Part 3 (1/2)
Harry could understand this, now that it had been explained to him, for he had already had experience of the impassable precipices and bottomless morasses spoken of by his co, to say the least of it, that it would occupy so long to send ainto consideration the fact that he had already been two days absent, and that it would require another half-day to send a e, the chances were that, when Yupanqui reached the spot, he would find the survey party gone, and would be obliged to follow thean to wonder how long it would be before his injuries would be sufficiently healed to allow him to travel over a road of so difficult a character as that hinted at in his companion's remarks He had only to atte in every limb that resulted from the effort, to understand that some days--probably at least a week--must elapse ere he would be fit to attempt the journey; and meanwhile where would the survey party be, and hoould they be faring without hiranted, and proceed singlehanded with the survey; or would he send out a search party to seek for traces of his lost assistant? Hereflection came to Harry that, even if the first course were adopted, the party could not get very far aithout being overtaken
”How long do you think it will be, Mother, before I shall be able to rise and ain?” he enquired
”Nay, ood God who holds our lives in His hands?” answered the old wo to whether or not the fever returns Much must depend upon yourself If you keep quite quiet, and do not becoo into the open for a short time in teeks, possibly even in less But you et well quickly; and you may trust in me, for I have seen ”
”I will trust you, of course,” answered Harry, reaching out at the cost of so the old creature's clawlike hand ”Get me well as quickly as you can, Mother, and you will not findyou liberally for all your trouble as soon as I can return to carily snatching away her hand; ”who spoke of reward? I require no reward, if by that you mean money payment I have no need of money This cave has providedforand fishi+ng furnish us with ample food What need have we of money?”
”Pardon, Mother,” exclaimed Harry penitently, ”I did not mean to offend you But if you do not need s that you or your son ratitude to you in soet that to you and your son I owe my life”
”Ay, ay; ay, ay; that's asto herself ”There,” she added, as, having co of Esob's injuries, she secured the last bandage, ”that is done Now, more medicine, and then more sleep” And therewith she bustled away into the shadows, returning, a few ht that foane, but left a taste of sickly sweetness upon the palate As the invalid sed the dose a sensation of great ease and comfort permeated his entire system, and the nextvery much better, he saw that his hostess, and a fine, stalwart, copper-coloured young Indian whohly fra a ether in low tones in a language hich he was unfalanced in his direction from time to time he rather suspected that he was the subject of their conversation, which was being conducted with much earnestness, especially by the old wo a very keen watch upon her patient was perfectly evident, for at Harry's firstup the la down into his eyes with the sa andto herself excitedly the while
”Ah, ah!” she exclaiain at last! You have slept well and long, ht without aher skinny hand on Harry's forehead; ”cool and moist; no fever But what of the pain? Is it still severe as ever?”
”The pain!” exclaione What ic at all,” chuckled the quaint old creature, ”but merely a poor old Indian wo excellently well, _Senor Ingles_--better, even, than I dared hope And now you are hungry, is it not so? Good! your breakfast is ready and shall be brought to you instantly; and when you have finished, there is e that you may desire to send to your camp”
An excellently roasted bird--which the patient subsequently learned was a parrot,--bread made of Indian corn flour, and a cup of delicious chocolate were speedily dispatched Then Harry having asked for his notebook, which had been found in his pocket and carefully dried, he pencilled a note to Butler, briefly infor that individual of his escape, and of his hope that he would be sufficiently recovered froht's ti to the Indian the probable situation of the caive it only into the hands of the English back with him
The next few days passed uneventfully, save that the invalid's progress toward recovery was so rapid and satisfactory that aboutvery wearisome--was allowed by his nurse to rise and, clad in trousers and the reo as far as the entrance of the cave and sit there for an hour or two, enjoying the reeted his astonished eyes
He found that the cave which had afforded hi his helplessness formed a chamber, or rather a series of chambers, in an enormous mass of rock that rose sheer out of a little circular, basin-like valley through which flowed the strea out in the for about a mile across and evidently rather shallow, for here and there he could see s clear of the water It was upon one of these that he had been found stranded by Yupanqui The _quebrada_ died out in the valley about a mile from the mouth of the cave, as could be seen when the spot was indicated by the old Indian woman, and Esob wondered more than ever by what chance his senseless body had been carried so far by the rushi+ng water without destroying such life as reround sloped rather steeply froht or ten acres of it had been dug up at intervals and planted withwhich Harry recognised the peach, the orange, the mulberry, and the cacao It was no wonder, he told hinantly disclaiarden, and what Yupanqui could bring in from the forest and the river, it seemed to him that their every want, except perhaps in the matter of clothes, must be abundantly supplied And, so far as clothes were concerned, doubtless the cultivated ground yielded a superabundance a it for such si as they needed The valley was of basin-like for ever steeper as they receded froed into the mountain slopes which hee beyond ridge, in interminable perspective, until, in the extreme distance, they terminated in the snow-clad peaks of the Andes
Harry's hostess--who now mentioned that she bore the naularly couiled the ti the principal peaks in sight, but she also related several very interesting legends connected with certain of the back to the tilories of the Inca dynasty, and the incredible wealth of the ancient rulers of Peru She appeared to be pretty intimately acquainted with the history of the conquest of the country by Pizarro, and had e pusillanimity of the Inca, Atahuallpa, on that fatal 16th of November, 1532, when he went, open- eyed, into the trap prepared for him at Caxamalca, and suffered himself to be seized, in the presence of his entire arave a estion that the country had benefited by the civilised conditions that had followed the conquest
”No, no,” said she, ”we are infinitely worse off in every way, to-day, than ere under the rule of the Incas Poverty,of every kind are to be oes, while four hundred years ago we had a far higher state of civilisation than now exists, in which poverty and oppression, with their countless attendant evils, were unknown But it will not last for ever, I tell you; brighter and happier days are in store for us of the ancient race, and perhaps even I, old as I ah I ae my worn-out body in a cave, have royal blood in my veins, as had my husband, Yupanqui; we are both descended from Huayna Capac, and, but for Atahuallpa's incredible folly, Icoht also have been living”
Esob had read Prescott's _Conquest of Peru_ during his schooldays, and the romantic story had i pertaining to the history of the country, which had never waned, and which had received a fresh stimulus when he learned that he was not only to visit and spend some time in Peru but also to explore certain parts of it And now, to find hi with someone who claimed descent froal splendour only to be equalled by that of the potentates of the _Arabian Nights_, seeood luck; he was therefore careful to say nothing calculated to divert the conversation fro, but, on the contrary, did everything he could to keep it there He was, however, veryforward so confidently to brighter and happier ti seemed absolutely certain, it was that the time was not very far distant when the few scattered survivors must perish, and the race vanish from the face of the earth It was therefore in somewhat incredulous tones that he turned to Cacharounds have you for the hope--or should I call it the certainty-- that better days are in store for your race? To me it seems that there are very few of you left”
”Ay,” she answered, ”it may so seem to you, for you have as yet seen but little of the country save the _terra caliente_, and very few of us are now to be found near the coast But when you get farther up ahbourhood of Lake titicaca, you will find that we have not all perished Furthermore, it is said--hat truth I know not--that when Atahuallpa fell into the hands of the _Conquistadors_, and was strangled by torchlight in the great _plaza_ of Caxamalca, many of the nobles who had been with him fled with their fa the of one titucocha, a priest of the Sun, to build a new City of the Sun--beside the glories of which those of Cuzco were to be as nothing--against the tiain send Manco Capac, the founder of the Inca dynasty, back to earth to restore the dynasty in all its ancient splendour”
”And do you really believe that such a restoration is possible?” asked Esob with a smile at the old woman's credulity
”Ay,” answered Cachama with conviction, ”I ift of foreknowledge, to a certain extent, and from my earliest childhood I have felt convinced that the prophecy is true--I cannot explain how, or why; I only know that it is so And with the passage of the years I have ever felt that the ti nearer, until now I know that it is so close at hand that even I, old though I am, may live to see it I would that I could feel as sure of the continuance of the dynasty as I am of its restoration; but I cannot; I can only see--di is estion of disaster which fills, ”
CHAPTER FIVE
WHAT HAS BECOME OF BUTLER?
On the second day after the dispatch of Yupanqui to the surveyors' camp, he had duly returned with a curt officially worded note fro the receipt of Esob's ”report” of his accident and its result, and requesting the latter to rejoin the survey party with the least possible delay, ”as his absence was the cause of ress of the survey” Not a word of regret at the occurrence of the accident,that could be construed into an admission that the writer's own unreasonable demands and orders were the cause of the ratulation at Esob's narrow escape from a terrible death; simply a formal request that he would rejoin, ”with the least possible delay”, for a certain good and sufficient reason Poor Harry shrugged his shoulders with so very like contereat extent, the master of his fate, and who seemed to be absolutely destitute of the very s He felt that it would be quite hopeless to look for any praise or appreciation from such a man; he foresaw that the felloould appropriate to hiht result from the expedition, and lay upon his (Harry's) shoulders the onus of any shortcos of complete success And he came to the conclusion that since such a chief was not worth putting oneself out for, he would remain where he was until it was quite certain that he could travel with perfect safety, and resu, and possessed a thoroughly sound constitution; moreover, he had miraculously escaped with unbroken bones, his recovery therefore was rapid, and on the nineteenth day after the accident he rejoined the camp and formally reported himself as prepared to resume duty
It had been Butler's custo out a certain length of route daily, and to insist--without very ard to the difficulties of the task--that that ath of route usually amounted to from two to three miles, and Esob had once or twice protested--when the natural difficulties of the ere excessive--that he could not undertake to guarantee the accuracy of his work if so much were demanded of him; to which Butler had retorted that, in his opinion, the aly moderate, that he should expect it to be done, and that he should hold Esob responsible for all inaccuracies
Yet, upon Esob's return to ca the nineteen days of his absence, Butler had advanced the survey by a distance of less than four miles! the explanation which the elderthe four days i the accident, no survey work at all had been done, the whole body of peons having been scattered in various directions, seeking some clue to Harry's fate