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diff --git a/old/53988-0.txt b/old/53988-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 00c3b42..0000000 --- a/old/53988-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7325 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bride of the Sun, by Gaston Leroux - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Bride of the Sun - -Author: Gaston Leroux - -Release Date: January 17, 2017 [EBook #53988] -Last Updated: February 2, 2017 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIDE OF THE SUN *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - -THE BRIDE OF THE SUN - -By Gaston Leroux - -1915, McBride, Nabt & Co. - - - - -BOOK I--THE GOLDEN SUN BRACELET - - - - -I - -As the liner steamed into Callao Roads, and long before it had -anchored, it was surrounded by a flotilla of small boats. A moment -later, deck, saloons and cabins were invaded by a host of gesticulating -and strong-minded boatmen, whose badges attested that they were duly -licensed to carry off what passengers and luggage they could. They raged -impotently, however, round Francis Montgomery, F.R.S., who sat enthroned -on a pile of securely locked boxes in which were stored his cherished -manuscripts and books. - -It was in vain that they told him it would be two full hours before the -ship came alongside the Darsena dock. Nothing would part him from his -treasures, nothing induce him to allow these half-crazed foreigners to -hurl his precious luggage overside into those frail-looking skiffs. - -When this was suggested to him by a tall young man who called him uncle, -the irascible scientist explained with fluency and point that the idea -was an utterly ridiculous one. So Dick Montgomery shrugged his broad -shoulders, and with a “See you presently,” that hardly interrupted his -uncle’s flow of words, beckoned to a boatman. - -A moment later he had left the ship’s side and was nearing the -shore--the Eldorado of his young ambition, the land of gold and legends, -the Peru of Pizarro and the Incas. Then the thought of a young girl’s -face blotted out those dreams to make way for new ones. - -The monotonous outline of the waterfront brought no disappointment. -Little did he care that the city stretched out there before his eyes was -little more than a narrow, unbeautiful blur along the sea coast, that -there were none of those towers, steeples or minarets with which our -ancient ports beckon out to sea that the traveler is welcome. Even when -his boat had passed the Mole, and they drew level with the modern works -of the Muelle Darsena, well calculated to excite the interest of a -younger engineer, he remained indifferent. - -He had asked the boatman where the Calle de Lima lay, and his eyes -hardly left the part of the city which had been pointed out to him in -reply. At the landing stage he threw a hand-full of centavos to his man, -and shouldered his way through the press of guides, interpreters, hotel -touts and other waterside parasites. - -Soon he was before the Calle de Lima, a thoroughfare which seemed to be -the boundary line between the old city and the new. Above, to the east, -was the business section--streets broad or narrow fronted with big, -modern buildings that were the homes of English, French, German, Italian -and Spanish firms without number. Below, to the west, a network of -tortuous rows and alleys, full of color, with colonnades and verandahs -encroaching on every available space. - -Dick plunged into this labyrinth, shouldered by muscular Chinamen -carrying huge loads, and by lazy Indians. Here and there was to be seen -a sailor leaving or entering one of the many cafés which opened their -doors into the cool bustle of the narrow streets. Though it was his -first visit to Callao, the young man hardly hesitated in his way. Then -he stopped short against a decrepit old wall close to a verandah from -which came the sound of a fresh young voice, young but very assured. - -“Just as you like, señor,” it said in Spanish. “But at that price your -fertilizer can only be of an inferior quality.” - -For a few minutes the argument went on within. Then there was an -exchange of courteous farewells and a door was closed. Dick approached -the balcony and looked into the room. Seated before an enormous ledger -was a young girl, busily engaged in transcribing figures into a little -note-book attached by a gold chain to the daintiest of waists. Her -face, a strikingly beautiful one, was a little set under its crown of -coal-black hair as she bent over her task. It was not the head of -a languorous Southern belle--rather the curls of Carmen helmeting a -blue-eyed Minerva, a little goddess of reason of today and a thorough -business-woman. At last she lifted her head. - -“Maria-Teresa?...” - -“Dick!” - -The heavy green ledger slipped and crashed to the floor, as she ran -toward him both hands outstretched. - -“Well, and how is business?” - -“So, so.... And how are you?... But we did not expect you till -to-morrow.” - -“We made rather a good passage.” - -“And how is May?” - -“She’s a very grown-up person now. I suppose you’ve heard? Her second -baby was born just before we left.” - -“And dear smoky old London?” - -“It was raining hard when last I saw it.” - -“But where is your uncle?” - -“Still on board. He won’t leave his collection.... Does nothing all -day but take notes for his next book.... Wait a minute, I’ll come in. -Where’s the door? I suppose it would be bad form to climb in through the -window? Won’t I be in the way, though? You seem awfully busy.” - -“I am, but you may come in. Round the corner there, and the first door -on your right.” - -He followed her indications and found an archway leading into a huge -courtyard crowded with Chinese coolies and Quichua Indians. A huge dray, -coming from the direction of the harbor, rumbled under the archway, and -wheeled in the court to let an empty one pass out. People and things -seemed to unite in making as much dust and noise as possible. - -“So she manages all this,” he reflected as he made his way toward a door -at which she had appeared. - -“You may kiss me,” she said as she closed the door behind them. - -He took her in his arms and held her to him, by far the more troubled of -the two. Again it was she who spoke first. - -“So you really have not forgotten?” - -“Could you believe it, dear?” - -“Well, you were so long in coming.” - -“But I wrote, and...” - -“Well, never mind now. It is not too late. I have just refused my fourth -suitor, Don Alonso de Cuelar. And father, I think, is furious with me -for refusing the most eligible young man in Lima.... Well, why don’t you -say something?” - -“Forgive me, dear.... How is your father? and the kiddies?... I hardly -know what I am saying, I am so glad.” - -“Father is very well, and very glad to hear that you were coming. To -tell the truth though, he is far more interested in your uncle’s visit. -He has arranged a meeting at the Geographical Society for him. And -for the past month he has been thinking and talking of nothing but -archaeology. They have been digging up all sorts of things.” - -“And so he has been angry with you?” - -“He seems to think he has every reason to be. I am twenty-three and he -already sees me an old maid.... It’s awfully funny! Do you know what -they call me in Lima now? The Virgin of the Sun!” - -“What does that mean?” - -“Aunt Agnes and Aunt Irene will explain better than I can. It’s -something like one of the Vestals--an old Inca legend.” - -“H’m, some superstitious rot.... But look here, Maria-Teresa, I’m an -awful coward. Do you think your father...” - -“Of course! He’ll do anything I like if he is asked at the right moment -We’ll be married in three months’ time from San Domingo. Truly we will!” - -“You dear!... But I’m only a poor devil of an engineer, and he may not -think me much of a son-in-law for the Marquis de la Torre.” - -“Nonsense, you’re clever, and I make you a gift of the whole of Peru. -There’s plenty to do there for an engineer.” - -“I can hardly believe my luck, Maria-Teresa! That I--I.... But, tell me, -how did it all happen?” - -“The old, old way. First you are neighbors, or meet by accident. Then -you are friends... just friends, nothing else.... And then...?” - -Their hands joined, and they remained thus for a moment, in silence. - -Suddenly, a burst of noise came from the courtyard, and a moment later -a hurried knock announced the entrance of an excited employee. At the -sight of the stranger, he stopped short, but Maria-Teresa told him to -speak. Dick, who both understood and spoke Spanish well, listened. - -“The Indians are back from the Islands, señorita. There has been trouble -between them and the Chinamen. One coolie was killed and three were -badly wounded.” - -Maria-Teresa showed no outward sign of emotion. Her voice hardened as -she asked:-- - -“Where did it happen... in the Northern Islands?” - -“No, at Chincha.” - -“Then Huascar was there?” - -“Yes, señorita. He came back with them, and is outside.” - -“Send him in to me.” - - - - -II - -The man went out, signing as he went to a stalwart Indian who walked -quietly into the office. Maria-Teresa, back at her desk, hardly raised -her eyes. The newcomer, who took off his straw sombrero with a sweep -worthy of a hidalgo of Castille, was a Trigullo Indian. These -are perhaps the finest tribe of their race and claim descent from -Manco-Capac, first king of the Incas. A mass of black hair, falling -nearly to his shoulders, framed a profile which might have been copied -from a bronze medallion. His eyes, strangely soft as he looked at the -young girl before him, provoked immediate antagonism from Dick. He was -wrapped in a bright-colored poncho, and a heavy sheath-knife hung from -his belt. - -“Tell me how it happened,” ordered Maria-Teresa without returning the -Indian’s salute. - -Under his rigid demeanor, it was evident that he resented this tone -before a stranger. Then he began to speak in Quichua, only to be -interrupted and told to use Spanish. The Indian frowned and glanced -haughtily at the listening engineer. - -“I am waiting,” said Maria-Teresa. “So your Indians have killed one of -my coolies?” - -“The shameless ones laughed because our Indians fired cohetes in honor -of the first quarter of the moon.” - -“I do not pay your Indians to pass their time in setting off fireworks.” - -“It was the occasion of the Noble Feast of the Moon.” - -“Yes, I know! The moon, and the stars, and the sun, and every Catholic -festival as well! Your Indians do nothing but celebrate. They are lazy, -and drunkards. I have stood them, so far because they were your friends, -and you have always been a good servant, but this is too much.” - -“The shameless sons of the West are not your servants. They do not love -you....” - -“No, but they work.” - -“For nothing... They have no pride. - -“They are the sons of dogs.” - -“They earn their wages.... Your men, I keep out of charity!” - -“Charity!” The Indian stepped back as if struck, and his hand, swung -clear of the poncho, was lifted over his head as if in menace. Then it -dropped and he strode to the door. But before opening it, he turned and -spoke rapidly in Quichua, his eyes flaming. Then, throwing his poncho -oyer his shoulder, he went out. - -Maria-Teresa sat silent for a while, toying with her pencil. - -“What did he say?” asked Dick. - -“That he was going, and that I should never see him again.” - -“He looked furious.” - -“Oh, he is not dangerous. It is a way they have. He says he did -everything he could to prevent the trouble.... He is a good man himself, -but his gang are hopeless. You have no idea what a nuisance these -Indians are. Proud as Lucifer, and as lazy as drones.... I shall never -employ another one.” - -“Wouldn’t that make trouble?” - -“It might! But what else can I do? I can’t have all my coolies killed -off like that.” - -“And what of Huascar?” - -“He will do as he pleases.... He was brought up in the place, and was -devoted to my mother.” - -“It must be hard for him to leave.” - -“I suppose so.” - -“And you wouldn’t do anything to keep him?” - -“No.... Goodness, we are forgetting all about your uncle!” She rang, -and a man came in. “Order the motor.... By the way, what are the Indians -doing?” - -“They’ve left with Huascar.” - -“All of them?” - -“Yes, señorita.” - -“Without saying a word?” - -“Not a word, señorita.” - -“Who paid them off?” - -“They refused to take any money. Huascar ordered them to.” - -“And what of the Island coolies?” - -“They have not been near the place.” - -“But the dead man... and the wounded?” - -“The Chinamen take them back to their own quarters.” - -“Funny people.... Tell them to bring the motor round.” - -While speaking she had put on a bonnet, and now drew on her gloves. - -“I shall drive,” she said to the liveried negro boy who brought round -the car. - -As they shot toward the Muelle Darsena, Dick admired the coolness -with which she took the machine through the twisting streets. The boy, -crouching at their feet, was evidently used to the speed, and showed no -terror as they grazed walls and corners. - -“Do you do a great deal of motoring out here?” - -“No, not very much. The roads are too bad. I always use this to get from -Callao to Lima, and there are one or two runs to the seaside, to places -like Ancon or Carillos--just a minute, Dick.” - -She stopped the car, and waved her hand to a curly gray head which had -appeared at a window, between two flower pots. This head reappeared at -a low door, on the shoulders of a gallant old gentleman in sumptuous -uniform. Maria-Teresa jumped out of the motor, exchanged a few sentences -with him, and then rejoined Dick again. - -“That was the Chief of Police,” she explained. “I told him about -that affair. There will be no trouble unless the Chinamen take legal -proceedings, which is not likely.” - -They reached the steamers’ landing stage in time. The tugs had only just -brought alongside the Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s liner, on board -which Uncle Francis was still taking notes:--“On entering the port of -Callao, one is struck, etc., etc.” He lost precious material by not -being with Maria-Teresa as she enthusiastically described “her harbor” - to Dick.... Sixty millions spent in improvements... 50,000 square -meters of docks.... How she loved it all for its commercial bustle, for -its constant coming and going of ships, for its intense life, and all -it meant--the riches that would flow through it after the opening of the -Panama Canal... the renascence of Peru.... Chili conquered and Santiago -crushed... the defeat of 1878 avenged... and San Francisco yonder had -best look to itself! - -Dick, listening to the girl at his side, was amazed to hear her give -figures with as much authority as an engineer, estimate profits as -surely as, a shipowner. What a splendid little brain it was, and how -much better than that imaginative, dreaming type which he deplored both -in men and women, a type exemplified by his uncle with all his chimeric -hypotheses. - -“It would all be so splendid,” she added, frowning, “if we only stopped -making fools of ourselves. But we are always doing it.” - -“In what way?” - -“With our revolutions!” - -They were now standing on the quay, while the liner gradually swung in. - -“Oh, are they at it here as well? We found one on in Venezuela, and then -another at Guayaquil. The city was under martial law, and some general -or other who had been in power for about forty-eight hours was preparing -to march on Quito and wipe out the government.” - -“Yes, it is like an epidemic,” went on the young girl, “an epidemic -which is sweeping the Andes just now. The news from Boloisa is worrying -me, too. Things are bad round Lake Titicaca.” - -“Not really! That’s a nuisance... not a cheerful outlook for my business -in the Cuzco.” Dick was evidently put out by the news. - -“I had not intended telling you about it until to-morrow. You must not -think of unpleasant things to-day... all that district is in the hands -of Garcia’s men now.” - -“Who is Garcia?” - -“Oh, one of my old suitors.” - -“Has everybody in the country been in love with you, Maria-Teresa?” - -“Well, I had the attraction of having been brought up abroad... at the -first presidential ball I went to after mother’s death there was no -getting rid of them.... Garcia was there. And now he has raised the -revolt among the Arequipa and Cuzco Indians.... He wants Vointemilla’s -place as president.” - -“I suppose they have sent troops against them?” - -“Oh, yes, the two armies are out there... but, of course, they are not -fighting.” - -“Why?” - -“Because of the festival of the Interaymi.” - -“And what on earth is that?” - -“The Festival of the Sun.... You see, three quarters, of the troops on -both sides are Indian.... So, of course, they get drunk together during -the fêtes.... In the end, Garcia will be driven over the Boloisan -border, but in the meantime he is playing the very mischief with -fertilizer rates.” - -She turned toward the liner again, and, catching sight of Uncle Francis, -raised her hand in reply to the frantic waving of a notebook. - -“How are you, Mr. Montgomery?” she cried. “Did you enjoy the crossing?” - -The gangways were run out, and they went on board. - -Mr. Montgomery’s first question was the same as had been his nephew’s. - -“Well, and how is business?” - -For all those who knew her in Europe had marveled at the change which -had come over the “little girl” at her mother’s death, and her sudden -determination to return to Peru and herself take charge of the family’s -fertilizer business and concessions. She had also been influenced in -this decision by the fact that there were her little brother and sister, -Isabella and Christobal, who needed her care. And finally there was her -father, perhaps the greatest child of the three, who had always royally -spent the money which his wife’s business brought in. - -Maria-Teresa’s mother, the daughter of a big Liverpool shipowner, met -the handsome Marquis de la Torre one summer when he was an attaché at -the Peruvian legation in London. The following winter she went back to -Peru with him. Inheriting a great deal of her father’s business acumen, -she made a great success of a guano concession which her husband had -hitherto left unexploited. - -At first the marquis protested vigorously that the wife of Christobal de -la Torre should not work, but when he found that he could draw almost to -any extent on an ever-replenishing exchequer, he forgave her for making -him so wealthy. Yet on his wife’s death did he find it surprising -that Maria-Teresa should have inherited her abilities, and allowed the -daughter to take over all the duties which had been the mother’s. - -“And where is your father, my dear?” asked Uncle Francis, still with a -wary eye on his luggage. - -“He did not expect to see you until to-morrow. They are going to give -you such a reception! The whole Geographical Society is turning out in -your honor.” - -When his luggage had been taken to the station, and he had personally -supervised its registration for Lima, Uncle Francis at last consented -to take a seat in the motor, and Maria-Teresa put on full speed, for she -wished to reach home before the early tropical nightfall. - -After passing a line of adobe houses and a few comfortable villas, -they came to a long stretch of marshy ground, overgrown with reeds and -willows, and spotted with clumps of banana trees and tamarisks, -with here and there an eucalyptus or an araucaria pine. The whole -countryside was burnt yellow by the sun, by a drought hardly ever -relieved by a drop of rain, and which makes the campo round Lima and -Callao anything but enchanting. A little further along they passed some -scattered bamboo and adobe huts. - -This parched landscape would have been infinitely desolate had it not -been relieved at intervals by the luxuriant growth surrounding some -hacienda--sugar-cane, maize and rice plantations, making a brilliant -green oasis round the white farm buildings. The badly-built clay roads -which crossed the highway were peopled by droves of cattle, heavy carts, -and flocks of sheep which mounted shepherds were bringing back to the -farms. And all this animation formed a strange contrast to the arid -aspect of the surrounding country. In spite of the jolting shaking of -the car over a poorly kept road, Uncle Francis kept taking notes, and -even more notes. Soon, with the lower spurs of the Cordilleras, they saw -on the horizon the spires and domes which make Lima look almost like a -Mussulman city. - -They were now running alongside the Rimac, a stream infested by -crayfish. Negro fishermen were to be seen every few yards dragging -behind them in the water sacks attached to their belts, and in which -they threw their catch to keep it alive. Turning to comment on them, -Dick noticed Maria-Teresa’s preoccupied air, and asked her the cause. - -“It is very strange,” she said, “we have not met a single Indian.” - -The motor was almost in Lima now, having reached the famous Ciudad de -los Reyes, the City of Kings founded by the Conquistador. Maria-Teresa, -who loved her Lima, and wished to show it off, made a detour, swerving -from the road and running a short distance along the stony bed of -dried-up Rimac, careless of the risk to her tires. - -Certainly the picturesque corner to which she brought them was worth the -detour. The walls of the houses could hardly be seen, overgrown, as it -were, with wooden galleries and balconies. Some of them were for all -the world like finely carved boxes, adorned with a hundred -arabesques--little rooms suspended in mid-air, with mysterious bars and -trellised shutters, and strongly reminiscent of Peru or Bagdad. Only -here it was not rare to see women’s faces half hidden in the shadows, -though in no way hiding. For the ladies of Lima are famed for their -beauty and coquetry. They were to be seen here in the streets, wearing -the manta, that fine black shawl which is wrapped round the head and -shoulders and which no woman in South America uses with so much grace as -the girl of Lima. Like the haik of the Mor, the manta hides all but two -great dark eyes, but its wearer can, when she wishes, throw it aside -just enough to give a sweet glimpse of harmonious features and a -complexion made even more white by the provoking shadow of the veil. -Dick had this amply proved to him, and seemed so interested that -Maria-Teresa began to scold. - -“They are far too attractive in those mantas,” she said. “I shall show -you some Europeans now.” - -She turned the car up an adjoining street, which brought them to the -new city, to broad roads and avenues opening up splendid vistas of the -distant Andes. They crossed the Paseo Amancaes, which is the heart of -the Mayfair of Lima, and Maria-Teresa several times exchanged bows with -friends and acquaintances. Here the black manta was replaced by Paris -hats overdressed from the rue de la Paix, for its discreet shadow is -too discreet to be correct at nightfall. It was the hour at which all -fashionable Lima was driving or walking, or gossiping in the tearooms, -where one loiters happily over helados in an atmosphere of chiffons, -flirting and politics. When they reached the Plaza Mayor, the first -stars had risen on the horizon. The crowd was dense, and carriages -advanced only at a walking pace. Women dressed as for the ball, with -flowers in their dark curls, passed in open carriages. Young men grouped -round a fountain in the center of the square, raised their hats and -smiled into passing victorias. - -“It really is strange,” murmured Maria-Teresa, “not an Indian in sight!” - -“Do they generally come to this part of the city, then?” - -“Yes, there are always some who come to watch the people come past....” - -Standing in front of a café was a group of half-breeds, talking -politics. One could distinctly hear the names of Garcia and Vointemilla, -the president, neither of them treated over gently. One of the group, -evidently a shopkeeper, was moaning his fears of a return to the era of -pronunciamentos. - -The car turned at the corner of the cathedral, and entered a rather -narrow street. Seeing the way clear, Maria-Teresa put on speed only to -pull up sharply a second later, just in time to avoid running down a man -wrapped in a poncho, who stood motionless in the middle of the street. -Both young people recognized him. - -“Huascar!” exclaimed Maria-Teresa. - -“Huascar, señorita, who begs you to take another road.” - -“The road is free to all, Huascar. Stand aside.” - -“Huascar has nothing more to say to the señorita. To pass, she must pass -over Huascar.” - -Dick half rose in his seat, as if to intervene, but Maria-Teresa put a -hand on his sleeve. - -“You behave very strangely, Huascar,” she said. “Why are there no -Indians in the town to-day?” - -“Huascar’s brethren do as they please, they are free men.” - -She shrugged her shoulders, thought a moment, and began to turn the car -round. - -Before starting again, however, she spoke to the Indian, who had not -moved. - -“Are you always my friend, Huascar?” - -For an answer, the Indian slowly raised his sombrero, and looked up to -the early stars, as if calling them to witness. With a brief “Adios!” - Maria-Teresa drove on. - -When the motor stopped again, it was before a big house, the door-keeper -of which rushed out to help his young mistress to alight. He was -forestalled, however, by the Marquis de la Torre himself, who had just -driven up, and who greeted the two Montgomerys with delight. “Enter, -señor. This house is yours,” he said grandly to Uncle Francis. - -The Marquis was a slim little gentleman of excessive smartness, dressed -almost like a young man. When he moved and he was hardly ever still, he -seemed to radiate brilliancy: from his eyes, his clothes, his jewels. -But for all that, he was never undignified, and kept his grand manner -without losing his vivacity in circumstances when others would have -had to arm themselves with severity. Outside his club and the study of -geographical questions he cared for nothing so much as romping with his -son Christobal, a sturdy youngster of seven. At times one might have -taken them for playmates on a holiday from the same school, filling the -house with their noise, while little Isabella, who was nearly six, and -loved ceremony, scolded them pompously, after the manner of an Infanta. - - - - -III - -The Marquis de la Torre’s residence was half modern, half historical, -with here and there quaint old-fashioned rooms and corners. Don -Christobal was something of a collector, and had adorned his home with -ancient paneling, carved galleries several centuries old, rude furniture -dating back to before the conquest, faded tapestry--all so many relics -of the various towns of old Peru which his ancestors had first sacked -and then peopled. And each object recalled some anecdote or Story which -the host detailed at length to all willing listeners. - -It was in one of these historical corners that Mr. Montgomery and his -nephew were presented to two old ladies--two Velasquez canvases brought -to life, yet striving to retain all their pictorial dignity. Attired -after a fashion long since forgotten, Aunt Agnes and her duenna might -almost have been taken for antiques of Don Christobal’s collection: they -lived altogether in another age, and their happiest moments were those -passed in telling fear-inspiring legends. All the tales of old Peru -had a home in this ancient room of theirs, and many an evening had been -whiled away there by these narratives--the two Christobals, father -and son, and little Infanta Isabella listening in one corner, while -Maria-Teresa, at the other end of the room, went over her accounts and -wrote her letters in a great splash of yellow lamplight. - -Uncle Francis was delighted to meet in real life two such perfect types -of the New Spain of yore, set in the very frame they needed. They were -great friends at once, and the savant, taken to his own room, changed -his clothes hurriedly to be able to rejoin them. At dinner, installed -between the two, he begged for more legends, more stories. Maria-Teresa, -thinking it time to talk of more serious matters, interrupted by telling -her father of the trouble between the Indians and coolies. - -When they heard that Maria-Teresa had discharged the Indians, Aunt Agnes -shook her head doubtfully, and Irene openly expressed her disapproval. -Both agreed that the young girl had acted imprudently, and particularly -so on the eve of the Interaymi festival. This view was also taken by -the Marquis, whose protest took an even more active form when he learned -that Huascar had also left. Huascar had always been a very faithful -servant, he argued, and his brusk departure was strange. Maria-Teresa -explained shortly that for some time past Huascar’s manner had -displeased her, and that she had let him know it. - -“That is another matter,” said the Marquis. - -“But I am no more comfortable about it... there is something in the -air... the Indians are not behaving normally.... The other day, in -the Plaza Mayor, I heard extraordinary remarks being made by some -half-breeds to a couple of Quichua chiefs.” - -“Yes, we did not meet a single Indian on the way from Callao, and I have -not seen one in the city,” said Dick. “Why is that, I wonder?” - -“Because of the festival,” interjected Aunt Agnes. “They have their -secret meetings. They disappear into the mountains, or some warren of -theirs--catacombs like the Early Christians. One day, the order comes -from some corner of the Andes, and they vanish like shadows, to reappear -a few days later like a swarm of locusts.” - -“My sister exaggerates a little,” said the Marquis, smiling. “They are -not so very dangerous, after all.” - -“But you yourself are worried, Christobal. You have just said so.” - -“Only because there might be some rioting....” - -“Have they got it in them?” asked Mr. Montgomery. “They seem so -nerveless....” - -“They are not all like that.... Yes, we have had one or two native -rebellions, but it was never anything very serious.” - -“How many of them are there in the country?” put in Dick. - -“About two-thirds of the population,” answered Maria-Teresa. “But -they are no more capable of really rebelling than they are of working -properly. It is the Garcia business that has unsettled them, coming -after a long period of quiet.” She turned to her father. “What does the -President think of it all?” - -“He does not seem to worry a great deal. This Indian unrest recurs every -ten years.” - -“Why every ten years?” demanded Uncle Francis. - -“Because of the Sun Festival,” said old Irene. “The Quichuas hold it -every ten years.” - -“Where?” Dick took a sudden interest. “Nobody knows,” replied Aunt -Agnes, in a nervously strangled voice. “There are sacrifices... and the -ashes of the victims are thrown into rivers and streams... to carry away -the sins of the nation, the Indians believe.” - -“That is really very interesting!” exclaimed Uncle Francis. - -“Some of the sacrifices are human,” half groaned the old lady, dropping -her head to her plate. - -“Human sacrifices!” - -“Oh, Auntie!” laughed Maria-Teresa. - -“Curious,” remarked the savant. “And there may be some truth in it. -I know that they were customary at the Festival of the Sun among the -Incas. And Prescott makes it clear that the Quichuas have kept not only -the language of their ancestors, but also many of the ancient customs.” - -“Yes, but they became Christians when the Spaniards conquered their -country,” suggested Dick. - -“Not that that affects them much,” commented the Marquis. “It gives -them two religions instead of one, and they have mixed up the rites and -beliefs of the two in a most amazing fashion.” - -“What do they want to do, then? Re-build the Empire of the Incas?” - -“They don’t know what they want,” replied Maria-Teresa. “In the days of -the Incas every living being in the Empire had to work, were practically -the slaves of the Sons of Sun. When that iron discipline was removed -they gradually learned to do nothing but sleep. Of course, that meant -poverty and misery, which they attribute, not to their laziness, but to -the fact that they are no longer ruled by the descendants of Mono-Capac! -From what Huascar told me, they still hope for a return of the old -kings.” - -“And they still go in for human sacrifice?” asked Dick. - -“Of course not! What absolute nonsense!” Aunt Agnes and Irene both -turned to Uncle Francis. - -“Maria-Teresa was brought up abroad, and does not know.... She cannot -know.... But she is wrong to laugh at what she calls ‘all these old -stories.’... There is plenty of proof, and we are sure of it.... Every -ten years--all great events were decennial among the Incas--every ten -years, the Quichua Indians offer a bride to the Sun.” - -“A bride to the Sun?” exclaimed Uncle Francis, half horrified, half -incredulous. - -“Yes... they sacrifice a young girl in one of those horrible Inca -temples of theirs, where no stranger has ever gone!... It is terrible, -but it is true.” - -“Really... it is so difficult to believe.... Do you mean to say that -they kill her?” - -“They do... as a sacrifice to the Sun.” - -“But how? By fire?” - -“No, it is even more horrible than that. Death by fire is only for far -more unimportant ceremonies. At the Interaymi, they wall up their -victim alive.... And it is always a Spanish girl.... They kidnap one, as -beautiful and of as good family as possible. It is vengeance against the -race that destroyed theirs.” - -Maria-Teresa was frankly laughing at her aunt’s intense seriousness, -only equaled by gravity with which Uncle Francis listened. The savant -looked at her smiling face half disapprovingly, and brought his -scientific knowledge to the defense of the old ladies. Everything they -said corresponded perfectly with what well-known writers and explorers -had been able to discover about the Virgins of the Sun. There was no -doubt that human sacrifice had been rife among the Incas, both in honor -of the Sun and for the King himself, many of the victim» going to the -altar of their own free will. This was particularly the case when an -Inca died--it was like Suttee of the East. - -“Prescott and Wiener, the greatest authorities on the subject, are -agreed,” said Uncle Francis. “Prescott tells us that at one royal -burial, more than a thousand people, wives, maids and servants of the -Inca, were sacrificed on his tomb.” - -Aunt Agnes shuddered, while Irene, bending her head, made the sign of -the Cross. - -“All this is very true, my dear sir,” said Don Christobal, carrying on -the conversation, “and I see that our Geographical Society here will be -able to give you very little that is new to you. Would it interest you -to visit our latest excavations at Ancon to-morrow? There is ample proof -there that Suttee was practised among the Incas.” - -“What exactly were these Virgins of the Sun?” asked Dick, turning to his -uncle, who, delighted to be able to show his erudition, at once launched -into an explanation. - -“The Virgins of the Sun, or the ‘elected ones,’ as they were called, -were young girls, vowed to the service of the divinity. They were taken -from their families as children, and put into convents where they were -placed under the care of women called mammaconas,--girls who had grown -old in these monasteries. Under the guidance of these venerable matrons, -the virgins were taught their religious duties, weaving and embroidery -were their chief occupations, and it was they who made the fine vicuna -wool for the hangings of the temples and the Inca’s home and attire.” - -“Yes,” said gray-haired Irene, “but their chief duty was to guard the -sacred fire acquired anew by the temple at each Raymi festival.” - -“That is so,” replied the savant. “They lived absolutely alone. From -the moment they entered the home, they were entirely cut off from their -families and friends. The Inca alone, and his queen, the Coya, were -allowed within the sacred precincts. The most rigid discipline and -supervision were exercised over them.” - -“And woe to the girl who transgressed,” added Aunt Irene. “By Inca law -she was buried alive, while the town or village from which she came was -razed to the ground and ‘sown with stones,’ so that all memory of it -should be lost.” - -“You are perfectly right, madam,” agreed Uncle Francis. - -“Sweet country!” Dick exclaimed. - -“What an amazing civilization they must have possessed,” continued Uncle -Francis. “The ceremonies of their temples are almost identical with -those of ancient Rome.... Little did Christopher Columbus think, when he -saw a few painted savages, that on the other seaboard, behind this belt -of primitive land and tribes, there was a whole world with its customs, -monuments, laws and conquests. Two empires, sir: that of the Aztecs in -Mexico, that of the Incas in Peru. And with civilizations rivaling -that of the Mediterranean. It is as if an Eastern prince, reaching the -steppes of Scythia, had claimed the discovery of Europe, returning to -his States without knowing that Rome existed, and convinced that the -rest of the world was a howling waste!” - -“He must have been a bit of a fool,” hazarded Dick. “A true conqueror -guesses there are new lands to conquer even before he sees them.” - -“Like Pizarro and Cortes!” exclaimed the Marquis. - -“Who came to destroy everything...” began Uncle Francis. Fortunately, -Don Christobal did not hear him, and he stopped in time. Maria-Teresa, -seated opposite the savant, had trodden on his foot, and he bit his lip, -remembering that de la Torre, the Marquis’ ancestor, had been one of -Pizarro’s “destroyers.” - -Both old ladies, however, had heard, and opened their eyes at this -denunciation of a cause which to them was that of the true faith against -the infidel. Maria-Teresa, anxious to smooth matters over, quickly -brought them back to their Inca legends. - -“All this is very fine,” she said, “but there is nothing to show that -the Indians still sacrifice human brings.” - -“How can you say that!” they exclaimed in chorus. - -“Well, has anybody ever had definite proof of it?” - -Aunt Agnes was not to be shaken in her convictions. - -“When I was a little girl,” she declared, “I had an old nurse who -belonged to one of the Lake Titicaca tribes of Quichuas. She told me -that she herself had seen three Spanish girls walled up alive at three -successive Interaymi fêtes.” - -“Where did the girls come from?” asked Dick. - -“They were Lima girls.” - -“But then, any number of people must have known of it,” he answered, -secretly amused by the grave airs of the two old ladies. - -“It was, and is, common property,” retorted Aunt Agnes. “The names of -their last two victims were known to everybody. One vanished ten years -ago, and the other ten years before that.” - -“Yes, yes, common property!” laughed Don Christobal. - -“There is nothing to laugh about, Christobal,” said Aunt Agnes drily. - -And the duenna repeated in a low voice, “No, no, nothing to laugh -about.” - -The Marquis was determined to have his laugh. - -“Let us mourn the poor children,” he said, groaning. “Cut off from the -affection of their parents at so early an age! How terrible!” - -“Christobal, can you tell me what became of Amelia de Vargas and Marie -Cristina de Orellana?” - -“Yes, what became of them?” urged Irene. - -“There we are!... the old story! I expected it!” exclaimed the Marquis. - -“You might speak seriously! You knew Amelia de Vargas....” - -“A charming girl... the sweetest smile in the city!... That was twenty -years ago.... How time flies!... Yes, she disappeared... with a poor -cousin.” - -“I heard the other day that it was a toreador,” interjected -Maria-Teresa. “They revive that old story every ten years, at the time -of the Interaymi.” - -“She disappeared outside the bull-ring,” explained Aunt Agnes. “There -was a fight in the crowd, and she was separated from her parents. Nobody -ever saw her again. Afterwards, some people remembered catching sight of -her surrounded by a group of Indians. She died at their hands, walled up -alive.” - -“What a gorgeous imagination crowds have! But the fact remains that that -poor cousin of hers disappeared about the same time.” - -“So you are pleased to say, Christobal. But what of Maria Cristina de -Orellana?” - -“Oh, that was another matter... a very sad case. She was out for a walk -with her father round the Cuzco, and went into one of the caves, never -to reappear. She lost her way in the old subterranean passages, of -course. The government had all the entrances blocked up after that.” - -“And since then,” commented Aunt Agnes, “her poor father has been a -madman. For the past ten years, he has haunted the Cuzco ruins, calling -in vain to his daughter. He, at all events, will not believe that she -was not carried off by the Indians.” - -“But you yourself say he is mad.” - -“He lost his reason when he acquired the certitude that she had -perished in their temple. A few days before she vanished, Maria-Cristina -mysteriously received a very old and very heavy gold bracelet. That -bracelet had a center plaque representing the sun....” - -“My dear Agnes, you know that in this country jewelers stick the sun in -wherever and whenever they can.” - -“That bracelet was the real one... the same one that was sent to -Amelia.” - -“Are you not exaggerating, Agnes? Really, really!... And with stories -like these running about, they expect poor historians to be accurate!... -I hope you are not taking notes of all this, Mr. Montgomery.” - -“I am exaggerating nothing,” retorted Aunt Agnes obstinately. “It was -the real Golden Sun bracelet.... Every ten years since Atahualpa, the -last Inca king, was burned alive by Pizarro, the Inca priests have sent -it to a Spanish girl they had chosen to be the Bride of the Sun. And -every one of them has been walled up alive.... I remember that poor -Orellana girl laughing and joking about the Golden Sun bracelet! The -whole town knew about it.” - -“The whole town always does have a pretty lively imagination at the time -of the Interaymi,” insisted the Marquis. He turned to Mr. Montgomery. -“You have no idea, my dear sir, how hard it is for our Society to get -away from all these weird legends.” - -“Legends are not things to be despised in research work,” disagreed -Uncle Francis. “For my part, I am delighted to have found a country -where they are still so living.” - -At this moment a servant came in with a small parcel on a silver tray. - -“A registered package, señorita,” he said. “Will the señorita sign -here?” - -Maria-Teresa, having signed, was turning the box over in her fingers. - -“It is from Cajamarca,” she remarked. “Who from, I wonder? I know nobody -there. ... Will you excuse me?” - -The young girl cut the string, broke the seals and opened the little -wooden box. - -“A bracelet!” she exclaimed, and laughed a little nervously. “What an -extraordinary coincidence!... Why, it is the Golden Sun bracelet! It is, -really! The bracelet of the Bride of the Sun!” - -Every person in the room had risen, with the exception of the two -old ladies, who sat as if stunned. All eyes were turned on the heavy -bracelet in darkened old gold, with its sun-adorned center plaque on -which the rays seemed blurred out by the dust of centuries. - -“Well, that is funny!” laughed Maria-Teresa. - -“Of course!” exclaimed the Marquis, whose voice had changed a little. -“Evidently a joke by Alonso de Cuelar. You refused him, my dear, and he -has invented rather a pretty revenge. His little vengeance on the Bride -of the Sun.... All the young men of the town call you that because you -refuse to marry.... Well, what are we looking so blue about over there? -Surely, Agnes, you are not going to make yourself ill over a harmless -joke like this?” - -Maria-Teresa was showing the bracelet to Uncle Francis and Dick. - -“Father!” she exclaimed. “I think I shall keep it! Tell Don Alonso I -shall wear it as a token of friendship.... It really is a beauty!... -What do you think of it, Mr. Montgomery?” - -“It seems to me at least three or four hundred years old.” - -“Pieces like that are still occasionally found in excavations round -royal tombs, but they are rare,” said the Marquis. “I am not surprised -Don Alonso had to go to Cajamarca for that one.” - -“Where is Cajamarca?” asked Dick. - -“Cajamarca,” said the savant, horrified at his nephew’s ignorance, “is -the Caxamarxa of the Incas, their second capital in Pizarro’s day....” - -“And the city where their last king was burned at the stake!” groaned -Aunt Agnes. - -They rushed to her side, for she was on the point of fainting and had -to be carried to her room. The old duenna followed them, as white as her -lace, and crossing herself tremulously. - - - - -IV - -On the day after his arrival, Uncle Francis was solemnly and officially -received by the Geographical Society of Lima, the fine archeological, -statistical and hydrographical work of which keenly interested him. With -so much scientific enthusiasm did he express himself, that he conquered -all hearts. By far the proudest and happiest man present, however, was -Don Christobal, basking in the reflected glory of his distinguished -guest. As they were all leaving after the ceremony--Maria-Teresa wearing -her bracelet despite the protests of her aunt and the duenna--the -Marquis met Don Alonso de Cuelar. - -“Why, Cuelar,” he exclaimed, “I thought you were at Cajamarca!” - -Don Alonso opened his eyes in surprise, evidently not understanding. - -“Come, come, Cuelar, you may confess. I shall not be angry. Both -Maria-Teresa and I agree that your little revenge was a very neat one.” - -“My revenge?...” - -“Of course! The bracelet!” - -“What bracelet?” - -At this moment Maria-Teresa and Dick joined the group. Maria-Teresa, -seeing her father laughing as he talked, felt quite sure that the -mystery of the bracelet had already been cleared up. - -“Thank you ever so much,” she said, holding out the slim hand adorned by -the heavy bracelet “You see, I wear it as a token of friendship.” - -“But I should never have permitted myself such a liberty,” protested the -young man, looking in amazement from one to the other. - -“Are you serious?... It really was not you?” - -“No!... But what does it all mean?... And what a peculiar bracelet.” - -“Do you not recognize it?” laughed Maria-Teresa, still unconvinced. “It -is, apparently, the Golden Sun bracelet which the Indian priests -always send to the Bride of the Sun at the Interaymi.... And as you, -I understand, were the originator of my nickname, I naturally supposed -that, in spite of everything you heard, you bore no malice to the Virgin -of the Sun.” - -“What a charming idea! I am only sorry,” he added, “that it was not -mine. I shall never forgive myself for not having thought of it. You -must attribute it, señorita, to one of those other unfortunates who, -like myself, have worshiped in vain.... There is Pedro Ribera.... He -looks dark enough to have done it.... Ribera!” - -But Ribera knew no more of the bracelet than Don Alonso. He also admired -the strange jewel, and was equally sorry he had not sent it. - -Don Christobal was becoming irritated, and was sorry now that he -had mentioned the matter to them. He could not, without appearing -ridiculous, ask them not to speak of it, and he knew very well that -within two hours every tea-table in the Plaza Mayor would be discussing -the new topic. Maria-Teresa guessed his thoughts. - -“As our guess was wrong, the whole thing rather loses point So we must -wait until the generous donor comes and confesses. In the meantime, let -it be forgotten.” And, slipping off the bracelet, she put it into her -reticule. - -“I wonder if it was Huascar,” suggested Dick, as the two young men left -them. - -“Huascar? Why Huascar?” asked the Marquis. - -“Well, it’s an old Indian bracelet.... He’s the only Indian I know -of, and I know he is very devoted to the family. Suppose he found the -bracelet in some old ruin and didn’t know what to do with it... - -“Oh, let us not talk of it any more,” interrupted Maria-Teresa, slightly -troubled. “What does it matter!... Besides, we are bound to know, sooner -or later.... Some day a friend of father’s, back from the Sierra, will -ask me why I am not wearing his present. That is sure to happen.” - -“Of course it is,” affirmed Dick. - -The Marquis, far from satisfied, and still seeking a possible -explanation, suddenly turned on Dick. - -“You sent it!” he exclaimed, triumphant. - -“I? Why, I have only just arrived in the country....” - -“But you could very well have bought it when the liner put in at -Guayaquil, and then sent it to some agent or other at Gajamarca to have -it forwarded here.... You must have read the legend of the bracelet in -one of your uncle’s books.” - -“Really, Father!” protested Maria-Teresa. “Mr. Montgomery is an -engineer....” - -“Yes, yes, I know. Very hard-working.... Come here to try experiments -with some new pump to clear the Cuzco gold-mines of water.... I know all -that.... But that is no reason why he should not send you a bracelet.” - -“But why should he, Father?” - -“Is there not a reason why he should, my daughter?” - -This time, Maria-Teresa blushed deeply and Dick tried to look -unconcerned, while Don Christobal smiled at them quizzically. - -“So you thought your old father was blind, eh?... You thought he guessed -nothing... that he did not understand what you had left behind you in -London?... Well, Dick?” - -“Really, sir... I... I... hardly dared hope....” - -“Didn’t you?... There, there, that’s enough.... You may put the bracelet -on her arm again.... Pair of young fools.” Maria-Teresa slipped her arm -through her father’s, and squeezed it. - -“Dear Father!” - -Then, turning to Dick and opening her reticule, she whispered rapidly: - -“Say you sent it. What can it matter?” Dick, completely taken aback, -clasped the bracelet on Maria-Teresa’s wrist without protest. He -scarcely heard a word said by the Marquis, who was delighted to have -solved the mystery. - -“Well, young man, you can flatter yourself that you thoroughly mystified -everybody.” And with that he hurried after Uncle Francis, who had been -carried off to drink champagne by a group of admirers. - -Dick and Maria-Teresa, left alone, exchanged looks. A moment later, -they were brought to earth again by the advent of a horde of excited -scientists. - -“But what will your father say when he finds out who really sent the -bracelet?” - -“He will forgive you. I only made you tell the story to reassure him.... -Between you and me, those old tales told by Aunt Agnes and Irene were -worrying him a little.... He is rather a child in some ways.” - -Carriages and motors were rapidly filling with people starting for the -excavations outside the town, and then on by rail to Ancon, where Uncle -Francis was to be shown the latest Inca discoveries. The Marquis and -Mr. Montgomery passed them in one motor. Maria-Teresa waved to them, and -walked on towards the town with Dick. - -They were all to meet again that evening to dine and pass the night at -the Marquis’ sea-side villa between Lima and Ancon. Uncle Francis would -thus be able to begin his researches the very next morning, for Don -Christobal’s villa, itself a treasure-house of antiques, stood in the -very center of the excavations. - -Meanwhile, the young people, less interested in things of death than the -members of the Geographical and Archaeological Society, went to explore -Lima. It was only after a long walk in the Pascos de Amancaes that they -in their turn started by motor over an execrable road. - -The approach of night could already be felt, and the great plain over -which they were speeding was made even more desolate by the presence -of the slow-flying gallinazos, or black vultures, overhead. These -scavengers, half-starved in appearance, are the common adjuncts of -scenery in Peru, tolerated and even respected, as they are, by a -grateful municipality. - -Here and there were haciendas, each with its group of pastures and -grazing horses, kept from galloping into the surrounding waste by the -four-foot mud walls. Otherwise, it was a sandy desert, at some points -dotted with skeletons of a long-dead race dug up by curious scientists -and then left to bleach in the sun. - -“Not exactly cheerful,” commented Dick. - -Maria-Teresa, intent on her driving, did not answer, but pointed with -one gauntleted hand at a group of half-breeds playing bowls with human -skulls at the corner of a hacienda. - -They were soon in the outskirts of Ancon, and found the Marquis, Uncle -Francis, and their fellow-scientists busily arguing in the center of an -Inca cemetery. On all sides were opened tombs, each containing a mummy -rudely drawn from its thousand-year sleep by the pick of the excavator. -Dick and Maria-Teresa had left their motor, but did not join the others. -Instead, they wandered silently, almost sadly, in another direction, and -the car had started off again in the care of the negro chauffeur, to be -garaged at Ancon. - -“It is horrible,” said Maria-Teresa, pressing Dick’s hand. “Why cannot -they leave them in peace?” - -Seated on a little mound well out of sight of the others, they forgot -their surroundings. And it was in this horrible burial-ground they -exchanged their first true lovers’ kiss. - -The sound of voices brought them back to reality. The president of the -Society, followed by an interested retinue, was explaining the most -interesting tombs. - -“Walking through this necropolis,” he said, “it is no effort to evoke -the shades of the Incas, and to feel for a minute as if one were living -among them.... Here, six feet below ground, we first found a dog which -had been sacrificed on its master’s tomb.... The dead man’s wife and -chief servants also followed him to the next world.... We next found the -wife’s body.... Like the dog, she had been strangled, probably because -she had not had the courage to take her own life.... Finally, we heard -the Indian workman cry ont, ‘Aqui esta el muerto.’ (Here is the dead -one)... for to the native mind, the only body worthy of notice is that -of the master.... When we cut the thongs and unrolled the wrappings -about him--the man had evidently been a great chief--we found the -mummy in an extraordinary state of preservation,--the head was almost -intact.... Gentlemen, the ancient Egyptians did no better.” - -At this moment, excited ones from another part of the cemetery attracted -their attention, and a workman ran up to tell them that a sensational -discovery had been made--the tomb of three Inca chiefs with -strange-shaped skulls. Dick and Maria-Teresa followed the others to the -spot indicated. - -When they reached the newly-discovered tomb, workmen were passing up -to the surface little sacks full of corn, jars which had once -contained chicha--all the things necessary for a long voyage. Then came -golden-vases, silver amphora, goblets, hammered statuettes, jewels:--a -veritable treasure brought to light by one stroke of the pick. Finally, -the three mummies were brought to the surface and unrolled with every -precaution. One of the scientists present bent down to uncover the -faces, and there was a murmur of horror from those present. - -To understand what Dick and Maria-Teresa had been among the first to -see, it is necessary for the reader to know that it was customary among -the Incas to shape living skulls to any form they wished. This strange -custom exists even in modern days, though in a far lesser degree, among -the Basque inhabitants of the Pyrenees. The skulls of babies, set in -vices or bound into various molds, were gradually deformed till they -took the shape of a sugar-loaf, of a squarish box, of an enormous lime, -and so forth. Phrenology was evidently a science known to the Incas, -who, precursors of Gall and Spezhurn, thus sought to develop abnormally -the intellectual or warlike qualities of a child by compressing or -enlarging such and such a part of the brain. It has been proved, though, -that this practise was allowed only in the case of children of the Inca -himself, called upon in afterlife to take high position in the State. -The common people kept their normal skulls and normal brains. - -Of the three heads just brought to light, one was cuneiform--a monstrous -sugar-loaf. It was horrible to see this nightmare face, like the head -of a beast of the Apocalypse, framed in locks which seemed to be still -living as they gently moved in the sea breeze. The second head was -flattened out, cap-like, with a huge bump at the back.. The third was -almost square, resembling nothing so much as a small valise. - -Maria-Teresa shrank before this triple horror and, despite his evident -curiosity, drew her fiancé away from the violated sepulchre. They -strolled down to the beach, where the Pacific murmured gently as it -came to rest on the sands. So peaceful is the sea at Ancon, so free -from currents and gales, that it has become the great resort of the -inhabitants of Lima. At this season, however, it was still deserted, so -that Dick and Maria-Teresa met nobody during their walk to the Marquis’ -villa. - -It was dusk when they reached it, still under the depressing influence -of the three strange heads, and vainly trying to joke the impression -away. As the sun disappeared on the horizon, the wind rose and conjured -up in the half-light pale sand-whorls which might have been so many -phantoms dancing up from the huacas to reproach them for impiety and -sacrilege. Though they were neither of them over-imaginative, the young -people were glad to see the fat major-domo who came forward to announce -that the Marquis and Uncle Francis had already arrived. He, at all -events, was solid flesh and blood. - -As Maria-Teresa entered the house, a little Quichua maid, Concha, -literally threw herself at her mistress’ feet, protesting that she had -been dead in the señorita’s absence, and had been brought to life again -by her return. - -“See what devotion we get here for eight soles a month!” she laughed, -completely cured of her fears by the sight of the familiar objects -about her. “Into the bargain, she cooks puchero, our native stew, to -perfection. You must try it some day.” - -“Señorita,” interjected the maid, her broad lips parting in an enormous -smile, “I have prepared locro for to-night.” - -Dinner was not a very long meal. Everybody was tired, and Uncle Francis -was anxious to be up early in the morning. Dick and Maria-Teresa -prosaically enjoyed their locro--a maize cooked with meat, spiced and -served with the chicha which still further heightens the taste of all -popular dishes in Peru--and, when they parted at the doors of their -rooms on the first floor, were quite ready to laugh over the incidents -of the afternoon. Maria-Teresa’s hand lingered in Dick’s. - -“Good night, little Bride of the Sun,” he said, and bending down, -kissed the disk on the bracelet. “But surely you are not going to keep -that thing on?... A bracelet from the Lord knows where and the Lord -knows whom?” - -“It is dear to me now, Dick.... Now that you have kissed it, it shall -never leave me.... Good night.” - -She disappeared into her room, and the young engineer had turned toward -his when a shriek was heard, and Maria-Teresa rushed to the landing, in -a panic of fear. - -“They are in there! They are in there!” she gasped, her teeth -chattering. - -“What? What?... what is the matter?” - -“The three living skulls!” - -“Maria-Teresa!” - -“I tell you they are! All three of them, staring in through the -window!... They looked at me with such eyes... horrible, living eyes.... -No, no!... Dick!... Don’t go in!” - -Taking the light from her trembling hand, Dick went into the room. There -was nothing to be seen. He crossed to the balcony, and threw open the -French windows: on one side was the sea, on the other a panorama over -the flat country and the Inca burial-ground. Everything was perfectly -normal. - -“Come, dear.... You must have imagined....” - -“Dick, I tell you I saw them!” - -“What did you see?” - -“There, on the balcony, staring through the panes.... Those three Inca -chiefs with their hideous heads.” - -“But, Maria-Teresa, be reasonable. They are dead.... You yourself saw -them dug up.... Surely you cannot believe in ghosts....” - -“Those I saw were not ghosts. They were living.” - -Thinking to reassure her, he began to laugh heartily. - -“Don’t, Dick, don’t!... I did see them... they were exactly like those -in the grave... the sugar-loaf, the cap, and the valise.... Exactly the -same!... But what did they come here for?” - -Don Christobal, drawn from the smoking-room by the noise, jeered at his -daughter’s fears. Uncle Francis, too, appeared in a night-cap, which -started everybody laughing except Maria-Teresa. To quieten her, the -major-domo was sent round the house and explored the grounds. He -returned to report that he had found nothing. - -“You are worried by what you saw this afternoon, my child,” said the -Marquis. - -But Maria-Teresa would not reenter the room, and ordered another on the -opposite side of the villa to be prepared for her. Dick, using every -argument he could think of, finally convinced her that she had been the -victim of a hallucination. Half ashamed of herself, she made him go out -to the first-floor balcony with her, trying, in her turn, to efface any -unfavorable impression she might have made. - -The balcony on which they were was almost directly over the sea, for on -this side the beach reached right up to the walls of the villa. After a -time, the immense peace of the night completed Dick’s work, and the girl -was perfectly quiet when she took off her bracelet. - -“I think this is what has been worrying me,” she said. “I never before -imagined that I saw a ghost....” And she threw the bracelet into the -sea. - -“A very good place for it,” agreed Dick. “A ring will do ever so much -better. You do at all events know where that comes from.” - -Before long the whole house was at rest, and the remainder of the night -passed by quietly. But at seven o’clock, when people were beginning -to stir again, an agonized scream from Maria-Teresa’s room sent the -servants rushing to her aid. When they entered the room, they -found their mistress sitting up in bed, staring at her wrist with -horror-stricken eyes. The Golden Sun bracelet had returned during the -night! - - - - -BOOK II--THE LIVING PAST - - - - -I - -Dick was nearly as frightened as Maria-Teresa when he found what -had happened. On the previous night he himself had seen her throw the -bracelet into the sea, and yet it was there on her arm again when she -woke up. What could it all mean? He could find nothing to say, and in -spite of himself began to go over the terrible legend told by the two -old ladies. It was preposterous, impossible, but he could not help -believing in it now. - -The Marquis and Uncle Francis, brought out by the noise, joined the -others in the young girl’s room. Don Christobal’s sharp voice drove the -servants from the room and brought out the whole story. Dick confessed -his duplicity in the matter of the bracelet, and told how the jewel had -been thrown away. - -Maria-Teresa was shaking with fever, and her father took her in his -arms. He was less worried by the strange story told him than by the -state in which his daughter was. He had always seen her so calm, so -sure of herself, that her terror shook all his own matter-of-fact -convictions. - -As to Uncle Francis, half-pleased with this striking story for his -next book, he could only repeat:--“But it’s impossible, you know. Quite -impossible.” - -And then it was all explained in the most absurdly obvious way. Little -Concha, back from marketing at Ancon, hurried to her mistress’ room -and brought the solution of the mystery with her. Childishly naive, she -explained that, on going out onto the beach in the morning, she had seen -something glitter in the sand. She picked the object up, and found that -it was a bracelet, which she recognized as one worn by her mistress on -the previous day. Thinking that it had been lost from the balcony, and -rushing to give Maria-Teresa a pleasant surprise, she had put it on her -arm again without waking her. A huge burst of laughter from them all -greeted the end of her simple story and Concha, terribly vexed, ran out -of the room. - -“It seems to me we are all getting a little mad,” said the Marquis. - -“That infernal bracelet is enough to drive one to a lunatic asylum,” - added Dick. “We must get rid of it at all costs.” - -“No! If it ever came back a second time, I could not answer for my -reason.” And Maria-Teresa joined nervously in the laughter. “What we all -need,” she added, “is a change of air, of scenery.... We ought to go for -a little trip in the mountains, Father, and show a little of our country -to Mr. Montgomery and Dick.... Suppose we start to-night?... Back to -Lima first, and not a word to Aunt Agnes or Irene, for it would make -them both ill.... I shall go into Callao with Dick to give a few orders, -and in the evening we take the boat.” - -“To get to the mountains?” - -“Of course, Father... to get to Pacasmayo.” - -“Pacasmayo!” groaned the scientist “A horrible place. I know it. Our -liner put in there for four hours. There’s nothing interesting in that -part of the world, is there?” - -“Nothing interesting! Why, do you know where one goes to from Pacasmayo? -To Cajamarca, Mr. Montgomery!” - -Uncle Francis straightened himself up:--“Cajamarca!... the Caxamarxa of -the Incas!” - -“The very place.” - -“Cajamarca... the dream of my life, my dear!” - -“There is nothing to prevent it becoming a reality.... And at the same -time, Father, we can find out the name of the mysterious sender of this -thing. It was sent from Cajamarca, you remember.” - -“An excellent idea,” agreed Don Christobal. “We really must find a -solution to that mystery as well.” - -“And whoever the joker is, he will pay for it,” said Maria-Teresa, who -was now toying with the bracelet. “He laughs best who laughs last!” - -With which she drove them all out of her room and called for Concha, -who, when she came to dress her mistress, received a masterly box on the -ears to teach her to wake people up next time she brought back a lost -bracelet. Concha, unused to such treatment, burst into tears, and -Maria-Teresa, ashamed of herself, filled the little maid’s hands with -chocolates to make her smile again. Do what she would, Maria-Teresa -could not regain her calm. Every movement she made betrayed the inward -storm, and she stamped whenever she thought of the cowardice she had -shown.... - -Broadly speaking, all roads in Peru are little more than mule-paths. -The only exception is in favor of the great paved highways built by the -Incas, which link the wilds of Bolivia to the capital of Ecuador, and in -comparison with which the finest monuments of the Gallo-Roman period are -not so very remarkable, after all. It is for this reason that travelers -wishing to reach the interior must take boat along the coast to one of -the harbor towns which are the termini of the railways leading into the -ever-delightful Sierra. - -For Peru may be divided into three great parallel bands of country. -First the Costa, or coast district, which rises gradually from the -sea-board to an altitude of from 1,500 to 2,000 meters on the western -slopes of the Andes. Then the Sierra, half mountain and half plateau, -with altitudes varying between 2,000 and 4,000 meters. Finally the -Montaña, with its forests, which sweeps down to the east of the -Cordilleras, stretching toward the Amazon in long slopes which, from -2,000 meters, gradually drop to only 500. Landscape, climate and -products are all different in these three zones. The Costa is rich; the -Sierra has smiling valleys and a relatively warm climate; the Montaña is -a veritable ocean of verdure. - -Perhaps the most curious thing in this curious country is the variety of -its landscape in a relatively small region, for to reach the Sierra one -is obliged to scale some of the highest mountains in the world, and that -in an equatorial country. In a few hours, one travels through districts -where trees of all latitudes and plants of all climates grow and are -cultivated side by side. Walnut-trees neighbor with waving palms; -beetroot and sugar-cane grow in adjoining plantations; here, an orchard -full of splendid apples; there a group of banana-trees spreading their -broad leaves to the sun. In this amazing country, landowners can offer -their guests drinks cooled with ice from the hills just above and made -with sweet limes picked in the tropical gardens around the house. - -Uncle Francis was in raptures, brimful of enthusiasm, and so -schoolboyish in his delight that his companions could not help laughing. -They teased the old gentleman constantly, and once the hiding of his -fountain-pen at a moment when the taking of notes was urgent made him -nearly frantic. All, in short, were in the best of spirits, and seemed -to have completely forgotten the Golden Sun bracelet. This had been -left in the care of Aunt Agnes and Irene, who immediately took it to -the church of San Domingo and left it as an offering on the altar of the -Lady Chapel. - -There was an exciting landing for the travelers at Pacasmayo. They got -ashore with the aid of an enormous raft, rising and falling with the -waves alongside the liner. This raft they reached by means of a cradle -swung out on a small crane. All one had to do was to wait until the raft -rose to within jumping distance of the cradle. - -Maria-Teresa led the way, and landed very neatly on her feet; the -Marquis, used to such gymnastics, followed suit; and Dick reached the -raft with his hands still in his pockets. Uncle Francis, thinking hard -of something else, arranged his own descent so badly that raft and -cradle met with a crash which nearly jerked him into the sea. The shock -was forgotten in a wave of enthusiasm over the novelty of it all, and -he even retained his equanimity when the jerk of the grounding raft sent -him rolling onto the wet sand of the beach. - -It was not until the following morning that the party left Pacasmayo, -without any untoward incident to disturb the peace of a journey -commenced under the most favorable auspices. - -Dick was the only one to think twice of the advent of a coppery-colored -gentleman who seemed to have attached himself to their party. Had he not -worn European dress, the stranger might well have passed for a typical -Trujillo--that Indian race of which Huascar was certainly the finest -representative. On the other hand, he wore his lounge suit with ease, -and during the voyage evidenced his civilized upbringing by rendering -to Maria-Teresa several of those little services which a man may allow -himself to do when traveling, even to a woman he does not know. The -stranger had embarked at Callao, had landed by the same raft as they, -had stopped at the same inn in Pacasmayo, and, the following morning, -took the same train for Cajamarca. - -They were so engrossed with the landscape of the lower ranges of the -Andes that they did not at first notice his presence in their own -carriage. He drew their notice to himself in such an unexpected manner -that all, without knowing exactly why, experienced a strange feeling of -discomfort. - -There had been a chorus of exclamations and interjections over the -variety of the panorama before them, and they had just entered the -wildest gorge imaginable, when the stranger said in a grave voice: - -“Do you see that camp, señores? That is where Pizarro’s first messengers -reached the last King of the Incas.” - -All turned at the words. The stranger, standing at the back of the -observation platform, seemed to see nobody; with arms crossed, he -stared out toward the rocky fastnesses at the foot of which the world’s -greatest adventurer rested for a moment before starting on the conquest -of an Empire. - -“One of my ancestors was there!” exclaimed the Marquis involuntarily. - -“We know it! We know it!” said the stranger, without turning, and -in such a voice that the others exchanged astonished glances. His -statuesque immobility also had its effect on them. Then after a moment’s -silence, he continued: - -“No, we have not forgotten that a Christobal de la Torre was with -Pizarro. We know the whole story, sir. When Pizarro left the Spanish -colony of Panama, vaguely guessing that before him was an empire even -greater than the one which Cortes had just given to Charles V.; when, -after a thousand dangers, he saw himself on the point of being deserted -by all, he drew his sword and with the point drew a line in the sand, -from east to west. Then, turning toward the south, he said: ‘Comrades, -on this side are danger, privation, hunger, nakedness, ruin and death; -behind us, comfort and mediocrity. But to the south are also Peru and -its riches, glory and immortality. Let each one decide for himself which -is best for a hidalgo of Castille!’ And with those words, he crossed the -line. He was followed by Ruiz, his brave pilot, then by Pedro de Candia, -a knight born, as his name shows, in one of the Greek islands. Eleven -others crossed that line, ready to follow their chief to the world’s -end. And among those eleven was Juan-Christobal de la Torre. We know it! -Señor, we know it!” - -“And, pray, who are you, señor?” demanded the Marquis brutally, -exasperated by the stranger’s manner, though he had in truth remained -studiously polite. - -As if not hearing, as if intent on doing homage to the exploits of those -dead Conquistadors, the stranger continued: - -“Is there not, señores, is there not, señorita, something gigantic in -this spectacle? This little handful of men confidently starting on -an expedition as wild as the wildest deeds of their knights-errant, a -handful of men, señores, without clothes or food, almost without arms, -left by their comrades on a deserted mountain-side to start on the -conquest of one of the most powerful empires ever known. - -“And among those men there was a Christobal de la Torre.... señor Don -Marques, it is a glorious descent to claim.... And allow me to -present myself: your servant Huayna Capac Buntu, head clerk of the -Franco-Belgian Bank of Lima.... But we may fittingly travel in company, -señor, for I am of royal blood. Huayna Capac, King of the Incas, who -succeeded his father at the age of sixteen, married first Pillan Huaco, -by whom he had no children. He then took two other wives, Bava-Bello and -his cousin Mama-Buntu. I am the descendant of that Huayna Capac and that -Mama-Buntu!” - -“Now on leave from your bank?” queried the Marquis, almost insolently. - -There was a flash in the Indian’s eyes as he answered somberly: - -“Yes, on leave, for the Interaymi.” - -Dick started at these words, already repeated so often in connection -with the Golden Sun bracelet. He glanced at Maria-Teresa, who was -evidently ill at ease at the turn taken by the conversation between her -father and the stranger. She now remembered him quite clearly as a clerk -with whom she had had dealings over a consignment of phosphates for -Antwerp. An insignificant little body, she had thought--not at all -the haughty Indian of to-day, discarding the disguise of his European -clothes and proclaiming himself for what he was. Knowing by experience -how susceptible Trujillos are, and fearing that a careless word from her -father might provoke a storm, she intervened: - -“The Interaymi! Of course, your great festival. Is it to be particularly -celebrated at Cajamarca?” - -“This year, señorita, it will be particularly celebrated throughout the -Andes.” - -“But you do not admit outsiders? What a pity.... I should so like to -see.... One hears so many things....” - -“Old wives’ tales, señorita,” rejoined the Indian, with a complete -change of manner. He smiled, disclosing a line of teeth which Dick -mentally compared to those of a wild animal, and added in a slightly -lisping voice: “There is a lot of nonsense talked.... Human sacrifices, -and so forth.... Do I look as if I were going to such a ceremony?... I -and my clothes by Zarate?... No, señorita, just a few little ceremonies -to keep alive the memory of our lost glories... a few pious invocations -to the God of Day, a few prayers for poor Atahualpa, our last King, and -that is all.... At the end of the month, señorita, I shall be back at my -bank in Lima.” - -Reassured by the matter-of-fact level reached by these words, Dick -growled at his own absurd fears. A smile from Maria-Teresa and a -grumbled comment on kings and bank clerks from Uncle Francis completely -dispelled the cloud raised by the mention of the Interaymi. - -Their train was now traveling along the bed of a ravine, closed in by -dizzying heights. High up above, in a band of blazing blue sky, giant -condors could be seen winging their way in heavy circles. - -“To think of Pizarro facing country like this!” exclaimed Dick. “How on -earth was it that they were not simply wiped out by the Incas?” - -“They came as friends, señor,” answered the Indian. - -“That is all very fine, but still does not explain it How many men were -there with Pizarro when he marched on Cajamarca?” - -“He had received reenforcements,” interjected the Marquis, twisting his -mustache, “and there were then a hundred and seventy-seven of them.” - -“Minus nine,” corrected the Indian. - -“That is, unless I am mistaken, only a hundred and sixty-eight,” put in -Uncle Francis, busy with his note-book. - -“Why minus nine?” questioned Maria-Teresa. - -“Because, señorita,” replied the descendant of Mama-Buntu, who seemed -to know the history of the conquest of New Spain better than the -descendants of the conquerors themselves, “because Pizarro gave his new -followers the same chance to draw back that the others had received. -He had halted in the mountains to rest his band and make a careful -inspection. As you have said, señor, they were then only a hundred -and seventy-seven, including sixty-seven horse. There were only three -arquebusiers, and a few crossbowmen--not more than twenty altogether. -And with this band Pizarro was marching against an army of 50,000 men -and against a nation of twenty millions! For, under the Incas, Peru -included what are to-day called Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chili. At -this point, señores, he decided that his soldiers were still too many. -He had noticed that some faces were dissatisfied, and, fearing that the -discontent might spread, he decided to cut away the weak limbs before -the gangrene reached the main body. Marshalling his men, he told them -that they had reached a crisis in their fortunes--not a man must go on -who doubted its ultimate success. It was still not too late for waverers -to return to San Miguel, where he had already left some of his -companions. He was prepared to risk all with those who still wished to -follow him. Nine men took advantage of Pizarro’s offer--four infantrymen -and five from the cavalry. The others stopped with their general.” - -“And cheered him to the echo at the call of Christobal de la Torre, who -served the Conquistador like a brother!” exclaimed the Marquis. - -“We know, we know!” repeated the clerk. His tone roused the Marquis -again. - -“And might I ask why you are pleased to recall all these things?” - demanded Don Christobal haughtily. - -“To prove to you, señor, that the vanquished know the history of -their country even better than the conquerors,” retorted Runtu with an -emphasis not a little ridiculous in a man of his dress and calling. - -“Look! How beautiful!” exclaimed Maria-Teresa, anxious to divert their -attention to the landscape. - -Their train was passing over a bridge from which a panorama of -unparalleled beauty could be obtained. Before them stretched the giant -chain of the Andes, peak heaped on peak. On one side, a rent in the -ridges opened onto green forests, broken by little cultivated plateaus, -each with its rustic cottage clinging to the rugged mountain-side And -there, above, snowy crests sparkling in the sun--a chaos of savage -magnificence and serene beauty to be found in no other mountain -landscape of the world. - -It was almost more terrible than beautiful, and as the train crossed -abyss after abyss over quivering bridges, Maria-Teresa, clinging to -Dick’s arm, could not help murmuring: “And even this did not daunt -Pizarro.” - -Unfortunately, she was overheard by the stranger, who took up the broken -conversation with evident hostility: - -“We could have crushed them easily, could we not?” - -The Marquis, turning superciliously, flicked the questioner’s shoulder -with his glove: - -“And, pray, why did you not do so, then?” - -“Because we, sir, were not traitors!” - -Dick had only just time to stop the Marquis, who was on the point of -rushing at the insolent Indian. Maria-Teresa, knowing her father’s -pride, calmed him in a moment by urging in an undertone that it would -be ridiculous for a man of his rank and age to pay more attention to an -Indian bank-clerk. - -“You are quite right,” said Don Christobal with a gesture of contempt -under which the Indian stood motionless as a statue. He had not been -without guessing the sense of Maria-Teresa’s remarks, and might have -said more had not the stopping of the train definitely closed the -incident. - -The railway line, then still in course of construction, went no farther. -The remaining thirty miles to Cajamarca had to be covered on mule-back, -for they were still in the heart of the mountains, and the defiles were -steep. - -It was too long a journey, however, for the tired travelers to undertake -until the following morning. Clinging to the flanks of the rocks were -a few rude sheds in which were lodged the men working on the line. Near -by, surrounding a canteen, stood a dozen fairly comfortable tents, in -which they themselves were to pass the night In a meager pasture just -beyond, some thirty mules wandered at liberty, grazing. Above, the -omnipresent galinagas flew in circles against a purple sky. - -Dinner, served on the brink of a chasm from which rose the mutter of the -racing stream, was a gay meal. Buntu had vanished, and did not reappear -until after nightfall, when Maria-Teresa met him near her tent. He was -very apologetic, and, hat in hand, excused himself for the incident in -the train. He had had no intention of being rude, and knowing that the -Marquis was a great friend of the manager of the Franco-Belgian bank, he -hoped that he would not carry the matter further. - -Maria-Teresa, conquering a strong desire to laugh, promised the -descendant of the Incas that he would not lose his clerkship through -them. When he had bowed himself out of sight, she carried the story to -her father and Dick, who were vastly amused. Then they all went to bed, -with the exception of Uncle Francis, who passed the greater part of the -night putting his notes in order and writing an article for a reverend -monthly in which he re-told the story of the conquest of Peru, with the -aid of the Last of the Incas. This Indian he sketched as a gloriously -picturesque character, carefully omitting to say that he wore European -clothes! - -As every night since the appearance of the three strange heads on her -balcony Maria-Teresa found sleep with difficulty. To-night, though tired -by the journey, she tossed restlessly on her narrow camp-bed. Suddenly, -in the dead of night, she sat up, listening. A familiar voice seemed -to be speaking. She slipped noiselessly to the canvas flap covering the -entrance to the tent, and peeped out. - -There were two shadows out there, moving away in the moonlight One she -recognized immediately for the Indian bank-clerk. Who was the other? -They stopped, and half turned toward the tent. It was Huascar! - -What was Huascar doing there, at that time of night, with that strange -Indian? Why were they pointing at her tent? What did it all mean?... -The two shadows were walking again.... Then the peace of the night was -broken by a neigh, and the young girl saw a picketed horse stamping in -the shadow beyond. Huascar vaulted into the saddle, while his companion -loosed the picket-rope, still talking and occasionally nodding toward -the tent. Then both disappeared, and silence descended again on the -sleeping camp. - -Maria-Teresa could not sleep all night. Huascar’s unexpected -reappearance was in no way calculated to calm the half-expressed terror -which haunted her, and which she refused to acknowledge, stifling what -she called her cowardice. - -Had she anything to fear from Huascar? She could not believe it. She -knew quite well that the Indian loved her, but as a faithful dog does, -she thought; and she felt certain that she could count on his devotion -were she in any danger. - -And yet! And yet!... And yet what? What danger could there be? It was -too absurd! She was becoming as ridiculous as those two old ladies with -their crazy legends! With that, she decided not to say a word to either -Dick or her father. She was not going to be taken for a child afraid of -every shadow it saw at night. But she would question Huayna Gapac Runtu -on the very first occasion. - -This occasion presented itself during the first stage of the next day’s -journey. Maria-Teresa, the Marquis, Dick and old Montgomery led the way. -Uncle Francis, at first delighted with the prospect of a mule-ride, soon -determined to get off again. Riding along the very edge of precipices, -his mount felt ten times too high, and he was sure that he would be -safer on foot and, at certain times, on all-fours. He gradually became -convinced that his mule would slip, and determined to dismount, at a -point where two riders could not pass abreast. - -The whole cavalcade was thus stopped, while those behind called on the -scientist to go ahead, and he vowed that he would do nothing of the -kind, twisting in his saddle and trying to discover the best way to get -off. Immediate action of the Indian bank-clerk saved the situation, and -probably Uncle Francis’ neck. Getting off his own mule, Runtu squeezed -down the line, and catching Mr. Montgomery’s mount by the bridle, led -it on to a broader path and safety. Dick, the Marquis and Maria-Teresa -could not do less than thank him. - -When they moved on, Maria-Teresa and the Indian were riding side by -side. - -“Well, señor Huayna Capae Runtu?” she smiled at him. - -“Oh, señorita, let us forget all those illustrious names, which died -with my ancestors. The only one I have a right to now is that by which I -am known at the bank--just plain Oviedo, like everybody else.” - -“Yes, I remember now. That is what you called yourself when you came to -me from the bank.... Well, señor Oviedo, can you tell me now what you -were doing outside my tent last night with Huascar, my former servant?” - -Oviedo Huayna Capac Runtu did not budge, but his mule swerved slightly. -He reined it in. - -“So you saw Huascar, señorita? An old friend of mine. He arrived late -at night, on his way to Cajamarca, and knowing I was at the camp, halted -here a minute to see me. I remember now, we did stop outside your tents. -When I told him you were there, he asked me to keep watch over you.... -He went on immediately afterwards.” - -“Do I need somebody to keep watch over me, then? Am I in any danger?” - -“The ordinary dangers of a journey like this. A mule may miss its -footing, or a saddle may slip off. In either case, it spells death. -That is what Huascar meant, and that is why I myself chose your mule and -girthed it up this morning.” - -“You are too kind,” said Maria-Teresa drily. - -At this moment, Uncle Francis drew level with them. He had recovered his -equanimity with the wider path, and spoke casually of mountain dangers. - -“All the same,” he added, “I wonder how Pizarro managed to bring his -little army through here.” - -Maria-Teresa threw him a look which, had he seen it, would have toppled -the clumsy scientist into a ravine, mule and all. But he remained -serenely unconscious. - -“It is extraordinary,” acquiesced Oviedo. “I have made rather a study -of it. At some points, the road was so steep that the horsemen had to -dismount and almost drag their chargers after them. A single false step -would have hurled them thousands of feet below. The defiles were then -just practicable for the half-naked Indians, and think what it must have -been for armored men, with the menace of an unknown enemy above them.” - -“But what were the Indians doing all this time?” asked Dick, approaching -in his turn. - -“Nothing, señor... they were awaiting a visitor, not a foe.... Messages -had been exchanged which....” - -“One question,” put in the Marquis’ voice. “Do you suppose that if King -Atahualpa had for one minute imagined his 50,000 men were incapable of -defending him against a hundred and fifty Spaniards, that he would have -behaved as he did? No, he merely felt contempt for their weakness. And -he was wrong!” - -“Yes, señor, he was wrong.” The bank-clerk bent his head humbly over -his saddle-bow. Then, straightening himself again, he pointed to a peak -towering above. “He should have appeared in those defiles, like the -horseman yonder, and all would have been finished. The Sun our God would -still be reigning over the Empire of the Incas!” - -As he said these words, the clerk seemed to have grown to a giant. His -sweeping gesture took in the whole huge mass of the Andes, making of it -a pedestal for the Indian above them, sitting motionless on his horse, -and watching their caravan. - -“Huascar!” exclaimed Maria-Teresa. - -All recognized Huascar. From that moment, until they had left the -first chain of the Andes behind them, that silhouette of horse and man -dominated and haunted them--sometimes behind, sometimes before, but -always above them:--a promise of protection, or a menace. - - - - -II - -After another night in camp, the travelers came in sight of the -beautiful valley of Cajamarca, smiling below them in striking contrast -to the somber mountains around. Thus did this happy valley appear to the -astonished eyes of Pizarro’s men. It was inhabited in the days of the -Conquistador by a race far superior to those with which the Spaniards -had met on the other side of the mountains, as was clearly shown by the -taste of their clothes, the cleanliness and comfort of their homes. As -far as the eye could reach was a prosperous plain, watered by a wide -river, abundantly irrigated by canals and subterranean aqueducts, broken -up by green hedges and well-cultivated fields; for the ground was rich, -and the temperate climate favorable to farming. Immediately below the -adventurers lay the little city of Cajamarca, its white houses twinkling -in the sunlight, like a precious stone shining in the dark girdle of the -Sierra. - -About a league beyond, in the valley, Pizarro could see columns of steam -rising to the sky, and showing the position of the famous hot baths of -the princes of Peru. - -There was also a spectacle far less pleasing to the Spaniards. The lower -mountain slopes disappeared under a cloud of white tents, covering an -area of several miles. “We were amazed,” wrote one of the conquerors, -“to find the Indians holding so proud a position, and this sight threw -confusion, and even fear, into the staunchest hearts. But it was too -late to turn, or to show the slightest weakness, and after carefully -exploring the ground, we put on the best faces that we could, and -prepared to enter Caxamarxa.” - -Flowing over with such memories, and wild with excitement at finding -himself in a land which he knew so well by hearsay, Uncle Francis stood -up in his stirrups, and held forth interminably on the Cajamarca of his -dreams. Instructed by Oviedo Runtu, he showed them the exact spot where -Atahualpa and his 50,000 warriors had awaited Pizarro. Uncle Francis -himself felt no fear of this huge army, massed in the hidden fastnesses -of a continent discovered by Christopher Columbus just forty years -before Pizarro’s wild venture. He felt like a hero of antiquity, and was -quite ready to give the order to charge. - -There was nobody there to tell them, though, what were the feelings of -the Peruvian monarch when he saw the warlike band of Christians, banners -flying, corselets and morions gleaming, debouch from the dark defile and -advance into the rolling domains which until then no white man had ever -seen. - -Suddenly, Uncle Francis’ mule bolted, and a burst of laughter went up -from the whole party. Excited by the shouts and cries, the other mules -followed their leader, helter-skelter down the incline. The obvious -dénouement was not long in coming. Uncle Francis’ mount, in a desperate -effort to get away from the noise behind, rolled over, and the -unfortunate scientist described a neat somersault. He was on his feet -again almost at once, and soon set his anxious companions at rest. - -“Thus it was,” he laughed, “that Pizarro won his first battle.” - -Maria-Teresa and Dick appearing disposed to listen, he explained that in -the Conquistador’s first fight with Incas, before he crossed the Andes, -the little band of Spaniards, hard pressed, was saved by one hidalgo -being unhorsed. The Incas, knowing nothing of horses or horsemanship, -were so frightened that they fled, not daring to face this extraordinary -animal which became two and still went on fighting. - -Naturally, nobody believed him, though he was in no way drawing on his -imagination. The whole story of the conquest of Peru is so extraordinary -that one must forgive incredulity. - -These facts, however, are vouched for by well-authenticated documents -in the Royal Archives at Madrid, which Uncle Francis had taken care to -study before starting for the Americas with his nephew. They were still -laughing at his adventure and his story when their cavalcade reached the -walls of Cajamarca. - -It was nightfall as they entered the city. The first thing to arrest -their attention was the enormous number of Indians in the streets, and -their silence. Cajamarca, with a normal population of between twelve and -thirteen thousand, certainly sheltered twice as many souls that night. -And still more people were coming. - -On the highroad, the Marquis’ party had successively passed file after -file of Indians, plodding in the direction of their Sacred City. For -Cajamarca may be called the necropolis of the Incas, and one can hardly -take a step in its streets or avenues without meeting with some reminder -of the splendor of a vanished empire. - -It was easy to see, by the manner of the Quichuas crowding the historic -roadways, that a religious pilgrimage had brought together this mass. - -The amazement of the travelers, however, was as nothing to that of the -inhabitants themselves, who had never before witnessed such an invasion. -In the memory of living man, the Interaymi had never visibly moved the -multitude in this manner. Even the great decennial fête had been rather -the occasion for a general disappearance of Indians than for their -appearance. - -What did it all mean? The authorities were distinctly ill at ease, and -the few troops massed at Cajamarca when the news came in of Garcia’s -Indian revolt at the other end of the country had been put under arms. -The doors of the city’s eight churches were militarily guarded, for -each one of these buildings might have made a fortress. The rest of the -troops had been gathered in the main square, not far from the ruined -palace in which stands the stone on which Atahualpa, last King of the -Incas, was burned alive. - -These ruins were the goal of the Indians’ long pilgrimage over the -mountains, the visit to that stone being the religious and outward -pretext for this mute manifestation by a conquered race. - -Don Christobal, amazed at what he saw, nervously remembered that the -great Indian revolt of 1818 had been preceded by just such happenings. -Were the Interaymi festivals which began next day really to be the -signal for one of those revolts which the governments of Peru had long -decided were no more to be feared? - -As he was putting this question to himself, the Marquis caught sight -of the post-office, and immediately dismounted. Dick and Maria-Teresa -exchanged a smile. They were at last to know the name of the facetious -sender of the Golden Sun bracelet. - -They pulled up their mules, and waited with an indifferent air that was -perhaps a little affected. Ten minutes later the Marquis came out. - -“I have the name and address,” he said in a puzzled voice. - -“And what is the name?” questioned Maria-Teresa. - -“Atahualpa,” replied her father, mounting. - -“So the jest continues.”--Maria-Teresa’s voice had changed a little. - -“Apparently so. The clerk who received the parcel says it was brought in -by an Indian, who said his name really was Atahualpa. That, after all, -is possible.” - -“Well, as you have the address, we might pay him a little call,” - suggested Dick. - -“Exactly what I was going to say.” And Don Christobal turned his mule. -Uncle Francis brought up the rear, vigorously taking notes, with his -book resting on the pommel of the saddle. - -They crossed a rivulet racing towards an affluent of the upper Maranon, -passed San Francisco, the first Christian church built in Peru, and, -after the Marquis had asked his way several times, finally reached a -square teeming with Indians. - -On one side of this square still stood ancient palace walls. There -had been the last home of the last Inca King. There he had lived -in splendor, and there he died a martyr. There had been the home of -Atahualpa, and there had the post-office clerk directed Don Christobal -de la Torre! - - - - -III - -Taken in the swirl of the crowd, the little cavalcade was gradually -headed toward the ruined palace, and forced through its huge gates -almost before the Marquis’ party knew what had happened. - -They were now in a vast courtyard packed with Indians. Some of them, -standing erect, showed the proud foreheads of chiefs, but the great -majority were prostrate round a stone in the center--the stone of the -martyrdom of Atahualpa. - -On the far side of this stone, standing on a rude bench, was a man -draped in a poncho of vivid red.... He was speaking in Quichua, while -the crowd listened in reverent silence. - -As the party of strangers rode into the courtyard, a sharp voice behind -them interrupted the psalm-like recitation of the man in the red poncho. - -“Speak Spanish, and everybody will understand,” it said. - -The Marquis and Maria-Teresa turned. Behind them was their bank-clerk -traveling companion, bowing as if to make them understand that he -had intervened to do them a favor. Extraordinarily enough, this -interruption, almost sacrilegious as it was, did not stir a man. The -Indian in the red poncho paused for a moment, and continued in Spanish. - -“In those days,” he said, “the Inca was all-powerful, and a vast army -bowed to his will. The city was surrounded by a triple wall of stone, in -the heart of which stood the citadel and the home of the Virgins of the -Sun. The Inca, knowing no fear, and ignorant of all treason, allowed the -white men to enter the city and received them as friends, as envoys from -that other great emperor beyond the seas. - -“But the leader of the Strangers, doubting the generous heart of the -Inca, had divided his army into three bands, marching toward the city in -battle array. Then the Inca said, ‘Since they fear our hospitality, let -us all leave the city, so that peace may enter their hearts.’ Thus it -was that when the Conquistador rode through our streets, he met not -a living soul, and heard no sound but the stamp of his own warriors’ -feet.” Here the speaker stopped, as if to gather his thoughts, and -continued: - -“This was at a late hour in the afternoon. The Stranger then sent an -ambassador to the Inca’s camp. He sent his brother, Fernando, and twenty -horsemen. The Inca received Fernando on his throne, his forehead adorned -with the royal borla. He was surrounded by his officers and wives. - -“The Strangers came with words of honey, and the Inca replied: ‘Tell -your leader that I am fasting until to-morrow. Then will I and my chiefs -visit him. Until then, I allow him to occupy the public buildings on the -square, but no others. I will decide to-morrow what is meet.’ - -“Now it happened that after these good words, a Spaniard, to thank the -Inca, put his horse through its paces, for the prince who had never seen -such an animal. And several of those present having shown fear, while -the Inca himself remained impassible, the Inca ordered them to be put -to death, as was just. Then the ambassadors drank chicha in golden vases -brought to them by the Virgins of the Sun, and returned to Cajamarca. - -“When they told their leader of what they had seen, the splendor of the -Inca’s camp, the number of his troops, despair entered the soldiers’ -hearts. At night they saw the Inca’s camp-fires lighting up the -mountain-sides, and blazing in the darkness like a multitude of stars.” - -The Indian paused again, then went on: - -“But the Stranger, intent on evil, went among his men spreading the -shameful words which gave them new courage. The next day, at noon, the -Inca’s bodyguard advanced toward the city. The King could be seen above -the multitude, carried on the shoulders of his princes. Behind him, the -ranks of his own soldiers stretched as far as the eye could reach. The -city was silent, save for the cry of the sentinels on the citadel walls, -reporting the movements of the Inca’s army. - -“First there entered into the city three hundred servitors, chanting -songs of triumph to the glory of the Inca. Then came warriors, guards, -lords adorned with silver, copper, and gold. Our Atahualpa, Son of -the Sun, was borne above all on a throne of massive gold. Now, when -Atahualpa, with six thousand men, had reached the great square without -seeing a single white man, he asked: ‘Where are the strangers?’ And a -monk, whom none had seen until then, approached the Inca, a cross in his -hand. With the monk was an interpreter of our race. The Inca listened -while the priest told him of his religion and urged him to abandon the -faith of his fathers for that of the Christian. Atahualpa replied: ‘Your -God was put to death by the men to whom he gave life. But mine lives -still in the Heavens, and shines upon his children.” - -At these words, the Indians surrounding the little band of Europeans -turned toward the sun, just about to vanish behind the Andes, uttering -a strange cry, a cry of mingled farewell and hope handed down by -generations as the salutation of their faith to the God of Day. Above -the reverently bowed throng, a purple sky awaited the coming of night. - -The scene was so grandiose that Dick and Maria-Teresa could not restrain -a movement of admiration. There could be no doubt of it: the Sun god -still had his true worshipers, as in the tragic days of Atahualpa. To -know it, one had only to look at this trembling mass of men, who had -kept their language and their traditions through so many centuries. They -had been vanquished, but not conquered. Perhaps it was true after -all that back there in the mountains, in some city unknown to all but -themselves, guarded by the rampart of the Andes and the eternal snows, -there lived priests who passed their lives feeding the sacred fires. - -After their salutation to the Sun, the Indians resumed their kneeling -posture, many, strangely enough, making the sign of the cross as they -bent to the ground. Where did that sign come from? Was it only another -instance of the extraordinary mingling of cults and creeds so often -seen, or did it go even further back? Historians there are who say -that the conquerors found it already used by the Incas. Did some early -Christian adventurers, then, found the twin empires of the Americas? -While Uncle Francis dreamed on, lost in such conjectures, the priest in -the red poncho, took up the broken thread of his narration: - -“Pizarro and his men, armed for battle, were hiding in the halls of the -vast palace surrounding the square. There the monk who had spoken to -Atahualpa rejoined the Stranger, and said to him: ‘Do you not see that -we wrestle in vain with this dog’s pride? His troops are coming up by -the thousand. Strike while it is not too late!”’ - -The silence became, if possible, more intense. The man in red, about to -tell of what he called the Crime of the Stranger, straightened himself -on his pedestal till he dominated the whole assembly. - -“‘St. James and at them!’ With that accursed battle-cry, Pizarro’s men -hurled themselves on the Inca and his guard. Horse and foot charged -out of the palace in which they had been hidden, smashing in the indian -ranks. A terrible panic seized Atahut and his followers, who fled in -all directions. Nobles and servants, princes and guards, fled before the -terrible horsemen, who trampled down all before them. - -“They made no resistance. They could not, for they were unarmed. Nor -could they flee, for all the doors and streets were barred by the -corpses of those trampled to death in a vain effort to escape. So -terrible was the press, the whirling swords driving our people ever -further back, that one wall of the square fell. Hundreds fled through -this opening and scattered in all directions, the Spanish horse in -pursuit. - -“Atahualpa’s throne, borne hither and thither in the crowd, was finally -reached by the Spaniards. He would have been killed there and then had -not Pizarro intervened. In doing so, he was wounded in the hand by one -of his own men. The nobles carrying the royal litter were cut down, and -the Inca was seized by Pizarro. A soldier named Estete tore the borla -from his forehead, and the captured monarch was conducted to a hall near -by. - -“With the capture of the Inca, all resistance ceased. The news spread -through the country like wildfire, and all thought of real resistance -was gone. Even the thousands of soldiers encamped round the city took -fright, and scattered. - -“The only being which might have kept the Indians united was cut. - -“That night, the Inca supped with Pizarro. He showed surprising courage, -and remained impassible throughout the meal. - -“The next day, the sack of the city began. Never had the Spaniards seen -so much gold and silver. Atahualpa, quick to see their greed, offered -Pizarro to buy his liberty by covering with gold the floor of the room -in which they were. Finally, he declared that he would not only cover -the floor, but also fill the room as high as he could reach. - -“With that, he made a mark on the wall with his fingertip; and Pizarro, -accepting, ordered a red line to be drawn round the room at that height. -The room was seventeen feet by twenty-two long, and the line was drawn -nine feet from the ground.” - -At this point, the red priest stopped and walked slowly to a ruined -wall. “Here,” he said, pointing to a still faintly visible line, “was -the mark of the ransom. - -“Atahualpa, moreover, promised to fill a neighboring room with silver, -and asked for two months in which to fulfil the task. His messengers, -chosen among the Spaniards’ prisoners, were despatched into all the -provinces of the Empire. - -“Meanwhile, the Inca was closely watched, for his captivity meant not -only Pizarro’s security, but also fabulous riches for the Conquistadors. -The room filled gradually, Indians arriving daily with golden goblets, -platters, vases and bar gold to lay at the feet of their prisoned ruler. -On some days, we are told, as much as 60,000 pesos of booty was brought -in. - -“To hasten the gathering of the ransom, Pizarro sent his brother -Fernando to Cuzco, the greatest city of the Incas. With them went a -messenger from Atahualpa, at whose orders the priests stripped the -Temple of the Sun, and the inhabitants gave up every scrap of precious -metal in their possession. Fernando brought back with him, besides a -mass of silver, 200 full loads of gold. - -“Now faced with the problem of taking his plunder from the country, -Pizarro ordered the melting-down of the hundreds of objects massed in -the treasure-room. The finest pieces sent from temples and palaces were -set aside for Charles V., to show the Emperor what a wonderful land had -been added to his possession--all the rest was to be reduced to ingots. - -“The native jewelers, obeying Atahualpa, worked night and day for -a month to carry out this task. When the ingots were weighed, the -Spaniards found that they had gold to the value of 1,326,539 pesos de -oro. This would mean, in modern currency, and taking into consideration -the altered value of money, more than three and a half millions -sterling, or close on fifteen and a half million dollars. - -“But now that the ransom had been paid, Atahualpa was not set at -liberty. His captors accused him of fomenting a rebellion against -Charles V., and threatened him with death. Atahualpa replied: “‘Am I not -a poor prisoner in your hands? Why should I do so, knowing that I should -be the first to suffer if my people rose? And unless I give the order, -none will raise a hand against you. Even the birds in my states hardly -dare fly against my will. - -“But his protestations of innocence had little effect. Pizarro’s men -were convinced that a general rising was being prepared. Patrols were -doubled, and every man of the little army slept under arms. - -“Pizarro did all he could, or pretended to do all he could, to save -the Inca’s life, but in vain. His followers demanded it, and Atahualpa, -brought to trial, was found guilty and sentenced to be burned alive. On -the 29th of August, 1533, his fate was proclaimed in the great square of -the city to the sound of bugles, and two hours after sunset he was taken -to the stake. - -“Atahualpa left this hall loaded with chains! He passed through this -door on his way to martyrdom!” - -Once again the red priest left his rude rostrum, walking here and there -through the crowd, evoking by deed as well as word the last hours of the -last Inca. The silence was intense, and his voice, alternately grave and -impassioned, rang out like a clarion note. - -In the sad story, the Indian orator had omitted all that showed, the -immense courage of the Conquistadors and the cowardice of the Inca’s -followers. Everything was attributed to the treachery of the Spaniards. - -“So Atahualpa died at the stake!” - -Menacing and prophetic, the priest turned toward the spot where -Christobal de la Torre and his companions, hemmed in by the crowd, had -listened, as motionless as any of the faithful present. - -“And I say unto you, cursed be all the sons of those who came to us -with a lie in their hearts! They shall die like dogs, and never know the -blessed palaces of the Sun. They shall die unblessed, the liars who say -that Atahualpa abjured his faith! The Son of the Sun remained true to -the God of Day!” - -There was a threatening murmur in the crowd. Round the Sacred Stone, -it grew to a roar. How dared those strangers come there at such a time? -Centuries of slavery can never bend backs so low that they will not -straighten at certain hours. The descendant of Christobal de la Torre -had met one of those hours. - - - - -IV - -Men, women and children began to press toward the group of riders. -Dick, first to realize the change in the humor of the mob, spurred -alongside Maria-Teresa. - -“We must get out of this! Steady, and forward all!” - -The Marquis, superbly cool, followed as if reluctant to show his back to -any horde of Indians. The menace in the voices grew clearer. He looked -round him, and drove his spurs home, till his mount reared and plunged -into the crowd, clearing a space around it. - -The mob was howling now, and knives were being drawn on all sides, when -a giant Indian pushed his way toward the Spaniards. Maria-Teresa, Don -Christobal and Dick recognized Huascar, before whom his countrymen made -way with evident respect and dread. - -“Back!” he shouted, taking the young girl’s mule by the bridle. “Who -touches the Virgin of the Sun is a dead man!” - -At these words, the crowd parted. Silence succeeded the tumult of a -moment before. - -“Let the strangers pass,” ordered Huascar, and himself escorted them to -the ancient palace gates. - -Outside, on the plaza, they met a police patrol. The sergeant, in -undertaking to escort them to the inn, was eloquent on their imprudence -in coming into a quarter peopled by fanatical Indians on the eve of the -Interaymi. - -The Marquis wished to thank Huascar, but the Indian had vanished. -Maria-Teresa and Dick, both very white, had not a word to say. Uncle -Francis was also dumb, and did not take a single note. - -At the inn they found only one vacant room, in which they all gathered. -Dick was the first to utter the thought which was worrying them all. - -“Suppose it was true!” - -“Yes, suppose it was true!” repeated Maria-Teresa, - -“What? Suppose what was true?” demanded the Marquis, refusing to -understand. - -“The Virgin of the Sun!” - -They were all silent for a moment, bent under the weight of one amazing, -absurd, monstrous thought. And they exchanged anxious, frightened looks, -like children who are being told some terrifying fairy-tale. Dick broke -the spell: - -“You heard what Huascar said. ‘Who touches the Virgin of the Sun is a -dead man!’ Those were his own words!” - -“Just a manner of speech,” hesitated Uncle Francis. “It cannot be -anything else.” - -“Anything else? What do you mean?” demanded the Marquis violently. - -“Well, it could not be... the other thing. If Maria-Teresa was... was -the Virgin of the Sun, they would not have let her pass out.” - -“Are we all going mad! After all, we are masters here!” burst out Don -Christobal. “There are the police, and the troops. All those rascals out -there are our slaves. ‘Pon my soul, we are all raving!” - -“Of course!” exclaimed Maria-Teresa. - -“All the same, I think we ought to get out of Cajamarca as soon as we -can,” said Dick, going to the window and looking out. Night had fallen, -and with it silence. The square outside was deserted. - -Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and a servant brought in -a letter addressed to Maria-Teresa. She tore it open and read -aloud:--“Return to Lima at once. Leave Cajamarca tonight.” - -“It is not signed,” she said, “but this warning comes from Huascar.” - -“And we should follow his advice,” said Dick. There was another knock -at the door. This time, it announced the arrival of the Chief of Police, -who was anxious to know what had happened. - -He had heard of the incident at Atahualpa’s palace, and had moreover -been warned by an Indian, an employee at the Franco-Belgian bank at -Lima, that it might be dangerous for the Marquis and his companions to -show themselves in the streets on the following day. - -It was obvious that the man feared trouble, and would have given -anything to see the party a hundred miles away. When he learned that -they were ready to leave at once, he busied himself about finding them -fresh mules and a guide, and furthermore detailed four troopers to -escort the party as far as the railway. - -Cajamarca was left at eleven o’clock that night, and the return journey -was made at double the speed at which they had come. Dick would let -nobody rest, and forced the pace throughout. It was not until the -following night, safe in the train for Pascamayo, that they realized -the ridicule that attached to their hasty flight. “Just like a pack -of children frightened out of their lives by Agnes’ stories,” said the -Marquis. - -Back in civilized life again, they were all surprised at their panic. -After all, the whole thing could be so naturally explained--fanatics -resenting the presence of strangers at a religious festival, and nothing -more. The best thing they could do was to forget it as soon as possible. -Uncle Francis restored the party’s gaiety by going through the same -performance which he had rehearsed on landing. - -Forty-eight hours in Lima completely dispelled the cobwebs. Maria-Teresa -found a great deal of work awaiting her, and forgot her fears in a maze -of figures which took her to Callao early, and kept her busy at the -offices until late in the afternoon, when Dick came to fetch her. - -One afternoon, about eight days after the adventure at Cajamarca, the -tap at her window which announced Dick’s arrival came earlier than -usual. Maria-Teresa got up, and threw open the shutters. Dick was -not there.... Then she retreated with a half-strangled scream. Was it -possible? In the rapidly gathering darkness, she could not be sure, and -leaned out of the window to see better.... That thing, swaying in the -darkness, looked just like the sugar-loaf skull.... She retreated into -the room, trembling in every limb, and turned round. From the dark -corners of the chamber two other shadows, the valise and cap skulls, -were advancing slowly, swaying as they came. - -For a moment, Maria-Teresa thought she had lost her reason. Then she -made a violent effort to regain control of herself. Dead skulls could -not come to life like this. And yet, they were coming toward her, -swaying horribly, above shadowy bodies! A desperate scream for help -was choked in her throat. “Dick!...” and nothing more. The three living -skulls had hurled themselves upon her, gagged her, and now, throwing the -inanimate girl over their shoulders, hurried through the black hole of -the open window. Maria-Teresa’s own motor was waiting there, her negro -boy at the wheel, smiling strangely. - -Their mummy hands, horribly living, lifted the girl into the tonneau, -and the three monsters, like three larvae, climbed in after her. Then -the car shot down the street. - - - - -BOOK III--THE TRAIL OF THE PONCHOS - - - - -I - -Meanwhile, Dick, wandering through Callao until the time came to call -for Maria-Teresa, was strolling up the Calle de Lima. He had just come -from the Darsena docks, where the harbor engineers had been giving him -news the reverse of cheerful. In the present condition of the country, -they said, any venture in the deserted gold-mines of the Cuzco was -hopeless. - -The last two days had brought news of fighting from the other end of the -country. Or, at all events, cartridges were being used up, even if -there was no attendant damage. Everybody had thought Garcia feasting -at Arequipa, but the pretender had evaded his enemies and attacked the -Republican forces between Sicuani and the Cuzco. It was even rumored -that Cuzco itself had fallen into his hands. - -Were all this true, the outlook for Dick’s affairs was bad. His company, -thanks to the influence of the Marquis de la Torre, had obtained a -concession from President Veintemilla, This would not be worth the paper -it was written on if Garcia proved victorious. Super-active by nature, -the young engineer could not endure the thought of the long months of -enforced idleness before him until the revolution had been settled in -one way or another. - -As he came into the Calle de Lima, Dick pulled out his watch. He -found that he still had a few minutes to spare. Much as she loved him, -Maria-Teresa did not like being interrupted at her work, so he -turned into the Circulo de los Amigos de las Artes for a drink. This -establishment, though baptized a club, was in reality a huge café and -reading-room. The ground floor was packed with people discussing the -latest events. Cuzco was in every mouth, and it was noticeable that -Veintemilla’s warmest partizans now had a good word to say for Garcia. - -A stampede of shock-headed newsboys, shouting the latest edition of -an official paper, tore past the café, scattering still wet sheets and -collecting coppers. One of the customers climbed onto a table and -read out a proclamation by the President, urging calm and giving a -categorical denial to the report of the capture of Cuzco. General Garcia -and his troops, the President announced, were bottled up in Arequipa, -all the sierra defiles were in the hands of Government troops, and the -traitors would be hurled into the sea or chased into the great sand -deserts. The proclamation concluded with a reference to Indian troubles -in the suburbs, attributing them to the usual Interaymi effervescence, -and dismissing them as negligible. Cheers for the President ended the -reading of his manifesto. Wavering allegiances were at once restored, -and it was generally agreed that his statement was superb. - -Dick left the café a little happier, though he did not really place -a great deal of faith in the official denial. Night had fallen and -he walked briskly, now fearing that he might be late. As he went, he -remembered his first day’s walk through this same labyrinth of narrow -streets. Then he caught sight of his fiancée’s verandah in the distance, -and noticed that the window was open, as on the first day. - -There she sat, the little business-woman, with her brass-covered green -registers. What a manly little brain it was! And to think that the pair -of them had been such fools over that Golden Sun bracelet... Something -to laugh about in after years, that! - -“Hello, Maria-Teresa!” - -There was no answer, and Dick walked up to the window. - -“Maria-Teresa!” - -Still no answer. He peered into the room, trying to see where she was -hiding. Nobody there. - -“Good God! Maria-Teresa!” - -He walked into the room. There could be no doubt of it. That table -knocked down, those books on the floor, that curtain torn from its -rings, this broken pane in the window told the story. Silence greeted -his shout for help. Not a servant, not a soul in the place, and all the -doors open! “Maria-Teresa! Maria-Teresa!” - -Hardly knowing what he did, Dick ran into the deserted courtyard, and -then back into the office. There could be no doubt of it. Huascar and -his Indians had carried her off. That dog Huascar, whom she trusted, -and who loved her, not as a dog should, but as if he were a man. -Horror-stricken, furious, Dick searched the room for some clue. - -The scoundrels! He swore aloud as he pictured Maria-Teresa struggling -in Huascar’s arms and calling for help in vain. That was where he should -have been, instead of listening to all those fools in the café. He could -have laid his hands on Huascar then! That was the man they should have -watched instead of being thrown off the scent by all those wild-cat -legends about the Bride of the Sun. - -An Indian in love with a white girl and thirsting for revenge! Of -course! He saw it all now, and remembered how Huascar had last left that -same room, driven out by Maria-Teresa. The insolent dog, with his fist -raised in menace! - -As idea after idea swept across his brain, Dick stared helplessly at the -blank walls about him. What could he do? He jumped back into the -street and hesitated. No clue here--only the doors of closed stores and -sightless walls--a pit of gloom. - -Suddenly he heard voices, and leaped into action. At the corner of the -street there, under that lantern, was a wine-shop, the only living thing -in this dead street. He ran toward it, kicked the door open, and almost -fell on top of Domingo, the night watchman. - -“Where is your mistress?” - -Domingo, taken aback, mumbled indistinctly. He thought that the señorita -had returned to Lima as usual with the señor. The motor had gone by just -a little while ago. - -“What motor?” - -Domingo shrugged his shoulders. There were not so many motors as all -that in Callao and Lima. - -“Who was driving?” - -“The boy.” - -“Libertad?” - -“Si, señor, Libertad.” - -“Did he say anything to you as he went past?” - -“No, señor, he did not see me.” - -“Did you see your mistress?” - -“The hood was up, señor, and the motor was traveling fast.... Nay, -señor!... That is the truth. I swear it!” - -Dick seized the man by the collar, and shook him like a rat - -“What were you doing here? Why were you not with your mistress, at your -post?” - -“I meant no harm, señor. A Quichua offered me a drink here... real -pisco, señor.” - -Dick, without listening, dragged the protesting man through the streets -and into the empty office. When he realized what had happened, Domingo -would have torn his hair out with grief, but Dick, seizing him by the -throat, drove him to the wall and looked into his eyes. A fool or a -traitor, which was he? - -Told to speak, and speak quickly, Domingo answered Dick’s volley of -questions without a minute’s hesitation. The señorita could not have -been carried off without the aid of Libertad, a rascally half-breed to -whom the señorita had given work out of pity. The day and hour had been -chosen by some one who knew the place well, for on Saturday afternoons -there were no workmen or clerks on the premises. - -“When you went out to drink, was the motor already waiting?” - -“Yes, señor. It had been there half an hour.” - -“Was the hood up?” - -“No, señor. Libertad was sitting in it alone.” Releasing his grip, Dick -dashed into the street again and started running toward the main avenue. -If Maria-Teresa had been carried off in her own motor, it would be easy -to trace her part of the way. As Domingo had said, there were not so -many cars about. - -As he dashed round a corner, Dick came into sharp collision with a man -emerging from a doorway, who swore vigorously. Dick recognized him at -once, and gave such a shout that the chief of police, for it was he, -fell into a posture of defense. - -“Forgive me, señor.... I am Dick Montgomery... the fiancé of Señorita de -la Torre.... She has been carried off by the Indians!...” - -“Doña Maria-Teresa? That is not possible!” In a few words, Dick told the -little old gentleman what had happened, and gave him his suspicions. He -found ready sympathy and belief. - -“I was on my way to dine with a friend just opposite. A minute while I -tell them that I cannot come, and I am with you.” - -He hurried across the street while Dick, with an indignant snort, moved -on toward the harbor, questioning shopkeepers and pedestrians as he -went. So far as he could gather, the motor had about half-an-hour’s -start of them. - -Dick was convinced that he had seen the last of the Chief of Police. -In this he did the little man an injustice, for he had hardly gone two -hundred yards before he heard footsteps behind him. - -“You did not wait, señor? Well, here I am. Natividad is always to be -counted upon.” - -Though his real name was Perez, the Chief of Police was known throughout -the city as Natividad, a nickname earned him by his cherubic face, -and of which he was rather proud. Dick found the little man hot enough -against the Indians even for his taste. Natividad hated the Quichuas, -and believed them capable of anything. - -Just before they reached the harbor, at the corner of the narrow Calle de -San Lorenzo, Natividad seized Dick by the arm and drew him to the wall. -The street was deserted, and lighted only by feeble rays from a low -glass-paned door a few steps ahead. This door had just been opened, -and a man peered out cautiously. Dick stifled a desire to shout. He had -recognized Huascar! - -The Indian whistled, and two shadows, wearing wide-brimmed Indian -sombreros, detached themselves from the wall at the other end of the -street. They rejoined Huascar, who had closed the door behind him, and -exchanged a few rapid words. Then the two walked off in the direction of -the harbor, and Huascar disappeared as he had come. - -Natividad, pressed against the wall, held Dick’s hand in a grip that -imposed silence. “Why is it? What does it mean? Perhaps she is in -there,” the young man whispered. - -Signing the engineer to stop talking, Natividad crept toward the door, -and at the risk of being discovered, peeped through the uncurtained -panes. Dick, looking over his shoulder, saw a room full of Indians -sitting at tables, but neither smoking nor drinking. Huascar was walking -up and down between the tables, in deep thought Then he vanished up a -staircase leading to some room on the first floor. - -Natividad had apparently seen enough, for he dragged Dick into the -shadow of a neighboring porch. - -“I cannot make it out,” he said. “What are they all doing here during -the Interaymi? I thought every Quichua in the city had left for the -mountains. There should not be one here for the next ten days. But -I cannot believe Huascar has anything to do with the kidnaping. He -wouldn’t tell his secret to all the Indians of Peru, when he knows that -nearly every one of them can be bought for a few centavo!” - -“Wait before you make up your mind. We can at all events find the motor. -I am sure Huascar knows where Maria-Teresa is. We must not lose sight of -him.” - -“We shall not have to wait long,” replied Natividad, stiffening at a -fresh noise from the other end of the calle. “Here are those Indians -coming back with horses.... What does it mean?... Madré de Dios!... Is -it possible?... The Interaymi!... Silence!” - -The clatter of hoofs on the cobbled roadway showed that quite a strong -cavalcade was approaching, and the watchers drew back farther to the -shelter of an alley nearly opposite the low door, and from which they -could still see all that was happening round it. As the cavalcade rode -up, the door opened again, showing all the Indians standing up, and -apparently waiting for somebody. - -Huascar appeared first; after him an Indian whom Dick recognized at -once for the Red Preacher of Cajamarca; lastly a man in a lounge-suit of -impeccable cut:--Oviedo Huayna Runtu himself. Then an incredible thing -happened. All these men who had remained motionless before Huascar and -the priest bent on their knees, humbled their heads to the ground before -the bank-clerk. - -The troop of horses and mules had halted before the low door, and men -with lanterns came out of the house. The bank-clerk was the first to -vault into the saddle, Huascar holding his stirrup. Then Huascar and the -Cajamarca priest mounted, ranging themselves on each side of the leader, -but just behind him. - -Huascar turned in his saddle and made a sign. Every Indian in the party -threw open his poncho, showing beneath it, in the light of the lanterns, -another cloak of brilliant red. - -“The Red Ponchos!” gasped Natividad, grasping Dick’s arm. - -There was a whistle at the end of the street, answered by another a -long way off, at the other end of the Darsena quay,... and the cavalcade -started. - -Dick made as if to follow, but Natividad held him back. - -“Wait, and listen! We must know which way they are going!” - - - - -II - -Hunched forward, he listened, then turned to his companion. - -“The Chorillos road. Unless I am much mistaken, they are following the -motor.” - -“Come on; we must get after them! Where can we get horses?” - -“Follow me. We can do better than that. We have the telephone and the -railway.” And once again he took up his litany:--“The Red Ponchos! The -Red Ponchos!” - -“What do you mean by that?... Red or gray, it’s all one.... Those men -belong to Huascar’s band, and helped him.... That seems pretty clear to -me.” - -“Quite right, quite right. I agree with you now, young sir,” replied -Natividad, puffing by Dick’s side as they hurried toward the railway -station. “Yes, indeed. They are all in it.... The Red Ponchos.... The -Priests of the Sun.” Dick stopped dead. Natividad’s last words at last -made him understand. He remembered, in a flash, all the legends told by -Aunt Agnes and old Irene. And they had seen fit to laugh. - -“Good God!” he groaned, and began running again. As he ran, he shouted -to his companion:--“But we’ll catch them yet, and you’ll arrest them -all!” - -“I shall do what I can. But there are at least thirty of them, and there -are not enough troops in Callao to send a squadron in pursuit.... Every -soldier the city could spare has been sent into the sierra against -Garcia.” - -“You can telephone to Lima.” - -“And they’ll take me for a madman, as they did ten years ago,” replied -Natividad enigmatically. - -“Will we get to Chorillos before them?” - -“Yes, there’s a train in ten minutes’ time.” - -“It seems to me we would have done better to follow on horseback. Then -we could have found out where they were going. Thirty of them, are -there? Only damned Indians, though. I wouldn’t mind tackling the lot -myself.” - -“This way is the best....” And Natividad added in an undertone: “They -wouldn’t believe me ten years ago. Well, it’s beginning again.” Dick, -intent on reaching the railway station, did not hear him. He could only -think of those mysterious Indians on the highroad out there. “We shall -lose their track,” he groaned. - -“You need not fear that,” replied the Chief of Police. “Their road runs -alongside the railway line. If we see a motor waiting on it, we stop the -train. If we overhaul the Red Ponchos alone, we go on to Chorillos, and -wait for them there. I’ll see that the police expect them. Nothing is -lost yet, Señor Montgomery.” - -At the railway station, Natividad found he had just time to telephone -his instructions to the Chorillos police. No motor coming from the -direction of Callao was to be allowed to pass. - -They were talking to the guard of the express when a Lima train steamed -into the station, and they saw the Marquis, Uncle Francis and little -Christobal appear. - -“Where is Maria-Teresa?” shouted the Marquis as he caught sight of Dick, -and ran toward him. “Why are you alone? Where is she? What has happened? -Speak, boy!” - -Little Christobal, clinging to Dick’s legs, reiterated his father’s -questions, while Uncle Francis’ long shanks took him wandering aimlessly -round the little group. The guard blew his whistle, and Natividad pushed -them all into a carriage just as the train started. - -“Yes, she has been carried off by the Indians, but we know where she is. -She is at Chorillos.” Dick’s attempt to reduce the force of the blow to -the Marquis partly succeeded. Then he explained what he knew while Don -Christobal, raging in his corner, swore to kill with his own hands every -Quichua in the country. Little Christobal, understanding only that his -sister was lost, sobbed bitterly. - -But what had given the others the alarm? The Marquis explained that Aunt -Agnes and Irene, going to church for the evening angelus, found that the -Golden Sun bracelet had been stolen from the shrine of the Virgin of San -Domingo. They had returned home in a panic, to find the Marquis nearly -distracted with fear. Going to his club for the first time in a week, -he had there found an anonymous letter warning him to watch over his -daughter day and night throughout the Interaymi. This letter, a twin -of the one received at Cajamarca, had been waiting some days. It -particularly warned him not to allow his daughter to go to Callao on -Saturday. It was then seven o’clock, and going home to find that neither -Maria-Teresa nor Dick were back, he had at once rushed to Callao. Little -Christobal, refusing to listen to orders, had followed his father and -Uncle Francis. - -Dick listened like one demented. He was silent, but his mind was in -a turmoil. To think of such a thing! In a country where people used -telephones and traveled by rail! It was too horrible, too incredible, -yet horribly credible. There was no doubt in his mind now as to the -reasons for the abduction. - -Natividad, closely questioned by the Marquis, finished by telling all he -knew, and left them little hope. While loth to cause pain, he could -not disguise certain facts. In a sense, too, he was triumphant. A -conscientious official, he had once almost ruined his administrative -career by certain reports on Quichua customs, dealing notably with the -ritual murder of women and children. He had been laughed at, and called -a lunatic--now the Red Ponchos were at work again. - -The silence of despair greeted his words. Then, anxious to reassure -them, the little old gentleman insisted that the Indians could not go -far with their precious burden. All the defiles of the sierra were -held by Veintemilla’s troops. They would always give assistance to the -police, and the Indians were bound to run into them as soon as they left -the costa. The chief thing was not to lose the trail. - -They had now reached the point where the railway line joined the -highroad running parallel to the sea, and all eyes were fixed on the -great white band stretching out there in the moonlight. At first, it was -bordered by a few tumble-down cabins and bamboo cottages, but soon there -was only the nakedness of a huge sandy plain before them. Dick, the -Marquis and Natividad, grouped at the windows, searched the night, while -Uncle Francis took little Christobal in his arms and strove to console -him. But the boy insisted on being held up, that he also might see out, -moaning the while: “Maria-Teresa, Maria-Teresa!... Why have they taken -my big sister?... Maria-Teresa!” - -Suddenly, the same cry broke from them all: “The motor!” There it was, -standing before the gates of a lonely hacienda. Natividad almost tore -out the emergency cord, and the train, with a grinding of brakes, slowed -down and then stopped. They tumbled to the line, Natividad shouting to -the guard to go on, and send back police, troops and horses as soon as -they could. - -Dick raced across the plain, while Natividad, panting in the rear, -called out to him to be careful, and not to give the alarm. The young -engineer drew a revolver as he reached the motor, ready to shoot down -the first man he saw. But there was nobody there. The car was empty, and -the courtyard of the hacienda showed deserted, peopled only by the blue -shadows of moonlight. - -The gates were wide open, and he entered cautiously. Some of the -buildings round the courtyard were in ruins; all were manifestly -deserted. On his right, the bodega, or store-house; on his left, the -proprietor’s casa. Here again the doors were open. - -Dick returned to the motor, and was there rejoined by the Marquis and -Natividad just as he lit one of the headlights. There was not a sound -to be heard, and they followed the young man in silence. As they entered -the first room of the house, a heavy, pungent perfume greeted their -nostrils. Dick, leading the way, made a few cautious steps, and then -fell back with a cry of horror. The furniture of the place was scattered -in all directions, and there was blood everywhere. - -“Maria-Teresa!” The Marquis and Dick, both calling out at the same time, -were as suddenly silent again. Both seemed to have heard a faint voice -answering them. - -“It’s up there!” shouted the young man, dashing toward a staircase -leading to the first floor. All could now distinctly hear a low, -prolonged moan. Dick, slipping on the stairs in his hurry, rose again -with a white face. His hands were red with blood! - - - - -III - -The first two rooms were empty, but bore unmistakable signs of a -desperate flight and struggle. Then a landing, a door and a dark -cupboard, from which a loud cry for help now resounded throughout the -deserted hacienda. Dick, signing to the Marquis to turn the light into -the corner, bent down, and dragged a body from the cupboard. It was -Libertad! - -Covered with knife-wounds, the negro boy was on the point of’ death, -struggling for air. They took him into the next room, and threw open the -windows, while Dick questioned him brutally. “Where is your mistress?” - A feeble hand pointed toward the sierra, and Dick stood away from the -dying man. That was all he wanted to know. The Red Ponchos were already -on the road to the mountains with his fiancée. - -He dashed down into the road to find Uncle Francis with little -Christobal. The boy, climbing into the motor had discovered his sister’s -cloak there, and was crying over it. He threw himself into Dick’s arms, -but was roughly pushed aside while the young engineer raged impotently. - -What could he do? Anything for a horse, a mule, something to carry on -the pursuit! The irony of it! That motor there, which had served for the -crime, was useless now on the narrow rocky mountain pathway which they -must follow. - -Then little Christobal, listening with wide-open eyes, started. He had -heard a noise at the far end of the court. Could there be horses in -that deserted bodega. It sounded just like hoofs stamping on a plank -flooring. Then the child heard a faint neigh. - -Dick had vanished, and Christobal, running toward the farm buildings, -slipped through a half-open door. Yes, there was something there... -llamas... three llamas,.. but thin, miserable creatures, worn out by the -heavy loads of years, and incapable of carrying even a child. But llamas -do not neigh. The boy slipped round the corner of the building, and -stopped short in the shadow. Sitting motionless a few yards away was a -horseman, watching the house. At his stirrup, attentively immobile as -the horseman, was a llama--one of those light, fine-limbed, long-necked -beasts which carry a man’s belongings and follow him like a dog. - -As Christobal caught sight of them, the horse shied. The rider reined it -in, and swore, but his oath was cut short by a shot. A shadow had risen -in the night, only a few feet away, and had fired; the rider rolled from -his saddle, while the shadow, seizing the horse’s bridle, swung itself -into his place. Little Christobal ran toward it. - -“Tell your father I’ve bagged one of them,” shouted Dick, turning his -mount and riding for the sierra. - -The child, without answering, ran after the llama, which in its turn was -following the horse. His little fingers caught in its wool, he checked -it with the words one uses to llamas, scrambled up and dashed after -Dick. Uncle Francis, on the roadway, was passed by two black streaks, -and left alone there, speechless. - -Meanwhile, in the room on the first floor, Libertad was making his -confession. Natavitad had realized, and had made the Marquis realize, the -great value to them which this might have. Nor, to tell the truth, did -he forget the value of the Marquis as a witness to this confession, -which he regarded in the light of a valuable piece of fresh evidence -in his case against the Indians generally. For this twofold reason, -Natividad was merciless, and forced the negro to speak till his last -breath. - -This confession, made in gasps and groans, built up by question and -answer, and cut short by death, showed clearly that the abduction had -been long planned, and that the daughter of the Marquis de la Torre had -been chosen as the victim of the Interaymi at least two months before -the festival. That was as clear as the wonderful tropical night without. - -Two months before, Libertad had first been sounded, and he had not long -resisted the temptation of the money offered him. All he was asked to -do was to drive the motor to a certain spot on a certain day, without -looking to see what was happening behind him. For this, he was to -receive two hundred silver soles, of which fifty were paid to him in -advance. - -“And who did you make the bargain with?” demanded Natividad. - -“With a clerk from the Franco-Belgian bank who sometimes came to see the -señorita. His name was Oviedo.” - -Don Christobal started. Oviedo Huayna Runtu, the intruder of the -Cajamarca trip! If he had planned to kidnap Maria-Teresa at Callao, -that voyage must have been particularly disagreeable to him. That would -explain his close watch over them, and perhaps also the hint to the -police at Cajamarca, which resulted in their hasty return to Lima. - -“When did you first know the date chosen?” questioned Natividad, holding -up the negro, who was choking. - -“This morning. Oviedo came to see me. He told me that a man would say to -me, ‘Dios anki tiourata’ [‘good-day,’ in Aimara), and that I was to obey -that man. I was to take the wheel, not turn my head, and drive where I -was told to go.” - -Libertad’s story, told in jerky sentences, showed that he did not really -know until the evening what had been plotted. Though he did not move -or look, the sound of the struggle at the open window told him what was -happening. It was then too late to draw back, and, when the order came, -he drove the car to the calle San Lorenzo, where they stopped for a -minute before a low door. Huascar came out, exchanged a few words with -the occupants of the machine, and ordered him to take the Chorillos -road, and not to stop until he had reached Ondegarda’s hacienda. There -was not a sound behind him throughout the journey. - -At the hacienda, when his passengers got out, he had instinctively -glanced sideways, and had seen the señorita, unconscious, being lifted -out by three dwarfs with horribly-shaped heads. They took her into the -casa, while he, more dead than alive, waited where he was, anxious only -to be paid and to get away. - -Then they were overtaken by a troop of mounted Indians, all wearing -red ponchos, and led by Oviedo. Huascar was also with them, and ordered -Libertad to come into the house. To his surprise, he found there half a -dozen women, veiled in black, and guarding the door to another room. - -“The mammaconas,” gasped Natividad. “We can have no doubts now.... -Speak, Libertad.... Speak, and God may forgive you.” - -“Yes, the mammaconas,” said the negro lad, feverishly.... “But I did not -know.... God will forgive me.... The señorita, too, will forgive me.... -You must save her.... She was so good to me.... And I betrayed her... -betrayed her for two hundred silver soles.... They did not know I -understood Aimara... they said that Atahualpa would have a beautiful -bride.... And they fell on their faces before her when she passed.” - -“You saw her, then?” demanded the Marquis, bending low over the -prostrate figure at his feet to catch the faint words. - -“Yes, I saw her.... She was so good.... And I sold her for two hundred -silver soles.” - -“Tell us how it happened,” interrupted Natividad. “Was she no longer -unconscious?” - -“She came out of the room, held up by women in black veils... the three -dwarfs were dancing around her.... She seemed to be in a dream... they -have terrible poisons and perfumes.... My sweet señorita... wrapped in -a gold veil... her face was hidden... only her eyes, staring sightlessly -before her.... The mammaconas were all round her... and the dwarfs were -dancing. I saw it all, because they had left me alone, and I looked -out of the window... they put her on a mule... in front of one of the -mammaconas... and the others followed.... Yes, señor, it is true... -all these stories you hear in the ranchos.... Quite true... the dwarfs -followed, señor.... Oviedo was there... they had prepared everything -in this hacienda.... I believe they murdered the owner and all his -people.... - -“Yes, I saw it all.... I did not care then that I had not been paid.... -I watched.... And the Red Ponchos carried off my mistress... they are -taking her to the Temple of the Sun.... It is the Interaymi.... But you -will find them first... You must.... And God will forgive me.” - -Libertad closed his eyes and fell back, but seemed to recover his forces -with the last flicker of life, and opened them again. - -“What happened to you?” asked Natividad. “Was it in trying to save your -mistress?...” - -Libertad smiled bitterly, and tried to cross himself, but his arm fell -nerveless by his side. - -“Huascar,” he said. “He came into the room, and when I asked him to pay -me, pointed to the two hundred silver soles... they were on the table -there.... Not one over.... It was not much for betraying my mistress.... -I did not know that was what they wanted.... When I told him so, he -asked me what I would have done if I had known.... I answered I would -have asked double the amount....” - -“What then?” - -“Then he drew a knife and came at me.... I ran, but he followed.... He -stabbed me once, and I escaped, but he followed.... I ran upstairs.... -He stabbed me again and again.... When I fell, he thought I was dead... -and I am... I am... dying... oh!... Have mercy!” - -Libertad’s last moment had come. The Marquis and Natividad, bending -over him, were startled by the shot outside, and rushed downstairs. They -found Uncle Francis by the motor, staring down the road. When they -asked him where Dick and little Christobal were, he gazed back as if not -understanding, and vaguely answered that he was looking for them. - -Don Christobal and Natividad, turning to look in the direction the old -scientist was staring, suddenly saw two shadows dash across a moonlit -stretch of road and vanish in the darkness of a ravine leading into the -mountains, and spanned above by the railway bridge. Dick on his horse, -little Christobal on his llama, did not even check for an instant at -their hail. - -Hardly had the hoof-beats died out in the depths of the ravine than the -sound of galloping horses came from the right, on the Chorillos road. A -moment later, a knot of riders appeared. - - - - -IV - -Horses!” exclaimed Natividad. “Then we have them. They are probably -making for the Cuzco, or some place round Titicaca, But they are bound -to pass through Veintemilla’s lines, and we shall catch them at Canete -or Pisco.” - -As Natividad had surmised, the riders were cavalrymen sent out from -Chorillos at his order. They ran toward them, Uncle Francis questioning -the Marquis, who did not answer. Indeed, Don Christobal, doubly anxious -now that his son had left his side, could not contain himself. Hardly -had the troopers dismounted than he swung himself into the nearest -saddle, and rode off after Dick. - -“Sheer madness,” growled Natividad. “If they ever overhaul the Indians, -they are lost.” - -“What are we going to do now?” demanded Uncle Francis. Maria-Teresa’s -fate moved him deeply, particularly from a literary point of view, but -under the circumstances he asked no better than to keep a little in the -background. - -“We can only follow at a distance,” replied Natividad. - -“Excellent... excellent... find out where they are making for, and all -that sort of thing.” - -“There are still laws, a police force and troops in Peru, señor. We are -not afraid of the Indians.” - -With which he turned to the four soldiers who had joined them, and who -represented what remained of the military force of the costa. Uncle -Francis, already delighted with Natividad’s plan of following at a -distance, approved of it even more warmly when he found that this little -escort was to accompany them. - -Three policemen mounted on mules, coming from the direction of Callao, -now appeared on the road. Natividad at once requisitioned the mules for -his expedition. Before starting, however, he went back into the casa to -write a hurried letter to President Veintemilla, explaining what had -happened. He did so with a certain malice, remembering that ten years -ago this same president had been Chief of Police, and had threatened to -suspend him for his “mad reports.” - -One of the policemen, entrusted with the letter, started back toward -Callao at once. The two others were ordered to take charge at the -hacienda and begin a preliminary enquiry. Then Natividad and Uncle -Francis mounted two of the commandeered mules, the third being taken by -the soldier whose horse had been carried off by Don Christobal. When the -soldiers saw that they were heading for the sierra instead of Chorillos, -there was a grumble, but Natividad silenced them. “Forward,” he ordered, -and they, in their turn, entered the ravine. - -“We can, at all events, travel as fast as the mammaconas,” said the -Chief of Police to Uncle Francis. - -“The mammaconas? Were they here then?” The scientist, intensely -interested, urged his mount alongside Natividad’s. - -“Yes señor... the mammaconas... and three head priests of the temple... -only they may touch the Virgin of the Sun.... señor, for the past -fifteen years I have known all this, but they called me a lunatic. Why -should we suppose that the Indians have changed? Do they not eat, drink, -and get married just as they did five centuries ago? If their outward -customs have not changed, why should their secret rites have done so? -Why, señor, why?... But nobody will believe me. It all began when I was -a young man. I had to investigate a mysterious crime, the only possible -explanation for which was a religious one. You must not forget that you -are dealing with Incas to this day.... And I got my knuckles rapped.... -Five years later, when the Orellana girl disappeared, they treated me in -the same way. So I let them give what explanation they liked, and worked -on my own. I speak Quichua like a native now, señor. I also learned -Aimara, which is their sacred language in the Cuzco and round -Titicaca.... That’s where they are making for now; some hidden temple, -where their priests have been working since the days of the conquest.” - -Uncle Francis looked at his companion suspiciously. Were they all -engaged in a huge practical joke at his expense? This Chief of Police -was singularly calm under the circumstances; off-handed, almost gay. - -“We are sure to catch them, are we not?” - -“Of a surety, señor. Dios mio, be content! We will catch them.... How -can they possibly escape? We are on their heels; if they stick to the -mountains, they run into our troops; if they go down into the costa, -every corregidor (mayor) is at my orders.” - -There was a moment’s silence, and he went on:-- - -“Will you not put on that cloak at your saddle-bow, señor? The nights -are chilly, and we are nearing the cordilleras.... The only road, you -see. They must have passed here. At dawn, we shall be able to see their -trail distinctly.... If only those crazy people who dashed on ahead -do not make fools of themselves.... A plucky youngster, little -Christobal.... We shall soon overhaul them.... One does not climb these -mountains as a bull jumps over the barrier at the ring....” - -Natividad’s garrulous flow of words was interrupted by a chuckle from -Uncle Francis. Not a little astonished, he asked him what he meant, -but Mr. Montgomery contented himself with replying:--“I understand, I -understand.” Natividad, who did not understand, eyed him doubtfully. - -Just before day-break they reached the first masses of the true Andes. -Their mounts did not appear over-tired, and after a two-hours’ halt at a -wayside guebrada, where beasts and men obtained food, they continued -the journey. Over them towered the giant mountain chain, blazing in the -molten light of dawn. - -The half-breeds at the guebrada could not, or would not, give them any -information as to those they followed. That the Indian cavalcade had not -stopped there, however, was certain, or larder and loft would have been -empty. Natividad, convinced he would get nothing else out of the men, -forced them, in the name of “the supreme government,” to exchange two -strong mules for two of the horses. - -Shortly after they had started again, they came on unmistakable traces -of a strong party of horse. Thistles, and the great yellow flower of the -amancaes, trampled flat, showed where hoofs had passed. - -“We are close on them now, señor,” said Natividad. - -Uncle Francis, coughing knowingly, assented in such a detached manner -that Natividad began to have serious doubts as to the mental welfare -of that illustrious scientist. - -Before long, though, he was worrying a great deal more about something -else. So far, there had not been a sign anywhere of the Indians’ first -pursuers. Uncle Francis, on the other hand, was thoroughly happy, and -seemed to be enjoying the scenery. - -As they climbed steadily upwards, the road was becoming more and more -dangerous, twisting and turning round the mountain-side. Peaks, sky, and -precipices; in the blue of the distance, a few mountain goats, all four -feet joined together, balancing on some rocky point. - -The cold was now intense, and the soldiers grumbled openly. When -Natividad reminded them that they were serving “the supreme government,” - they let it be inferred that they did not give a tinker’s damn for the -supremo gobesnie, but nevertheless followed. - -“Are you sure of those men of yours?” asked Uncle Francis. - -“As sure as of myself,” replied Natividad, determined to be optimistic. - -“What are they? Indians?” - -“Quichuas, of course.... Where else would we get soldiers?” - -“They do not seem to me to be enthusiastic militarists.” - -“A grave error, señor. They are delighted to be soldiers. What else -could they be?” - -“They are volunteers, then?” questioned the scientist. And to -Natividad’s stupefaction, he produced his note-book. - -“No, not volunteers, illustrious señor.... We send troops into the -Indian villages, and arrest every able-bodied man who has not bolted. -Then we enroll them as volunteers.” - -“Charming! And you are not afraid that they may turn on you when you -have armed them?” - -“Not in the least. After the first few days they decide they are so -much better off under the colors that they would not go back to their -families for anything.... You should see them join in the recruiting -afterwards!... They make very good soldiers.... These men are -only annoyed at being taken into the mountains; they would die for -Veintemilla.” - -“So much the better,” concluded Uncle Francis philosophically. And -he added, to Natividad’s growing amazement:--“But why insist on their -coming with us? We can find those other Indians just as well without -their aid.” - -Natividad jumped. What kind of a man was this? Then his attention was -suddenly drawn to the road again. - -“There, over there! They camped there.” - -At this point, the mountain path widened to a kind of little plateau, on -which were unmistakable traces of a recently-pitched camp. The ashes of -the fire had not yet been swept away by the wind, and remains of food -littered one corner. Natividad, convinced that he had found the first -resting-place of the escort of the Virgin of the Sun, urged on his -party. - -“It is strange,” he said, “that we should have seen nothing yet of the -Marquis, little Christobal, or your nephew.” - -“Why worry? We’ll find them all, sooner or later.” - -“What?” - -“Sooner or later--some day.... Hello, what’s the matter? This beast of -mine won’t move. Gee up.” - -Calm and collected, quite different from the frightened Mr. Montgomery -of the flight from Cajamarca, he urged on his mount, but the mule -refused to answer to his heel. Then Natividad, pressing forward to see -what was the matter, saw the body of a llama stretched across the narrow -path. Dismounting, he lifted its head, examined the nostrils, and then -pushed the body over the edge of the ravine. - -“Little Christobal’s llama,” he pronounced. “The animal has been ridden -to death.... Poor child! I wonder where he is.” - -Uncle Francis, busy with his note-book, refused to get excited. - -“With my nephew, probably. Even if Dick had left him behind, his father -must have come upon him.” - -“That is possible, of course,” said Natividad, doubtfully. - -“Is this llama-riding common over here?” questioned the scientist, -intent on acquiring knowledge. - -“No. Children sometimes amuse themselves with it if the llama is willing. -Rich people give them to their sons occasionally. Christobal probably -had his.” - -“I would never have believed a llama capable of going so far, and so -fast.” - -“No pack-llama could. But that was a good one, trained to carry light -weights and travel fast. Probably used to being ridden by children.... -I wonder where they found it... Your nephew’s horse, too... in the -hacienda stables, I suppose.... A tragedy might have been avoided had -they not.” - -The little party had ridden on, and now, taking a sharp corner, came -suddenly upon Dick and the Marquis, the former on foot, and the latter -mounted. Little Christobal was not there. - - - - -V - -Dick was pale, but the Marquis was livid. So they appeared to -Natividad; as to Uncle Francis, he had not his glasses on, and noticed -nothing disquieting in their appearance. - -“Those scoundrels have both my children now,” groaned Don Christobal in -answer to Natividad’s eager questions, and told what had happened. - -Badly mounted for mountain roads, the Marquis had found great difficulty -in following. Several times he had been on the point of abandoning his -horse, but, thinking it might be valuable later on, had kept to it. Once -or twice he had been obliged to dismount and drag the unwilling beast -behind him. At dawn, he reached the Indians’ camp, which he searched in -vain for some personal sign of his daughter. She was evidently too well -guarded. Finally he found the llama’s body, but being convinced that -Dick was with little Christobal, had not worried overmuch. Then, a -little further on, he found Dick, but alone. - -Dick, powerless to interfere, had seen little Christobal carried off -by the same Indians who already held Maria-Teresa. When they started on -their wild ride, and as soon as the road became steeper, the llama had -rapidly outpaced Dick’s horse. Little Christobal, riding it hard, would -not stop, and soon vanished ahead. Two hours later, Dick had lost his -horse in a ravine, throwing himself from the saddle only just in time, -and narrowly saving his own life by clinging to a projecting rock. He -continued his pursuit on foot, and finally came in sight of the boy, -just as the llama, exhausted, burst a blood-vessel and fell. He had -called to little Christobal, but the boy, unheeding, had run on, crying, -“Maria-Teresa! Maria-Teresa!” - -They were right on the Indians then, and Dick could see them far above -him on the zig-zagging mountain-path. They had checked their horses, -waiting for the boy to catch up to them. Then one of the Red Ponchos -bent down, lifted him up to his saddle-bow, and hurried on with his new -captive. Dick was too far away to open fire, and the Indians had at once -spurred on, soon leaving him far behind. The Marquis had come up a short -time after. - -“You must not despair, Don Christobal,” urged Natividad. “Your news is -not all bad. They are only just ahead, and cannot escape us. They must -pass through Huancavelica, and there we have troops to help us.” - -Natividad ordered one of the soldiers to dismount and give his mule to -Dick. The man was indignant, and continued protesting in a weird jargon -as he trotted afoot behind the cavalcade. In this manner they reached a -point where the road forked, one branch going on up into the hills, -the other stretching down toward the coast. They had all turned up the -former when the dismounted soldier turned--he would go no further, but -would descend to the coast; and once there he would report to the powers -the manner in which he had been treated by a mere civilian. Natividad -wished him an ironical good-by, and he started, but only to reappear a -moment later, waving a soft felt hat in his hand. - -“That belongs to Christobal!” exclaimed the Marquis. - -They turned their mounts, grateful for the chance-found sign which had -saved them from a grievous mistake. Natividad alone hesitated, wondering -whether this was not an Indian ruse. They advanced slowly therefore, -until the mud and sand on the banks of a torrent just below showed -beyond doubt that a large number of mounted men had passed that way -and restored Natividad’s serene belief in the ultimate success of their -search. - -“So they’re doubling back to the costa. They must have been warned -that the passes were guarded... all they have gained by the detour is -avoiding Chorillos.... Perhaps they are making for Canete.... Well, they -must stop somewhere, and then we have them!” - -After an hour’s rest, they hurried on again at top speed, one of the -soldiers giving his dismounted comrade a lift behind. - -“Did you, then, ever think that we might not catch them?” asked Uncle -Francis of Natividad, with an enigmatical smile. - -“Why not, señor?... Between you and me, it is about time we did catch -them.... I for one shall not feel happy if señorita de la Torre and the -boy are still in their hands on the last day of the Interaymi.” - -“Do you mean that the boy is in danger?” - -“Speak lower, señor, speak lower.... Nothing is too young, too beautiful -or too innocent for the Sun. Do you understand?” - -“More or less. More or less.” - -“You people do not know what horrors they are capable of.... They still -have their priests.... You might blink at facts if it were only the -ordinary Red Ponchos, but there are also those three monsters.... You -always find them together in the old burial-grounds.... When one dies, -the other two are put to death.... Or when a king died, they sacrificed -themselves on his tomb.... They still exist, those monsters, those -high-priests of the sacred slaughters.... They exist, señor.” - -“Do they?” - -“You, señor, are a savant, and know about the Temple of Death. But do -you know how many dead were found buried with the mummy of Huayna Capac? -Four thousand, señor! Four thousand human lives sacrificed to honor the -dead--some by suicide, others strangled, knifed or suffocated.... And -the House of the Serpent.... But I prefer not to tell you what happened -there.” - -“Tell me some other day.... You make an admirable guide. When we return, -I will tell the supremo gobierno how grateful I am to them for having -made the most erudite of police officers my cicerone.” - -“I beg your pardon, señor?” - -Natividad, completely taken aback, could only stare at his interlocutor. - -“Nothing, nothing! I am only joking!” Scandalized at such levity, -Natividad turned away with an indignant snort, while Uncle Francis -chuckled. That worthy gentleman had now quite made up his mind that -there was a plot afoot against him, and sternly refused to be “taken -in.” The joke was rather tiring physically, but he would not cry for -mercy. As to all these hair-raising stories, he would take them for what -they were worth. Let them play their pranks till they tired of them. - -The more he thought of it, the more he became convinced of the truth of -his deductions. His antiquarian’s eye rested lovingly on the traces of -that long-dead Inca civilization which they met. Here, aqueducts that -would have made the Romans wonder; there, remains of the great road -which ran from end to end of South America. They were all dead, those -Incas. Yet these people wished to make him believe that those vanished -warriors and priests had carried off a boy and girl of to-day to offer -them as a sacrifice to equally-forgotten gods! - -They had now left the arid ranges and dusty wind behind them, and -reached a little village nestling in green fields at the foot of the -mountain. A babbling stream, tumbling down from the Cordilleras, had -transformed this corner into an oasis of verdure, in which Uncle Francis -would willingly have passed a few hours. But now that they were in -flat country again, Dick, the Marquis and Natividad increased the pace -feverishly. Uncle Francis, still determined not to show that he had -fathomed their plot, was careful not to protest. - -Once or twice, they stopped to ask questions, but it was difficult to -obtain information. Hamlets were rare, and the Interaymi festivals -had drawn away nearly the whole population. The few Indians they met -received their questions with evident suspicion, and even hostility. Nor -would money loosen their tongues. - -Fortunately, there were half-breeds more ready to talk, and they learned -that Huascar and his companions were riding hard. Nobody had seen Red -Ponchos; presumably the priests had concealed the ceremonial raiment -imposed by their ritual for the reception of the Bride of the Sun. They -were traveling so fast that nobody had had time to notice whether they -had a captive boy or young woman with them. At the questions on this -score all their informants began to grow uneasy, and turned away with -evasive sentences. - -Huascar and his men had about two hours’ start, but it soon became -evident that they were gaining ground steadily. Natividad could not -fathom the meaning of the Indians sudden turn toward the sea, this -riding into a town where, normally, everything must be against them if -the alarm was given. - -They reached Canete at nightfall, Dick still leading. There was a -big fête on, with torchlight processions and the deafening noise of -fireworks set off by delirious roisterers. Half the native population -was under the influence of drink, and Natividad, trained to understand -the populace, at once saw that the town was in a state of dangerous -effervescence. - -Of all the towns in Peru, Canete is perhaps the one which shows most -markedly that strange admixture of the new and old. Factory chimneys -tower to the sky side by side with Inca aqueducts which to this day -bring the water of the Rio Canete to the surrounding plantations. -Just above the town are still the remains of the huge native fortress -demolished some two hundred years ago by the then viceroy of Mañdelova -when he needed materials for the defenses of Callao. - -Natividad’s first visit was to the corregidor, who told him that the -town was celebrating Garcia’s victories. It was now certain that the -rebels had captured Cuzco, and routed the Federal forces. Natividad then -told him of the plight of the Marquis de la Torre’s children. The Mayor -was skeptical, and showed it. Indians committing such a crime, he said, -would never have dared pass through a town. - -“They could not stop in the Sierra,” said Natividad, “and had to make -for somewhere. Perhaps they intend taking boat, and reaching Arequipa -by sea. They could get up into the Cuzco that way.” - -“That is more than possible,” replied the corregidor, anxious to rid -himself of the troublesome visitor. “A troop of strange Indians has, in -fact, passed through the town. They bought provisions, and then hurried -on to Pisco. They might have a boat ready there.... Personally, I can do -nothing for you. I haven’t a single soldier or policeman to dispose of. -They have all gone to fight Garcia.” - -At this moment, an extraordinary procession passed under the -corregidor’s windows. A dancing, singing procession, at the head of -which Natividad recognized his four troopers. He opened the window and -shouted menaces, but they passed unheeding. - -In a sad mood Natividad rejoined his companions. Without any -explanation, he told them they must follow to Pisco, and they started -again. Natividad, in a brown study meanwhile, would answer no questions. - -Don Christobal, hearing that the Indians were making for Pisco, grew -hopeful. He was known in the town, having a branch business there, -with big guano dépôts, stores in the harbor, and a considerable coolie -station on the Chincha Islands, which are just off the town. There he -could speak with authority, and make the corregidor listen. - -They reached Pisco dog-tired, on mounts that could hardly stand. Uncle -Francis alone displayed a calm and unconcern which would have convinced -the others he was mad, had they had time to notice him. The news of -Garcia’s victory had just reached Pisco, and the mob was even more -delirious than that of Canete. - -The Marquis, taking the leadership, led the way to his dépôt and stores, -only to find them completely deserted. There was not a single employee -there to answer his questions. - -“To the corregidor’s, then,” he ordered. - -The four travelers had entered the main and only street of the town, and -were riding toward the sandy central square when a thundering _feu de -joie_ made them pull up. The Indians were burning the sacred maize-leaf -in honor of Garcia, to the grave danger of the little blue-and-white -houses around. The inhabitants of these, well-to-do half-breeds, had -locked themselves in, or taken to flight. - -The madness of alcohol and the madness of fire crackers had taken firm -hold of all that was visible of the population. The mob had pillaged a -pisco distillery, and was enjoying itself thoroughly with that virulent -spirit, which is made from a kind of Malaga grape, and takes its name -from the town. - -Natividad, casting round for a guide, found a half-breed sadly huddled -under a doorway. He doubtless was one of those who had something to lose -by the rioting; a house to be burned, or a cellar to be plundered. - -“Follow me,” he said, when asked where the corregidor could be found. - -He led them along a plank pavement which was just beginning to burn, -until they reached the corner of the arena, opposite the church. Four -skinny palms adorned the center of the square, and at the foot of one of -these a mob was dancing round a fire. Above, something was hanging from -a branch. The half-breed pointed to that thing. - -“There is the corregidor,” he said. - -Natividad, Dick and the Marquis stopped short, mute with horror. The -half-breed whispered a few rapid words to Natividad, who turned to run. - -“Come on! Come on!” he almost screamed. - -“Why this hurry?” demanded Uncle Francis, phlegmatically. - -“Why? Why?... Because they are going to eat him!” - -“Not really?” drawled the scientist with mediocre interest. “Right -away?” - -But Natividad did not notice his tone. He was really running away, for -he had not forgotten a scene in Lima, when the Guttierg brothers were -torn from the presidency they had usurped by the same mob which had -placed them there. Massacred, then hanged over the cathedral gates, they -were finally roasted and devoured by the populace. - -So fast did Natividad flee, that Dick and the Marquis could hardly -keep up with him. Uncle Francis, bringing up the rear, was muttering to -himself: - -“Damn nonsense, sir, damn nonsense. They’re not going to frighten me.” - - - - -BOOK IV--THE DICTATOR - - - - -I - -Arequipa was _en fête_; the entire population of the city and its -campina (suburbs) was packed in the main square and the adjacent streets -to witness the triumphal return of the victor of the Cuzco--brave -General Garcia, who had already been christened “the good Dictator,” and -who had promised his partizans that within a fortnight he would sweep -out of the country President Veintemilla, the two Chambers, and the -whole parliamentary system which, he declared, had ruined Peru. - -This was language the Arequipinos loved and understood. Politics had -always flourished in that part of the country, and all revolutions began -there. And the turbulent inhabitants of Arequipa felt that it was a -terribly long time since they had had a “savior” to cheer. - -Now they had one; a particularly picturesque one, who was to appear on -horseback. So they had all donned their Sunday clothes, and the women -had flowers in their hair and more flowers in their arms to scatter -before the hero. - -The Indian population, having sold its hens and vegetables in the -market-place, joined the throng. - -The square, for the occasion, seemed to have straightened out its -tumble-down arcades, badly shaken by the last earthquake. The illusion -was aided by brilliant-hued carpets, flags, banners and festoons which -blazed in all directions and gave new life to the dilapidated walls. -The cracked old towers of the church, the carved wooden balconies, -flower-adorned galleries, and decorated windows were black with people. -Above the city rose the Misti, one of the world’s highest volcanoes, -wearing a fresh cap, glistening with the snows of the night. - -Bells chimed and cannons roared out. Then came silence, broken again by -the sound of bugles and the roar of a thousand voices. The procession of -the troops had begun. Contrary to European custom, it commenced with all -the impedimenta of the camp. It was like a rout:--Indians leading mules -loaded down with baggage, provisions, and kitchen utensils; then a -regiment of women bent under the weight of knapsacks, babies, and sacks -of food. - -The crowd cheered everything wildly, from the llamas loaded with -captured Federal arms to the women, the rabonas, as they are called out -there. These rabonas are a precious institution from the point of view -of the Peruvian soldier; each man has his own, and she carries his -baggage, buys all his food, and prepares his meals. - -Then came the troops, Garcia, leading. Mounted on a splendid horse, -wearing a brilliant uniform, he appeared like a star of the first -magnitude in the constellation of his staff. A tall man, he showed head -and shoulders above the generals and colonels prancing around him. His -tri-color plumes waved splendidly in the wind, and the deafening rant -of bugles accompanied him. Handsome, radiant, happy was he, nonchalantly -curling his black mustache and smiling on all with brilliant white -teeth. - -Garcia smiled to the ladies as he passed under their balconies, and the -ladies, showering down rose-leaves over horse and rider, called him by -his Christian name, Pedro. In this triumphal fashion, he slowly rode -round the square twice, and then came to a halt in the middle of it, -between two guns, his staff behind him and, before him, two Indians -bearing a standard, a quaint patch-work quilt of a flag, which was the -token of submission of all the tribes to the new government. These men -wore hats covered with variegated plumes, and had over their shoulders -surplice-like tunics. - -Five hundred infantrymen and two hundred horse had formed round the -square. Young girls, clad in floating tunics and wearing Garcia’s -colors, advanced toward the general, their hands heavy with floral -crowns. One of them made a little speech, while Garcia continued curling -his mustache and showing his teeth. The speech over, he gallantly bent -down and took all the crowns, passing them over his arm. Then he lifted -a hand to command silence. - -“Long live Liberty!” he shouted. A hurricane of cheers arose. Again he -lifted up the crown-charged arm, and again there was silence. - -He told them the program of the new Government meant “Liberty for -all, except for evil-doers! With such a program, is there any need for -parliaments?” - -“No! No! No!” roared the crowd deliriously. “Long live Garcia! Death -to, Veintemilla! Muera! Muera! Muera el larron de salitre! (Death to -the saltpetre thief! ),” for Veintemilla was popularly supposed to have -largely profited by some recent concessions. - -Garcia was an orator, and, wishing to show it once again, told in a -few words the history of the campaign that had ended in the rout of the -“saltpetre thieves” on the Cuzco plains. To be seen and heard by all, he -stood erect in his stirrups. - -Then an incredible thing happened. The powers above actually dared spoil -this splendid _fête_--it began to rain! There was a general rush for -shelter in the crowd. Even the infantrymen lining the square broke -their ranks, while the cavalrymen dismounted, took off their saddles and -loaded them on their heads in guise of umbrellas. As to those soldierly -ladies, the rabonas, they calmly threw their bell-shaped petticoats over -their heads. - -Garcia alone did not move. Furious at this spoiling of his triumph, he -threatened his officers with immediate death if they dared leave his -side. He did not even fall back into his saddle, but stood erect there, -his crown-charged arm menacing the heavens. - -Then the Chief of Staff approached the Dictator, saluted thrice, and -said: - -“Excellency, it is not the fault of the sky. The sky would not have -dared! The roar of your guns compelled the clouds, Excellency.” - -“You are right,” replied Garcia. “And since the guns did the harm, let -them repair it.” - -With which, a battery was rolled out into the square, and opened fire on -the clouds. They thundered on until the short tropical storm had passed. -Then Garcia, triumphant, shouted: “I have had the last word with the -heavens!” The review was over. - - - - -II - -Watching the proceedings from a window at the “Jockey Club Hotel” were -the Marquis de la Torre and Natividad, both wild with impatience, for -their only hope now lay in Garcia. - -At Pisco, they had ended by discovering that the Bride of the Sun’s -escort had embarked in the very steam-tug used to tow the Marquis’ own -barges from the Chincha Islands to Callao. This once again proved that -the scheme had been well thought out and prepared long in advance, the -Indians about Maria-Teresa being in the plot. - -Securing a boat in their turn, the pursuers followed to Mollendo. There -they took the train, and reached Arequipa only a few hours after the -Red Ponchos--Uncle Francis still supernaturally calm, and Natividad -beginning to despair of everything. - -Chance favored them when they landed in this city of mad people, who -would not even trouble to answer questions. Dick recognized Huascar -strolling through the streets, and tracked him to the house where -Maria-Teresa and her brother were kept prisoners. This was a low adobe -building on the edge of the suburbs, and quite close to the Rio de -Chili. It was openly guarded by a dozen armed Indians in red ponchos. -Dick and the Marquis soon found, however, that they could not even get -as near as that line of guards. Fifty yards away from the house, Civil -Guards stopped them, and ordered them back. Garcia’s own troops were -guarding the Virgin of the Sun! - -“Of course, Garcia cannot know,” said the Marquis. “I know him, and -though he has faults, he is not a savage. He once wanted to marry -Maria-Teresa. Let us go and find him.” - -But Dick refused to lose sight of the adobe house. Had they listened to -him, they would have forced their way to it at once. It was only after -long arguing that Natividad convinced him such a step would be absurd. -Lives are cheap during revolutions, and two or three corpses more or -less in the Rio de Chili would not make it overflow its banks. Nor -would they contribute greatly to the freeing of Maria-Teresa and little -Christobal. - -He promised to be reasonable, but would not go with them when they -returned to the inn for a meal; instead, he took up his post in a boat -on the river, and thence watched his fiancée’s prison and the armed men -walking up and down before. - -The Marquis and Natividad therefore, witnessed Garcia’s triumph alone. -Uncle Francis had been lost, or rather, had been left alone in the -middle of the street, staring up at the Misti. He was now doubtless in -the crowd somewhere, taking notes. - -Garcia in all his glory was a sight which did not please the Marquis. - -“I never thought he was that kind of man,” he commented, “though I -always suspected he had negro blood in his veins.” - -“Drunk with success,” replied Natividad drily. - -After the review, they followed the Dictator and his staff only to find -their way barred by troops at the road leading down to the headquarters. -Here the Marquis ordered the men out of the way with such insolence, and -spoke with such assurance of “his friend Garcia,” that he was allowed to -pass, Natividad clinging to his sleeve. - -The subaltern in command at the guard-room took the Marquis’ card, and a -moment later they were ushered upstairs. There were soldiers everywhere, -some of them fast asleep on the staircase, their guns between their -knees, so that the visitors had to pick their way upstairs over -prostrate bodies. - -Finally, their guide pushed open a door and ushered them into a -bedroom, where Garcia was presiding over a meeting of the Cabinet he had -appointed the previous day. Some of these high functionaries were seated -on the Dictator’s bed, others on the table, and one on a bundle of -soiled linen. - -They were received more than courteously. Garcia, who was in his -shirt-sleeves, and shaving, ran toward the Marquis with both hands -outstretched, scattering white flakes from his shaving-brush as he came. - -“Forgive me, señor,” he said. “Antique simplicity! Antique -simplicity!... I receive you as I would a friend... for I trust you come -as a friend, as a friend of the new Government. Let me introduce you.” - -He began with the Minister of War, who was astride the bolster, and -finished up with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, a hideous -half-breed chewing cocoa-nut leaves. - -“No fuss, you see,” babbled on Garcia. “Antique simplicity. Cato, and -all that sort of thing.... Nothing like antiquity, sir, to make men.... -The good padres taught us that, and I took the lesson to heart.” He -laughed. “All that show is for outside... the crowds like it. You must -amuse the crowd!... Did you see my review? Splendid, wasn’t it?... -Magnificent soldiers.... And the rain., Did you see what I did? -Effective, eh?” - -Daring all this verbiage, Garcia was thinking hard, and watching the -new-comers’ faces. He was far from being a fool. Were they, or were they -not, ambassadors from Veintemilla? Would he accept a compromise, if they -came to offer it? In a moment his mind was made up; he would refuse, -and risk everything on the result of this rising, his large fortune and -his life included. - -At last the Marquis was able to speak. - -“I have come to ask the assistance of the master of Peru.” - -At these words the Dictator, who was washing the soap from his face, -looked up in surprise over a towel. He knew that the Marquis was a -personal friend of Veintemilla. Natividad looked away uneasily, for he -was compromising himself horribly. - -“The master of Peru,” repeated the Marquis, “whose motto is ‘Liberty for -all.’ I want him to restore to me my two children, who have been -stolen.” - -“Stolen! What do you mean, señor? Those who have done this thing shall -be punished. I swear it by my ancestor, Pedro de la Vega, who gave his -life for the True Faith, and was killed by the infidels in the year of -grace 1537 at the Battle of Xauxa, in which he received seventeen wounds -while fighting at the side of the illustrious Christobal de la Torre!” - -The Marquis had always said that Garcia was in no way descended from -Pedro de la Vega, and Garcia knew it. - -“Those same infidels have now carried off my daughter, Excellency.” - -“The beautiful señorita! But what do you mean by infidels? What -infidels?” - -“She has been kidnaped from Callao by the Quichuas... as a sacrifice to -their gods during the Interaymi.” - -“Sacrifice!... Interaymi... but that cannot be, señor.” - -“I am sure of what I say, Excellency, and she has certainly been carried -off. Let me introduce señor Perez, the inspector superior of the police -of Callao. Like myself, he is devoted to your cause. He will tell you -the same thing. Speak, Natividad.” - -Horrified at the form of the Marquis’ introduction, Natividad stammered -a corroboration. If Garcia did not win now, all that was left for him to -do was to cross the Bolivian frontier. - -The change in Garcia’s manner was immediate. He did not want trouble -with the Quichuas, his partisans and allies. - -“But I can do nothing for you, señor. All this happened in Callao. -Veintemilla is still master there, and you must go to him.” - -“They are now in this very city, imprisoned in a house which is guarded -by your own troops.” - -“That is not possible. I should have known it. But if by some -extraordinary fact this is so, you have not done wrong in coming to me.” - -“I knew I would not appeal to you in vain. As long as I live, I shall -not forget this service. I have friends in Lima, señor! And this -gentleman also,” he pointed to Natividad. “The police of Callao is -yours.... Only accompany us to the gates of the city, and set my -children free, and my life and my fortune are yours.” - -“I am afraid I cannot come myself, for I am expecting the British -Consul. But I will send my Minister for War with you. You will find -him just as useful.” Garcia turned and whistled for the dignitary -in question, who seemed in no hurry to move. “Go and see what is -happening,” he ordered, “and let me know.... I believe you are in error, -gentlemen, but I will do what I can for you.” - -Don Christobal and Natividad went out, followed by the Minister, whose -enormous spurs made the hall and staircase echo. Garcia closed the door. - -“I wonder what it all means,” he mused aloud, evidently much put out. -“Ten to one, Oviedo Runtu is in it. If he really has carried off -señorita de la Torre, the outlook for us at Lima is bad.” - -The door opened, and an officer announced the British Consul. -This official was a big tradesman of the town, who had secured the -commissariat contracts to Garcia’s army by promising him the support of -Great Britain. - -Garcia began to speak of his soldiers, and the consul put in that the -worth of an army resided more in the general who commanded it than in -the men themselves. His compliment provoked a self-satisfied bow from -Garcia, but he made the mistake of trying to improve it, and added: - -“For, between you and me, Excellency, those troops of yours are not -worth much, and if you had not been there to...” - -“Not worth much! What the devil do you mean! Do you know what kind of -fighting they have been doing in the mountains? Not worth much, indeed! -Did you see a single laggard...” - -“No, but the guard are all sound asleep now.” - -“Asleep!” Garcia swore, and ran to the door. - - - - -III - -Garcia opened the door, and looked down the staircase, where he both -heard and saw his guards sleeping. Pale with anger, the Dictator woke -them, and ordered the officer to muster his men on the landing. - -“My soldiers never sleep!” he declared to the consul. “Look at them. Do -they look as if they wanted sleep?... Come, my lads, a little exercise -to keep you fit. Out of that window with you all!” - -His outstretched arm pointed to the bedroom window, nearly five yards -above the ground. The poor hussars looked at him, hesitated, and jumped. -Remained only the officer. - -“Well, and what are you waiting for, major? You should be with your -men.” - -Then, as the officer did not move, he seized him round the waist, and -threw him out of the window. The watching ministers and the consul, -anxious not to take the same route, laughed heartily at the jest, and -went to look into the courtyard. Those of the soldiers who had landed -more or less safely were picking up three comrades with broken legs. The -officer was being carried off, his skull fractured. - -Just as this interlude ended, the Minister for War returned, still -followed by the Marquis and Natividad. - -“Well?” asked Garcia, closing the window. - -“The Red Ponchos,” replied the Minister, looking meaningly at his -illustrious chief. “Oviedo Runtu quartered them there, and added a few -soldiers to the guard. They leave to-morrow night for the Cuzco.” - -“What else?” Garcia was nervously twisting his mustache. - -“They know nothing of the young lady and the little boy.” - -“Excellency,” burst in the Marquis, who could contain himself no longer, -“you must have that house searched. I know they are in it. You cannot -allow those scoundrels to go free! Your name would be tarnished for -ever if you did such a thing! It would make you the accomplice of -murderers!....On you depend the life of my son, the only heir of a great -name which in the past has always fought for civilization, side by side -with yours, and of my daughter, whom you once loved.” - -The latter consideration might have had little effect on the Dictator, -who did not believe in confusing love and politics, but the sentence -before, appealing to his sentiments as the representative of “a great -name” moved him powerfully. He turned bruskly to his Minister for War. - -“But you must have seen something. I presume you searched the house?” - -“If I forced that house, Excellency, every one of our Quichua soldiers -would rise. Runtu has only to make a sign, and they cut all our throats. -That house is sacred, for the Red Ponchos and the mammaconas are -escorting the ‘sacred imprints from Cajamarca to the Cuzco for the -Interaymi fêtes. It is impossible, Excellency.” One look from the -Dictator drove all his ministers from the room. When the door had closed -on the last one, he turned to the Marquis. - -“If your children are in that house, señor, it is terrible... but I can -do nothing for you.” Don Christobal staggered under the blow, and leaned -against the wall. - -“Listen, Garcia,” he said in a strangled voice, “if this horrible crime -is allowed, I shall make you personally responsible for it before the -civilized world.” - -He reeled, almost on the point of fainting. Garcia ran to his side, and -held him up, but Don Christobal seemed to regain his forces at once. - -“Hands off, you general of murderers!” he shouted. - -Garcia went white, while the Marquis walked toward the door, turning his -back on the Dictator though he expected to be stabbed at any moment. But -Garcia controlled himself, and his lisping voice checked Don Christobal -in surprise. - -“Do not go yet, señor. I can do nothing for you, but I can at all events -give you some advice.” - -Don Christobal turned, but ignored the hand which waved to a chair, and -waited. He had already wasted too much time here. - -“Speak, sir,” he said; “time passes.” - -“Have you any money?” asked Garcia bruskly. - -“Money? What for? To...” He was on the point of saying “to bribe -you,” but stopped at a suppliant look from Natividad, who was signing -desperately to him from behind the Dictator’s back. - -Garcia, remembering there was somebody else in the room, took Natividad -by the arm, and put him out of the room without a word. Then he sat down -at a little table loaded with papers, rested his head in his hands, and -began to speak in an undertone, without looking at the Marquis, still -standing and suspicious. - -“I can do nothing for you against the Red Ponchos and the mammaconas. -Their house, or their temporary quarters, must be sacred, for they have -the relics of Atahualpa with them. You say your children are in that -house as well. That may be, but I am helpless to prove or disprove it. -It is horrible, I agree, but I am powerless. You say that my soldiers -are guarding the house? That is not true. I am nobody in all this. Who -put them there? Oviedo Runtu. They are Oviedo Runtu’s soldiers.” - -He paused for a moment. - -“Who is Oviedo Runtu? A bank-clerk whom you may have had dealings with -at Lima? Yes, and no. He is a bank clerk, but he is also the master of -every Quichua in the country. Yes, he dresses like a European, and -earns a humble living among us, but meanwhile he is studying all our -institutions, our financial methods, all our secrets. He earns two -hundred soles a month behind a counter, and he is perhaps a king. I -don’t know. - -“King or not, all the Quichua and Aimara chiefs are his slaves. Huascar, -your former servant, is his right hand.... If you ask me, a man who has -dreamed the regeneration of his race! That’s what he is.... When I was -preparing this revolt at Arequipa, Huascar came and offered me Oviedo -Runtu’s aid, and I accepted the alliance because I could not do -otherwise. Do you understand now? It is not I, but Oviedo Runtu.... He -is in your way, as he is in mine.... And, believe me, I am as sorry for -you as for myself.” - -“That’s the man. I can see his hand in it all.” - -“As I said before, force is out of the question. But though I cannot -fight the Red Ponchos, _you_ can bribe them. They are Quichuas, and any -Indian can be bought. That is why I asked if you had any money.” - -“No, I have none,” replied the Marquis, who had been listening to the -Dictator eagerly. “We left in a hurry, and I had not time to think of -it.” - -“Fortunately, though, I have.” - -Garcia whistled in a certain manner, and the Minister for Finance came -in. - -“Where is the war chest?” - -“Under the Red, Excellency.” The Minister went down on his knees, and -dragged an iron-bound box to Garcia’s side. - -“You may go now.” - -When they were alone again, Garcia took a little key from his pocket, -opened the box, and took out a bundle of bank-notes, which he threw on -the table. Locking the box, he pushed it under the bed again, picked up -the notes, and handed them to the Marquis. - -“Count them afterwards, and pay me back in Lima, when I am President. -There is enough there to bleach every Red Poncho in existence. They are -gentlemen who know the value of those little pieces of paper. Oviedo -Runtu himself probably taught them. Good-by, señor, and good luck.” - -“Excellency,” said the Marquis, forgetting that a moment before he had -called this man a murderer, “I do not thank you... but if I succeed...” - -“Yes, yes, I know... your life and fortune are mine.” - -“One word more. I shall try to bribe your troopers with the rest.” - -“By all means! By all means!” - -“And if we fail, Excellency, I warn you that weak as we are, desperate -as the venture may be, we shall attack those priests and their escort. -Can we count on your neutrality?” - -“Most certainly. And if by chance you injure Oviedo, I shall not have -you hauled up before a court-martial!” - -They shook hands, and the Marquis ran out. As he crossed the threshold, -Garcia shrugged his shoulders. - -“His daughter is lost, but he, the fool, has been bought by me. All this -would not have happened if she had married me.” - -At the bottom of the staircase, the Marquis found Natividad waiting -anxiously. In the street, they met Dick, who had come to look for them. -He was pale and agitated, and it was evident that some extraordinary -event had made him leave his post. - -“What has happened?” asked the Marquis. - -“Back to the inn, quick! We must decide on some course of action. What -did Garcia say?” - -“That he could do nothing for us. But he gave me money and a piece of -advice that may save them. But what made you leave your post? Are they -still there?” - -“Yes. Only one person has left the house. Huascar. I followed, -determined to corner him, and kill him like a dog, if need he. He went -straight to our inn, and asked for you. They told him you had gone out, -but were returning. He then said he would wait, so I came to fetch you.” - -“They are saved!” exclaimed Don Christobal. “Why else should Huascar -come to see me?” - -“I don’t like the man, and don’t believe in him. You must not forget -that you have to do with a fanatic, and one who owes Maria-Teresa a -grudge.” - -“My wife found him starving in the street, and gave him shelter. I -cannot believe he has altogether forgotten that.... I have always -thought he was in the whole business against his will, and determined to -save Maria-Teresa sooner or later. Hurry!” - -“I hope you’re right, but I don’t believe it,” replied Dick. “We’ll -have him cornered in a minute, and if he doesn’t answer my questions -properly, he’ll be sorry.” - -“You must not forget, Dick, that they have hostages.” - -“Hostages which they will massacre even if we let Huascar go free, sir! -I would give anything to wring his neck!” - -“And I, boy, would give anything to save my children.” - -The Marquis’ tone was so icy that Dick refrained from further comment. - -Just before they reached the inn, Natividad noticed on the opposite -pavement a tall old man leaning on a shepherd’s crook, and watching the -door through which Huascar had entered. A ragged cloak hung over his -thin shoulders, and a straggling white beard framed a face so white that -it was deathlike. Natividad stopped, and looked at him hard. - -“I know that face,” he muttered. “Who is it? Who is it?” - -Don Christobal, entering the inn, told Dick that he was going to their -room, and asked him to bring Huascar there. The stairs leading up to the -first floor were just inside the archway, and the Marquis, putting his -foot on the first step, noticed Natividad staring across the road. His -eye followed, and he also was struck by a sudden vague memory. - -“Who on earth is that?” he wondered. “I have seen that man before.” - - - - -IV - -Hardly had the Marquis entered the room than Huascar made his -appearance, followed by Dick and Natividad, like a prisoner with his -two guards. The Indian swept off his hat, with a grave “_Dios anki -tiourata,_” To wish a white man good-day thus, in the sacred Aimara -language, was a sign of great respect. Then, seeing that the Marquis did -not respond to the greeting, Huascar began to speak in Spanish. - -“Señor, I bring you news of the señorita and your son. If the God of the -Christians, whom the benefactress worshiped, aids me, they will both be -restored to you.” - -Don Christobal, though seething within, forced himself to the same calm -as the Indian. - -“Why have you and yours committed this crime?” he questioned, crossing -his arms. - -“Why did you and yours commit the crime of not watching over them? -Had you not been warned? Huascar, for your sake, twice betrayed his -brethren, his god, and his country. He remembered that the mother of -the señorita once befriended a naked child in Callao. That is why he -has sworn to save her daughter from the terrible honor of entering the -Enchanted Realms of the Sun.” - -Don Christobal half held out his hand, but the Indian did not take it, -smiling sadly. - -“Gracias, señor.” - -“And my son, Huascar?” - -“Your son is in no danger. Huascar watches over him.” - -“You say you watch over them! But to-morrow I may have neither son nor -daughter.” - -“Neither son nor daughter will you have if you do not obey Huascar.” The -man’s tone had become somber and menacing. “But if you obey, I swear by -the head of Atahualpa, who awaits your daughter should I betray her, I -swear by my eternal soul, that the señorita will be saved!” - -“What must we do?” - -“Nothing. You must abstain from all action. Do not pursue the Red -Ponchos and put them on their guard. I will do everything if you and -yours promise not to come near that house again. They know you, and when -you appear, the mammaconas form the black chain round the Bride of the -Sun. If a stranger appeared, they would offer her up to Atahualpa dead, -rather than see her escape. Be warned, and do not leave this inn. If you -promise me that, I swear that I will bring your son here, unharmed, at -midnight. For your daughter, you must wait.” - -Don Christobal took down a little crucifix from a nail over the bed, and -came toward Huascar. - -“The señora brought you up in our holy faith,” he said. “Swear upon this -that you will do as you say.” - -Huascar held out his hand and took the oath. - -“I have sworn,” he said proudly, “but for me, your word is enough.” - -“You have it,” replied Don Christobal. “We await you here at midnight. -Gentlemen,” he added, as Huascar’s steps rang on the staircase without, -“I have given my word, and you must help me keep it. I believe in -Huascar.” - -“So do I,” added Natividad. - -Dick was silent. He had been watching the Indian, and was unconvinced. - -“What do you think, Dick?” - -“I don’t like it. Perhaps I am mistaken, though. I feel that Huascar -hates me, and I do not love him particularly. We are not in a position -to judge one another. Midnight will show.” - -Natividad, going to the window, had opened it, and was leaning out into -the street. - -“I tell you I have seen that face somewhere before,” he reiterated. - -“So have I,” added the Marquis, going to the window as well. - -Dick joined them, and watched the skeletonlike old man across the -street He was tracking Huascar, like a little boy playing at brigands, -childishly taking ineffective cover behind carts, pedestrians and trees. -The Indian had noticed him, and turned once or twice; then continued on -his way openly, quite unconcerned. - -Suddenly, the Marquis, pensively leaning against the window, -straightened himself with an exclamation. - -“That is Orellana! The father of Maria-Cristina de Orellana!” - -Natividad started. - -“You are right. That’s who it is.... I remember him well now.” - -They remained as if stunned by this apparition from the terrible past; -this ghost come to remind them that he too had had a beautiful daughter; -that she had vanished ten years before, during the Interaymi, and that -he would never see her again. The Marquis, crushed by a flood of old -memories, sat inert in an armchair, deaf to Natividad’s reassuring -words, and refused to touch a mouthful of the meal prepared for them. - -Dick, at the Marquis’ exclamation, had dashed down into the street, -caught up with the mysterious old man at the corner of the square, and -put a hand on his shoulder. The stranger turned, looking at the young -man fixedly. - -“What do you desire, señor?” he asked in a toneless voice. - -“I want to know why you are following that man.” Dick pointed to -Huascar, just disappearing at another corner. - -“Do you not know, then? The great day of the Interaymi is near. I am -following that man because he commands the Red Ponchos, who are taking -my daughter to the Cuzco. She is the Bride of the Sun, you know. But -this time I shall not let her die! I shall save her, and we will return -together to Lima, where her fiancée is waiting. Adios señor!” - -He stalked away on his long legs, leaning on the crook. - -“Mad!” said Dick aloud. Then he clenched his fists as if to hold his own -reason. This inaction would drive him insane! To think that in the very -heart of a supposedly civilized city there was nothing to do but to wait -And wait for what? Huascar’s good pleasure; his good pleasure to keep -his word or break it. Could he force that house alone? He could at all -events try, and fight his way to Maria-Teresa’s feet, even if he was -killed the minute afterwards. - -He stopped, and pulled himself together. - -What good purpose would that serve? No, he must wait; wait until -midnight, when Huascar would return. That was the only thing to do; ruse -for ruse, and the golden voice of money to talk to those Indians. But -midnight was a long way off. Ten times the young man paced round -the square, wondering and raging. Surely there were behind all these -beflagged and festooned windows a legion of Christian men who would rise -like a hurricane if they knew the abominable truth! - -Dick’s thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a dancing, -singing, howling mob at the end of the neighboring calle. This, then, -was the populace which he would have raised against Garcia, and which -obeyed Garcia, while the Dictator, like Pilate, washed his hands of it. -The mob approached, to the thunder of drums and bugles, while flaming -torches and swaying paper lanterns lit up the scene, for night had now -fallen. Overhead fluttered banners adorned with crosses and strange -symbols perhaps two thousand years old. Christians, this crowd? Perhaps! - -Not a man of the upper classes was to be seen, not even a high-caste -Indian. Here were only the dregs of the city; a mass of howling maniacs, -whirling and whooping round a huge bonfire which had flared up in the -center of the square, their wild yells punctuated by salvas of cohetes -(crackers). On one side of the square they were singing hymns; on the -other they were drinking, smoking, swearing. One group of natives swept -into a church, still dancing; another entered the theater and became -religiously silent, awaiting the arrival of Garcia, for whom a gala was -being given. - -Dick, arms crossed and brows knit, glared at the passing groups. There -was nothing to be done with such brutes as these! Then he took a sudden -resolution. To the four winds with Huascar and his promises! He would go -to that little adobe house! Feeling to see if his revolver was safe in -his pocket, he turned, only to be confronted by Huascar. - -“Señor, where go you?” - -He put a hand on the engineer’s arm, restraining him. Dick roughly -shouldered the man away. - -“You know where I am going.” - -Again the Indian intervened. - -“Return to the inn, señor,” he advised calmly. “I will be there in two -hours’ time with the little lord. But if you make another step I cannot -answer for the safety of your betrothed.” Huascar’s voice had changed as -he said “your betrothed.” Dick, looking up quickly, saw nothing but -hatred in the Indian’s eyes. Maria-Teresa is lost, he thought -despairingly. Then a flash of light seemed to illumine the abyss into -which he felt himself rolling with her. - -“Huascar,” he said abruptly, “if you save Don Christobal’s daughter...” - -He stopped a moment, for his heart was beating as if it would burst. -In those few seconds of silence, which seemed an eternity, the barbaric -picture of that scene became imprinted on his brain for all time--this -dark archway under which they had instinctively drawn, the somber and -deserted street before them, the intermittent uproar from the plaza -mayor, and, in the adjacent streets, the banging of cohetes thrown by -mischievous boys under the feet of all that passed. Just opposite, at -a window on the first floor, half-a-dozen globules of colored fire -flickered in the darkness; a family of royal Arequipenos had been -illuminating in honor of Garcia before going to see the torchlight -procession, or to the gala at the Municipal Theater. - -Dick waited until an Indian, loaded down with horse-cloths, had passed -and vanished; perhaps, sub-consciously, he was awaiting the miracle -which would render unnecessary what he was about to say. The Indian -waited, motionless as a statue. - -“If you save her, I swear to you by my God that she shall never be my -wife.” - -Huascar did not answer at once. He was evidently taken by surprise. - -“I shall save her,” he said at last. “Return to the inn, señor. I shall -be there at midnight.” He turned and walked toward the river without -another look at Dick, who made his way back to the plaza mayor, his ears -buzzing, convinced that he had delivered Maria-Teresa. - - - - -V - -Absorbed by his thoughts, shaken by the mental storm through which he -had just passed, Dick did not notice what was happening about him, and -was nearly ridden down by a detachment of hussars clearing a way to -the theater. The hussars were escorting an open carriage drawn by four -splendidly caparisoned horses, and seated in the carriage were two men: -General Garcia, in all the glory of the fullest of full uniforms, and -beside him, in immaculate evening-dress, Oviedo Runtu. - -When he saw the Indian, Dick made as if to rush after the carriage, -but he was swept away in a swirl of the crowd and, hardly knowing how, -carried right into the theater on that human flood. He at once tried -to escape, but could not battle his way back to the door. Garcia, -surrounded by a glittering staff, was bowing to the cheering crowd from -the front of the presidential box. Dick was so placed that he could -not see Oviedo Runtu. The Indian, modestly hidden behind a column, left -Garcia to wrestle with his glory alone. - -A French actress, “of the Comédie Française,” if the bills were to be -believed, came before the footlights and recited Spanish verse, in which -Garcia was hailed as “the Savior of the country.” - -Then the curtain rose, revealing a pedestal, on which was the bust of a -general. It had served several times before for a like purpose, but this -time it was supposed to represent Garcia. Round it was grouped the whole -company, which intoned a triumphal chorus. Then, one by one, the actors -filed past the bust, each with his little speech and a wreath. - -The bust was almost buried in flowers when an Indian girl appeared. She -was wearing the Quichua costume:--a little tunic open at the neck, and -a dozen skirts of various colors worn one on the other; over her -shoulders, a woolen mantlet, secured at the throat by a spoon-shaped -brooch. - -She was greeted with a roar of delight by the Indian part of the -audience. And she, in her turn, that nothing might be lacking in -Garcia’s triumph, sang something in Indian, something by which the -Indians also put all their hope and trust in the Savior of the Country. -At the last verse she shouted, as was only meet, “Long live Garcia!” the -crowd taking up the echo. There were other voices, however, shouting, -“Huayna Capac Runtu!” - -A gorgeous din followed. Every Indian in the theater jumped up, -cheering, joined by scores of half-breeds who suddenly remembered their -descent and, tired of being treated with contempt by the whites, joined -in the roar of “Long live Huayna Capac Runtu!” The purely Peruvian -element sat motionless in stalls and boxes. - -Meanwhile, in the presidential box, Garcia had drawn to his constellated -bosom the resplendent shirt-front of the bank-clerk, embracing -before all the illustrious descendant of the Inca kings. The house, -enthusiastic before, became delirious. - -The gala was over, and Dick was carried out of the theater as he had -been swept in. He had seen enough to realize how useless had been the -Marquis’ visit to the Dictator. Garcia was helpless without the Indians, -and the real master of the situation was Oviedo. Dick had now no hope -but in Huascar. It was eleven o’clock, and he hurried back to the inn. - -There he found Natividad and the Marquis equally anxious at his -protracted absence. As to Uncle Francis, nobody had seen him since the -arrival at Arequipa, and nobody worried about him. Dick told them of his -meeting with Huascar; he was convinced now of the Indian’s good faith. - -They did not exchange another word until midnight, anxiously peering out -of the windows for some sign to confirm their hopes. Natividad was as -anxious as his two companions. He was a kind-hearted man, and had gone -so far into the adventure that he could no longer withdraw without -loss of self-esteem. Moreover, he was so compromised, administratively -speaking, that, all things taken into consideration, he could not do -better than stand by the Marquis to the end. Whatever the result, he was -sure that Don Christobal would not let him starve. - -Midnight came, and the twelve strokes rang out from the church tower. - -The theater had long since given up its last enthusiasts, and the square -was now more or less deserted. All the paper lanterns had gone out, but -the night was a clear one, and they could easily distinguish the shadows -moving homewards under the arcades. None of them, though, came toward -the inn. A quarter past twelve. Not one of the three men in the room -dared say a word! - -At half-past twelve, still nothing! The Marquis heaved a strangled sigh. -At a quarter to one, Dick went over to the little lamp smoking on the -table, took out his revolver, and opened it to see that it was loaded -and working properly. - -“Huascar has fooled us like children,” he said, vainly striving to -control his voice. “He came here in broad daylight, with the knowledge -of his accomplices, and threw sand in our eyes. He has kept us quiet for -hours that were priceless to them, and might have been to us. I have no -hope left. Maria-Teresa is lost, but I shall see her again if I die for -it.” - -He left the room. Don Christobal, catching up his cloak and arming -himself as well, followed, Natividad in his wake. They crossed the -square in silence. At the top of the alley leading down to the adobe -house, Natividad asked the Marquis what he intended to do against fifty -armed men. - -“The first man we see will be offered a thousand soles to speak. If he -refuses, a knife in the ribs. Then we shall see.” - -When they reached the point where they had been stopped by Civil Guards -earlier in the day, they were astonished to find the sentry gone. For a -moment, there was a flicker of hope in their hearts, but when they had -advanced another twenty yards and saw the house unguarded, they realized -the truth. They ran forward and entered the open door. All the rooms -were deserted. In one of them they found the same pungent odor as at -the hacienda on the Chorillos road. “They are lost,” muttered Natividad, -while the Marquis, breaking down at last, called his children’s names -aloud through the deserted house. - -Dick, exploring the place, fell over a crouching figure, and put all his -pent-up rage into throwing the man. Half strangled and trembling with -fear, the captured half-breed explained that he was the owner of the -house. He had been roistering in the city, but the threat of death -sobered him and loosened his tongue. - -Just after eleven o’clock, a closed carriage had driven up to the door. -He did not know who had entered it, but it had been escorted to the -station by all the women and the Red Ponchos. This he knew for certain, -because he had followed them out of curiosity. At the station, the man -they called Huascar had given him some money, telling him to go away -and not to return to the house before daylight “The blackguard!” growled -Dick. “He knew we would come here when he didn’t turn up! Come on! To -the station, quick!” - -When they reached it, it was with the greatest difficulty that they -finally unearthed an employee asleep on a bench. He made no secret -of the fact that a large number of Indians had left at a quarter past -eleven, in a special train ordered by Oviedo Runtu “for his servants.” - No, they could not get another special train that night for all the -money in the world. If they wanted to get to Sicuapi as well, they -would have to wait until the morning. This said, he returned to his -interrupted nap. - -That night was a terrible one for the three men. They made another vain -attempt to reach Garcia, and then wandered through the streets until -dawn. Don Christobal was beginning to talk incoherently, and showed all -the signs of approaching dementia. Again and again Dick led them back to -the adobe house and wandered through the empty rooms. The half-breed had -taken to his heels. - -Natividad was not in a much better condition than his companions, and -when the first morning train started, it carried three specters in one -compartment. Other travelers, hesitating at the door, literally bolted -when they saw their wild eyes. - -The train went as far as Sicuani, but they did not reach it the same -day, being obliged to pass a night at Juliaca, nearly ten thousand feet -above sea-level, where they again found the trace of the Red Ponchos. -It was intensely cold, and all three were taken with mountain sickness, -which made them so weak that they were forced to take some rest. They -only partially recovered next day, at Sicuani. There was a motor service -between Sicuani and Cuzco, which was working despite the revolution, but -the Marquis, unwilling to trust anybody or anything, bought a car for -himself at a fabulous price. He was also moved by the thought that it -might prove useful later on. - -Just as they were leaving the station road in their motor, they met -Uncle Francis, cool, unperturbed, and fresh as a daisy. An avalanche of -questions did not ruffle his calm. - -“Well, I lost you at Arequipa and did not know what to do. Then I said -to myself; ‘They are sure to be somewhere near the Red Ponchos.’ We are -following them, are we not? So when I saw one, I stuck to him like -a leech. I followed him to a little house near the river, which was -guarded by soldiers. That, said I to myself, must be where these dear -children are being kept prisoners. You did not appear, and I thought -you had gone ahead. Everybody knows where these ceremonies take place, -I suppose. But I did not, so I stuck to my Red Poncho. When they went to -the station, I followed. Somebody told me it was a special train and I -couldn’t get in, but I gave the guard two soles and slept in his van. -When we arrived, I couldn’t see you anywhere. I went on to Cuzco, but -you were not there either. So I came back to meet this morning’s train. -And here I am!” - -Uncle Francis does not realize to this day how near he came to being -strangled by his dutiful nephew, or stabbed by the Marquis. His superb -calm nearly drove them frantic. - -“Where did they take Maria-Teresa?” demanded Dick, roughly, though he -owed the unconscious tracker more thanks than blame. - -“You know well enough! To the House of the Serpent.” - -“The House of the Serpent!” Dick turned, to Natividad, gripping his -sleeve. “I have heard you say something about that place. What does it -mean?” - -“It means that they are in the Antechamber of Death.” - - - - -BOOK V--THE HOUSE OF THE SERPENT - - - - -I - -Maria-Teresa opened her eyes. What was this dream from which she had -awakened, or into which she had fallen? Little Christobal’s plaintive -voice brought her keen realization of the brutal truth. She held out -her arms to the child, but felt neither his kisses nor his tears on her -face. Her eyes were still heavy with magic sleep, and she opened them -with difficulty. - -When, gradually, she came out of the abyss of darkness and dreams into -which she could be plunged almost instantly by the sacred sachets always -ready in the hideous fists of the three living mummies; the mammaconas, -too, had terrible perfumes which they burned round her in precious -vases, sandia more pungent than incense, more hallucinating than opium, -which transformed the Bride of the Sun into a beautiful living statue. -Then they could sing their songs uninterruptedly, for Maria-Teresa had -gone to another world, and heard nothing of what happened about her. - -Curiously enough, her spirit then carried her back to the hour when the -knock had come at her window in Callao and when, dropping the big green -register to the floor, she had run to meet Dick. She was worried, too, -by the ever present memory of an unfinished letter to their agent in -Antwerp, which she had been writing when that other knock at the -window had sent her running to Dick again. She remembered with horrible -distinctness the appearance of the three living mummies, swaying in -the darkness, and the feel on her mouth and face of the hands made -parchment-like by the eternal night of the catacombs. Waking from this -lethargic slumber, she thought she had shaken off a dream, but when her -eyes opened, she no longer knew whether she had not just entered into a -terrible dreamland. - -When Maria-Teresa opened her eyes this time, she was in the House of the -Serpent. She knew, for the mammaconas had told her, that when she awoke -there she would be near unto death. There it was that Huayna Capac, -father of the last King of the Incas, would come to fetch the bride -offered to Atahualpa, and take her with him to the Enchanted Realms of -the Sun. In the lucid moments left to her during the voyage, when she -was given the nectar that kept her alive, the mammaconas had taught her -the duties of the Bride, and the first principles of the faith to which -she was to be sacrificed. - -At first, Maria-Teresa had hoped that she would be happy enough to lose -her reason, or that the terrible fever which took her would free the -troubled soul before the body was taken to martyrdom. But the mammaconas -knew the secrets which cure such fevers, and had given her to drink -a reddish liquid, chanting the while: “Fever has spread over you its -poisoned robe. The hated race shall never know our secrets, but our love -for Atahualpa’s bride is greater than our hatred. Drink and be well, in -the name of Atahualpa, who awaits thee!” - -So she had returned to life, only to die again, and so, a nerveless -statue, she had traveled right across Peru, to the little adobe house at -Arequipa, the last stopping-place before the House of the Serpent. There -she had seen Huascar for the first time, bearing in his arms something -covered with a veil. Careless of all the listening ears about her, she -had risen, and called to him as to a savior. He had answered: “Thou -belongest to the Sun, but before he takes you, thou shalt have a great -joy. Thou shalt see thy little brother again.” Then he lifted the veil -and showed her Christobal, sleeping. She had run forward, while he had -retreated in terror. None but the appointed may touch the Bride of -the Sun, and the three guardians of the Temple were there, armed, and -swaying gently. One of them signed to a mammacona, who carried the -sleeping boy to his sister; she burst into tears, for the first time -since her captivity. The child opened his eyes and clung to her, -sobbing, “Maria-Teresa! Maria-Teresa!” - -“How did he come here? You would not hurt him!” - -“We shall do as he wishes. He came to us, not we to him. He himself -shall decide his fate. Let him beware of his words. That is all I can -say to you, all I can do for you. Is that not so, ye Guardians of the -Temple?” - -Maria-Teresa, clutching the child to her, looked at them with fresh -terror painted on her features; at Huascar, calm and motionless; at the -three living mummies, gently swaying. - -“What do you mean? How can a child beware of his words?” - -Huascar, without moving, then spoke to little Christobal. - -“Child, will you come with me? I will take you to your father.” - -“No! I will stop with Maria-Teresa!” - -“The child has spoken,” said Huascar. “So it is ordered. Is it not so, -Guardians of the Temple?” - -The three horrible skulls swayed gently. - -Then Huascar, before leaving, had chanted the words of an Almara psalm: -“Blessed are those who shall come pure to the Kingdom of the Sun, pure -as the hearts of little children, at the dawn of the world.” - -“Huascar, have pity! Remember my mother! Have pity!” - -Huascar bowed to the Guardians of the Temple and went out silently. - -Maria-Teresa, crooning over little Christobal, covered him with kisses. -“Why did you come, little one? Why did you come?” - -“To tell you not to be afraid, Maria-Teresa. Papa and Dick are coming. -They are following, and will save us both. But if you must die, little -sister, I will die with you.” - -The mammaconas, moving silently, had lit the sandia in their precious -vases; brother and sister slept together, in each other’s arms. - -Now she had awakened in the House of the Serpent, and Christobal was not -with her. She struggled to regain consciousness, heard his cries near -by, and rose from the cushioned couch on which she had been reclining. -There was Christobal, naked, struggling in the hands of the mammaconas. -Terrified, she made as if to rush to his assistance, but six of the -women surrounded her, calmed her with fluttering hands. No harm would -come to the child; he was being dressed, as she would be dressed, in a -robe made of bat skins. They spoke with infinite respect, giving her a -title she had not heard before; they called her Coya, which, in Inca, -means queen. - -The mammaconas took her in their powerful arms, lifting her like a -child, and took off the sulphur-hued robes with which she had been -adorned in the deserted hacienda. Again they anointed her with sweet -oils and perfumed creams, chanting the while a slow and restful lullaby, -stilling to the senses. They were tall women from the province of Puno, -born on the shores of Titicaca, strong and beautiful; their walk was -almost rhythmic, supple and harmonious, while their rounded arms showed -golden against the black of their veils. They had splendid eyes, all -that could be seen of their faces. - -Maria-Teresa and little Christobal were afraid of them, but they were -not cruel. Two of their number were to die with Maria-Teresa, to prepare -the nuptial chamber in the Palace of the Sun, and they were the most -lively, the happiest, the most consoling and understanding. They were -wholly happy, and were sad that the Bride did not share that happiness, -doing all they could to make her understand the joy of being chosen -among all as the Goya. On their ankles they wore great golden bracelets, -and in their ears heavy circlets. - -The child was no longer crying. They had promised him that if he -was good he would return to Maria-Teresa’s arms. She also obeyed the -mammaconas docilely. The chant with which they filled her ears lulled -her spirit, still heavy with the magic sleep. - -There was a thought, too, which gave her courage. Those who were dearest -to her knew where she was, what had happened to her, who had carried her -off, and why. If little Christobal had been able to find her, surely her -father and Dick could do so. They would both be saved. If Dick had not -appeared before, it was because he delayed until he was sure of success. -At any moment they might appear with the police and soldiers, all these -savages would vanish in the mountains, and the horrible dream would be -ended. She felt as weak as a child face to face with Destiny. - - - - -II - -In the Home of the Sun,” sang the mammaconas for the hundredth time, -“the trees are heavy with fruits, and when they are ripe the branches -bend down to the earth, that the Indian need not even raise his hand -to pick them. Do not weep! Thou shalt live eternally, eternally! Death -knocks at the doors of the earthly palace, and the Spirit of Evil -stretches his accursed wings over our forests. Weep not! On high in -the heavens, near the Sun and the Moon, who is his sister and his first -bride, near Charca, who is his faithful page, thou shalt live eternally, -eternally!” - -On Maria-Teresa’s perfumed tresses they placed the royal borla, its -golden fringe overshadowing her eyes and giving her a strange hieratic -beauty. She shivered when the bat-skin robe slipped over her limbs; -it was as if she had donned something viscous and icy, which from that -instant made her part and parcel of the eternal night of which the bat -is Coya. - -Then they placed on her wrist a circlet which she recognized as the -Golden Sun bracelet. She realized that her last hours had begun, and -thought sadly of the happy yet terrible day when this bracelet first -appeared in her existence; she remembered the horror-stricken face of -Aunt Agnes, the old duenna crossing herself, her father’s skepticism and -Dick’s loving laugh. Where were they all now? Why--why did they not come -to her rescue? - -Maria-Teresa stretched out her arms to the Providence that seemed to -have deserted her, and closed them again on little Christobal, placed in -her lap by one of the attendants. When she saw him, clad like herself in -the robes of night, she was seized with revolt. This could not be! She -turned to the Guardians of the Temple, who came forward in answer to -her look, gently swaying. There was no doubt of it! There were the same -horrible skulls which Dick and she had seen taken out of the earth, come -from their tombs to take her back with them. But she _would_ speak, and -test their mercy. She turned away her eyes, mortally afraid that the -steady swaying would overpower her will, and told them she was ready to -die quietly, as befitted a Bride of the Sun, if only they would spare -the little boy and send him safely back to Lima. - -“I will not leave you, Maria-Teresa! I will not leave you!” - -“The child has spoken. So it is ordained.” - -The Guardians of the Temple exchanged glances and moved away again, -gently swaying. - -Maria-Teresa burst into tears, the ring of madness in her high sobs, -while the little boy clung desperately, striving to console her. - -“Do not cry, Maria-Teresa! They will come to save us. Papa and Dick will -come.... Oh! What was that?” - -From behind the walls come the strains of music. A curtain is raised, -and the players enter--tall, sad-faced men who take their places in a -ring around them. They are the sacred players of the quenia, the flute -which is made of human bones. Their song is sadder than a De Profundis, -and Maria-Teresa shivers, her beseeching eye exploring in vain every -corner of the great bare room which is the antechamber of her tomb. - -Monstrous, Cyclopean masses of stone, hexagonal in shape and placed -one upon the other without mortar, held in place by their mighty weight -alone, form the walls of the House of the Serpent. She knows where -she is, for the mammaconas have told her. There are two Houses of the -Serpent, one at Cajamarca, the other at Cuzco. They are called thus -because of the stone serpent carved over the main entrances. The serpent -is there to guard the sacred precincts, and never allows the victims of -the Sun to escape. Aunt Agnes and old Irene have often told her this, -and until now she has always laughed. - -Maria-Teresa, then, is in Cuzco, in a palace well known to travelers, -historians, and archaeologists; a place which all may enter, which -all may leave in freedom; a place to which guides bring the curious -stranger. Then what does it all mean? Why should she fear? They are sure -to come to her rescue. But why are they still not here? - -Which way will they come? Listen! Yes, above the sad piping of the -quenias rise other sounds: murmurs, footsteps, and the dull rumble of -a gathering throng. It comes from over there, from behind that vast -curtain, that vast golden-yellow curtain which stretches right across -the room and prevents her from seeing. What does it hide, and what is -that crowd awaiting? - -Maria-Teresa questions the two mammaconas who are to die with her. -They are stretched at her feet in their long black veils, and rise with -respect to answer. The faithful are waiting to adore King Huayna -Capac, who will come to lead her back to Atahualpa. Maria-Teresa, -uncomprehending, asks more questions. He will come from the bowels of -the earth to claim them, and they will pass through the realms of night -in their robes of mourning, till they reach the Enchanted Realms of the -Sun. Then they will be clad all in gold, with golden dresses and jewels -of gold, for all time. - -“And the little boy?” asked Maria-Teresa. - -To her horror, they turned their heads away and did not answer. She -caught Christobal more closely to her, covering his face with kisses, -as if she wished to smother him with caresses to save him from a more -terrible fate. The child strove to console her. “Do not be afraid,” he -whispered. “Papa and Dick will come, not the wicked King. They will soon -be here.” - -On one of the giant stones are mysterious signs to which the whispering -mammaconas draw each other’s attention--strange sculptured figures with -the head of man and the body of the coraquenque. In all time and on -all the earth, so say the Incas, there has been only one couple of -coraquenques, two of the mystic birds which appeared in the mountains -at the coronation of each new king and gave him two of their feathers to -adorn his head-dress. - -Behind the curtain, the noise has ceased, and the song of the quenias -suddenly grows so piercing that Maria-Teresa cries out in terror. -Christobal, clutching at her bosom, nestles closer. Then the curtains -are parted, and the whole hall is revealed. - -Below, a long way below her, is a prostrate and silent crowd. On -the porphyry steps which stretch down to this crowd stand the three -Guardians of the Temple. A step below them, Huascar, his arms crossed -under his red poncho. Lower still, four prostrate Red Ponchos, who -are the Guards of the Sacrifice. Their heads, completely hidden by the -sacred bonnet and ear-caps, are bent so low that none can see their -faces. - -Surely there is somebody in that huge crowd who will free her! -Maria-Teresa, filled with a wild hope, rises with the child in her arms, -and cries for mercy. But the booming answer takes away all hope. “Muera -la Coya! Muera la Coya! To death with the Queen!” They give her the -title in Aïmara, but clamor for her death in Spanish, that she may -understand. - -The four mammaconas on her right, the four others on her left and the -two who were to die with her surrounded the young girl, forced her back -to her seat. But she still struggled, holding up the boy, and begging -that he at least might be spared. - -“He is the sacrifice of Pacahuamac,” came the answer. And the -mammaconas, taking up the echo, chanted: “The sacrifice of Pacahuamac! -Before all things began, before the Sun and before the Moon, his sister, -was the Great Spirit, Pacahuamac. Pacahuamac, the Great Spirit!” - -Down below there, the surging crowd took up the cry. Huascar, turning, -commanded silence with a gesture. - -They were all standing now, except the four Red Ponchos on the last -step; still prostrate and silent. The cry of the quenias rose again, -strident and shrill; soon they alone were to be heard. Maria-Teresa, -crushed, conquered, had ceased struggling. Not a voice, not a sign, had -answered the appeal. In a groan, she begged the mammaconas for their -perfumes. “Have mercy. Bring your perfumes. Then we shall not suffer.” - The two who were to die with her shook their heads. “We must go to -Atahualpa waking, with all our hearts and all our senses, that heart and -senses may live hereafter.” - -The quenia players ceased their music, and a terrible, gripping silence -descended on the hall. The faithful fell to their knees, and Huascar’s -sonorous voice commanded silence. - -“Silence! Silence in the House of the Serpent! The dead King is coming! -Listen!” - -It was as if an earthquake had shaken the walls. The place was filled -with thunder. But instead of coming from the heavens, it rose from the -very bowels of the earth. - -Little Christobal trembled in his sister’s arms, clung closer, and -whispered, “Look, Maria-Teresa! Look at the Red Ponchos.” She lifted her -eyes, looked, trembled, and forced herself to silence. While every other -head was bent in worship, the Guards of the Sacrifice had raised theirs, -and under the sacred bonnets, despite the stain that disguised them, -Maria-Teresa recognized the faces of Dick, her father, Natividad and -Uncle Francis. - -When she looked a second time, the four bonnets were prostrate again, -and a cry from Huascar, herald of Huayna Capac, brought the multitude to -its feet. - -Another tremor shook the very foundations of the temple, and one wall -seemed to vanish. - -“Huayna Capac!” - - - - -III - -That part of the wall on which were sculptured the strange signs and -the two human-headed birds had opened, as if on a pivot. Maria-Teresa -cowered and covered her face with her hands, for the dead king was -emerging from the gulf of shadow beyond. The wall swung back into -position, and the young girl, opening her eyes again, saw before her -a two-seated throne of massive gold. The seat on the right of the dead -majesty was unoccupied. The great crowd of Indians was bent to the dust -in adoration, while the dirge of the quenia-players rose to the roof in -ever-increasing volume. - -The two mammaconas who were to accompany Maria-Teresa to the Enchanted -Realms of the Sun stood on each side of her, while the ten other -priestesses, formed in two lines, passed and re-passed before her, in -the intricate steps of a sacred dance. When they came before the Dead -One’s throne, they fell to their knees, then rose again, chanting: “This -is Huayna Capac, King of kings, son of the great Tapac Inca Yupanqui. -He has come by the Corridors of Night to claim the new Coya offered -by the Inca people to his son Atahualpa.” Then they moved backwards, -crossing and re-crossing, swaying their black veils. Twelve times they -repeated this movement, and each time the chant grew louder, while the -purl of the quenias swelled and broadened. - -Maria-Teresa, holding Christobal closely to her, stared fixedly at -Huayna Capac, and the Dead One seemed to stare back at her. He also wore -the bat-skin robe made for the Corridors of Night, but beneath it could -be seen the royal mantle and the golden sandals. His face, calm and -severe, majestic in its still beauty, nearly had the hues of life; it -was framed in masses of coal-black hair, crowned with the royal borla in -which quivered the plumes of the coraquenque. Under the half-closed lids -the eyes seemed living. The dead king was seated naturally, his hands -resting on his knees, and so life-like was his whole attitude that to -Maria-Teresa’s horrified eyes he seemed to be breathing. Only little -Christobal heard her half-strangled cry, for the mammaconas were -repeating their chant for the twelfth time, and with the piercing note -of the quenias, deadened all other sound in the House of the Serpent. - -Down below there, the mob of Indians was swaying, swaying gently from -right to left, in imitation of the rhythmic movements of the three -Guardians of the Temple. Maria-Teresa kept her eyes fixed on the dead -king, not only because he was just opposite her and, half fascinated, -she could not do otherwise, but also because she did not wish to look at -the Red Ponchos. She felt that if her eyes were allowed to wander for an -instant, they would fatally betray the four. - -Maria-Teresa was now as if half buried in the idea of death; she felt as -if the earth had already claimed her, only leaving her head free for a -little longer. She was becoming gradually hypnotized by the motionless -monarch, while the fanatical crowd about her wondered, awestruck. - -Huascar raised his arm, two fingers of his right hand imposing immediate -and absolute silence. The Guardians of the Temple drew near, pointing -towards the vacant seat on the golden throne. Two mammaconas lifted up -Maria-Teresa, carried her to it, and placed her beside Huayna Capac, -son of the great Tapac Inca Yupanqui. Then the double throne was turned -until it faced the assembly and the Red Ponchos. - -Maria-Teresa closed her eyes, shivering at the thought of the -corpse beside her. She dared not open them, realizing with horrible -distinctness that if she did she must try to run down to Dick, or call -out something that would betray them. Though her eyes were closed, and -she outwardly seemed as dead as the mummy beside her, Maria-Teresa knew -what was happening. Little Christobal, peeping over the curve of his -sister’s arms, was watching everything, and a whisper, so low that -she hardly felt the breath rising along her bare neck, said: “Dick -has lifted his head.... Papa is looking at us... we must not move.” - Maria-Teresa pressed her trembling fingers on the child’s lips, and he -was silent. - -So they were there. Her tired brain, working, working, wondered what -they were going to do. It was horrible to know them there, hidden and -helpless. For if they had not been helpless, they would not be hidden, -they would have come with police and soldiers. Could it be that the -Indians were masters of the country now? Then she thought of the -revolution, of Garcia, who had once loved her. Why had they not gone to -him? At a word, he would have come with his whole army. And they, hidden -under their red ponchos, what could they do? What was their plan? - -The mammaconas were chanting:-- - -“Earthquakes shook the world. The moon was girt with rings of many -colors. Thunder fell on the royal palace, and reduced it to ashes. An -eagle, hard pursued by falcons, circled over the great square of the -city, filling the heavens with his cries. Pierced by the talons of his -foes, he fell dead at the feet of the noblest among the Incas.” - -At these words, recalling the defeat and death of their last ruler, -all bent their heads, groaning, and the breath of the quenia players -trembled in the dead men’s bones. Huascar had also bent to the ground; -then he raised his forehead and his eyes met those of Maria-Teresa. She -shivered, and when he moved toward her, she thought her last hour had -come. She had been able to appeal to the mercy of the crowd, but she -could not call to this man, whose look showed that he loved her. She -closed her eyes. - -Huascar’s voice reached her, slow, cadenced, and monotonous. - -“Coya, thou belongest to Huayna Capac, the great King who will take thee -to the House of the Sons of the Sun. We leave thee alone with him. He -will lead thee through the Corridors of Night, which no living man must -know, and in the temple will seat thee among the Hundred Wives. Thou -must obey him, thou must rise only if he rises! Thou must obey. And -remember that the serpent watches in the House of the Serpent.” - -He withdrew, still facing her, with the three Guardians of the Temple, -while the great crowd below flowed silently through the three doors. - -All the mammaconas followed, drawing their black veils over their faces, -like widows leaving a cemetery. Even the two who were also to die left -her, first bending to kiss her feet, peeping shoeless from under the -bat-skin robe. - -Darkness was rapidly gaining the hall. Why were they leaving her alone -there? What was this horror which even they dared not see? She must not -rise unless he rose. Would this dead thing come to life, then, take -her by the hand, and lead her into the eternal night? What of the Red -Ponchos? She looked. They were still there, prostrate at the foot of the -steps. The Guards of the Sacrifice, she had heard them called. They were -stopping! A surge of joy filled her heart She felt less afraid now. - -The Guardians of the Temple had left. Huascar had left. - -Would the Red Ponchos follow? No, they did not move. She was watching -them now, with her whole soul. They were still there, motionless, ready -to spring to her rescue when the hall was empty, ready to carry her to -the horses that must be waiting. The Dead One at all events could do -nothing to prevent it. - -There were only twenty Indians left in the hall now... only five... -four... three.... They turned slowly at the doorway to look at her -again... She sat motionless, rigid.... She must not move unless the Dead -One moved.... Only the four Red Ponchos remained.... - -She half screamed.... They also had risen, pacing slowly toward the -doors. - -It could not be! They could not be deserting her! But they were going -away like the others, without looking in her direction. No, she must -not scream... she must wait patiently... wait for a sign. Still walking -slowly, three of them had gone to the three doors, but the fourth, Dick, -turned suddenly, his finger on his lips. - -Forgetting Huascar’s words, Maria-Teresa half rose in her seat. There -was a revolver in Dick’s fist now, and her father had vanished through -one of the doors, looking to make sure that the courtyard was deserted. -Then his voice gave the signal:--“Recuerda!” (Remember!) Dick dashed -up the porphyry steps, Don Christobal following, while the two others -remained at the doors. - -“Come, Maria-Teresa! Quick!” - -Dick stretched out his hands to take little Christobal, and Maria-Teresa -had risen, when a terrible whistling sound filled the hall, and the two -prisoners, shrieking, were hurled back into the seat by the monstrous -folds of a huge serpent which seemed to spring into life about them, -binding them down to the throne of Death. The serpent of the House of -the Serpent had come to claim his prey. - -Raising his revolver, Dick thundered at the hideous head towering -above them, whistling with wide-open jaws, and tore at the coils which -imprisoned his fiancée. His hands fell, not on living flesh, but on -hard, cold metal; copper rings which ground one against the other, -overlapped, and drew tighter. It was in vain that he and Don Christobal -tore at them with furious hands. - -“Look out! They are coming!” shouted Natividad from the doorway, and the -hall was invaded by Indians, while the Serpent shrieked stridently, and -a thousand rattles seemed to sound the alarm. The Marquis still tore at -the coils that were choking his children, but Dick, hesitating a moment, -dashed down the stairs. In a twinkling, the hall was full of Indians, -priests, caciques, mammaconas, scores of Quichua soldiers from the train -of Oviedo Runtu, who alone remained invisible. - -Huascar appeared, still calm and immovable, as if this scene did not -surprise him, as if nothing could surprise him. Had he known beforehand -what was to have happened, he could not have given his orders more -deliberately. Don Christobal, Natividad, and Uncle Francis were tied up -in a trice, the latter at last alarmed by the brutality of his captors. -Dick had disappeared. - -“Take them away,” ordered Huascar. - -Don Christobal struggled, turned and looked once again. “Maria-Teresa! -Christobal!” Then he too was hurried away. - -Meanwhile Huascar, more and more somber, directed the search for Dick. -They hunted in vain; he had disappeared like a drop of water in the sea. -Finally, Huascar gave the order to clear the hall again. - -Left alone with the Guardians of the Temple, who stood caressing the -serpent’s folds with their hideous little hands, the high-priest went -behind the throne. In a moment, the brazen monster was silent, loosened -its grip, and shrank link by link, until it vanished whence it had come. - -Going to the wall, Huascar placed his hand on the coraquenque, and the -massive stones rolled back; the throne shook, slipped backwards, and -vanished down the Corridors of Night, taking with it the dead King, -Maria-Teresa and little Christobal, both unconscious. The wall closed -upon them, hiding again the secrets which only those who are ready to -die may know. - -The Guardians of the Temple bent their monstrous heads in obeisance -before Huascar, and in their turn went out Huascar, last High-Priest of -the Incas, was alone in the House of the Serpent Slowly going to the top -of the porphyry steps, he sat down. His head dropped between his hands, -and there he remained till dawn. - - - - -IV - -Dick, clear of the House of the Serpent by what was little short of a -miracle, crouched down in a niche of the palace wall, hewn out by some -dead Inca hand, and there waited for Huascar throughout the night, -watching the door at which he must appear. He was careless of the -danger he ran, and his very boldness saved him. Not one of the passing -Quichuas, dignitaries of the Interaymi, dreamed for an instant that -the poor Indian wrapped in his poncho, and apparently asleep, was the -sacrilegious stranger who had slipped from their clutches. The darkness, -too, favored him, as it had favored his daring escape; he had merely -turned his red poncho inside out, so that it looked like any other -poncho, and had joined the howling crowd, stopping in it until Huascar’s -order had cleared the hall. - -Argue the matter as he would, the young man saw no hope. Garcia’s -victory over the Federal troops at Cuzco had given the district into -the hands of the Indians. The Spanish population, only an eighth of the -50,000 souls in the ancient city, had fled. Never since the Spanish Con -quest had the Quichuas so completely been the masters. Garcia himself -had prudently left the town, waiting for the end of the Interaymi; -and the few troops he had left behind him were heart and soul with the -native population, from which they had been levied, and with which they -shared customs, faith and fetichism. In a word, the Cuzco was as much -the home of the Incas as it had been in the heyday of their despotic -rulers. - -When Dick and his companions had reached the outskirts of the city they -had hidden their motor in a half-deserted country inn, bribing the -landlord. They had at once realized that force was out of the question. -Happily, there remained Garcia’s money. The landlord, a poor half-breed -who asked no better than to become rich, had listened readily, and the -offer of a small fortune had set him off looking for Red Ponchos willing -to betray Huascar. - -He found four, the very men who were to be the Guards of the Sacrifice, -in the House of the Serpent. When these men had explained their -functions, the four Europeans could hardly believe their good fortune. -Dick and Don Christobal were so absorbed by the idea of getting -through to the prisoners somehow, that they did not stop to think how -suspiciously easy their task had been. Uncle Francis, a witness of -the bargain, was for once not altogether wrong when he shrugged his -shoulders at their childish scheme to “take him in.” - -The Red Ponchos agreed to everything, and the price was fixed, and they -received half-payment. The remainder was to be handed over when the -Marquis’ children were free. The traitors promised to help them escape -from the sacred precincts, and moreover brought them their disguises. - -Uncle Francis, chuckling covertly, accepted the part assigned to him -with such readiness, showed such quiet courage in his attitude, that he -reconquered at one stroke the lost esteem of both the Marquis and his -nephew. Natividad, ever ready to believe anything to the discredit of an -Indian, and knowing from experience how easily they were to be bought, -was quite confident in the success of the expedition. - -Thoroughly fooled by Huascar, they had walked into the trap, and only -amazing luck had saved one of them. Where were the others now? Where was -the dungeon that held them, and what was to be their fate? - -Dick was waiting in the dark street before the palace, determined to -shoot Huascar when he saw him. All night through, nobody came out of the -House of the Serpent. At dawn, the young engineer suddenly felt a hand -on his arm, and, looking up, recognized the old man to whom he had -spoken at Arequipa, the father of Maria Cristina de Orellana. - -“Why do you stop here?” asked the stranger. “You won’t see the -procession if you do. Follow me, and I’ll show you my daughter coming -out of the Corridor of Night.” - -Dick stared at him. Groups of Indians were passing, all heading in the -same direction. The old man spoke again. - -“You may as well go with them. They are all off to see the procession of -the Bride of the Sun.” - -Dick followed him mechanically. Why not, after all? He was nearly mad -himself. Why should a madman not be his guide? As they walked, Orellana -babbled on tonelessly. - -“I know you well. You want to see the Bride of the Sun. I see you -have even disguised yourself as an Indian to do so. Not in the least -necessary, I assure you. You’ll see her, right enough, if you come with -me. I know Cusco, below ground and above ground, better than any living -man. I have lived in their secret passages for ten years. When I am not -under ground, I guide strangers through the city, and show them where -the Bride of the Sun used to pass on her way to the Temple of Death. -You know that, of course? It’s the same as the Temple of the Sun, only -underneath. I’ll show it you, for it’s worth seeing. - -“Fine fêtes this year, señor. Last time, they had to hide themselves -in the Corridors of Night, but to-day they are masters both above and -below, and that dead king of theirs, Huayna Capac, will see daylight -again. They’ll take him all through the city, as they used to do. If you -don’t know that, you haven’t been keeping your ears open. - -“Where are your friends? I could have shown it to them as well. And -I don’t charge much; a few centavos keep me going for weeks. All the -innkeepers know me, and send for Orellana when they have visitors. I -know you all quite well. I saw you at Mollendo, then at Arequipa, and -now here you are again outside the House of the Serpent. That’s where -they always go first. Yes, that’s the way they brought Maria Cristina -ten years ago. She was the prettiest girl in Lima, so they chose her -for their god. I didn’t know then, but this time they won’t have their -way quite so easily. When I saw the Interaymi come round again, I said -to myself: ‘Orellana, you must get ready for them.’ And I’m ready for -them, never fear!” - -Thus they crossed the whole city. Dick, walking like a man in a dream, -following to the next station in the martyrdom of his sweetheart, paid -no heed to the wonderful ruins on all sides of him, the mighty buildings -piled rock on rock by demi-gods, and which have not moved, nor will move -until the earth dies, long after the winds of heaven and the quivering -of the mountains have stamped flat the miserable huts left by the -Conquistadors. - -They left the city behind them and Orellana, taking Dick by the hand, -like a little child, made him climb the mount which the Quichuas call -the Hill of the Dancing Monkey. Its gigantic summit, hewn into terraces, -galleries and giant stairways by long-dead craftsmen, was already -crowned with Indians. All eyes were turned toward that other miracle -of Inca work which is Sacsay-Huaynam, a hill of stone fashioned into a -Cyclopean fortress, with three lines of defenses rising one above the -other, each wall dotted with niches from which on this day, as of -yore, armed sentries looked out over the country. On the summit of -Sacsay-Huaynam towered the Intihuatana, or “the pillar on which the sun -is bound.” - -Orellana’s broken voice explained it all to Dick, guide-like. - -“This pillar, señor, was used by the Incas to measure time. A religious -stone, erected to mark the exact period of the equinoxes. That is why -they call it Intihuatana; it means where the sun is bound.’ Look over -there! You can see the procession starting.... Don’t you understand? -The Corridors of Night run right under the city, from the House of the -Serpent to Sacsay-Huaynam. When my daughter comes out, they will take -her round the hill, and round the Intihuatana. Then, when the Sun has -been freed by the High-Priest, the procession will come down to the -gates of the city.” - -Dick could now clearly see the procession forming up on the walls, and -even distinguished Huascar at its head, giving orders. Leaving Orellana, -he hurried toward Sacsay-Huaynam, getting as near as the press of -Indians would allow. He could now see that the solstice pillar, placed -in the center of a circle, was loaded with festoons of flowers and -fruit, while on its summit stood a golden throne. The throne of the Sun, -vanished centuries before, had been brought out from the Corridors of -Night and replaced there before the dawn. - -There was silence on Sacsay-Huaynam; a few priests were grouped round -the Pillar, waiting for the hour of noon. Then Huascar appeared, clad in -golden vestments. Facing the throne of the Sun, the High-Priest waited -a few seconds, turned and cried aloud in Aïmara a phrase which was -taken up on all sides in Quichua and Spanish:--“The god is seated on the -Column in all his light!” Then he struck his hands together, giving the -signal for all to march; the god, having visited his people, had been -freed, and continued his voyage through the heavens. The faithful -followed him on earth, from east to west. - -The sacred procession sprang into life, led by Huascar. First came a -hundred servitors of the god, simply dressed, whose task it was to -clear the way, chanting paeans of triumph. After them, a group of men -in chequer-board tunics of red-and-white, whom the populace greeted with -shouts of “The amautas! The amautas!” (the sages). Then others all in -white, bearing hammers and maces of silver and copper, who were -the apparitors of the royal palace; the guards and the Inca’s body -attendants, their azure robes blazing with precious metals; finally, the -nobles, with heavy ear-rings marking their rank. The procession wound -slowly down from Sacsay-Huaynam to the plain, and then the double -throne, borne on the shoulders of the noblest among the Indians, -appeared to the multitude. Thousands of throats greeted the dead -king and his living companion; a roar of mingled enthusiasm for -the descendant of Manco Capac, and hatred for the conquering race, -translated by deafening shouts of “Muera la Coya! Muera la Coya!” - -Maria-Teresa seemed to hear nothing; pale as marble and beautiful as -a statue, she passed unheeding, little Christobal still in her arms. -Instead of the bat-skin robes, they now wore vicuna tunics, sheer as -silk. Behind them walked the two mammaconas who were to die, their faces -veiled with black; the other women and the three Guardians of the Temple -had disappeared. The cortège was brought up by a company of Quichua -soldiers in modern uniform, rifle on shoulder, tramping to the lilt of -the quenia-players, who closed the march. - -The contrast between this antique procession and that fragment of a -modern army was more than curious. Uncle Francis, the only one who could -have really appreciated it under the circumstances, was not there. As -to Dick, he was watching Maria-Teresa with the fixed gaze of a madman. -Strive as he would, he could get no nearer, and so backed out of the -press to run toward the gates of the city, where he hoped to fight his -way to the front ranks. - -On the last steps of the Hill of the Dancing Monkey he was immobilized -by the press of people and forced to look with them to the summit of -Sacsay-Huaynam, where, on the top of the highest tower, had appeared the -scarlet figure of a priest, sharp-cut against the azure of the sky. - -Dick at once recognized the Preacher of Cajamarca, and voices around him -further explained that this was the chief officer of the quipucamyas, -or Keepers of the Historical Word. His voice, sweeping down from -Sacsay-Huaynam, checked the advance of the procession, chanted the glory -of by-gone days. - -Ringing clear and impassioned, it recalled the day when the Stranger and -his diabolical train had first entered those plains after the death of -Atahualpa. As to-day, the Sun blazed over the Imperial City, then full -of altars sacred to his cult. Then, innumerable buildings, which the -conqueror was to leave in ruins, traced white streets in the heart -of the valley, and clustered on the lower slopes of the hills. In the -conqueror’s train was Manco, descendant of kings, in whose name he gave -orders and was obeyed. On that day, when the sun went down behind the -Cordilleras, it might well have been thought that the Empire of the -Incas had ceased to exist. - -“But it still lives!” thundered the voice. “The Sun still shines on -his children; the Andes, cradle of our race, still tower to the skies; -Cuzco, navel of the earth, still quivers at the voice of his priests; -Sacsay-Huaynam and the Intihuatana are still standing; the procession of -the Interaymi still starts from these sacred walls!” - -At these words, the procession moved on again, and had it not been for -the anachronism of the riflemen bringing up the rear, one could almost -have believed that five hundred years had brought no change in the -plains of the Cuzco. - -Dick, finally free to move on, was despairing of ever getting nearer to -Maria-Teresa when he met Orellana again. - -“What are you looking for?” asked the old man. “A place to see from? -Then come with me, and I’ll show you my daughter. I know Cuzco better -than the Incas themselves. Come with me.” - -Once again Dick allowed the madman to be his guide. They reentered -the city by way of the Huatanay ravine, spanned to this day by the -Conquistadors’ bridges, and entered a maze of side-streets free -from the crowd. Skirting the prodigious Hatun Rumioc, or -wall-which-is-of-one-rock, they passed Calcaurpata, which tradition -makes the palace of Manco Capac himself, first King of the Incas and -founder of Cuzco; then they turned toward the Plaza Principale, called -Huàcaypata by the Quichuas of to-day as by the Incas of yore. To reach -it, Orellana took Dick through the ruined palace of the Virgins of the -Sun, detailing, as he went, the uses and names of the various rooms. The -young man’s impatient interruptions left him quite unmoved. - -“We have plenty of time. You shall see my daughter from so near that you -could speak to her. Stop a minute, and listen to the quenias. -The head of the procession has no more than reached San Domingo. That -church, curiously enough, was built on the very foundations of the -Temple of the Sun.... I have never met a visitor less curious than you -are.... This is the cloister of the Virgins of the Sun.... It has always -been the home of virtue and piety, for the Christians turned it into a -convent under the auspices of Santa Catarina.” - -Dick, unable to stand the guide’s jargon any longer, began to run toward -the noise of the advancing procession. - -“You might pay me!” shouted Orellana in his wake. “Pay me what you owe -me!” and stooped to pick up the centavos which the young engineer threw -on the ground. - -Nearing the plaza principale, Dick again found his way blocked by the -crowd, and forgot his anger in the relief of finding a friend when -Orellana tugged at his poncho again. - -“You might as well stop with me,” urged the old man. “Hurrying won’t -help you. I know a little tiny Corridor of Night that will lead us -to the Sun, right to the top stone of one of those temples.... It’s a -temple dedicated to Venus.... They call her Chasca, or the young man -with the long and curly locks, and he’s supposed to be the page of the -Sun. Come with me.” Orellana had taken Dick by the hand, and led him to -a cellar, in which they found the foot of a narrow staircase. Once at -the top of it, they were, as the old man had promised, on the summit -of a ruined temple, dominating the crowded square below and the streets -radiating to it like the spokes of a wheel to the huh. Around them were -other ruins; temples sacred to the moon, to the “armies of the heavens,” - which are the stars, to the rainbow, lightning and thunder... walls -which still defied the elements, though the temples were now shops, -work-rooms or stables. - -The head of the procession had appeared, the hundred servitors of the -god pressing back the crowd, and slowly wound its way round the square. -Then the golden litter came into sight and Huayna Capac, for the first -time in centuries, came to the center of the world, the Umbilicus of -which he had been lord and master. All heads were bowed before this -sovereign shadow and the memory of ancient glories once again brought -to life. The crowd even forgot for the moment its hatred of the stranger -woman, the motionless Coya with the stranger child in her arms. - -The double throne was brought to the center of the square, and the crowd -rose with clamoring voices. Around the litter, the caciques and the -chiefs, the nobles and the amautas, who are the sages, joined hands and -began to circle, dancing as they danced of yore, when each man held a -link of the golden chain and danced the Dance of the Chain. Hands made -the links to-day, for when the Strangers slew Atahualpa, the nobles -of the Cuzco threw that chain, which otherwise would have gone to the -King’s ransom, into the deepest water of Lake Titicaca. - -“Recuerda!” - -Suddenly, as if from the heavens, this cry checked the rhythm of the -Dance of the Chain. Maria-Teresa started on her throne, remembering the -signal in the House of the Serpent. The child in her arms also lifted -its head, and their eyes questioned the blue vault above from which this -word of hope had fallen. - -“That was Dick’s voice, Maria-Teresa! I told you he would come to save -us!” - -The girl’s eyes explored the towering walls about her, black with -Indians. How could she recognize him in that crowd? Where was he? Again -the voice rang out over their heads, so loud that it could be heard by -the most distant unit of the crowd. - -“Recuerda!” - -Every head was turned upwards, and a threatening murmur rose from that -human mass, torn from its dream of renascence and liberty by a single -Spanish word. Recuerda! What must they remember? That they were slaves? -That these fêtes, striving to recall an abolished past, could only -last the space of a day? That the sun of to-morrow, forgetting that of -to-day, would only shine anew on their servitude? - -Maria-Teresa started up from the golden throne with the child in her -arms, brought to life and action again by the beloved voice. - -Looking higher, they at last saw, on the highest stone in the azure, -a pigmy figure holding out its arms to the Coya, and crying, -“Maria-Teresa! Maria-Teresa!” - -“Dick!” - -Then all understood that on high there was a stranger, one of the hated -race, come to rob them of the soul of their Coya. - - - - -V - -Pandemonium reigned in the square. This was sacrilege unspeakable! Did -not the Coya already belong to the gods! Muera la Coya! Death to the -stranger! There was a huge rush, a scramble of raging Indians along -parapets, over rocks and the ruins of temples, while the golden litter -was hurried away by the Guards of the Sacrifice and the amautas. -Maria-Teresa closed her eyes, carrying to the tomb that supreme farewell -which was perhaps to cost Dick his life. - -“You must be mad,” said the madman Orellana, when he saw Dick lean over -and call to Maria-Teresa, and when she answered, asked almost angrily: -“How did you come to know my daughter?” - -The roar of the angry crowd surged up to them, surrounded them, and drew -nearer. It was with the greatest difficulty that Orellana shook Dick out -of his strange torpor, dragged him through the gap from which they -had emerged, and finally to the labyrinth below the Temple. Apparently -familiar with every twist and turning of the place, he led him through -a mile of passages, their darkness relieved here and there by -round, square or triangular patches of light sifting down between -thousand-year-old stones from the world above. Occasionally he stopped -to tell Dick what temple, what palace, they were passing under. - -“Yaca-Huasi, which they also call the House of the Serpent, is over our -heads now.” - -“Perhaps they have taken her there!” - -“No, no! That’s against all the rules. The Temple of Death is the next -place.” - -“Where are we going to? Where are you taking me?” - -“To the Temple of Death, of course!” - -Dick followed him without another word, but expressed his surprise when -they emerged into the open country. - -“Where is the Temple, then?” he asked. - -“On the Island of Titicaca. You needn’t be afraid. We shall get there -before them.” - -They hired horses at a wayside inn and rode to Sicuani. Here they took a -train which, turning onto a branch line at Juliaca, then ran to Puno, -on the shores of Lake Titicaca. On the way, Orellana babbled ceaselessly -about the country through which they were passing and the ceremony they -were to witness. - -No stranger has ever seen it. But he, Orellana, asked nobody’s -permission, and since his daughter was to be wedded to the Sun, it -was the least of things that he should be present at the marriage, and -particularly as he had planned it all so carefully! It had taken him -years to find the Temple of Death, but with patience all things could be -done. There was not one dried-up river-bed underground, not a deserted -goldmine which he did not know so well that he could find his way about -it with his eyes shut. - -And what fortunes he had discovered under the earth; a fortune equal -to all the fortunes on earth! It was obvious that the Incas must have -got their gold somewhere. Well, he had discovered where! There was -plenty of it left, plenty of it left!... One day, some clever young -engineer would find out, and he would only have to stoop to be as rich -as Croesus. (A bitter smile from the young engineer, whose thoughts were -far from such things.)... But he, Orellana, did not give a fig for all -the gold in creation. - -He loved only his daughter, whom the Indians had taken to the Temple of -Death, and it was only the Temple of Death which he had sought. - -It had taken him years, but now everything was; ready and he was going -to save her. He had waited long enough to kiss her again! Ten whole -years! - -So the old man wandered on, while Dick listened eagerly, striving to -guess how much was truth, and how much madness. - -“But how do they get from Cuzco to the Temple of Death?” - -“Don’t you worry about that.... By the Corridors of Night, by the -Corridors of the Mountains of Night, by the Corridors of the Lake of -Night.... By the way, do you know anything about fishing?” - -Dick did not have time to answer this extraordinary question, for the -guard had come through to their carriage, and was inviting them to the -luggage-van to see the samacuena danced. Everybody else seemed to -be going there, and they accepted so as not to draw attention to -themselves. They found the van peopled with Indians, dancing, playing -the guitar, and drinking hard. At each step, the guard, to celebrate -Garcia’s victories, fired a volley of cohetes, the mountains throwing -back the echo of the explosions. - -Then some of the Quichua soldiers in the train gave themselves up to the -pleasures of the chase. Spying flocks of vicuñas in the hills, they went -to the observation-car and tried their luck. One of them, something of -a marksman, brought down a vicuña, the train stopped with a grinding of -brakes, and the guard himself went off to retrieve the bag. - -Dick, wild with impatience, would have liked to club the engine driver -and take charge of the locomotive himself, but Orellana calmed him down. - -“We’re sure to get there before them. You’ll see! Why, we shall even -have time to do some fishing!” - -Leaving their fellow-travelers to cut up the vicuña, they returned -to their carriage, where the stove had been lighted. It had become -intensely cold, for they were now in the snow regions, more than -fourteen thousand feet above sea-level. Soroche, or mountain fever, -threw the young engineer, and after bleeding violently at the nose, he -fell into a semi-comatose condition. He did not recover until Punho, -when he again remembered the horrible nightmare through which he was -living, and savagely demanded to be shown the way to the Temple of -Death. - -“We’re going there,” replied his strange guide, but first took him to -the main square, where about a hundred Indian girls, wearing skirts of a -dark material and the low-cut bodices of their race, squatted in orderly -rows, selling fruits and vegetables dried in the cold. - -“There are usually two hundred of them,” explained Orellana, “but the -Red Ponchos have been this way and chosen the best-looking half for the -ceremony. It’s the same thing every ten years.” - -He made a few purchases with Dick’s money, and after adding a flask -of pisco to his stores, led the way out of the city. At nightfall they -reached a huge marsh, alive with water-fowl. Next they crossed a heath, -llamas and alpacas fleeing at their approach, and finally came to a -dismal little bay on the shores of the lake. - -Titicaca, in its mountain cradle, is the highest lake in the world. -That night, its waters looked somber and heavy, almost dead. A storm, -growling in the distance, soon swept down on them with a howl of rain, -the waves dashing up the beach mountain-high, and the lightning touching -the surrounding peaks with fire. - -“Splendid, splendid,” muttered Orellana as the storm broke. “That -means fine weather for to-morrow. In the meantime, we may as well have -supper.” - -He had led the young man under a giant monolith, hewn to the shape of a -door. In a niche of it, Orellana managed to light a dung-cake fire, and -here they ate a little and warmed themselves with generous pulls at the -pisco flask. Dick at last fell asleep, while the old man covered him -with a horse blanket and paternally watched over his slumbers. - -Just before dawn, Dick awoke to find Orellana reminiscent. - -“This place has always brought me luck since I started to look for my -daughter, but I cannot make out who to thank for it. Do _you_ know who -this god is?” - -He pointed to the bas-reliefs which covered the stone. They represented -a human being, the head adorned with allegorical rays, and each hand -holding a different scepter. Around this being were symmetrically ranged -other figures, some with human faces, others with the heads of condors, -all holding scepters, and all facing toward the center. - -“There’s no doubt about it,” mused Orellana aloud. “This is nothing like -the Incas’ work. It is much more sculptural, and much older. There must -have been worlds on these shores before the advent of the Incas. They’re -only savages who steal children.... Well, come on. We may as well go out -in my boat and meet the sun.” - -In a little creek, half hidden by rushes, they found a cane pirogue, in -which Orellana had soon hoisted a mast and a mat sail. - -“Come on,” he said, “we’ll do some fishing. It’s all on the way to the -Temple of Death.” - -Dick followed him into the fragile craft, and they started for the -islands. These came into sight late in the afternoon, a blue blur on -the horizon. To Dick’s fevered imagination, they seemed like threatening -shadows on the face of the waters, ghostly guardians of the Temple of -Death. - -Orellana refused to go any nearer that night, hauled down the sail, and -threw overboard a heavy stone to anchor his boat. Then he handed Dick a -fishing-rod. At his astonished look, the madman replied: - -“People come to the islands to fish, because these waters are blessed -by the gods and the catches are better than anywhere else. Can’t you do -what everybody else does?” - -He pointed across the waters to little lights flaring up at the bows of -other pirogues, in which sat motionless fishermen. - -“All those Indians are fishing,” he said. “You may as well join them. If -you can’t, go to sleep, and don’t worry us. You’ll see something worth -while when you wake up.” - -Orellana woke Dick just before dawn. The last stars were paling in -the heavens at the approach of their King. The deep waters of the lake -showed uniformly gray, not a light and not a shadow upon them. Not a -sound to break stillness, not a breath of wind in the air. Suddenly, in -the Orient, the mountain peaks were touched with fire, a giant furnace -sprang into being behind the torn curtain of the Cordilleras, and the -sun painted scarlet splashes into the shadows of the sacred islands. - -When they pass before the largest of them, which is Titicaca, the Indian -fishermen in their fragile pirogues never fail to chant the Aïmara Hymn -of the Ancestors, for it was from this island, untold years ago, that -sprang the founders of the Inca race in the persons of Manco Capac and -Mama Cello, husband and wife, brother and sister, both children of the -Sun. Coming in sight of the island, the traveler perceives giant ruins -and great masses of rock piled up in an inexplicable manner, so strange -that science has not yet been able to give them a date. These are the -baths, the palaces and temples of the first Incas. - -Dick, staring landwards from the pirogue, hardly knew whether he was -awake or dreaming. Was this a hallucination born of the terrors of the -week, or did his eyes really reveal what other eyes had first adored -centuries before, at the dawn of the Inca world? As the shadows of -night drew away and the island stood out above the waters in all its -terrestrial grandeur, he did not merely see dead stones, lifeless -temples, and deserted palaces; the Cyclopean whole was peopled by a vast -throng, motionless and silent, its myriad faces turned to the flaming -Orient. This immobility and silence were those of a dream; there were -thousands there who seemed to live and breathe only in the expectation -of some mysterious and sacred event. - -The disc of the sun was still hidden behind the Andes, but all Nature -heralded its approach; the flanks of the mountains were jeweled with a -thousand dazzling stones, brooks and torrents were afire, and the broad -bosom of the lake was a roseate mirror bearing the still reflections -of palaces and temples. Virgins, bearing, as of old, the most beautiful -flowers of the season and the emblems of their religion, peopled the -porticoes. At the summits of towers, luminous with the dawn, priests -waited for their god to show his face. - -Suddenly, he appears... he rises... he blazes down on his empire, and -is hailed by a great roar. “Hail, O Sun, King of the Heavens, father -of men!” Earth trembles, waters shiver, the heavens even quiver at the -call. “Hail, O Sun, father of the Inca!” Arms are stretched toward him, -hands heavy with offerings implore his intercession, and every voice -chants his glory. “Hear thy children! Hail, O Sun!” - -Cries and songs of triumph are swelled by the clamor of barbaric -instruments, and the tumult grows as the radiant disc climbs higher in -the heavens, bathing the multitude in light. - -Sun, behold thy Empire! After so many centuries, the faithful, the men -who labor in valley and mountain, are still here, and still do thee -obeisance. The golden-armed virgins have poured libations from the -sacred vases, and the hymns of the priests, after having risen to the -heavens, now seem to plunge into the earth. - -What is this miracle? The dream has vanished; vanished as do the light -mists of morning before the first rays of the sun. - - - - -BOOK VI--THE TEMPLE OF DEATH - - - - -I - -Dick rubbed his eyes. What had become of that crowd? Who had hailed the -god of Day? Now that the sun was high on the horizon, and that things -had taken on their true shapes again, he could see only ruined palaces -and solitude. - -Orellana had driven his pirogue to the shore, and jumped onto the -beach, signing to the young man to follow. As they neared the cliffs, he -stopped him; the pious throng had vanished, but not in a dream, for the -sound of chanting could still be heard from within the rock. - -“Come with me,” said the old man. “They have gone to the Temple of -Death, but we shall be there before them.” - -They entered a grotto. Dick had no will but Orellana’s, and no hope. -He was convinced that Maria-Teresa must die, and regarded that last -greeting of theirs as the supreme one. Once certain that she had passed -to the realms of night, he would follow her there. He had been told she -was to end her life in the Temple of Death, and this old man, who ten -years before had lost his daughter in the same way, said he knew where -it was. Well, he would follow him. - -The grotto was a deep one. After walking for a few seconds over sand -and shells, the old man lit a resinous torch, and the spluttering flame -showed the dark entrance of a passage. Before entering it, however, he -bent down in a corner and picked something up. Dick saw that it was a -pick. - -“What are you going to do with that?” - -“Save my daughter, of course! Just come with me, and I’ll show you. I -shan’t let those devils choke her as they did ten years ago. They wall -them up alive, you see. All we need do is to wait until they have -gone, and then take her out again. Clear enough, isn’t it?... When I -discovered the Temple of Death and saw all the slabs on the wall, I said -to myself: ‘It would have been easy enough to save her if I had been -there.’ It was too late then. And of course, I didn’t know which stone -she was behind. This time, though, I shall watch them.... We’ll get the -best of them yet. See if we don’t!” - -There was hope, then! Dick took a long breath, and steadied himself. -Madmen with their set ideas are sometimes nearer the truth than sane men -with their set reason. Dick took the pick, and followed Orellana down -the winding passage, the torch in the old man’s trembling hand throwing -weird lights and shadows on their path. There was not a foreign sound to -be heard. The earth had choked all noise as it might yet choke them. - -Hacked through the stone, their corridor opened at intervals onto little -square rooms, probably the burial-places of long-forgotten priests and -dignitaries, slumbering there as their brethren of ancient Egypt slumber -in the Pyramids. In the last of these rooms, Orellana put out the torch, -and fell on his knees, for the narrow gut which they now entered was far -too low for a man to stand upright in. A few yards further on, they came -to a spacious niche, and stood up again. - -“We are there,” said the old man, stopping Dick. - -It was far less dark here, and Dick, his eyes growing used to the -obscurity, realized that a diffused light was reaching them from -somewhere. The shadowy outline of columns and cornices gradually took -shape, and he realized that he was looking down from a height of several -feet into a vast hall. - -“That is the Temple of Death,” said Orellana. “Listen!” - -From the distance came the sound of rhythmic chanting, and suddenly -a blinding stream of light descended into the chamber before them. -Instinctively, they threw themselves back into the darkest corner of -their niche. Above them, at the summit of the vast subterranean hall, a -stone had been removed, letting in the golden sunlight. In the heart of -the vault was a kind of truncated cone, so fashioned that the sunbeams, -sliding along its surface, were thrown into the farthest corner of the -mysterious temple. - -Altars, altar-steps, and niches were heavy with gold, the plaques of the -precious metal being bound together by a wonderful cement, to make -which liquid gold had been used. This hidden temple was, in a word, a -veritable goldmine. - -On the eastern wall was an image of the divinity, wrought in massive -gold, and representing a human head surrounded by shafts of light. So -the old world has also represented the sun. The heavy plaque was studded -with emeralds and other precious stones. The rays of the rising sun fell -full upon it, filling the whole temple with a light that seemed almost -supernatural, and flashing back from the gold ornaments with which walls -and vault were incrusted. Gold, in the poetic language of the country, -is “the tears shed by the Sun,” and the Temple blazed with the precious -metal. The cornices crowning the sanctuary walls were also of gold, and -a frieze of gold, hammered into the stone, ran right round the hall. - -Dick and Orellana, from their coign of vantage, could see a number of -chapels placed symmetrically round the great central chamber. One of -them was sacred to the Moon, mother of the Incas. Her effigy was almost -identical with that of the Sun, but the plaque was of silver, recalling -the soft glow of that gentle planet. Another chapel was dedicated to the -Armies of the Heavens, which are the stars and the brilliant court of -the sister of the Sun; a third, to thunder and lightning, the terrible -ministers of her wrath; yet another, to the rainbow. And in all these -chapels, as in the temple, all that was not silver was gold, gold, gold. - -The young engineer’s eyes gradually took in all the details of the -temple. First, the central altar, several steps above the floor, on -which were golden vases brimming over with maize, incense-burners, ewers -for the blood of the sacrifice, and a great golden knife on a tray of -gold. Then he realized that something living was moving in the hall, -which he had thought deserted. The Guardians of the Temple, like three -hideous gnomes, glided from altar to altar, while the one with the -cap skull, given the taste for blood from his earliest years by this -deformation of the cranium, urged the others to hasten, and every little -while went to the main altar to pat the great knife waiting there. -Behind the altar, and rising above it, was a kind of golden pyramid, -crowned with a golden throne. “That is for the King,” said Orellana. On -each side of the altar, and before it, were three other pyramids. But -they were not so high, and were not of gold. They were of wood. “The -pyres,” explained Orellana. - -“The pyres! What do you mean, man?” - -“Steady, steady! They’re not going to burn her. She’s the Bride of the -Sun, and they wall her up. Burn her, indeed! It’s not done, I tell you. -Every Aïmara child knows that. Little children don’t see the Temple of -Death unless they are to die in it, but they know that much. Burn my -daughter, indeed! As if I would allow it! What do you think I brought -this pick for? You do just as well not to answer. Much better remain -silent than talk nonsense like that. If you look at the walls out there -you’ll see a big porphyry slab between each gold panel. There are just -a hundred of them, and behind each one is one of the Sun’s brides. If -I only knew which tomb my daughter was in, I would have had her out a -long time ago. But the slabs are all just alike, and there is nothing to -help a poor father in his search. This time, though, I’m watching, and -as soon as they’ve gone, I shall save her.” - -“She may be dead, smothered alive, when you get her out.” Dick, thinking -hard while the old man babbled on in whispers, was hoping against hope. - -“That just shows how little you know about it. They are deep tombs, like -cupboards, and you can sit in them. Don’t you know the Indians always -bury people sitting? There’s air enough in there to keep her alive for -an hour, or even two. And I shall have her out in ten minutes!” - -Dick stared blindly at the porphyry slabs before him. - -“But if there are a hundred of them in there already, there isn’t room -for another. Are you sure?” - -“Of course I am. You needn’t worry, boy. The pyres are for the two -mammaconas who go before the Bride to prepare her chamber in the -Enchanted Realms of the Sun.” - -“There are three pyres, though.” - -“Naturally. They have to take out the oldest bride to make room for my -daughter. Then they burn her. What else should they do?” - -“Burn her? Then they do burn her!” - -Dick had almost lost control of his mind. - -“The old one, you fool!” retorted Orellana testily. “Didn’t I tell -you there were a hundred there? The Sun is given a new bride every ten -years. Can you count, or can’t you? That makes one of them a thousand -years old.... There’s no harm in burning a wife who is a thousand years -old. The Sun has got tired of her by then. Doesn’t he set fire to her -pyre himself? That proves it.... Listen. Here they come!” - -The chanting grew louder, and soon the priests appeared. Behind them -walked the nobles, recognizable by the heavy ear-rings which only -descendants of an Inca may wear; they were dressed in sleeveless red -tunics, and each man bore a banner on which was embroidered a rainbow, -its brilliant hues varying to mark the coat-armor of each house. Next -came young girls of noble family, who in the old days would have become -Virgins of the Sun, ending their lives on the altars of the deity, or -as the wives of the Inca. They were followed by their adult brothers, -wearing the white robes, crosses embroidered on the breast, which were -the traditional costume of men of their caste about to enter the order -of knighthood. After them, the curacas, chiefs of the races conquered -by the Incas and of all the tribes which had taken the oath of fealty. -These men wore multi-colored tunics, unadorned with gold. - -The cortège had advanced to the center of the temple, and suddenly, -as the chanting ceased, all turned toward the door by which they -had entered. A strange silence succeeded the rhythmic throbbing of -canticles. Then a terrible scream tore the air. Dick gripped Orellana’s -arm. - -“What was that?” he asked hoarsely. - -“Nothing to do with us. They’re sacrificing a child in the Black Chapel -of Pacahuamac, the Pure Spirit.” - - - - -II - -The devils!” Dick wrenched ont his revolver, but the old man gripped -his wrist. - -“Quiet, you fool! We can’t save the child now, and if you make a sign we -shan’t save her either. If you can’t stand it, get out!” - -The young engineer controlled himself. - -“It’s too horrible! Poor little Christobal! My God, why can’t they kill -us all and have done with it!” - -“You should be ashamed of yourself, talking like that,” said the madman. -“When a man has nerves like a woman he shouldn’t come to the Temple of -Death.” - -After that one terrible cry, all was silence again. Nobles, virgins, -young men and curacas continued their slow progress round the Temple. -Behind them entered the amautas, sages who teach the children of the -Incas; the Red Ponchos, who surrounded the altar like a sacred guard. -None of them carried visible arms. The high dignitaries of the court -followed, wearing the blanchana, a flowing tunic of light bark, painted -in vivid colors. Each man carried a barbaric emblem with wide-open jaws, -designed to frighten away all evil spirits. - -Dick thought that Maria-Teresa was entering, but then saw that the -litter borne on the shoulders of nobles was occupied by a figure which -he did not at first recognize. His robe and sandals seemed of solid -gold, and his ears were weighted down with enormous ear-rings, reaching -almost to the shoulders. About his head was the royal llantu, a -multi-colored turban of delicate tissue, and his forehead was further -adorned by the kingly borla, the heavy scarlet and gold fringe of which -partly hid his eyes. Two coraquenque plumes towered above the crown. - -As he descended from his litter, aided by two pages, and slowly mounted -the steps of the golden pyramid, the assembly bent to its knees. At the -summit of the pyramid, he paused gravely, took his seat on the golden -throne, and gave the Aimara greeting:--“Dios anki tiourata.” - -Then all rose to their feet, while he sat motionless, like a graven -image. - -“The bank-clerk!” exclaimed Dick, as he faced toward the hidden -watchers. - -They had before them Huayna Gapac Runtu, King of the Incas. - -“The god is seated in all his light!” chanted the assembly in unison, -repeating the words three times. Then the wail of the quenias filled -the air, and the religious cortège entered the temple, led by the four -Guards of the Sacrifice, their heads erect now, for the sacred bonnets -hid no secret. Behind them walked another Red Poncho, bearing in -his hands a mass of knotted cords. Dick recognized the Preacher of -Cajamarca, head of the quipucamyas, or Keepers of the Historic Word. -Then came Huascar, in the saffron-colored vestments of the high-priest, -preceded by lesser dignitaries of the church, while four curacas held -over him a canopy of brilliant-hued plumes. All bowed before Huascar; -the Inca alone was above him. - -From the high-priest’s stern face and somber eyes, Dick looked to his -hands, to see if they were red with the blood of sacrifice. He felt a -wild desire to shoot him down there, to kill him like a mad dog among -his priests and servitors. - -The mammaconas advanced, chanting. He could not at first see -Maria-Teresa, hidden from view by black veils, rhythmically waved about -her. The movement ceased and the women parted, leaving the way clear -for the two among them who were to die and who advanced with uncovered -faces, smiling like happy children. - -The quenias ceased their song, and the second litter was brought forward -in solemn silence. Dick shivered. Was Maria-Teresa dead or alive? He -hoped vainly that her litter might pass close to him, as had Huascar’s -canopy. From where he was, she seemed as inert and lifeless as the mummy -monarch beside her, and little Christobal was no longer in her arms. -That part of her face left uncovered by the golden robe and head-dress -was tomb-like in its pallor, and her eyes were closed. - -The double throne was set down between the altar and the pyres; -Huascar took his seat on the right of the altar, and the chief of the -qui-pucamyas on the left; the mammaconas stood on the altar-steps. The -two who were to die, their black veils discarded for dainty holiday -attire, with flowers in their tresses, knelt at Maria-Teresa’s feet. The -nobles and the curacas were ranged round the temple with the virgins and -young men. The three Guardians of the Temple closed the doors. No -others might enter, for the common people, forbidden the sight of these -mysteries, waited far away, in the Corridors of Night, until the priests -should return to lead them back through the labyrinth to the light of -day. - -Huascar rose, and his sonorous voice opened the ceremony. - -“At the beginning was Pacahuamac, the Pure Spirit, who reigned in the -darkness; then came his son, the Sun, and his daughter, the Moon; and -Paeahuamac gave them armies, which are the Stars. - -“Unto the Sun and Moon were born children. First were the Pirhuas, -king-pontiffs; then the Amautas, pontiff-kings; and then the Incas, -kings of kings, sent on earth to rule mankind.” - -The assembly repeated Huascar’s words like a litany. When it was ended, -young men brought a llama to the altar, and the Guardians of the Temple -offered up the sacrifice. Huascar bent over the entrails. - -“The gods are propitious,” he announced to the King. - -At a sign from the throne, the chief of the quipucamyas rose to his -feet, and in a few verses recalled the chief terrestrial episodes of the -history of the Incas, the assembly chanting other verses in reply in the -same monotonous rhythm, while the priest slipped the knots of the quipus -through his fingers like a monk telling his beads. - -When he reached the verse recounting Atahualpa’s martyrdom, a great -shout went up in the temple. The King, from his throne, raised a -sceptered hand, and spoke. The end of the bondage placed upon his people -by the gods was near; he, Huayna Gapac Runtu, had been chosen by the Sun -to drive out the strangers; and as a gage of his reconciliation with -the faithful, the god had permitted them to offer him in sacrifice the -noblest and most beautiful virgin of the hated race, a descendant of one -of those who had murdered Atahualpa. - -At the King’s words, all eyes were carried to Maria-Teresa, and a roar -of “Muera la Coya!” beat round her. Was she not already dead, then? -The savage cries did not even make her eyelids quiver. If she was still -alive, she must be unconscious. Dick, falling to his knees, thanked -heaven for that. - -Again the King’s voice rose, telling the people that the day of -deliverance was near; that their empire would be re-born in all its -splendor. The altars of their god, served for centuries in the darkness, -would soon smoke anew in his light. Once again would they be the Free -Children of the Sun. - -“Let the Children of the Sun advance!” - -The young men approached the royal throne. For thirty days they had -gone through the tests of yore; they had fasted, fought, displayed their -skill in wrestling and with arms; they had worn coarse clothing, walked -barefoot, and slept on the hard floor. Now they advanced in their white -robes, the cross on their breasts, like young knights of the Middle Ages -in the Gothic cathedrals of another faith and land. - -They surrounded the golden pyramid and - -Huascar, taking evergreen branches from a golden vase held by two -virgins, bound them in their hair as a sign that the virtues they had -acquired must last for all time. Then, one by one, he called their names -to the King, who, as each young man knelt before him, pierced his ears -with a golden awl. They descended, their white robes smeared with blood, -while Huascar, from another vase, took heavy ear-rings, with which he -adorned them. Nothing in the young faces betrayed their suffering. Then -all raised their hands and took the oath of bravery and of fealty to the -Inca. - -“That is well,” said the King. “Let them now put on their sandals.” - -This part of the ceremony was performed by the quipucamyas, the most -venerable among them strapping on the young men’s feet the sandals of -the Order of the Incas. - -“That is well,” repeated the King. “Let them be given their girdles.” - Again the old men passed down the ranks, buckling on the heavy -war-belts. - -“That is well,” said the King for the third time. “And I say unto you -before the dead King and the Goya who is to die, that they may repeat it -to your ancestors, that our race is still the first of all living races, -for you are the pure Children of the Sun, without earthly leaven, the -brother having always drunk the blood of the sister!” - -The virgins advanced, taking the places of the young men on the steps -of the throne, while fathers and brothers intoned the Aïmara Song of -Triumph. - -“The savages! The savages!” raged Dick, thinking only of vengeance now -that he thought Maria-Teresa was dead. He balanced the revolver in his -palm, hesitating. There were at all events Huascar and the King he could -bring down; that would be some satisfaction. But suppose Maria-Teresa -was not dead after all? He might still save her. For a moment he thought -she had moved. He questioned Orellana in a whisper. “My daughter is very -tired, and must be sleeping,” replied the madman. - -Meanwhile the cap-skulled Guardian of the Temple had made a little -incision on the throat of each virgin, gathering their blood in a gold -ewer. When the cup was full, he touched it with his lips and handed -it to the young men, among whom it passed from hand to hand, while the -girls, proud of their light wounds, cried, “Glory to the Children of the -Sun!” - -“The cup is empty,” announced Huascar. - -At his words the King rose, and holding up both arms to the heavens, -implored the Sun to give the signal for the sacrifice. - -Clouds of pungent incense rose from the burners, and gradually hid from -view the azure disc overhead. The mammaconas who were to die, obeying -the ritual, ran forward to the King’s feet. - -“We implore you, O King, to stop all the smokes of the earth. They hide -his face, and the Sun cannot give the signal for the sacrifice.” - -At a sign from the figure on the golden pyramid, the burners were -extinguished, and the spot of blue gradually reappeared. The Guardians -of the Temple, by the pyres, held in their hands metal mirrors, drawing -the sun to a little heap of cotton in the center of each resinous pile. -Thus did the god, of his own will, give the signal for the sacrifice! -There were no stakes on the pyres, no chains; the victims must die -willingly. - -While the throng about them chanted prayers, the two mammaconas watched -the pyres. They feared that the god might reject them; then they would -live, shunned by all, until they disappeared. Their eyes, large with -hope in the mercy of the divinity, anxiously awaited the first flicker -of flame. - -If the pyre destined to the thousand-year-old Coya did not take fire, -it did not mean that the new one was distasteful to the god. It meant -merely that the old one had not known how to please him, that she was -not worthy of the sepulcher of fire, and that her body must be thrown to -the black vultures in the mountains. - -On this day, the first pyre to blaze up was that of the long-dead Coya. -She was waiting. Songs rang out in her honor, and a purple veil which -Dick had not yet noticed fell to the ground. A black gap showed in -the wall, and in it could be seen the shadowy figure of the -thousand-year-old queen, stiff in her scented wrappings. - - - - -III - -Dick’s head swam. There, before him, was the narrow tomb into which -Maria-Teresa would be plunged living. But was she still living? She must -have died when the child was torn from her arms, or when she had heard -his terrible cry. - -The priests had lifted the dead Coya from her tomb, and carried her to -the pyre. She sat severely erect, as Coyas should sit, even when slowly -done to death in a living tomb. So she must sit, and that is why the -tomb is made so narrow that she can only remain motionless on her -throne. - -Erect and calm, she vanished in the flames of the pyre, while the two -living mammaconas watched her enviously. - -Dick did not even glance at the pyres. His eyes were fixed on the hole -in the wall. She could not live long in there, and they must lose no -time if she was to be saved. One hand gripped Orellana’s pick, while the -other, armed with a revolver, still hesitated. Perhaps Maria-Teresa was -not dead yet! But, if so why did she not open her eyes? - -Still the two other pyres did not take fire, and the mammaconas prayed -passionately to the Sun. They must die before Maria-Teresa, to prepare -her chamber in the Enchanted Realms of the Sun, and if they did not -hasten they would never reach them first. “Have pity, O Sun! Send us -your flames, Ejma of the Heavens! We are women; give us courage.” - -“Have pity! Send us your flames!” chanted the throng in unison. - -But the Sun did not send his flame until the first pyre had nearly -died down, its end hastened by the perfumes heavy with spirit which the -Guards of the Sacrifice poured over the blazing logs. - -Dropping their festive garments from them, the two mammaconas ran to the -pyres with cries of joy, and waited, their eyes turned heavenwards in -ecstasy. Diabolical music burst out about them, and a savage frenzy -seemed to seize the other mammaconas as they whirled round the fires. -The greedy flames climbed upwards and reached the victims. One of them -leapt down with a terrible cry. - -“Return to the flames! Return to the flames!” chanted the others, -surrounding her. She writhed on the ground, calling for the knife, and -a Guardian of the Temple went toward her. The black veils of the -mammaconas were spotted with blood, but they danced on, singing. The -hideous dwarfs lifted up a body, which disappeared in the fire. - -The other mammacona, heroically erect, had cried out only once, and when -she in her turn vanished in the scarlet chariot which the Sun had sent -to take her to his Enchanted Realms, hymns of glory thundered through -the temple. - -Maddened by the songs, the flames, the incense, and the acrid smoke -of the pyres, three more mammaconas followed their sisters. It is -impossible to guess how far this delirium of sacrifice would have gone -had not Huascar stopped it. At a sign from him, the diabolical music -ceased, and the Guardians of the Temple choked the glowing pyres with -sand. - -It was Maria-Teresa’s turn. Dick, half fainting, opened his eyes again -at Orellana’s words. He saw the mammaconas strip her of the jewels with -which she was literally covered from head to foot. From her hair, ears, -cheeks, breast, shoulders, from her beautiful arms and shapely ankles, -the “tears of the Sun” fell one by one, and were placed preciously in a -golden basin. Last of all they removed the fatal Golden Sun bracelet All -these jewels were to be hidden again until the day, ten years thence, -when the Inca would demand another bride for the Sun. - -As she was rapidly divested of her golden sheath as well, Maria-Teresa -appeared swathed in bands of soft material. Her eyes were closed, and -externally at all events, she was already a mummy. Her arms were bound -to her sides, and all that remained to be done was to lift her into her -tomb. Dick’s eyes did not leave what could still be seen of the -beloved face under the bands of perfumed linen which bound her chin -and forehead. Her lips were parted, but motionless, as if she had just -breathed her last sigh. - -Again he told himself that she must be dead. It was better so, for then -she could not feel the hands of the horrible Guardians of the Temple -lift her to the death-throne and then slide her into the hole where she -was to wait a thousand years before being burned in her turn. - -At that moment the rays of the Sun, as if to make a golden ladder for -the woman whom the Incas, in their cruel piety, were sending to his -realms, fell on Maria-Teresa, and lit up the narrow tomb, so that Dick -saw every detail of the atrocious ceremony. - -The three porphyry slabs, fitting perfectly one into the other, had -now to be adjusted, and the tomb would be closed. It was done in -terrible-silence, and all eyes were fixed on workers and victim. - -Bending under its weight, the Guardians of the Temple slipped the first -into position, hiding Maria-Teresa up to the knees. The second, brought -to the right level on a rolling platform, covered her to the shoulders. - -All that could now be seen was her head, swathed and bound up for the -thousand-year sleep, with a face that was that of a dead woman. Then -a shiver ran through the throng, though it had witnessed the sacred -horrors preceding it without a quiver. Maria-Teresa had opened her -eyes.... - -They had opened wide and stared out from the depths of the tomb which -was closing on her. They were terribly living, terribly wide open, -staring, staring, at all she would see of life before the eternal Shadow -took her to its bosom. And those eyes traveled slowly over the throng -in gala attire which was there to see her die, then rested for the last -time on the golden sunlight, on the beautiful light of day. - -The superhuman agony forced those eyes even wider, those eyes which were -never to see again. Her lips moved, as if about to utter a supreme cry -of appeal to life, a cry of horror at the living night of the tomb. -Then they closed again on a poor, weak little groan, while the last slab -blotted out the look of those great eyes. - -She belonged to the god now. - - - - -IV - -Huascar raised his hand, and the temple began to empty in silence. -There was not a song, not a murmur, only the slip of innumerable sandals -on the stone slabs of the floor. Huascar and his priests, the nobles, -young men, virgins, curacas and mammaconas crossed the threshold of the -golden doors. - -Huayna Capac Runtu had descended from his throne and taken his seat -beside the dead King, on the seat left vacant by Maria-Teresa; the Red -Ponchos lifted the two monarchs, the dead, and the living, to their -shoulders, and in their turn vanished into the Corridor of Night. - -There remained in the hall only the Guardians of the Temple and the -ashes of the first victims. - -Hardly had the three gnomes closed the doors to carry out their horrible -duties in peace than a shadow rose up before them. Squeaking with -terror, they fled into the Chapel of the Moon, but vengeance followed -them there, and it was at the foot of its altar that they were shot down -like loathsome beasts. White as Maria-Teresa had been, but icy-cool in -the moment of action, Dick fired only one shot into each hideous skull. - -Then he turned and ran into the temple, where Orellana was already -raining blows on the tomb with his pick. Dick wrenched the tool from -his hands, and set to work. But the stones did not move. His forehead -covered with icy perspiration, he forced himself to think, to reason, -trying to forget Maria-Teresa in her tomb and bring his engineer’s -knowledge to bear on the problem. Those stones could not be very heavy. -Orellana and he could lift them easily if the three dwarfs could. They -were evidently made light so that they could be readily removed by the -priests at certain ceremonies. But what, was their secret? What was -their secret? - -Quelling the moral storm that would have sent him raging impotently -against this rampart, he compelled himself to look for the jointing -of the stones. His hands were trembling, so he stopped for a minute to -control himself, and then tried again. Again he failed. How were they -moved? - -He had seen them put back into position before his eyes, so there -_must_ be a way. But where was he to press, where strike? And meanwhile -Maria-Teresa was dying behind those stones! Dying! - -Again he raised the pick, whirled it over his head, and struck at -random, on the left side of the stone. Every ounce of his strength, -doubled by despair, had been put into that blow, and the slab turned -slightly on itself, to the right. The socket in which the stones rested -was so made that they could swing and slip out of their frame on that -side. - -With a shout of triumph, he swung the pick over his head. - -“Maria-Teresa! Maria-Teresa!” - -Behind him, the madman was calling too. - -“Maria Cristina! Maria Cristina!” - -Dick was still raining blows on the slab. Soon it had turned so far that -he could catch hold of it with his hands, and tore them in a vain effort -to hasten. With the handle of the pick he pushed on the left again, and -the stone came half out of its socket. - -This time, both he and Orellana could get firm hold and put their -strength into it. The stone yielded, came toward them. “Maria-Teresa! -Maria-Teresa!” One more effort and she would be free. - -A prodigious heave, a struggle with teeth set and breath whistling, and -the slab came away altogether, thundered on the floor as Dick hurled it -from off his shoulder. - -“Maria-Teresa!” - -There was no answer from the tightly-bound head dimly visible in the -darkness. He leaned forward. - -“My God. It’s not Maria-Teresa!” - - - - -V - -Turning from the century-dead Coya with an inarticulate cry of rage, -Dick seized Orellana by the throat as if he would have strangled the -poor madman, who had started work on the wrong tomb. And he, thrice -accursed fool that he was, had followed the madman’s lead, made a -mistake when every minute might mean Maria-Teresa’s life! - -And now, which was it? The tomb on the right or that on the left? Or -neither? - -Loosing the old man, he controlled himself again by a superhuman effort -and looked round the temple. No, there could be no mistake this time. -It must be the one on the right. He looked for the angle from their -hiding-place to the altar. Yes, this was the one! - -The pick thundered on another slab, while Orellana, a raving maniac -now, danced and gibbered behind him, grunting with every blow as if he -himself had delivered it. - -At last the stone turned.... It moved... slid into their arms... fell to -the ground. - -“Maria-Teresa! It is I, Dick! For God’s sake, speak!” - -Again he bent oyer the rigid face of a long-forgotten Coya. - -Dick fell to the ground as if stunned. But Orellana was already at work -again, setting him the example, and the young engineer was on his feet -in a moment. It must be that other one on the left, then! Once again he -wrenched the pick from the old man’s feeble hands and hammered on the -granite.... The minutes are flying... flying. And She may be dying -behind that slab, struggling for breath!... The thunder of blows echoed -through the hall... the stone moved... slipped... fell.... At last.... -No!... Another dead woman.... Another, another!... Not Maria-Teresa! - -“Maria Cristina! My daughter! Dearest, I am coming! Your father is -here!” - -While Dick staggered to the wall, staring before him with blind eyes, -the old man, peering into the tomb, had recognized his child. - -“Maria Cristina! Dearest! Wait, wait! Only one more stone, and you will -be out of your prison!” - -Sobbing and laughing in turn, Orellana worked desperately, finding the -strength of his youth anew. - -Then Dick fell on him. - -“Give me that pick. You’re wasting time on a dead woman. Give it to me, -I say!” - -There was a terrible struggle between the two, and Dick, triumphant, -whirled the tool over his head at another tomb, while Orellana, by the -last effort of his life, tore the second stone from its socket, drew the -dead body of his daughter to him and covered it with kisses and tears. -Old madman and dead girl fell to the floor together. - -Orellana was dead, but he had found his daughter. - -Dick saw and heard nothing. Another tomb open... and another dead Coya -of long ago.... The gods of the Temple of Death were ready to give up -their dead, but not the living bride.... - -Crying, calling, driving his nails into his bleeding palms; ready to -offer himself up to the ferocious spirit that guarded those tombs, Dick -staggered, fell, and got up again, dragging behind him the pick, which -he no longer knew where to use, striving to reason and understand. - -There was nothing here to help him! His eyes wandered hopelessly round -the circular temple, trying to find a guiding point. Nothing! Perhaps -chance would give him what his reasoning had failed to secure.... Yes, -that was it... why not try here?... It might be this tomb as well as any -other.... He set to work again, but heavily... oh, so heavily... and the -pick weighed down his hands terribly. - -... Exhausted, he dropped it.... He could do no more.... And she was -dying... dying... while the dead, torn from their eternal sleep, stared -back at him with unseeing eyes. - -How many hours had he been toiling? He did not know. The oblique rays of -the sun had gradually risen on the walls, then vanished. Then the light -which succeeded them faded in its turn.... Twilight had fallen... then -darkness had come. - -Stretched out on the altar steps, whither he had dragged himself with -his last remaining strength, he closed his eyes and waited... waited for -sleep or death. What did it matter, since Maria-Teresa was dead? - - - - -VI - - -_In which it is seen that lovers should never despair of Providence_ - - -One morning, as the little steamboat which runs between the Island of -Titicaca and the mainland, was plowing its way through the waters of the -lake, it was hailed by a tall Quichua Indian, standing upright in his -pirogue. In the bottom of the frail craft lay a white man, and the -captain, seeing the prostrate figure, hove to for a moment to pick it -up. Thus did Dick Montgomery return to civilization. - -Among the passengers of the _Yavari_ was a good-hearted alpaca merchant -of Punho who took pity on the fever-stricken stranger and had him -removed to his own home, where the whole household devoted itself to -nursing the young man back to life. The Indian who brought him to the -steamer explained that he had found the stranger, probably some tourist, -unconscious among the ruins of the sacred island. He had therefore dosed -him with pink water for the fever, and had brought him back to people -of his own race. The Indian refused all reward, and the captain was the -more surprised at this when, on searching Dick, he found a considerable -sum of money in his pockets. For a Quichua not to strip a helpless man -was indeed remarkable. - -When Dick had sufficiently recovered to understand what was being said, -he immediately recognized the Indian described to him as Huascar. In -his quality as high-priest, Huascar had probably returned to the temple -late at night, and had there found Dick, surrounded by gaping tombs, and -the corpses of Orellana and the three Guardians of the Temple. Coldly -calculating in his hatred, the Indian had decided to inflict the -worst possible torture on Dick, leaving him to live after the death of -Maria-Teresa. - -That torture would not last long, the young man decided. The idea that -he might have saved Maria-Teresa had he not lost his head, and that her -death lay at his door, tormented him without ceasing. He realized that -he would never be able to free himself of this obsession and that it -would finally drive him mad. Better to end it all at once. - -Only he did not wish to die among these awful mountains, mute witnesses -of the horrors that had cost him his self-respect and happiness. The -Maria-Teresa who was constantly before his mind’s eye was not the -terrible mummy-like figure he had last seen, but the dainty silhouette -in the homely surroundings of the office at Callao, among the big green -registers, where they had met again after so long an absence and where -they had exchanged words of love. He would go there to rejoin her. - -Once this decision was taken, he grew rapidly better, and one day, after -warmly thanking his host and showering presents on the whole family, he -took the train to Mollendo, where he would join some ship for Callao. -The voyage seemed an interminable one. At Arequipa, he visited the -little adobe house by the rio de Chili, and thought of the vain appeal -they had made to that scoundrel Garcia. There also, for the first time -since his illness, he thought of his traveling companions. - -What had happened to Uncle Francis, Don Christobal and Natividad? -Perhaps their bones were then bleaching in some inaccessible corner of -the Corridors of Night. The Marquis, at all events, had not endured the -torture of impotently witnessing the murder of his two children. - -When Dick reached Mollendo there was a howling gale on, but he at once -went down to the harbor. It was deserted save for two shadows, -which rushed toward him with cries of joy. Yes, they were alive and -breathing:--Uncle Francis and Natividad! Though white and sad-looking, -they did not seem to have suffered a great deal. Dick clasped their -hands, and they, seeing him so pale and thin, said no word. - -Together they walked along for a few minutes, deep in thoughts. At last -Mr. Montgomery turned to his nephew: - -“What happened to Don Christobal? Do you know?” - -“I thought he was with you.” Dick’s voice was toneless, detached from -all things of this world. - -It was only then that Natividad, without being asked, explained how -he and Uncle Francis, after the frustrated attempt in the House of the -Serpent, had been thrown into a dungeon in which they passed four days, -and in which the illustrious scientist had at last become convinced of -the reality of their adventure. At the end of those four days, finding -the prison doors open and unguarded, they had fled. - -Apparently all the Indians were bolting to the mountains from Cuzco, and -the explanation for this they had found on reaching Sicuani. President -Veintemilla, risking his all on one bold stroke, had surprised Garcia’s -forces in the middle of the Interaymi fêtes, and the four squadrons of -his escort which remained faithful had cut up and routed the thousands -of Quichua riflemen. Barely five hundred in all, but of Spanish blood, -they had repeated Pizarro’s exploit on those same plains of Xauxa, while -the same ancient walls, with the impassability of immortal things, again -stared down on the struggle of the races. - -Garcia had escaped over the Bolivian frontier, and was on the point of -blowing out his brains when he heard of a revolution in Paraguay which -made life worth living again. So he crossed into Paraguay with his -lawless “cabinet,” to the great satisfaction of the President of -Bolivia. - -Prom Sicuani, Uncle Francis and Natividad had gone straight to Mollendo, -hoping to find the Marquis there, if the new fortunes of the republic -had also opened the doors of his prison. As to Dick, they had not -expected to see him until Lima, “after he had done everything to save -Maria-Teresa.” - -It was the first time that they had pronounced her name before him, and -Dick saw a very real and very great sympathy in their faces. - -“She is dead,” he said, gripping his uncle’s shoulder. - -“Poor boy!” - -They paced up and down again, silently, before the raging breakers of -the Pacific, which had already kept two of them prisoners in Mollendo -for the past ten days. Dick would not say another word, and his -companions, ignorant of what had happened, could not even try to give -him hope. - -Eight more days passed by, and the elements still held them prisoners at -Mollendo. His uncle and Natividad watched Dick closely, but his outward -calm finally dispelled their fears, and once aboard a ship for Callao, -they even questioned him. He told them what he had seen in the Temple -of Death, while they listened in horror to the simply-worded narrative, -made in a singularly quiet voice. Afterwards, Uncle Francis locked -himself in his cabin and sat for a long time with his head between his -hands, staring at an unopened note-book. - -Dick, leaning over the ship’s side, was now gazing idly at the rapidly -approaching coast on which he had landed with so much hope and joy. The -Peru of Pizarro and the Incas, the fabulous land of gold and legends, -the Eldorado of his young ambition and of his love! Dead were his -love and his ambition. There lived only the legends, at which they had -laughed, which had killed all their dreams and which was to kill him -after sending Maria-Teresa to a living tomb! And they had laughed, -laughed at the warning of those two stately old ladies, Velasquez -canvases brought to life and striving to retain all their pictorial -dignity! - -As on that first day, he was the first man off the liner, dropping over -the side into the swaying craft of a noisy boatman. This time, though, -he did not need to ask where the Galle de Lima lay, and his eyes hardly -left the part of the city to which he had hastened so full of hope, -where Maria-Teresa had waited for him. - -He did not hurry on reaching land. Walking slowly he entered the network -of tortuous streets, passed through the labyrinth of alleys, and finally -reached the point whence he could see the verandah.... There he had come -to greet her every night, there he had come one night to find her gone. -Never again would he see that dear face, that dainty figure bent over -the big green books, while the slim fingers toyed with a golden pencil -attached to her supple waist with a long gold chain. - -Suddenly Dick stopped, staggered, and put his hand to his side with a -choking intake of breath.... It hurt, that hallucinating apparition -on the verandah.... Or perhaps it is true that the shades of the dear -departed come back to people the spots they loved best, that they -have the power of showing themselves to those they loved.... For -Maria-Teresa is there, leaning out as she used to, turning her -sweet face as she used to.... How pale she is, how diaphanous; -her well-remembered gestures are no more than the ghosts of those -gestures!... - -He hardly dared breathe, fearing that the vision would vanish at the -sound of his voice-... He advanced cautiously, stealthily, like a child -stalking a butterfly. - -“Dick!” - -“Maria-Teresa!” - -They are in each other’s arms. The cry which has come from those pale -lips is a living one. They clung to each other, trembling, laughing, -crying, and would have fallen in their weakness had not other shadows -come to their aid. - -Aunt Agnes and her duenna, Irene, held up Maria-Teresa, while Don -Christobal, running out into the street, caught the young engineer under -the arm, and led him slowly in. - -Little Christobal, dancing at the door of the office, shouted with glee -and clapped his hands together. - -“I told you so, Maria-Teresa! I told you he wasn’t dead!... Now you’ll -get better, Maria-Teresa!” - -Maria-Teresa, in Dick’s arms again, was sobbing. - -“I knew you would come back here if you were still alive.... But is it -really you, Dick?... Really you?” - -“Maria-Teresa has been awfully ill,” explained the child, while the two -old ladies cried. “But we cured her by telling her you were _not_ -dead. Of course I _knew_ Huascar had saved you too.... Huascar saved us -all, you know.... He took us away from all those nasty Indians.... -And father said that we should all be dead but for him. Didn’t you, -Father?... But now you mustn’t die any more, must you?” - -“I was there, Maria-Teresa. I saw them put you into the tomb.” - -“You _were_ there, then! I knew it. I felt your eyes on mine, and that’s -why I looked. I knew you were watching... somewhere.... When they took -Christobal away from me I thought I should die... Huascar had told me -he would be quite safe, but I couldn’t believe it.... Then that horrible -cry!... I didn’t open my eyes again until I felt yours on them.... I -knew you were there, dear.” - -The two old ladies and the Marquis were making desperate signs to him, -and Dick tried to stop her, but she went on:-- - -“I knew you wouldn’t leave me there to die, and so I waited, waited.... -It was terribly long.... And then I began to choke.... I couldn’t move; -only sit there and wait... What does it matter, Father, now that we’re -all alive and happy?... Then I heard somebody thundering blows on the -wall, and thought you were coming.... Only just in time, for I was -choking.... There was such funny music in my ears.... Then I heard the -stone torn away, and felt myself being lifted out.... When I opened my -eyes, Dick, it was not you, but Huascar.... He carried me into a dark -little room, with a torch burning in it, and untied my arms and head.... -Then he slipped on that horrible bat-skin dress again.... I couldn’t -believe I was saved, though he told me so....” - -She paused for a moment, choking, and continued: - -“He left me where I was, and started working. First he lifted a mummy -into my place. ‘There is no sacrilege,’ he said, ‘for the god now has -the number of wives he needs.’... He had evidently prepared everything, -and dug an opening as deep into the back of my tomb as he dared.... -I was horribly afraid, because he said he had done it all for love of -me... and I screamed when he tried to pick me up.... I was ever so much -more afraid than in the tomb.... He laughed, and said I was lucky to -have had him for a friend.... You, he said, had nearly spoiled his -plans, and he had had to trap you all to save me. - -“When I told him that he had only saved me for a worse fate, he laughed -again.... Then he picked me up, for I was too weak to move, and carried -me miles and miles through the darkness.... When he stopped, it was -before a low door.... He pushed it open, and there were father and -Christobal.... While they were kissing me, Huascar went to the door.... -He looked awful.... Then he said to father: ‘Señor, I promised to return -your son and daughter to you. Here they both are. You will find nothing -to prevent your departure. An Inca, señor, never breaks his word.’... We -have not seen him since.... I had to tell you, Dick, so that if ever you -meet that man again, you will know what we owe him.” - -At her last words, the young engineer shivered and pressed her hand. - -“He need not be afraid. I remember what I owe him. He saved both of you -and us, dear, and I promised him that if he saved you....” - -“I know, I know! Father has told me....” - -“He considered: your promise an insult,” interrupted the Marquis. “After -my capture, they took me to the Island, and he came to see me in my -dungeon. I thought my last hour had come, and did not spare him with my -tongue. He let me finish, and then explained what he had done, his whole -plan of action. When Maria-Teresa and Christobal were brought to me, the -two Indians guarding my door, who were his absolute slaves, would take -us both to the mainland in a pirogue. He told me, too, of your interview -at Arequipa, and gave me a message for you. Here it is: - -“‘Tell that young man, whom I do not know, that the señorita will be as -free as her heart, which is mine neither to take, to buy nor to sell. -He must know that. I have done him no harm, and he has insulted me. I -forgive him.’ - -“Then, as he was about to go, he turned again:-- - -“Do not thank me, señor. Thank the one who is now in heaven, and who -was the señora de la Torre. I ask for only one thing in exchange for my -services, and that is for you never to speak of them. The memory of the -High Priest of the Incas must not be dishonored.’ - -“That is Huascar’s message, Dick. There is no reason why you should not -marry Maria-Teresa.” - -At this moment Uncle Francis and Natividad dashed into the room. On -their way from the harbor, they had learned of the Marquis’ miraculous -return to Lima with his two children, and hearing that the whole family -had come to Callao that day--Maria-Teresa to see her dear old office -for the last time!--they had come there running. Aunt Agnes and Irene, -anxious for their charge’s health, would have taken her away, but -the young girl insisted that this storm of still shaky laughter and -interjections was the best medicine for her malady. - -“It’s all a bad dream,” she said. “That is how we must take it.” - -Don Christobal took up the cue. - -“Exactly. I have had a long talk with Veintemilla, and that is the -way he asks us to treat it, for patriotic reasons. In exchange, he has -promised to help me wind up the business here and sell our concessions. -Dick and Maria-Teresa will be married in England, if nobody objects.” - -Natividad alone had objections to make, and waved his arms -disconsolately above his head. - -“The same old story!” he groaned. “If I had my way, we should soon get -to the bottom of those Corridor of Night mysteries.... But no!... the -same old game of shut your eyes and see nothing.... Here’s Veintemilla -now, instead of settling with those Indians once and for all, asking us -to call it a bad dream!... Bad dream indeed!” - -“My dear Natividad,” said the Marquis. “I fear you are a troublous -spirit. By the way, I have sad news for you. You are no longer inspector -superior of Callao.” - -Natividad fell into a chair, his mouth wide open, struggling for -words to qualify the airy attitude of this man, for whom he had risked -everything. He was so comical that they all burst into laughter, while -the little old gentleman, purple with fury, strode toward the door. - -“Not so quick, Natividad, not so quick!” called the Marquis after him. -“There is also some good news for you. You have been appointed inspector -superior at Lima.” - -Again Natividad fell into a chair, but beaming, stuttering with joy and -gratitude. - -“It’s a dream.... the dream of my life.... I might have been dead -though!” - -“The appointment, which I saw President Veintemilla sign, is, of course, -only valid in the event of your being living,” smiled the Marquis. “As -those Indians of yours haven’t eaten you alive, you can keep an eye on -them again.” - -“Hush! We must not talk about it,” replied Natividad, the magistrate’s -toga weighing on his shoulders again. - -“And neither shall we,” whispered Dick, bending over Maria-Teresa’s pale -face. - -She nodded slowly. “Do you know, Dick, looking round me and seeing the -same old chairs and books again, the same dear faces, and when I think -of the Temple of Death, it really does only seem like an ugly dream.” - -Natividad, having said good-by to all, was talking to the Marquis by the -door. He opened it and fell back with a muffled exclamation. - -A corpse, until then held upright by the closed door, fell into the -room. Maria-Teresa, first to realize what it was, fell on her knees -beside the body. - -It was Huascar, whom she had driven out of that door and who had dragged -himself there to die, a dagger in his heart. - - - - -EPILOGUE - -This story must have an epilogue, for I have not yet had occasion to -speak again of Oviedo Runtu, bank-clerk and last King of the Incas. -After a thousand adventures in the Andes, which I may describe to you -some day, Oviedo Runtu and his lieutenants in the revolt with Garcia -were tracked down by Natividad’s police. - -Oviedo Runtu surrendered and saved his life by promising to quench -the last embers of revolt. Tried by court-martial, he was sentenced to -perpetual exile, but Natividad subsequently interceded and obtained his -pardon. It was, moreover, the new Chief of Police of Lima who secured -him a post at Punho, in a branch of the Franco-Belgian bank. There -Natividad could watch him, and finally convinced himself that the -bank-clerk King did nothing to resuscitate the marvelous fêtes of the -Interaymi. - -Oviedo Runtu died very prosaically, after marrying a lady of Lima who -had made the trip to Lake Titicaca specially to see the last King of the -Incas. Of that journey was born a romance, and in after years travelers -passing through Punho would have the royal couple pointed out to them. -They were always very much amused when they heard that the King, working -daily in a bank, earned just one hundred’ and fifty soles a month. - -One day, when some charitable souls were chaffing the King’s widow about -the mediocre state in which she lived, the Coya, as she was derisively -called, retorted that had she and her husband so wished, they could have -been the wealthiest couple on earth. But the treasures of the Incas, she -added, belonged to the gods and the dead, and none might touch them. - -Asked if she had ever seen those treasures, the Coya asserted that her -husband had shown them to her once, and she told fabulous stories of the -riches hidden in the Temple of Death. * Naturally, nobody believed her. - - - * The anonymous author of the MS. “_Antiy y monumentos del - Peru_” says:-- - - “It Is widely known, and generally admitted, that there - exists in the ancient fortress of the Cuzco a secret room In - which is hidden a vast treasure, consisting chiefly of - golden statues of all the Incas. A lady who has been in this - room is still living. This is Doña Maria de Esquivel, wife - of the last Inca. I have heard her tell how she was taken - there. - - “Don Carlos, husband of this lady, did not live in a manner - suited to his rank, and she often upbraided him, saying that - she had been cozened into marrying a poor Indian under the - pompous style of ‘Lord of the Incas.9 She said this so often - that Don Carlos grew angry, and one day retorted: ‘Madam, I - will show you whether I am rich or poor. Too will see that - no lord, no monarch on this earth, has a greater treasure - than I.’ Taking her to the ruined fortress, he bound her - eyes, and led her only a few steps before removing the - bandage again. - - “She was in a great quadrangular hall, and ranged all about - it were the statues of the Incas, each about the size of a - twelve-year-old child, and all of massive gold. She saw also - many vases of gold and silver, the whole making one of the - most magnificent treasures in the world.” - - -Even so, none believed the soldiers of Pizarro when they said that in -Peru their horses had been shod with silver! - - -THE END - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bride of the Sun, by Gaston Leroux - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRIDE OF THE SUN *** - -***** This file should be named 53988-0.txt or 53988-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/9/8/53988/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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