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Updated: June 13, 2025
It is therefore not to be wondered at if Escombe hesitated a moment before accepting Mr Richards's offer. "Well, Escombe, what do you say?" enquired the chief draughtsman, after a somewhat lengthy pause. "You do not seem to be very keen upon availing yourself of the opportunity that I am offering you. Is it the climate that you are afraid of? I am told that Peru is a perfectly healthy country."
I will be perfectly civil to him, and will do my duty to the very best of my ability, then nothing very serious can possibly happen." Upon entering his cabin Escombe was greatly gratified to learn from the steward that he was to be its sole occupant.
"But, my good man, I tell you that a mistake has been made a very stupid mistake which I must insist that you rectify at once," exclaimed Escombe, who was beginning to grow a trifle exasperated at what he inwardly termed the fellow's stupid persistence. "Look here," he continued, "I don't in the least know whom you suppose me to be, but I will tell you who I am. My name is Escombe Henry Escombe.
And now you have but to lie still and allow your wounds to heal. Which reminds me that now is a very favourable time to dress them afresh." "Two days ago stranded on a sandbank!" repeated Escombe in bewilderment. "I do not understand you, Mother. Surely I have not been lying insensible for two whole days! And how could I possibly have become stranded on a sandbank?
No, he had been sent out to Peru by Sir Philip Swinburne to execute certain work, and he would carry out his contract with Sir Philip in spite of all the Indians in the South American continent. As to that story about his being the reincarnated Inca, Manco Capac, Harry Escombe was one of those estimable persons whose most valued asset is their sound, sterling common sense.
The windows were simply rectangular holes in the thick stone walls, unglazed, and without even a frame; but now that Escombe was outside he was able to see that each window was provided with a shutter, something like the jalousies fitted to the houses in most tropical and sub-tropical countries, to keep out the rain.
Then, turning, he went forth from the palace the proudest, and probably the happiest, man in the Valley of the Sun that day. The fatigue and excitement of the momentous day were by this time beginning to tell upon Escombe.
For a distance of nearly two miles from the camp the route of the missing party was easily followed, being marked by stakes at frequent intervals, indicating the line chosen by Butler as that to be surveyed by Escombe. It ended at the foot of a precipitous slope of bare rock towering aloft some seven or eight hundred feet, with further heights beyond it.
It seemed, then, as though fate, or destiny, or whatever one pleased to call it, willed that he Harry Escombe should see the mysterious city; and he finally concluded that, taking everything into consideration, perhaps the wisest thing would be to go quietly and with as much semblance of goodwill as possible, since it appeared that no other course was open to him.
The next moment Escombe was busily engaged in disentangling his find from the fish hook, but long ere he had succeeded in doing so the young man had made the interesting discovery that he had been fortunate enough to retrieve a most remarkable jewel, in the form of a gold and emerald collar, from the depths of the lake.
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