Under the Chilian Flag: A Tale of War between Chili and Peru

by Harry Collingwood

From the rock José now carefully paced off certain distances; and, by ten o’clock in the forenoon he announced that he had discovered the spot where the treasure lay. At their feet ran a stream, the approach to which had been made by way of a gentle grassy slope. But the opposite side of the torrent was nothing more than a sheer wall of rock some hundreds of feet in height, and it seemed to Jim as though they had reached the uttermost confines of the world. They had come so far, but it was manifestly impossible to go any farther. However, it was not necessary to do so; for, on the opposite side of the stream Jim saw, when José pointed it out to him, a black, round opening which, said the Indian, was the mouth of the treasure-cavern.

Douglas thought that it would have been impossible to secure a better hiding-place; for the approach to the spot was difficult, and beset with many dangers. And had any one arrived at the bank of the stream whereon the two men then stood they would never have guessed that the little inconspicuous hole on the opposite side was the entrance to a chamber wherein was contained the ransom of, not of one, but many kings.

The stream, though swift-flowing, was shallow, and the adventurers had little difficulty in getting across; whereupon they found themselves standing on a narrow ledge of black rock, while, four feet above their heads, was the lower edge of the hole, which proved to be much larger than it had appeared from the other side. It was the work of a few seconds only for Jim to mount on the Indian’s shoulders and secure a foothold in the mouth of the cave, after which he assisted José to climb up.

As soon as they were inside, José seemed to be overcome with awe at the idea of standing on such sacred ground; but Jim had no such feelings, and kindling a torch, he bade the Indian lead the way. The latter soon recovered his equanimity, and, after they had hauled up the picks and shovels, led the way into the interior of the cave, which widened out as they receded from the entrance, until it assumed enormous dimensions, the light of the torch being quite insufficient to disclose the boundaries of the cavern. And now they began to meet with traces of a former civilisation. Along the rock walls were ranged stone images of the Incas and their wives, and at the feet of each figure was to be seen a large package wrapped in raw-hide, and secured with strips of the same material. These packages, José said, contained gold bricks; and Jim quickly proved the truth of the statement by slitting open one or two with his hunting-knife.

It was, however, toward a row of huge chests, ten in number, that the Indian led Jim, telling him that the real treasure was contained in them. Although strong, they were quickly broken open by well-directed blows of the pickaxes; and upon the lids being raised there burst upon Jim’s eyes such a vision of wealth that he was positively dazed by the immensity of it. The particular chest which he opened was full, from bottom to top, of solid gold ingots, black with age on the surface, but showing the dull red metallic lustre of gold when scraped with a knife. There must have been half a million pounds’ worth of it, Jim guessed, in that one chest alone—and there were nine others! The two men then opened a second box, at random, and this chest contained all manner of gold and silver ornaments, of the most exquisitely delicate and intricate workmanship. Cups, necklaces, finger-rings, clasps, sword-hilts, and breast-plates, the latter studded with rough, uncut jewels of enormous size, filled the chest to the very brim, and took away Jim’s breath with the magnificence and lavish abundance of it all. The other cases were each opened in turn, disclosing to their astounded eyes the veritable treasure of the Incas; and Jim immediately saw that the removal of such a vast accumulation of wealth must necessarily occupy a considerable time, and that the treasure would have to be conveyed away piecemeal on mule-back. He therefore selected from the hoard of uncut jewels as many of the finest as he believed that he and José could conveniently carry, wrapped them up in two parcels, and, giving one to José to carry, took charge of the other himself. This done, the two men closed up the chests and left the cavern, returning to the spot where they had camped on the previous nigh. During the long silent hours while José was asleep, Jim kept guard over the spoil which he had already secured, and made plans for removing the rest of the treasure. He decided to dispose of the whole of the jewels—or, rather, as many of them as he might find necessary—and with the money thus obtained fit out an expedition to the cavern, to bring away the remainder of the spoil; but while he was wondering how he could elude the watchfulness of the Bolivian authorities—who would pounce upon the whole if they should get to hear of its existence—he fell asleep, and it was nearly eleven o’clock when he awoke the next morning.

The two men then secured the gems to their persons, and started off on their toilsome journey back to the fort, which they safely reached two days later, utterly worn-out with the fatigues which they had undergone. Jim was so completely exhausted that he spent the whole of the day after their return upon his narrow camp-bed; but by the following morning he was quite rested, and burning with impatience for his messenger to return, so that he might the sooner get back to civilisation and prepare for the expedition to the treasure-cavern.

It was some days, however, before the soldier returned, having ridden hard night and day to deliver Jim’s report and to return with orders to the young commander. They were to the effect that Douglas was to leave half his force in the fort—which the Chilians had decided to hold for the present—and to return with the remaining half to Arica as soon as possible. He therefore set off with his reduced company upon the following morning, José insisting upon accompanying him, and reached Arica a week later, reporting his arrival at the military headquarters there, where he was complimented upon the success with which he had carried out his little campaign against the guerillas, and where he received his promotion to the rank of major, as had been promised him by Admiral Riveros in the event of his bringing the expedition to a satisfactory conclusion.

There is very little more to tell, for by the time that Douglas returned to Arica the war was practically over, and as peace negotiations were already in progress hostilities had ceased almost everywhere. A fortnight later the treaty was signed whereby Bolivia ceded the whole of her sea-coast to Chili, and Peru was forced to give up 250 miles of hers to the conquering Republic. The Peruvian navy had been utterly destroyed, with the exception of one or two worthless ships; the Bolivian armies had been cut to pieces, and the allies had been obliged to bow the knee to Chili, which had everywhere been victorious.

As the fighting was now all over Jim resigned his position in the Chilian army and went to Valparaiso, where he eventually disposed of his jewels for the very handsome sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which was very much more than he had any idea they would fetch, yet considerably less than they were actually worth. He then made a journey into the mountains, accompanied only by José and a small escort, in order properly to survey the place where the treasure-cave was situated before he led the expedition there for the purpose of recovering the remainder of the gold and jewels. But to his utter consternation he found, when he reached the locality, that an earthquake had recently occurred which had changed the whole character of the surroundings!

He was, however, at length able to locate the spot where the cavern had been, and he took such elaborate and complete bearings of it that he felt sure he would one day, when things had quieted down a little, be able to get at the chests again and despoil them of their contents. But for the moment he had as much money as he actually needed; so, returning from Coroico, he bought an estate in a lovely spot near Quinteros Bay, and settled down comfortably there, with José as his faithful henchman.