From Pachacamac he came with
twenty horsemen, sowing terror in the mountains, carrying eighty
loads of gold. Across the Juaja River and past Lake Chinchaycocha
they came, till they arrived at the city of Huanuco.
"There were temples and gold and priests and soldiers. But when
the soldiers of the Inca saw the horses of the Spaniards and
heard the guns, they became frightened and ran away like little
children, carrying their gold. Never before had they seen white
men, or guns, or horses.
"With them came many priests and women, to the snow of the
mountains. And after many days of suffering they came to a cave,
wherein they disappeared and no more were seen, nor could
Hernando Pizarro and his twenty horsemen find them to procure
their gold.
"And before they entered the cave they scaled a rock near its
entrance and carved thereon the likeness of a horse to warn their
Inca brethren of the Spaniards who had driven them from Huanuco.
That is his story, senor."
"But who told you all this, Felipe?"
The arriero shrugged his shoulders and glanced about, as much as
to say, "It is in the wind."
"But the cave?" cried Desiree. "Where is the cave?"
"It is there, senora," said Felipe, pointing through a passage to
the right.
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