The Gold of the Gods

"I want to refresh my mind on some of those old Peruvian antiquities and traditions. What the Senorita

e to turn in something, al

h while. Anyhow, this will give you a chance for a breathing space, and, if I have this thing doped out

steps to the library and disappeared, while I jum

a special arrangement which I had made, so that I could, when a case warranted it, co-operate with Kennedy. My story was necessarily b

nd I found that he had not been. Up and down I paced restlessly. There was nothing else to do but wait. If he was unable to keep his appointmen

he hurried into the laborator

?" I queried. "Has

nd alternately thrusting and withdrawing his fingers in his waistcoat pockets, as if in some way th

h mean, literally, 'big fish,'" he resumed. "Walter, it fires the imagination. You have read of the w

t, centuries ago. But is there none left? The Indians in Peru believe so, at any r

. One version of the story tells that an Inca ruler, the great Cacique Mansiche, had observed with particular attention the kindness of a young Spaniard toward the people of the conquered race. Also, he had obse

the Spaniards considered it a rare prize. But the Cacique assured his young friend that it was o

r version, in which he says that the Spaniard devoted a large part of his wealth to the relief of the Indians and gave large sums to the Peruvian churches. Other stories deny that it was Mansiche who told the first secret, but that it was another Indian. On

est with which his delving into the crumbling pa

curse?"

ven that which the Spaniards carried off. Mansiche is said to have left a curse on any native who ever divulged the whereabouts of the treasure, and the curse was also to fall on any Spaniard who m

open it, expecting to find that it was something for Kenne

greeted him. "What seem

ame just after you left. The Boss thought it might be important-something about t

It bore simply my name

, strange to say, prin

some one were either n

red to conceal

-and how?" I asked, as

. "A boy brought it. Said a man uptown g

hing in the letter except a quarter sheet of ordinary size

y like those on the outside of the

OF MANSICHE ON THE

rawing of a dagger in which some effort had evi

ou think of that?" I cried, tos

ng watched. I don't know why or how, but, somehow, I felt that some one was interested in the books I was reading. It made me uncomfortable. I was late, anyhow, and I decided not to give them the satisfaction of seeing me any mo

He didn't have on a uniform, t

ld all that he knew, and finally we had to let him go, with a

note on the quarter sheet of pa

ion that we have so far, the weirdest superstitions seem to cluster about that dagger which Norton lost. I wouldn't b

it. The most they can say is that it may be handed down from father to son through a long line. At any rate, the secret of the hiding-place seems to have been safely kept. No one has ever found the treasure. It

air is getting on

ned without our hearing it, and there stood Norton again. H

him, startl

letter-box were several letters, but I forgot to look at them until just now, whe

er sheet of paper on which were printed, except for his own name inst

OF MANSICHE ON THE

at him. Already, evid

s hand the note th

r. Next you say it was used to murder Mendoza. Then I get this. Now, if any one can get into the M

But, then, it flashed over me, was not my own case worse? I was to be responsible for

e two notes and was

nt later we heard a tap at the door which Kennedy h

orderlies at the City Hospital, next to the Morgue, where Dr. Leslie

h bore the stamp of Dr. Leslie'

e, but as yet have nothing to report. It is certainly none of the things which we ordinarily run up against. Enclosed you will find a slip of pape

per had fluttered to the floor. I picked it up mechanical

he threat that had been sen

scarcely gone when anot

student who was employed in the library as part paymen

ed from his outstretched arms to his chin. As he did so the pressu

ll with the pile, slipped a plain white envelope.

me," he said,

rude printing on a quar

OF MANSICHE ON THE

each other and at tha

gger un

an? Who had se

cientific interest. He took the four pieces of paper and laid

llet which he carried. "All the indentures of the tearing correspond. Four warnings

what of his composure now that he

g to do-give it up

ed my sticking to it hard

gether," said Norton slowly. "We

he extended a h

t peculiar bulldog look of intensity on