" the muleteer said confidently. "The Spaniards have
worked rich mines ever since they came here, but great as is the treasure
that they have taken away, it is still insignificant compared with the
store of gold among the Incas when they came here. Every Peruvian on this
side of the Andes dreams of gold, and there are thousands of men who, as
soon as they earn enough money to buy tools and provisions, set off to
search for gold-mines or buried treasure. It is certain that the Incas
buried a vast quantity of their treasure rather than see it fall into the
hands of the Spaniards, and it has never been discovered. It is generally
believed that the secret of the hiding-place is known to Indians, who have
handed down the secret from father to son. This may be true or it may not.
So many thousands of Indians have either been killed by the Spaniards or
have died in their mines, that it may well be that all who knew the secret
died centuries ago. But I do not say that it may not be known to some of
them now; if so, it is more likely that these may be among the tribes
beyond the boundaries of Peru. There are vast tracts there where neither
Spaniards nor Portuguese have penetrated. The whole country is one great
forest, or, in some places, one great desert.

"The Indians of Peru have become, for the most part, an idle, shiftless
race. Centuries of slavery have broken their spirit altogether, and had
the secret been known to many of them, it would have been wrung from them
long since, especially as all are now Catholics and go to confession, and
would never be able to keep such a secret from leaking out. It is true
that there are little Indian villages among the mountains where the people
are still almost independent, and here the secret may still be handed
down; but I doubt if it will ever be known. Doubtless it is guarded by
such terrible oaths that those who know it will never dare to reveal it.
Pita has gone, in his time, with a score of expeditions in search of the
treasure; most of these thought that they had obtained some clue to it,
but nothing was ever discovered, and I doubt whether Pita himself was ever
earnest in the search.

"In some respects he is like ourselves, in others he is still an Indian,
and has a full share of Indian superstitions, so that his Christianity is
no deeper than his skin. He would do his best to guide those who employed
him to the neighbourhood where they thought that the treasure was hidden,
but