, by any means. I assure you that I have quite seriously
considered it--tried to picture myself as Inca--with you as Lord High
Admiral of my fleet, and Generalissimo of my army--and the prospect
appeals to me very strongly, so strongly, indeed, that I intend to give
it much further consideration. For, somehow, I feel that the position
would exactly suit me, and that I should suit the position. The task of
driving out the Spaniard and restoring the country to its position of
former power and splendour would provide us both with many years of
strenuous work and wild adventure, eh? Meanwhile, however, there are
several formidable obstacles in the way of an immediate adoption of the
proposal, and these obstacles I have laid before the chief priests and
the half-dozen nobles who govern this place, and they have recognised
the reasonableness of my contention, and are willing to leave everything
in my hands. We arrived at a complete understanding and agreement upon
this matter to-day; and I thereupon boldly informed them that the first
step which I proposed to take was to secure possession of certain
treasure, the existence and situation of which has been revealed to me;
and that I demanded their assistance in the task of its recovery. There
were one or two of them who were shrewd enough to enquire in what way I
proposed to employ the treasure when I had secured it; but that question
I refused to answer, hinting that, in the present position of affairs,
the less they knew about my plans the better it would be for everybody
concerned; and with that rather ambiguous assertion they have been
obliged to remain content. The outcome of the whole affair, however, is
that to-morrow we start for the Sacred Island, accompanied by a gang of
thirty labourers provided with the necessary tools; so now I think I may
say that, with one very important exception, all our troubles are over."

"And pray what is that one important exception?" demanded Dick.

"The question of how we are going to convey the treasure home when we
have secured possession of it," answered Phil.

"Ah!" responded Dick, emphatically, "yes; that is going to be a puzzler.
For there are only us two; and--"

"Quite so," interrupted Phil, "there are only us two, as you say.
Nevertheless, I am not going to worry myself unduly over it, for I have
no doubt that the problem will solve itself, as all the others have
during our wonderful journey. And Dick, my son, the reso