Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-09

But for that You would have to know,
Of course, what those scenes and conditions
were?
Exactly, senorits."
Really. II is all very interesting" she
said dreamily. 81 have heard something
like II in fairy tales, think; but not In
real life. And now--why do you tell all
this TO me. Senor?' she ASKED, as II struck
by novel idea.
"Ah, Sajipona." he replied with smile,
Il have told you merely In answer to your
own questions. You have shown that--for
some reason other--you are Interested
Interested why. of course am inter
ested-if for no other reason. simply be-
cause you are. This David Meudon. you say.
left Bogota three years ago? Strange that
he should leave so suddenly-and with his
work in this country unhnished"'
II can't tell how much you know of David"
he said musingly. But there is every rea
son why you, more than any one else, should
he interested in the man who attempts to
solve the secret of Guatavita-Sajipona.'
There was no mistaking the emphasis
placed on the girls name; nor was there any
Disgusting the effect its peculiar pronuncis-
ton had upon her. Sajipona looked at Raoul
in alarm, then turned from him IN manifest
confusion. Presently she gave a low laugh
and her eyes sought his again.
"Ah, you Yankees are strange people she
said.
Some say you are only rnoneymakers. But
II appears you are more than that for you
listen to foolish legends, like the rest Of us
and you believe them"
Yes, believe this one, Sajipona."
Does the man who so strangely lost his
memory by your dynamite explosion believe
this ore?" she asked. laughing.
Il don't know. Perhaps lie never heard
it"
We'll, it's very interesting. anyway
mean, about the trance and the dynamite. !
want TO hear the end Of ii. You will surely
come again, won't you? And tell me when
your friend arrives in Bogota?' she added
giving him her hand
You ever the queen; YOU dismiss me
from your presence" he complained. taking
her hand. nevertheless and kissing II.
The streets are safe for you now, Senor'
she said.
Thanks to you. la Reina :"
."Ah. I would do much more for you than
that, as you know, Don Raoul!" she ex-
claimed an arch smile giving to her heauti-
full features rare fash of piquancy. And
now-ados, Senor!'
Surely not 'adois,' but--until the next
time, Sajipona," he replied, as he bowed
himself from the sala.
Raoul's belief in the legend involved IN
Sajipona's name marked radical change
which he had undergone since he arrived in
Bogota. TO his keen logical mind the pro
posal to enlist in quest for the lons-Iost
Ell Dorado seemed. at first. far too quiAotic
to he taken seriously. But he hunored tho
| idea. originating in Dav!ds fondress for
studies touching the borderlands of romance
| in the hope that he would divert a purely
| fancifu project into more profitable chan
| nels. Later on, however, he was himself
caught by the practical possibilities lurking
| in the old Chibcha legend Hence, 1t fol-
| lowed that while David was enjoying the pic"
| turesque life of the little mountain capital
| Raoul was delving in musty records. running
down old traditions and studying the topog-
| 'raphy tableland with a degree of patience as
| to details that the subject had rarely re-
| ceived. For days at a time he burrowed IN
| the crumbling archives of the NIuseo Nacional'
an unpretentious little ediice not far from
| the palace of San Carlos, in which We're
stored, pell-mell. practically every evidence
| that remained Of Colombia's prehistoric civil
| lizaton. Here. with only the gray, shriN-
eled munfnies of two ancient kings of the
Chibchas to watch him. he had reconstructed.
| as best he could, the past OF this vanished
| race of people. had convinced himself or
| their wealth, scarcely any of which had fallen
| into the hands OF the Spanish, and had laid
his plans for discovering treasure which
| had baked every explorer before him.
Combined with these studies in the Ma
tional Museum and in the vicinity of Lake
| Guatavta. Raoul had busted himself with the
poems of the neghborhood From these primi-
| tive people he learned enough to corroborate
the main features in the Chibcha tradition
as handed down by Castelanos, Pedro 81
| mon, Piedrahita and other chronicers of the
| Spanish Conquest. In addition, he unearthed
| the curious legend that the Sacred Lake
would never yield up it's treasure except to
| one in whose veins flowed the blood Of the
| Chibcha Kings This bit of prophetic ro-
nance had come, IL was said. from father TO
! son through the four centuries following the
| martyrdom OF the last of the zipas.
He was told, also-and II added to the
fantastic character of the prophecy---that
secret, known only to the zipas and their
direct descendants, attached to Lake Guata-
vita and that by means OF this secret the
treasure hidden beneath its waters would be
discovered,
Raoul at first paid little heed to this part
Of the legend It had too strong a flavor
of Iatter-day romance to 60 for more than
recent addition to the main story Of the
wealth of the Chibcha kings and their pc
culiar religious customs. The persistence
of the idea, however the belief in its truth
OH the part OF those repeating it. gradually
excited his interest and led him into all
| kinds of theories as to the existence and
| recovery OF the Guatavita treasure.
That so fancifu legend could have won
| even the partial belief of SO ingrained
| skeptic as Raoul seems at first absurd on
| the face OF It, But most OF US can recall
instances enough OF similar lapses from the
hypercritical to the oVersuperstitious TO
| make this one not altogether incredible. As
often happens also In such cases-as with
those otherwise reasonable persons who be-
Iieye in fortune-telling, omens. apparitions,
| etc-this bit of superstition, having once
lodged itself in Raoul's mind, increased in
| Importance, opening UP an absorbing field
for hts love of psychological novelties. until
| il finally became a monomania, an obsession,
| as the scientists call II.
| These ancient zipas, he argued, were the
| chieftains of a superior race of people. In
| the annual tribute from the royal treasury
| to the national god, who was supposed 10
| live at the bottom of Lake Guatavita, they
| catered to the credulity of their subjects
| while, In reality, laughing in their sleeves
| at them, so to speak, all the time. Men
| of their intelligence were not apt literally TO
| throw away wealth they had themselves
| amassed, and which they must consider as
| belonging to them and to their descendants.
| But as they--apparently-did throw it away,
| IL was more than likely that they used some
| kind of hocus-p pocus, known only to them
| selves by means Of which the god Chib-