I was then hunting for specimens of Inca mummies.

Vasa--this man now called Hervey--told me that he could obtain a splendid specimen of a mummy, and I arranged to give him one hundred pounds to procure what I wanted.

But I swear to you, De Gayangos," continued the little man earnestly, "that I did not know he proposed to steal the mummy from you." "You knew it was the green mummy ?" asked Don Pedro sharply.
"No, I only knew that it was a mummy." "Did Vasa get it for you ?" "I guess not," said the gentleman who confessed to that name.

"The Professor went to Cuzco and got into trouble--" "I was carried off to the mountains by some Indians," interpolated the Professor, "and only escaped after a year's captivity.

I did not mind that, as it gave me the opportunity of studying a decaying civilization.
But when I returned a free man to Lima, I found that Vasa had left the country with the mummy." "That's so," assented Hervey, waving his hand.