Part 11 (1/2)
Passing through the doorhich, like the other tas fitted with massive doors of solid bronze secured by an enor Inca--who, as one of the results of his having been placed upon the throne, had become the absolute owner of all this wealth, with power to use it in such ood-- found hi about ten feet long by the sah To the sides of the rooe chests of very heavy wood, three chests on each side occupying the entire length of the rooe way about six feet wide between the ts of chests Each chest was fitted with a es, and fastened by a ponderous bronze lock
The custodian unlocked these chests one at a ti the heavy cover with difficulty, held the la its contents The first chest opened was nearly full of what to Esob appeared to be dull black stones,in size froe as a man's two fists One of these lu man for his inspection
”Well, what do you call this?” de the stone about in his hands, and inspecting it curiously
”That, Lord, is an amethyst,” answered the other; ”and, as you see, the chest is nearly full of them But, unless we should happen to discover a new et no more of them, for the mine from which those were extracted appears to be exhausted; and it was never very productive even at its best We did not knohat the stones hen they were first discovered, but, as it was suspected that they ht possess a certain value, steps were taken to determine the question, with the result that ere told they are amethysts They are not especially valuable, I believe, but we , so it was decided to store these until wanted Now here,”--opening the next chest--”we have another mineral about which ere a bit puzzled at first; but ere in less doubt in this case than ith regard to the amethysts, as the appearance of the stone seemed to indicate that it possessed a value We dealt with this as we did with the amethysts, and found that we had chanced upon a particularly rich opal deposit”
The chest of opals was, like the one previously opened, alreat piece of rock representing the half of a mass of stone that had been accidentally broken in two, and found to contain a considerable quantity of iridescent, many-hued crystal The next chest contained some very fine specimens of sapphire; but it was littleonly been discovered within the last decade, and even then not very industriously worked; but there were in the chest a few specimens that Esob shrewdly suspected to be practically priceless
Having completed the inspection of the contents of the coffers on one side of the room, the custodian crossed over to the other side, and threw up the lid of a chest, the interior of which at once began to glow as though each of the stones--looking verysoda--contained within it a morsel of phosphorus
”Aha!” exclaihtedly into the chest and fishi+ng up two or three of the stones; ”no need to ask what these are; there's no possibility of enuine soapy feel about theers over the smooth surface of the crystals ”But I didn't know that you had diamonds in Peru”
”There is at all events one mine in the country, Lord, namely that from which these stones came,” answered the Indian ”But the existence and locality are known only to the feork it and who guard the approach to it; for we believe it to be the richest mine in the whole world, and we are naturally anxious to retain possession of it for ourselves exclusively It is not in this valley; it lies a long three- days' journey from here, in a particularly wild and desolate part of the country which is practically inaccessible, save to the boldest and hardiestus It has only been known for about twenty years, and the contents of this coffer represent the labour of only sixthat time But the mine is enormously rich, and, as you may see, the size and quality of the stones iest and finest stones, which are thoseat the top of the others in the chest”
Harry stooped over and picked up a particularly fine specilowed and scintillated in the light of the la adly at the stone as he turned it about in his hand, ”The contents of this chest must be of absolutely incalculable value! This stone alone would constitute a very handsoe of diamonds”
”True, Lord,” answered his companion ”But there are several finer stones than that--this one, and this, for example,” as he fished up a couple of superb specimens ”There are probably no diamonds in the world equal to these two in size and purity of colour And all belong to my Lord”
”Ay,” said Harry; ”with such enormous and inexhaustible wealth as this at one's command it should not be very difficult to provide theit to its forlory What have you in the other two chests?”
”My Lord shall see,” answered the Indian, as he unlocked and threw back the lid of the next chest, which proved to be three parts full of rubies, every one of which constituted a little fortune in itself, while many were of such exceptional size and superb colour that the young Englishasp in speechless amazement and adth, ”I am at a loss to expressat all!”
”Aladdin, did ly at Harry ”I do not seem to remember him Surely he was not a Peruvian?
The nah ”Aladdin knew nothing of Peru; he was an Eastern--a Chinese fellow, or sohtly”
”Ah, yes!” remarked Huatama reflectively; ”I have seen a few Chinese, down at Lio on business for the Council of Seven I do not like theated the country he will drive them all out of it”
”Well, we shall see,” rejoined Esob with a laugh ”But it is early days as yet to talk of driving out the Chinese; there is a great deal to be done before we shall find ourselves face to face with that question
And nohat does your last chest contain?”
It contained e size and purity of colour, every one of the a picked stone especially selected for its exceptional quality But Esob's powers of admiration were by this ti rather perfunctorily examined and expressed his approval of a few of the finest speci care of Huata himself into a chair to endeavour to convince himself that what he had seen in those rock-hewn chambers beloas all prosaically real and not the fantasy of a disordered ireat chaold bars, and the shts insensibly floated away across the ocean to the ine the raptures of his mother and sister, could they but behold the incredible accuems that his eyes had rested upon that day Then he remembered that in consequence of this extraordinary adventure of his a land with no letter on board froan to wonder anxiously ould happen at The Limes when its occupants fully realised that the Peruvian mail had arrived, and that there was no letter for the had ever been perh he had been quite helpless to prevent the accident, Esob soht not to have been allowed to happen; that he ought to have remembered in time, and taken steps to ensure that a letter had been despatched by so an Inca if he could notlike that?
To summon Arima and enquire of that trusty henchman whether, in the hurry of departure fro away hisin order Upon learning that the desk had not been forgotten, Esob at once had it brought to hi letter, addressed jointly to his mother and sister This letter contained a full account of his abduction and all that had followed thereupon, together with an assurance that not only would he contrive henceforward to coularly, but also that if, after the lapse of a certain length of ti down” to becoovernment was likely to prove a success, he would send for them to come out to him
He added that, meanwhile, the enormous wealth represented by the accumulations of more than three hundred years was at his absolute disposal, and that he felt quite justified in awarding hiold bar per calendar month for his services to the state; also, that since under present circumstances he had no use for a private purse, he should dispatch to theold for their own personal use and enjoyment, and that he should expect thethy epistle concluded by giving instructions for the conversion of the gold bar into coin of the real that he had fallen into the hands of the Indians, but was being well-treated by theer, also that at theper for the purpose of allaying any apprehension that ht be experienced on his account Finally, he wrote to Bannister in soave that functionary instructions to withdraw one gold bar from the treasury vaults and have it securely packed in a suitable box for transmission to Europe
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE MONSTERS THAT HAUNTED THE LAKE
These matters attended to, Esob suht be considered his first official conference