themountains--which covered the top of that ledge.
Then he made his way with as soft a tread as he could, to the ruin. Itlooked as though, in some ancient day, a granary or rest house orbarracks had been built; time had helped the frost and heat to crumblemany of its stones, so that it had little shape; but at one point thereseemed to be a rude hut rebuilt from the stones. Toward this Cliffcrept.
He had scarcely reached the side of the small stone pile when he heardwhat at first sounded like a groan, but then was more like a yawn.
"Huayca!--I guess!" Cliff reasoned, "he came here and when he saw ourfire die down--he could, from that further ledge--he decided to take anap."
He wasted no time in hesitation while he thought; he sent his eyesdarting here and there till he saw, close to the hut, a spot in thecrumbled masonry where he could creep into a niche and be out of sightof anyone emerging from the hut door.
He squeezed into his niche only just in time. Yawning, stretching, atall figure, arms flung wide, stood in the hut doorway for a moment,then strolled over toward the edge of the cliff, lay flat and peeredtoward Cliff's camp.
Cliff, peering from his hiding place, watched steadily. The Indian, forthe light was strong enough to distinguish him as dark, lithe anddressed as a native, rose to a kneeling posture.
He fidgeted with his garments while Cliff became very intent. He saw theIndian draw a paper into view. He flattened it on his knee, and in thegrowing brightness studied it. Then, after an instant of hesitation, hedrew off one of his sandal-like foot coverings and thrust the paper,folded, into the shoe.
Cliff did some hard thinking. This must be Huayca although the light didnot yet give proof of that. But the paper did. Cliff's problem was this:if he disclosed his presence and tried to surprise the Indian the lattermight escape--perhaps run to the fissure in the rocks and vanish. Withthe map--as Cliff surmised the paper must be--in his sandal it wasimperative to capture him, and in such a way that Cliff could then becertain he would not destroy the map before Cliff could get it or summonhelp.
Therefore, his thinking made him determine that he must get the nativeinto some situation where surprise and location would make up forCliff's inferior strength and size.
He reasoned that no native would travel in the mountains without food.Therefore there must be some sort of pack within the hut; probably apack containing some _charqui_--the dried, thin sliced deer meat whichwas a large part of a mountaineer's food, and dried or parched grain.
The Indian was again peering intently toward camp. Perhaps the fire wasbeing made up by natives, or some other activity went forward. Clifftook the chance that the watcher would be so absorbed that he would notsee a moving figure in the shadow beside the ruins.
Sidling along, stepping cautiously to avoid loose stones-
-for the leastsound, in that stillness, would carry to keen Indian ears!--he slippedto the hut door and vanished inside it.
The place had no windows. Except for the doorway, lacking any door,there was no place where light could enter; since that opening faced thewest, the interior was dark--pitch dark!
Cliff felt his way carefully. His foot touched something; he paused andstooped. Exploring fingers assured him that he had found a small pack;around it was a packstrap with some rope attached so that the pack couldbe tied up.
Loosening the rope, Cliff drew it free; with it he slipped back to thedoorway and stopped just inside and beyond the dull glimmer of light itadmitted. He saw the Indian fasten his sandal, rise and saunter towardthe hut--for his breakfast.
Totally unsuspicious the Indian approached; Cliff held his breath. Asthe other stepped in Cliff's foot shot across the entry and the Indian,with no way to foresee the ruse, stumbled and fell forward. At the sameinstant Cliff moved.
With pantherish quickness he grasped the two feet which had flung out asthe man fell; around them, before the other knew just what had attackedhim, Cliff flung the rope, drawing taut the end; a slip-noose, cleverlymaneuvered over the ankles, drew tight.
Then began a battle between the man, prone but able to kick andscramble, and Cliff, working to get his rope over a rock.
In the camp Mr. Whitley came from his tent, yawning; he had secured buta little sleep. He saw Tom and Nicky, beside the campfire andapproached.
"Where is Cliff?"
"He went after Whackey before dawn." Bill, hearing, ran over.
"Why didn't he tell me?" Quipu Bill said in an injured voice, "I'm goingafter him. That Indian--if Cliff comes up with him at all--may bedangerous!"
"Look!" Nicky fairly screamed, "up there----"
His pointing finger called for no further words. They all turned theireyes up the pass. Outlined against the yellow and crimson of sunrise wasa silhouetted figure, prancing.
Faintly came a shouted call.
Like racers at the clang of a bell the four were away up that pass. Asthey neared they heard Cliff calling down to them and telling about theladder.
In the hut doorway they soon discovered a scowling but silent captive.
It was Huayca, without any mistake.
"How did you ever?----" began Mr. Whitley and Nicky, almost together.
Cliff explained. When he reached the point where he had the rope twistedabout Huayca's ankles he grinned.
"He wriggled and yelled and squirmed," he said, "but I knew if I couldkeep his feet in the air long enough and didn't tire out first I wouldwin; when he stopped wriggling I got a chance to pull home a slip-knot Imade and then I got the rope end over that place in the stone--it wassort of like a pulley and when I hauled on the rope his feet were up inthe air and I tied the rope and ran to call you."
"I wonder if he had the map?" Tom said.
Cliff walked to the man lying with his heels higher than his head, andjerked off a sandal.
Then they did slap Cliff's back!