Part 25 (1/2)
”Nature herself She plays queer tricks in the Andes She ht turn the mountain upside down, in which case ould find ourselves on top
Seriously, the for is possible
Upheavals of vast ht be opened in that way to one of the lower peaks
”We are surrounded by layers of liranite, and quartzite, which are of marked difference both in the quality of hardness and in their ability to withstand the attacks of time When one finds itself unable to support the other, soht not happen for a hundred years”
”Or never,” I agreed
Again silence Harry stood gazing at one of the flauess of what nature I did not think fit to disturb hiain
”What do you suppose that ugly devil will do about--what he saw in here?”
I s”
”But if he should? We are helpless”
”Trust Desiree It's true that she can't even talk to hie him somehow You sahat happened just now”
”But the creature is no better than a duet her away from here”
”To starve?”
”And we're none too safe ourselves As for starving, we could carry enough of their darned fish to last a year And one thing is sure: on't get back to New York lying round here waiting for so to turn up--even a mountain”
”What do you want to do?”
”Clear out Get Desiree away froly brute If we only had our knives!”
”Where would we go?”
In that question was the whole matter To escape with Desiree was possible--but then what? We knew by experience what it meant to wander hopelessly about in the darkness of those desolate caverns, without food, and depending on Providence for water Neither of us cared to repeat that trial, especially with the added difficulty of a woman to care for But what to do?
We decided to wait for the future, and in the mean time lay in a supply of provisions, and, if possible, devise so here that the Incas, so far as we had seen, used no weapons whatever This was most probably the result of their total isolation and consequent freedon hostility
In the reeable surprise
It was about an hour after Desiree had left us that the royal steward--I give him the title on e tray
In the first place, the pots and pans were of solid gold Harry stared in amazement as they were placed in brilliant array on one of the stone tables; and e essayed to lift the empty tray from another table on which it had been placed we understood why the steward had found it necessary to bring four assistants along as cup-bearers
There was a king's ransom on that table, in sober truth, for there could be no doubt but that this was part of the gold which had been carried from Huanuco when it had been demanded by Pizarro as payment for the life of Atahualpa
But better even than the service was that which it contained It may not have been such as would enhance the reputation of a French chef, but to us then it seeo no farther