"How jolly," said young Rodriguez, "I thought this reception thing would be a bore. But with you fellows here, it will be a lark, after all. Come to my rooms, and you can prepare for dinner."

On entering the great salon, Jack, Bob and Frank were surprised beyond measure. They found themselves in a profusion of palms, cypresses and willows, with chrysanthemums in prodigal profusion, the whole so tastefully arranged as to give the impression of a scene from fairyland.

Music was played by hidden musicians during the dinner, and after the speeches there was to be a musicale. Young Rodriguez, however, managed to withdraw with his companions before the arrival of the speech-making.

"After-dinner speeches are a beastly bore, always," he said emphatically. "I considered you fellows would be as glad to escape as I.

Now these are your rooms, and you will find whatever you require. You have had a long day, and as there will be much to do and see tomorrow, I imagine you will want to get some sleep."

With that he left them, taking with him Ferdinand. The boys realized young Rodriguez was eager to talk over old times with his chum, and that they would be up half the night chattering. Nevertheless, that was not hard to forgive, and as they really were tired by the unaccustomed scenes and bustle, they turned in after some comments on the dinner, and soon were sleeping soundly.

The next day, the boys were up and about early, for young Rodriguez wanted them to breakfast with him before the visitors reached the table.

They were surprised to learn the estate covered 15,000 hectares, and employed more than 400 tenants and laborers.

With the visitors, the boys visited the schools of the estate, three in number, at one of which the boys and girls of the tenants were in attendance, and at the others the children of the laborers. Finding they could ride, young Rodriguez obtained them mounts from the stable, although the visiting delegation was taken about in carriages. They visited the beautiful church of the estate, inspected the model homes and recreation grounds for the overseers and laborers, and spent some time at the stables. Senor Rodriguez was a lover of horses, and with pride his son pointed out to the boys a number of race horses of famous pedigree.

"My mother wanted me educated in England," he explained, "my father in South America. Finally, they struck a compromise. I was to be sent to an English school, but to a South American university. And so, Ferdinand, next year will find me with you at Lima."

The other nodded with satisfaction. They had discussed this the night before.

"You three fellows are chums," said Ferdinand, "and you can realize my delight."

"At school in England," said young Rodriguez, looking at a famous racer which he had brought the boys to see, "they used to be surprised when I spoke of home. They imagined that everything in South America was savage beyond words."

"To tell you the truth," said Bob, frankly, "I had false ideas about South America, too. These things you have been showing me, and others Ferdinand showed us in Santiago, make my head swim. I'm beginning to wonder where we can get adventure in a country like this."

Ferdinand, who had told his chum of the proposed expedition, laughed heartily. So did Rodriguez.

"My dear fellow," said the latter, "wait. You will encounter the mightiest mountains in the Western Hemisphere, mountains to dwarf your Rockies. You will disappear from all human habitation. You will cross trackless deserts; perhaps, you will find rivers never explored by white man. You may run foul of unconquered Indians. Perhaps, you may discover a new race. Anything is possible in this fascinating and little known land. All this that you see, all Santiago and Lima and our other cities--what, after all, is it? Nothing but the fringe of a vast continent. But, come, let us return, for this afternoon there will be something worth seeing."

The prediction was borne out for, after luncheon, the band began to play and young folks from the estate appeared to dance the _cueca_. This is a dance peculiar to Chile, in which the dancers perform individually. It is reminiscent of other South American dances--the _bolero_, the _habanera_, the _bambuco_, the _jota_, the _torbellino_, and the _fandango_. It is danced with more grace and animation, and with deeper intensity than the _tango_, that dance peculiar to the Argentine.

"Look at that little Spanish senorita, Jack," whispered Bob, mischievously, to his chum. "She certainly reminds me of your flame, Senorita Rafaela. Hey?"

Jack grinned at his comrade's teasing. In reality, however, he never heard the name of Senorita Rafaela mentioned that he did not feel sentimental. And this dancing girl did have a coquettish lift of the fan, a twist of the head, a raising of the eyebrow, that reminded him of her. Senorita Rafaela, however, was far away, on the Mexican estate of her father, from whom Jack and Bob two years before had rescued Mr.

Hampton when the latter was a political prisoner. It was no use to think of her now.

After the dance at the home, four hundred tenants, mounted on splendid horses, many with handsome Spanish saddles and spurs of silver, escorted the party to a nearby spot where two platforms had been erected for dancing. Here the men, young and old, partic.i.p.ated in foot and horse races. Then the young folks went to dancing, while many barbecue fires for the cooking of meat were lighted, wine was distributed, and the tenants made festa. It was a truly patriarchal scene, and one never to be forgotten.

"This is a true example of life on the great Chilian estates," Ferdinand told the boys, on their way back to Santiago.

CHAPTER IV--HO FOR THE ENCHANTED CITY!

"But, father, we thought you intended first to explore this town of Potosi for the buried treasure left there by the fugitive Incas before they fled to the South," said Jack.

"I know, Jack," Mr. Hampton explained, "but Don Ernesto and I have talked the matter over from every angle, and have decided against going to Potosi at this season. The summer months are January and February.

And even in summer, it is bleak in that region. The hottest day ever recorded in Potosi went to only about 59 in the shade. The elevation is great; Potosi is built on top of a mountain, and there is no fuel. The mountains are bare of timber, and a camping expedition would run grave danger of freezing.

"For three hundred years, Potosi has been the center of a silver mining region that has given up wealth seemingly without exhaustion. More than two billion ounces of silver have been taken from the mountain on which it stands, and the mines are still in operation. It is probably the most famous mountain in the world, this Cerro of Potosi.

"It was from Bolivia," Mr. Hampton added, "that the Inca civilization started on its career of conquest. Combination of two Indian races, the _Aymares_ and the _Quibchuas_, the first warlike and the second industrious, the Inca nation absorbed other civilizations, brought wild tribes under subjection, and set up an empire remarkably like that of Rome. And yet," added Mr. Hampton, "there were earlier civilizations of which next to nothing is known, which also had reached a high state of development." He spoke not only of the Chimu civilization of which Ferdinand earlier had told the boys, but added that ruins on the sh.o.r.es of Lake t.i.ticaca in Bolivia showed there was a civilization in that region antedating that of Egypt.

"However," said he, "I digress. The point is that, because of the rigors of winter in Bolivia, we shall not try for the hidden Inca treasure but shall seek to make our way at once to the Enchanted City."

The above conversation took place several days after the boys had returned from Almahue, and when Mr. Hampton and Senor de Avilar got back to Santiago.

"The discovery of this ma.n.u.script," Mr. Hampton continued, "is what has lifted the legend of the Enchanted City out of the mythical. It may be a hoax, of course. There is always the possibility that someone went to infinite pains to perpetrate a joke. Yet the evidence is against that.

Apparently the ma.n.u.script is very ancient. And Senor de Avilar's experts, to whom he has submitted it, say that the writing and spelling are those of an educated Spanish gentleman of the period of the Conquerors. There were few enough educated men at that time; Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, his comrade, you know, could neither read nor write.

Yet there were educated men, of course, and one such must have been this Luis de Pereira, gentleman adventurer, wrecked with de Arguello.

"Since two men, reaching Concepcion in 1557, first gave the outside world the tale of the Enchanted City, many expeditions have set forth in search of it. None were successful. At length, a century and a half later, Fray Menendez, a Franciscan explorer and missionary, after two years of systematic search, declared the story mythical. And that has come to be the general opinion. Yet early in the nineteenth century, silver drinking cups were found among a tribe of forest Indians in the south, and once more a party of explorers set out. This time, they started from Punta Arenas, in Patagonia, trying to follow northward the route pursued by de Arguello. They disappeared, were never heard of again."

"Perhaps they reached the Enchanted City and stayed there," suggested Frank, who, like Jack and Bob, was listening with absorbed interest.

"That may have been the case," said Mr. Hampton, "supposing, of course, that such a place existed. But, what I was going to say, was that the discovery of this ma.n.u.script of Luis de Pereira puts a new complexion on the matter. While he was not a geographer, and could not give lat.i.tude and longitude, yet he was a keen observer. And his ma.n.u.script gives very definite natural locations of mountains and river, by which we can be guided. Further, we know the Enchanted City lay on the southern borders of the land of the Auraucanos."

"Oh," interrupted Jack, "those are the Indians, the great fighters, that Ferdinand told us about."

"Yes," said his father, "and it is a good thing for us that they are more amenable today, or we would not even consider an expedition that would bring us into touch with them. They are the only unconquered people of South America."

"And the Incas never conquered them, in spite of their powerful armies?"

asked Jack, more in the hope of drawing out his father than by way of surprise, for the answer to his question Ferdinand earlier had given.

"The Incas were a great people," said his father, not averse to informing the boys about a race with the modern descendants of whom they presently might come in contact, "but they could not conquer the Auraucanos. Neither could the Spaniards, despite armor and cannon. Not even the Chilians, with the improved weapons of modern times could conquer the Auraucanos. They are the finest tribe or race of Indians inhabiting the southern portion of the continent, and it is their intermarriage with the whites in the last forty or fifty years which has helped make Chile what it is today--a country with many qualities which distinguish it from its sister republics.

"The Auraucanos were a nomad, pastoral race, numbering some 400,000 at the time of the Incas, some writers estimate. They were imbued with a high order of intelligence, and with a courage unsurpa.s.sed. The value of military organizations was appreciated by them. Indeed, in later years, of which we have record, they developed several very fine generals, military tacticians of a high order, such as Latuaro and Caupolican.

Although nomads, they had a ruling family from time immemorial, and from this family the Chief always was drawn. The hereditary principle obtained, and the eldest son of a departed Chief ruled in his father's place unless he was incapable of a.s.suming command of his fellow warriors, in which case the strongest and bravest warrior was selected.

"When Valdivia, the conqueror of Chile, crossed the river Biobio and started to penetrate Auraucanian territory, the Auraucanos opposed his pa.s.sage. In the beginning, in pitched battle, the Auraucanos with their bows and arrows, their stone tomahawks, and their wooden sabers edged with flint, were defeated by the mounted Spaniards, clad in armor. Then they took to the forest and adopted guerrilla tactics, picking off single Spaniards and small parties. Every foot of the way was contested, and when the Spaniards had penetrated a hundred miles south of the Biobio, the Auraucanos gathered in ma.s.sed columns and by their daring, courage and disregard of death overwhelmed the Spaniards and annihilated them.

"During the Colonial period, the Spaniards renewed the warfare at frequent intervals, but without success. The Indians had learned how to use the weapons which they had captured, and obtained repeated victories. In the end, the Spaniards made peace. The river Biobio was fixed as the boundary between Auraucania and the colony of Chile.

"The Chilians also were unable to overcome the Auraucanos. In the end, however, in 1881, the Auraucanian tribal chiefs held a grand council, and decided to cast in their lot with the people who had overthrown the Spaniards. They incorporated themselves as citizens of Chile. Probably, German colonists had something to do with the change of att.i.tude. For after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848 in Germany, a number of ardent German revolutionists fled to Chile and settled the city of Osorno, in Auraucanian territory. They intermarried with the Auraucanos, and today more German than Spanish is spoken in that part of Chile, and there are many German-language newspapers printed there."

"Oh," said Jack, in a tone of disappointment, "then they are civilized Indians today."

His father smiled.

"That is one of the most flourishing parts of the Republic of Chile," he said. "Yet along the Andes, there is a branch of the Auraucanos that is still recalcitrant, and whose freedom no government has thought fit to challenge, because of the apparent barrenness of that mountainous country. However, that is the region into which we must penetrate. I don't know whether Ferdinand has told you, but old accounts of the Enchanted City declare that the Indians of the neighborhood were well paid by the Incas to preserve inviolate the secret of the location of their city. This tribe of recalcitrants may be those Indians."

Frank had been sitting with his chin in his hand, thinking. Now he spoke up.

"Do you think, Mr. Hampton, that there is any likelihood the Enchanted City is still flourishing?" he asked. "That it is still inhabited by descendants of the ancient Incas and the Spaniards?"

"That is a hard question to decide, Frank," was the reply. "It would seem likely that if it continued to flourish, some of its sons would yearn to see the outside world, and would make the journey and bring forth news of his home. Inasmuch as nothing of the sort has occurred, the probability would seem to be that in some fashion or other the population was wiped out and the Enchanted City fallen to ruin and decay.