“First class in History—and ancient history at that!—begins tomorrow,” he chuckled. “Thomas, please tell me what Inca is the most famous.”
“Whackey!” grinned Tom. “He gave America back its citizens.”
“And now, Nicholas, what was the empire of the Incas most famed for?”
“Adventure!” promptly replied Nicky.
“Cliff,” continued the instructor, carrying on his joke, “You next. What fact will you remember most about the Incas?”
“My father’s rescue,” said Cliff seriously.
That rather ended the joke for they all became sober as they recalled how much danger they had faced to save him.
“I told you we’d come out all right if we all thought we could!” Nicky said.
“We came out better than all right!” declared Tom, fondling the bright tan colored and brand new bank pass book in which his share of the treasure showed as a sizeable deposit.
The treasure they had managed to get to Cuzco had been so cleverly packed in among their old dunnage that the sleepy officials who had no idea that these men had been among fabulous treasures did not even bother to examine their old packs, and so, although there would have been a large part of the beautifully wrought objects claimed by the Peruvian government, none was noted and they got it all through. In America, because of its value as art objects and because they did not intend to dispose of any of it for profit, there was no duty charged.