Nexus - 0212 - New Times Magazine-pages

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The man took the bottle and poured whiskey into the glasses. "I've had some spare time on my hands just lately," he said, “and I've been making a few discreet inquires about you." Doc Noss frowned. “What did you want to know?” "Well," drawled the man, "I found out that you're a bit of a prospector.” "So, what's new?" "Aw, just one or two things that don't seem to add up.” "Such as?" been shown how easily the conspirators gained entrance to Pizarro’s palace to murder him. Keeping the gold in Lima would have been a very risky proposition, necessitating a permanent twenty-four-hour guard, with no absolute guaran- tee that it would remain safe. In any case, the posting of such a guard would not have been practical, considering the uncertain state of the country, with soldiers continually hav- ing to be pulled away to deal with rebellions and civil wars. There was a political side to all of this. Pizarro would never have allowed the Crown to treat him in the same man- ner as it treated Cortes. But if, at some future date, the Crown had decided to remove him, his entire fortune would have been in jeopardy. We have the fate of his brother, Herando, to confirm the likelihood of that happening. Upon returning to Spain, shortly before the assassination of Pizarro, he was arrested on tumped-up charges, and incar- cerated for 20 years in the strong fortress of Medina del Campo. Could it be that he was held there without sentence because he would not reveal the secret hiding place of Pizarro's treasure? Doc Noss was not a mining engineer, and he bitterly regretted the fact a little later on, after all his efforts to blast a way into the mountain had proved useless. First he had tried clearing away the entrance hole with a charge of dynamite, but the explosion had shaken the moun- tain so badly that the unstable roof of the passageway col- lapsed. Next he had tried blasting into the side of the moun- tain, but all that had done was to bring countless tons of rocks crashing down. It was now going to be a very tricky job getting back into the treasure rooms again. He realised he would not be able to do that on his own. What he needed was the help of a qualified mining engineer. That would cost a deal of money he did not have readily available to him. For that reason, he made arrangements to sell some of the gold he had earlier taken out of the mountain. It has pre- viously been mentioned that the private ownership of gold was illegal in the USA. So what Doc Noss was intending to do, when he visited the house of a prospective buyer on that fateful night back in 1949, was to take part in a crooked transaction. Doc Noss and the other man were in the kitchen, seated at a table fac- ing each other. They were alone for a few minutes and then a door opened and the wife of the man came in. She did not look at them, nor did she speak, but went straight to the back of the kitchen where she pretended to be busy. Doc Noss was uncomfortably aware that she was quietly listening in on the discussion. He began questioning the man, at first tentatively, but, once he suspected there might be something wrong, he came straight to the point. "Do you have the money?" he asked. “Yeah,” answered the man, as though that was a non- essential detail. "Well, I asked myself, why would a prospector want to ° sell me gold?" "What's wrong with that?" “Nothing,” said he, shaking his head. "Nothing, except, why not sell it in the usual way?” ” "Look, do you want to buy the gold or not?" "Yeah, but I'd have to see it first." “And I'd have to see your cash,” countered Doc Noss. He was very angry and showed it. "In any case, I don't think I'll stick around any longer.” He rose to his feet. The man spoke quietly. "Why, where are you going?” "Home," replied Doc Noss. “You can't go home yet, you haven't finished your drink." Doc Noss gave him a scornful look. "I don't drink." With that he crossed the floor of the kitchen in a few rapid strides, opened the door, and went out to the driveway where his utility tuck was parked. Suddenly, the man's wife started to shriek that Doc Noss was going to fetch a gun. Coming out of the house in a hurry, the man stood on the porch, raised his arm, and point- ed a pistol at Doc Noss. "Stop," he shouted, “or I'll shoot!" Doc Noss ignored the warning, and kept going. Just as he reached his truck, there was a sharp report from the pistol, and a bullet hit him in the back. He threw up his arms and clutched the empty air in a spasm of agony, then fell to the ground dead. We now come to the most important part of the story, which deals with those who have laid claims to the treasure of the San Andreas Mountains. These claims, for what they are worth, have been lodged by private persons, such as the Doc Noss family, and some ex-servicemen, who were sta- tioned at the White Sands Missile Base when they made their discovery of the treasure. Claims have also been lodged by Indian agencies representing the Apaches, whose ancestors where supposed to have hidden the gold under the mountain. All of these claims, which are now in the process of coming before the US court, must, inevitably, stand the test of the highest legal, as well as moral, standards of jus- tice. This fact ought to encourage the Peruvian people, who have the strongest possible claim, to bring a lawsuit for the return of the treasure. Their claim, of course, would be that of victims of unprovoked aggression seeking the return of property stolen from their country. "T've got it." "Where?" said Doc Noss. "Can | see it?” "In the minute," replied the man. “Let's have a drink first.” . "His wife crossed the floor with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, put them on the table in front of the two men, and returned to the back of the kitchen. Doc Noss felt an uneasy qualm. As he did not know the man, he had felt he could not trust him, even before he had come to the meeting. 24eNEXUS FEBRUARY-MARCH '93