esitate to confide to
you the secret of our hidden wealth."

Two nights after this, as I was about to throw myself on my bed of
leaves to sleep, Manco came to me.

"We will at once set forth to obtain the gold I promised," he said.
"Pedro and your countryman may accompany us to carry what we find. We
must return before the morning, lest we encounter any of the Spanish
forces, who are ravaging the country on every side."

A few words served to let Pedro and Ned understand what was to be done,
and providing themselves with two bags, they instantly declared
themselves ready to proceed. Manco had provided torches, one of which
we each of us bore; but he told us not to light them till we should
reach the spot to which he was about to conduct us. As we were setting
out, he also distributed among us two spades and crowbars, and a
pickaxe. He led the way along the ledge and across the bridge; we
following in silence. He then descended the mountain, and proceeded
down the valley for some distance, when he once more began to ascend.
The ground was rugged and difficult in the extreme, and path there was
none, so that, had we desired it, we could not again have found our way.
For two hours we toiled on, up and down hill, following close upon the
heels of Manco, who seemed to know the road by instinct. At length we
reached a valley, the hill on one side of which was covered completely
with buildings, one rising above the other, and some apparently hewn out
of the solid rock. The moon, which had lately risen, lighted up the
scene, and increased its wild and mysterious appearance. Not a sound
was heard, not a human being appeared from this city of the dead. Manco
stopped and gazed up at the city.

"Two centuries ago, thousands of human beings, full of life and
activity, thronged those walls," he remarked. "All are gone, and of
descendants they have left none. All, all have been victims to Spanish
cruelty. Follow me."

He moved on, and led us into several. Some had two and even three
stories, and the floors of slabs of stone or slate still remained. We
at last reached a house larger than the rest, with a number of windows.
Manco stopped in the centre of the chief hall, and said, stamping his
foot, "Dig there." Lighting our torches, we stuck them in the ground,
and set to work. After digging about two feet, we came to a mass which
proved to be the body of a human being, swaddled up in bandages of
cloth, and in good