by Van Powell
CHAPTER XXXII THE ANDES CLOSE THEIR JAWS
The one thing in which Cliff did not outguess Huayca was in the mannerof his planning for the white party's annihilation.
Huayca was not of the hidden Inca tribe. He was a man of Cuzco, but ofthe higher grade of intelligence. To him had come the Inca noble who hadgone with Pizzara to America: that noble had chosen Huayca to serve himand had promised a great reward. By the failure of his ambush he had letthe white party get through to Quichaka. And, worse, they had escapedagain, as he discovered when he visited the scene of the night raid inthe secret pass.
Huayca, being a native of Cuzco, knew that the Spanish justice was asswift as that of the Incas. Since he must live in Cuzco, far from Incaprotection, he must not invoke the penalties which the Spanish law woulddemand if he destroyed the white party. Even in such a place as theAndes passes the law of the Americans would compel the law of theSpaniards to quest and to find him out, if he turned his hand againstwhite men of that America.
He had a better plan and one so thoroughly diabolic that it seemed asthough the Cupay, or evil spirit, of the Incas must have whispered itinto his ear.
An infuriated mob, turning against white men who sought to rob theburied Incas, hidden among the hills, of their treasure--that was theinstrument that would strike swiftly and who could seek, find or punishits scattered arms afterward? No one! Having followed the party to thestairway, keeping well hidden, he let them climb. He went to anotherspot in the secret pass and there, with catlike agility, soared up theside of a steep crag, hanging sometimes almost by a thread of sheerwillpower, clinging with nails and bare feet; but he reached the top,slipped along it to another point, there descended to the main,open-traveled pass and so across the osier bridge. While Cliff wasdiscussing his prophetic idea Huayca ran fleetly along the main pass,under the lip of that very ledge, bound for the nearest settlement.
Bill, when Cliff made his prophecy, looked very sober.
"You may be right," he told Cliff, "but here's our situation: We can'tgo back to Cuzco as Indians. If we leave this ledge we lose a goodposition, in the matter of strategic location; no one can attack us frombelow if we cut loose the ladder and we can guard the cleft much easierthan we could watch an open place on the pass. I vote for staying here,at least until I can get some stuff to replace the bleacher we lost whenPizzara took our packs away."
They talked it over from every angle and finally, although Cliff feltthat he was right, they found no other plan as good as Bill's. Havingtheir strong, light rope, plenty long enough to reach the ground, theypromptly cut loose the upper fastenings of the Incas's osier ladder andput a guard, in two-hour shifts, just within the cleft, with Bill'ssmall revolver, recovered from Pizzara by Bill after the visit to thescene of the Spaniard's destruction: a shot would warn the whole camp,day or night.
They ate a frugal supper for the supplies were running very low and mustbe made to last at least a day more, until Bill could visit thesettlement and come back with more. Then, because it was cold and theydid not wish to build a fire to attract attention, they made rudeblanket beds within the small stone hut, and, secure in the knowledgethat Nicky was wide awake, watchful, in the cleft, they slept with thehealthy weariness of their long climb that afternoon.
And beyond their camp the mighty Incas were getting ready to snap theirjaws and leave the white party, apparently, no way of escape!
At ten o'clock Nicky left his post long enough to shake Bill awake: itwas Bill's next watch. The mountain prospector woke easily, got up,already alert and rested, and took up his post.
And the mountains seemed to sleep.
Mr. Whitley's watch, from midnight till two, was equally uneventful. Mr.Gray was spared a watch the first night and so it was Cliff who wascalled to follow Mr. Whitley.
Huayca, having gone to a small settlement, called the men in council,told them that the white men who had previously gone that way werecoming back, disguised as Indians, and thus fired his fuse to ignitePeruvian hatred. He told them that the men had discovered an old burialmound, far in the hills, and had ravaged it, in spite of his protest.
Then, giving them some hints, he slipped away, leaving a fuse of angersteadily hissing toward a powder-keg of rage and racial hatred.
Huayca, feeling quite happy, returned along the pass, over the bridge,up the cliff, along its top, down into the valley spanned by the bridge,and thus again up the stone stairway that Cliff's party had used theafternoon before: he was back in the narrow outlet by the time thatCliff, consulting his radiumite watch face, decided to call Tom for hisshift just after Cliff's own ended.
It was so still, Cliff thought, that you could almost hear the starssinging as they twinkled with strange brightness in the clear air.
Not a sound reached Cliff's ears, though. The stars did not sing, nordid anything else make any noise. Nature seemed to be resting in the weehours before dawn, gathering her strength for a new day.
So Cliff crept as quietly as he could to the hut and shook Tom.
When his chum was thoroughly awake and stood outside the doorway withhim, Cliff spoke.
"Don't shoot if you see a shadow on the ledge," he said in a whisper. "Iam going over to the edge and look around toward the lower pass for aminute before I roll into my blanket."
"All right," Tom agreed, and went one way while Cliff went the other.
Tom comfortably disposed just inside the open fissure, saw Cliffstanding outlined against a star. The cleft was as still as a tomb. Tomgazed up at the stars, looked along the deep, velvety blackness of thefissure, turned to look again toward Cliff.
Something was happening!
Cliff seemed to be moving crazily--or was it Cliff and another.
Tom deserted his post and raced across the turf. Then he shouted,pointed his small revolver aloft, pressed the trigger.
Crash! And the camp started up. The jaws had shut and the Andes wereready to crunch their prey.