Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. [A Dead Letter Comes to Life] 5 II. [The Mystery Boys Add a Member] 13 III. [Gold, and a Life At Stake] 21 IV. [“Quipu Bill”] 30 V. [The Chums Prove Their Mettle] 39 VI. [A New Mystery Develops] 49 VII. [Cliff Tries a Ruse] 59 VIII. [The Outcome] 67 IX. [Ambushed!] 78 X. [The Hidden City] 89 XI. [“Chasca, Hailli!”] 98 XII. [Cliff Faces a Problem] 114 XIII. [The Games] 123 XIV. [Gold, and a Surprise] 131 XV. [The Feast of Raymi] 139 XVI. [The Mystery Boys Hold Council] 147 XVII. [From Bad to Worse] 154 XVIII. [Tit For Tat] 163 XIX. [Huamachaco’s Secret] 174 XX. [On the Temple Steps] 179 XXI. [Rats in a Trap] 184 XXII. [The Temple of the Sun] 189 XXIII. [Chasca Appears Again] 196 XXIV. [The Inca Speaks] 202 XXV. [Tom’s Adventure] 207 XXVI. [Into the Dungeons] 213 XXVII. [Beasts of Burden] 221 XXVIII. [“Can We Get There in Time?”] 229 XXIX. [At the Cistern] 236 XXX. [A Fortune by Misfortune] 244 XXXI. [Cliff Becomes a Prophet] 253 XXXII. [The Andes Close Their Jaws] 258 XXXIII. [No Way Out?] 264 XXXIV. [Huayca Plays Decoy] 269 XXXV. [Folded Arms] 278
THE MYSTERY BOYS
AND THE INCA GOLD
CHAPTER I
A DEAD LETTER COMES TO LIFE
The whole mysterious affair puzzled Cliff. To have those queer strangers appear suddenly at Aunt Lucy’s with their unusual questions threw him a little off his stride.
“No,” he answered the stocky Spaniard with the crafty, shifty eyes, “I did not get a letter from Peru. Who wrote it? Is it from my father? How do you know about it?”
While the Spaniard interpreted the answer to his companion Cliff studied them both. If the tall, stalwart man with copper skin and piercing eyes was not an Indian, Cliff had never seen a truthful picture of one. He wore European clothes but he was not at his ease in them. While he listened to the queer language which the Spaniard used he kept his eyes boring Cliff and Cliff saw that his denial was not believed.
Copper-skin muttered something and the Spaniard turned again to Cliff.
“You not get letter? Mi amigo, my friend, say it mail ‘nine, ten week’ ago.”