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.

“As I say, that seems by far the most likely supposition. It does not seem possible, in the first place, that a great city could continue in existence unknown to the rest of the world for centuries. Curiosity is one of the basic qualities of human nature. The older folks might be content to let well enough alone, to remain secluded and unknown in their city, ringed round by mountains, protected from intrusion by the great tunnel, by trackless forests, arid deserts and staggering precipices. But the more adventurous younger spirits, as I say, would want to know what lay over the hills, and would adventure forth.”

“But what would wipe them out?” asked Bob, always the practical.

Mr. Hampton shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps a plague. Perhaps the Auraucanos. Who knows? Maybe, some cataclysm of nature like an earthquake. There are cities in South America today that we know of, which were ruined in a matter of minutes, by earthquake.

“No, the probabilities all are that, if we do find the Enchanted City, we will find it in ruins and uninhabited except by wild beasts. Yet what a wonderful experience it would be to explore those ruins, and what treasure would be stored there.”

Frank nodded.

“Just the same,” he said, “I’d like the experience of stepping out of the present into the past, of walking from a mechanical civilization into an Inca city.”