He stopped a moment and gazed thoughtfully at the young men.
“You saved my life,” he went on, looking at Bob gratefully. “For this I will gladly give you half of any treasure in the bin, if we can find any. Will you make the trip with me?”
For a few moments the youths said nothing. They wondered if there was really any treasure in the bin. And they wondered, too, if it might be possible to locate still more in the near-by mountains.
“I am willing to go,” said Bob at last. “It won’t put us out any, I’m sure. I think we can arrange it some way. Maybe Dad——”
He got no further, for at that moment the old man raised a hand for silence.
“Of course your dad is all right,” he said conclusively. “But I do not wish to take anyone but you and your friend here with me. Even your father might without thinking tell someone about this secret, and then we would lose everything. And I want no one else to know.”
“Then,” began Bob, “you want only Joe Lewis here and myself—my name is Bob Holton—to go with you?”
“You are right,” came the reply. “And my name is Rander—Doctor Rander. I would be much better satisfied if only we three went.”
“I think it can be arranged,” Bob told him. “What direction do we have to go?”
“East. Almost straight east from Cuzco. But of course there are many roundabout paths that we must follow, and much of the way is over no trail at all.”