“Any worse for your experience?” the youth asked with a chuckle.
“Do we look it?” smiled Joe. “We enjoyed it.”
As the sun was almost directly overhead they decided to remain at this spot for the midday meal. All were extremely tired and hungry.
Bob prepared dinner, using water they had brought with them in canteens. As a dessert they feasted on the delicious wild cherries that they had picked that morning.
“Now let’s get going,” urged Joe, when the meal was over. “I’d like to see that treasure.”
Farther into the wilds they plunged, with not the faintest suggestion of a trail to guide them.
“No trace of any vegetation here,” observed Bob. “It’s a good thing we stopped where we did, or the mules probably wouldn’t have had anything to eat. There were a few stunted bushes and other plants back at the foot of the slide.”
An hour of climbing brought them to a place where a tall peak obstructed their view.
They trudged around and then suddenly found themselves at the bank of the roaring Apurimac River.