“Have they the gold with them?” asked San Lucia, who was also quite old. “That is what we want, Murado. Have they the gold?”
“All Americanos have gold,” replied Murado. “That is why I lured them on. All my plans were made to get them here that we might take their gold.”
“And you succeeded wonderfully well, Murado. Tell me about it, for I have not had a chance to talk to you since you arrived in such breathless haste.”
“There is not much to tell,” replied the other. “I heard of their arrival in a short time after they reached Mexico. Then, in a secret way, I heard what they were searching for. Chance made it possible for me to somewhat startle them by pretending to know more than I did. I met them on the road and told them of what they were in search and how to find it.”
“That was easy, since you knew so well yourself,” interrupted San Lucia. “We have not been brigands for nothing, Murado. Well do I remember the day you and I came upon this buried city. And it has been our headquarters ever since.”
“As I said, it was easy to mystify them,” went on Murado. “They traveled fast in their steam wagon, or whatever it is, but I knew several short cuts that enabled me to get ahead of them. I was hidden in the hollow stone image of the laughing serpent and saw, through the little eye-holes, how they came up and took the paper I had written and put between the lips of the reptile. Oh, it all worked out as I had planned, and now we have them here where we want them.”
“And we will kill them and get their gold!” whispered San Lucia, feeling of a knife he wore in his belt. “But tell me, how did they happen to stumble on the right underground passage?”
“They didn’t happen to,” replied Murado. “That was one point where I failed. But it is just as well. You see, I had so managed things that I knew they would take the road to the left of the image. When I saw them depart I called my horse and galloped off to the right. I wanted to take a short cut and get here ahead of them.
“I succeeded. You were away; just when I needed your help, too. But I managed. I went out in the underground passage and waited for them.
“That passage, you know, goes right under the road they were traveling on. Whoever built this ancient city must have wanted it to remain hidden, for the only way to get to it is by the tunnels. If, by chance, some one approached on the roads leading to the top of the mountains the ancients had a plan to get rid of them.”