"What sort of Indian was he?" asked Natty--"a red-skin?"
"No. We were not so far north as that. He said he was an Aztec."
"Aha!" murmured Eustace, "now we are coming to the treasure."
Tamaroo nodded. "You are clever, Mr. Jarman. Yes, this Indian told my master, when dying, that he knew of a treasure hidden under the sign of the Scarlet Bat."
"Kind of totem," said Jarman.
Tamaroo looked puzzled. "I do not know what that is," he said simply, "but the Scarlet Bat was a sign set by the great King Montezuma on a rock, under which he concealed part of his treasure. The Indian--he was a cacique--enraged by the desertion of those who should have saved his life, told the secret to my master."
"And how did the cacique know?"
"The secret had been handed down from his fathers."
Denham nodded. "I've heard of that sort of thing before," he said. "Some Indians know where the treasures of Montezuma are hidden; but the greater part of the hoard remains undiscovered. They will not reveal its whereabouts to a white man."
"True," assented Tamaroo. "They hate white men. But my master was so kind that he won the gratitude of the cacique. When the man was dying he told, and gave a chart. Then we buried him."