"I'm glad that fire's well out," said Briscoe quietly, as he looked back. "Indians are not very likely to be about at night, but if a canoe were coming along the river and the paddlers saw a fire up there, you may depend upon it they would land to see what was the matter."

"That's for certain," said Lynton. "Do you think it likely that those chaps we ran down belong to the same tribe as those we saw in the canoe yonder before we landed?"

"It's hardly likely," said Briscoe. "I fancy the natives of these regions are cut up into little bits of tribes scattered here, there, and everywhere about the forest."

"Pst! Be quiet a minute," said Brace, and all listened.

"What is it?" asked Briscoe, at the end of a minute.

"I heard a peculiar noise while you were speaking, but it is still now."

"Birds—night-birds," said Briscoe. "Our friends of the cavern grumbling because we've turned them out."

"Oh, no; I don't fancy it was that," said Brace hurriedly. "It sounded like human voices singing in chorus."

"Our fellows below in the boat," said Lynton, "only they wouldn't be singing."

"Oh, no; it was not that," said Brace.

"Might be anything," said Briscoe, yawning. "Frogs, perhaps, down by the water-side."

"No: I'm pretty well used to the night sounds we hear," said Brace impatiently. "Ah, there it is: listen."

He was silent, and as if reflected from the cliff there came a low musical sound, very soft and sweet, and, as he said, as if many voices were raised far away in a kind of chorus which reverberated from the sides of the canon, reaching in a soft murmur to where they stood listening.

"H'm!" ejaculated Briscoe, after listening till the sound died softly away. "Can't be any band having a concert on the next street."

"And I should say it isn't a boating party returning down the river from an outing, singing glees," said Lynton.

"I've heard of singing-fish," said Brace. "There's not likely to be anything of that kind in the river, is there?"

"No," replied Lynton decidedly. "I've heard them out at sea sometimes, when we've been in a calm among the islands."

"More like to be a kind of frog," put in Briscoe. "There are some which whistle and pipe in chorus very softly; but—"

The sound came swelling down the canon more loudly, and the speaker stopped short to listen, till the tones once more died away.

"That's not frogs in chorus," said Briscoe decisively. "Anyone would think there was an abbey somewhere near, and the nuns were singing hymns; only it's impossible, of course."

"Impossible, of course," said Brace softly. "There: it is gone again."

The three men stood listening and straining their ears in the direction from which the sounds had come, but there was a faint whispering as of running water down below, a trickling gurgle, and then startlingly loud came the nasal quant of some night-heron at the water's side.

This was answered twice at a distance, while again and again overhead there was the flutter and swish of wings, probably those of the oil-birds circling about the mouth of the cavern.

"It's all over," said Briscoe at last, "and it's night-birds of some kind, I believe. Here, I've been listening so intently that I've forgotten my cigar. I'll go in and light it again with one of the bits of smouldering wood."

He left his two companions, and they heard his footsteps as he went softly into the cavern to reach the fire.

"Does it make you feel queer like, Mr Brace?" whispered Lynton.

"Well, it sets me wondering, and makes me a little uncomfortable as to what the sound can be," replied Brace.

"So it does me, sir. Always makes me feel queer if I don't understand what a noise is. I'm a bit of a coward, I'm afraid."

"I've never seen any signs of it yet, Lynton," said Brace, laughing softly.

"Oh, but I am, sir. That sound made me feel hot and then cold. I say, I've lost count about the points of the compass, but that's plain enough yonder across and up the river. That's the east, and the moon coming up."

"That?" said Brace, as he gazed in the direction named. "Yes, I suppose so. It will be very beautiful when the moon rises over the mountain there and lights up the great canon. I feel disposed to wait till it shines on the river."

"Moon!" said Briscoe, who had returned unheard, smoking vigorously, and looking in the darkness as if a firefly were gliding to their side. "We shan't see the moon to-night. It must have set a couple of hours ago."

"Of course," said Brace, "and that can't be the east. I should say it's the west."

"What, where that—I say, what light is that over there?"

"Yes, what can it be?" said Brace, as he gazed at the soft glow. "It can't be a forest fire."

"No: if it were we should see clouds of smoke between us and the stars, and they're clear right down to the top of the mountain. Why, Brace, there must be a volcano here, and that's the reflection from the glowing lava. I've seen something like that in the Sandwich Islands."

"I'll go and tell my brother," said Brace. "No; perhaps he's asleep, and it would be awkward for him to get up here in the dark."

"And you couldn't get him up in time," said Lynton. "Look: it's dying out fast. There: it's gone now."

"Yes," said Brace, in a very low whisper. "How strange!"

"Sort of afterglow," muttered Briscoe; "only it's a long time after the sunset. Well, gentlemen, I'm for bed. The scene is over and the lights are out. What do you say?"

Brace said nothing, but he followed his companion into the cave and sleep came soon after—the sound, easy sleep enjoyed in the open air, for the night breeze played softly in at the open mouth of the cave, and there was nothing to disturb the party till the fire began to crackle soon after daybreak.



CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

THE STRANGE FIND.

Saving the canoe that they had seen, the events of the night were pretty well forgotten when a fresh start was made, for all were anxious to explore the great canon and make a wider acquaintance with the beauties that opened out as they trusted themselves once more to the gliding waters which bore them gently on, so slowly now that the powers of the flood-tide were evidently failing gradually.

"We shall have the current against us before long," said the captain decisively.

"I've been thinking so too," said the first mate; "see how calm the water's getting. It will be wrong then, for the wind is dead against us, what there is of it."

"You'd like to go right on up here, gentlemen, I suppose?"

"Certainly," said Sir Humphrey decisively, "till we are obliged to turn back. The scenery here is grand. Don't you think so, Mr Briscoe?"

"Beats grand," was the reply; "but, my word, if gold wasn't a dangerous word to name in these boats, I should like to land with a hammer and prospect a bit up among these rocks on either side. If they're not full of rich ore I don't know paying stuff when I see it."

"Let it rest," said Brace, in a half-whisper. "Don't let the men hear you talking about gold again. You remember what occurred before."

"Right. I won't mention the word; but if the Indians who live in these parts haven't found out and made use of the metal here, the same as the Mexicans and Peruvians did, they must be a queer sort of people. Shouldn't wonder if we see some more of them to-day."

"Neither should I," said Brace, grasping his piece. "Look: that must be the canoe we saw yesterday evening. What are they doing?"

"Fishing," said the captain quickly. "Now then, gentlemen, let's be ready for emergencies, but make no sign, and maybe they'll be friendly instead of showing fight."

All eyes were directed at a canoe in which three Indians were busy fishing, while a fourth sat in the stern keeping the craft straight by dipping his paddle and giving it a swoop from time to time. They were some three hundred yards ahead, just off a pile of massive rounded rocks which jutted out into the river, and evidently gliding with the current in the same direction as the two boats.

One thing was very evident: they were so intent upon their work that they did not look back, and hence were in perfect ignorance of the approach of the adventurers, while at the end of a couple of minutes they glided on in their frail canoes beyond the rocky promontory, which completely hid them from the view of those in the boats.

"Do you think we ought to follow them up, sir?" asked the captain.

"Yes," replied Sir Humphrey, "and keep our weapons out of sight as if we had come upon a peaceful errand."

"I'm afraid they won't understand us, sir," said the captain gruffly; "but we'll try."

The current was running very gently now, so that the approach of the boats to the promontory took time; but at last it was rounded, revealing to the occupants of the boats a scene as startling as it was strange.

There, a couple of hundred yards away, was the canoe they had followed, while at various distances farther on no less than six more small canoes were dotted about, their feather-crowned crews all busily employed fishing, while as the boats glided round the tree-covered rocks the nearest Indians struck up a soft minor-keyed chant which was taken up by the crews of the other canoes, the whole combining in a sweet low melody which floated over the smoothly-flowing river, fully explaining the sounds heard from the cavern-mouth overnight.

In all probability it was a fisher's song which the people imagined had some effect upon the fish they were trying to lure to their nets. Strangely wild and mournful, it rose and fell, and gained at times in force as it seemed to echo from the right side of the canon, which here rose up like some gigantic wall hundreds of feet in height, barred with what appeared to be terraces, and honeycombed with open doors and windows, row above row, from the lowest, upon which in two places smouldered the remains of fires, right up to the sky-line, which, roughly regular, was carved into something resembling the crenellations of a gigantic castle, extending apparently hundreds upon hundreds of yards.

Brace had hardly swept the face of the strangely-worked range of cliff when the softly mournful chorus ceased, and as if moved by one impulse, on catching sight of the approaching boats, the Indians burst forth into a shrill piercing yell which echoed and re-echoed discordantly from the face of the rocks. The next moment every man had seized his paddle, and they were making the river foam and sparkle with the vigour of their strokes.

There was no mistaking the effect produced on the Indians by the appearance of the boats: it was the feeling of horror and dread, every man plunging his paddle deeply into the water and striving his utmost to force the canoes to their greatest speed, so that they might escape from the strange beings. In all probability they were seeing white men for the first time in their lives.

"What does that mean?" said Brace: "going to fetch help?"

"No," said Lynton; "because this must be where they live."

"Yes; there are their fires on the banks," added the captain.

"But they are mere savages," said Sir Humphrey, who ceased to watch the retreating Indians, to sweep the front of the towering cliffs with his glass. "This palace must have been the work of a more highly civilised race."

"And is it your opinion that they are at home, waiting to shoot?" asked Briscoe, stooping to pick up his gun.

"At home? No," cried Sir Humphrey: "those are the ruins of some extremely ancient rock city. Look, Brace. Use your glass. It is the work of centuries. I should say every place has been cut and carved out of the solid rock by some industrious race; but it is quite deserted now save by birds."

"Then we've made a find," said Briscoe excitedly. "I say, I wonder whether this is the great Golden City, captain?"

"No, sir," said the captain gruffly; "don't you see it's all stone?"

"Yes, but—look, Brace. Those places farther on look more regular— there where the trees are growing out of the cracks and the creepers are hanging down like curtains. I can't make 'em out very well with the naked eye, but those windows seem to have carving sculpt about them, and underneath seems to be like a stone colonnade and terrace."

"And a great central doorway," said Brace eagerly. "Yes, you are right: the walls are covered with curious figures and ornamentations. It must be either a great temple or the Inca's palace."

"Inca?" said Briscoe. "Yes—why not? Yes; I suppose it would be an Inca, something of the same kind as the Peruvians. But, I say, look here: these must have been something of the same sort of race as the Peruvians."

"No doubt," said Sir Humphrey.

"And the Peruvians were out and outers for getting gold."

"Look here!" cried the captain, banging his hand down upon the edge of the boat: "if you say gold again, Mr Briscoe, you and me's going to have a regular row."

"Then I won't say it," said the American good-humouredly. "I promised you that I would hold myself in; but recollect what I said to you last night about these cliffs. I felt sure that they contained—ahem!"

"Shall we row close up to the bank where those fires are, sir?" said the captain, turning his back upon Briscoe.

"If you think there is no risk of any Indians lying in ambush among those rock-chambers," Sir Humphrey replied.

"I think the place is quite deserted, sir," replied the captain, "and that if there had been any Indians on shore they would have bolted when these chaps yelled."

"Yes; that's right enough," said Briscoe. "They're canoe-folk, and there's no sign of a single person anywhere along the landing-place. You may depend upon it this is a good fishing-station, and they come up here to camp, and we've frightened them away. It's safe enough."

The captain glanced at Sir Humphrey, who nodded, and the men took to their oars, while Lynton steered the heavy boat right up to the remains of a stone-encumbered wharf or pier that had been laboriously cut out of the solid rock. Here the boats were held, and, well armed, half their occupants sprang out to climb over the slippery stones, which had evidently only lately bean covered by the flood-water, whose mark could be plainly seen, reaching up some ten feet, or half-way to where there ran for hundreds of yards a more or less regular broad terrace cut down out of the rock, and from which the honeycombed perpendicular cliff rose, showing now that it was cut into steps, each step being a rough terrace just below a row of window-like openings.

It was all plain enough now: the Indians' camp had been made right and left of the rugged steps leading up from the water. There the fires were still glowing, and about them and in rows where they could be dried by the sun lay hundreds upon hundreds of good-sized fish: the harvest the Indians had been taking from the river; while the state of some which were piled together beneath a projecting piece of rock suggested that the fishers must have been staying there for days.

"They are sure to come back for this fish," said Brace.

"Very likely," said Sir Humphrey. "Well, if they do, let them have it, and we'll give them some present in return for what we have taken. Look here, captain: we must camp here for a few days to explore this place."

"Very good, sir. We can pick out one or two of these caves, or rooms, or whatever they are, to live in. Your Dan would like one of 'em for a kitchen, Mr Briscoe."

"Yes; he's smelling about them now. I dessay he has chosen one already," said the American. "Yes, I call this fine; we may come across some curiosities next. What do you say to beginning a regular explore, Brace?"

"I say: the sooner the better," cried Brace.

Sir Humphrey nodded.

"We'll divide into two parties, captain," he said. "Let half prepare for making a stay; and I should like the others to bring ropes and a boat-hook or two to help our climb, for I daresay we shall need it before we get to the top of this cliff."

"Very good, sir, and I don't think you'll find a soul to hurt you. I'd keep my eyes well opened though, for you may find wild beasts, and you're sure to find snakes. Let's see," he continued, consulting a pocket compass. "Yes: we're facing nearly due south. It will be a warm spot, and I should say that the old inhabitants are now represented by snakes, and poisonous ones too."

Preparations were soon made, the captain electing to stay below and make all ready for the party's return.

Brace led off along the rugged terrace, which was terribly encumbered by stones fallen from above; but the young adventurer's first idea was to continue along to where the palace-like front reared itself up about the middle of the cliff.

Briscoe stepped alongside of him, and Brace noticed how busily his companion's eyes wandered about, taking in everything on their way. Not that there was much to see at first, save that the captain was right about the inhabitants, for everywhere among the stones which lay heating in the morning sun they came upon coiled-up serpents, many of which were undoubtedly venomous; but there were other reptiles as well, for lizards darted about by the hundred, when disturbed, to make for their holes in crevices and cracks of the stonework, their scales glistening as if made of burnished metal, bronze, deadened silver, mingled with velvety black and soft silvery grey.

At the end of a couple of hundred yards Brace stopped.

"This won't do," he said. "We are on the lowest terrace, and the palace is a floor higher. It ought to be somewhere over where we are."

"That's where I reckon it is," said Briscoe, going to the low ruined wall between them and the river, and straining outward to look up.

"See anything?" said Brace.

"No; I can't reach out far enough; the next terrace overhangs. But it must be here."

"Let's get right on towards the end," said Sir Humphrey, "and I daresay we shall find some kind of steps leading to the next floor."

It was some time before anything but a dark hole was found, and that seemed to be only a receptacle for loose stones, so it was passed; but after pushing on for another two hundred yards, with nothing to take their attention but the retreating reptiles and the beautiful flashing river which washed the foot of the clift, Briscoe grew uneasy.

"Look here," he said; "we're losing time. Let's go back, for I'm sure the way up is through that hole."

"Impossible!" said Brace. "There must be a bold flight of steps."

"No, there mustn't, mister," said Briscoe sharply. "This was an old strong place when the people who lived here were alive, and you may depend upon it that the way up was kept small for safety, so that it could easily be defended by a man or two with spears, or shut up with a heavy stone. I say we've passed the way up."

"Let's go back then," said Sir Humphrey, smiling good-humouredly; and they all made their way back to the bottom of the hole, which had evidently been carefully cut.

Briscoe went to it at once; he gave his double gun to the nearest man to hold, and then, seizing one of the stones with which the horizontal oven-like hole had been filled, he shook it loose and dragged it out to stand in the attitude of lowering the heavy block to the ground.

"No," said Brace; "let me."

Brace uttered a warning cry.

"I see my nabs," said Briscoe coolly, as a snake with menacing hiss came creeping rapidly out, raising its head as it glided down; and then its tail part writhed and turned about, for its power of doing mischief was at an end, the American having dropped the heavy stone upon its threatening crest and crushed it upon the stones below.

"That's one," said Briscoe coolly. "I shouldn't wonder if his wife's at home, and a small family as well. Here, you just fish out that next stone with the boat-hook."

The man addressed stepped forward, thrust the implement into the opening, and drew out another stone, when, as the American had suggested, a second serpent came gliding out, to meet its death quickly and be tossed by one of the men over the parapet-like wall into the river.

More stones were dragged out with the boat-hook, but only a lizard appeared afterwards; and as two more blocks were pulled forth light from above came down, showing that the opening was L-shaped, going about six feet in to where a chimney-like shaft rose at right angles, down which the light struck, evidently from the next terrace.

"I thought so," said Briscoe. "Here: I'll go in first."

He crept into the hole at once, and found on looking up the shaft that Briscoe was quite correct, for there were foot-holes chiselled out at intervals in the chimney-like place, so that he could easily step up from one to the other, and the next minute his head was on a level with the floor above and his eyes gazing full in those of a venomous-looking serpent, which raised its head from the middle of its coil ready to strike.



CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.

BRISCOE'S BIT OF ORE.

Brace obeyed the natural impulse to duck down out of the reptile's reach, and his next idea was to lower himself the ten feet or so to the bottom; but he shrank from doing this, for it seemed ignominious to retreat, so he raised his head sharply again till his eyes were about level with the terrace platform, and there, a dozen feet away, was the tail part of the snake, disappearing in a fissure of the stone.

The next minute he was standing in front of one of the openings they had seen from the river, and his companions were climbing to his side.

Here, upon examination, they found room after room with doorway and window all cut out of the soft limestone, and Sir Humphrey and Briscoe were not long in giving it as their opinion that these single rooms, all separate and with their doorways opening upon the terrace, were really the modest little houses of the old dwellers in this hivelike arrangement. There they were, side by side, all opening upon the long terrace, and, after examining many, they found relics of the old inhabitants in the shape of clay-baked rough pots or their broken sherds; and in several, roughly-formed querns or mill-stones, made, not of the rock in which the houses were cut, but of a hard grit that would act better upon the grain they were used to grind.

These remains, though, were very scarce, and scarcely anything else was found, though search was made in the expectation of finding skeletons; but not so much as a skull was discovered in either of the stone rooms they reached: nothing to show how the ancient inhabitants came to an end. Apparently it was by no sudden catastrophe, and probably only by dying slowly away.

"It might have been a couple of thousand years ago for aught we can tell," said Sir Humphrey.

"Yes," said Brace; "but we have done nothing yet. There are hundreds more of these cells, floor above floor, right to the top."

"Well, let's try another floor or terrace, if we can," said Sir Humphrey. "Has anyone discovered a way up?"

"Yes, sir there's a hole yonder," said one of the men, "and it isn't stopped up."

"Well, let's try it," said Sir Humphrey.

"Hadn't we better get to the end here, and see what that better part is like?" said Briscoe. "It seems to me that we shall find behind those carved stones the best part of the place."

"Very well," said Sir Humphrey: "let's try that first; but we have a month's work before us to explore all this. Now then."

Briscoe eagerly took the lead and went on along the terrace, with the little metallic-looking lizards darting away in the sunshine amidst the fallen stones; and cell after cell was passed till the end of their journey was reached in the shape of a blank mass of rock, beyond which they felt certain that the temple or palace remains must be. But there was no means of passing farther, and nothing remained but to ascend to the next terrace.

This was done, with similar experiences, and another step was gained, from which, after looking down to where the boats were moored, they again climbed higher, entering very few of the cells, but directing their efforts towards reaching the central portion.

But failure attended every effort, and, hot and wearied out by what was growing a monotonous task, Brace and the American readily acquiesced in Sir Humphrey's proposal that they should now descend and join their companions in the midday meal, and afterwards take the smaller boat, row to the front of the temple, and try for away up from the river.

The task of descending and going back took considerably longer than they anticipated, but at last they reached the lower terrace, where the rest were awaiting their return, and over the meal they related their experiences.

These were precisely similar to those of a couple of the men who had explored a little on their own account in the other direction; but they had been compelled to keep to the terrace where the fires had been lit.

"The place must have been built by the same kind of people who cut their rock houses in some of the canons in Mexico," said Briscoe; "only those are a degenerate set, and their cells or dwellings are very rough and primitive. These people must have been greatly in advance. There: I want to get to work again. There must be a way into that temple place from the front."

"Well, let's try," said the captain. "It's a queer place if there is no way in."

The afternoon was getting on when the exploring party entered the smaller boat and had it rowed out into the stream a short distance from the centre of the rock city, just facing the spot where the terraces were grotesquely carved; and as they minutely examined the partly natural, partly sculptured place, they were more than ever impressed by the excellence of the workmanship.

It must have been the work of many, many years, perhaps of generations, of the people who had lavished so much skilful toil on that centre, which was about a couple of hundred feet in width, and rose up terrace above terrace six or seven hundred feet before the plain uncarved rock was reached, in whose clefts tree, shrub, and creeper grew abundantly for a similar distance, while to right and left the cell-like windows right up to the top of the canon finished off as before intimated, something like the crenellations on the top of a Norman castle.

"It must have been magnificent at one time," said Sir Humphrey. "I wish I were clever with my pencil, so as to be able to reproduce all this on paper. These ornamentations are grotesque and horrible, but wonderfully carved, and the variety of the figures is marvellous."

"Hadn't we better row close in?" said Briscoe, who seemed impatient, and the men took to their oars till the strong rock wall was reached and the boat drawn along by one of the men with a boat-hook from end to end and back, without a sign of any way up being found.

There they were in the deep water, which glided along at the foot of a blank, carefully smoothed-away wall of rock, perfectly perpendicular, and, save where it was dotted here and there with mossy growth, offering not the slightest foot- or hand-hold.

"Why, it must be fully fifty feet high to that carved coping-like projection," said Brace.

"Yes, about that," said Briscoe, with a sigh of disappointment. "Here, I'd give a hundred dollars for the loan of a ladder that we could plant down here in the water and would reach to the top."

"It would take a long one," said Brace, laughing. "I wonder how deep it is."

"Ah, let's try," said Briscoe. "Here, hand one of those fishing-lines and a lead out of the locker, Lynton."

This was well within the second mate's province, and the next minute he had the heaviest lead at the end of a line, dropped it over the side, and let it run down as fast as he could unwind.

"I say: it's deep," he said, as the line ran over the boat's gunwale; and he said so again and again, till the winder was empty and the lead not yet at the bottom.

"How long is that line?" said Brace, in astonishment.

"One hundred yards, gentlemen," said Lynton loudly. "Shall I have it wound up again?"

"Yes," said Sir Humphrey. "We must try and find bottom some other time. The river must be of a terrific depth."

"That's so," said Briscoe. "You see, we're in a tremendous canon, and the bottom is filled up by this river, which seems as if it would hold any amount of flood-water. I'll be bound to say it's full of fish, and that accounts for the Indians coming here with their nets and lines."

"What's to be done now?" said Brace.

"We must try the other end of the place, and see if we can't get into the temple from there," said Briscoe, who had taken out his knife to begin scraping the slime and moss from the face of the rocky wall till he had made a clean patch, which he examined with a pocket magnifier.

"There's time to do a bit more to-day," said Lynton, who was eager to go on exploring, and in obedience to an order the men rowed gently on past the front of the temple, till about a quarter of a mile farther on a similar landing to that which they had first approached was reached, and the party eagerly ascended the rough steps to a flat wharf or terrace like the other where the smouldering fires were found, ascended by another L-shaped passage to the next terrace, to find more and more rooms or cells, and then hurried on back till they came face to face with the blank rock which formed the other end of the temple.

"This must do for to-day," said Sir Humphrey decisively. "Turn back now. To-morrow, if all's well, we will ascend right to the top."

"And look along there for the way into this place," said Brace; "for way in there must be. Lead on, Mr Lynton; we'll follow."

The second mate started off with the men, and as soon as their backs were turned Briscoe stooped quickly and picked up one of the pieces of stone which had crumbled down from somewhere up the face of the cliff.

"What have you got there?" said Brace: "a piece of ancient carving?"

"Look," said the American, in a low tone, and he handed the piece to Sir Humphrey, holding the side that had been downward as it lay on the stone-encumbered terrace, upward where the fracture looked comparatively new.

"Gold!" exclaimed Sir Humphrey, as he saw that the stone was webbed with glistening thready veins.

"Ah! I didn't say the word," said Briscoe, laughing, as he glanced forward at the backs of Lynton and the men. "But that's what it is. I knew it. I'm not going to talk and make a fuss; but that bit you've got hold of would crush and give as much as a couple of pounds of gold a ton."

"You amaze me," said Sir Humphrey.

"It amazes P Franklyn Briscoe," said their companion. "Shall I put this in my pocket, or throw it away?"

"Keep it," said Sir Humphrey, "and we'll show it to the captain. I don't see why we should not take back as much of the richest ore as the boats will carry. Let's see what he'll say."

"Yes; let's do so," said Briscoe; "but it seems queer, doesn't it, that there should have been people living who could make a town like this, and then for hundreds or thousands of years poor simple Indians going on shooting and fishing while all this wealth was waiting in the rocks if they had known what it was worth?"

"They could not have been so advanced a people as the Mexicans and Peruvians," said Brace.

"Seems not," said Briscoe drily, as he thrust the piece of ore in his pocket and followed the men to where they could descend to the boats.

That evening, as the party sat together in front of one of the lower cells, looking at the beauties of the reflections from the river on the far side of the canon opposite, Brace waited till the attention of the men, who were at a little distance from them, was quite averted, and said softly:

"Show the captain the piece of curious rock you picked up to-day, Briscoe."

"Eh?" said the captain: "bit of curious rock! I picked up a bit too."

He fumbled with his hand in his pocket and drew out something before taking that which the American held out.

"Humph, yes," he said: "mine's just the same. Bit which has come down from the face of the cliff somewhere. I say, there's no mistake about it, Squire Briscoe: this is rich in gold."

"Ah, would you!" cried the American sharply; "who said we weren't to mention that?"

"I said so," replied the captain drily. "Don't talk so loud. But this sets a man thinking, eh, Sir Humphrey and Mr Brace: and, you see, gold is gold, after all."



CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

A DOUBLE DISCOVERY.

No more was said about the gold ore then, but the captain showed himself deeply interested in the proceedings to further investigate the ruined city. Briscoe, though, made one remark to Brace the next morning after a restful night.

"If this isn't the Spaniards' El Dorado," he said, "it's quite good enough to be, and I'm quite satisfied with our find."

There had been no sign of the Indians, whose dried fish were utilised a good deal by Dan for the men's breakfast, and in good time a fresh start was made, this time with the captain one of the party, the intention being to try and mount to the highest terrace and see if there was any entrance to the central portion of the rock city from there.

Taught by the previous day's experience, the party—led by Brace and Lynton, who both displayed in their eagerness plenty of activity— climbed pretty quickly from terrace to terrace, disturbing plenty of birds, for the most part a kind of pigeon, which nested freely in the cell-like openings. Reptiles, too, were abundant, but all ready enough to make for their holes in the rifts of the rock, the lizards glancing out of sight in a moment, the snakes slowly and resentfully, as if ready to strike at the intruders at the slightest provocation, but no one received hurt.

Upon every terrace the relics left by the old inhabitants were the same: broken earthenware and the much-worn little hand-mills used for some kind of grain, all showing that every terrace had been occupied by rows of narrow dwellings, safe havens that could easily be defended from attack by an enemy; for, if the lowest terrace had been mastered, the people had but to block up the chimney-like approach to the next terrace after fleeing thereto, and defy their foes, whose only chance of gaining the mastery was by starving out those in possession.

Sir Humphrey pointed this out to the others as they climbed higher and higher; but he was directly afterwards somewhat nonplussed by a question put by the captain—one which was unanswerable. It was simply this:

"How do you suppose the besieged people would get on for water?"

The party were nearing the top at last, having, as far as they could make out, only six more terraces to mount, when, as they paused, breathless and covered with perspiration and dust, for a few minutes' rest, they heard a peculiar sound, which came from the direction of the end of the terrace nearest to the great central part.

"Why, it must be water falling somewhere right in the cliff," cried Brace; and, forgetting his breathlessness, he hurried along over the crumbling stones and dust in the direction from which the sound seemed to come.

"It comes from out of here," said Lynton, who was first to arrive at the end of the terrace, and he stopped at one of the familiar open doorways and listened.

There was no mistaking the sound now; it was the hollow echoing noise of water falling into some reservoir in the interior of the cliff; and, upon passing in, they found that, instead of this being one of the ordinary cells, it was the entrance to a wide passage, apparently leading right into the bowels of the mountain.

"Mind how you go," cried Lynton, as Brace stepped boldly in.

"Hullo! what have you found?" cried Briscoe, who came next to Lynton. "Water? Why, they must have dug out a great cistern or reservoir in here, and let in a spring from somewhere above."

"I say, do mind how you go," cried Lynton excitedly. "It's getting dark there, and you may slip down into some awful well-like hole."

"All right," said Brace confidently. "I'm feeling my way every step with the butt of my gun, and I can see yet."

"Precious awful-looking place," said Briscoe. "Here, we must have lights. Stop him, Lynton: he shan't go a step forward. I don't mean for us all to be drowned like rats in a tank."

"You two wouldn't need to be," said Brace coolly, "for you would stop at once if you should hear me go down."

"Oh, of course," said Briscoe, with a sneer: "we shouldn't try to save your life. 'Tisn't likely, is it, Lynton?"

"Not a bit," was the gruff reply; "but I say, Mr Brace, hold hard now. I'll go back and send a man down below to bring up some pieces of pine-wood to burn."

"I have stopped," said Brace, whose voice sounded to the rest of the party hollow and echoing, dying away in the distance like a peculiar whisper. "There's a great pillar here, and the passage branches off to right and left."

"Well, let's have lights."

"I don't think we shall want them if we take the passage to the left, for I can see light shining in through a hole. Yes, and there's another hole farther on. It's a passage going down at a slope. Why, it's all steps."

"Steps?" cried Briscoe, as he heard the tap, tap of the steel plate covering the butt of Brace's gun as he felt his way.

"And so it is away here to the right: steps going down into black darkness. I know! down to the great tank, into which the water falls from ever so high up."

"Then you stop, young fellow," cried Briscoe hoarsely, "or you'll be falling too from ever so high up, and I daresay that's a big stone cistern half a mile deep, and full of water-snakes and polligoblins."

"Listen," said Brace; "I'm going to feed them. Be quiet, everybody," he added, for the passage behind was now being filled up, the captain and Sir Humphrey in front.

"What are you going to do now, sir?" asked Lynton.

"Here's a great mass of stone that seems to have fallen down from the roof close to my feet. Hold my gun."

He passed his piece to the mate, who could faintly make out the speaker's shape by the feeble light which came from beyond him to the left.

"Heavy," panted Brace, "Hah!"

He raised the stone right above his head and heaved it from him, the expiration of his breath being plainly heard by the listeners in the painful silence which followed for a couple of seconds. Then there were sparks emitted from somewhere below, where the stone struck with a crash and bounded off into space.

The crash was echoed, and seemed to reverberate round and round some great vault, and then came directly after a dull, solemn, weird-sounding plosh! evidently not many feet below where they were standing.

After this, there were peculiar whisperings and sounds, as if numbers of disturbed occupants of the water were beating and lapping at the walls of the place: then silence once more.

"Be careful, Brace!" cried Sir Humphrey.

"It's all right," said Brace coolly. "There: I've left that place. All of you bear off to the left and follow me down these steps. Hurrah! I believe we've found the way to the great temple at last."

"It's all right, sir," cried Briscoe, who had passed Lynton. "I can see plainly now. There's a narrow flight of steps leading down close to the face of the cliff, and it's lit every few yards by big square holes, only they're most of them grown over and choked by creepers."

"Hi! Look out there, everyone," shouted Brace. "Lie down."

For all at once there arose a peculiar rushing sound, and as everyone crouched as low as he could, he was conscious of the whistling of wings in rapid flight and the ammoniacal odour of a great stream of birds passing over them to reach the outlet from the passage into the open air.

"It's all right, lads," shouted Briscoe. "It's only a flock of oil-birds that we have disturbed. Yes, I thought so: some of them have helped to block up these window places with their nests. I can feel several here."

The birds were some minutes before they had all passed through the opening, and then the tramp downwards was resumed, with the result that before long the light grew stronger from below, and at last quite bright, for a peculiar rustling was heard, which resolved itself into the acts of Brace, who had reached a level spot and was now busy with his large sheath-knife hacking away at a dense mass of creeper not unlike ivy.

A few minutes later, and he was out upon an overgrown terrace gazing over a much-corroded carved parapet at the sparkling river below; and he uttered a loud cheer and stood waving his hat to the men far down to his left, two of whom were seated in the larger boat.

The top terrace of the great temple-like place had been reached, and after a few words of congratulation upon their success the examination of the strange edifice began.

They were a good deal checked at first by the growth of ages and stones which had crumbled down; but they were not long making out that the construction of the place was upon the same plan as that put in practice over the openings to right and left; though the cells were much smaller, and suggested that they had been intended for occupation by one or at most two people. There were no traces of domestic implements to be found, and nothing but the dust of the crumbling stones and the nests of birds with which the openings of the cells were choked met the searchers' eyes.

The investigation of this portion of the cliff city was, of course, made in the reverse way, terrace after terrace being explored by the adventurers descending; but the L-shaped shafts were far larger and more commodious, and, instead of holes being made for the feet, carefully-made steps had been cut out of the solid stone.

Feeling assured that if any interesting traces of the old dwellers were to be found they would in all probability be here, Sir Humphrey and his brother headed the search, and one by one every cell was entered and each terrace explored, till, as they looked over the front, they made out that only three more terraces remained, one of which was that below which the great wall of rock went sheer down to the river at the spot where they had cast the line to find bottom.

The party paused now for a few minutes' rest and conversation before descending to these last three terraces.

"It is a wonderful place," said Brace thoughtfully, "and the old people who cut out these cells and did all that carving must have been clever enough for anything. Look at the shaping of this curious-looking monster."

"I admire the way they protected themselves and prepared for a siege as much as anything," said Briscoe. "The manner in which they contrived the water supply is to my mind grand. We must have torches one of these days, and examine that tank, and get up to the top and find out how the spring is led in."

"But it seems strange that there are no more remains left about. They did not possess anything apparently but a few earthen pots and the stone mills," said Brace.

"People didn't furnish much in early times," said Briscoe, laughing. "A man provided himself with a knife, a bow and arrow, or a spear, and a place to lay his head in, and no doubt thought he was rich. He didn't want a van when he was going to move to a fresh residence."

"But these people must have been highly civilised to ornament this temple, or palace, or whatever it was, so grandly."

"Well, let's make our way to the bottom," said Briscoe; "we may find something more interesting yet. Ready, Sir Humphrey?"

"Yes: forward," was the reply.

"He means downward," said Briscoe, laughing, and, the regular shaft being found, they descended to the next terrace and began to explore.



CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

THE TEMPLE OF IDOLS.

Working now upon a regular plan, the party began at one end of the terrace and examined each cell in turn.

They had proceeded about a third of the way towards the other end, when, to the surprise of all, although the openings like windows continued in a regular row, the doorways ceased altogether, and when an attempt to peer in at window after window was made, nothing whatever could be seen, for within all was deep silent gloom.

They soon found that about a third part in the centre of the two-hundred-feet-long terrace was like this: then the doorways began again and continued right away to the end.

"Here, I want to see what's inside that middle part," said Briscoe. "I propose that I have a rope round my waist, and that I climb in, and you lower me down till I holloa out."

"And I propose," said Sir Humphrey, "that we leave that till another day. Let's go down to the next terrace."

"At your orders, sir," said the American quietly. "I can wait."

The opening leading to the next terrace was sought for after the last cells had been examined, and when discovered it was found to contain nothing whatever but the crumbling dust of ages and the traces left by birds; while, upon descending to this last terrace but one, they saw that the construction was precisely the same as that of the terrace they had just left—the central part being pierced only with windows, doored cells being on either side.

"I feel more and more that I want to see what's inside there," said Briscoe.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to do so some other day, for we are not going to move away from this place just yet," said Brace merrily. "Wait till tomorrow, and we'll go in together. I fancy that we shall find it is a temple, and full of mummies."

"Like as not," said Briscoe; "and if it is we shall find no end of interesting things wrapped up with them, I should say. I daresay these people did like the Egyptians used to do."

"Now," said Sir Humphrey, as the last cell was examined, "one more terrace, and we shall have done all but this centre, and I propose to leave that till to-morrow."

"No," cried Brace and Briscoe, in a breath.

"I want to sleep to-night," said the latter, "and I can't with this mystery on my brain."

"Very well, then; we'll eat a bit of lunch, and then examine that."

As soon as the party had disposed of their meal, they left the entrance to the shaft, walked along to the end of the terrace, and began to examine the first cell.

Here a surprise awaited them, for the cell was double, had two windows and a door at either end, there being no dividing wall, only a curious construction in the middle, but so crumbled away that for some minutes it was examined in vain, the loose stones about turned over and over, and the dust raked here and there.

"I know," cried Brace at last: "it has been a kitchen."

"Right," said Briscoe: "must have been something of that sort. Let's get on."

The next place was entered, and proved to be also double, but with only one entrance, and that narrow.

Brace was the first to enter, and after a glance round and upward to see if the roof had fallen in, he stood looking down at a heap of stones which were thickly covered with the dust that had crumbled down and accumulated.

"There's nothing to see here," he cried; "and the windows are nearly choked up with growth."

"Yes, come back; these places are all the same," said Briscoe, gripping him tightly by the arm; but, as he made way for Brace to pass him, and the rest went on, he stooped down quickly and picked up a piece from the heap of dust-covered stones and placed it in his pocket.

"Why did you do that?" said Brace, in a low voice.

"Don't ask questions now," whispered Briscoe. "I'll tell you soon. Wait till we're out of hearing of the men."

Several more of the large double cells were inspected, and they all seemed to have been used for other purposes than habitation, for various stone objects lay about, and in two cases their aspect suggested that they had been used for grain stores; but it was impossible to decide.

Then Brace's heart began to beat quickly with excitement, for he felt that they were on the brink of a great discovery. Several windows were passed which were heavily loaded with grotesque ornamentation; but there was no door visible. The centre of the terrace was marked by a perfect curtain of liana-like creepers and vines, which hung in festoons from on high and almost completely hid the elaborately-carved front.

"There must be an entrance here," said the captain. "Out with your jack-knives, my lads, and cut a way through."

It was no easy task, for the various creepers were interlaced and had grown together so that saws and strong bill-hooks would have been more suitable implements than knives; but the men worked away with a will, being as eager as their superiors to get a glance into the strange place which had kept them at bay so long.

A good half-hour's cutting and hacking was, however, necessary, two men working at a time while the others dragged away the greenery, which they tossed over the elaborately-carved colonnade into the river, where it was slowly borne away along the canon.

At last the foremost man was nearly through, and, reaching up as high as he could to divide a pale green strand which had grown almost in darkness, and now hindered his way, he put all his strength out to sever it with one cut, not anticipating that wood which had grown under such conditions would be tender and soft, and, consequently, his knife went through it as easily as if it had been a thick stick of rhubarb, and he fell forward into the darkness upon a pile of dead wood and leafy rubbish.

"Hurt yourself?" cried Brace, stepping forward, half in dread lest the man should have been plunged into some deep pit.

"Not a bit, sir; only rolled down about a dozen steps, and—Oh, yah! yah!" he yelled, uttering a horror-stricken cry; and then, as guns were cocked in anticipation of seeing some savage beast of prey dash out, the man came blundering up, stumbling over the heap of rubbish, and finally dashed out on to the terrace, covered with dust and with his eyes starting in a scared and terrified manner, as he sank down shuddering, and uttered a groan.

"What's the matter? What is it, old matey?" cried one of the men; but Brace, his brother, and the American stood fast with levelled guns and fingers on the triggers.

"What is it, my lad?" cried the captain: "a jaguar?"

"Oh, no, sir; worse than that," faltered the man, wiping the sweat from his face: "worser than that."

"What did you see then? Was it a great serpent? Speak up, lad."

"No, sir; I shouldn't have been skeared o' any serpent. It was a great big Injun who had a lot o' greasy white snakes swinging about all round his head, and he'd got his club ready to hit me. Ever so big, he was."

"That chap's telling a big lie," said Briscoe coolly, "only he thinks he's telling the truth. There couldn't be any big Indian in there, and if there were he wouldn't have a lot of greasy white snakes hanging about his head. I'm going in to see for myself. Coming with me, Brace?"

"Yes," was the reply, and, holding their pieces ready while their companions crowded round the narrow entrance, the pair stepped boldly but cautiously into the opening.

They found themselves descending rugged stair after stair, encumbered with dead branches of creeper which cracked and snapped under their feet at every moment, till they were about five feet below the level of the terrace, with some dozens of greeny-white darkness-grown creeper strands swinging to and fro from above, and just in front of them they could dimly see, standing with uplifted menacing arm, what seemed to be a hideously grotesque half-human half-animal figure, apparently blocking the way.

"How are you, old chap?" said Briscoe quietly, staring at the figure. "Long time since you've had any visitors, eh?"

"Why, it is a temple," cried Brace, in tones of suppressed excitement, "and I suppose this is the idol the old people used to worship."

"And very bad taste too. Come in, everybody," cried Briscoe, and his voice sounded weirdly strange as it echoed all round.

"No: stop at the entrance," cried Brace. "Did you hear what I said, Free?"

"Yes: that it was a temple with an idol," his brother answered.

"Yes; but we must have more light before we proceed any farther, in case of there being any terrible holes or pitfalls."

"Yes: be as well," said Briscoe; "but I'm beginning to see fairly now. Why, Brace, lad," he continued, as the captain set the men to work at once hacking away the growth of many generations from entrance door and window, "it's as I expected: the temple runs up as high as three or four of the terraces, and look: you can see the light from the upper windows, showing the walls. It's a hugely big place, but I wish it wasn't so dark down here."

"I'm getting used to it too," said Brace, in a voice full of excitement; "but I'm afraid to move, in case of losing my footing."

"That's right; so am I. Look: can you see over yonder?"

"Yes; quite plainly now. There's what looks like an altar, and I can see several more figures standing about."

"So can I. I wish we had a good strong light. Hah! that's right; they're letting in the sunshine. Oh, we shall soon see."

"Look here," said Brace: "the place is very lofty, and there are windows upward to take off the smoke. Let's make a fire of the dead wood lying about here."

"That's a good thought," said Sir Humphrey; and five minutes afterwards a match was applied to the heap of perfectly dry wood underfoot. It caught fire at once and began blazing up, sending forth such a glow of light that the men set up a cheer, drawn from them by the excitement and wonder of the weird scene which confronted them.



CHAPTER FORTY.

THE FLOOD SUBSIDES.

As all stepped back from the crackling and blazing pile, the smoke rose, rolling up in wreaths, and the fire illumined the whole place, displaying a perfect crowd of grotesquely horrible figures in all manner of menacing attitudes.

To add to the weird horror of the scene, high above and mingling with the smoke clouds were scores of great bats, fully three feet across in the stretch of their leathern wings, with which they silently flapped through the gloom till they succeeded in reaching one or other of the windows through which the smoke poured, and thence the outer air.

"Horrible!" cried the captain.

"It is weird in the extreme," said Sir Humphrey; "but it is interesting."

The men who had been hacking away the vines stood in a group, silent and awe-stricken, gazing at the grotesque figures and the flickering shadows they cast as the fire rose and fell and lit up the strange interior to the farthest corner.

"Well, Brace," said Briscoe, "I don't call this pretty; but I'd have taken twice as much trouble to get here so as to see it. Throw on some more of this dead stuff, lads. There's a good draught comes in and carries the heat upwards, and it will make a clearance of all these birds' nests and rubbish."

"It is horrible," said Brace, as the men hurried to obey the order given, and the flames leaped up and up, revealing the many figures from fresh points of view in the golden ruddy glare. "But I feel like you, Briscoe; I shouldn't have liked to miss this."

"These are the old bogies with which the priests who lived in the cells upstairs used to scare the people and keep them under. I wonder whether they ever thought to light up the place."

"No doubt they did," said Sir Humphrey, who had now joined them. "That square erection at the back there, surrounded by small figures, must have been the altar, and no doubt they burned a fire upon that."

"Think so, sir," said the captain. "Well, I didn't think we were coming up to see a sight like this. Old Dellow will be a bit mad at missing it, eh, Lynton?"

"But he shan't miss it," said Briscoe. "We must light it up again. Say, Brace, I can't see any sign of holes. The floor's covered with rubbish and stony dust, but it seems to me that we can walk right back among those two rows of images to the altar. I want to see what those things are round about it."

"Well, let's take hold of hands and try," replied Brace. "We can try every step before us with the butts of our guns."

"Be careful," cried Sir Humphrey.

"Yes; we'll mind," said Brace. "Let the men throw on more dead dry stuff; Lynton; and only a little at a time so as to keep up a good light."

"All right, sir," was the response, and more flame and light and less smoke was the result, while more light came in from the windows above, for as the hot acrid smoke poured out the leafage writhed and crinkled up, taking up half the space it had occupied before.

There was nothing to hinder the advance, as Brace and Briscoe carefully felt their way between the two rows of menacing figures, till they reached the square elevation, a good ten feet high, and then found that they could ascend a flight of steps thick with powdered stone.

At the broad landing at the top the altar was about waist-high, and now for the first time they made out that at the back there was a big sitting figure, whose breast seemed to be covered with a kind of rayed shield; but everything was indistinct in the flickering light, and the figure was absolutely clothed in dust.

Just then Briscoe stretched out his left hand and laid it upon one of the objects which stood in a row on either side of the altar.

The next moment he began to breathe hard as if he were about to have a fit.

"What's the matter?" said Brace anxiously; "overcome by the heat and smoke?"

"No, no," whispered Briscoe hoarsely. "Touch that thing nearest to you."

Brace did as was suggested, and found that it was heavy, but that he could move it.

"Why, it isn't stone," he said, "but metal. It must be some kind of ornament."

"Yes," said Briscoe, in a hoarse whisper, "and that kitchen place we went in first was a foundry; that next place where you spoke of a rubbish heap was all ore. I picked up a bit, as you know, and it's rich. Brace, my lad, we've found the Spaniards' El Dorado, and these ornaments we have just touched are solid gold."

"Impossible!" said Brace, in an awe-stricken whisper.

"'Tisn't, lad. Look now the light's stronger. That squatting figure with the thing like a rayed shield over his breast isn't only stone, for I'd bet my last dollar that the shield's a golden sun."

"Well?" cried the captain; "found anything?"

"Oh, yes," said Brace, trying to speak calmly; "this is an altar, sure enough."

"Well, I'd give it up for to-day. Come out, Brace," cried Sir Humphrey, "and we'll examine the place carefully to-morrow when the fire has burned out and the air is breathable. I think we shall be able to take back something curious for our pains."

"Not a doubt about it," said Briscoe cheerily. "Yes; we've had enough of it for to-day, and I want something to take the smoke and dust out of my throat. Come along, Brace. Hist," he whispered: "not a word till we get them away from the men."

"I understand," said Brace.

A few minutes afterwards the whole party were out on the terrace, shouting down explanations to Dellow and the men, who on seeing the smoke rising had taken to the small boat and rowed to the foot of the great wall.

"Found anything worth getting?" shouted the mate.

"Well, yes: I suppose so," cried the captain. "It's a big temple full of stone idols. We shall have to take a boat-load back for the British Museum."

"Bah!" said Dellow. "Are you coming back now? Dan's got a splendid dinner of fish and bird roasted and I don't know how you are; we're starving here."

"We shall be with you in no time now," said the captain. "Forward, my lads, and let's get back."

The men started, Sir Humphrey and the captain followed, and Brace and Briscoe came last.

"Yes, that's gold, sure enough," said Brace, looking furtively at the piece of ore thrust into his hand. "But, Briscoe?"

"Well?"

"Suppose the Indians know of all these golden ornaments and things being here?"

"I don't suppose they do; but if they do, what then?"

"Suppose they came now in force and beat us off?"

"Ah, it would be awkward if they came now; but if they did there'd be a very ugly fight before we gave up our hold on what we've found."

"Yes; we couldn't give it up now."

"I say, what about the men?" said Briscoe.

"They must know, of course, and take their share of what we carry away."

"Oh!" groaned Briscoe, "and after finding what has been the dream of my life."

"What do you mean!" said Brace wonderingly.

"Why, we've only got those two boats and can't take much. Brace, my lad, do you think it would be possible to bring the brig up here?"

"Yes, perhaps we might if you could knock down those falls, and do away with all the shallow parts between here and there."

"Of course," said Briscoe, with another groan full of misery. "I forgot all that."

"I say," said Dellow, as they came within sight from the lower terrace once more, "something's happened while you've been away."

"What is it?" said the captain.

"Tide's turned, and the water's flowing steadily the other way."

"That means the flood's gone down then," said the captain. "Well, then, gentlemen, when you've got your images on board I suppose you'd like to be going back, for the stores are running very low."



CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

THE SLIPPERY TREASURE.

"Don't know that I am pleased," said Sir Humphrey, when his brother and Briscoe told him of the discovery; "but it is very wonderful, and I suppose we may claim the right to all we have found."

"Certainly," said Briscoe.

"Well, the first thing to be done is to acquaint the captain, Dellow, and Lynton."

"Of course," said Briscoe, "and the men must know."

"Does it not mean trouble?" said Brace. "I mean with the crew."

"No," replied Briscoe; "the skipper has them all well in hand now, and they must be given to understand that every man will take a share of the gold, according to his position. I vote we tell the skipper and mates at once."

Ten minutes later they were fully acquainted with the facts, and the captain screwed his face up tightly.

"Hah!" he said; "I never aimed at being rich, but I'm not going to quarrel with my luck."

"No," said Briscoe, "and I think we ought to take as much of it as we can carry with us."

"Well, gentlemen, it's a big find, and I suppose it means half a dozen journeys here to fetch it all to the brig."

"We cannot say yet," said Sir Humphrey; "but we ought to get all we can down to the brig at once."

"Yes," said Briscoe, "and leave Mr Brace and me here with a couple of men to guard the rest."

"No," said Sir Humphrey firmly; "we must keep together. I say: let's load the boats as far as is wise and get as much of the treasure as possible safely to the brig."

"And lose all there is left," said Briscoe.

"No," replied Brace. "This gold must have kept here in safety for at least a thousand years, so I daresay it will rest till we get back again."

"Look here, gentlemen," said the captain; "both these plans sound well, but we can settle which we'll try afterwards. I don't feel that we've got the treasure till the two boats have their loads packed in the bottoms like ballast, well covered with leaves. Let's get as much as we can, and then perhaps it might be well for part of us to stop while the others take down the first part."

"The captain is right," said Sir Humphrey: "we'll settle that afterwards: perhaps there is no more than we can take in one journey."

This was put to the proof the next morning, when the men, having cheered till they were hoarse at the wondrous news, the party divided: one portion to make their way to the temple, the other to moor the two boats conveniently under the wall below, the captain and Dellow taking the latter duty, with a couple of men to stow, while as soon as Brace, Briscoe, Lynton, and the rest of the men appeared on the lower terrace communication was made with a block pulley and ropes ready for lowering the treasure, a couple of stout biscuit bags being taken from the stores for sending up and down.

Brace led the way into the temple, his heart throbbing with eagerness; and, lights having been set up in convenient spots, the threatening aspect of the inanimate guardians of the treasure was soon forgotten, and all set to work to sweep the dust from the ornaments upon the altar, and then to carry them out into the broad sunshine ready for lowering down.

A feeling of astonishment attacked Brace as he worked hard, and hardly a word was spoken, everyone busying himself and toiling as if there was not a moment to spare, and a whisper might bring someone to stop them from carrying the treasure away.

It was wonderful indeed, for after the thick coating of dust had been shaken off they found that they were handling roughly-formed lamps, figures of gods with benevolent features, those of savage and malignant-looking demons—in fact, what seemed to be the whole pantheon of the idols who might be supposed to preside over the good qualities and evil thoughts of mankind.

Most of them had been roughly cast in moulds and left untouched; but others had been hammered and chiselled with an archaic idea of art that was surprising.

Then there were ornaments which obviously suggested leaves and twining vines, with rayed flowers sufficiently well executed to show that they had been copied from such as the finders had seen growing on the ledges of the canon.

But unmistakeably all were of rich solid pale gold, bronzed and ruddy in places with the action of fire, and, setting aside their value as antique works of art, representing a cash value as gold that was almost startling.

Every now and then a figure was attacked and left standing on account of its weight and the party of toilers busy in the weird gloom of the temple paused at last as if half-stunned by the feeling that had come upon them after two men had tried to lift the seated figure of some deity.

"Yes, we can't take that," said Briscoe dismally. "We could carry it out, I daresay, but it would go through the bottom of the boat. We shall have to start that old furnace and melt these big things down."

Just then two of the men who been carrying a load out on to the terrace came back, bearing a message from the captain.

"He says, gentlemen," said one of the men, "that it will be as much as he dare take aboard when we've let down all we've got waiting outside."

"Nonsense!" cried Brace; "why, we have ever so much more to send out yet. We can't leave all these small things."

"How much weight do you think you have taken out, my lads?" said Sir Humphrey, who was working hard with the rest.

"'Bout half a ton, sir, I should say," replied one of the men.

"Let's go out and have a talk to the skipper," said Briscoe. "I say, chaps," he added jocosely, "fair play and fair sharing; no pocketing either of those big images while we're gone."

"All right, sir," said one of the men: "we won't; but to speak square and honest, I was longing to collar that biggest one at the back there, him with the sign of the sun on his front."

"We must fetch them another time," said Briscoe; and he followed the brothers out on to the terrace, where, dully gleaming in the sunshine, quite a couple of hundredweight of the strange objects connected with the ancient worship lay waiting to be lowered down.

"Well, captain," said Sir Humphrey, "what does this mean—you can't take any more?"

"I'm going to risk what you've got out already, sir," was the reply. "According to the men there's about three hundredweight to lower yet."

"At a rough guess, yes," said Brace.

"That's the very outside then, and we shall have to beat and hammer a lot of these together with the axeheads to make them take up less room. Look for yourselves."

A long and earnest look was directed below, where the boats were packed beneath the thwarts and fore and aft with the treasure, and presented a strange aspect.

"Yes, he's quite right," said Briscoe, with a sigh. "Oh, if we only had one of those coal-barges that I've seen lying at anchor in your Thames."

"Let's be content, Briscoe, and get these figures aboard. We must not run risks and lose all."

"That's wisdom, Sir Humphrey, and I've no more to say. Keep on lowering down, my lads, while we go back. Oh, dear, I wish we hadn't burned all that green stuff that hid the door."

"It will soon shoot out and grow again," said Brace; "but we must come back for another load."

They went back into the temple to take a look round, lanthorn in hand, and then had literally to drag themselves away from the sight of the vast treasure they were compelled to leave behind.

"It's of no use," said Brace. "Come along. The more we look the more unwilling we shall be to leave."

"I feel as if I can't leave it. I must stop and take care of the rest, even if I stay alone," said Briscoe.

"No," said Brace; "that would be folly. It will be safe enough till we return."

"But look here: suppose we build a raft, and load that? We could tow it down with the boats."

"Yes," said Brace, "and end by upsetting it and sending all to the bottom."

"Look here," said Sir Humphrey: "I am going to set you both a good example."

He hurried out into the light, while after another glance round Briscoe said slowly:

"Yes, a raft would end by shooting it all off into the river. Let's make sure of what we've got."

And, rushing out, he set steadily to work helping to get the objects still waiting down to the boat, and then he was the first to lead the way and mount from terrace to terrace to the slope and by the way to the great tank, where the water was making a strange reverberating sound.

"That noise is enough to keep the Indians away," he said to Brace, as he paused with him till all the men had passed. "It's as good as a safe."

When all were down, the L-shaped entrance was carefully blocked with stones and covered with rubbish, earth, and growing plants, so that there was no sign of the place having been disturbed, and by that time the boats were back at their moorings, with the captain shaking his head at them.

"More than we ought to take," he said; "but we'll risk it, and hope for fine weather. Now, gentlemen, as we've made our fortunes, let's have the good dinner Dan has got ready for us, and then I say: all traps aboard and down stream for the brig."

"Ready to come up again for another load," said Briscoe.

"Well," said the captain slowly, "if we can."

The dinner was eaten, and various cooking-articles were replaced in the boat.

"Now then," said the captain; "all aboard!"

"Three cheers first, lads," cried one of the men; "for we shall have our gold now without washing for it."

They gave three hearty cheers, and as the last was echoing from the opposite side of the canon every man stood as if petrified, for it was answered by a savage yell which seemed to come from a couple of thousand throats; and as there was a rush to where, from the water steps, they could gaze up stream it was to see quite a fleet of small canoes, each of which held four or five Indians, bearing steadily down for where the boats were moored.



CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

FOUND AND LOST.

"Now, gentlemen," said the captain firmly, "what is it to be: turn this into a fort and fight, or into the boats, hoist sail, and go down stream? You see it runs our way now."

"Take to the boats," said Sir Humphrey decisively, and the captain gave the order.

"Slow and steady, my lads," he said; "they can't reach us for some time yet, and by then we shall be sailing steadily down."

The canoes seemed to be coming on very fast, but the captain was correct.

The sails were hoisted as soon as every man was in his place, and, to the satisfaction of all, the heavily-ballasted boats began to glide down stream before a pleasant breeze with a steadiness that was all that could be desired.

But by the time they were well moving the first of the canoes was very near, and their occupants started their savage yelling again and began to paddle with all their might, till, seeing that the boats were leaving them behind, they dropped their paddles and seized their bows, to let fly a shower of arrows.

At this the captain gave the word, and a little volley was fired, followed by another.

The walls of the great canon took up the reports and echoed them to and fro till, startled by this novel thunder, the enemy paused in confusion, many of the canoes being paddled back.

"Anyone hit?" cried Brace.

"No, sir," came loudly from both boats, and the next minute they glided round the promontory they had passed in coming up, and the rock city disappeared.

A few minutes later and the last of the canoes was seen.

The wind being favourable and the night following lit up by a full moon, the retreat was kept up so as to get well beyond danger.

It was far on into the next day before a halt was made to light a fire and prepare a meal.

The flood had passed away, and with wind and stream in their favour, and a total absence of danger, the two boats glided down and down from river to river till after many days the adventurers came within hearing of the falls.

They ran the boats safely aground just above where the river made its plunge, and then came a long and toilsome task.

But the boats were safely unladen—for the men worked with a will—run ashore, and up and down the two slopes, to be re-launched and all the stores and treasure replaced by dark one night.

The next morning at daybreak a start was made for the brig, which was found a mile lower down, where it had been swept by the flood, but was safely re-anchored.

In due time the men were cheering loudly again, for the treasure was safe on board.

"Now," said Briscoe, "one day's rest, and then we'll start with three boats, skipper, and stouter tackle so as to handle some of those big images better. We ought to take three or four planks."

"Then you want to get some more?" said the captain, smiling.

"More?" said Briscoe, staring; "why, man, it would be a sin to leave that treasure wasting there. What do you say, gentlemen?"

"Well," said Sir Humphrey, "I can't help feeling as you do, Briscoe. What do you say, Brace?"

"I don't want any more gold," was the reply; "but I should like to get those curiosities to England. It would be such a shame to leave them up there."

"And so say we," said Dellow and Lynton eagerly.

"But what about the men?" said Brace; "would they go?"

"Would a dozen ducks swim, sir?" said the captain scornfully. "Ask 'em."

The men were asked, and their answer was a tremendous cheer.

"Of course, sir," one of them cried. "We must clear out the lot."

"Very well," said the captain. "I shall stay on board here with two men as guards, and you shall start with three boats to-morrow morning."

There was another tremendous cheer at this, and then Dellow threw a wet blanket over all.

"I dunno," he said slowly: "I don't think it will be to-morrow, for there's some weather about. Look at that lightning playing away to the west'ard."

The first mate was right, for that night there was a frightful storm to announce the breaking-up of the season.

The next day the river was in flood, and in spite of all the captain's skill the brig was torn from her moorings and borne rapidly down stream.

The days passed, and the weather grew worse and worse. Efforts were made to moor or anchor over and over again, but the river rapidly became like one vast lake with the water extending for miles on either side.

After terrible vicissitudes the captain at last breathed freely when at the end of some weeks the "Jason" was rising and falling in half a gale well out to sea.

"Hah!" he said; "this is something like. I can turn in now for a rest without expecting to be capsized by being swept over a clump of trees. There's nothing like the sea, after all."

"But what about going up the river again?" asked Briscoe.

"It will be in flood for months to come, sir, I should say, and my advice would be for us to get safe home with what we've got, and make another trip next year."

The captain's advice was taken, and to a man the men volunteered to go again the next season.

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That trip was made, and proved to be quite a blank, for the brig was never got up to the falls.

The next year, though, the party started with high hopes, for the weather was magnificent, and they reached the falls; but not without finding that the course of the river had been a good deal altered by two seasons of tremendous floods.

But there were the stupendous falls and one morning, leaving the brig snugly anchored in a bay of the river to wait for her golden freight, three boats, with the men well armed, started for their journey up stream.

The course of the river below the falls had been greatly altered, but that was as nothing to the complete change in the network of rivers higher up.

Let it suffice to say that they rowed and sailed for days which grew into weeks, and then to months, from river into river, and then in and out of what was a great watery puzzle; but the canon with its golden city might have sunk right out of sight, for in spite of every effort the party were driven back at last when the torrential rains set in.

The next year the captain said he had had enough of it, and Brace and his brother declined to go, the latter saying that the proverb was right: "You can buy gold too dearly."

Briscoe then declared that he would freight another brig and go by himself.

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He went, and, at the end of six months, returned, visited London, and called upon his old companion.

"Haven't found it yet," he said; "but there's a lot of gold there, and I mean to try till I do."

Brace met him again and again as the years rolled on, but he had not found the gold.

"No," he said; "there's something about that puzzle place of rivers that I don't quite understand. I can't find it, and the longer I live the more I feel, Brace Leigh, that we ought to have eaten our bread when it was ready buttered, and brought the stuff away upon a raft."

"Why don't you be content with what you had for your share?"

"Oh, I am," said Briscoe: "just as contented as you are, but I want to find the rest of that treasure all the same. You see, old fellow, I'm this sort: I'm Amurrican, and I don't like being beat."

THE END