Carrying out the scheme, Bill called the natives.
“You tried to run away,” he told them, “We don’t want you now. We cannot trust you. Take food enough to get to your homes, or at least enough to get out of the mountains. And go.”
To their surprise the natives protested.
“Not so,” said the spokesman, “We not try run away. We do all to make you follow us while Huayca do what he plan.”
“What did he plan?”
“That we not know. We must do that way. That all we know.”
“I see the scheme, I think,” Mr. Whitley told Bill, “Huayca made the natives pretend to be stealing the food, so that our attention would be concentrated on them while he took the map. It does not seem logical to me that natives as clever as these would make enough noise to attract attention otherwise.”
“We not like to run away. You not pay us yet,” said a native.
So they knew no more than before. But Cliff was not discouraged. “Now we must try the second part of my plan,” he pleaded. Mr. Whitley sanctioned it, cautioning the youths to take no needless chances in the event of possible trouble. He remained with Bill’s rifle, out of the direct glow of the fire, his eyes watchful, although the natives seemed content to lie down for sleep.
Cliff, Nicky, Tom and Bill made final plans and then drifted quietly away from camp, down the mountain pass.