Inca Gold

    "Read for yourself," said Gu

    "So far so good."

    "It gets better. The account mentions a jade box containing knotted cords. Apparently the box still rests in the rotting timbers of the galleon."

    Pitt's eyes lit up like beacons. "The Drake quipu."

    "It appears the myth has substance," Gu

    "And Yaeger?" Pitt asked as he began sifting through the papers.

    "His computer analyzed the existing data and came up with grid coordinates that put the galleon within a ten-square-kilometer ballpark."

    "Far smaller than I expected."

    "I'd say our prospects of finding the galleon and the jade box just improved by a good fifty percent."

    "Make that thirty percent," said Pitt, holding up a sheet from Perlmutter giving the known data on the construction, fittings, and cargo of the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion. "Except for four anchors that were probably carried away during the impact of the tidal wave, the magnetic signature of any iron on board would be too faint to be detected by a magnetometer more than a stone's throw away."

    "An EG&G Geometrics G-8136 could pick up a small iron mass from a fair distance."

    "You're reading my thoughts. Frank Stewart has a unit on board the Deep Fathom."

    "We'll need a helicopter to tow the sensor over the top of the rain forest," said Gu

    "That's your department," Pitt said to him. "Who do you know in Ecuador?"

    Gu

    Then they owe us big, enough to lend us a bird."

    "You could safely say that, yes."

    "How much time will you need to put the bite on them?"

    Gu

    Pitt stared blankly at him. "Washington isn't exactly around the corner. Are you making conference calls with smoke signals or mirrors?"

    Gu

    "I'm familiar with the system," Pitt acknowledged. "Works off a satellite enhancement network. Where did you steal a unit?"

    Gu

    Pitt gazed fondly at his little bespectacled friend with deep admiration and wonder. It was a rare event when shy Gu

    In terms of artifacts and treasures, the looters had barely scratched the surface in the City of the Dead. They had concentrated on the royal tombs near the temple, but thanks to Pitt's intrusion, they did not have time to do extensive excavation on most of the surrounding tombs. Many of them contained the remains of high officials of the Chachapoya confederation. Ortiz and his team of archaeologists also found what appeared to be untouched burial houses of eight noblemen. Ortiz was overjoyed when he discovered the royal coffins were in pristine condition and had never been opened.

    "We will need ten years, maybe twenty, to conduct a full excavation of the valley," said Ortiz during the customary after-di

    "You have your work cut out for you," said Pitt. "I only hope none of the Chachapoya treasures are stolen during shipment to your national museum."

    "Any loss between here and Lima is the least of my worries," replied Ortiz. "Almost as many artifacts are stolen from our museums as from the original tombs."

    "Don't you have tight security to protect your country's valuable objects?" asked Rodgers.

    "Of course, but professional art thieves are very shrewd. They often switch a genuine artifact with a skillfully done forgery. Months, sometimes years, can go by before the crime is discovered."

    "Only three weeks ago," said Sha

    "My favorite," said Ortiz without smiling, "was the theft of forty-five twelfth-century Shang dynasty drinking vessels from a museum in Bejjing. The thieves carefully disassembled the glass cases and rearranged the remaining pieces to create the illusion that nothing was missing. Three months passed before the curator noticed the pieces were missing and realized they'd been stolen."

    Gu

    Ortiz nodded. "In Peru, major art and antiquity collections are stolen as often as banks are robbed. What is even more tragic is that the thieves are getting bolder. They have no hesitation in kidnapping a collector for ransom. The ransom is, of course, his art objects. In many cases, they simply murder a collector before looting his house."

    "You were lucky only a fraction of the art treasures were plundered from the City of the Dead before the looters were stopped," said Pitt.

    "Lucky indeed. But tragically the choice items have already made their way out of the country."

    "A wonder the city wasn't discovered by the huaqueros long before now," said Sha

    "Pueblo de los Muertos sits in this isolated valley ninety kilometers from the nearest village," replied Ortiz. "Traveling in here is a major ordeal, especially by foot. The native population had no reason to struggle seven or eight days through a jungle to search for something they thought existed only in legends from their dim past. When Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu on a mountaintop the local inhabitants had never ventured there. And though it would not deter a hardened huaquero, descendants of the Chachapoya still believe that all ruins across the mountains in the great forests to the east are protected by a demon god like the one we found this afternoon. They're deathly afraid to go near them."

    Sha

    "Ah yes," Giordino murmured, "the old `cursed be you who disturb my bones' routine."