Chronicle of an expedition into the Llanganati Mountains of Ecuador in search of 750 tons of worked gold, which the Incas hid from the Spanish conquistadors after Pizarro executed the Sun King, Atahualpa.

This funny, action-filled series is perfect for adventure-loving fans of Indiana Jones and James Patterson's Treasure Hunters! Twelve-year-old Addison Cooke just wishes something exciting would happen to him. His aunt and uncle, both world-famous researchers, travel to the ends of the earth searching for hidden treasure, dodging dangerous robbers along the way, while Addison is stuck in school all day. Luckily for Addison, adventure has a way of finding the Cookes. After his uncle unearths the first ancient Incan clue needed to find a vast trove of lost treasure, he is kidnapped by members of a shadowy organization intent on stealing the riches. Addison’s uncle is the bandits’ key to deciphering the ancient clues and looting the treasure . . . unless Addison and his friends can outsmart the kidnappers and crack the code first! Full of laugh-out-loud moments, danger, excitement, and nonstop action, Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas is sure to strike gold with kid readers. "What to give the kid who's read all the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books? Try Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas." —Parents Magazine "An exciting Indiana Jones-style tale of a seventh-grade boy trying to save his kidnapped aunt and uncle—museum curators who are linked to an ancient key that unlocks riches.” —Good Housekeeping "An exciting, adventurous new read…the first book in a new series that promises laugh-out-loud moments and nonstop action." —Boys’ Life

Explores the history of the Inca empire and its overthrow by the Spaniards, and chronicles the author's search for the legendary missing gold of the Inca sun king that may lie hidden in the mountains of Ecuador.

A novel of achievement, adventure, love, and tragedy This is a work of speculative fiction concerning the ability of the Inca civilization to record and use information. The historical fiction in this work begins in April 1532 and ends after the capture of Atahualpa. The related contemporary fiction begins in 2011, the one-hundredth anniversary of the report of the discovery of Machu Pichu

Eight billion dollars worth of Inca gold & silver are rumored to be hidden in an unmapped region of the Andes. This is the captivating story of that fabled treasure & the centuries-old spell it has cast on many, including a young American student. While completing anthropological field work in Ecuador, the author heard the legend of Atahualpa's ransom. The Incas gathered seven-hundred tons of gold (Sweat of the Sun) & silver (Tears of the Moon) to purchase the freedom of their king, Atahualpa, from Pizarro & his conquistadors. After the Inca ruler's murder, the treasure vanished into the forsaken Llanganati range of the Andes. The author abandoned his graduate school ambitions to search for Atahualpa's ransom. His quest for clues & his journey into the heart of the Andes is an absorbing & exciting detective story. His account is also unforgettable for its revelations about the lives & characters of seasoned treasure hunters, the obsessed few lured by the siren song of legendary gold.

The mysterious loss of a large portion of the treasure of the Incas has never been completely cleared up. By torturing the natives to whom the secret had been entrusted, the Spaniards made two or three discoveries, but there can be little doubt that these finds were only a small proportion of the total amount of the missing hoards, although for years after their occupation of the country the Spaniards spared no pains and hesitated at no cruelty to bring to light the hidden wealth. The story of the boat which put to sea laden with treasure is historical, and it was generally supposed that she was lost in a storm that took place soon after she sailed. It was also morally certain that the Peruvians who left the country when the Spaniards became masters carried off with them a very large amount of treasure into that part of South America lying east of Peru. Legends are current that they founded a great city there, and that their descendants occupy it at the present time. But the forests are so thick, and the Indian tribes so hostile, that the country has never yet been explored, and it may be reserved for some future traveller, possessing the determination of my two heroes, to clear up the mystery of this city as they penetrated that of the lost treasure-ship. It need hardly be said that the state of confusion, misrule, and incessant civil wars which I have described as prevailing in Peru presents a true picture of the country at the period in which this story is laid. G. A. HENTY.

The mysterious loss of a large portion of the treasure of the Incas has never been completely cleared up. By torturing the natives to whom the secret had been entrusted, the Spaniards made two or three discoveries, but there can be little doubt that these finds were only a small proportion of the total amount of the missing hoards, although for years after their occupation of the country the Spaniards spared no pains and hesitated at no cruelty to bring to light the hidden wealth. The story of the boat which put to sea laden with treasure is historical, and it was generally supposed that she was lost in a storm that took place soon after she sailed. It was also morally certain that the Peruvians who left the country when the Spaniards became masters carried off with them a very large amount of treasure into that part of South America lying east of Peru. Legends are current that they founded a great city there, and that their descendants occupy it at the present time. But the forests are so thick, and the Indian tribes so hostile, that the country has never yet been explored, and it may be reserved for some future traveller, possessing the determination of my two heroes, to clear up the mystery of this city as they penetrated that of the lost treasure-ship. It need hardly be said that the state of confusion, misrule, and incessant civil wars which I have described as prevailing in Peru presents a true picture of the country at the period in which this story is laid.