by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVIII
DISAPPOINTMENT
Six more days were spent in driving holes according to Harry's plan.The result was in all cases the same. Sand and small stones werebrought up attached to the grease. They had now sunk the holes at amuch more rapid rate than at first, for they were accustomed to thework, their muscles had hardened, and they were able to strike morefrequently and with greater force. They would have got on still morequickly had it not been for the trouble in sharpening the drills. Thesewere heated in the small blacksmith's fire Dias had brought. They werefirst placed in the fire, but this was not sufficiently hot to raisethem beyond a dull red glow. When this was done a shovelful of glowingfragments was taken from the fire and placed on the hearth, and amongthese the small bellows raised the ends of the drills to a white heat,when of course they were easily worked. At first they had somedifficulty in tempering them. Sometimes, when cooled, the points weretoo soft, at other times too brittle; but at the end of a week they hadarrived at the proper medium. But one of the party had to work steadilyto keep the drills in good order.
Bertie was daily employed at this work, as Jose generally failed togive the proper temper to the tools. Bertie, however, generally managedto get in two or three hours' work below. Although perfectly ready todo his share, he was by no means sorry to be otherwise employed for apart of the day, and as he was now able to talk Spanish with perfectfluency he and Donna Maria maintained a lively conversation wheneverthey were together. All the party, however, were glad when Sunday cameround and gave them a day of complete rest; then they would bathe,fish, shoot pigeons, or lie in the shade, each according to his fancy,and recommence work with fresh vigour the next morning.
Just a fortnight after they had begun work they were about to begin ahole in a fresh stone. Talking it over, they had come to the conclusionthat this was the most likely spot in the cellar for the situation ofan underground chamber. Farther on there would scarce be width for one,for it was here but eight feet across. Where they had already triedthere would scarcely have been depth enough. This seemed to them to bethe happy medium.
Before setting to work Dias passed his torch over the stone. Presentlyhe stopped. "Will you light two of the candles, senor; the torchflickers too much to see very plainly."
Somewhat surprised, for no such close examination had been made before,the candles were lighted and handed to him. Dias knelt down, and, withhis face close to the stone, moved about carefully, examining it forsome minutes without speaking.
"This stone, senor, is broken," he said at last, "broken into a dozenpieces, and they have been so carefully fitted together again that thedust that settled upon it quite prevented our seeing it till we sweptit again just now, and it was only because there was a tiny chip outwhere I first looked that I noticed it."
Harry knelt down and also examined the stone. Like all the others, ithad not been faced with tools. Consequently, although roughly even,there were slight irregularities in the surface. Now, as Dias pointedthem out to him, he saw that there were lines running through it hereand there.
"Look here, senor. The stone has been struck here. Here are some dents."
These were scarcely noticeable. The surface had taken the same colouras the rest of the stone. They were of irregular size, and from aquarter of an inch to an inch in diameter, and nearly in the centre ofthe stone, from which point several of the cracks started.
"It certainly looks as if the stone had been struck with somethingheavy," Harry said. "I should think, by the appearance, some very heavypiece of rock must have been dropped upon it."
"Yes, senor, very heavy rock--so heavy that there must have been manymen to lift it."
"It must have been heavy indeed to break up this slab."
"Perhaps it is not so thick as the others," Dias suggested.
"I don't like it, Dias. Well, let us set to work. We will try thewedges there. They were no use against the solid stone, but they mightmove these pieces. Put one of the borers just at the place from whichthese cracks start--at least, I suppose they are cracks--and let usdrive it in for an inch. You hold it, Jose. Don't turn it, we want itto go in just in a line with this crack. I know we cannot drive it infar, but at least we may make it go deep enough to give a wedge a holdin it."
Five such small holes were made in a crack that seemed to form a roughcircle, then the wedges were put in, and they began to work withsledges. In ten minutes Harry, examining the place carefully, said:"The bit of stone is breaking up. There are lines running across itfrom the wedges. Give me the heaviest sledge." He swung it round hishead and brought it down half a dozen times in the centre of thewedges. The cracks opened so far that he could see them withoutstooping.
"Now we will try with the crowbars," he said.
In ten minutes a fragment of the stone was got up; then they hammeredon the wedges again, and a piece of rock, which was roughly seven oreight inches in diameter, broke completely off.
"It is only about two and a half inches thick," Harry said as he drewone of the fragments out. And, holding the candle to the hole, he wenton: "And there is another slab underneath. That settles it. We are atthe top of one of these vaults. The question is, is it empty? I amafraid it is. This stone has evidently been broken up and fitted inagain with wonderful care."
"Why should it be fitted in carefully if they emptied the chamber?"
"That I can't tell you, Dias, and it is of no use trying to guess now.First of all, we will get the rest of the stone up. It won't bedifficult, for now that we have made a start we can use our crowbars.Jose, run up and tell my brother to come down. We shall want him tohelp with the crowbar; and besides, he would, of course, wish to behere, now that we are on the point of making a discovery one way or theother."
In a minute Bertie came down with Jose, and Donna Maria followed. "Josetells me you have broken a hole in one of the stones," Bertie exclaimedas he ran up.
"We have got a bit out of a broken stone, Bertie. This stone had beenbroken before, and evidently not by accident. It is only half thethickness of the others, and, as you can see, there is another slabunderneath."
"Who can have broken it, Harry?"
"That question we cannot decide, but I should say probably the Incas.We agreed that it was very possible they discovered the hiddentreasures of the Chimoos. They must have learned, as the Spaniards did,how cleverly these places were hidden, and it must have been as evidentto them as it is to us, that if there was a hiding-place here, thismust be the spot."
When one or two more pieces of the stone had been got out by the aid ofcrowbars, the rest was removed without the least difficulty. Anotherslab two feet square was exposed. In the middle of this was a copperring, and the slab fitted, into a stone casing about eighteen incheswide. As soon as this casing was cleared, Dias and Jose took theirplaces on one side, the two brothers on the other. A crowbar was thrustthrough the ring, and all of them, taking hold of the ends, lifted withall their strength. At first the stone did not move, but at the secondeffort it lifted suddenly. It was the same thickness as the one theyhad broken, and, on being moved, was easily handled. The torches werethrust down, and all peered eagerly into the vault. So far as theycould see it was empty.
"Shall I jump down, senor?'
"No, the air may be bad, Jose. Run up and bring down a short length ofrope, twenty feet will be ample. Now, let your torch drop down, Dias.If it burns, it will be safe for us to go down; if not, we must keep ondropping blazing brands into it till they burn."
As, however, the torch burnt brightly, Harry lay down, and, saying,"Hold my legs, Bertie!" looked down into the vault. Eighteen inchesbelow the surface, the hole widened out suddenly. A minute laterHarry's head appeared above the surface again.
"It is empty," he said in as cheerful a voice as he could manage. "Ofcourse it is a disappointment," he went on, "but I felt certain that itwould be so directly we found the stone was cracked. The only hope wasthat the first finders of the treasure afterwards used the place forthe same purp
ose. That they thought it possible they might do so isclear by the care with which they fitted the stones together."
None of the others spoke. The disappointment was a heavy one. Bertiebroke the silence by saying; "Well, better luck next time. They mayhave found out this place, but there may be others which they did notfind."
"Quite so, Bertie. Now we have got up one stone, It will becomparatively easy work getting up the others. We will take up everystone to the end, and then work back till we get to a place where thereis not more than a couple of feet between the bottom of the stone andthe top of the rock."
At this moment Jose ran into the room with the rope. Harry took it, anddropped one end until it nearly touched the floor below. "Hold on," hesaid, "and I will slip down first." Half a minute later he stood at thebottom of the chamber, beside the torch, which was still burning.
"It is only about three feet across at the bottom," he said; "the wallby the passage goes straight up, on the other side it is the bare rock,so it is almost wedge-shaped. It is twenty feet long, and five feethigh up to its roof, that makes it nearly seven to the upper part ofthe mouth." The vault was absolutely empty. He moved about for a minuteand then said: "Gold has been stored here. There are particles of goldat the bottom, and there is gold-dust in the cracks of the broken faceof the rock. Now I will come up again. Hold the rope tight; I willclimb about a yard, and then I can get my fingers on the ledge."
He was soon up. "Now, do any of you want to go down?" Dias and Joseshook their heads; and Bertie grumbled, "I don't want to look at thebeastly hole; it has been trouble enough to get at it."
"Well, I think we will not do any more to-day, Dias. It has rathertaken the heart out of one. Still, we could not expect to hit upon thetreasure for the first time. We will go up and talk it over, and whenwe have smoked a pipe or two we shall be more inclined to take acheerful view of the matter. We won't talk about it till we have got tothe end of our second pipe."
The tobacco did its usual work, and it was with quite a cheerful voicethat Bertie broke the silence: "The Incas must have been pretty sharpfellows to find that hole, Harry?"
"Well, very likely they heard that the Chimoos had treasure there.Indeed they must have known, because, you see, not one of the otherstones is broken, so they evidently knew where that chamber wassituated."
"Yes, I suppose that was it. Well, we are in fine working order now,and we sha'n't be very long getting the other stones up."
"Not very long this side anyhow, Bertie. We shall want some shortblocks of wood to put under the stones as we raise them. I expect theyare all five inches thick, and they must be a very big weight.Evidently it is going to be a longish job. As we have been a fortnightwithout fresh meat, Dias had better go off and buy half a dozen sheep.We won't have dead meat this time. He can bring them slung over themules, and we can kill them as we want them."
"We have not had fresh meat, but we have not done badly, Harry; we havegenerally had a good many eggs and some pigeons, and Jose has broughtus in fish from that pool. But they have dwindled down lately. He onlybrought in a couple of fish yesterday evening."
"Well, the pigeons are getting scarcer too, Bertie. We have killed agood many, but the rest are getting very shy, and I think most of themmust have gone off and settled in new places on the face of the rocksabove the ravine. While Dias is away, we will try and lay in a stock ofsea-fish. We can swim out and sit on the rocks during the day, and layour lines at night. We have worked very hard for a fortnight, and wedeserve a holiday."
Dias, when he was spoken to, said he would start at once with fourmules for Huacha. "It is not above fifteen miles," he said, "and I canget there this evening. I should think that I could buy the sheepthere; if not, I must go on to Huaura. Each mule will bring two sheep.Of course I could drive them, but that would seem more singular."
"You had certainly better take the mules, Dias. Tie the sheep carefullyon them, so that they will not be hurt."
"I will take eight of the leather bags, senor. The sheep are not large,and I will sling one on each side of the mules."
"Yes, it would be as well, while you are about it, to bring eight. Youmay as well get some more coffee. We drink a lot of that, and like itstrong. If your wife thinks we shall want more sugar, or anything else,by all means get some."
As soon as Dias started, the lines were got ready. They cut a couple ofsaplings to serve as rods, and Jose, digging among the rocks, foundplenty of worms, beetles, and grubs for bait. In addition, they took acake or two of maize, to break up and throw in to attract the fish.
"We had better swim out in our flannel shirts and trousers," Harrysaid. "They will soon dry, and they will keep off the sun. If we wereto sit there without them, we should get blistered from head to foot."
"Shall we fish outside the rocks, or inside, Harry?"
"We will try both; but I think we are likelier to catch most inside. Ishould think a back-water like that would attract them."
They met with equal success on both sides of the rocks, and by eveninghad caught over forty fish, at least half of which weighed over fourpounds. Then they set the long lines, each carrying forty hooks, andreturned to the castle with as many fish as they could possibly carry.Maria was delighted with the addition to her larder, and she and Joseset to work at once to clean and split them. In the morning they werehung in strings from the broad window. Maria said they would get thebenefit of the heat from the walls, and any air there might be would beable to pass round them.
By means of the night-lines they caught almost as many fish as they haddone with their rods, and that day they had the satisfaction ofbringing in more than they could carry in one journey.
"We have got plenty now to keep us going for another three weeks,"Harry said, "and we can always replenish our stock when we choose."
Dias returned at sunset carrying one sheep over his shoulders.
"I have left the others out there, senor; I don't think there is anyfear of their straying. There is no fresh grass anywhere except nearthe stream, and moreover, being strange to the valley, they willnaturally keep near the mules."
Another month passed in continuous labour. The stones had all beentaken up in the basement they had first visited, but no other chamberhad been found. The parallel chamber had given them much trouble atstarting, as no stone had been found showing any cracks upon it, andthey had had to blast one stone to pieces before they could begin tocut up the others. No chamber whatever had been discovered until theywere within six feet of the farther end. Then one was found, but itshowed no signs whatever of having ever been used. "So far so bad,"Harry said when the supper had been eaten almost in silence; "but thatis no reason why we should be disheartened. If the Incas buried atreasure they may have thought it prudent to choose some other spotthan that used by the old people."
"But where could it be, Harry? You agreed that there was not sufficientdepth between the floors for any place of concealment."
"That is so, Bertie, of course. I have been thinking of it a lot duringthe past few days, when the chances of our finding a treasure under thebasement were nearly extinguished. There are still the side walls."
"The side walls!" Bertie repeated. "Surely they are built against therock?"
"Yes, but we don't know how straight the wall of rock is. You see, theydid not build against it at all in the basement, but above that theside walls begin. The rock must have been irregular, and as the wallswere built the space behind may have been filled in or may not. Whenthey came to build they may have found that there was a cavern orcaverns in the rock--nothing is more likely--and they may have leftsome sort of entrance to these caverns, either as a place of refuge tothe garrison if the place were taken, or as a hiding-place. They mighthave thought it more secure for this purpose than the undergroundchamber, which was their general hiding-place. At any rate it ispossible, and to-morrow I vote that we have a thorough inspection ofthe walls of the storeroom below this. That would be the most likelyplace, for near the sea-level the chances
of finding caverns would bemuch greater than higher up."
Bertie's face brightened as Harry proceeded.
"It certainly seems possible, Harry. Of course the other place seemedso much more likely to us that we have never given the side walls athought. We may find something there after all. I do hope we may, oldboy. I cannot believe that after things have gone altogether so wellwith us, and we have been twice so near finding treasure, that weshould fail after all. Which side shall we begin on?"
"We will have a look at them before we decide, Bertie. We have notreally examined them since the first day; I really forget what storeswe found in the two side-rooms."
An examination in the morning showed that the passage near the entranceto the rock on the left-hand side had been used for fuel, that on theother side was filled at the upper end with skins for some distance,and spears and sheaves of arrows were piled against the outer wallalong the rest of the distance.
"Which do you think is the most likely hiding-place?"
"I should say the right-hand passage. The other with the fire-wood init might be visited every day, but the spears and arrows would only bewanted in case of any attacks upon the castle, or to arm a large forcegoing out to give battle there. They would naturally put anything theywanted to hide in the passage less likely to be visited."
"That does seem probable," Bertie agreed; "therefore, hurrah for theright-hand side!"
"I still think, senor," Dias said, "that there must be treasureconcealed somewhere. I should not think a guard would have been placedhere, and remained here so many years still keeping watch, as we findthey did at that big loophole on the top floor, unless there wassomething to watch."
"Quite so, Dias. I have thought that over in every way, and I can seeno possible motive for their being here except to prevent the placefrom being examined. That was needless if there was nothing to guard,and nothing to take away, except these silver brackets, which in thosedays would scarcely have been worth the trouble of getting out andcarrying away. There must be treasure somewhere. We know now that it isnot in the basement, and we will try these side walls, even if we haveto blow half of them in; there is no doubt that the stones are at leastas thick as those at the end, but they will not be difficult to manage.I noticed in the upper story that they had not taken the trouble to fitthem nearly so accurately as they did those of the outer walls. I don'tsay that they didn't fit well, but the stones were of irregular sizes,and I have no doubt that in many places we could prize them out with acrowbar. Once an opening is made, there will be no difficulty ingetting a lot of them out, as the old people did not use cement ormortar. Well, to-morrow morning we will move all the spears and arrowsacross to the other side of that passage and have a good look at thestones, but we will go up first and look at the side walls of all theother rooms and see if they are of the same build. There may be somedifference which we have not noticed. You see all the side walls ofthis room are built like those in front. I didn't notice whether it wasthe same in the other rooms."
"I will look at once," Dias said, lighting a torch at the fire.
"No, senor," he said, when in ten minutes he returned; "none of thewalls on this floor are built of stone like this. This was the grandchamber, the stones are all nearly one size, and so well fitted thatyou can hardly see where they join each other. In the other rooms theyare not so, but the stones are, as you noticed above, irregular insize, and although they fit closely, there is no attempt to conceal thecracks."
"Thank you, Dias! Well, we won't look any more to-night; we shall seein the morning if the room below us is built in the same way. I have nodoubt it is. At any rate we have done enough for to-day. There is somewhisky left in that bottle, Bertie, and we may as well make ourselves aglass of grog. Maria, you had better get down that jar of pulque. Wewill drink to better luck next time."
The woman smiled faintly. She did not often do so now, her spirits hadgradually gone down as the hopes of success faded.
"Now, Maria," Harry said, "you had better take a glass of pulque foryourself. I know you don't often touch it, but you have been working soof late that I think you want it more than any of us."
"I cannot help feeling low-spirited, senor," she said. "I have so hopedthat you would find the treasure you wanted, and marry this lady youlove, and it would be such joy for us to have in some small way repaidthe service you rendered us, that I felt quite broken down. I know Iought not to have been, when you and your brother bear thedisappointment so bravely."
"'It is of no use crying over spilt milk', which is an English saying,Maria. Besides, it is possible that the milk may not be spilt yet, anduntil lately your good spirits have helped us greatly to keep ours up.If I were once convinced that we had failed, I have no doubt I shouldfeel hard hit; but I am a long way from giving up hope yet. There istreasure here, and if I have to blow up the whole of the old place Iwill find it. I have got six months yet, and in six months one can dowonders. Anyhow, these brackets will pay us very well for our work. Icertainly should not have earned half the sum in any other way in thesame time. And even if I fail in my great object, I shall have thesatisfaction of knowing that I have done all in my power to gain it.She will know that I have done my best. I have always told her, when Ihave written, how much I owe to you and Dias, how faithfully you haveserved me, and how you have always been so bright and pleasant. I haveno doubt it has cheered her up as well as me."
Maria was wiping her eyes now. "You are too good, senor; it is solittle I can do, or Dias either, to show our gratitude."
"Nonsense! You show it in every way, even in the matter-of-fact way ofalways giving us excellent food, which is by no means unimportant. Nowwe will all turn in, and make a fresh start to-morrow morning."
They were up at daybreak, and after taking their usual cup of coffeelit the torches and descended the stairs to the floor below.
As soon as they reached the right-hand wall, Harry exclaimed: "Why,this is built in the same way as the one we have left! The stones aresquared and fitted together as closely as those in the drawing-room.Then why should that be, except in that one room? The side walls allthe way up are roughly built. Why should they have taken the trouble onthis floor to build these, which are only meant as store-rooms, wheneven in the rooms above, which were meant for the habitation of thechief and his family, the rough work was deemed sufficiently good?There must have been some motive for this, Dias."
"There must have been, senor; it is certainly strange."
"First of all, let us clear the wall and take a general view of it.Guessing won't help us; but I have the strongest hopes that behind oneof these stones lies a cavern. By the way, Dias, take a torch and gointo the next chamber and see if the stones are solid there."
"They are just the same as those here," Dias said when he returned.
"I would rather that it had been the other way," Harry said, "for thenI should have been more sure that there was some special reason fortheir building them in this way here."
It took them all half an hour's work to move the spears and arrows tothe other side.
"Do you think, Harry, if we were to tap the stones we should be able tofind whether there is a hollow behind any of them?"
Harry shook his head.
"Not in the least. I have no doubt these stones are two or three feetthick, and there could be no difference in the sound they would make ifstruck, whether they were filled in solid behind or had no backing. Tobegin with, we will make a careful examination of the walls. Possiblywe shall see some signs of a stone having been moved. It would be verymuch more difficult to take one of the great blocks out and put it inagain than it would be to get up one of the paving-stones."
When they had gone about half-way along, examining each stone with thegreatest care, Bertie, who was ahead of the rest, and passing thecandle he held along the edge of every joint, said, "Look here! thisstone projects nearly half an inch beyond the rest."
The others gathered round him. The stone was of unusual size, beingfully two a
nd a half feet wide and four feet long, the bottom jointbeing two feet above the floor.
Bertie moved along to let the others look at the edge. He was keepinghis finger on the joint, and they had scarcely come up when he said,"The other end of the stone's sunk in about as much as this endprojects."
"Something certainly occurred to shift this stone a little," Harrysaid, examining it carefully. "It is curious. If others had beendisplaced, one would have put it down to the shock of an earthquake--acommon enough occurrence here--but both above and below it the stonesare level with the others, and nowhere about the house have we seensuch another displacement. Look! there is a heap of rubbish along thefoot of the wall here. Stir it up, Dias, and let us see what it is."
"It is sand and small stones, and some chips that look like chips ofrock."
"Yes, these bits look, as you say, as if they had been chipped off arock, not like water-worn stones. Though how they got here, whereeverywhere else things are perfectly tidy, I cannot say. However, wecan think that over afterwards. Now for the stone! Let us all put ourweight against this projecting end. I don't in the least expect that wecan move it, but at any rate we can try."
They all pushed together.
"I think it moved a little," Harry said, and looked at the edge.
"Yes, it is not above half as far out now as it was."
"That is curious, for if it is as thick as we took it to be, it wouldweigh at least a couple of tons. We won't try to push it in anyfarther. I am sorry we pushed it at all. Now, give me that heavysledge, Jose, possibly there may be a hollow sound to it. I will hit atthe other end, for I don't want this to go in any farther."
He went to the stone beyond it first and struck two or three blows withall his strength. Then he did the same with the stone that they wereexamining.
"I don't think it gives such a dead sound," he said.
The others were all of the same opinion.
"Good! This is another piece of luck," he said. "We have certainly hiton something out of the way."
"Your hammering has brought this end out again, Harry," Bertie said.
"So it has, and it has pushed this end in a little. Let us try again."But although all took turns with the sledges, they could make nofurther impression on the stone.
"Well, we will try the drills," Harry said. "In the first place, wewill find out how thick it is."
They at once set to work with the drill. Progress was slower than ithad been before, because, instead of striking down on the head of thedrill, they had now to swing the hammer sideways and lost the advantageof its weight; and they were obliged to work very carefully, as a misswould have seriously damaged the one holding the drill. It took themfour hours' steady work to get the hole in three inches. Ten minuteslater, to their astonishment, the drill suddenly disappeared. Dias, whowas striking, nearly fell, for instead of the resistance he hadexpected, the drill shot forward; the hammer hit Jose, who had thistime been holding the drill, a heavy blow on the arm, causing him toutter a shout of pain.
Harry, who was sitting down having breakfast, having just handed hishammer to Bertie, jumped to his feet.
"How did you manage that, Dias? I suppose it slipped off the head. Youmust have hit Jose a very heavy blow."
"I have hit him a heavy blow, senor, and nearly tumbled down myself;but I struck the drill fairly enough, and it has gone."
"Gone where, Dias?"
"I think it must have gone right through the hole, senor."
"Then there is an empty space behind!" Harry shouted joyfully."However," he went on in changed tones, "we must see to Jose first.That blow may have fractured his arm. Let me look, Jose. No, I don'tthink anything is broken, but there is a nasty cut on the wrist. It isfortunate that you were not striking straight down, Dias, for I am surewe have not put anything approaching the strength into our blows, nowwe are hitting sideways, that we exerted before. You had better go upto Maria, Jose, and get her to bathe your wrist with cold water, andput on a bandage."
"Now, senor, what shall we do next?"
"Well, now that we know that its weight cannot be anything very great,and that certainly to some extent it can be moved, we will tryhammering again at that end. Do you stand three or four feet beyond it,so as to be able to bring your sledge down with all your strength juston the lower corner. I will face you and strike six or eight inchesabove where you hit. Of course we must both bring our hammers down atthe same instant. We shall be able to do that after two or threetrials. Stand at the other end of the stone, Bertie, and tell us if itmoves at all."
After one or two attempts the two men got to swing their hammers so asto strike precisely at the same moment, and when half a dozen blows hadfallen, Bertie said: "It comes out a little at each blow. It is notmuch, but it comes."
Three or four minutes later he reported, "It is an inch and a half outnow, and there is room to get the end of a crowbar in here."
"That is curious," Harry said as he lowered his sledgehammer, and,taking up the candle, examined the end where he had been striking.
"This is sunk about the same distance, Bertie. The stone must worksomehow on a pivot."
They now put a crowbar into the end Bertie had been watching, and allthree threw their weight on the lever. Slowly the stone yielded to thepressure, and moved farther and farther out. It was pushed open untilthe crowbar could act no longer as a lever, but they could now get ahold of the inside edge. It was only very slowly and with repeatedefforts that they could turn the stone round, and at last it stoodfairly at right angles to the wall, dividing the opening into equalparts about two feet four each.
"There is a pivot under it; that is quite evident. It may be a copperball in the stone below, or it may be that a knob of the upper stoneprojects into a hole in the lower. However, it does not matter how itworks. Here is an opening into something. Dias, will you go upstairsand tell your wife and Jose to come down? They had better bring half adozen more torches. Our stock here is getting low, and we shall want asmuch light as possible. It is only fair that we should all share in thediscovery."
Dias went off.
"Now, Bertie, we must not let our hopes grow too high. I think it ismore likely than not that we shall find nothing here."
"Why do you think so, Harry? I made sure we had as good as got thetreasure."
"I think, if there had been treasure," Harry went on, "that this stonewould have been closed with the greatest care. They would hardly haveleft it so carelessly closed that anyone who examined the wall wouldhave noticed it, just as we did. We found the other places mostcarefully closed, though there was nothing in them."
"Perhaps there was something that prevented them from shutting--alittle stone or something."
"But we know that that wasn't so, Bertie, because the stone yielded toour weight; and if it did so now, it could have been shut with thegreatest ease originally, when no doubt the pivot was kept oiled, andthe whole worked perfectly smoothly. It is almost certain that theywere able in some way to fasten it securely when it was shut. What isthat piece of square stone lying there?"
"It fell down from above just as the slab opened."
Harry took it up. It was about six inches long by two inches square.
"It is a very hard stone," he said--"granite, I should say. I expectyou will find that it fits into a hole in the stone above."
"Yes, there is a hole here," Bertie said, feeling it; "the stone goesright in."
"Well, I think, Bertie, you will find a hole in that end of the stonewe moved that it will fit."
Bertie crept in, and felt along the top of the stone.
"Yes, there is a hole here about the same size as the stone, but it isnot more than three inches deep."
"Then, that stone was the bolt, Bertie. You see it was pushed up, andthe door then closed; and when the stone was exactly in its place, itwould drop into the hole and keep it from moving, and nothing short ofbreaking up the bolt would give an entrance. It is lucky that we didnot push it quite to; another quarter of an
inch and that bolt wouldhave fallen, and we could not have moved it unless by smashing thewhole thing into bits. That was why they did not quite close the stone;they wanted to get in again."
"Here come the others!"
Maria had been washing some clothes in the stream, and they hadtherefore been longer in coming than if she had been in the room. Theyall looked greatly excited.
"So you have found it, senor!" Dias exclaimed in delight.
"We have found an entrance into somewhere, but I am afraid it will beas empty as the other chambers."
"Why do you think so, senor?" Dias asked in dismay.
Harry repeated the reasons he had given Bertie for his belief that thestone must have been left in such a position as to be easily openedwhen required.
"Why should it have been left so?"
"Because the treasure they expected had never arrived. It is possiblethat when the Incas discovered the treasure in that chamber wesearched, they may also have found this entrance. It may have beenshown to them by one of the prisoners, and they may have broken thestone here into pieces as they broke that over the chamber afterwards.Seeing what a splendid hiding-place it was, they may have, when theSpaniards first arrived, made another stone to fit, with the intentionof using it for a hiding-place themselves. The fact that the stone wasleft so that it could be at once opened is conclusive proof to my mindthat the treasure never came. That heap of sand, small stones, andchips of rock is another proof that they were ready to receivetreasure, and it was probably swept out of the chamber that is behindhere, and would, of course, have been removed when the treasure was putin and the door closed; but as the treasure never did come, it was leftwhere it lay. However, we will now go and see. I have only kept youwaiting because I did not want you to be disappointed."
One by one they crept through the opening. For four feet in, thepassage was the same width as the stone, but two feet deeper; then itat once opened into a large cavern.
"This wall was four feet thick, you see, Dias. Apparently squared stonewas only used for the facing, as the stones are of irregular shape onthe back. This would be a natural cavern, and a splendid hiding-placeit makes. No doubt its existence was one of the reasons for buildingthis castle."
The cavern was some twelve feet wide and thirty feet high at the mouth;the floor sloped up sharply, and the sides contracted, and met fortyfeet from the mouth. The floor had been cut into steps two feet wide,running across the cave and extending to the back. These steps werefaced with a perfectly flat slab of stone. The cave was empty.
The natives uttered loud exclamations of disappointment and regret.
Harry had so thoroughly made up his mind that nothing would be foundthere that he surveyed the place calmly and in silence. Bertie imitatedhis example with some difficulty, for he too was bitterly disappointed.
"You see, Dias," Harry went on quietly, "this place was prepared toreceive treasure. The steps have all been swept perfectly clean. Yousee, the gold could be piled up, and no doubt the steps were cut andfaced with stone to prevent any gold-dust that might fall from thebags, in which, no doubt, it would be brought, and small nuggets, fromfalling into the cracks and crevices of the rock. I should say that inall probability they expected that treasure ship that was lost, and hadeverything in readiness for hiding the cargo here directly it came. Itnever did come. The door was shut as far as it could be without thebolt falling down and fastening it; then they waited for the ship; andif it did not arrive, other treasure might be brought by land. Well, itcannot be helped. So far we have failed. There may still be treasurehidden somewhere. We cannot say that we have searched the placethoroughly yet."
For another six weeks they worked hard. The wall was broken through inseveral places, but no signs of the existence of any other cavern orhiding-place was discovered.
"I should give it up," Harry said, when at the end of that time theywere sitting gloomily round the fire, "but for one thing: I can see nopossible explanation why a party of men should have been left here, anda guard kept, for perhaps a hundred years, perhaps more, and thestories about demons been circulated, and people who ventured toapproach been murdered, unless there had been some good reason for it.That reason could only have been, as far as I can see, that there was atreasure hidden here. I have turned it over and over in my mind athousand times, and I can think of no other reason. Can you, Bertie, oryou, Dias?"
"No," Bertie replied. "I have often thought about it; but, as you say,there must have been some good reason, for no people in their senseswould have spent their lives in this old place, and starved here,unless they had some cause for it."
Dias made no reply beyond shaking his head.
"You see," Harry went on, "they kept up their watch to the end. Therewere those two skeletons of men who had died at their post at thatcurious window where nothing could be seen. I hate to give up thesearch, and yet we seem to have tried every point where there was apossibility of a hiding-place existing."