of good fortune had rewarded my
efforts; and then, how was I to dig it from its wet, sandy bed and get
it safely to the hacienda?

"Tom," I cried excitedly, "I have not spoken sooner lest you should
think me an empty dreamer; but I have found that which I sought."

"Sure, Mas'r Harry?"

"Well--a--well, yes, nearly, Tom," I stammered, somewhat taken aback by
his coolness; "and now I want you to swear that you will take no unfair
advantage of what you have seen or may see in the progress of this
adventure."

"Want me to do _what_, Mas'r Harry?" said Tom sturdily.

"I want you to swear--"

"Then I ain't a-going to swear, nor nothing of the kind; so you need not
think it. If I ain't worth trusting send me back; leastwise, you won't
do that, because I sha'n't go. But, howsoever, I ain't a-going to go
swearing and taking oaths, and, there! be quiet! Look there, Mas'r
Harry. Make him swear if you like. No, not that way, more off to the
left. Turn your eye just past them three big trees by the lump of rock.
That ain't a deer this time, but some one on the look-out. Two on 'em,
that there are!"

I glanced in the pointed-out direction, to see plainly that a couple of
Indian heads were strained towards us, as if their owners were narrowly
watching for our appearance; though I knew from the gloom beneath the
arch where Tom was seated that we must be invisible to any one standing
out there in the glow of the bright afternoon sunshine.

What did it mean? Were these emissaries of Garcia watching my every
act; or were they descendants of the Peruvian priests possessed of the
secret of the buried treasures.

I shrank back farther into the cavern to crouch down, Tom imitating my
acts, and together we watched the watchers, who remained so motionless
that at times I felt disposed to ask myself whether I had not been
mistaken, and whether these were not a portion of one of the rocks.

"It's no good, Mas'r Harry," said Tom; "we must make a rush for it.
They'll stop there for a week, or till we go. 'Tain't nothing new;
there's always some one after you; and if you've found anything I can't
see how you're going to get it away. Let's go now, before it gets
evening, for they'll never move till we do."

"But the--"

"Well, they ain't obliged to know that we've found that, Mas'r Harry,"
said Tom smiling. "We don't know it ourselves yet. What we've got to
do is to play bold, shoot one or two of the birds as they dodge abo