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_ The day of the new moon came and with it the great horror that caused
all the Empire of Tavantinsuyu to tremble, fearing lest Heaven should
be avenged upon it.
Since Upanqui had found his elder son again he began to dote upon him,
as in such a case the old and weak-minded often do, and would walk
about the gardens and palaces with his arm around his neck babbling to
him of whatever was uppermost in his mind. Moreover, his soul was
oppressed because he had done Kari wrong in the past, and preferred
Urco to him under the urging of that prince's mother.
"The truth is, Son," I myself heard him say to Kari, "that we men who
seem to rule the world do not rule it at all, because always women
rule us. This they do through our passions which the gods planted in
us for their own ends, also because they are more single in their
minds. The man thinks of many things, the woman only thinks of what
she desires. Therefore the man whom Nature already has bemused, only
brings a little piece of his mind to fight against her whole mind, and
so is conquered; he who was made for one thing only, to be the mate of
the woman that she may mother more men in order to serve the wills of
other women who yet seem to be those men's slaves."
"So I have learned, Father," answered the grave Kari, "and for this
reason having suffered in the past, I am determined to have as little
to do with women as is possible for one in my place. During my travels
in other lands, as in this country, I have seen men great and noble
brought to nothingness and ruin by their love for women; down into the
dirt, indeed, when their hands were full of the world's wealth and
glory. Moreover, I have noticed that they seldom learn wisdom, and
that what they have done before, they are ready to do again, who
believe anything that soft lips swear to them. Yes, even that they are
loved for themselves alone, as I own to my sorrow, once I did myself.
Urco could not have taken that fair wife of mine, Father, if she had
not been willing to go when she saw that I had lost your favour and
with it the hope of the Scarlet Fringe."
Here Kari looked at me, of whom I knew he was thinking all this time,
and seeing that I could overhear his talk, began to speak of something
else.
On the appointed day there was a great gathering of the nobles of the
land, especially of those of the Inca blood, and of all that were
"earmen," a class of the same rank as our peers in England, to hear
the proclamation of Kari as the Inca's heir. It was made before this
gorgeous company in the Great Temple of the Sun, which now I saw for
the first time.
It was a huge and most wondrous place well named the "House of Gold."
For here everything was gold. On the western wall hung an image of the
Sun twenty feet or more across, an enormous graven plate of gold set
about with gems and having eyes and teeth of great emeralds. The roof,
too, and the walls were all panelled with gold, even the cornices and
column heads were of solid gold.
Opening out of this temple also were others dedicated to the Moon and
Stars, that of the Moon being clothed in silver, with her radiant face
shaped in silver fixed to the western wall. So it was with the temple
of the Stars, of the Lightnings and of the Rainbow, which perhaps with
its many colours that sprang from jewels, was the most dazzling of
them all.
The sight of so much glory overwhelmed me, and it came into my mind
that if only it were known of in Europe, men would die by the ten
thousand on the chance that they might conquer this country and make
its wealth theirs. Yet here, save for these purposes of ornament and
to be used as offerings to the gods and Incas, it was of no account at
all.
But in this temple of the Sun was a marvel greater than its gold. For
on either side of the carved likenesses of the sun, seated upon chairs
of gold, sat the dead Incas and their queens. Yes, clothed in their
royal robes and emblems, with the Fringe upon their brows, there they
sat with their heads bent forward, so wonderfully preserved by the
arts these people have, that except for the stamp of death upon their
countenances, they might have been sleeping men and women. Thus in the
dead face of the mother of Kari I could read her likeness to her son.
Of these departed kings and queens there were many, since from the
first Inca of whom history told all were gathered here in the holy
House and under the guardianship of the effigy of their god, the Sun,
from whom they believed themselves to be descended. The sight was so
solemn that it awed me, as it did all that congregation, for I noted
that here men walked with unsandalled feet and that in speaking none
raised their voices high.
The old Inca, Upanqui, entered, gloriously apparelled and accompanied
by lords and priests, while after him came Kari with his retinue of
great men. The Inca bowed to the company whereon everyone in the great
temple, save myself alone whose British pride kept me on my feet,
standing like one left living on a battlefield among a multitude of
slain, prostrated himself before his divine majesty. At a sign they
rose again and the Inca seated himself upon his jewelled golden throne
beneath the effigy of the Sun, while Kari took his place upon a lesser
throne to the Inca's right.
Looking at him there in his splendour on this day when he came into
his own again, I bethought me of the wretched, starving Indian marked
with blows and foul with filth whom I had rescued from the cruel mob
upon the Thames-side wharf, and wondered at this enormous change of
fortune and the chain of wonderful events by which it had been brought
about.
My fortune also had changed, for then I was great in my own fashion,
who now had become but a wanderer, welcomed indeed in this glittering
new world of which yonder we knew nothing, because I was strange and
different, also full of unheard-of learning and skilled in war, but
still nothing but an outcast wanderer, and so doomed to live and die.
And as I thought, so thought Kari, for our glances met, and I read it
in his eyes.
Yonder sat my servant who had become my lord, and though he was still
my friend, soon I felt he would be lost in the state matters of that
great empire, leaving me more lonely than before. Also his mind was
not as my mind, as his blood was not my blood, and he was the slave of
a faith that to me was a hateful superstition doubtless begotten by
the Devil, who under the name of /Cupay/, some worshipped in that
land, though others declared that this /Cupay/ was the God of the
Dead.
Oh! that I could flee away with Quilla and at her side live out what
was left to me of life, since of all these multitudes she alone
understood and was akin to me, because the sacred fire of love had
burned away our differences and opened her eyes. But Quilla was
snatched from me by the law of their accursed faith, and whatever else
Kari might give, he would never give me this lady of the Moon, since,
as he had said, to him this would be sacrilege.
The ceremonies began. First Larico, the high-priest of the Sun,
clothed in his white sacerdotal robes, made sacrifice upon a little
altar which stood in front of the Inca's throne.
It was a very simple sacrifice of fruit and corn and flowers, with
what seemed to be strange-shaped pieces of gold. At least I saw
nothing else, and am sure that nothing that had life was laid upon
that altar after the fashion of the bloody offerings of the Jews, and
indeed of those of some of the other peoples of that great land.
Prayers, however, were spoken, very fine prayers and pure so far as I
could understand them, for their language was more ancient and
somewhat different to that which was used in common speech; also the
priests moved about, bowing and bending the knees much as our own do
in celebrating the mass, though whether these motions were in honour
of the god or of the Inca, I am not sure.
When the sacrifice was over, and the little fire that burned upon the
altar had sunk low, though I was told that for hundreds of years it
had never been extinguished, suddenly the Inca began to speak. With
many particulars that I had not heard before he told the tale of Kari
and of his estrangement from him in past years through the plottings
of the mother of Urco who now was dead, like the mother of Kari. This
woman, it would appear, had persuaded him, the Inca, that Kari was
conspiring against him, and therefore Urco was ordered to take him
prisoner, but returned only with Kari's wife, saying that Kari had
killed himself.
Here Upanqui became overcome with emotion as the aged are apt to do,
and beat his breast, even shedding tears because most unjustly he had
allowed these things to happen and the wicked triumph over the good,
for which sin he said he felt sure his father the Sun would bring some
punishment on him, as indeed was to chance sooner than he thought.
Then he continued his story, setting out all Urco's iniquities and
sacrileges against the gods, also his murders of people of high and
low degree and his stealing of their wives and daughters. Lastly he
told of the coming of Kari who was supposed to be dead, and all that
story which I have set out.
Having finished his tale, with much solemn ceremonial he deposed Urco
from his heirship to the Empire which he gave back to Kari to whom it
belonged by right of birth and calling upon his dead forefathers, one
by one, to be witness to the act, with great formality once more he
bound the Prince's Fringe about his brow. As he did this, he said
these words:
"Soon, O Prince Kari, you must change this yellow circlet for that
which I wear, and take with it all the burden of empire, for know that
as quickly as may be I purpose to withdraw to my palace at Yucay,
there to make my peace with God before I am called hence to dwell in
the Mansions of the Sun."
When he had finished Kari did homage to his father, and in that quiet,
even voice of his, told his tale of the wrongs that he had suffered at
the hands of Urco his brother and of how he had escaped, living but
maddened, from his hate. He told also how he had wandered across the
sea, though of England he said nothing, and been saved from misery and
death by myself, a very great person in my own country. Still, since I
had suffered wrong there, as he, Kari, had in his, he had persuaded me
to accompany him back to his own land, that there my wisdom might
shine upon its darkness, and owing to my divine and magical gifts
hither we had come in safety. Lastly, he asked the assembled priests
and lords if they were content to accept him as the Inca to be, and to
stand by him in any war that Urco might wage against him.
To this they answered that they were content and would stand by him.
Then followed many other rites such as the informing of the dead
Incas, one by one, of this solemn declaration, through the mouth of
the high-priest, and the offering of many prayers to them and to the
Sun their father. So long were these prayers with the chants from
choirs hidden in side chapels by which they were interspersed, that
the day drew towards its close before all was done.
Thus it came about that the dusk was gathering when the Inca, followed
by Kari, myself, the priests, and all the congregation, left the
temple to present Kari as the heir to the throne to the vast crowd
which waited upon the open square outside its doors.
Here the ceremony went on. The Inca and most of us, for there was not
space for all, although we were packed as closely together as Hastings
herrings in a basket, took our stand upon a platform that was
surrounded by a marvellous cable made of links of solid gold which, it
was said, needed fifty men to lift it from the ground. Then Upanqui,
whose strength seemed restored to him, perhaps because of some drug
that he had eaten, or under the spur of this great event, stepped
forward to the edge of the low platform and addressed the multitude in
eloquent words, setting out the matter as he had done in the temple.
He ended his speech by asking the formal question:
"Do you, Children of the Sun, accept the prince Kari, my first-born,
to be Inca after me?"
There was a roar of assent, and as it died away Upanqui turned to call
Kari to him that he might present him to the people.
At this very moment in the gathering twilight I saw a great fierce-
faced man with a bandaged head, whom I knew to be Urco, leap over the
golden chain. He sprang upon the platform and with a shout of "I do
not accept him, and thus I pay back treachery," plunged a gleaming
copper knife or sword into the Inca's breast.
In an instant, before any could stir in that packed crowd, Urco had
leapt back over the golden chain, and from the edge of the platform,
to vanish amongst those beneath, who doubtless were men of his
following disguised as citizens or peasants.
Indeed all who beheld seemed frozen with horror. One great sigh went
up and then there was silence, since no such deed as this was known in
the annals of that empire. For a moment the aged Upanqui stood upon
his feet, the blood pouring down his white beard and jewelled robe.
Then he turned a little and said in a clear and gentle voice:
"Kari, you will be Inca sooner than I thought. Receive me, O God my
Father, and pardon this murderer who, I think, can be no true son of
mine."
Then he fell forward on his face and when we lifted him he was dead.
Still the silence hung; it was as though the tongues of men were
smitten with dumbness. At length Kari stepped forward and cried:
"The Inca is dead, but I, the Inca, live on to avenge him. I declare
war upon Urco the murderer and all who cling to Urco!"
Now the spell was lifted, and from those dim hordes there went up a
yell of hatred against Urco the butcher and parricide, while men
rushed to and fro searching for him. In vain! for he had escaped in
the darkness.
On the following day, with more ceremonies, though many of these were
omitted because of the terror and trouble of the times, Kari was
crowned Inca, exchanging the yellow for the crimson Fringe and taking
the throne name of Upanqui after his father. In Cuzco there was none
to say him nay for the whole city was horror-struck because of the
sacrilege that had been committed. Also those who clung to Urco had
fled away with him to a town named Huarina on the borders of the great
lake called Titicaca, where was an island with marvellous temples full
of gold, which town lay at a distance from Cuzco.
Then the civil war began and raged for three whole months, though of
all that happened in that time because of the labour of it, I set down
little, who would get forward with my story.
In this war I played a great part. The fear of Kari was that the
Chancas, seeing the Inca realm thus rent in two, would once more
attack Cuzco. This it became my business to prevent. As the ambassador
of Kari I visited the camp of Huaracha, bearing offers of peace which
gave to him more than he could ever hope to win by strength of arms. I
found the old warrior-king still sick and wasted because of the hurt
from Urco's club, though now he could walk upon crutches, and set out
the case. He answered that he had no wish to fight against Kari who
had offered him such honourable terms, especially when he was waging
war against Urco whom he, Huaracha, hated, because he had striven to
poison his daughter and dealt him a blow which he was sure would end
in his death. Therefore he was ready to make a firm peace with the new
Inca, if in addition to what he offered he would surrender to him
Quilla who was his heiress and would be Queen of the Chancas after
him.
With these words I went back to Kari, only to find that on this matter
he was hard as a rock of the mountains. In vain did I plead with him,
and in vain did the high-priest, Larico, by subtle hints and
arguments, strive to gentle his mind.
"My brother," said Kari in that soft even voice of his, when he had
heard me patiently to the end, "forgive me if I tell you that in
advancing this prayer, for one word you say on behalf of King
Huaracha, you say two for yourself, who having unhappily been
bewitched by her, desire this Virgin of the Sun, the lady Quilla, to
be your wife. My brother, take everything else that I have to give,
but leave this lady alone. If I handed her over to Huaracha or to you,
as I have told you before, I should bring upon myself and upon my
people the curse of my father the Sun, and of Pachacamac, the Spirit
who is above the Sun. It was because Upanqui, my father according to
the flesh, dared to look upon her after she had entered the House of
the Sun, as I have learned he did, that a bloody and a cruel death
came upon him, for so the magicians and the wise men have assured me
that the oracles declare. Therefore, rather than do this crime of
crimes, I would choose that Huaracha should renew the war against us
and that you should join yourself to him, or even to Urco, and strive
to tear me from the Throne, for then even if I were slain, I should
die with honour."
"That I could never do," I answered sadly.
"No, my brother Hubert (for now he called me by my English name
again), that you could never do, being what you are, as I know well.
So like the rest of us you must bear your burden. Mayhap it may please
my gods, or your gods in the end, and in some way that I cannot
foresee, to give you this woman whom you seek. But of my free will I
will never give her to you. To me the deed would be as though in your
land of England the King commanded the consecrated bread and cups of
wine to be snatched from the hands of the priests of your temples and
cast to the dogs, or given to cheer the infidels within your gates, or
dragged away the nuns from your convents to become their lemans. What
would you think of such a king in your own country? And what," he
added with meaning, "would you have thought of me if there I had
stolen one of these nuns because she was beautiful and I desired her
as a wife?"
Now although Kari's words stung me because of the truth that was in
them, I answered that to me this matter wore another face. Also that
Quilla had become a Virgin of the Sun, not of her own free will, but
to escape from Urco.
"Yes, my brother," he answered, "because you believe my religion to be
idolatry, and do not understand that the Sun to me is the symbol and
garment of God, and that when we of the Inca blood, or those of us who
have the inner knowledge, talk of him as our Father, we mean that we
are the children of God, though the common people are taught
otherwise. For the rest, this lady took her vows of her own free will
and of her secret reasons I know nothing, any more than I know why she
offered herself in marriage to Urco before she found you upon the
island. For you I grieve, and for her also; yet I would have you
remember that, as your own priests teach, in every life that is not
brutal there must be loss, sorrow, and sacrifice, since by these steps
only man can climb towards the things of the spirit. Pluck then such
flowers as you will from the garden that Fate gives you, but leave
this one white bloom alone."
In such words as these he preached at me, till at length I could bear
no more, and said roughly:
"To me it is a very evil thing, O Inca, to separate those who love
each other, and one that cannot be pleasing to Heaven. Therefore,
great as you are, and friend of mine as you are, I tell you to your
face that if I can take the lady Quilla out of that golden grave of
hers I shall do so."
"I know it, my brother," he answered, "and therefore, were I as some
Incas have been, I should cause this holy Spouse to travel more
quickly to the skies than Nature will take her. But this I will not do
because I know also that Destiny is above all things and that which
Destiny decrees will happen unhelped by man. Still I tell you that I
will thwart you if I can and that should you succeed in your ends, I
will kill you if I can and the lady also, because you have committed
sacrilege. Yes, although I love you better than any other man, I will
kill you. And if King Huaracha should be able to snatch her away by
force I will make war on him until either I and my people or he and
his people are destroyed. And now let us talk no more of this matter,
but rather of our plans against Urco, since in these at least, where
no woman is concerned, I know that you will be faithful to me and I
sorely need your help."
So with a heavy heart I went back to the camp of Huaracha and told him
Kari's words. He was very wroth when he heard them, since his gods
were different to those of the Incas and he thought nothing of the
holiness of the Virgins of the Sun, and once again talked of renewing
the war. Still it came to nothing for sundry reasons of which the
greatest was that his sickness increased on him as the days went by.
Also I told him that much as I desired Quilla, I could not fight upon
his side since I was sworn to aid Kari against Urco and my word might
not be broken. Moreover, the Yuncas who had been our allies, wearying
of their long absence from home and satisfied with the gentle
forgiveness and the redress of their grievances which the new Inca had
promised them, were gone, having departed on their long march to the
coast, while many of the Chancas themselves were slipping back to
their own country. Therefore Huaracha's hour had passed by.
So at length we agreed that it would be foolish to attack Cuzco in
order to try to rescue Quilla, since even if Huaracha won in face of a
desperate defence, probably it would be only to find that his daughter
was dead or had vanished away to some unknown and distant convent. All
that we could do was to trust to fortune to deliver her into our
hands. We agreed further that, having obtained an honourable peace and
all else that he desired, it would be well for Huaracha to return to
his own land, leaving me a body of five thousand picked men who were
willing to serve under me, to assist in the war against Urco, to be my
guard and that of Quilla, if perchance I could deliver her from the
House of the Sun.
When this was known five thousand of the best and bravest of the
Chancas, young soldiers who sought adventure and battle and whom I had
trained, stepped forward at once and swore themselves to my service.
Bidding farewell to Huaracha, with these troops I returned to Cuzco,
sending messengers ahead to explain the reason of their coming to
Kari, who welcomed them well and gave them quarters round the palace
which was allotted to me.
A few days later we advanced on the town Huarina, a great host of us,
and outside of it met the yet greater host of Urco in a mighty battle
that endured for a day and a night, and yet, like that of the Field of
Blood, remained neither lost nor won. When the thousands of the dead
had been buried and the wounded sent back to Cuzco, we attacked the
city of Huarina, I leading the van with my Chancas, and stormed the
place, driving Urco and his forces out on the farther side.
They retreated to the mountains and there followed a long and tedious
war without great battles. At length, although the Inca's armies had
suffered sorely, we forced those of Urco to the shores of the Lake
Titicaca, where most of them melted away into the swamps and certain
tree-clad, low-lying valleys. Urco himself, however, with a number of
followers, escaped in boats to the holy island in the lake.
We built a fleet of /balsas/ with reeds and blown-out sheepskins, and
followed him. Landing on the isle we stormed the city of temples which
were more wondrous and even fuller of gold and precious things than
those of Cuzco. Here the men of Urco fought desperately, but driving
them from street to street, at length we penned them in one of the
largest of the temples of which by some mischance a reed roof was set
on fire, so that there they perished miserably. It was a dreadful
scene such as I never wish to behold again. Also, after all Urco and
some of his captains, breaking out of the burning temple under cover
of the smoke escaped, either in /balsas/ or, as many declare, by
swimming the lake. At least they were gone nor search as we might on
the mainland could they be found.
So all being finished, except for the escape of Urco, we returned to
Cuzco which Kari entered in triumph, I marching at his side, wearied
out with war and bloodshed. _
Read next: BOOK II: CHAPTER XI - THE HOUSE OF DEATH
Read previous: BOOK II: CHAPTER IX - KARI COMES TO HIS OWN
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