Inca Gold

    "You could waste years looking for it," said Rodgers.

    "It must be buried under landslides and the erosion of almost five centuries."

    "I'll bet the Incas sealed it off by causing a cave-in," Pitt ventured.

    Sha

    Giordino turned to Pitt. "If I get caught in a cave-in, you will dig me out."

    "Not before I dial nine-one-one."

    Sha

    Sha

    "Can you interpret them?" asked Rodgers.

    "If I had more time. They appear to have been chiseled in a hurry."

    Rodgers stared at the protruding fangs in the jaws of the serpent's head. "I'm not surprised the ancients were frightened of the underworld. This thing is ugly enough to induce diarrhea. Notice how the eyes seem to follow our movements."

    "It's enough to make you sober," said Giordino.

    Sha

    Rodgers set the Coleman lantern on the floor, pumped up the fuel pressure and held a lit match against the mantle. The Coleman bathed the passage in a bright light for 10 meters (33 feet) in both directions. Then he held up the lantern to inspect the sculpture. "Why a second demon?" he asked, fascinated by the fact that the well preserved beast looked as if it had been carved only yesterday.

    Pitt patted the serpent on the head. "Insurance in case intruders got past the first one."

    Sha

    "I see nothing unusual about that," said Giordino. "Forty-nine out of fifty people are deathly afraid of snakes."

    They finished their brief examination of the remarkable relic of antiquity and continued along the passageway. The damp air that came up from below drew the sweat through their pores. Despite the humidity they had to be careful they didn't step too heavily or their footsteps raised clouds of choking dust.

    "They must have taken years to carve this tu

    Pitt reached up and ran his fingers lightly over the limestone roof. "I doubt they excavated it from scratch. They probably hollowed out an existing fissure. Whoever they were, they weren't short."

    "How can you tell?"

    "The roof. We don't have to stoop. It's a good foot above our heads."

    Rodgers gestured at a large plate set on an angle in a wall niche. "This is the third one of these things I've seen since we entered. What do you suppose their purpose was?"

    Sha

    "I wonder if they knew they were paving the way for environmentally friendly technology?" murmured Pitt randomly.

    The echoing sound of their footsteps spread ahead and behind them like ripples on a pond. It was an eerie, claustrophobic sensation, knowing they were entering the dead heart of the mountain. The stagnant air became so thick and heavy with moisture it dampened the dust on their clothing. Fifty meters (164 feet) later they entered a small cavern with a long gallery.

    The chamber was nothing less than a catacomb, honeycombed with crypts hewn into the walls. The mummies of twenty men, wrapped tightly in beautifully embroidered woolen mantles, lay head to toe. They were the mortal remains of the guards who faithfully guarded the treasure, even after death, waiting for the return of their countrymen from an empire that no longer existed.

    "These people were huge," said Pitt. "They must have stood two hundred and eight centimeters or six foot ten inches tall."

    "A pity they aren't around to play in the NBA," muttered Giordino.

    Sha

    Pitt sca

    Rodgers looked at him. "Who?"

    "The last man, the one who tended to the burial of the guardians who went before."

    Beyond the gallery of death they came to a larger chamber that Sha

    "What is it?" asked Sha

    "A massive gold ring, plain, with no engravings."

    "An encouraging sign," said Pitt. "We must be getting close to the main vault."

    Sha

    "How far do you think we've come?" asked Giordino.

    "My feet feel like ten kilometers," Sha

    Pitt had paced the distance they'd traveled down the stone steps since leaving the crypts. "The peak of Cerro el Capirote is only five hundred meters above sea level. I'd guess we've reached the desert floor and dropped twenty or thirty meters below it."

    "Damn!" Sha

    "Me too," said Giordino with obvious disgust. "I think I've just been garnished with bat vomit."

    "Be happy he wasn't of the vampire variety," joked Pitt.

    They descended along the tu

    After a few moments, Giordino said, "Sounds like someone left a tap on."

    "A rushing stream or a river," Pitt said softly, recalling the old bartender's words.