should I?"

"Pardon me, senor; I spoke foolishly," replied Jose.

"Let the senor, however, listen to me while I recount a few facts to
him. He will then see, perhaps, why I have been so utterly astonished
at the sight of this document. Long ages ago--ay, long before the
_conquistadores_ appeared in Peru--we Indians worked the silver and gold
mines, which, as you know, abound in this country; and we also gathered
enormous quantities of precious stones from the river-beds for the
purpose of adorning the person of the Inca, our lord, and those of his
nobles whom he deigned to favour, as well as for the adornment of the
temple and of the royal palace. By the time, then, that Pizarro and his
horde of robbers overran the land, there were millions upon millions of
dollars-worth of precious metals and precious stones in the possession
of the Inca and his nobles. You have heard of the ransom which Pizarro
exacted from Atahualpa; how a large room was twice filled with gold, to
the value of fifteen millions of your pounds? Well, the Spaniards
themselves knew that that ransom was but a small fraction of the
enormous wealth which we Peruvians possessed; but they did _not_ know,
as we did, how very small a fraction it was. We had not time enough to
secrete all our treasure, for the arrival of the Spaniards was
unexpected; but we hid away an enormous quantity of gold, silver, and
jewels. Some of it has been lost; irretrievably, I fear, through the
sudden death of the men to whom the secret of its hiding-place had been
entrusted. But we Peruvians still know the whereabout of a good deal of
that vast hoard which is being kept for the time when a new Inca shall
arise who shall set himself at the head of our armies and sweep the
invaders of our land into the sea. All our preparations are made; we
only await the arrival of the man. And this document, into possession
of which you have so strangely come, relates to the burial of one of
these hoards, and tells the secret of its hiding-place, as also the
means whereby that hiding-place may be found.

"That is why I was so greatly overcome with amazement when you showed me
the paper, senor. _I_ am one of the descendants of the ancient Peruvian
race; and, since this document is written in the secret character used
by the Incas, I can read it, and I can say, now, where this treasure is
located!"

"Phew!" whistled Jim, "that's a strange story, and no mistake. I did
not think when