The Aztec Treasure by Wesley Ellis

Author:Wesley Ellis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Gray dawn went into silver dawn, and the silver had burned off in the sky to a medium-deep watery blue, clear and cloudless, when Jessie and Ki reached the edge of the foothills. Climbing, they circled to avoid the Indian village, and passed the spot where the stream boiled from the mountainside, then traversed Chuacas Canyon. By now the sun was near its zenith, glinting in a reflective shimmer off the spires and weird rock formations that lined the canyon floor.

The ruins of Don Fundador’s once palatial hacienda huddled motionless and silent in the clear, winy air. In contrast to the funereal wind that had swept through the afternoon before, all lay quiet now, the only noise a scaly armadillo scuttling from the crumbling wall and into the underbrush.

“Even like this, the place gives me the creeps,” Jessie said, dismounting. “After dark I imagine it must be akin to a graveyard at midnight on Friday the thirteenth.” She flashed a smile at Ki as he climbed down from his horse, adding, “Sayin’ is if you don’t pester ghosts, they won’t pester you.”

“Ghosts don’t leave tracks,” Ki replied grimly. “The Indians are supposed to believe the ruins are haunted and shy away from them, yet there were moccasin tracks in the dust on the floors. And boot tracks.” Pushing through the great oaken portals into the high-ceilinged room, he pointed to the dusty floor. “If ghosts did make those boot tracks, they’ll also likely pack revolvers.”

Jessie slapped disgustedly at a huge hairy spider that, swinging on a strand that dangled from the ceiling, had brushed against her face. She half drew her pistol as a monstrously huge rat scurried between her feet. “Ghosts can have the place for all of me,” she grumbled, shuddering. “I can give a good guess what the men who made these prints were looking for—the same thing that men have searched this neck of the woods for for almost a century. The jewels of Quetzalcoatl.”

“Then we have to include Zeb Quale in that batch of treasure hunters,” Ki said. “After all, we’re going by his map. Still, that doesn’t explain how the driver got his map, or all the high-grade gold ore in the cart. Anyhow, it’s plain that others think there’s Aztec loot to be had. Supposedly the idol vanished here in this hacienda.”

“Maybe the Aztecs hid it somewhere else before they holed up here. Or maybe not.” Jessie rubbed her chin, glancing around thoughtfully. She, like Ki, had seen haciendas such as this in Arizona and Mexico, and knew that many had secret panels and doorways where the Spanish grandees hid their valuables or could hide themselves in emergencies. “Only way to try ’n’ find out, I guess, is to go over the place from top to bottom. If nothing turns up—well, all we’ve wasted is a little time.”

Separating to cover more territory and save time, Jessie took the rooms to the right of the long corridor that bisected the old hacienda, Ki those on the left.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.