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General Relativity
General Relativity
A Concise Introduction

Steven Carlip
The University of California at Davis

1
 3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

c Steven Carlip 2019
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2019
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957383
ISBN 978–0–19–882215–8 (hbk.)
ISBN 978–0–19–882216–5 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822158.001.0001
Printed and bound by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
In memory of Bryce DeWitt and Cecile DeWitt-Morette
Preface

General relativity was born in 1915, the culmination of eight years of work, by Einstein
and others, aimed at reconciling special relativity and Newton’s action-at-a-distance
gravity. In much of the century that followed, most physicists viewed the result with
ambivalence. General relativity was seen as a beautiful, elegant theory, a model of
what physics should be; but at the same time, it was a theory that seemed almost
completely divorced from the rest of physics.
The beauty was obvious. Einstein had identified an assumption that had been
taken for granted, that spacetime was flat and nondynamical; he had changed it in the
simplest way possible; and out of that single step had sprung all of Newtonian gravity,
small but measurable corrections, and a completely new view of cosmology. But the
irrelevance also seemed obvious. General relativity remained stubbornly outside the
quantum revolution that was sweeping through physics, and, as a practical matter, the
best available technology had to be stretched to its limits to detect the tiny deviations
from Newtonian gravity.
Things have changed. General relativity is still widely viewed as the model of el-
egance in physics, though some argue that its simplicity may be an accidental low
energy manifestation of a more complicated high energy theory. But the separation
from the rest of physics has ended. Cosmologists can no longer rely on a few simple
solutions of the Einstein field equations; they must understand perturbations, gravi-
tational lensing, and alternative theories of gravity. Gravitational waves are opening
up an entirely new window into the Universe, allowing us to observe phenomena such
as black hole mergers that would otherwise be completely invisible. High energy theo-
rists find it increasingly difficult to escape the question of an “ultraviolet completion,”
a high energy limit that will almost certainly have to incorporate quantum gravity.
Even some condensed matter and heavy ion physicists are looking at the peculiar links
between their fields and gravity suggested by the AdS/CFT correspondence, and new
research on evaporating black holes is pointing toward surprising connections between
general relativity and quantum information theory.
This makes a difference in how we teach, and learn, general relativity. A course
should be a jumping-off point for people going in many different directions. It shouldn’t
be mathematically sloppy—students will still need to read, and perhaps write, mathe-
matically sophisticated papers—but it should move as quickly as possible to physics. It
should tantalize, offering students glimpses of the vast landscape of science connected
to general relativity without trying to explain everything at once.
This book has grown out of an introductory graduate course I’ve taught at the
University of California at Davis since 1991. Davis operates on a quarter system—in
practice, about 25 hours of instruction per course—and I’ve tried to write a textbook
that could be used for such a course, although instructors with more time should find
viii Preface

it easy to add material. The book is directed primarily toward graduate students, but
my classes have often included a few undergraduates, who have kept up without too
much extra work. I assume basic knowledge of special relativity (including four-vectors
and Lorentz invariance), some familiarity with Lagrangians and variational principles,
a reasonable level of comfort with partial differential equations and linear algebra, and
an acquaintance with a small bit of set theory (open sets, intersections, and the like),
but no prior knowledge of differential geometry or tensor analysis.
My assumption is that most students using this book will be physics students. I
take the “physics first” approach, popularized by Jim Hartle, in which a class moves
very quickly to calculations of gravity in the Solar System and only later returns to a
more systematic development of the necessary mathematics. I have included a short
introduction to the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity, a topic often left out
of introductory courses, and I close with a “bonus” chapter that briefly describes some
of the many directions one could go from here.
I learned general relativity from Bryce DeWitt and Cecile DeWitt-Morette, to
whom I owe a deep debt of gratitude. My students over the past 25 years taught me
more. One of them, Joseph Mitchell, undertook a very careful reading of a draft. I
thank my sons, Peter and David Carlip, for their help in editing and proofreading this
book, and my brother, Walter Carlip, for extensive proofreading and invaluable help
with typography. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy
under grant DE-FG02-91ER40674.
Contents

1 Gravity as geometry 1
Further reading 3
2 Geodesics 4
2.1 Straight lines and great circles 4
2.2 Spacetime and causal structure 8
2.3 The metric 9
2.4 The geodesic equation 12
2.5 The Newtonian limit 13
Further reading 14
3 Geodesics in the Solar System 15
3.1 The Schwarzschild metric 15
3.2 Geodesics in the Schwarzschild metric 15
3.3 Planetary orbits 18
3.4 Light deflection 19
3.5 Shapiro time delay 20
3.6 Gravitational red shift 21
3.7 The PPN formalism 23
Further reading 24
4 Manifolds and tensors 25
4.1 Manifolds 25
4.2 Tangent vectors 27
4.3 Cotangent vectors and gradients 29
4.4 Tensors 31
4.5 The metric 33
4.6 Isometries and Killing vectors 34
4.7 Orthonormal bases 35
4.8 Differential forms 36
Further reading 36
5 Derivatives and curvature 37
5.1 Integration 37
5.2 Why derivatives are more complicated 38
5.3 Derivatives of p-forms: Cartan calculus 38
5.4 Connections and covariant derivatives 39
5.5 The Christoffel/Levi-Civita connection 42
5.6 Parallel transport 44
5.7 Curvature 45
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x Contents

5.8 Properties of the curvature tensor 47

5.9 The Cartan structure equations 50
Further reading 51
6 The Einstein field equations 52
6.1 Gravity and geodesic deviation 52
6.2 The Einstein-Hilbert action 53
6.3 Conservation laws 56
6.4 Generalizing the action 57
Further reading 58
7 The stress-energy tensor 59
7.1 Energy as a rank two tensor 59
7.2 The stress-energy tensor for a point particle 60
7.3 Perfect fluids 61
7.4 Other fields 61
7.5 Differential and integral conservation laws 62
7.6 Conservation and the geodesic equation 63
Further reading 65
8 The weak field approximation 66
8.1 The linearized field equations 66
8.2 The Newtonian limit 68
8.3 Gravitomagnetism 69
8.4 Higher orders 69
8.5 Bootstrapping the field equations 71
Further reading 71
9 Gravitational waves 72
9.1 Solving the weak field equations 72
9.2 Propagating waves 74
9.3 Detecting gravitational waves 76
9.4 Sources and signals 77
Further reading 79
10 Black holes 80
10.1 Static spacetimes 80
10.2 Spherical symmetry 81
10.3 Schwarzschild again 82
10.4 The event horizon 84
10.5 An extended spacetime 86
10.6 Conformal structure and Penrose diagrams 87
10.7 Properties of the horizon 88
Further reading 91
11 Cosmology 92
11.1 Homogeneity and isotropy 92
11.2 The FLRW metric 94
 Contents xi

11.3 Observational implications 96

11.4 Inflation 98
Further reading 100
12 The Hamiltonian formalism 101
12.1 The ADM metric 101
12.2 Extrinsic curvature 102
12.3 The Hamiltonian action 104
12.4 Constraints 105
12.5 Degrees of freedom 105
12.6 Boundary terms 107
Further reading 108
13 Next steps 109
13.1 Solutions and approximations 109
13.2 Mathematical relativity 110
13.3 Alternative models 112
13.4 Quantum gravity 112
13.5 Experimental gravity 115
Further reading 116
Appendix A Mathematical details 117
A.1 Manifolds 117
A.2 Maps between manifolds 118
A.3 Topologies 119
A.4 Cohomology 121
A.5 Integrals of d-forms and Stokes’ theorem 122
A.6 Curvature and holonomies 123
A.7 Symmetries and Killing vectors 126
A.8 The York decomposition 127
Further reading 128
References 129
Index 135
1
Gravity as geometry

General relativity is an elegant and powerful theory, but it is also a strange one.
According to Einstein, the phenomenon we usually think of as the force of gravity is
really not a force at all, but rather a byproduct of the curvature of spacetime. Although
we have become accustomed to this idea over time, it is still a peculiar notion, and
it’s worth trying to understand what it means before plunging into the details.
Start with the foundation of mechanics, Newton’s second law,

F = ma . (1.1)

Students who first see this equation sometimes worry that it might be a tautology.
True, forces cause accelerations; but the way we recognize and measure a force is by
the acceleration it causes. Is this not circular?
Looking deeper, though, we can see that the second law is rich with insight. Newton
has split the Universe into two pieces: the right-hand side, the object whose motion we
want to understand, and the left-hand side, the rest of the Universe, everything that
might influence that motion. He tells us that the rest of the Universe causes accel-
erations, second derivatives of position—not velocities (first derivatives), not “jerks”
(third derivatives), not anything else. This behavior is reflected throughout physics,
where second order differential equations are found everywhere; it is only recently that
we have begun to understand the underlying reason for this pattern (see Box 1.1).
Beyond this, Newton’s second law tells us that the response of a body to the
Universe has two separate elements: its acceleration, but also its inertia, or resistance
to acceleration, as expressed by a single “inertial mass” m. This allows us to extract
information about the force by measuring the response of otherwise identical bodies
with different masses. So physics really is about forces.
But there is one exception. Consider the motion of an object in a gravitational
field. Going back again to Newton—now to his law of gravity—we have

GM m
ma = − 2
r̂ . (1.2)
 r
The masses m on the left-hand and right-hand side cancel, and we are left only with
acceleration.
This did not have to be. The mass m on the left-hand side of (1.2) is inertial
mass, a measure of resistance to acceleration, while the mass m on the right-hand side
is gravitational mass, a kind of “gravitational charge” analogous to electric charge.
From the point of view of Newtonian gravity, there is no reason for these to be the

General Relativity: A Concise Introduction. Steven Carlip 

c Steven Carlip 2019.
Published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822158.001.0001
2 Gravity as geometry

Box 1.1 Ostrogradsky’s theorem

The importance of acceleration in Newtonian mechanics is echoed throughout

physics: almost all fundamental interactions are described by equations with at
most two derivatives. We now understand that a good part of the explanation
lies in an 1850 theorem of Ostrogradsky [1].

Starting with the Lagrangian formalism, Ostrogradsky explored the problem of

constructing a Hamiltonian for a theory with more than two time derivatives.
In an ordinary two-derivative theory, each generalized position q is accompanied
by a generalized momentum p, which is related to the time derivative q̇. For
higher-derivative theories, new generalized momenta appear, related to higher
derivatives of the generalized positions. Ostrogradsky showed that, with a clearly
demarcated set of exceptions, the resulting Hamiltonians are linear in at least one
of these new momenta. This means the energy is not bounded below: since the
momentum can have any sign, there are configurations with arbitrarily negative
energies. Such theories have no stable classical configurations, and no quantum
ground states; they cannot describe a real world.

same. But the equality of these two masses—a form of what is called the equivalence
principle—has been verified experimentally to better than a part in 1014 .
For gravity, then, physics is really not about forces, but about accelerations, or
trajectories. Any sufficiently small “test body” will move along the same path in a
gravitational field, no matter what its mass, shape, or internal composition. A gravi-
tational field picks out a set of preferred paths.
But this is what we mean by a geometry. Euclidean geometry is ultimately a
theory of straight lines; it consists of the statement, “These are the straight lines,”
and a description of their properties. Spherical geometry consists of the statement,
“These are the great circles,” and a description of their properties. If a gravitational
field picks out a set of preferred “lines”—the paths of test bodies—and tells us their
properties, it is determining a geometry.
The equivalence principle was already known to Galileo. The famous experiment
in which he is said to have dropped two balls of different masses off the Leaning Tower
of Pisa may not have taken place—it was first described years after his death—but he
knew from many other experiments that bodies with different masses and compositions
responded identically to gravity. Could he have formulated gravity as geometry?
Probably not: there is one more subtlety to take into account. In Euclidean geom-
etry, two points determine a unique line. For an object moving in a gravitational field,
on the other hand, the motion depends not only on the initial and final positions, but
also on the initial velocity. I can drop a coin to the floor, or I can throw it straight up
and allow it to fall. In either case, it will start and end at the same position.
But the coin will reach the floor at different times. If I specify the initial and final
positions and times, the trajectory is unique. Gravity does, indeed, specify preferred
 Further reading 3

Box 1.2 Equivalence principles

The principle of equivalence has two common formulations. The first is “uni-
versality of free fall,” the statement that the trajectory of a small object in
a gravitational field is independent of its mass and internal properties such as
structure and composition. The second is “weightlessness,” the statement that
in a small enough freely falling laboratory, no local measurement can detect the
presence of the external gravitational field. The two formulations are essentially
equivalent: we detected gravity by measuring accelerations, but universality of
free fall implies the absence of relative accelerations in a freely falling laboratory.

There are nuances, though, depending on exactly what objects are included.
The “weak equivalence principle” applies to objects whose internal gravitational
fields can be neglected. The “Einstein equivalence principle” adds local position
invariance and local Lorentz invariance, the statement that the outcome of any
experiment in a freely falling reference frame is independent of the location and
velocity of the frame. The “strong equivalence principle” extends these claims
to objects whose self-gravitation cannot be ignored.

Precision tests of the weak equivalence principle date back to experiments by

Eötvös in the early 20th century. Today, the principle has been tested to exquisite
accuracy: relative accelerations of bodies with different compositions have been
shown to be equal to about a part in 1014 . Progress has been made on testing
the strong equivalence principle as well (see Box 8.1).

“lines,” but the lines are not in space, they are in spacetime. Galileo and Newton didn’t
have special relativity—they had no unified treatment of space and time. Einstein
did. Once that framework was available, the possibility of understanding gravity as
geometry became available as well.

Further reading

A good introduction to the various forms of experimental tests can be found in, for in-
the principle of equivalence and their tests stance, [4]. A beautiful review of Ostrograd-
can be found in Will’s book, Theory and Ex- sky’s theorem is given in [5]. For a nonmath-
periment in Gravitational Physics [2]. The ematical but deep and thought-provoking
first “modern” tests of the equivalence prin- introduction to the idea of gravity as space-
ciple were performed by Eötvös in the early time geometry, see Geroch’s book, General
1900s [3]. More up-to-date information on Relativity from A to B [6].
2
Geodesics

Let us now look for a mathematical expression of this idea of gravity as geometry.
To do so, we need to generalize the idea of a “straight line” to arbitrary geometries.
In ordinary Euclidean geometry, a straight line can be characterized in either of two
ways:
• A straight line is “straight,” or autoparallel: its direction at any point is the same
as its direction at any other. This turns out to be complicated to generalize—it
requires us to know whether two vectors at different locations are parallel—and
we will have to wait until Chapter 5 for a mathematical treatment.
• A straight line is the shortest distance between two points. This is much easier
to generalize; it’s exactly the kind of question that the calculus of variations was
designed for.
This chapter will develop the general equation for the shortest, or more generally the
extremal, line between two points, a “geodesic.”

2.1 Straight lines and great circles

We start with the simplest example, a straight line in a two-dimension Euclidean
space with Cartesian coordinates x and y. Choose initial and final points (x0 , y0 ) and
(x1 , y1 ). Among all curves between these two points, we want to find the shortest.
To specify a curve, we could give y as a function of x, or x as a function of y. But this
is contrary to the spirit of general relativity, in which all coordinates should be treated
equally. For a more democratic description, we choose a parameter σ ∈ [0, σmax ], and
describe the curve as a pair of functions (x(σ), y(σ)) with

(x(0), y(0)) = (x0 , y0 ), (x(σmax ), y(σmax )) = (x1 , y1 ) .

Mathematically, we are describing a curve as a map from the interval [0, σmax ] to R2 .
Physically, we can think of σ as a sort of “time” along the curve, though not the usual
time coordinate, which we should treat as a coordinate like any other.
We next need the length of such a curve. If the curve is smooth enough, a short
enough segment will be approximately straight, and we can use Pythagoras’ theorem
to write
ds2 = dx2 + dy 2 (2.1)
for an “infinitesimal distance” ds, often referred to as a “line element.” Mathematically
inclined readers may be uncomfortable with this equation; we will see in Chapter 4
how to make it into a mathematically well-defined statement about covariant tensors.

General Relativity: A Concise Introduction. Steven Carlip 

c Steven Carlip 2019.
Published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198822158.001.0001
 Straight lines and great circles 5

For now, we will take the physicists’ approach and think of “ds” as representing a
small but finite distance, taking limits when they make sense.
Let us define  2  2  2
ds dx dy
E= = + . (2.2)
dσ dσ dσ
The length of our curve is then
Z (x1 ,y1 ) Z σmax
L= ds = E 1/2 dσ . (2.3)
(x0 ,y0 ) 0

We extremize by setting the variation to zero while holding the end points fixed:
Z σmax Z σmax  
1 −1/2 dx dδx dy dδy
δL = 0 = E δE dσ = E −1/2 + dσ . (2.4)
0 2 0 dσ dσ dσ dσ
It’s helpful to remember that the variation δ is really just a derivative, albeit a deriva-
tive in an infinite-dimensional space of functions. In particular, the usual product rule
and chain rule of calculus continue to hold. I’ve also used the fact that
   
dx dδx
δ = ;
dσ dσ

when a variation changes x(σ) to x(σ) + δx(σ), the derivative changes accordingly.
To finish, we integrate (2.4) by parts to isolate δx and δy. In general, integration
by parts leads to boundary terms, but here these terms are proportional to δx and
δy, which are zero at the end points, since we are holding (x0 , y0 ) and (x1 , y1 ) fixed.
Hence Z σmax      
d −1/2 dx d −1/2 dy
0=− E δx + E δy dσ . (2.5)
0 dσ dσ dσ dσ
Since the variations δx and δy are arbitrary, their coefficients must be zero, giving us
the equations we seek.
One final trick simplifies this result. So far, σ has been an arbitrary label for points
on the curve. Now that we have a particular curve, though, we can make the specific
choice σ = s, labeling points by their distance from the initial point. (The reader may
check that making this identification before the variation leads nowhere.) With this
parametrization, E = 1, and the equations for the extremal curve are simply

d2 x d2 y
= = 0, (2.6)
ds2 ds2
the expected equations for a straight line.
This may seem to be a rather complicated way to get a simple result. The advan-
tage is that it generalizes easily. Consider, for example, the same problem in polar
coordinates,
x = r cos θ, y = r sin θ . (2.7)
Substituting dx = cos θ dr −r sin θ dθ and dy = sin θ dr +r cos θ dθ into the line element
(2.1), we find
6 Geodesics

ds2 = dr2 + r2 dθ2 . (2.8)

 2  2
dr dθ
Now E = + r2 , and repeating the steps that led to (2.5), we have
dσ dσ
"  2 #
Z σmax
dr dδr dθ dδθ dθ
0= E −1/2 + r2 +r δr dσ
0 dσ dσ dσ dσ dσ
Z σmax ("    2 #   )
d −1/2 dr −1/2 dθ d 2 dθ
=− E −E r δr + r δθ dσ . (2.9)
0 dσ dσ dσ dσ dσ

Note that E now depends explicitly on r, and not just its derivative; this factor of r
must also be varied. Again choosing σ = s, we obtain
 2
d2 r
 
d 2 dθ dθ
r = 0, −r = 0. (2.10)
ds ds ds2 ds
These equations are easy enough to integrate, but we can also introduce a new
trick. From (2.8), we have the identity
 2  2
dr 2 dθ
1= +r . (2.11)
ds ds
This is not an independent equation—we will see below that it is a “first integral” of
(2.10)—but it saves us a step.
Solving the system (2.10)–(2.11) is now straightforward. From (2.10),
dθ
r2 = b, (2.12)
ds
where b is an integration constant. Substituting into (2.11) and integrating, we obtain
 
2 2 2 −1 s − s0
r = b + (s − s0 ) , θ − θ0 = tan , (2.13)
b

and thus r cos(θ − θ0 ) = b. This is once again a straight line, as of course it must be.
Again, this may seem a roundabout way to find an obvious result. For a less trivial
example, consider a “straight line” on a sphere of radius r0 , x2 + y 2 = r02 . To obtain
the line element, we start with flat three-dimensional space in spherical coordinates

x = r sin θ cos ϕ, y = r sin θ sin ϕ, z = r cos θ , (2.14)

for which it is easy to check that

ds23 = dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 = dr2 + r2 dθ2 + r2 sin2 θ dϕ2 . (2.15)

We now restrict to the surface r = r0 , to obtain the line element for a sphere,

ds2 = r02 (dθ2 + sin2 θ dϕ2 ) . (2.16)

 Straight lines and great circles 7

Box 2.1 Coordinates: part I

The line elements (2.1) and (2.8) look very different, but they describe the
same flat space. Similarly, the geodesic equations (2.6) and (2.10) give different
descriptions of the same straight lines. This is a first sign of a recurring theme
in general relativity, the need to separate out the real physics from “coordinate
effects.”

For flat space, there is a preferred coordinate system, Cartesian coordinates.

This can give us a false sense of security: we may think we understand what
coordinates mean, especially if they’re called x and y, or r and θ. But curved
spacetimes typically have no preferred coordinates, and a good part of the work is
to figure out what some chosen coordinates really mean. Much of the mathematics
developed in Chapters 4 and 5 is designed to ensure that the final results don’t
depend on coordinates, but even then it can be tricky to interpret outcomes in
terms of honest physical observables.

 2  2
dθ 2 dϕ
Proceeding as before, with E = r02 + r02 sin θ , we have
dσ dσ
"  2 #
Z σmax
dθ dδθ dϕ dδϕ dϕ
0= E −1/2 r02 + sin2 θ + sin θ cos θ δθ dσ
0 dσ dσ dσ dσ dσ
Z σmax     2 
2 d −1/2 dθ −1/2 dϕ
= −r0 E −E sin θ cos θ δθ
0 dσ dσ dσ
  
d dϕ
+ sin2 θ δϕ dσ . (2.17)
dσ dσ
Setting σ = s, we obtain the equations
 2
d2 θ
 
d dϕ dϕ
sin2 θ = 0, − sin θ cos θ = 0, (2.18)
ds ds ds2 ds
and from (2.16), a first integral
" 2  2 #
dθ 2 dϕ
1= r02 + sin θ . (2.19)
ds ds

The first equation in (2.18) gives

dϕ
sin2 θ = b, (2.20)
ds
which allows us to integrate (2.19):
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Other documents randomly have
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 CHAPTER XXV
TOM’S ADVENTURE

Tom did not go very far on his way before he saw a

small troop of soldiers guarding the road.

He hesitated: if he tried to slip around them he might

run into others: if he ran boldly past them it would test
his nerve but it was really the safest course.

He kept on, running lightly, drawing his breath a little

faster than usual, more from excitement than from
weariness.

“Stop, chasqui!” commanded the officer in charge as

Tom ran close to the resting soldiers. “Where run you so
fast?”

Tom showed the quipu Bill had made up.

“I run for the Inca,” he said.

The officer studied his face: while the light was only
that coming from the stars he peered closely.

“I do not know you,” he declared.

Tom drew himself up to his full height. He stared at the 208
officer, trying to be haughty.

The officer was not impressed. At the same time, he did

not quite dare to delay a messenger with the royal
proof, the quipu that seemed to indicate Tom’s errand
as genuine.

He did not release the grip he had taken on Tom’s arm.

A soldier stepped forward and made a salute.

“Let me run with the chasqui,” he said. “Thus the Inca’s

message will not be delayed and if the fellow is carrying
the royal token without warrant I can bring him back.”

This did not suit Tom but he said nothing. It flashed

through his mind that this was no time to raise a
disturbance: later on he might think of some way to
elude the soldier.

“See that you do,” said the officer. Tom whirled,

snatched his arm free and ran. The soldier ran as lightly,
as swiftly as he.

Tom had been in the races during the ceremonies of

naming Challcuchima successor to the Inca’s rule: it
suited his present purpose to make the soldier at his
side run his best, to tire him quickly.

But, as the road was spurned by his light feet, he 209

realized that the soldier was not one to tire quickly: step
for step, with easy breath and unwearied muscles, he
kept the pace. Then Tom received a surprise.

They were passing the outskirts of the city of Quichaka

and had come to a small house; it was not of the
splendid stone, matched and sturdy, that marked the
noble palaces; it was built of the sticky earth mixed with
rushes or reeds and grasses, of which the Peruvians
made bricks to use in their homes for the more humble
people.

“Turn with me,” said the soldier.

Tom hesitated. What was the fellow’s purpose? He saw

that his companion was young, but he had not
recognized him.

But, as they came into the dimly lit room wherein an

aged couple squatted, he stared.

His soldier companion was Caya’s brother!

The youth wasted little time explaining to his parents:

the woman began to mutter: she was afraid of what
could happen if they shielded these lads from the world
beyond their mountains. But the youth’s father was
different: he understood his son’s explanation readily
and nodded. The soldier told Tom to remain there when
Tom had explained his errand.

“There is no need to run so far,” he said. “I will find a

rope that will be strong and light.”

“It will save time,” Tom said. 210

“Yes—and time is precious!”

The old man listened. Finally he spoke.

“What of Caya?”
“I think she is safe,” Tom told him, and in what quichua
he could master, aided by signs, he detailed what he
knew of the plan to save her. The old woman was
horrified at what she understood of the plan to go to
the Inca, but the man laughed with a hoarse, hearty
chuckle.

“Shame!” cried his old wife. “That you laugh at the son
of the Sun.”

“But he has brought it upon himself,” the man assured

her. “If he were a true descendant of the old line of
rulers I would not dare to laugh: but you know he is not
of the true line and when we of his council advised him
to free the white stranger who would, I think, write in
his papers but not tell others how to find us, he refused.
This is therefore his punishment for being vain of his
own counsel!”

Meanwhile Tom and the young soldier discussed plans.

The latter was certain that Caya’s shepherd would never
be able to come to see her tonight: the secret ways
were all guarded by many soldiers and the hills were full
of the searching natives.

“But there is a way, I think,” he said. “I know of an old 211

aqueduct that has not been filled with water for years.
It was built to take water to flood the secret tunnels if
any came to steal our treasure; but most people, I
believe, forget what it is for and how to operate its old
water gate. Stay you here until I look at the gate to be
sure it is not open and that we can get into its deep
bed: also I will hide a strong rope there and come back.
Then we will get your friends. Caya, if she is free, must
leave the city. I think the mother of her shepherd in the
hills will care for her until the Inca has forgotten.”
He hurried away and Tom, resting and waiting,
wondering what was happening and how his comrades
fared, listened to much that would have been
interesting under other circumstances.

The old man told him the history of the hidden valley:
told how the race began, for he was a student and a
quipucamaya, or reader of the records, and knew much
of the legend and history: but while Tom listened
respectfully, his mind was far away.

He was glad when the young soldier came back.

He had all in readiness and after thanking the older 212

people and being assured by the man that he would get
bundles of food ready so that they could be picked up
by his son later, Tom and his companion set out for the
city, going in ways that took them safely past all guards.

But when they reached the square they stopped. A

crowd was clamoring and shouting outside the Temple
to the Sun and it was easy to tell that their angry shouts
meant dire danger for the persons who might be within
its walls.

And Tom did not know who was there, or what to do!

213
 CHAPTER XXVI
INTO THE DUNGEONS

Within the rear chamber of the Sun Temple Cliff, his

father and Mr. Whitley heard the roar of the furious
people. The Coya had discovered her husband, the Inca,
and soldiers had released him: from them the news had
spread swiftly among the populace. The chief priest and
other nobles had been summoned.

In the passages Bill and Nicky finally reached the golden

room, ignorant of this failure of all their carefully laid
plans.

In the square Tom, with Caya’s brother, saw the

procession going toward the Sun Temple. Only the Inca
and his highest priests had the privilege of entering
there—and they were going in!

“There is but one place we have not sought,” 214

Huamachaco had said. “That temple so sacred! Those
men and youths with dyed skins, as the Spaniard has
told us—they would profane its very sanctuary with
their vile presence. Come—you shall see!”

Tom proposed, in his halting quichua, that he and

Caya’s brother press through the throng; but the young
soldier had a better plan. “No,” he said. “I have learned
the way. We go to the lower level from the Inca’s palace
—even that I dare for you!—and then we shall see if the
way is clear to the old water way. I will wait there and
you shall bring your friends. Come. I show the way.”

The palace was deserted: all minds and all eyes were
focused on the temple.

“Let’s lose no time!” whispered Tom, and the two youths

made all the haste they could. They were already in the
passages when from the mob around the Sun Temple
came a deep, throaty roar—the throaty, deep lust-cry of
a mob thirsting for vengeance for a seeming insult to
their temple!

The Inca had gone in with his aide and then had hurried
to the doorway again to signal that they had found their
prey.

At the foot of the steps in the treasure room Bill sent

Nicky up to tell his friends to be ready, to see if Cliff had
returned to them safely and to learn what they knew of
Tom.

Nicky walked up the steps, cautiously, and found himself 215

facing the Inca and his chief priest and the Spaniard. In
their fury the nobles had overlooked the insult of the
Spaniard’s entry into the sacred chamber.

Nicky saw at once that he had blundered into a trap.

John Whitley, Mr. Gray, and Cliff faced the angry noble
and the Inca, desperately, not knowing what to do. The
crowd in the square gave them no chance to escape
that way. They could not know that the passages were
not already invaded by soldiers. Indeed, there were
detachments already coming from the palace.
Far away down a lateral passageway Caya’s brother
showed Tom the place where, when the tunnels were
made, an opening had been left into an old waterway;
in case of menace to the treasures, a former Inca had
provided a way to flood the tunnels.

The young soldier began as quietly as he could to tear

away the old debris that had collected, while Tom
hurried back along the tunnel, making careful note of
the way, planning to tell his friends to hurry, that the
way for escape was found!

At the foot of the steps he found Bill.

“Something has gone wrong!” Bill whispered. “Nicky 216

went up the steps five minutes since. He hasn’t come
down. I haven’t heard from anybody. But I think I hear
sounds in the tunnels. Don’t you?”

Tom listened.

“Yes, I do,” he said, under his breath. “Bill, I’ll slip up

the stairs—and see what’s what!”

“Too late!” Bill whispered.

Far away down the passages came shouts. Once they

saw a light flash. They were being cornered,
surrounded. If there was no way from the temple they
were helpless.

Tom told his story in hurried words.

Yet the news had come too late, it seemed. Unless quick
thinking could get them out of the toils, they were
doomed.
Up above, in the temple, the Inca was delivering his
words of doom. “You can no longer be free!” he said
sharply. “Escape is not possible. You have profaned our
temples! You have deceived us! You shall go to the
dungeons.”

Cliff looked from one to the other of his friends. If only 217
Tom was there—he knew from Nicky where Bill was!—
they could make one desperate effort! Perhaps they
might use his remaining smoke pot. But Tom was not
there!

Nicky gripped his arm.

From the lower levels came a muffled report! Bill had

fired into the air as a body of soldiers came, in their
light cotton quilted armor, carrying bows and arrows
and short spears; they had to stop in face of his “magic
stick” that spat out fire and sudden death.

“We must go to Bill!” whispered Cliff. “We can’t get out

through the square! If we can get through the passages
we may be able to hide.” The others agreed. With the
Inca, Huamachaco and Pizzara in hot pursuit, but
unarmed, they almost leaped down the curving steps.

Bill stood at their foot, his back to them, his weapon

leveled. Before him half a dozen soldiers hesitated.

“We’re here!” cried Cliff. Then he saw Tom, just around

the edge of the wall, tense and alert, his own light, and
in this emergency almost useless weapon held ready.

If only they had known Tom was there, two minutes

sooner!
Before they could make any concerted plan Pizzara, with 218
his quick cunning serving him, caught old, weakened Mr.
Gray by an arm: he saw that Bill could possibly daunt
the soldiers; with merciless cruelty he dragged the old
scholar past Bill before the others quite knew what he
meant to do. Immediately he swung Mr. Gray, who was
not strong enough to resist the surprise attack: Pizzara
swung him so that his own body was shielded.

Bill saw, too late, the ruse. His weapon was useless: in
that narrow place he could not fire without endangering
the old student of ancient civilizations.

“Down, Father!” Cliff cried. “Drop down!”

The old man had recovered his balance. With all his
small strength he tried to fling off Pizzara’s grip, to
lower his body. At the same instant the high priest and
the Inca caught hold of Mr. Whitley and Bill. Cliff and
Nicky in turn grasped them. Tom broke past Bill and
caught a tackle around Pizzara’s legs. His balance thus
disturbed the Spaniard lost his grip on Mr. Gray.

Cliff tripped his adversary and with Mr. Whitley fighting

with all his skill and science, soon was free to go to
Tom’s side.

Bill was there already, and a short-arm blow dazed the 219
Spaniard. Down he went. But in that brief scuffle the
soldiers had leaped forward.

Outnumbered, there was little that the desperate party

could do. Pizzara shielded himself; a soldier wrestled
with Bill for possession of the magic stick. It exploded
once, but its muzzle was pointed toward the roof and no
one suffered. During a lull in the scrimmage, for Cliff
thought, in a passing flash, how like a football game
was this scrimmage, the youth thought he saw Caya’s
brother holding a torch. But he was not sure.

Panting, perspiring, choked by the resinous smoke of

the torches, the three men and their three youthful
companions were soon overpowered. Bill’s, and Tom’s
weapons, as well as those of Mr. Whitley—their only
three pistols—had been flung to the floor.

Cliff made one valiant effort, rolling about with a soldier

on his back, to grasp a revolver. But Pizzara kicked it
aside.

“Into the dungeons!” cried the Inca.

Held by a soldier at either side, the six captives had no 220

chance to try to make a break for liberty, even if such a
try could have succeeded: with soldiers everywhere
there was no chance for success.

Sombre and dejected, they were led to a place where

guards moved aside great stones.

Into blackness, all together, they were flung!

221
 CHAPTER XXVII
BEASTS OF BURDEN

Their dungeon was dark and it had the smell of an

underground place, musty, damp, stuffy. When it
seemed to Cliff that hours must have passed since they
had all been flung into the single unlighted cubicle he
looked at the radiumited face of the watch on his wrist:
hardly half an hour had elapsed.

“This is truly a terrible situation,” said Mr. Gray. “I feel

very badly when I think that in coming here to help me
you have all fallen into a worse situation.”

“Please don’t feel that way, Father,” Cliff begged,

touching the hand that trembled a little on his knee.
“You always taught me that no good intention and no
act done with a good motive could ever bring anything
but good.”

“It does not seem to work, this time,” said his father.

“But it will!” Tom said. “Didn’t you notice the soldier who 222
walked with me? No, you didn’t: I remember, we were
behind you. Well, it was Caya’s brother and he
whispered to me to give him the quipu supposed to be
the Inca’s token.”
“I didn’t know that,” Mr. Whitley spoke through the
darkness. “He may try to help us.”

“Mr. Whitley,” said Nicky, “why can’t we all push on that

big stone across the door? It is on some sort of a pivot:
we could all push together and move it.”

“Yes, two of us could move it—the soldiers did,” Bill took

a part in the talk. “But the guards are outside. By the
time we could get the stone moved they could use their
swords.”

“I guess we are helpless,” Mr. Whitley said remorsefully.

“And it is all my fault for letting you lads come here: you
should have camped on the ledge: Bill and I should
have taken the risks of danger.”

“I still have faith that an Almighty Power watches over

us,” Cliff declared. “We have gone through a great deal
of danger and not one of us has been hurt.”

“I am proud of you, my son,” said Mr. Gray. “And it is a 223

rebuke to us who are older. I know, deep down in my
heart, that you are right. After years among these
people, unharmed, made nearly well when I thought my
feebleness would destroy me, I should be thankful to
that Great Power—and I am!”

“Let’s all think ‘we are going to get out all right,’” Nicky
suggested. “Think as hard as we can.”

No one replied. Perhaps, with all other help apparently

denied them, they all had a mind to do as Nicky urged:
at any rate the black room, with its air rapidly growing
more stale and heavy, was so silent that they heard,
through the place where the upper end of the barrier
failed to touch the door frame, the muttering of several
guards in the tunnel.

Ages passed, or so it seemed. In fact, hours did go

slowly into the past, and nothing happened.

“Listen!” whispered Tom, finally, when the air had

become so oppressive that they all began to feel heavy
and dull. “Did I hear somebody walking?”

“Yes,” answered Bill. “They are changing the guard, I

guess.”

“Poor Caya,” said Cliff. “I feel sorry for her. She is all
alone, in some hole as dark as this: and all on account
of us.”

“Yes,” said Tom. “But she is alive—and so is her sister— 224

because of us.”

“I wonder where her brother is,” Nicky mused.

“Sh-h-h!” warned Bill. “Be quiet and if the stone moves,

let’s all make a rush. I hear somebody fumbling at the
stone.”

He had moved close to the barricaded doorway in the

dark. But as the stone began to move and they all
gathered their muscles for a dash, they were chained
with surprise.

“I am Pizzara,” came the unmistakable voice of the

Spaniard. “I come to help. Push there, you!”

The stone moved more and even the faint light from a
torch jammed into a place made for it nearby in the
tunnel wall was brilliant to their widened pupils. They
blinked as they saw two figures, in the garb of the
Inca’s soldiers.

“It is Caya’s brother and the stranger who spoke,” said

one of the figures, in quichua dialect. “Come forth
quickly!”

They filed out; Nicky and Bill and Cliff helped support 225
Mr. Gray who was stiff and tottering from his long
inactivity. They saw Caya’s brother tapping at several
other door stones; finally he called to Tom and Cliff and
the three managed to move a great barricade slowly a
little way aside. Had it not been swung on a rude pivot
this would have been impossible. As it was they got it
far enough opened to allow Caya, shaking with
excitement and eagerness, to come from her black
prison.

“I meet this soldier,” explained Pizzara. “I have watch

him and I think he is friend. I ask him and it is yes. Now
we go quick’.”

“I certainly do beg your pardon,” said Mr. Whitley. “I

thought you were an enemy and you have liberated us.”

The Spaniard showed his teeth in a curious grin.

“It is all a part of my plan,” he said mysteriously as they

went hastily along the passage, the young Peruvian
carrying the single torch in the rear with his sister.
“When you are sleeping in the lake bottom I steal away
with my men. I think then we get here before you. But
the Indians fling stones upon us in the white pass and
my natives know it is danger’.”

They kept careful watch but it seemed that no one was

in the tunnels: the guards whom the Spaniard and the
Indian had replaced had gone home or to their barracks
and no one else was on guard, it seemed.

“All but one,” the Spaniard went on. “My men are 226
escape. I have gun and I make them go forward, but
we go in old water way.” The same one, Cliff mused,
that they had used to get around the ambush; then he
listened as Pizzara continued, “We find the ledge as it is
on the map and there is your camp where you have
leave some thing and the cord to haul the rope. It is
very clever, si.”

“You left your natives there,” Bill said. “That’s my guess.

Then you came down into this valley. But how did you
expect to get any gold—or much!—all alone?”

“Ah!” grinned Pizzara, “this one is clever, as you. I plan

all this and as I plan so it is come out—just exactly.”

“Plan?——” Cliff was puzzled. “How could you expect we

would get into a dungeon and that you would save us—
and what has that to do with your plan to get gold?”

“It is all simple,” Pizzara grinned. “I come and see that 227
you are here: then I find ways to make Inca suspect
you, and high priest to make you prisoner. You help that
by what you do. So then I have you where I wish to
have you! It is good fortune of my patron Saint that this
soldier and his sister are mix up with you. It make two
more to carry for me.”

“To carry?” demanded Mr. Whitley. “What do you

mean?”

They had come to the place where the tunnel branched

away in the direction of the break where the aqueduct
used to flood the tunnels was situated: by common
impulse they all swung after Tom who had memorized
that way.

“Halt!” snapped Pizzara. They all stopped and looked at

him. In the torchlight his face was a leering, triumphant
mask of lustful delight. In his hand was the very “magic
stick”—the small revolver—which he had caused the
high priest to take from Bill when they were captured:
Bill had not been able to use it, even in self rescue, for
fear of shooting his friends; he had surrendered it with
a scowl for his rifle, as he now knew, was in the hands
of Pizzara’s natives, waiting, at the camp on the ledge.

“We can’t stop,” Mr. Whitley said. “Some one may

discover us.”

“You stop when I say!” Pizzara gloated, lifting the 228

shining muzzle. “If I shoot you will be capture. I will
escape and come another time to take the gold. If you
do what I say you get way and I may give you one little
bit of gold as a—a souvenir.”

“You expect us to carry gold!—when we are trying to

escape with Mr. Gray who is feeble?” Bill snapped at
Pizzara.

“Yes!” replied Pizzara. “I have select gold that is carve

very pretty: it is not too heavy with so many. It will sell
very high for the art and not for the gold, as your
scholar will say when he see what I have choose.”

He lifted the revolver as Bill’s fists doubled.

“You are a beast!” said Mr. Whitley. “A beast who——”

“Who drive beast of burden! Come and I load your

backs!”
229
 CHAPTER XXVIII
“CAN WE GET THERE IN TIME?”

Pizzara had been clever, indeed! He had so maneuvered

the procession as they left the cells that Mr. Gray, the
most feeble one, was in the lead and the Indian and his
sister at the rear.

Therefore they could not make a dash for escape; and

when they saw Pizzara’s menacing look as he showed
them that he also had his own revolver, a heavy,
serviceable automatic, Mr. Whitley and Bill signaled
submission. After all, it was their only chance for liberty.

“Look here,” Bill turned on Pizzara. “You had better let

the soldier and his sister escape—you can’t ask them to
rob their own treasure house. They think the Sun’s gold
is sacred!”

“I need them,” said Pizzara. “The soldier have his father

with rope to wait to help us at the cistern. If we have
not these two how shall the others let us take the
gold?”

“You are vile!” cried Mr. Gray. “To use them as 230
hostages!”
“Cease grumbling, my little llamas,” Pizzara said
sarcastically. “Come and let the loads be put on your
little backs—or!——” he crooked his trigger finger
significantly.

The situation was too desperate for argument: when

they sullenly filed into the room beneath the sun
temple, Caya and her brother showed signs of mutiny
but Bill whispered to them that if they raised an alarm
there it would result in death for them all: he hinted
that some way would be found to save the treasure—
and they could take only a few choice carved and
moulded pieces. Pizzara could not always be on guard.

Strangely enough the whites were all in sympathy with

the Indians: they were not mercenary or lustful. The
safety of Cliff’s father, their own escape and a clear
conscience were of more worth to them than the risk of
a few thousand dollars and the feeling that they were
thieves.

They were in such a situation that they had to help a 231

thief but they felt sure that at some time when his
vigilance was relaxed they could leave him to dispose of
his gains, secured by coercion, as best he might.

He had chosen his loot wisely; they saw that as he

indicated the lighter statues, beautifully worked, the
animals, flowers and a few urns. He made them tear
apart woolen weaves that were as fine and as soft as
silk to make bundles and thongs with which to carry
more than they could handle loose.

Cowed but sullen Caya and her brother did what they
could to delay, but finally Pizzara had as much as he
thought they could care for, and off they started, down
the long tunnel, laden heavily. Even Mr. Gray, feeble as
he was, had to carry the statue of Chasca, which
weighed only about five pounds but which was a
marvelously well wrought bit of purest gold: small
though it was, for gold is heavy, every feature, every
line, was perfect.

Herding them before him like the llamas he called them,

Pizzara drove his bearers along, prodding the morose
Indians with his two ready weapons.

They reached the outlet into the dry aqueduct: it was 232
still a tunnel for the distance it ran under the temple
gardens, but its stones were carefully fitted and joined
with some hard, glasslike cement to help retain the
water if the emergency ever arose in which it would
inundate the underground ways: and, thought most of
them, here was the emergency—if the truth were
discovered by the Incas!

The first beginnings of dawn were in the Eastern sky

when the party, their torch flung aside, came to the
point where the water way was no longer under the
gardens but ran, as an open, deep cut, to the mighty
cistern which distributed the water from the mountain
reservoirs.

“How are we going to get out of this?” Cliff asked as

they saw the open sky through the slit of open stone
above them.

“Caya’s family waits with ropes near the cistern,” Bill

informed them all: he had learned of this from Pizzara
who had allowed the young soldier to make his plans
before he knew that the gold would be stolen; had
Pizzara dropped a hint of his true purpose it is probable
that the Indian would have tried to rescue his sister and
then informed the Inca’s troop of the Spaniard’s plan;
but Pizzara was cunning.

“But suppose they discover the escape?” broke in Nicky. 233

“When do they change guards again, Bill—ask Caya!”

“It has been done already,” Bill said. “I have asked her.
That is why Pizzara is hurrying us. They must know that
we are free and maybe they know that the gold is
gone!”

“How far must we go?” Cliff asked.

“At least a mile.”

“But won’t they see us in this open aqueduct?”

“They probably won’t waste time searching,” Bill

answered. “I expect that a chasqui-runner—has already
been sent to the guards who handle the sluice gates.”

Pizzara, himself, seemed anxious. He urged them to

hasten.

“Look!” whispered Caya, clutching Cliff’s arm. She

pointed behind them. Against the growing illumination
of the sky they saw a figure, slim, tall, standing out
black against the sky, peering down at them. Suddenly
he stood straight. Faintly they heard a hail and then the
figure disappeared.

“That was a watcher,” Bill said. “It’s an even chance 234

whether there are soldiers close enough to shower us
with arrows, or whether they get those gates open
before we reach the place where the rope will help us
climb out.”
They needed no prodding from Pizzara.

They ran over the loose pebbles and bits of loosened

stone, stumbling, gasping, their lives in their hands; and
yet, with all the danger, when Caya dropped her bundle
Pizzara compelled her to stop and secure it.

“How can we get away, even if we do get out?”

Nicky panted as he asked the question. His bundle was

getting heavier as the moments passed, and his
excitement, even though it lent him strength, seemed to
make the needless extra burden seem silly; he wanted
to drop it, to run faster; but they could go no faster
than they did because of Mr. Gray’s feeble condition.

“If we can get to the place my father will help us with

the rope,” Caya said. “There is a great hole in the
cistern, part way down. If we can get in there before
the soldiers see us we can hide and they will not think
of looking for us there.”

“But won’t the water drown us?” asked Cliff.

“I think it may not rise that high,” she said. “But hurry— 235
there we shall be safe!”

“Yes,” Cliff panted. “If we can get there in time!”

236
 CHAPTER XXIX
AT THE CISTERN

Although dawn was streaking the heavens with its

colors, it was still dusk in the valley and pitch dark in
their open cut.

“We are nearly there!” said Caya, coming forward in the

dim line to help Cliff with his father: she took his statue
in spite of her own burden and they hurried all they
could.

From somewhere in the distance ahead they heard

shouts.

“Can we make it?” panted Mr. Whitley.

“It’s a question of minutes,” gasped Bill. “Seconds,

maybe! Hear that!”

As they neared the place where the great sluice gate of

that particular distributing aqueduct was located they
heard the shouting of men and the rumble of something
—was it a huge stone being lifted by their rude and
uncouth mechanical methods? Was that the gurgle of
water they heard between the rumblings?
“Oh!” whispered Caya—“Here hangs the rope.” She, in 237
the lead, feeling the walls, had located something
hanging down.

Her brother gave a sharp jerk, repeated it, was

answered.

“Caya first,” said Mr. Whitley.

“No,” said Mr. Gray. “William—Bill first!”

“He can help pull up the rest,” Cliff urged. “My father
can’t climb, he will have to be drawn up.”

“Hurry, then, Bill,” said Mr. Whitley. In the darkness they

began to feel the rope twitch and jerk, and heard the
scrape of boots feeling for a foothold on the fairly rough
side of the aqueduct. Then, far up the side they saw, in
the light from the reddening sky, Bill, monkeylike,
climbing like a sailor.

Soon the rope came down again. There was a loop at its
end. “Sit in the loop and hang on,” Cliff and Mr. Whitley
both urged.

“No,” said Mr. Gray. “I am not going until the girl is

safe.” Caya was lifted for there was no time for
argument. Bill and the eager father of the girl swung
her in quick jerks upward.

Then the rope came down. “Wait!” said Pizzara. “Why

not send the gold up now? I have tied the bundles
together——”

A sharp push flung him aside. Mr. Whitley was at the 238
end of his patience, seeing this man willing to risk their
lives in preference to risking his gold. “You can send it
up before you come,” he said.

There was a more ominous rumbling close at hand and

they began to swarm up the rope as soon as the old
man was safe. But Pizzara hung back. The rest were
climbing like sailors, for there came the sound of water
beginning to seep around an obstruction and there was
a tiny wet pool running along under foot. While they
climbed Pizzara took his final chance with his Fate or
luck or patron Saint’s protection for he waited until he
had made all the woolen thongs into a big knot and had
swung that to the end of the rope: then he saw that he
had no time to waste, for there was the beginning of a
swirling torrent at his feet that swung him up and off his
balance as he gripped the rope and began to surge
upward. When his face topped the edge of a narrow
step on which the others waited, he wore a sardonic
grin which the growing light showed.

“I save the gold,” he said. “Haul him up.”

Cliff thought that Mr. Whitley was going to prevent that

but Bill touched his arm: whispered, “Not yet—we will
need the rope!”

They hauled up the gold, then, and were told to inch 239
their way along the narrow ledge for a few feet to
where, in the side wall, through long disuse, a great
part had crumbled out, leaving a sort of rude cave,
uneven of floor and jagged on its sides, but deep
enough to enable them all to retire into the darkness at
the back and be reasonably sure of not being seen. The
rope was also out of sight and as they heard the roar of
the waters rushing into the aqueduct, Cliff sighed.
“All that lovely woven stuff will be ruined,” he said. “I
feel ashamed of myself in a way for being partly the
cause of so much destruction.”

“It is Pizzara’s fault, not yours,” Nicky said. “If he hadn’t

touched the gold they might not have flooded the
tunnel to stop us. If we had traveled light we could have
been here sooner and we might have overpowered the
gateman and prevented the opening of the gate.”

“That is how to thank me when I save your life!”

growled Pizzara.

“Little you cared for us,” flared Nicky. “Only for the gold
we could carry. You’ll get paid back for that, some way.”

Mr. Whitley’s hand warned him to be silent. This was no 240

time nor was it the place for quarreling or anger.

“Judge not——” he warned. “There is a Higher Power to

attend to that, Nicky.”

“Yes, you are right,” Nicky admitted. “I’m sorry I spoke.”

Caya’s father had brought a little food, having had time

to do no more when his son had raced home to plan
with him for their rescue.

They ate and felt better.

“How do we get out of here?” Bill asked Caya’s brother.

They must wait until night, he said, and then they could
creep around the ledge to a place where there were
steps, and if they could elude the guard there they
could get to the level ground and make for the hills.
“But there is no way out of the valley when we get to
them,” objected Bill. “We don’t know about the secret
pass.”

“Ah!” said Pizzara. “There, again, I am noble to save. I

take you. When the high priest tell nobles to guard one
place more than all other I follow. I shall save you even
when you call me bad name.”

Which only proved it true that one can never hate any 241
man because it is never possible to tell when a seeming
enemy may prove one’s best friend. No matter how
base Pizzara’s motive might be, he was made an
instrument in the hands of a higher power than hate,
and he was to prove also that there is a law of exact
justice, that what one gives, in his thoughts, whether
love, hate, lust, envy, greed or generosity, it returns to
him in some way and at some time.

The day was irksome, even with the thrills of seeing

soldiers scouting around the reservoir: one even started
to walk a little way along the ledge from the stairs of
rough stone at the gates, but as the Incas had turned
more water into the cistern and it was slowly raising the
level toward the ledge he did not go far.

The water itself became a menace before night, for it

was almost level with their small, deep cavern; but its
rise was slow and would be unless some one cut off the
flow into the tunnels, which must happen soon.

It would be a question for them of whether dark came

before the water level flooded the break in the stone
and swept them out into the cavernous cistern.

The water came almost to the edge and then receded

as the gate to the reserve supply in the mountains was
closed.

Then darkness came, and they started on the most 242

perilous part of their journey, edging around the ledge.
Fortunately for them it was dry and not slippery.

Again Pizzara showed that lust was stronger than

caution for he elected to remain in the cavern until they
got out; they were then to proceed to a point above the
cavern, lower the rope and pull his gold and himself up
that way.

They could not refuse for he knew the secret passes.

Finally they were all safe and again they resumed their
golden burdens. Caya, who could not stay in the valley
without danger of death when she was discovered, had
decided to go with her brother, who was also
endangered. Their plan was to seek her shepherd and
his mother in the hills and to stay there for a while.
Perhaps Caya might stay and make a home for him,
who could say? She was shy as she said it. Bill told the
others of the plans the Indians made, and they all
turned away in sympathetic silence as Caya and her
brother bade farewell to the stern, proud old father and
the clinging, sobbing mother who had braved every
danger of discovery to steal close enough to know that
all was well and to say goodbye.

But in due time, they were done and again the party 243
walked along under the stars, on open ground and in
constant danger of detection—but, happily—perhaps
because the Incas supposed that the tunnel flood had
served its purpose—they were not seen.

Again, near daybreak, they were in the mountains, and

well hidden in a deep crevasse into which light never
penetrated.

244
 CHAPTER XXX
A FORTUNE BY MISFORTUNE

“Who do you suppose that is?” asked Nicky, calling

Cliff’s attention to a slim figure standing not far from the
point where the crevasse they were in opened onto the
secret passway.

“Do you think it is a spy?” Tom whispered. They were

still in hiding. Pizzara and Mr. Whitley had gone away
early in the morning to try to find a way to get to their
old camp on the ledge. Bill would have been the natural
one to do scouting but it had been decided that he
ought to stay to help the boys in case of danger of
discovery. Although the crevasse, even in the middle of
the day, was hidden in gloom that no sun’s ray ever
penetrated, and discovery was unlikely, there was the
possibility that some Incas might intrude and discover
the camp. In such a case Bill was better able to find a
hiding place or to help the younger brains to find a
course of procedure. But as the figure appeared at the
mouth of the crevasse, Bill was fast asleep, worn out
after the long exertion.

“Shall we call Bill?” asked Nicky. 245

“Wait,” suggested Tom. “Keep perfectly still and see
what he does.”

But they had forgotten Caya. Rolled in her robe she had
been asleep; suddenly, sitting up and staring, she
leaped to her feet, cried out a name sharply and ran
forward.

It was her shepherd of the hills. She quickly explained

what so surprised him, her presence in the hills. Then
she brought him to meet the younger members of the
party. They liked him at once. He was a handsome,
wind-browned, tanned Indian with clear, honest eyes
and a likeable manner, though saying little.

He had been on his way the night before to meet Caya

when he had found some of the soldiers at the secret
pass; they knew him but told him to go and watch for
the strangers if they had escaped to the hills; he had
waited nearby and was wondering what to do and how
to see Caya when she had seen him.

Mr. Gray and Bill were able to understand his hill dialect
quite well and he took quite a liking to the kindly old
scholar. But most of his time he spent with Caya, for he
joined the camp as soon as he had gone away long
enough to bring some food.

Late that night Mr. Whitley and Pizzara returned, leading 246
the latter’s Indians. They had found the camp on the
ledge without much difficulty, there being an aqueduct
that they could follow around the valley. They had all
the food from both slender stores and all other
equipment: the young men were very glad to get their
American clothes again, and with a spare pair of
corduroy trousers, an extra woolen shirt and Mr.
Whitley’s heavy coat they managed to outfit Mr. Gray in
the first “civilized” garb he had worn for several years.

They planned to sleep in the crevasse: the next day the

shepherd agreed to come again and bring more dried
meat and corn for their journey and to show them the
way to regain the regularly traveled mountain passes.

But when they awoke the next morning Cliff, Tom and
Nicky observed the camp in dismay.

Pizzara had cheated them again. Once his natives were

with him, rough half-breeds, more lustful for money
than caring about honesty, he and they had “cleared
out” during the night, taking everything belonging to
both parties!

For once, however, his cupidity had led him astray.

When the young shepherd came to the camp the next 247
day, soon after sunup, he told them that he had seen a
strange thing: nearly a dozen men went silently along
the secret way with packs. He rose and followed,
thinking that his friends of the day before were leaving
with Caya. Not knowing them he naturally did not trust
them.

However, soon there came a shouting, the falling of

rocks, the cries of injured men, the sharp flash of
lightning from a long stick which one of the men held.

Thus the Indian described Bill’s rifle which the Spaniard

had stolen.

There was a loud noise after the flash, he said, and this
happened several times: then the man fell down and
there was much shouting and the tramp of feet
marching along one of the higher ledges, with a chant
of “Hailli—hailli!”

Bill and Mr. Whitley went to look at the place which the
shepherd showed them. When they came back they
were very sober and serious.

“Pizzara has stolen his last piece of gold,” Bill told the
eager chums. “It looks as though the Incas ambushed
his party again—only this time the ambush was a
complete success.”

“Wiped out!” Mr. Whitley whispered to Mr. Gray.

“And how about the supplies?” Cliff asked. 248

“The Incas seemed to want to destroy the party:

probably they think that the ones they attacked were
our party. At any rate they used arrows, rocks and made
a complete job of it. But they left the packs intact. It
seems that they ambushed from above and did not
even climb down to see anything.”

“Then the gold is there too,” Tom said.

“Yes,” said Mr. Whitley.

Little more was said. They became thoughtful and

silent.

“Caya and her brother are going with the shepherd,” Bill
said at length. “He will take them to his mother’s little
hut.”

“I suppose Caya will marry him when she gets old

enough,” Tom said. “But what will her brother do?”
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