The Romance of Golden Star | Page 4

seen it than all desire of getting to Abancay or
anywhere else had left me. I made my arriero turn the animals loose for
the day, and then I sent him back to a village we had passed through the
day before to buy more provisions and bring them to me.
'As soon as he had got out of sight I set to work to get some of the
stones out and see what there was behind them. I knew there must be
something, for the Incas never wasted labour. It was hard work, for the
stones were fitted together as perfectly as the pieces of a Chinese
puzzle; but at last I got one out and then the rest was easy. Behind the
stones I found a little chamber hollowed out of the rock, perfectly clean
and dry, and on the floor of this I found, without any other covering
than what you see there, the mummy of His Highness lying on what
had once been a bed of soft Vicuña skins, as perfect and as lifelike as
though he had only crept in there twelve hours before, and had laid
down for a good night's rest.
'You may imagine how delighted I was at such a find. I hardly knew
how to contain myself until my man came back. I put the stones back
into their places as well as I could, and when Patricio returned the next
day I had the animals saddled up, and started off in a hurry to Cuzco.
There I had this case made, bought two extra mules, brought them to
the valley, packed up my mummy, took it back to Cuzco, and from
there to the railway terminus at Sicuani and took it down by train to
Arequipa, where I left it in safe keeping until I had finished the rest of
my exploration. Then I went back, took it down to Mollendo, got it on
board the steamer, and here it is.'
'And you didn't find any traces of other treasure-places, I suppose, in
the valley?' said Djama, who had listened with the most perfect
attention to the professor's story.
'No, I didn't, though I must confess that one side of the cave in which I
found this was walled up with the same kind of masonry as there was in
front of it; but, to tell you the truth, the Peruvian Government has such
insane ideas about treasure-hunting; and the life of a man who is
believed to have discovered anything worth stealing is worth so little in
the wilder districts of the interior, that I was afraid of losing the

treasure I had got, perhaps for the sake of a few little gold ornaments
which I might have dug out of the hill, and so I decided to be content
with what I'd found.'
'H'm!' said the doctor. 'Well, you may have been wise under the
circumstances; I daresay you were. But we can see about that
afterwards. Meanwhile there is something else to be talked about.'
He stopped suddenly, took a quick turn or two up and down the room,
with his hands clasped behind him and his eyes fixed on the floor. Then
he went to the door, opened it, looked out, shut it and locked it, and
then came back again and sat down without a word in his chair, staring
steadily at the impassive face of the mummy in the packing-case.
'Why, what's the matter, doctor?' said the professor, a trifle sharply.
'You don't suppose I am afraid of anyone coming to steal my treasure,
do you?'
'My dear fellow,' said Djama, looking him straight in the eyes, and
speaking very slowly, as though his mind was doing something else
besides shaping the thoughts to which he was giving utterance, 'I don't
for a moment suppose that there are thieves about, or that, if there were,
any burglar with a competent knowledge of his profession would think
of stealing your mummy, priceless as it may prove to be. I locked the
door because I don't want to be interrupted. I want to talk to you about
a very important matter.'
'And that is?'
'Mephistopheles.'
'WHAT?'
'Gently, my friend, gently, don't get excited yet. You will want all your
nerves soon, I can assure you. Yes, I am quite serious. You know that
in the good old days, when people still believed in His Majesty of
Darkness, such a speech as the one you remember making a short time
ago was quite enough to call up one of his agents, armed with full

powers to make contracts and do all necessary business.'
'Look here, Laurens, if you go on talking like that, I shall begin to think
you have gone out of your mind.'
'My dear fellow, to