Graves were
not dug separately. Therefore, you see, sometimes a common grave,
or huaca, as it is called, would be given to many. That huaca
would become a cache of treasure in time. It was sacred to the
dead, and hence it was wicked to touch it."
The Senora's face betrayed the fact that, whatever modern
civilization had done for her, it had not yet quite succeeded in
eliminating the old ideas.
"Back in the early part of the seventeenth century," she
continued, leaning forward in her chair eagerly as she talked, "a
Spaniard opened a Chimu huaca and found gold that is said to have
been worth more than a million dollars. An Indian told him about
it. Who the Indian was does not matter. But the Spaniard was an
ancestor of Don Luis de Mendoza, who was found murdered to-day."
She stopped short, seeming to enjoy the surprised look on our
faces at finding that she was willing to discuss the matter so
intimately.
"After the Indian had shown the Spaniard the treasure in the
mound," she pursued, "the Indian told the Spaniard that he had
given him only the little fish, the peje chica, but that some day
he would give him the big fish, the peje grande. I see that you
already know at least a part of the story, anyhow.
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