watch-tower that the gateway, about ten feet wide, was pierced, the
opening being filled with a pair of wooden doors of exceedingly solid
construction.

As the party halted, the sentinel, who wore a burnished helmet and
corselet that flashed in the sun like gold and was the colour of gold,
leaned over the parapet and shouted to them what seemed to be an
inquiry; but the words, though quite distinctly pronounced, were utterly
unintelligible to all.

"Wants to know our business, I guess," remarked Earle. "Step forward,
Inaguy, and explain that we wish to pay our respects to his majesty, El
Dorado. Try him in all the dialects you happen to be acquainted with."

Inaguy accordingly stepped forward and did his best, but without avail;
the sentinel, though he listened attentively to all that was said, could
evidently make nothing of it, replying only with shakes of the head.

"It is the usual fate of the explorer who enters a new country,"
remarked Earle. "He is unable to understand or make himself understood.
But there is always the language of signs to fall back upon. Let me
see what I can do in that way."

Stepping forward and thus claiming the sentinel's attention, he pointed
first to himself, then to Dick, then, with a comprehensive wave of the
hand, to the Indian carriers, and finally to the door, motioning with
his hands as though opening it. This seemed to be intelligible to the
sentinel, for he nodded, and stepping aside a few paces, shouted a few
words to someone below in the interior of the tower. A few moments
later a second man appeared on the top of the tower and, approaching the
parapet, regarded the would-be visitors intently. The inspection
appeared to result satisfactorily, for a few moments later he
disappeared; a short interval of waiting ensued, then the gate swung
open, and he came fearlessly forward, while the gates swung to behind
him, and there was a sound of ponderous bars being shot into their
sockets.

Judging from the richness of his dress and the quiet dignity of his
manner, the man was probably an officer. He was apparently about thirty
years of age, some five feet ten inches in height, and was well-made
though perhaps a trifle slight in build. In complexion he was somewhat
sallow, but he was distinctly good-looking, with a somewhat Hebrew cast
of features, and with coal-black hair, eyebrows, beard and moustache,
the beard trimmed square, and the hair worn rather long, trimmed squa