Evening star., 1922-08-11

etantly OF tne DIE usn anu tue curse "
Maustche. Staying at the same Atlantic
Beach hotel with her and her father isaa
Sonora de Moche. 4 Peruvian. OF an old
seems seems to % has: som Something 81 to do with the
old mans excited state; Kennedy ssa ,s
Jameson SO to the hotel and meet eel. Inc ;lr
mediateiy, Of Peru. There was present
also an American engineer. named Locs,
wood, who seemed attentive to inez, u,nss sue
10 helping Don Luis locate buried tress'
ure hidden at the time Of Pisarro,s con
guest He !. said to have let T.. eusis WSere
usual about the cigarettes Don Luis oners
him and takes some Of them away win
him.
Sonora de Moche-for had no
doubt now that this was: the PERU
van Indian woman Of whom Senorlta
Inez had spoken-seemed to lose IN
terest in US and in the concert the
moment Don Luis went out. Her son
also seemed restive. He was good
looking fellow with high forehead
nose slightly aauiline. chin ana
mouth firm. in fact, the whole race
refined and intellectual, though
tinged with melancholy.
We strolIed down the wide ver-
anda, and as we passed the woman a
and her son was conscious OF ina
strange feeling (Which psycholoGists
tell us, however. has no foundauon)
Of being sarted at from behind.
Kennedy turned suddenly and again
We passed. Just in time to eaten W N d
low tone from the young man. Yes
1 have seen him at the university
Every one knows that he
The rest was lost.
II was quite evident now that they
thought we were interested In them
There was. then. no use In our iva wa'cn. 81.
TUNED again we found that the seno-
ra and Alfonso had risen. gone
through the long. open windo" IN
side, and were making their way
slowly to the elevator.
The door of the elevator haa scare,
ly closed when Kennedy turned on
his heel and quickly made his way
back to the alcove where ne NAG peer
sitting. Lying about on the ASH tray
ON q little wicker table were Sevei ~
| Of Mendoza's half-burned cigarettes
We sat down q moment ana. atter
hasty glance around. Craig gaWelea
them up and folded them In p'eee VI
| paper. .,,s o,,.r m
the desk. and, as guests In q sumHiei
hotel will do, looked over the resle'
, ter. The Mendozas, father ana aauSn,
| ter, were registered IN rooms ei1 81
wood was across the hall In S11.
Turning the pages, Kennedy paused
.han nudeed me. Sonora de Moche
and Senior Alfonso de Moche were OF
the same fioor, in sSs and 81. 1us'
| around an Il" in the hall; me W.
| downstairs in the inn, pot III ehe eo'
r;dorS and elevators.
Kennedy said nothing. but glancee
at his watch We had nearly thlee,
quarters OF an hour to wait yet uh'il
our pretty client returned;
"There's no use in wasting time OF
in irving to conceal our identity, he
said finally. drawing a card from nls
! rocket and handing 1t 10 the cieFh
| '.Senora de Moche, please. 80,
| Much to my surprise. the senofa eei.
ephoned down that she would see us
! in her own sitting room. anu
lowed Kennedy into the elevator.
| Hlfonso was out and the sonora was
~ hone that you will pardon me.
be gan Craig, with an elaborate eA-
planation, but I have become lnIe!
ested in an opportunity 10 Iht ,sI1 ms
a Peruvian venture and they tell me
| at the office that you are Peru'ian
/ ! thought that perhaps you could ad-
She looked at US keenly. | fancied
at she detected the subterfuge. yel
she did not try to avoid us; On
closer view, her eyes were really re-
mo ri q hla-those of a woman en-
dowed with an abundance Of health
ond enerey-eyeS that were run OF
what the old phrenologists used 10
call amativeness. denotinS nature
capable Of intense passion. "he.he
of love or hate. Yet, confess that
7 could not And anything especially
ahn6rmal about them, as l had ABOUT
~ suppose you mean that scheme
of Senior Mendoza and his friend. MT
Lockwood she returned. speaklns
rapidly. Let me tell you aDoui u.
in the north were the wealthiest al
tina time of the coming of the Span
iards. Well, they had custom OF
burying with their dead all their NOV
able property. Sometimes a. common
grave or huaca was given 10 many
That would become cache OF treas
"Back in the seventeenth century.
sbe continued, leaning forward eager
ly as she talked, "a Spaniard opened
a Chimu huaca and found gold that
is said to have been worth mllilon
dollars. An Indian tod nlm rre ol a.
After he had shown him the treasure
the indian told the Spaniard that ne
had given him only the little fish, the
neie chica, but that some day he
would give him the big fish, the pe1e
grande. .,
emnly. flashing at Craig glance
from her wonderful eyes. HE was
poisoned by the other members OF his
tribe" She paused. then nashed'
"That is my tribe, my family
She paused a moment. Ihe oie
fish is still secret-or at ieast IL
was until they got it from my broth
er. to whom the tradition had been
intrusted. They drove him crazy
until he talked. Then. after he had
told the secret, and lost his mind, ne
threw himself one day into Lake II
ticaca."
nas,ionate outpouring of the TRACE
dies that had followed the hlooen
II cannot tell you moro than ytn
probably already know. she resumed
watching our faces intently. you
know, I suppose, that the treasure is
believed to be in a large mound. a
tumulous, I think you call it, visible
from our town of Truxillo. Many
people have tried to open 1t, but the
mass of sand pours down on tnem
and they have been discouraged. But
Senior Mendoza believes that he knows
lust where to bore and Mr.. Lockwood
has a plan for a well timbered tun-
mel which can be driven at the right
point"
surance that conveyed the impress
sion without her saying it that the
venture was somehow doomed to fail
ure, that these desecrators were
merely toying with fate. All through
her remarks one could feel that she
suspected Mendoza of having been re-
sponsible for the downfall and trag-
edy of her brother, who had betrayed
the age-old secret.