“Tell us more,” urged Jack.
“Burton Monahan learned of the lost Inca temple through a parchment which an old Peruvian missionary translated for him.”
“A parchment?” echoed Willie thoughtfully. “One of those animal skin things the old timers wrote on?”
“Right. It was a curious document, written by a Portuguese explorer in the early eighteenth century.”
“What became of the parchment?” Ken demanded. “Who has it now?”
“Why, I have,” Mr. Livingston replied in an offhand manner. “Accurately speaking, it’s a rough translation. I’ll show it to you in a minute. First, let me tell you more about the expedition.”
As the Scouts listened attentively, he explained that the parchment translation had been given to him only a few minutes earlier by Albert Monahan, brother of the missing explorer.
“Burton Monahan sent the copy to his brother more than a year ago, hoping to get him to finance a treasure search,” Mr. Livingston related. “Albert Monahan considered the tale about hidden gold pure fantasy. He refused the request. Burton undertook the search alone and poorly equipped. He vanished. That was fully six months ago.”
“No one ever heard of him again?” questioned Ken.
“A few half-hearted search parties were organized, but little came of them. Captain Carter, who was the last white man to see Burton after he started into the wilds, seems to have a few clues as to the route the missing man took. He’s persuaded Mr. Monahan to finance an expedition to learn whether or not Burton still is alive.”