"I think you are a good man," said Señora Guzman, looking at him in a softened manner. "All the better. Captain Kyles and myself will have all the more pleasure in placing you in possession of your property." "Then you know who killed my uncle?" "I do not, nor indeed does Captain Kyles. Still we can place certain evidence at your disposal which will go far towards solving the riddle. But the price----" "I am willing to pay the price." "Four thousand pounds." "Five if you wish it," said Herries frankly, "it is a small sum out of fifty thousand a year." Donna Maria looked at him in silence for a moment. Then her proud lip quivered, and she burst into tears. Herries was quite distressed when she laid her head down on her arms and wept as though her heart would break. "My dear lady----" "I feel so ashamed," she sobbed, "making it a condition that you should pay for what ought to be done without money. You must think that I am an adventuress and a bad woman." "I think nothing," said Herries rather coldly, for he did not know what this scene might mean, "because I know nothing." "Mr. Herries," she said raising her head and wiping her eyes with a dainty lace handkerchief, "you must not judge me too hardly. I am the daughter of a man who held great power in Indiana, although I am a Mexican by birth. I was brought up to riches and honour, and for years had everything I could wish for. But an enemy of my father's intrigued against him, and in a night he was driven from the Presidential palace. My mother was shot during the revolution, and my father and myself escaped only with our lives, thanks to the bravery of Captain Kyles. We lived in exile for some time, and fortunately escaped in the yacht, which had belonged to the Government." "The 'Tarabacca?'" "Yes. It is a splendid yacht. It is all that remains of my father's wealth, for the new Government confiscated everything. But my father learned from an Indian of the whereabouts of a certain treasure in Peru, which had been hidden--according to tradition--by Manco Capac, who first civilised the Peruvian Indians. To get that treasure entails a long and toilsome journey and much money. Leaving my father concealed at Lima, Captain Kyles and myself came to this country to try and raise some money on Indiana bonds. We wanted the sum of two thousand or four thousand pounds, so as to fit out an expedition and get this money,--this treasure. Unfortunately the new Indiana Government had been beforehand, and we found that the bonds were useless. Then an accident introduced us to Sir Simon Tedder, and there was a chance that he might assist us." "But I understood that you came to buy war-ships?" "That was the excuse we gave out, and for that reason, we have been haunted by Indiana emissaries, who would take our lives, if it was needful. But we promised Sir Simon a share of the----"