The DIARY
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We had begun fashioning the Quipu during our story telling. It took us the better part of an hour. My Lord would tell me what he wanted to relate and I would select the proper colored strand and tie whatever specific knot was called for. This Quipu was our way of telling others not present what the maker of the Quipu wanted to make known. Usually it was used for common news concerning crops, troop movements, and other daily communications, but this special Quipu would be an alarm that would stop all gold and silver shipments on the way to Cuzco. My Lord Atahualpa had already paid one room of gold and two of silver for his ransom, but the Spanish chief was greedy and treacherous and went back on his word. Instead of being freed, my Lord was to be put to death. Pizarro wanted my Lord to be baptized a Christian, and when my Lord refused he was sentenced to death. The magnanimous gesture of giving my Lord a choice of death by fire or by strangulation gave us no reason to respect the bearded lizard. The work on the Quipu was progressing and was nearing completion. It was difficult not being able to look on my Lord’s face as he gave me the information that I was coding, but that was impossible. He was a God and common people were forbidden to look directly on the face of a God - it was an act punishable by immediate death. The Quipu was finally finished and I handed it to my lord so that he might inspect it and its story. "Tumbe, my friend, companion and brother, look into my face," said my Lord Atahualpa after a short while. "Lord, as you know, I cannot," I responded. "Tumbe, do as I command," said the commanding solemn voice. "Yes, my Lord," I stammered as I raised my face to look on his. My tears made it hard to see. * * * Lucho turned on the front seat intercom and was explaining the purpose of the instruments. That done, I didn’t feel quite so overwhelmed by them. Ofelia’s voice suddenly came over the radio. I felt like an eavesdropper. She was relaying information to Lucho about day-to-day business when I was surprised to hear her ask if that tall good-looking gringo was married. "Why don’t you ask him yourself," he said, "he’s right here on the intercom with me." There was an audible click as the radio went dead. We had a good laugh and Lucho suggested that Miguel and Joaquin put on their headsets, which they did. Lucho repeated Ofelia’s remarks and again we all had a good laugh. "Just like his father," remarked Miguel. The flight continued with all of us pointing out items of interest for discussion. The ruggedness of the terrain was astounding and we all implored Lucho to be careful. We began to descend from our mountain path to the lush green of the rain forest. It was hard to believe there was life below us, as the earth appeared to be a continuous carpet of solid green. Pretty soon the green vegetation gave way to a patchwork of silver threads. These were the streams and rivers that formed one of the main tributaries of the great Amazon River. Soon, Lucho pointed out the settlement of Puerto Napo and the Napo River. He adjusted his course to follow the river back into the mountains.
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About the Book
Jack Martin is cleaning his attic one Saturday, as his teenage daughter wants to move up there and make it her room. He is making good progress and is almost through when he stumbles across an old Steamer trunk that belonged to his father, who is deceased. Jack and his wife Carol brought the trunk back after the funeral, put it in the attic and forgot about it. Jack figures that this is a good time to sort through the contents and opens the trunk. He finds that the contents are from when his father spent several years in South America looking for gold. Jack finds an assortment of well-worn clothes and other items. There are some knives, a Browning 9mm pistol, a portfolio with maps and photos, a leather pouch and a diary. The pouch contains some good-sized gold nuggets, some large emeralds and a shard of pottery with three lines of inscription. The diary leads Jack to South America to retrace his father's footsteps in a quest for gold, emeralds and other adventures related to the items found in the trunk.
About the Author
Mr. Cheney spent his first twenty years in his hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts. He then enlisted in the Navy and spent four exciting years as a plane captain for F8U Crusader jet fighters. He participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis and spent time on four aircraft carriers while his squadron trained pilots to fly the "Mig Killer" Crusader. After serving his enlistment, he spent a year as an electronic test technician for a company building nuclear submarines. For the last three months, he and the other workers had to work 12x7s. After reading an article in TRUE magazine about a fellow earning thousands of dollars a month panning gold in Ecuador, Mr. Cheney became intrigued with the idea and made contact with a fellow in California that was looking for people to join him in an expedition to look for gold in the Amazon Basin in Ecuador. Bob spent four years in this pursuit, which ended when a flash flood destroyed all of the equipment. Returning to the states, Bob took up computers and held positions in the industry as a technical instructor, manager of education, test supervisor, course development, curriculum development, engineering programmer and school director. Bob has spent nine years as a sales account executive and is winding down his career on disability as a result of diabetes.