diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:20:37 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:20:37 -0700 |
| commit | e54e59be094cdafb629b3803ffe2275e28d2d97f (patch) | |
| tree | cdb23d56756e4727f65a1ef7098175a9b8d74d5c /old/tvots10.txt | |
Diffstat (limited to 'old/tvots10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/tvots10.txt | 10436 |
1 files changed, 10436 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/tvots10.txt b/old/tvots10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64104ed --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tvots10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10436 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard +#32 in our series by H. Rider Haggard + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + +As of 12/12/00 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, +Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Title: TITLE + +Author: AUTHOR + +Release Date: April, 2002 [Etext #3153] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 01/12/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Project Gutenberg Etext The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard +******This file should be named tvots10.txt or tvots10.zip***** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, tvots11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tvots10a.txt + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, +Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, +South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, +EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent +permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation. Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 [USA] + + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by Dudley P. Duck. + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com + + + + + +THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + + + +First Published in 1922. + + + + + DEDICATION + + My Dear Little, + + Some five-and-thirty years ago it was our custom to discuss many + matters, among them, I think, the history and romance of the + vanished Empires of Central America. + + In memory of those far-off days will you accept a tale that deals + with one of them, that of the marvellous Incas of Peru; with the + legend also that, long before the Spanish Conquerors entered on + their mission of robbery and ruin, there in that undiscovered land + lived and died a White God risen from the sea? + + Ever sincerely yours, + H. Rider Haggard. + Ditchingham, + Oct. 24, 1921. + + James Stanley Little, Esq. + + + + + + THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + + + + INTRODUCTORY + +There are some who find great interest, and even consolation, amid the +worries and anxieties of life in the collection of relics of the past, +drift or long-sunk treasures that the sea of time has washed up upon +our modern shore. + +The great collectors are not of this class. Having large sums at their +disposal, these acquire any rarity that comes upon the market and add +it to their store which in due course, perhaps immediately upon their +deaths, also will be put upon the market and pass to the possession of +other connoisseurs. Nor are the dealers who buy to sell again and thus +grow wealthy. Nor are the agents of museums in many lands, who +purchase for the national benefit things that are gathered together in +certain great public buildings which perhaps, some day, though the +thought makes one shiver, will be looted or given to the flames by +enemies or by furious, thieving mobs. + +Those that this Editor has in mind, from one of whom indeed he +obtained the history printed in these pages, belong to a quite +different category, men of small means often, who collect old things, +for the most part at out-of-the-way sales or privately, because they +love them, and sometimes sell them again because they must. Frequently +these old things appeal, not because of any intrinsic value that they +may have, not even for their beauty, for they may be quite +unattractive even to the cultivated eye, but rather for their +associations. Such folk love to reflect upon and to speculate about +the long-dead individuals who have owned the relics, who have supped +their soup from the worn Elizabethan spoon, who have sat at the +rickety oak table found in a kitchen or an out-house, or upon the +broken, ancient chair. They love to think of the little children whose +skilful, tired hands wrought the faded sampler and whose bright eyes +smarted over its innumerable stitches. + +Who, for instance, was the May Shore ("Fairy" broidered in a bracket +underneath, was her pet name), who finished yonder elaborate example +on her tenth birthday, the 1st of May--doubtless that is where she got +her name--in the year 1702, and on what far shore does she keep her +birthdays now? None will ever know. She has vanished into the great +sea of mystery whence she came, and there she lives and has her being, +forgotten upon earth, or sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. Did she die +young or old, married or single? Did she ever set /her/ children to +work other samplers, or had she none? was she happy or unhappy, was +she homely or beautiful? Was she a sinner or a saint? Again none will +ever know. She was born on the 1st of May, 1692, and certainly she +died on some date unrecorded. So far as human knowledge goes that is +all her history, just as much or as little as will be left of most of +us who breathe to-day when this earth has completed two hundred and +eighteen more revolutions round the sun. + +But the kind of collector alluded to can best be exemplified in the +individual instance of him from whom the manuscript was obtained, of +which a somewhat modernized version is printed on these pages. He has +been dead some years, leaving no kin; and under his will, such of his +motley treasures as it cared to accept went to a local museum, while +the rest and his other property were sold for the benefit of a +mystical brotherhood, for the old fellow was a kind of spiritualist. +Therefore, there is no harm in giving his plebeian name, which was +Potts. Mr. Potts had a small draper's shop in an undistinguished and +rarely visited country town in the east of England, which shop he ran +with the help of an assistant almost as old and peculiar as himself. +Whether he made anything out of it or whether he lived upon private +means is now unknown and does not matter. Anyway, when there was +something of antiquarian interest or value to be bought, generally he +had the money to pay for it, though at times, in order to do so, he +was forced to sell something else. Indeed these were the only +occasions when it was possible to purchase anything, indifferent +hosiery excepted, from Mr. Potts. + +Now, I, the Editor, who also love old things, and to whom therefore +Mr. Potts was a sympathetic soul, was aware of this fact and entered +into an arrangement with the peculiar assistant to whom I have +alluded, to advise me of such crises which arose whenever the local +bank called Mr. Potts's attention to the state of his account. Thus it +came about that one day I received the following letter:-- + + Sir, + + The Guv'nor has gone a bust upon some cracked china, the ugliest + that ever I saw though no judge. So if you want to get that old + tall clock at the first price or any other of his rubbish, I think + now is your chance. Anyhow, keep this dark as per agreement. + + Your obedient, + Tom. + +(He always signed himself Tom, I suppose to mystify, although I +believe his real name was Betterly.) + +The result of this epistle was a long and disagreeable bicycle ride in +wet autumn weather, and a visit to the shop of Mr. Potts. Tom, alias +Betterly, who was trying to sell some mysterious undergarments to a +fat old woman, caught sight of me, the Editor aforesaid, and winked. +In a shadowed corner of the shop sat Mr. Potts himself upon a high +stool, a wizened little old man with a bent back, a bald head, and a +hooked nose upon which were set a pair of enormous horn-rimmed +spectacles that accentuated his general resemblance to an owl perched +upon the edge of its nest-hole. He was busily engaged in doing +nothing, and in staring into nothingness as, according to Tom, was his +habit when communing with what he, Tom, called his "dratted speerits." + +"Customer!" said Tom in a harsh voice. "Sorry to disturb you at your +prayers, Guv'nor, but not having two pair of hands I can't serve a +crowd," meaning the old woman of the undergarments and myself. + +Mr. Potts slid off his stool and prepared for action. When he saw, +however, who the customer was he bristled--that is the only word for +it. The truth is that although between us there was an inward and +spiritual sympathy, there was also an outward and visible hostility. +Twice I had outbid Mr. Potts at a local auction for articles which he +desired. Moreover, after the fashion of every good collector he felt +it to be his duty to hate me as another collector. Lastly, several +times I had offered him smaller sums for antiques upon which he set a +certain monetary value. It is true that long ago I had given up this +bargaining for the reason that Mr. Potts would never take less than he +asked. Indeed he followed the example of the vendor of the Sibylline +books in ancient Rome. He did not destroy the goods indeed after the +fashion of that person and demand the price of all of them for the one +that remained, but invariably he put up his figure by 10 per cent. and +nothing would induce him to take off one farthing. + +"What do /you/ want, sir?" he said grumpily. "Vests, hose, collars, or +socks?" + +"Oh, socks, I think," I replied at hazard, thinking that they would be +easiest to carry, whereupon Mr. Potts produced some peculiarly +objectionable and shapeless woollen articles which he almost threw at +me, saying that they were all he had in stock. Now I detest woollen +socks and never wear them. Still, I made a purchase, thinking with +sympathy of my old gardener whose feet they would soon be scratching, +and while the parcel was being tied up, said in an insinuating voice, +"Anything fresh upstairs, Mr. Potts?" + +"No, sir," he answered shortly, "at least, not much, and if there were +what's the use of showing them to you after the business about that +clock?" + +"It was £15 you wanted for it, Mr. Potts?" I asked. + +"No, sir, it was £17 and now it's 10 per cent. on to that; you can +work out the sum for yourself." + +"Well, let's have another look at it, Mr. Potts," I replied humbly, +whereon with a grunt and a muttered injunction to Tom to mind the +shop, he led the way upstairs. + +Now the house in which Mr. Potts dwelt had once been of considerable +pretensions and was very, very old, Elizabethan, I should think, +although it had been refronted with a horrible stucco to suit modern +tastes. The oak staircase was good though narrow, and led to numerous +small rooms upon two floors above, some of which rooms were panelled +and had oak beams, now whitewashed like the panelling--at least they +had once been whitewashed, probably in the last generation. + +These rooms were literally crammed with every sort of old furniture, +most of it decrepit, though for many of the articles dealers would +have given a good price. But at dealers Mr. Potts drew the line; not +one of them had ever set a foot upon that oaken stair. To the attics +the place was filled with this furniture and other articles such as +books, china, samplers with the glass broken, and I know not what +besides, piled in heaps upon the floor. Indeed where Mr. Potts slept +was a mystery; either it must have been under the counter in his shop, +or perhaps at nights he inhabited a worm-eaten Jacobean bedstead which +stood in an attic, for I observed a kind of pathway to it running +through a number of legless chairs, also some dirty blankets between +the moth-riddled curtains. + +Not far from this bedstead, propped in an intoxicated way against the +sloping wall of the old house, stood the clock which I desired. It was +one of the first "regulator" clocks with a wooden pendulum, used by +the maker himself to check the time-keeping of all his other clocks, +and enclosed in a chaste and perfect mahogany case of the very best +style of its period. So beautiful was it, indeed, that it had been an +instance of "love at first sight" between us, and although there was +an estrangement on the matter of settlements, or in other words over +the question of price, now I felt that never more could that clock and +I be parted. + +So I agreed to give old Potts the £20 or, to be accurate, £18 14s. +which he asked on the 10 per cent. rise principle, thankful in my +heart that he had not made it more, and prepared to go. As I turned, +however, my eye fell upon a large chest of the almost indestructible +yellow cypress wood of which were made, it is said, the doors of St. +Peter's at Rome that stood for eight hundred years and, for aught I +know, are still standing, as good as on the day when they were put up. + +"Marriage coffer," said Potts, answering my unspoken question. + +"Italian, about 1600?" I suggested. + +"May be so, or perhaps Dutch made by Italian artists; but older than +that, for somebody has burnt 1597 on the lid with a hot iron. Not for +sale, not for sale at all, much too good to sell. Just you look inside +it, the old key is tied to the spring lock. Never saw such poker-work +in my life. Gods and goddesses and I don't know what; and Venus +sitting in the middle in a wreath of flowers with nothing on, and +holding two hearts in her hands, which shows that it was a marriage +chest. Once it was full of some bride's outfit, sheets and linen and +clothes, and God knows what. I wonder where she has got to to-day. +Some place where the moth don't eat clothes, I hope. Bought it at the +break-up of an ancient family who fled to Norfolk on the revocation of +the Edict of Nantes--Huguenot, of course. Years ago, years ago! +Haven't looked into it for many years, indeed, but think there's +nothing there but rubbish now." + +Thus he mumbled on while he found and untied the old key. The spring +lock had grown stiff from disuse and want of oil, but at length it +turned and reopened the chest revealing the poker-work glories on the +inner side of the lid and elsewhere. Glories they were indeed, never +had I seen such artistry of the sort. + +"Can't see it properly," muttered Potts, "windows want washing, +haven't been done since my wife died, and that's twenty years ago. +Miss her very much, of course, but thank God there's no spring- +cleaning now. The things I've seen broken in spring-cleaning! yes, and +lost, too. It was after one of them that I told my wife that now I +understood why the Mahomedans declare that women have no souls. When +she came to understand what I meant, which it took her a long time to +do, we had a row, a regular row, and she threw a Dresden figure at my +head. Luckily I caught it, having been a cricketer when young. Well, +she's gone now, and no doubt heaven's a tidier place than it used to +be--that is, if they will stand her rummagings there, which I doubt. +Look at that Venus, ain't she a beauty? Might have been done by Titian +when his paints ran out, and he had to take to a hot iron to express +his art. What, you can't see her well? Wait a bit and I'll get a +lantern. Can't have a naked candle here--things too valuable; no money +could buy them again. My wife and I had another row about naked +candles, or it may have been a paraffin lamp. You sit in that old +prayer-stool and look at the work." + +Off he went crawling down the dusky stairs and leaving me wondering +what Mrs. Potts, of whom now I heard for the first time, could have +been like. An aggravating woman, I felt sure, for upon whatever points +men differ, as to "spring-cleaning" they are all of one mind. No doubt +he was better without her, for what did that dried-up old artist want +with a wife? + +Dismissing Mrs. Potts from my mind, which, to tell the truth, seemed +to have no room for her shadowy and hypothetical entity, I fell to +examining the chest. Oh! it was lovely. In two minutes the clock was +deposed and that chest became the sultana in my seraglio of beauteous +things. The clock had only been the light love of an hour. Here was +the eternal queen, that is, unless there existed a still better chest +somewhere else, and I should happen to find it. Meanwhile, whatever +price that old slave-dealer Potts wanted for it, must be paid to him +even if I had to overdraw my somewhat slender account. Seraglios, of +whatever sort, it must be remembered, are expensive luxuries of the +rich indeed, though, if of antiques, they can be sold again, which +cannot be said of the human kind for who wants to buy a lot of antique +frumps? + +There were plenty of things in the chest, such as some odds and ends +of tapestry and old clothes of a Queen Anne character, put here, no +doubt, for preservation, as moth does not like this cypress wood. Also +there were some books and a mysterious bundle tied up in a curious +shawl with stripes of colour running through it. That bundle excited +me, and I drew the fringes of the shawl apart and looked in. So far as +I could see it contained another dress of rich colours, also a thick +packet of what looked like parchment, badly prepared and much rotted +upon one side as though by damp, which parchment appeared to be +covered with faint black-letter writing, done by some careless scribe +with poor ink that had faded very much. There were other things, too, +within the shawl, such as a box made of some red foreign wood, but I +had not time to investigate further for just then I heard old Potts's +foot upon the stair, and thought it best to replace the bundle. He +arrived with the lantern and by its light we examined the chest and +the poker work. + +"Very nice," I said, "very nice, though a good deal knocked about." + +"Yes, sir," he replied with sarcasm, "I suppose you'd like to see it +neat and new after four hundred years of wear, and if so, I think I +can tell you where you can get one to your liking. I made the designs +for it myself five years ago for a fellow who wanted to learn how to +manufacture antiques. He's in quod now and his antiques are for sale +cheap. I helped to put him there to get him out of the way as a danger +to Society." + +"What's the price?" I asked with airy detachment. + +"Haven't I told you it ain't for sale. Wait till I'm dead and come and +buy it at my auction. No, you won't, though, for it's going somewhere +else." + +I made no answer but continued my examination while Potts took his +seat on the prayer-stool and seemed to go off into one of his fits of +abstraction. + +"Well," I said at length when decency told me that I could remain no +longer, "if you won't sell it's no use my looking. No doubt you want +to keep it for a richer man, and of course you are quite right. Will +you arrange with the carrier about sending the clock, Mr. Potts, and I +will let you have a cheque. Now I must be off, as I've ten miles to +ride and it will be dark in an hour." + +"Stop where you are," said Potts in a hollow voice. "What's a ride in +the dark compared with a matter like this, even if you haven't a lamp +and get hauled before your own bench? Stop where you are, I'm +listening to something." + +So I stopped and began to fill my pipe. + +"Put that pipe away," said Potts, coming out of his reverie, "pipes +mean matches; no matches here." + +I obeyed, and he went on thinking till at last what between the chest +and the worm-eaten Jacobean bed and old Potts on the prayer-stool, I +began to feel as if I were being mesmerized. At length he rose and +said in the same hollow voice: + +"Young man, you may have that chest, and the price is £50. Now for +heaven's sake don't offer me £40, or it will be £100 before you leave +this room." + +"With the contents?" I said casually. + +"Yes, with the contents. It's the contents I'm told you are to have." + +"Look here, Potts," I said, exasperated, "what the devil do you mean? +There's no one in this room except you and me, so who can have told +you anything unless it was old Tom downstairs." + +"Tom," he said with unutterable sarcasm, "Tom! Perhaps you mean the +mawkin that was put up to scare birds from the peas in the garden, for +it has more in its head than Tom. No one here? Oh! what fools some men +are. Why, the place is thick with them." + +"Thick with whom?" + +"Who? why, ghosts, of course, as you would call them in your +ignorance. Spirits of the dead I name them. Beautiful enough, too, +some of them. Look at that one there," and he lifted the lantern and +pointed to a pile of old bed posts of Chippendale design. + +"Good day, Potts," I said hastily. + +"Stop where you are," repeated Potts. "You don't believe me yet, but +when you are as old as I am you will remember my words and believe-- +more than I do and see--clearer than I do, because it's in your soul, +yes, the seed is in your soul, though as yet it is choked by the +world, the flesh, and the devil. Wait till your sins have brought you +trouble; wait till the fires of trouble have burned the flesh away; +wait till you have sought Light and found Light and live in Light, +then you will believe; /then/ you will see." + +All this he said very solemnly, and standing there in that dusky room +surrounded by the wreck of things that once had been dear to dead men +and women, waving the lantern in his hand and staring--at what was he +staring?--really old Potts looked most impressive. His twisted shape +and ugly countenance became spiritual; he was one who had "found Light +and lived in Light." + +"You won't believe me," he went on, "but I pass on to you what a woman +has been telling me. She's a queer sort of woman; I never saw her like +before, a foreigner and dark-hued with strange rich garments and +something on her head. There, that, /that/," and he pointed through +the dirty window-place to the crescent of a young moon which appeared +in the sky. "A fine figure of a woman," he went on, "and oh! heaven, +what eyes--I never saw such eyes before. Big and tender, something +like those of the deer in the park yonder. Proud, too, she is, one who +has ruled, and a lady, though foreign. Well, I never fell in love +before, but I feel like it now, and so would you, young man, if you +could see her, and so I think did someone else in his day." + +"What did she say to you?" I asked, for by now I was interested +enough. Who wouldn't be when old Potts took to describing beautiful +women? + +"It's a little difficult to tell you for she spoke in a strange +tongue, and I had to translate it in my head, as it were. But this is +the gist of it. That you were to have that chest and what was in it. +There's a writing there, she says, or part of a writing for some has +gone--rotted away. You are to read that writing or to get it read and +to print it so that the world may read it also. She said that 'Hubert' +wishes you to do so. I am sure the name was Hubert, though she also +spoke of him with some other title which I do not understand. That's +all I can remember, except something about a city, yes, a City of Gold +and a last great battle in which Hubert fell, covered with glory and +conquering. I understood that she wanted to talk about that because it +isn't in the writing, but you interrupted and of course she's gone. +Yes, the price is £50 and not a farthing less, but you can pay it when +you like for I know you're as honest as most, and whether you pay it +or not, you must have that chest and what's in it and no one else." + +"All right," I said, "but don't trust it to the carrier. I'll send a +cart for it to-morrow morning. Lock it now and give me the key." + + + +In due course the chest arrived, and I examined the bundle for the +other contents do not matter, although some of them were interesting. +Pinned inside the shawl I found a paper, undated and unsigned, but +which from the character and style of the writing was, I should say, +penned by a lady about sixty years ago. It ran thus:-- + + "My late father, who was such a great traveller in his young days + and so fond of exploring strange places, brought these things home + from one of his journeys before his marriage, I think from South + America. He told me once that the dress was found upon the body of + a woman in a tomb and that she must have been a great lady, for + she was surrounded by a number of other women, perhaps her + servants who were brought to be buried with her here when they + died. They were all seated about a stone table at the end of which + were the remains of a man. My father saw the bodies near the ruins + of some forest city, in the tomb over which was heaped a great + mound of earth. That of the lady, which had a kind of shroud made + of the skins of long-wooled sheep wrapped about it as though to + preserve the dress beneath, had been embalmed in some way, which + the natives of the place, wherever it was, told him showed that + she was royal. The others were mere skeletons, held together by + the skin, but the man had a long fair beard and hair still hanging + to his skull, and by his side was a great cross-hilted sword that + crumbled to fragments when it was touched, except the hilt and the + knob of amber upon it which had turned almost black with age. I + think my father said that the packet of skins or parchment of + which the underside is badly rotted with damp was set under the + feet of the man. He told me that he gave those who found the tomb + a great deal of money for the dress, gold ornaments, and emerald + necklace, as nothing so perfect had been found before, and the + cloth is all worked with gold thread. My father told me, too, that + he did not wish the things to be sold." + +This was the end of the writing. + +Having read it I examined the dress. It was of a sort that I had never +seen before, though experts to whom I have shown it say that it is +certainly South American of a very early date, and like the ornaments, +probably pre-Inca Peruvian. It is full of rich colours such as I have +seen in old Indian shawls which give a general effect of crimson. This +crimson robe clearly was worn over a skirt of linen that had a purple +border. In the box that I have spoken of were the ornaments, all of +plain dull gold: a waist-band; a circlet of gold for the head from +which rose the crescent of the young moon and a necklace of emeralds, +uncut stones now much flawed, for what reason I do not know, but +polished and set rather roughly in red gold. Also there were two +rings. Round one of these a bit of paper was wrapped upon which was +written, in another hand, probably that of the father of the writer of +the memorandum:-- + + "Taken from the first finger of the right hand of a lady's mummy + which I am sorry, in our circumstances, it was quite impossible to + carry away." + +This ring is a broad band of gold with a flat bezel upon which +something was once engraved that owing to long and hard wear now +cannot be distinguished. In short, it appears to be a signet of old +European make but of what age and from what country it is impossible +to determine. The other ring was in a small leathery pouch, +elaborately embroidered in gold thread or very thin wire, which I +suppose was part of the lady's costume. It is like a very massive +wedding ring, but six or eight times as thick, and engraved all over +with an embossed conventional design of what look like stars with rays +round them, or possibly petalled flowers. Lastly there was the sword- +hilt, of which presently. + +Such were the trinkets, if so they may be called. They are of little +value intrinsically except for their weight in gold, because, as I +have said, the emeralds are flawed as though they have been through a +fire or some other unknown cause. Moreover, there is about them +nothing of the grace and charm of ancient Egyptian jewellery; +evidently they belonged to a ruder age and civilization. Yet they had, +and still have, to my imagining, a certain dignity of their own. + +Also--here I became infected with the spirit of the peculiar Potts-- +without doubt these things were rich in human associations. Who had +worn that dress of crimson with the crosses worked on it in gold wire +(they cannot have been Christian crosses), and the purple-bordered +skirt underneath, and the emerald necklace and the golden circlet from +which rose the crescent of the young moon? Apparently a mummy in a +tomb, the mummy of some long-dead lady of a strange and alien race. +Was she such a one as that old lunatic Potts had dreamed he saw +standing before him in the filthy, cumbered upper-chamber of a ruinous +house in an England market town, I wondered, one with great eyes like +to those of a doe and a regal bearing? + +No, that was nonsense. Potts had lived with shadows until he believed +in shadows that came out of his own imagination and into it returned +again. Still, she was a woman of some sort, and apparently she had a +lover or a husband, a man with a great fair beard. How at this date, +which must have been remote, did a golden-bearded man come to +foregather with a woman who wore such robes and ornaments as these? +And that sword hilt, worn smooth by handling and with an amber knob? +Whence came it? To my mind--this was before expert examination +confirmed my view--it looked very Norse. I had read the Sagas and I +remembered a tale recovered in them of some bold Norsemen who about +the years eight or nine hundred had wandered to the coast of what is +known now to be America--I think a certain Eric was their captain. +Could the fair-haired man in the grave have been one of these? + +Thus I speculated before I looked at the pile of parchments so +evidently prepared from sheep skins by one who had only a very +rudimentary knowledge of how to work such stuff, not knowing that in +those parchments was hid the answer to many of my questions. To these +I turned last of all, for we all shrink from parchments; their +contents are generally so dull. There was a great bundle of them that +had been lashed together with a kind of straw rope, fine straw that +reminded me of that used to make Panama hats. But this had rotted +underneath together with all the bottom part of the parchments, many +sheets of them, of which only fragments remained, covered with dry +mould and crumbling. Therefore the rope was easy to remove and beneath +it, holding the sheets in place, was only some stout and comparatively +modern string--it had a red thread in it that marked it as navy cord +of an old pattern. + +I slipped these fastenings off and lifted a blank piece of skin set +upon the top. Beneath appeared the first sheet of parchment, closely, +very closely covered with small "black-letter" writing, so faint and +faded that even if I were able to read black-letter, which I cannot, +of it I could have made nothing at all. The thing was hopeless. +Doubtless in that writing lay the key to the mystery, but it could +never be deciphered by me or any one else. The lady with the eyes like +a deer had appeared to old Potts in vain; in vain had she bidden him +to hand over this manuscript to me. + +So I thought at the time, not knowing the resources of science. +Afterwards, however, I took that huge bundle to a friend, a learned +friend whose business in life it was and is, to deal with and to +decipher old manuscripts. + +"Looks pretty hopeless," he said, after staring at these. "Still, +let's have a try; one never knows till one tries." + +Then he went to a cupboard in his muniment room and produced a bottle +full of some straw-coloured fluid into which he dipped an ordinary +painting brush. This charged brush he rubbed backwards and forwards +over the first lines of the writing and waited. Within a minute, +before my astonished eyes, that faint, indistinguishable script turned +coal-black, as black as though it had been written with the best +modern ink yesterday. + +"It's all right," he said triumphantly, "it's vegetable ink, and this +stuff has the power to bring it up as it was on the day when it was +used. It will stay like that for a fortnight and then fade away again. +Your manuscript is pretty ancient, my friend, time of Richard II, I +should say, but I can read it easily enough. Look, it begins, 'I, +Hubert de Hastings, write this in the land of Tavantinsuyu, far from +England where I was born, whither I shall never more return, being a +wanderer as the rune upon the sword of my ancestor, Thorgrimmer, +foretold that I should be, which sword my mother gave me on the day of +the burning of Hastings by the French,' and so on." Here he stopped. + +"Then for heaven's sake, do read it," I said. + +"My dear friend," he answered, "it looks to me as though it would mean +several months' work, and forgive me for saying that I am paid a +salary for my time. Now I'll tell you what you have to do. All this +stuff must be treated, sheet by sheet, and when it turns black it must +be photographed before the writing fades once more. Then a skilled +person--so-and-so, or so-and-so, are two names that occur to me--must +be employed to decipher it again, sheet by sheet. It will cost you +money, but I should say that it was worth while. Where the devil is, +or was, the land of Tavantinsuyu?" + +"I know," I answered, glad to be able to show myself superior to my +learned friend in one humble instance. "Tavantinsuyu was the native +name for the Empire of Peru before the Spanish Invasion. But how did +this Hubert get there in the time of Richard II? That is some +centuries earlier than Pizarro set foot upon its shores." + +"Go and find out," he answered. "It will amuse you for quite a long +while and perhaps the results may meet the expenses of decipherment, +if they are worth publishing. I expect they are not, but then, I have +read so many old manuscripts and found most of them so jolly dull." + +Well, that business was accomplished at a cost that I do not like to +record, and here are the results, more or less modernised, since often +Hubert of Hastings expressed himself in a queer and archaic fashion. +Also sometimes he used Indian words as though he had talked the tongue +of these Peruvians, or rather the Chanca variety of it, so long that +he had begun to forget his own language. Myself I have found his story +very romantic and interesting, and I hope that some others will be of +the same opinion. Let them judge. + +But oh, I do wonder what was the end of it, some of which doubtless +was recorded on the rotted sheets though of course there can have been +no account of the great battle in which he fell, since Quilla could +not write at all, least of all in English, though I suppose she +survived it and him. + +The only hint of that end is to be found in old Potts's dream or +vision, and what is the worth of dreams and visions? + + + + + BOOK I + + + + CHAPTER I + + THE SWORD AND THE RING + +I, Hubert of Hastings, write this in the land of Tavantinsuyu, far +from England, where I was born, whither I shall never more return, +being a wanderer as the rune upon the sword of my ancestor, +Thorgrimmer, foretold that I should be, which sword my mother gave me +on the day of the burning of Hastings by the French. I write it with a +pen that I have shaped from a wing feather of the great eagle of the +mountains, with ink that I have made from the juices of certain herbs +which I discovered, and on parchment that I have split from the skins +of native sheep, with my own hands, but badly I fear, though I have +seen that art practised when I was a merchant of the Cheap in London +Town. + +I will begin at the beginning. + +I am the son of a fishing-boat owner and was a trader in the ancient +town of Hastings, and my father was drowned while following his trade +at sea. Afterwards, being the only child left of his, I took on his +business, and on a certain day went out to sea to net fish with two of +my serving men. I was then a young man of about three and twenty years +of age and not uncomely. My hair, which I wore long, was fair in +colour and curled. My eyes, set wide apart, were and still are large +and blue, although they have darkened somewhat and sunk into the head +in this land of heat and sunshine. My nose was wide-nostrilled and +large, my mouth also was over-large, although my mother and some +others used to think it well-shaped. In truth, I was large all over +though not so tall, being burly, with a great breadth of chest and +uncommon thickness through the body, and very strong; so strong that +there were few who could throw me when I was young. + +For the rest, like King David, I, who am now so tanned and weather +worn that at a little distance were my hair and beard hidden I might +almost be taken for one of the Indian chiefs about me, was of a ruddy +and a pleasant countenance, perhaps because of my wonderful health, +who had never known a day of sickness, and of an easy nature that +often goes with health. I will add this, for why should I not--that I +was no fool, but one of those who succeed in that upon which they set +their minds. Had I been a fool I should not to-day be the king of a +great people and the husband of their queen; indeed, I should not be +alive. + +But enough of myself and my appearance in those years that seem as far +off as though they had never been save in the land of dreams. + +Now I and my two serving men, sailors both of them like myself and +most of the folk of Hastings set out upon a summer eve, purposing to +fish all night and return at dawn. We came to our chosen ground and +cast out the net, meeting with wonderful fortune since by three in the +morning the big boat was full of every kind of fish. Never before, +indeed, had we made so large a haul. + +Looking back at that great catch, as here in this far land it is my +habit to do upon everything, however small, that happened to me in my +youth before I became a wanderer and an exile, I seem to see in it an +omen. For has it not always been my lot in life to be kissed of +fortune and to gather great store, and then of a sudden to lose it all +as I was to lose that rich multitude of fishes? + +To-day, when I write this, once more I have great wealth of pomp and +love and power, of gold also, more than I can count. When I go forth, +my armies, who still look on me as half a god, shout their welcome and +kiss the air after their heathen fashion. My beauteous queen bows down +to me and the women of my household abase themselves into the dust. +The people of the Ancient City of Gold turn their faces to the wall +and the children cover their eyes with their hands that they may not +look upon my splendour as I pass, while maidens throw flowers for my +feet to tread. Upon my judgment hangs life or death, and my lightest +word is as though it were spoken from heaven. These and many other +things are mine, the trappings of power, the prerogative of the Lord- +from-the-Sea who brought victory to the Chanca people and led them +back to their ancient home where they might live safe, far from the +Inca's rage. + +And yet often, as I sit alone in my splendour upon the roof of the +ancient halls or wander through the starlit palace gardens, I call to +mind that great catch of fishes in the English sea and of what +followed after. I call to mind also my prosperity and wealth as one of +the first merchants of London Town and what followed after. I call to +mind, too, the winning of Blanche Aleys, the lady so far above me in +rank and station and what followed after. Then it is that I grow +afraid of what may follow after this present hour of peace and love +and plenty. + +Certainly one thing will follow, and that is death. It may come late +or it may come soon. But yesterday a rumour reached me through my +spies that Kari Upanqui, the Inca of Tavantinsuyu, he who once was as +my brother, but who now hates me because of his superstitions, and +because I took a Virgin of the Sun to be my wife, gathers a great host +to follow on the path we trod many years ago when the Chancas fled +from the Inca tyranny back to their home in the ancient City of Gold +and to smite us here. That host, said the rumours, cannot march till +next year, and then will be another year upon its journey. Still, +knowing Kari, I am sure that it will march, yes, and arrive, after +which must befall the great battle in the mountain passes wherein, as +of old, I shall lead the Chanca armies. + +Perchance I am doomed to fall in that battle. Does not the rune upon +Wave-Flame, the sword of Thorgrimmer my ancestor, say of him that +holds it that, + + "Conquering, conquered shall he be, + And far away shall sleep with me"? + +Well, if the Chancas conquer, what care I if I am conquered? 'Twould +be a good death and a clean, to fall by Kari's spear, if I knew that +Kari and his host fell also, as I swear that fall they shall, St. +Hubert helping me. Then at least Quilla and her children would live on +in peace and greatness since they can have no other foe to fear. + +Death, what is death? I say that it is the hope of every one of us and +most of all the exile and the wanderer. At the best it may be glory; +at the worst it must be sleep. Moreover, am I so happy that I should +fear to die? Quilla cannot read this writing, and therefore I will +answer, No. I am a Christian, but she and those about her, aye, my own +children with them, worship the moon and the host of heaven. I am +white-skinned, they are the hue of copper, though it is true that my +little daughter, Gudruda, whom I named so after my mother, is almost +white. There are secrets in their hearts that I shall never learn and +there are secrets in mine from which they cannot draw the veil because +our bloods are different. Yet God knows, I love them well enough, and +most of all that greatest of women, Quilla. + +Oh! the truth is that here on earth there is no happiness for man. + +It is because of this rumour of the coming of Kari with his host that +I set myself to this task, that I have long had in my mind, to write +down something of my history, both in England and in this land which, +at any rate for hundreds of years, mine is the first white foot to +press. It seems a foolish thing to do since when I have written who +will read, and what will chance to that which I have written? I shall +leave orders that it be placed beneath my feet in the tomb, but who +will ever find that tomb again? Still I write because something in my +heart urges me to the task. + + + +I return to the far-off days. Our boat being full with merry hearts we +set sail before a faint wind for Hastings beach. As yet there was +little light and much fog, still the landward breeze was enough to +draw us forward. Then of a sudden we heard sounds as of men talking +upon ships and the clank of spars and blocks. Presently came a puff of +air lifting the fog for a little and we saw that we were in the midst +of a great fleet, a French fleet, for the Lilies of France flew at +their mast-heads, saw, too, that their prows were set for Hastings, +though for the while they were becalmed, since the wind that was +enough for our light, large-sailed fishing-boat could not stir their +bulk. Moreover, they saw us, for the men-at-arms on the nearest ship +shouted threats and curses at us and followed the shouts with arrows +that almost hit us. + +Then the fog closed down again, and in it we slipped through the +French fleet. + +It may have been the best part of an hour later that we reached +Hastings. Before the boat was made fast to the jetty, I sprang to it +shouting: + +"Stir! stir! the French are upon you! To arms! We have slipped through +a whole fleet of them in the mist." + +Instantly the sleepy quay seemed to awaken. From the neighbouring fish +market, from everywhere sailormen and others came running, followed by +children with gaping mouths, while from the doors of houses far away +shot women with scared faces, like ferreted rabbits from their +burrows. In a minute the crowd had surrounded me, all asking questions +at once in such a fashion that I could only answer them with my cry +of: + +"Stir! the French are upon you. To arms, I say. To arms!" + +Presently through the throng advanced an old white-bearded man who +wore a badge of office, crying as he came, "Make way for the bailiff!" + +The crowd obeyed, opening a path, and soon we were face to face. + +"What is it, Hubert of Hastings?" he asked. "Is there fire that you +shout so loudly?" + +"Aye, Worship," I answered. "Fire and murder and all the gifts that +the French have for England. The Fleet of France is beating up for +Hastings, fifty sail of them or more. We crept through them in the +fog, for the wind which would scarce move them served our turn and +beyond an arrow or two, they took no note of a fishing-boat." + +"Whence come they?" asked the bailiff, bewildered. + +"I know not, but those in another boat we passed in the midst shouted +that these French were ravaging the coast and heading for Hastings to +put it to fire and sword. Then that boat vanished away, I know not +where, and that is all I have to tell save that the French will be +here within an hour." + +Without staying to ask more questions, the bailiff turned and ran +towards the town, and presently the alarm bells rang out from the +towers of All Saints and St. Clement's, while criers summoned all men +to the market-place. Meanwhile I, not without a sad look at my boat +and the rich catch within, made my way into the town, followed by my +two men. + +Presently I reached an ancient, timbered house, long, low, and +rambling, with a yard by its side full of barrels, anchors, and other +marine stores such as rope, that had to do with the trade I carried on +at this place. + +I, Hubert, with a mind full of fears, though not for myself, and a +stirring of the blood such as was natural to my age at the approach of +my first taste of battle, ran fast up to that house which I have +described, and paused for a moment by the big elm tree that grew in +front of the door, of which the lower boughs were sawn off because +they shut out the light from the windows. I remember that elm tree +very well, first because when I was a child starlings nested in a hole +in the trunk, and I reared one in a wicker cage and made a talking +bird of it which I kept for several years. It was so tame that it used +to go about sitting on my shoulder, till at last, outside the town a +cat frightened it thence, and before I could recapture it, it was +taken by a hawk, which hawk I shot afterwards with an arrow out of +revenge. + +Also this elm is impressed upon me by the fact that on that morning +when I halted by it, I noted how green and full of leaf it was. Next +morning, after the fire, I saw it again, all charred and blackened, +with its beautiful foliage withered by the heat. This contrast +remained upon my memory, and whenever I see any great change of +fortune from prosperity to ruin, or from life to death, always I +bethink me of that elm. For it is by little things which we ourselves +have seen and not by those written of or told by others, that we +measure and compare events. + +The reason that I ran so hard and then paused by the elm, was because +my widowed mother lived in that house. Knowing that the French meant +mischief for a good reason, because one of their arrows, or perhaps a +quarrel from a cross-bow, whistled just past my head out there upon +the sea, my first thought was to get her away to some place of safety, +no easy task seeing that she was infirm with age. My second, that +which caused me to pause by the tree, was how I should break the news +to her in such a fashion that she would not be over-frightened. Having +thought this over I went on into the house. + +The door opened into the sitting-room that had a low roof of plaster +and big oak beams. There I found my mother kneeling by the table upon +which food was set for breakfast: fried herrings, cold meat, and a jug +of ale. She was saying her prayers after her custom, being very +religious though in a new fashion, since she was a follower of a +preacher called Wycliffe, who troubled the Church in those days. She +seemed to have gone to sleep at her prayers, and I watched her for a +moment, hesitating to waken her. My mother, as even then I noted, was +a very handsome woman, though old, for I was born when she had been +married twenty years or more, with white hair and well-cut features +that showed the good blood of which she came, for she was better bred +than my father and quarrelled with her kin to marry him. + +At the sound of my footsteps she woke up and saw me. + +"Strange," she said, "I slept at my prayers who did so little last +night, as has become a habit with me when you are out a-fishing, for +which God forgive me, and dreamed that there was some trouble forward. +Scold me not, Hubert, for when the sea has taken the father and two +sons, it is scarcely wonderful that I should be fearful for the last +of my blood. Help me to rise, Hubert, for this water seems to gather +in my limbs and makes them heavy. One day, the leech says, it will get +to the heart and then all will be over." + +I obeyed, first kissing her on the brow, and when she was seated in +her armed chair by the table, I said, + +"You dream too well, Mother. There is trouble. Hark! St. Clement's +bells are talking of it. The French come to visit Hastings. I know for +I sailed through their fleet just after dawn." + +"Is it so?" she asked quietly. "I feared worse. I feared lest the +dream meant that you had gone to join your brothers in the deep. Well, +the French are not here yet, as thank God you are. So eat and drink, +for we of England fight best on full bellies." + +Again I obeyed who was very hungry after that long night and needed +food and ale, and as I swallowed them we heard the sound of folk +shouting and running. + +"You are in haste, Hubert, to join the others on the quay and send a +Frenchman or two to hell with that big bow of yours?" she said +inquiringly. + +"Nay," I answered, "I am in haste to get you out of this town, which I +fear may be burnt. There is a certain cave up yonder by the Minnes +Rock where I think you might lie safe, Mother." + +"It has come down to me from my fathers, Hubert, that it was never the +fashion of the women of the north to keep their men to shield them +when duty called them otherwhere. I am helpless in my limbs and heavy, +and cannot climb, or be borne up yonder hill to any cave. Here I stop +where I have dwelt these five-and-forty years, to live or die as God +pleases. Get you to your duty, man. Stay. Call those wenches and bid +them fly inland to their folk, out Burwash way. They are young and +fleet of foot, and no Frenchman will catch them." + +I summoned the girls who were staring, white-faced, from the attic +window-place. In three minutes they were gone, though it is true that +one of them, the braver, wished to bide with her mistress. + +I watched them start up the street with other fugitives who were +pouring out of Hastings, and came back to my mother. As I did so a +great shout told me that the French fleet had been sighted. + +"Hubert," she said, "take this key and go to the oak chest in my +sleeping room, lift out the linen at the top and bring me that which +lies wrapped in cloth beneath." + +I did so, returning with a bundle that was long and thin. With a knife +she cut the string that tied it. Within were a bag of money and a +sword in an ancient scabbard covered with a rough skin which I took to +be that of a shark, which scabbard in parts was inlaid with gold. + +"Draw it," said my mother. + +I did so, and there came to light a two-edged blade of blue steel, +such as I had never seen before, for on the blade were engraved +strange characters whereof I could make nothing, although as it +chanced I could read and write, having been taught by the monks in my +childhood. The hilt, also, that was in the form of a cross, had gold +inlaid upon it; at the top of it, a large knob or apple of amber, much +worn by handling. For the rest it was a beauteous weapon and well +balanced. + +"What of this sword?" I asked. + +"This, Son. With the black bow that you have," and she pointed to the +case that leaned against the table, "it has come down in my family for +many generations. My father told me that it was the sword of one +Thorgrimmer, his ancestor, a Norseman, a Viking he called him, who +came with those who took England before the Norman time; which I can +well believe since my father's name, like mine, till I married, was +Grimmer. This sword, also, has a name and it is Wave-Flame. With it, +the tale tells, Thorgrimmer did great deeds, slaying many after their +heathen fashion in his battles by land and sea. For he was a wanderer, +and it is said of him that once he sailed to a new land far across the +ocean, and won home again after many strange adventures, to die at +last here in England in some fray. That is all I know, save that a +learned man from the north once told my father's father that the +writing on the sword means:-- + + "He who lifts Wave-Flame on high + In love shall live and in battle die; + Storm-tossed o'er wide seas shall roam + And in strange lands shall make his home. + Conquering, conquered shall he be, + And far away shall sleep with me. + +"Those were the words which I remember because of the jingle of them; +also because such seems to have been the fate of Thorgrimmer and the +sword that his grandson took from his tomb." + +Here I would have asked about this grandson and the tomb, but having +no time, held my peace. + +"All my life have I kept that sword," went on my mother, "not giving +it to your father or brothers, lest the fate written on it should +befall them, for those old wizards of the north, who fashioned such +weapons with toil and skill, could foresee the future--as at times I +can, for it is in my blood. Yet now I am moved to bid you take it, +Hubert, and go where its flame leads you and dree your gloom, whatever +it may be, for I know you will use it like Thorgrimmer's self." + +She paused for a moment, then went on: + +"Hubert, perhaps we part for the last time, for I think that my hour +is at hand. But let not that trouble you, since I am glad to go to +join those who went before, and others with them, perchance +Thorgrimmer's self. Hearken, Hubert. If aught befalls me, or this +place, stay not here. Go to London town and seek out John Grimmer, my +brother, the rich merchant and goldsmith who dwells in the place +called Cheap. He knew you as a child and loved you, and lacking +offspring of his own will welcome you for both our sakes. My father +would not give John the sword lest its fate should be on him, but I +say that John will be glad to welcome one of our race who holds it in +his hand. Take it then, and with it that bag of gold, which may prove +of service ere all be done. + +"Aye, and there is one more thing--this ring which, so says the tale, +came down with the sword and the bow, and once had writing on it like +the sword, though that is long since rubbed away. Take it and wear it +till perchance, in some day to come, you give it to another as I did." + +Wondering at all this tale which, after her secret fashion, my mother +had kept from me till that hour, I set the ring upon my finger. + +"I gave yonder ring to your father on the day that we were betrothed," +went on my mother, "and I took it back again from his corpse after he +had been found floating in the sea. Now I pass it on to you who soon +will be all that is left of both of us." + +"Hark!" she continued, "the crier summons all men with their arms to +the market-place to fight England's foes. Therefore one word more +while I buckle the sword Wave-Flame on to you, as doubtless his women +folk did on to Thorgrimmer, your ancestor. My blessing on you, Hubert. +Be you such a one as Thorgrimmer was, for we of the Norse blood desire +that our loves and sons should prove not backward when swords are +aloft and arrows fly. But be you more than he, be you a Christian +also, remembering that however long you live, and the Battle-maidens +have not marked you yet, at last you must die and give account. + +"Hubert, you are such a one as women will love; one, too, who, I fear +me, will be a lover of women, for that weakness goes with strength and +manhood by Nature's laws. Be careful of women, Hubert, and if you may, +choose those who are not false and cling to her who is most true. Oh, +you will wander far; I read it in your eyes that you will wander far, +yet shall your heart stay English. Kiss me and begone! Lad, are you +forgetting your spare arrows and the bull-hide jerkin that was your +father's? You will want them both to-day. Farewell, farewell! God and +His Christ be with you--and shoot you straight and smite you hard. +Nay, no tears, lest my eyes should be dimmed, for I'll climb to the +attic and watch you fight." + + + + CHAPTER II + + THE LADY BLANCHE + +So I went, with a sore heart, for I remembered that when my father and +brothers were drowned, although I was then but a little one, my mother +had foreseen it, and I feared much lest it might be thus in her own +case also. I loved my mother. She was a stern woman, it was true, with +little softness about her, which I think came with her blood, but she +had a high heart, and oh! her last words were noble. Yet through it +all I was pleased, as any young man would have been, with the gift of +the wonderful sword which once had been that of Thorgrimmer, the sea- +rover, whose blood ran in my body against which it lay, and I hoped +that this day I might have chance to use it worthily as Thorgrimmer +did in forgotten battles. Having imagination, I wondered also whether +the sword knew that after its long sleep it had come forth again to +drink the blood of foes. + +Also I was pleased with another thing, namely, that my mother had told +me that I should live my life and not die that day by the hand of +Frenchmen; and that in my life I should find love, of which to tell +truth already I knew a little of a humble sort, for I was a comely +youth, and women did not run away from me, or if they did, soon they +stopped. I wanted to live my life, I wanted to see great adventures +and to win great love. The only part of the business which was not to +my taste was that command of my mother's, that I should go to London +to sit in a goldsmith's shop. Still, I had heard that there was much +to be seen in London, and at least it would be different from +Hastings. + +The street outside our doors was crowded with folk, some of the men +making their way to the market-place, about whom hung women and +children weeping; others, old people, wives and girls and little ones +fleeing from the town. I found the two sailormen who had been with me +on the boat, waiting for me. They were brawny fellows named Jack +Grieves and William Bull, who had been in our service since my +childhood, good fishermen and fighters both; indeed one of them, +William Bull, had served in the French wars. + +"We knew that you were coming, Master, so we bided here for you," said +William, who having once been an archer was armed with a bow and a +short sword, whereas Jack had only an axe, also a knife such as we +used on the smacks for cleaning fish. + +I nodded, and we went on to the market-place and joined the throng of +men, a vast number of them, who were gathered there to defend Hastings +and their homes. Nor were we too soon, for the French ships were +already beaching within a few yards of the shore or on it, their +draught being but small, while the sailors and men-at-arms were +pushing off in small boats or wading to the strand. + +There was great confusion in the market-place, for as is common in +England, no preparation had been made against attack though such was +always to be feared. + +The bailiff ran about shouting orders, as did others, but proper +officers were lacking, so that in the end men acted as the fancy took +them. Some went down towards the beach and shot with arrows at the +Frenchmen. Others took refuge in houses, others stood irresolute, +waiting, knowing not which way to turn. I and my two men were with +those who went on to the beach where I loosed some arrows from my big +black bow, and saw a man fall before one of them. + +But we could do little or nothing, for these Frenchmen were trained +soldiers under proper command. They formed themselves into companies +and advanced, and we were driven back. I stopped as long as I dared, +and drawing the sword, Wave-Flame, fought with a Frenchman who was in +advance of the others. What is more, making a great blow at his head +which I missed, I struck him on the arm and cut it off, for I saw it +fall to the ground. Then others rushed up at me and I fled to save my +life. + +Somehow I found myself being pressed up the steep Castle Hill with a +number of Hastings folk, followed by the French. We reached the Castle +and got into it, but the old portcullis would not close, and in sundry +places the walls were broken down. Here we found a number of women who +had climbed for refuge, thinking that the place would be safe. Among +these was a beautiful and high-born maiden whom I knew by sight. Her +father was Sir Robert Aleys who, I believe, was then the Warden of the +Castle of Pevensey, and she was named the lady Blanche. Once, indeed, +I had spoken with her on an occasion too long to tell. Then her large +blue eyes, which she knew well how to use, had left me with a swimming +head, for she was very fair and very sweet and gracious, with a most +soft voice, and quite unlike any other woman I had ever seen, nor did +she seem at all proud. Soon her father, an old knight, who had no name +for gentleness in the countryside, but was said to be a great lover of +gold, had come up and swept her away, asking her what she did, talking +with a common fishing churl. This had happened some months before. + +Well, there I found her in the Castle, alone it seemed, and knowing me +again, which I thought strange, she ran to me, praying me to protect +her. More, she began to tell me some long tale, to which I had not +time to listen, of how she had come to Hastings with her father, Sir +Robert, and a young lord named Deleroy, who, I understood, was some +kinsman of hers, and slept there. How, too, she had been separated +from them in the throng when they were attempting to return to +Pevensey which her father must go to guard, because her horse was +frightened and ran away, and of how finally men took her by the arm +and brought her to this castle, saying that it was the safest place. + +"Then here you must bide, Lady Blanche," I answered, cutting her +short. "Cling to me and I will save you if I can, even if it costs me +my life." + +Certainly she did cling to me for all the rest of that terrible day, +as will be seen. + +From this height we saw Hastings beginning to burn, for the Frenchmen +had fired the town in sundry places, and being built of wood, it burnt +furiously. Also we saw and heard horrible scenes and sounds of rapine, +such as chance in this Christian world of ours where a savage foe +finds peaceful folk of another race at his mercy. In the houses people +were burnt; in the streets they were being murdered, or worse. Yes, +even children were murdered, for afterwards I saw the bodies of some +of them. + +Awhile later through the wreaths of smoke we perceived companies of +the French advancing to attack the Castle. There may have been three +hundred of them in all, and we did not count more than fifty men, some +of us ill-armed, together with a mob of aged people and many women and +children. What had become of the other men I do not know, but orders +had been shouted from all quarters, and some had gone this way and +some that. Some, too, I think, had fled, lacking leaders. + +The French having climbed the hill, began to attack our ill-fenced +gateways, bringing up beams of timber to force them in. Those of us +who had bows shot some of them, though, their armour being good, for +the most part the arrows glanced. But few had bows. Moreover, whenever +we showed ourselves they poured such a rain of quarrels and other +shafts upon us that we could not face it, lacking mail as we did, and +a number of us were killed or wounded. At last they forced the +easternmost gate which was the weakest, and got in there and over a +place in the wall were it was broken. We fought them as well as we +could; myself I cut down two with the sword, Wave-Flame, hewing right +through the helm of one, for the steel of that sword was good. Here, +too, Jack Grieves was killed by my side by a pike thrust, and died +calling to me to fight on for old England and Hastings town; after +which he said something about beer and breathed his last. + +The end of it was that those who were left were driven out of the +Castle together with the women and children, the murdering French +killing every man who fell wounded where he lay, and trying to make +prisoner any women they thought young and fair enough. Especially did +they seek to capture the lady Blanche because they saw that she was +beautiful and of high station. But by good fortune more than aught +else, I saved her from this fate. + +As it chanced we were among the last to leave the Castle, whence, to +tell the truth, I was loath to go, for by now my blood was up, and +with a few others fought till I was driven out. I prayed the lady +Blanche to run forward with the other women. But she would not, +answering that she trusted no one else, but would stay to die with me, +as though that would help either of us. + +Thus it came about that a tall French knight who had set his eyes on +her, outclimbed his fellows upon the slope of the hill, for they were +weary and gathering to re-form, and catching her round the middle, +strove to drag her away. I fell on him and we fought. He had fine +armour and a shield while I had none, but I held the long sword while +he only wielded a battle-axe. I knew that if he could get in a blow +with that battle-axe, I was sped, since the bull's hide of my jerkin +would never stand against it. Therefore it was my business to keep out +of his reach. This, being young and active, for the most part I made +shift to do, especially as he could not move very quickly in his mail. +The end of it was that I cut him on the arm through a joint in his +harness, whereon he rushed at me, swearing French oaths. + +I leapt on one side and as he passed, smote with all my strength. The +blow fell between neck and shoulder, from behind as it were, and such +was the temper of that sword named Wave-Flame that it shore through +his mail deep into the flesh beneath, to the backbone as I believe. At +least he went down in a heap--I remember the rattle of his armour as +he fell, and there lay still. Then we fled on down the steep path, I +holding the bloody sword with one hand and Lady Blanche with the +other, while she thanked me with her eyes. + +At length we were in the town again, running up my own street. On +either side of us the houses burned, and behind us came another body +of the French. The reek got into our eyes and we stumbled over dead or +fainting people. + +Looking to the left I caught sight of the elm tree of which I have +spoken, that grew in front of our door, and saw that the house behind +it was burning. Yes, and I saw more, for at the attic window, which +was open, the flames making an arch round her, sat my mother. +Moreover, she was singing for I heard her voice and the wild words she +sang, though this was a strange thing for a woman to do in the hour of +such a death. Further, she saw and knew me, for she waved her hands to +me, then pointed towards the sea, why, I did not guess at the time. I +stopped, purposing to try to rescue her though the front of the house +was flaming, and the attempt must have ended in my death. But at that +moment the roof fell in, causing the fire to spout upwards and +outwards. This was the last that I saw of my mother, though afterwards +we found her body and gave it burial with those of many other victims. + +There was no time to stay, for the conquering French were pouring up +the street behind us, shooting as they came and murdering any laggards +whom they could catch. On we went up the steep slope of the Minnes +Rock. I would have fled on into the open country, but the lady Blanche +had no strength left. Twice she sank to the ground, stricken with +terror and weariness, and each time prayed me not to leave her; nor +indeed did I wish to do so. The end of it was that William Bull and I +between us half carried her with much toil to the cave of which I had +spoken to my mother. The task was heavy and slow, since always we must +scramble over sheer ground. What is more, a party of the French, +seeing our plight, followed us. Perhaps some of them guessed who the +lady was, for there were many spies in Hastings who might have told +them, and desired to capture and hold her to ransom. + +At the least they came on after us and a few others, women all of +them, who had joined our company, being unable to travel further, or +trusting to William Bull and myself to protect them. + +We reached the cave, and thrusting the women along it, William and I +stood in the mouth and waited. He had no bow and all my arrows were +gone save three, but of these I, who was noted for my archery, +determined to make the best use I could. So I drew them out, and +having strung the bow, sat down to get my breath. On came the French, +shouting and jabbering at us to the effect that they would cut our +throats and carry off /la belle dame/ to be their sport. + +"She shall be mine!" yelled a big fellow with a flattened nose and a +wide mouth who was ahead of the others, and not more than fifty yards +away. + +I rose, and praying my patron, good St. Hubert after whom I was named +because I first saw light upon his day, the 23rd of November, to give +me skill, I drew the great bow to my ear, aimed, and loosed. Nor did +St. Hubert, a lover of fine shooting, fail me in my need, for that +arrow rushed out and found its home in the big mouth of the Frenchman, +through which it passed, pinning his foul tongue to his neck bone. + +Down he went, and cheered by the sight I refitted and loosed at the +next. Him, too, the arrow caught, so that he fell almost on the other. + +I set the third and last arrow on the string and waited a space. +Behind these two was a squat, broad man, a knight I suppose, for he +wore armour, and had a shield with a cock painted on it. This man, +frightened by the fate of his companions, yet not minded to give up +the venture for those in rear of him urged him on, bent himself almost +double, and holding the shield over his helm which was closed, so as +to protect his head and body, came on at a good pace. + +I waited till he was within five-and-twenty yards or so, hoping that +the roughness of the ground would cause him to stumble and the shield +to shift so that I could get a chance at him behind it. But I did not, +so at last, again praying to St. Hubert, I drew the big bow till the +string touched my ear, and let drive. The shaft, pointed with tempered +steel, struck the shield full in the centre, and by Heaven, pierced +it, aye, and the mail behind, aye, and the flesh it covered, so that +he, too, got his death. + +"A great shot, Master," said William, "that no other bow in Hastings +could have sped." + +"Not so ill," I answered, "but it is my last. Now we must fight as we +can with sword and axe until we be sped." + +William nodded, and the women in the cave began to wail while I +unstrung my bow and set it in its case, from habit I think, seeing +that I never hoped to look upon it again. + +Just then from the French ships in the harbour there came a great +blaring of trumpets giving some alarm, and the Frenchmen of a sudden, +ceasing from their attack, turned and ran towards the shore. I stepped +out of the cave with William and looked. There on the sea, drawing +near from the east before a good wind, I saw ships, and saw, too, that +from their masts flew the pennons of England, for the golden leopards +gleamed in the sun. + +"It is our fleet, William," I said, "come to talk with these French." + +"Then I would that it had come sooner," answered William. "Still, +better now than not at all." + + + +Thus were we saved, through Hamo de Offyngton, the Abbot of Battle +Abbey, or so I was told afterwards, who collected a force by land and +sea and drove off the French after they had ravaged the Isle of Wight, +attacked Winchelsea, and burned the greater part of Hastings. So it +came about that in the end these pirates took little benefit by their +wickedness, since they lost sundry ships with all on board, and others +left in such haste that their people remained on shore where they were +slain by the mob that gathered as soon as it was seen that they were +deserted, helped by a company of the Abbot's men who had marched from +Battle. But with all this I had nothing to do who now that the fight +was over, felt weak as a child and could think of little save that I +had seen my mother burning. + +Presently, however, that happened which woke me from my grief and +caused my blood which had grown sluggish to run again. For when she +knew that she was safe the lady Blanche came out of the cave and +addressed me as I stood there leaning against the rock with the red +sword Wave-Flame in my hand, as I had drawn it to make ready for the +last fight to the death. All sorts of sweet names she called me--a +hero, her deliverer, and I know not what besides. + +In the end, as I made no answer, being dazed, also hurt by an axe blow +on the breast which I had not felt before, dealt by that Frenchman +whom I slew near the Castle, she did more. Throwing her arms about me +she kissed me thrice, on either cheek and on the lips, doubtless +because she was overwrought, and in her thankfulness forgot her +maidenly reserve, though as William Bull said afterwards, this +forgetfulness did not cause her to kiss him who had also helped her up +the hill. + +Those kisses were like wine to me, for it is strange how, if we love +her, by the decree of Nature the touch of a beautiful woman's lips, +felt for the first time, affects us in our youth. Whatever else we +forget, that we always remember, however false those lips afterwards +be proved. For then the wax is soft and the die sinks deep, so deep +that no after-heats can melt its stamp and no fretting wear it out +while we live beneath the sun. + +Now my young blood being awakened, I was minded to return those +kisses, and began to do so with a Jew's interest, when I heard a rough +voice swearing many strange oaths, and heard also the other women who +had sheltered with us in the cave begin to titter, for the moment +forgetting all their private woes, as those of their sex will do when +there is kissing in the wind. + +"God's blood!" said the rough voice, "who is this that handles my +daughter as though they had been but an hour wed? Take those lips of +yours from her, fellow, or I'll cut them from your chops." + +I looked round astonished, to see Sir Robert Aleys mounted on a grey +horse, and followed by a company of men-at-arms who appeared to be +under the command of a well-favoured, dark-eyed young captain with +long hair, and dressed more wondrously than any man I had ever seen +before. Had he put on Joseph's coat over his mail, he could not have +worn more colours, and I noted that the toes of his shoes curled up so +high that I wondered however he worked them through his stirrups, and +what would happen to him if by chance he were unhorsed. + +Being taken aback I made no answer, but William Bull, who, if a rough +fellow, had a tongue in his head and a ready wit, spoke up for me. + +"If you want to know," he said in his Sussex drawl, "I'll tell you who +he is, Sir Robert Aleys. He is my worshipful master, Hubert of +Hastings, ship-owner, householder, and trader of this town. Or at +least he was these things, but now it seems that his ships and house +are burnt and his mother with them; also that there will be no trade +in Hastings for many a day." + +"Mayhap," answered Sir Robert, adding other oaths, "but why does he +buss my daughter?" + +"Perchance because he must give as good as he got, which is a law +among honest merchants, noble Sir Robert. Or perchance because he has +a better right to buss her than any man alive, seeing that but for +him, by now she would be but stinking clay, or a Frenchman's leman." + +Here the fine young captain cut in, saying, + +"Whatever else this worshipful trader may need, he does not lack a +trumpeter." + +"That is so, my Lord Deleroy," replied William, unmoved, "for when I +find a good song I like to sing it. Go now and look at those three men +who lie yonder on the slope, and see whether the arrows in them bear +my master's mark. Go also and look upon the Castle hill and find a +knight with his head well-nigh hewn from his shoulders, and see +whether yonder sword fits into the cut. Aye, and at others that I +could tell you of, slain, every one of them, to save this fair lady. +Aye, go you whose garments are so fine and unstained, and then come +back and talk of trumpeters." + +"Pish!" said my Lord Deleroy with a shrug of his shoulders, "a lady +who is over-wrought and hangs to some common fellow, like one who +kisses the feet of a wooden saint that she thinks has saved her from +calamity!" + +At these words I, who had been listening like a man in a dream, awoke, +as it were, for they stung me. Moreover, I had heard that this fine +Deleroy was one of those who owed his place and rank to the King's +favour, as he did his high name, being, it was reported, by birth but +a prince's bastard sprung from some relative of Sir Robert whom +therefore he called cousin. + +"Sir," I said, "you know best whether I am more common than you are. +Let that be. At least I hold in my hand the sword of one who begat my +forefather hundreds of years ago, a certain Thorgrimmer who was great +in his time. Now I have had my fill of fighting to-day, and you, +doubtless through no fault of your own, have had none; you also are +clad in mail and I, a common fellow, have none. Deign then to descend +from that horse and take a turn with me though I be tired, and thus +prove my commonness upon my body. Of your nobility do this, seeing +that after all we are of one flesh." + +Now, stung in his turn, he made as though he would do what I prayed, +when for the first time, after glancing at her father who sat still-- +puzzled, it would seem--the lady Blanche spoke. + +"Be not mad, Cousin," she said. "I tell you that this gentleman has +saved my life and honour, twice at least to-day. Is it wonderful, +then, if I thanked him in the best fashion that a woman can, and thus +brought your insults on him?" + +He hesitated, though one of his curled-up shoes was out of the +stirrup, when suddenly Sir Robert broke in in his big voice, saying: + +"God's truth, Cousin, I think that you will do well to leave this +young cock alone, since I like not the look of that red spur of his," +and he glanced at the sword Wave-Flame. "Though he be weary, he may +have a kick or two in him yet." + +Then he turned to me and added: + +"Sir, you have fought well; many a man has earned knighthood for less, +and if a fair maid thanked you in her own fashion, you are not to +blame. I, her father, also thank you and wish you all good fortune +till we meet again. Farewell. Daughter, make shift to share this horse +with me, and let us away out of this stricken town to Pevensey, where +perchance it will please those French to call to-morrow." + +A minute later they were gone, and I noted with a pang that as they +went the lady Blanche, having waved her good-bye to me, talked fast to +her cousin Deleroy and that he held her hand to steady her upon her +father's horse. + + + + CHAPTER III + + HUBERT COMES TO LONDON + +When the lady Blanche was out of sight, followed by the women who had +sheltered with us in the cave, William and I went to a stream we knew +of not far away and drank our fill. Then we walked to the three whom I +had shot with my big bow, hoping to regain the arrows, for I had none +left. This, however, could not be done though all the men were dead, +for one of the shafts, the last, was broken, and the other two were so +fixed in flesh and bone that only a surgeon's saw would loose them. + +So we left them where they were, and before the men were buried many +came to marvel at the sight, thinking it a wonderful thing that I +should have killed these three with three arrows, and that any bow +which arm might bend could have driven the last of them through an +iron shield and a breastplate behind it. + +This armour, I should tell, William took for himself, since it was of +his size. Also on the morrow, returning to the Castle Hill, I stripped +the knight whom I had slain with the sword, Wave-Flame, of his +splendid Milan mail, whereof the /plastron/, or breast-plate, was +inlaid with gold, having over it a /camail/ of chain to cover the +joints, through which my good sword had shorn into his neck. The +cognizance on his shield strangely enough was three barbed arrows, but +what was the name of the knight who bore it I never learned. This +mail, which must have cost a great sum, the Bailiff of Hastings +granted me to keep, since I had slain its wearer and borne myself well +in the fight. Moreover, I took the three arrows for my own cognizance, +though in truth I had no right to any, being in those days but a +trader. (Little did I know then how well this mail was to serve me in +the after years.) + +By now night was coming on, and as we could see from the cave mouth +that the part of Hastings which lies towards the village of St. +Leonards seemed to have escaped the fire, thitherward we went by the +beach to avoid the heat and falling timbers in the burning town. On +our way we met others and from them heard all that had befallen. It +would seem that the French loss in life was heavier than our own, +since many of them were cut off when they tried to fly to their ships, +and some of these could not be floated from the beach or were rammed +and sunk with all aboard by the English vessels. But the damage done +to Hastings was as much as could scarcely be made good in a +generation, for the most of it was burnt or burning. Also many, like +my own mother, had perished in the fire, being sick or aged or in +childbed, or for this reason and that forgotten and unable to move. +Indeed on the beach were hundreds of folk in despair, nor was it only +the women and children who wept that evening. + +For my part, with William I went beyond the burning to the house of a +certain old priest who was my confessor, and the friend of my father +before me, and there we found food and slept, he returning thanks to +God for my escape and offering me consolation for the loss of my +mother and goods. + +I rested but ill that night, as those do who are over-weary. Moreover, +this had been my first taste of battle, and again and again I saw +those men falling before my sword and arrows. Very proud was I to have +slain them, wicked ravishers as they were, and very glad that from my +boyhood I had practised myself with sword and bow till I could fence +with any, and was perhaps the most skilled marksman in Hastings, +having won the silver arrow at the butts at the last meeting, and from +archers of all ages. Yet the sight of their deaths haunted me who +remembered how well their fate might have been my own, had they got in +the first shot or blow. + +Where had they gone to, I wondered? To the priest's Heaven or Hell? +Were they now telling their sins to some hard-faced angel while he +checked the count from his book, reminding them of many that they had +forgotten? Or were they fast asleep for ever and ever as a shrewd +thinker whom I knew had told me secretly he was sure would be the fate +of all of us, whatever the priests might teach and believe. And where +was my mother whom I had loved and who loved me well, although +outwardly she was so stern a woman, my mother whom I had seen burned +alive, singing as she burned? Oh! it was a vile world, and it seemed +strange that God should cause men and women to be born that they might +come to such cruel ends. Yet who were we to question His decrees of +which we knew neither the beginning nor the finish? + +Anyway, I was glad I was not dead, for now that all was over I +trembled and felt afraid, which I had never done during the fighting, +even when my hour seemed very near. + +Lastly there was this high-born lady, Blanche Aleys, with whom fortune +had thrown me so strangely that day. Those blue eyes of hers had +pierced my heart like darts, and do what I would I might not rid my +mind of the thought of her, or my ears of the sound of her soft voice, +while her kisses seemed still to burn upon my lips. It wrung me to +think that perhaps I should never see her again, or that if I did I +might not speak with her, being so far beneath her in condition, and +having already earned the wrath of her father, and, as I guessed, the +jealousy of that scented cousin of hers whom they said the King loved +like a brother. + +What had my mother told me? To leave this place and go to London, +there to find my uncle, John Grimmer, goldsmith and merchant, who was +my godfather, and to ask him to take me into his business. I +remembered this uncle of mine, for some seven or eight years before, +when I was a growing lad, because there was a plague in London he had +come down to Hastings to visit us. He only stayed a week, however, +because he said that the sea air tied up his stomach and that he would +rather risk the plague with a good stomach than leave it behind him +with a bad one--though I think it was his business he thought of, not +his stomach. + +He was a strange old man, not unlike my mother, but with a nose more +hooked, small dark eyes, and a bald head on which he set a cap of +velvet. Even in the heat of summer he was always cold and wore a +frayed fur robe, complaining much if he came into a draught of air. +Indeed he looked like a Jew, though a good Christian enough, and +laughed about it, because he said that this appearance of his served +him well in his trade, since Jews were always feared, and it was held +to be impossible to overreach them. + +For the rest I only recalled that he examined me as to my book +learning which did not satisfy him, and went about valuing all our +goods and fishing-boats, showing my mother how we were being cheated +and might earn more than we did. When he departed he gave me a gold +piece and said that Life was nothing but vanity, and that I must pray +for his soul when he was dead as he was sure it would need such help, +also that I ought to put the gold piece out to interest. This I did by +buying with it a certain fierce mastiff dog I coveted that had been +brought on a ship from Norway, which dog bit some great man in our +town, who hauled my mother before the bailiff about it and caused the +poor beast to be killed, to my great wrath. + +Now that I came to think of it, I had liked my Uncle John well enough +although he was so different from others. Why should I not go to him? +Because I did not wish to sit in a shop in London, I who loved the sea +and the open air; also because I feared he might ask me what I had +done with that gold piece and make a mock of me about the dog. Yet my +mother had bidden me go, and it was her last command to me, her dying +words which it would be unlucky to disobey. Moreover, our boats and +house were burnt and I must work hard and long before these could be +replaced. Lastly, in London I should see no more of the lady Blanche +Aleys, and there could learn to forget the lights in her blue eyes. So +I determined that I would go, and at last fell asleep. + +Next morning I made my confession to the old priest that, amongst +other matters, he might shrive me of the blood which I had shed, +though this he said needed no forgiveness from God or man, being, as I +think, a stout Englishman at heart. Also I took counsel with him as to +what I should do, and he told me it was my duty to obey my mother's +wishes, since such last words were often inspired from on high and +declared the will of Heaven. Further he pointed out that I should do +well to avoid the lady Blanche Aleys who was one far above me in +degree, the following of whom might bring me to trouble, or even to +death; moreover, that I might mend my broken fortunes through the help +of my uncle, a very rich man as he had heard, to whom he would write a +letter about me. + +Thus this matter was settled. + +Still some days went by before I left Hastings, since first I must +wait until the ashes of our house were cool enough to search in them +for my mother's body. Those who found her at length said that she was +not so much burned as might have been expected, but as to this I am +uncertain, since I could not bring myself to look upon her who desired +to remember her as she had been in life. She was buried by the side of +my father, who was drowned, in the churchyard of St. Clement's, and +when all had gone away I wept a little on her grave. + +The rest of that day I spent making ready for my journey. As it +chanced when the house was burnt the outbuildings which lay on the +farther side of the yard behind escaped the fire, and in the stable +were two good horses, one a grey riding-gelding and the other a mare +that used to drag the nets to the quay and bring back the fish, which +horses, although frightened and alarmed, were unharmed. Also there was +a quantity of stores, nets, salt, dried fish in barrels, and I know +not what besides. The horses I kept, but all the rest of the gear, +together with the premises, the ground on which the house had stood, +and the other property I made over to William, my man, who promised me +to pay me their value when he could earn it in better times. + +Next morning I rode away for London upon the grey horse, loading the +armour of the knight I had killed and such other possessions as +remained to me upon the mare which I led with a rope. Save William +there was none to say me good-bye, for the misery in Hastings was so +great that all were concerned with their own affairs or in mourning +their dead. I was not sorry that it fell out thus, since I was so full +of sadness at leaving the place where I was born and had lived all my +life, that I think I should have shed tears if any who had been my +friends had spoken kind words to me, which would have been unmanly. +Never had I felt so lonely as when from the high ground I gazed back +to the ruins of Hastings over which still hung a thin pall of smoke. +My courage seemed to fail me altogether; I looked forward to the +future with fear, believing that I had been born unlucky, that it held +no good for me who probably should end my days as a common soldier or +a fisherman, or mayhap in prison or on the gallows. From childhood I +had suffered these fits of gloom, but as yet this was the blackest of +them that I had known. + +At length, the sun that had been hidden shone out and with its coming +my temper changed. I remembered that I who might so easily have been +dead, was sound, young, and healthy, that I had sword, bow, and armour +of the best, also twenty or more of gold pieces, for I had not counted +them, in the bag which my mother gave me with Wave-Flame. Further, I +hoped that my uncle would befriend me, and if he did not, there were +plenty of captains engaged in the wars who might be glad of a squire, +one who could shoot against any man and handle a sword as well as +most. + +So putting up a prayer to St. Hubert after my simple fashion, I pushed +on blithely to the crest of a long rise and there came face to face +with a gay company who, hawk on wrist and hound at heel, were, I +guessed, on their way to hunt in the Pevensey marshes. While they were +still a little way off I knew these to be no other than Sir Robert +Aleys, his daughter Blanche, and the King's favourite, young Lord +Deleroy, with their servants, and was minded to turn aside to avoid +them. Then I remembered that I had as much right to the King's Highway +as they, and my pride aiding me, determined to ride on taking no note +of them, unless first they took note of me. Also they knew me, for my +ears being very sharp, I heard Sir Robert say in his big voice: + +"Here comes that young fisherman again. Pass him in silence, +Daughter"; heard, too, Lord Deleroy drawl it, "It seems that he has +been gathering gear from the slain, and like a good chapman bears it +away for secret sale." + +Only the lady Blanche answered neither the one nor the other, but rode +forward with her eyes fixed before her, pretending to talk to the hawk +upon her wrist, and now that she was rested and at ease, looking even +more beautiful than she had done on the day of the burning. + +So we met and passed, I glancing at them idly and guiding my horses to +the side of the road. When there were perhaps ten yards between us I +heard Lady Blanche cry: + +"Oh, my hawk!" I looked round to see that the falcon on her wrist had +in some way loosed itself, or been loosed, and being hooded, had +fallen to the ground where one of the dogs was trying to catch and +kill it. Now there was great confusion, the eyes of all being fixed +upon the hawk and the dog, in the midst of which the lady Blanche very +quietly turned her head, and lifting her hand as though to see how the +hawk had fallen from it, with a swift movement laid her fingers +against her lips and threw a kiss to me. + +As swiftly I bowed back and went on my way with a beating heart. For a +few moments I was filled with joy, since I could not mistake the +meaning of this signalled kiss. Then came sorrow like an April cloud, +since my wound which was in the way of healing was all re-opened. I +had begun to forget the lady Blanche, or rather by an effort of the +will, to thrust her from my thought, as my confessor had bidden me. +But now on the wings of that blown kiss thither she had flown back +again, not to be frighted out for many a day. + +That night I slept at an inn at Tonbridge, a comfortable place where +the host stared at the gold piece from the bag which I tendered in +payment, and at first would not take what was due to him out of it, +because it bore the head of some ancient king. However, in the end a +merchant of Tonbridge who came in for his morning ale showed him that +it was good, so that trouble passed. + +About two in the afternoon I came to Southwark, a town that to me +seemed as big as Hastings before it was burned, where was a fine inn +called the Tabard at which I stopped to bait my horses and to take a +bite and drink of ale. Then I rode on over the great Thames where +floated a multitude of ships and boats, crossing it by London Bridge, +a work so wonderful that I marvelled that it could be made by the hand +of man, and so broad that it had shops on either side of the roadway, +in which were sold all sorts of merchandise. Thence I inquired my way +to Cheapside, and came there at last thrusting a path through a +roaring multitude of people, or so it seemed to me who never before +had seen so many men and women gathered together, all going on their +way and, it would appear, ignorant of each other. + +Here I found a long and crowded thoroughfare with gabled houses on +either side in which all kinds of trades were carried on. Down this I +wandered, being cursed at more than once because my pack mare, growing +frightened, dragged away from me and crossed the path of carts which +had to stop till I could pull her free. After the third of these +tangles I halted by the side of the footway behind a wain with barrels +on it, and looked about me bewildered. + +To my left was a house somewhat set back from the general line that +had a little patch of garden ground in front of it in which grew some +untended and thriftless-looking shrubs. This house seemed to be a +place of business because from an iron fastened to the front of it +hung a board on which was painted an open boat, high at the prow and +stern, with a tall beak fashioned to the likeness of a dragon's head +and round shields all down the rail. + +While I was staring at this sign and wondering emptily what kind of a +boat it was and of what nation were the folk who had sailed in her, a +man came down the garden path and leaned upon the gate, staring in +turn at me. He was old and strange-looking, being clad in a rusty gown +with a hood to it that was pulled over his head, so that I could only +see a white, peaked beard and a pair of brilliant black eyes which +seemed to pierce me as a shoemaker's awl pierces leather. + +"What do you, young man," he asked in a high thin voice, "cumbering my +gate with those nags of yours? Would you sell that mail you have on +the pack-horse? If so I do not deal in such stuff, though it seems +good of its kind. So get on with it elsewhere." + +"Nay, sir," I answered, "I have naught to sell who in this hive of +traders seek one bee and cannot find him." + +"Hive of traders! Truly the great merchants of the Cheap would be +honoured. Have they stung you, then, already, young bumpkin from the +countryside, for such I write you down? But what bee do you seek? +Stay, now, let me guess. Is it a certain old knave named John Grimmer, +who trades in gold and jewels and other precious things and who, if he +had his deserts, should be jail?" + +"Aye, aye, that's the man," I said. + +"Surely he also will be honoured," exclaimed the old fellow with a +cackle. "He's a friend of mine and I will tell him the jest." + +"If you would tell me where to find him it would be more seasonable." + +"All in good time. But first, young sir, where did you get that fine +armour? If you stole it, it should be better hid." + +"Stole it!" I began in wrath. "Am I a London chapman----?" + +"I think not, though you may be before all is done, for who knows what +vile tricks Fortune will play us? Well, if you did not steal it, +mayhap you slew the wearer and are a murderer, for I see black blood +on the steel." + +"Murderer!" I gasped. + +"Aye, just as you say John Grimmer is a knave. But if not, then +perchance you slew the French knight who wore it on Hastings Hill, ere +you loosed the three arrows at the mouth of the cave near Minnes +Rock." + +Now I gaped at him. + +"Shut your mouth, young man, lest those teeth of yours should fall +out. You wonder how I know? Well, my friend John Grimmer, the +goldsmith knave, has a magic crystal which he purchased from one who +brought it from the East, and I saw it in that crystal." + +As he spoke, as though by chance he pushed back the hood that covered +his head, revealing a wrinkled old face with a mocking mouth which +drooped at one corner, a mouth that I knew again, although many years +had passed since I looked upon it as a boy. + +"You are John Grimmer!" I muttered. + +"Yes, Hubert of Hastings, I am that knave himself. And now tell me, +what did you do with the gold piece I gave you some twelve summers +gone?" + +Then I was minded to lie, for I feared this old man. But thinking +better of it, I answered that I had spent it on a dog. He laughed +outright and said: + +"Pray that it is not an omen and that you may not follow the gold +piece to the dogs. Well, I like you for speaking the truth when you +are tempted to do otherwise. Will you be pleased to shelter for a +while beneath the roof of John Grimmer, the merchant knave?" + +"You mock me, sir," I stammered. + +"Perhaps, perhaps! But there's many a true word spoken in jest; for if +you do not know it now you will learn it afterwards that we are all +knaves, each in his own fashion, who if we do not deceive others, at +least deceive ourselves, and I perhaps more than most. Vanity of +vanities! All is vanity." + +Then, waiting for no reply, he drew a silver whistle from under his +dusty robe and blew it, whereon--so swiftly that I marvelled whether +he were waiting--a stout-built serving man appeared to whom he said: + +"Take these horses to the stable and treat them as though they were my +own. Unload the pack beast, and when it has been cleaned, set the mail +and the other gear upon it in the room that has been made ready for +this young master, Hubert of Hastings, my nephew." + +Without a word the man led off the horses. + +"Be not afraid," chuckled John Grimmer, "for though I am a knave, dog +does not eat dog and what is yours is safe with me and those who serve +me. Now enter," and he led the way into the house, opening the iron- +studded oak door with a key from his pouch. + +Within was a shop where I saw precious things such as furs and gold +ornaments lying about. + +"The crumbs to catch the birds, especially the ladybirds," he said +with a sweep of his hand, then took me through the shop into a passage +and thence to a room on the right. It was not a large room but more +wonderfully furnished than any I had ever seen. In the centre was a +table of black oak with cunningly carved legs, on which stood cups of +silver and a noble centre piece that seemed to be of gold. From the +ceiling, too, hung silver lamps that already had been lit, for the +evening was closing in, and gave a sweet smell. There was a hearth +also with what was rare, a chimney, upon which burned a little fire of +logs, while the walls were hung with tapestries and broidered silks. + +Whilst I stared about me, my uncle took off his cloak beneath which he +was clothed in some rich but rather threadbare stuff, only retaining +the velvet skullcap that he wore. Then he bade me do the same, and +when I had laid my outer garment aside, looked me all over in the +lamplight. + +"A proper young man," he muttered to himself, "and I'd give all I have +to be his age and like him. I suppose those limbs and sinews of his +came from his father, for I was ever thin and spare, as was my father +before me. Nephew Hubert, I have heard all the tale of your dealings +with the Frenchmen, on whom be God's curse, at Hastings yonder; and I +say that I am proud of you, though whether I shall stay so is another +matter. Come hither." + +I obeyed, and taking me by my curling hair with his delicate hand, he +drew down my head and kissed me on the brow, muttering, "Neither chick +nor child for me and only this one left of the ancient blood. May he +do it honour." + +Then he motioned to me to be seated and rang a little silver bell that +stood upon the table. As in the case of the man without, it was +answered instantly from which I judged that Master Grimmer was well +served. Before the echoes of the bell died away a door opened, the +tapestry swung aside, and there appeared two most comely serving +maids, tall and well-shaped both of them, bearing food. + +"Pretty women, Nephew, no wonder that you look at them," he said when +they had gone away to fetch other things, "such as I like to have +about me although I am old. Women for within and men for without, that +is Nature's law, and ill will be the day when it is changed. Yet +beware of pretty women, Nephew, and I pray you kiss not those as you +did the lady Blanche Aleys at Hastings, lest it should upset my +household and turn servants into mistresses." + +I made no answer, being confounded by the knowledge that my uncle +showed of me and my affairs, which afterwards I discovered he had, in +part at any rate, from the old priest, my confessor, who had written +to commend me to him, telling my story and sending the letter by a +King's messenger, who left for London on the morrow of the Burning. +Nor did he wait for any, for he bade me sit down and eat, plying me +with more meats than I could swallow, all most delicately dressed, +also with rare wines such as I had never tasted, which he took from a +cupboard where they were kept in curious flasks of glass. Yet as I +noted, himself he ate but little, only picking at the breast of a fowl +and drinking but the half of a small silver goblet filled with wine. + +"Appetite, like all other good things, for the young," he said with a +sigh as he watched my hearty feasting. "Yet remember, Nephew, that if +you live to reach it, a day will come when yours will be as mine is. +Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity!" + +At length, when I could eat no more, again he rang the silver bell and +those fair waiting girls dressed alike in green appeared and cleared +away the broken meats. After they were gone he crouched over the fire +rubbing his thin hands to warm them, and said suddenly: + +"Now tell me of my sister's death and all the rest of your tale." + +So as well as I was able I told him everything from the hour when I +had first sighted the French fleet on board my fishing-boat to the +end. + +"You are no fool," he said when I had finished, "who can talk like any +clerk and bring things that have happened clearly to the listener's +eye, which I have noted few are able to do. So that's the story. Well, +your mother had a great heart, and she made a great end, such an one +as was loved of our northern race, and that even I, the old merchant +knave, desire and shall not win, who doubtless am doomed to die a +cow's death in the straw. Pray the All-Father Odin--nay, that is +heresy for which I might burn if you or the wenches told it to the +priests--pray God, I mean, that He may grant you a better, as He did +to old Thorgrimmer, if the tale be true, Thorgrimmer whose sword you +wear and have wielded shrewdly, as that French knight knows in hell +to-day." + +"Who was Odin?" I asked. + +"The great god of the North. Did not your mother tell you of him? Nay, +doubtless she was too good a Christian. Yet he lives on, Nephew. I say +that Odin lives in the blood of every fighting man, as Freya lives in +the heart of every lad and girl who loves. The gods change their +names, but hush! hush! talk not of Odin and of Freya, for I say that +it is heresy, or pagan, which is worse. What would you do now? Why +came you to London?" + +"Because my mother bade me and to seek my fortune." + +"Fortune--what is fortune? Youth and health are the best fortune, +though, if they know how to use it, those who have wealth as well may +go further than the rest. Also beauteous things are pleasant to the +sight and there is joy in gathering them. Yet at the last they mean +nothing, for naked we came out of the blackness and naked we return +there. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" + + + + CHAPTER IV + + KARI + +Thus began my life in London in the house of my uncle, John Grimmer, +who was called the Goldsmith. In truth, however, he was more than +this, since not only did he fashion and trade in costly things; he +lent out moneys to interest upon security to great people who needed +it, and even to the king Richard and his Court. Also he owned ships +and did much commerce with Holland, France, yes, and with Spain and +Italy. Indeed, although he appeared so humble, his wealth was very +large and always increased, like a snowball rolling down a hill; +moreover, he owned much land, especially in the neighbourhood of +London where it was likely to grow in value. + +"Money melts," he would say, "furs corrupt with moth and time, and +thieves break in and steal. But land--if the title be good--remains. +Therefore buy land, which none can carry away, near to a market or a +growing town if may be, and hire it out to fools to farm, or sell it +to other fools who wish to build great houses and spend their goods in +feeding a multitude of idle servants. Houses eat, Hubert, and the +larger they are, the more they eat." + +No word did he say to me as to my dwelling on with him, yet there I +remained, by common consent, as it were. Indeed on the morrow of my +coming a tailor appeared to measure me for such garments as he thought +I should wear, by his command, I suppose, as I was never asked for +payment, and he bade me furnish my chamber to my own liking, also +another room at the back of the house that was much larger than it +seemed, which he told me was to be mine to work in, though at what I +was to work he did not say. + +For a day or two I remained idle, staring at the sights of London and +only meeting my uncle at meals which sometimes we ate alone and +sometimes in the company of sea-captains and learned clerks or of +other merchants, all of whom treated him with great deference and as I +soon guessed, were in truth his servants. At night, however, we were +always alone and then he would pour out his wisdom on me while I +listened, saying little. On the sixth day, growing weary of this +idleness, I made bold to ask him if there was aught that I could do. + +"Aye, plenty if you have a mind to work," he answered. "Sit down now, +and take pen and paper and write what I shall tell you." + +Then he dictated a short letter to me as to shipping wine from Spain, +and when it was sanded, read it carefully. + +"You have it right," he said, seeming pleased, "and your script is +clear if boyish. They taught you none so ill yonder at Hastings where +I thought you had only learned to handle ropes and arrows. Work? Yes, +there is plenty of it of the more private sort which I do not give to +this scribe or to that who might betray my secrets. For know," he went +on in a stern voice, "there is one thing which I never pardon, and it +is betrayal. Remember that, nephew Hubert, even in the arms of your +loves, if you should be fool enough to seek them, or in your cups." + +So he talked on, and while he did so went to an iron chest that he +unlocked, and thence drew out a parchment roll which he bade me take +to my workroom and copy there. I did so, and found that it was an +inventory of his goods and estates, and oh! before I had done I wished +that there were fewer of them. All the long day I laboured, only +stopping for a bite at noon, till my head swam and my fingers ached. +Yet as I did so I felt proud, for I guessed that my uncle had set me +this task for two reasons: first, to show his trust in me, and, +secondly, to acquaint me with the state of his possessions, but as it +were in the way of business. By nightfall I had finished and checked +the copy which with the original I hid in my robe when the green-robed +waiting maid summoned me to eat. + +At our meal my uncle asked me what I had seen that day and I replied-- +naught but figures and crabbed writing--and handed him the parchments +which he compared item by item. + +"I am pleased with you," he said at last, "for heresofar I find but a +single error and that is my fault, not yours; also you have done two +days' work in one. Still, it is not fit that you who are accustomed to +the open air should bend continually over deeds and inventories. +Therefore, to-morrow I shall have another task for you, for like +yourself your horse needs exercise." + +And so he had, for with two stout servants riding with me and guiding +me, he sent me out of London to view a fair estate of his upon the +borders of the Thames and to visit his tenants there and make report +of their husbandry, also of certain woods where he proposed to fell +oak for shipbuilding. This I did, for the servants made me known to +the tenants, and got back at night-fall, able to tell him all which he +was glad to learn, since it seemed that he had not seen this estate +for five long years. + +On another day he sent me to visit ships in which goods of his were +being laden at the wharf, and on another took me with him to a sale of +furs that came from the far north where I was told the snow never +melts and there is always ice in the sea. + +Also he made me known to merchants with whom he traded, and to his +agents who were many, though for the most part secret, together with +other goldsmiths who held moneys of his, and in a sense were partners, +forming a kind of company so that they could find great sums in sudden +need. Lastly, his clerks and dependents were made to understand that +if I gave an order it must be obeyed, though this did not happen until +I had been with him for some time. + +Thus it came about that within a year I knew all the threads of John +Grimmer's great business, and within two it drifted more and more into +my hands. The last part of it with which he made me acquainted was +that of lending money to those in high places, and even to the State +itself, but at length I was taught this also and came to know sundry +of these men, who in private were humble borrowers, but if they met us +in the street passed us with the nod that the great give to their +inferiors. Then my uncle would bow low, keeping his eyes fixed upon +the ground and bid me do the same. But when they were out of hearing +he would chuckle and say, + +"Fish in my net, goldfish in my net! See how they shine who presently +must wriggle on the shore. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, and +doubtless Solomon knew such in his day." + +Hard I worked, and ever harder, toiling at the mill of all these large +affairs and keeping myself in health during such time as I could spare +by shooting at the butts with my big bow where I found that none could +beat me, or practising sword play in a school of arms that was kept by +a master of the craft from Italy. Also on holidays and on Sundays +after mass I rode out of London to visit my uncle's estates where +sometimes I slept a night, and once or twice sailed to Holland or to +Calais with his cargoes. + +One day, it was when I had been with him about eighteen months, he +said to me suddenly. + +"You plough the field, Hubert, and do not tithe the crop, but live +upon the bounty of the husbandman. Henceforward take as much of it as +you will. I ask no account." + +So I found myself rich, though in truth I spent but little, both +because my tastes were simple and it was part of my uncle's policy to +make no show which he said would bring envy on us. From this time +forward he began to withdraw himself from business, the truth being +that age took hold of him and he grew feeble. The highest of the +affairs he left to me, only inquiring of them and giving his counsel +from time to time. Still, because he must do something, he busied +himself in the shop which, as he said, he kept as a trap for the +birds, chaffering in ornaments and furs as though his bread depended +upon his earning a gold piece, and directing the manufacture of +beautiful jewels and cups which he, who was an artist, designed to be +made by his skilled and highly paid workmen, some of whom were +foreigners. + +"We end where we began," he would say. "A smith was I from my +childhood and a smith I shall die. What a fate for one of the blood of +Thorgrimmer! Yet I am selling you into the same bondage, or so it +would seem. But who knows? Who knows? We design, but God decrees." + +It is to be noted that when old men cease from the occupation of their +lives, often enough within a very little time they also cease from +life itself. So it was with my uncle. Day by day he faded till at last +at the beginning of the third winter after I came to him he took to +his bed where he lay growing ever weaker till at length he died in the +hour of the birth of the new year. + +To the last his mind remained clear and strong, and never more so than +on the night of his death. That evening after I had eaten I went to +his room as usual and found him reading a beautiful manuscript of the +book of the Wisdom of Solomon that is called Ecclesiastes, a work +which he preferred to all others, since its thoughts were his. "I +gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasures of kings," +he read aloud, whether to himself or to me I knew not, and went on, +"So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me. +. . . Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on +the labour that I had laboured to do; and behold all was vanity and +vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." + +He closed the book, saying, + +"So shall you find, Nephew, you, and every man in the evil days of age +when you shall say, 'I have no pleasure in them.' Hubert, I am going +to my long home, nor do I grieve. In youth I met with sorrow, for +though I have never told you, I was married then and had one son, a +bright boy, and oh! I loved him and his mother. Then came the plague +and took them both. So having naught left and being by nature one of +those who could wean himself from women, which I fear that you are +not, Hubert, noting all the misery there is in the world and how those +who are called noble whom I hate, grind down the humble and the poor, +I turned myself to good works. Half of all my gains I have given and +still give to those who minister to poverty and sickness; you will +find a list of them when I am gone should you wish to continue the +bounty, as to which I do not desire to bind you in any way. For know, +Hubert, that I have left you all that is mine; the gold and the ships +with the movables and chattels to be your own, but the lands which are +the main wealth, for life and afterwards to be your children's, or if +you should die childless, then to go to certain hospitals where the +sick are tended." + +Now I would have thanked him, but he waved my words aside and went on: + +"You will be a very rich man, Hubert, one of the richest in all +London; yet set not your heart on wealth, and above all do not ape +nobility or strive to climb from the honest class of which you come +into the ranks of those idle and dissolute cut-throats and pick-brains +who are called the great. Lighten their pockets if you will, but do +not seek to wear their silken, scented garments. That is my counsel to +you." + +He paused a while, picking at the bedclothes as the dying do, and +continued, + +"You told me that your mother thought you would be a wanderer, and it +is strange that now my mind should be as hers was in this matter. For +I seem to see you far away amidst war and love and splendour, holding +Wave-Flame aloft as did that Thorgrimmer who begat us. Well, go where +you are called or as occasion drives, though you have much to keep you +at home. I would that you were wed, since marriage is an anchor that +few ships can drag. Yet I am not sure, for how know I whom you should +wed, and once that anchor is down no windlass will wind it up and +death alone can cut its chain. One word more. Though you are so young +and strong remember that as I am, so shall you be. To-day for me, +to-morrow for thee, said the wise old man, and thus it ever was and +is. + +"Hubert, I do not know why we are born to struggle and to suffer and +at last be noosed with the rope of Doom. Yet I hope the priests are +right and that we live again, though Solomon thought not so; that is, +if we live where there is neither sin nor sorrow nor fear of death. If +so, be sure that in some new land we shall meet afresh, and there I +shall ask account of you of the wealth I entrusted to your keeping. +Think of me kindly at times, for I have learned to love you who are of +my blood, and while we live on in the hearts of those we love, we are +not truly dead. Come hither that I may bless you in your coming in and +going out while you still look upon the sun." + +So he blessed me in beautiful and tender words, and kissed me on the +brow, after which he bade me leave him and send the woman to watch +him, because he desired to sleep. + +When she looked at him at midnight just as the bells rang in the new +year, he was dead. + +According to his wish John Grimmer, the last of that name, was buried +by the bones of his forgotten wife and child, who had left the world +over fifty years before, in the chancel of that church in the Cheap +which was within a stone's throw of his dwelling house. By his desire +also the funeral was without pomp, yet many came to it, some of them +of high distinction, although the day was cold and snowy. I noted, +moreover, the deference they showed to me who by now was known to be +his heir, even if they had never spoken with me before, as was the +case with certain of them, taking occasion to draw me aside and say +that they trusted that their ancient friendship with my honoured uncle +would be continued by myself. + +Afterwards I looked up their names in his private book and found that +one and all of those who had spoken thus owed moneys to his estate. + +When the will was sworn and I found myself the master of many legions, +or rather of more money, land, and other wealth than I had ever +dreamed of, at first I was minded to be rid of trade and to take up my +abode upon one or other of my manors, where I might live in plenty for +the rest of my days. In the end, however, I did not do so, partly +because I shrank from new faces and surroundings, and partly because I +was sure that such would not have been my uncle's wish. + +Instead I set myself to play and outpass his game. He had died very +rich; I determined that I would die five or ten times richer; the +richest man in England if I could, not because I cared for money, of +which indeed I spent but little upon myself, but because the getting +of it and the power that it brought, seemed to me the highest kind of +sport. So bending my mind to the matter I doubled and trebled his +enterprises on this line and on that, and won and won again, for even +where skill and foresight failed, Fortune stood my friend with a such +strange persistence that at length I became superstitious and grew +frightened of her gifts. Also I took pains to hide my great riches +from the public eye, placing much of them in the names of others whom +I could trust, and living most modestly in the same old house, lest I +should become a man envied by the hungry and marked for plunder by the +spendthrift great. + + + +It was during the summer following my uncle's death that I went to the +wharves to see to the unloading of a ship that came in from Venice, +bearing many goods from the East on my account, such as ivory, silks, +spices, glass, carpets, and I know not what. Having finished my +business and seen these precious things warehoused, I handed over the +checking of a list of them to another and turned to seek my horse. + +Then it was that I saw a number of half-grown lads and other idlers +mobbing a man who stood among them wrapped in a robe of what looked +like tattered sheepskin, yet was not because the wool on it was of a +reddish hue and very long and soft, which robe was thrown over his +head hiding his face. At this man--a tall figure who stood there +patiently like a martyr at the stake--these lewd fellows were hurling +offal, such as fishes' heads and rotted fruits that lay in plenty on +the quay, together with coarse words. "Blackamoor" was one I caught. + +Such sights were common enough, but there was a quiet dignity of +bearing about this victim which moved me, so that I went to the rabble +commanding them to desist. One of them, a rough bumpkin, not knowing +who I was, pushed me aside, bidding me mind my own business, +whereupon, being very strong, I dealt him such a blow between the eyes +that he went down like a felled ox and lay there half stunned. His +companions beginning to threaten me, I blew upon my whistle, whereon +two of my serving-men, without whom I seldom rode in those troublous +times, ran up from behind a shed, laying hands upon their short +swords, on seeing which the idlers took to their heels. + +When they had gone I turned to look at the stranger, whose hood had +fallen back in the hustling, and saw that he was about thirty years of +age, and of a dark and noble countenance, beardless, but with straight +black hair, black flashing eyes, and an aquiline nose. Another thing I +noted about him was that the lobe of his ear was pierced and in a +strange fashion, since the gristle was stretched to such a size that a +small apple could have been placed within its ring. For the rest the +man's limbs were so thin as though from hunger, that everywhere his +bones showed, while his skin was scarred with cuts and scratches, and +on his forehead was a large bruise. He seemed bewildered also and very +weak, yet I think he understood that I was playing a friend's part to +him, for he bowed towards me in a stately, courteous way and kissed +the air thrice, but what this meant at the time I did not know. + +I spoke to him in English, but he shook his head gently to show that +he did not understand. Then, as though by an afterthought, he touched +his breast several times, and after each touch, said in a voice of +strange softness, "Kari," which I took it he meant was his name. At +any rate, from that time forward I called him Kari. + +Now the question was how to deal with him. Leave him there to be +mocked or to perish I could not, nor was there anywhere whither I +could send him. Therefore it seemed the only thing to do was to take +him home with me. So grasping his arm gently I led him off the quay +where our horses were and motioned to him to mount one that had been +ridden by a servant whom I bade to walk. At the sight of these horses, +however, a great terror took hold of him for he trembled all over, a +sweat bursting out upon his face, and clung to me as though for +protection, making it evident that he had never seen such an animal +before. Indeed, nothing would persuade him to go near them, for he +shook his head and pointed to his feet, thus showing me that he +preferred to walk, however weak his state. + +The end of it was that walk he did and I with him from Thames side to +the Cheap, since I dared not leave him alone for fear lest he should +run away. A strange sight we presented, I leading this dusky wanderer +through the streets, and glad was I that night was falling so that few +saw us and those who did thought, I believe, that I was bringing some +foreign thief to jail. + +At length we reached the Boat House as my dwelling was called, from +the image of the old Viking vessel that my uncle had carved and set +above the door, and I led him in staring about him with all his eyes, +which in his thin face looked large as those of an owl, taking him up +the stairs, which seemed to puzzle him much, for at every step he +lifted his leg high into the air, to an empty guest room. + +Here besides the bed and other furniture was a silver basin with its +jug, one of the beautiful things that John Grimmer had brought I know +not whence. On these Kari fixed his eyes at once, staring at them in +the light of the candles that I had lit, as though they were familiar +to him. Indeed, after glancing at me as though for permission, he went +to the jug that was kept full of water in case of visitors of whom I +had many on business, lifted it, and after pouring a few drops of the +water on to the floor as though he made some offering, drank deeply, +thus showing that he was parched with thirst. + +Then without more ado he filled the basin and throwing off his +tattered robe began to wash himself to the waist, round which he wore +another garment, of dirty cotton I thought, which looked like a +woman's petticoat. Watching him I noted two things, that his poor body +was as scratched and scarred as though by old thorn wounds, as were +his face and hands, also marked with great bruises as though from +kicks and blows, and secondly that hung about his neck was a wondrous +golden image about four inches in length. It was of rude workmanship +with knees bent up under the chin, but the face, in which little +emeralds were set for eyes, was of a great and solemn dignity. + +This image Kari washed before he touched himself with water, bowing to +it the while, and when he saw me observing him, looked upwards to the +sky and said a word that sounded like /Pachacamac/, from which I took +it to be some idol that the poor man worshipped. Lastly, tied about +his middle was a hide bag filled with I knew not what. + +Now I found a washball made of oil of olives mixed with beech ash and +showed him the use of it. At first he shrank from this strange thing, +but coming to understand its office, served himself of it readily, +smiling when he saw how well it cleansed his flesh. Further, I fetched +a shirt of silk with a pair of easy shoes and a fur-lined robe that +had belonged to my uncle, also hosen, and showed him how to put them +on, which he learned quickly enough. A comb and a brush that were on +the table he seemed to understand already, for with them he dressed +his tangled hair. + +When all was finished in a fashion, I led him down the stairs again to +the eating-room where supper was waiting, and offered him food, at the +sight of which his eyes glistened, for clearly he was well-nigh +starving. The chair I gave him he would not sit on, whether from +respect for me or because it was strange to him, I do not know, but +seeing a low stool of tapestry which my uncle had used to rest his +feet, he crouched upon this, and thus ate of whatever I gave him, very +delicately though he was so hungry. Then I poured wine from Portugal +into a goblet and drank some myself to show him that it was harmless, +which, after tasting it, he swallowed to the last drop. + +The meal being finished which I thought it was well to shorten lest he +should eat too much who was so weak, again he lifted up his eyes as +though in gratitude, and as a sign of thankfulness, or so I suppose, +knelt before me, took my hand, and pressed it against his forehead, +thereby, although I did not know it at the time, vowing himself to my +service. Then seeing how weary he was I conducted him back to the +chamber and pointed out the bed to him, shutting my eyes to show that +he should sleep there. But this he would not do until he had dragged +the bedding on to the floor, from which I gathered that his people, +whoever they might be, had the habit of sleeping on the ground. + +Greatly did I wonder who this man was and from what race he sprang, +since never had I seen any human being who resembled him at all. Of +one thing only was I certain, namely, that his rank was high, since no +noble of the countries that I knew had a bearing so gentle or manners +so fine. Of black men I had seen several, who were called negroes, and +others of a higher sort called Moors; gross, vulgar fellows for the +most part and cut-throats if in an ill-humour, but never a one of them +like this Kari. + +It was long before my curiosity was satisfied, and even then I did not +gather much. By slow degrees Kari learned English, or something of it, +though never enough to talk fluently in that tongue into which he +always seemed to translate in his mind from another full of strange +figures of thought and speech. When after many months he had mastered +sufficient of our language, I asked him to tell me his story which he +tried to do. All I could make of it, however, came to this. + +He was, he said, the son of a king who ruled over a mighty empire far +far away, across thousands of miles of sea towards that part of the +sky where the sun sank. He declared that he was the eldest lawful son, +born of the King's sister, which seemed dreadful to my ideas though +perhaps he meant cousin or relative, but that there were scores of +other children of his father, which, if true, showed that this king +must be a very loose-living man who resembled in his domesticities the +wise Solomon of whom my uncle was so fond. + +It appeared, further, according to the tale, that this king, his +father, had another son born of a different mother, and that of this +son he was fonder than of my guest, Kari. His name was Urco, and he +was jealous of and hated Kari the lawful heir. Moreover, as is common, +a woman came into the business, since Kari had a wife, the loveliest +lady in all the land, though as I understood, not of the same tribe or +blood as himself, and with this wife of his Urco fell in love. So +greatly did he desire her, although he had plenty of wives of his own, +that being the general of the King's troops, he sent Kari, with the +consent of their father, to command an army that was to fight a +distant savage nation, hoping that he would be killed, much as David +did in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba, of whom the Bible tells the +story. But as it happened, instead of being killed like Uriah, Kari +conquered the distant nation, and after two years returned to the +King's court, where he found that his brother Urco had led astray his +wife whom he had taken into his household. Being very angry, Kari +recovered his wife by command of the King, and put her to death +because of her faithlessness. + +Thereon the King, his father, a stern man, ordered him into banishment +because he had broken the laws of the land, which did not permit of +private vengeance over a matter of a woman who was not even of the +royal blood, however fair she might be. Before he went, however, Urco, +who was mad at the loss of his love, caused some kind of poison to be +given to Kari, which although it does not kill, for he dared not kill +him because of his station, deprives him who takes it of his reason, +sometimes for ever and sometimes for a year or more. After this, said +Kari, he remembered little or nothing, save long travellings in boats +and through forests, and then again upon a raft or boat on which he +was driven alone, for many, many days, drinking a jar of water which +he had with him, and eating some dried flesh and with it a marvellous +drug of his people, some of which remained to him in the leathern bag +that has power to keep the life in a man for weeks, even if he is +labouring hard. + +At last, he declared, he was picked up by a great ship such as he had +never seen before, though of this ship he recalled little. Indeed he +remembered nothing more until he found himself upon the quay where I +discovered him, and of a sudden his mind seemed to return but he said +he believed that he had come ashore in a boat in which were fishermen, +having been thrown into it by the people on the ship which went on +elsewhere, and that he had walked up the shores of a river. This story +the bruises on his forehead and body seemed to bear out, but it was +far from clear, and by the time I learned it months afterwards of +course no traces of the fishermen or their boat could be found. I +asked him the name of the country from which he came. He answered that +it was called /Tavantinsuyu/. He added that it was a wonderful country +in which were cities and churches and great snow-clad mountains and +fertile valleys and high plains and hot forests through which ran wide +rivers. + +From all the learned men whom I could meet, especially those who had +travelled far, I made inquiries concerning this country called +Tavantinsuyu, but none of them had so much as heard its name. Indeed, +they declared that my brown man must have come from Africa, and that +his mind being disordered, he had invented this wondrous land which he +said lay far away to the west where the sun sank. + +So there I must leave this matter, though for my part I was sure that +Kari was not mad, whatever he might have been in the past. A great +dreamer he was, it is true, who declared that the poison which his +brother had given him had "eaten a hole in his mind" through which he +could see and hear things which others could not. Thus he was able to +read the secret motives of men and women with wonderful clearness, so +much so that sometimes I asked him, laughing, if he could not give me +some of that poison that I might see into the hearts of those with +whom I dealt. Of another thing, too, he was always certain, namely, +that he would return to his country Tavantinsuyu of which he thought +day and night, and that /I should accompany him/. At this I laughed +again and said that if so it would be after we were both dead. + +By degrees he learned English quite well and even how to read and +write it, teaching me in return much of his own language which he +called /Quichua/, a soft and beautiful tongue, though he said that +there were also many others in his country, including one that was +secret to the King and his family, which he was not allowed to reveal +although he knew it. In time I mastered enough of this Quichua to be +able to talk to Kari in brief sentences of it when I did not wish +others to understand what I said. + +To tell the truth, while I studied thus and listened to his marvellous +tales, a great desire arose in me to see this land of his and to open +up a trade with it, since there he declared gold was as plentiful as +was iron with us. I thought even of making a voyage of discovery to +the west, but when I spoke of it to certain sea-captains, even the +most venturesome mocked at me and said that they would wait for that +journey till they "went west" themselves, by which in their sea +parlance that they had learned in the Mediterranean, they meant until +they died.[*] When I told Kari this he smiled in his mysterious way +and answered that all the same, I and he should make that journey +together and this before we died, a thing that came about, indeed, +though, not by my own will or his. + +[*] Of late there has been much dispute as to the origin of the phrase + "to go west," or in other words, to die. Surely it arises from the + custom of the Ancient Egyptians who, after death, were ferried + across the Nile and entombed upon the western shore.--Ed. + +For the rest when Kari saw my workmen fashioning gold and setting +jewels in it for sale to the nobles and ladies of the Court, he was +much interested and asked if he might be allowed to follow this craft, +of which he said he understood something, and thus earn the bread he +ate. I answered, yes, for I knew that it irked his proud nature to be +dependent on me, and gave him gold and silver with a little room +having a furnace in it where he could labour. The first thing he made +was an object about two inches across, round and with a groove at the +back of it, on the front of which he fashioned an image of the sun +having a human face and rays of light projecting all about. I asked +him what was its purpose, whereon he took the piece and thrust it into +the lobe of his ear where the gristle had been stretched in the +fashion that I have described, which it fitted exactly. Then he told +me that in his country all the nobles wore such ornaments and that +those who did so were called "ear-men" to distinguish them from the +common people. Also he told me many other things too long to set out, +which made me desire more than ever to see this empire with my eyes, +for an empire and no less he declared it to be. + +Afterwards Kari made many such ornaments which I sold for brooches +with a pin set at the back of them. Also he shaped other things, for +his skill as a goldsmith was wonderful, such as cups and platters of +strange design and rich ornamentation which commanded a great price. +But on every one of them, in the centre or some other part of the +embossment, appeared this image of the sun. I asked him why. He +answered because the sun was his god and his people were Sun- +worshippers. I reminded him that he had said that a certain Pachacamac +whose image he wore about his neck was his god. To this he replied: + +"Yes, Pachacamac is the god above gods, the Creator, the Spirit of the +World, but the Sun is his visible house and raiment that all may see +and worship," a saying that I thought had truth in it, seeing that all +Nature is the raiment of God. + +I tried to instruct him in our faith, but although he listened +patiently and I think understood, he would not become a Christian, +making it very plain to me that he thought that a man should live and +die in the religion in which he was born and that from what he saw in +London he did not hold that Christians were any better than those who +worshipped the sun and the great spirit, Pachacamac. So I abandoned +this attempt, although there was danger to him while he remained a +heathen. Indeed twice or thrice the priests made inquiry concerning +his faith, being curious as to all that had to do with him. However, I +silenced them by pretending that I was instructing him as well as I +was able and that as yet he did not know enough English to hearken to +their holy expositions. Also when they became persistent I made gifts +to the monasteries to which they belonged, or if they were parish +priests, then to their curés or churches. + +Still I was troubled about this matter, for some of these priests were +very fierce and intolerant, and I was sure that in time they would +push the business further. + +One more thing I noticed about Kari, namely, that he shrank from women +and indeed seemed to hate them. The maids who had remained with me +since my uncle's death noticed this, by nature as it were, and in +revenge would not serve him. The end of it was that, fearing lest they +should do him some evil turn with the priests or otherwise, I sent +them away and hired men to take their place. This distaste of Kari for +women I set down to all that he had suffered at the hands of his false +and beautiful wife not wrongly as I think. + + + + CHAPTER V + + THE COMING OF BLANCHE + +One day, it was the last of the year, the anniversary of the death of +my uncle whose goodness and wisdom I pondered on more and more as time +went by, having a little time to spare from larger affairs, I chanced +to be in the shop in the front of the house, which, as John Grimmer +had said, he kept as a trap to "snare the ladybirds," and I continued, +because I knew that he would not wish that anything should be changed. +Here I was pleasing myself by looking over such pieces as we had to +sell which the head craftsman was showing to me, since myself I knew +little of them, except as a matter of account. + +Whilst I was thus engaged there entered the shop a very fine lady +accompanied by a still finer lordling arrayed so similarly that, at +first sight, in their hooded ermine cloaks it was difficult to know +which was man and which was woman. When they threw these aside, +however, for the shop was warm after the open air, I knew more than +that, since with a sudden stoppage of the heart I saw before me none +other than the lady Blanche Aleys and her relative, the lord Deleroy. + +She, who in the old days of the Hastings burnings had been but a lily +bud, was now an open flower and beautiful exceedingly; indeed in her +own fashion the most beautiful woman that ever I beheld. Tall she was +and stately as a lily bloom, white as a lily also, save for those +wondrous blue eyes over which curled the dark lashes. In shape, too, +she was perfect, full-breasted, yet not too full, small-waisted, and +with delicate limbs, a very Venus, such an one as I had seen in +ancient marble brought in a ship from Italy and given, as I believe, +to the King, who loved such things, to be set up in his palace. + +My lord also was yet handsomer than he had been, more set and manly, +though still he affected his coxcomb party-coloured dress with the +turned-up shoes of which the points were fastened by little golden +chains beneath the knee. Still he was a fine man with his roving black +eyes, his loose mouth and little pointed beard from which, as from his +hair, came an odour of scents. Seeing me in my merchant's gown, for I +remained mindful of my uncle's advice as regards attire, he spoke to +me as great men do to shop-keepers. + +"Well met, Goldsmith," he said in his round, well-trained voice, "I +would make a new-year gift to the lady here, and I am told that you +have plate-wares of the best; gold cups and jewels of rich and rare +design, stamped all of them with the image of the sun which one would +wish to remember on such a day as this. But hearken, let John Grimmer +himself come to serve me for I would treat with no underlings, or take +me to him where he is." + +Now I bowed before him, rubbing my hands, and answered, for so the +humour led me: "Then I fear that I must take my lord farther than my +lord would wish to travel just at present, though who knows? +Perchance, like the rest of us, he may take that journey sooner than +he thinks." + +Now at the sound of my voice I saw the lady Blanche stare at me, +trying to catch sight of my face beneath the hood which I wore on this +cold day, while Deleroy started and said briefly: + +"Your meaning?" + +"It is plain, my lord. John Grimmer is dead and I know not where he +dwells at present since he took that secret with him. But I, who +unworthily carry on his trade, am at your lordship's service." + +Then I turned and bade the shopman command Kari to come hither and +bring with him the choicest of our cups and jewels. + +He went and I busied myself in setting stools for these noble +customers to rest on before the fire. As I did so by chance my hand +touched that of the lady Blanche, whereat once more she strove to peer +beneath my hood. It was as though the nature in her knew that touch +again, as by some instinct every woman does, if once the toucher's +lips have been near her own, though it be long ago. But I only turned +my head away and drew that hood the closer. + +Now Kari came and with him the shopman, bearing the precious wares. +Kari wore a wool-lined robe, very plain, which yet became him so well +that with his fine-cut face and flashing eyes he looked like an +Eastern prince disguised. At him this fine pair stared, for never had +they seen such a man, but taking no note, with many bows he showed the +jewels one by one. Among these was a gem of great value, a large, +heart-shaped ruby that Kari had set in a surround of twisted golden +serpents with heads raised to strike and little eyes of diamonds. Upon +this brooch the lady Blanche fixed her gaze and discarding all others, +began to play with it, till at length the lord Deleroy asked the +price. I consulted with Kari, explaining that myself I did not handle +this branch of my business, then named it carelessly; it was a great +sum. + +"God's truth! Blanche," said Deleroy, "this merchant thinks I am made +of gold. You must choose a cheaper ornament for your new year's gift, +or he will have to wait for payment." + +"Which mayhap I should be willing to do from one of your quality, my +lord," I interrupted, bowing. + +He looked at me and said: + +"Can I have a word apart with you, merchant?" + +Again I bowed and led him to the eating-room where he gazed about him, +amazed at the richness of the furnishings. He sat him down upon a +carven chair while I stood before him humbly and waited. + +"I am told," he said at length, "that John Grimmer did other business +besides that of selling jewels." + +"Yes, my lord, some foreign trade." + +"And some home trade also. I mean that he lent money." + +"At times, my lord, and on good security, if he chanced to have any at +command, and at a certain interest. Perhaps my lord will come to his +point." + +"It is short and clear. Those of us who are at Court always want money +where it is needful if we would have advancement and earn the royal +favour of one who does not pay, at least in gold." + +"Be pleased to state the amount and the security offered, my lord." + +He did so. The sum was high and the security was bad. + +"Are there any who would stand surety for my lord?" + +"Yes, one of great estate, Sir Robert Aleys, who has wide lands in +Sussex." + +"I have heard the name, and if my lord will bid his lawyers put the +matter in writing, I will cause the lands to be valued and give an +answer as quickly as may be." + +"For a young man you are careful, merchant." + +"Alas! such as I need to be who must guard our small earnings in these +troublous times of war and tumult. Such a sum as you speak of would +take all that John Grimmer and I have laid by after years of toil." + +Again he looked at the furnishings of the room and shrugged his +shoulders, then said: + +"Good, it shall be done for the need is urgent. To whom is the letter +to be sent?" + +"To John Grimmer, at the Boat House, Cheapside." + +"But you told me that John Grimmer was dead." + +"And so he is, my lord, but his name remains." + +Then we returned to the sop and as we went I said, + +"If your lordship's lady should set her heart upon the ruby the cost +of it can stand over a while, since I know that it is hard for a +husband to disappoint a wife of what she desires." + +"Man, she is my distant cousin, not my wife. I would she were, but how +can two high-placed paupers wed?" + +"Perhaps it is for this reason that my lord wishes to borrow money." + +Again he shrugged his shoulders, and as we entered the shop I threw +back the hood from off my head upon which I wore a merchant's cap of +velvet. The lady Blanche caught sight of me and started. + +"Surely, surely," she began, "you are he who shot the three arrows at +the cave's mouth at Hastings." + +"Yes, my lady, and did your hawk escape the dogs upon the London +road?" + +"Nay, it was crippled and died, which was the first of many troubles, +for I think my luck rode away with you that day, Master Hubert of +Hastings," she added with a sigh. + +"There are other hawks and luck returns," I replied, bowing. "Perhaps +this trinket will bring it back to you, my lady," and taking the +snake-surrounded ruby heart, I proffered it to her with another bow. + +"Oh!" she said, her blue eyes shining with pleasure, "oh! it is +beautiful, but whence is the price to come for so costly a thing?" + +"I think the matter is one that can wait." + +At that moment the lord Deleroy broke in, saying, + +"So you are the man who slew the French knight with an ancient sword, +and afterwards shot three other Frenchmen with three shafts, sending +one of them through shield and mail and body, a tale that was spoken +of afterwards, even in London. God's truth! you should be serving the +King in the wars, not yourself behind the counter." + +"There are many ways of serving, my lord," I answered, "by pen and +merchandise as well as by steel and shafts. Now with me it is the turn +of the former, though perhaps the ancient sword and the great black +bow wait till their time comes again." + +He stared at me and muttered, half to himself: + +"A strange merchant and a grim, as those dead Frenchmen may have +thought. I tell you, Sir Trader, that your talk and the eyes of that +tall Moor of yours turn my back cold; it is as though someone walked +over my grave. Come, Blanche, let us begone ere our horses be chilled +as I am. Master Grimmer, or Hastings, you shall hear from me, unless I +can do my business otherwise, and for the trinket send me a note at +your leisure." + +Then they went, but as the lady Blanche left the shop she caught her +robe and turned to free it, while she did so flashing at me one of her +sweet looks such as I remembered well. + +Kari followed to the door and watched them mount their horses at the +gate, then he searched the ground with his eyes. + +"What was it hooked her cloak?" I asked. + +"A dream, or the air, Master, for there is nothing else to which it +could have hung. Those who would throw spears behind them must first +turn round." + +"What think you of those two, Kari?" + +"I think that they will not pay for your jewel, but perhaps this was +but a bait upon the hook." + +"And what more, Kari?" + +"I think that the lady is very fair and false, and that the great +lord's heart is as black as are his eyes. Also I think that they are +dear to each other and well matched. But it seems that you have met +them both before, Master, so you will know better about them than your +slave." + +"Yes, I have met them," I answered sharply, for his words about +Blanche angered me, adding, "I have noted, Kari, that you have never a +good word for any one whom I favour. You are jealous-natured, Kari, +especially of women." + +"You ask, I answer," he replied, falling into broken English, as was +his fashion when moved, "and it is true that those who have much love, +are much jealous. That is a fault in my people. Also I love not women. +Now I go make another piece for that which Master give the lady. Only +this time it all snake and no heart." + +He went, taking the tray of jewels with him, and I, too, went to the +eating-room to think. + +How strange was this meeting. I had never forgotten the lady Blanche, +but in a sense I had lived her memory down and mindful of my uncle's +counsel, had not sought to look upon her again, for which reason I +kept away from Hastings where I thought that I should find her. And +now here she was in London and in my house, brought thither by fate. +Nor was that all, since those blue eyes of hers had re-lighted the +dead fires in my heart and, seated there alone, I knew that I loved +her; indeed had never ceased to love her. She was more to me than all +my wealth, more than anything, and alas! between us there was still a +great gulf fixed. + +She was not wed, it was true, but she was a highly placed lady, and I +but a merchant who could not even call myself a squire, or by law wear +garments made of certain stuffs which I handled daily in my trade. How +might that gulf be crossed? + +Then as I mused there rose in my mind a memory of certain sayings of +my wise old uncle, and with it an answer to the question. Gold would +bridge the widest streams of human difference. These fine folk for all +their flauntings were poor. They came to me to borrow money wherewith +to gild their coronets and satisfy the importunate creditors at their +door, lest they should be pulled from their high place and forced back +into the number of the common herd as those who could no longer either +give or pay. + +And after all, was this difference between them and me so wide? The +grandsire of Sir Robert Aleys, I had been told, gathered his wealth by +trade and usury in the old wars; indeed, it was said that he was one +who dealt in cattle, while Lord Deleroy was reported to be a bastard, +if of the bluest blood, so blue that it ran nigh to the royal purple. +Well, what was mine? On the father's side, Saxon descended from that +of Thanes who went down before the Normans and thereafter became +humble landed folk of the lesser sort. On the mother's, of the race of +the old sea-kings who slew and conquered through all the world they +knew. Was I then so far beneath these others? Nay, but like my father +and my uncle I was one who bought and sold and the hand of the dyer +was stained to the colour of his vat. + +Thus stood the business. I, a stubborn man, not ill-favoured, to whom +Fortune had given wealth, was determined to win this woman who, it +seemed to me, looked upon me with no unkind eye since I had saved her +from certain perils. To myself then and there I swore I would win her. +The question was--how could it be done? I might enter the service of +the King and fight his battles and doubtless win myself a knighthood, +or more, which would open the closed gate. + +Nay, it would take too long, and something warned me that time +pressed. That strange foreign man, Kari, said that Blanche was +enamoured of this Deleroy, and although I was wrath with him, setting +his words down to jealousy of any on whom I looked with kindness, I +knew well that Kari saw far. If I tarried, this rare white bird would +slip from my hand into another's cage. I must stir at once or let the +matter be. Well, I had wealth, so let wealth be my friend. Time enough +to try war when it failed me. + + + +On the third day of the new year, which at this time of Court revelry +showed that the matter must indeed be pressing, I received those +particulars for which I had asked, together with a list of the lands +and tenements that Sir Robert Aleys was ready to put in pawn on behalf +of his friend and relative, the lord Deleroy. Why should he do this, I +wondered? There could only be one answer: because he and not Deleroy +was to receive the money, or most of it. + +Nay, another came into my mind as probable. Because he looked upon +Deleroy as his heir, which, should he marry the lady Blanche, he would +become. If this were so I must act, and quickly, that is, if I would +ever see more of the lady Blanche, as perchance I might do by treading +this gold-paved road, but not otherwise. I studied the list of lands. +As it chanced I knew most of them, for they lay about Pevensey and +Hastings, and saw that they were scarcely worth the moneys which were +asked of me. Well, what of it? This matter was not one of trade and +large as the sum might be, I would risk it for the chance of winning +Blanche. + +The end of it was that waiting for no valuings I wrote that on proof +of title clean and unencumbered and completion of all deeds, I would +pay over the gold to whoever might be appointed to receive it. + +This letter of mine proved to be but the beginning of a long business +whereof the details may be left untold. On the very next day indeed I +was summoned to the house of Sir Robert Aleys which was near to the +palace and abbey of Westminster. Here I found the gruff old knight +grown greyer and having, as it seemed to me, a hunted air, and with +him the lord Deleroy and two foxy lawyers of whom I did not like the +look. Indeed, for the first, I suspected that I was being tricked and +had it not been for the lady Blanche, would have broken off the loan. +Because of her, however, this I did not do, but having stated my terms +anew, and the rate and dates of interest, sat for a long while saying +as little as possible, while the others unfolded parchments and talked +and talked, telling tales that often contradicted each other, till at +length the lord Deleroy, who seemed ill at ease, grew weary and left +the chamber. At last all was done that could be done at that sitting +and it being past the hour of dinner, I was taken in to eat, +consenting, because I hoped that I should see the lady Blanche. + +A butler, or chamber-groom, led me to the dining-hall and sat me with +the lawyers at a table beneath the dais. Presently on this dais +appeared Sir Robert Aleys, his daughter Blanche, the lord Deleroy, +and perhaps eight or ten other fine folk whom I had never seen. She, +looking about her, saw me seated at the lower table, and spoke to her +father and Deleroy, reasoning with the latter, as it would appear. +Indeed, in a sudden hush I caught some of her words. They were, "If +you are not ashamed to take his money, you should not be ashamed to +sit at meat with him." + +Deleroy stamped his foot, but the end of it was that I was summoned to +the high table where the lady Blanche made place for me beside her, +while Deleroy sat himself down between two splendid dames at the other +end of the board. + +Here, then, I stayed by Blanche who, I noted, wore the ruby heart +encircled by serpents. Indeed, this was the first thing of which she +spoke to me, saying, + +"It looks well upon my robe, does it not, and I thank you for it, +Master Hubert, who know surely that it is not my cousin Deleroy's +gift, but yours, since for it you will never see your money." + +By way of answer I looked at the sumptuous plate and furnishings, the +profusion of the viands, and the number of the serving-men. Reading my +thought, she replied, + +"Aye, but pledged, all of it. I tell you, Master Hubert, that we are +starved hounds, though we live in a kennel with golden bars. And now +they would pawn you that kennel also." + +Then, while I wondered what to say, she began to talk of our great +adventure in bygone years, recalling every tiny thing that had +happened and every word that had been spoken between us, some of which +I had forgotten. Of one thing only she said nothing--the kisses with +which we parted. Amongst much else, she spoke of how the ancient sword +had shorn through the armour of the French knight, and I told her that +the sword was named Wave-Flame and that it had come down to me from my +ancestor, Thorgrimmer the Viking, and of what was written on its +blade, to all of which she listened greedily. + +"And they thought you not fit to sit at meat with them, you whose race +is so old and who are so great a warrior, as you showed that day. And +it is to you that I owe my life and more than life, to you and not to +them." + +So saying she shot a glance at me that pierced me through and through, +as my arrows had pierced the Frenchmen, and what is more beneath the +cover of the board for a moment let her slim hand rest upon my own. + +After this for a while we were silent, for indeed I could not speak. +Then we talked on as we could do well enough, since there was no one +on my left where the board ended, and on Blanche's right was a fat old +lord who seemed to be deaf and occupied himself in drinking more than +he should have done. I told her much about myself, also what my mother +had said to me on the day of the Burning, and of how she had +prophesied that I should be a wanderer, words at which Blanche sighed +and answered: + +"Yet you seem to be well planted in London and in rich soil, Master +Hubert." + +"Aye, Lady, but it is not my native soil and for the rest we go where +Fate leads us." + +"Fate! What does that word bring to my mind? I have it; yonder Moor of +yours who makes those jewels. He has the very eyes of Fate and I fear +him." + +"That is strange, Lady, and yet not so strange, for about this man +there is something fateful. Ever he swears to me that I shall +accompany him to some dim land where he was born, of which land he is +a prince." + +Then I told her all the story of Kari, to which she listened open-eyed +and wondering, saying when I had finished, + +"So you saved this poor wanderer also, and doubtless he loves you +well." + +"Yes, Lady, almost too well, seeing that at times he is jealous of me, +though God knows I did little for him save pick him from a crowd upon +the quay." + +"Ah! I guess it, who saw him watching you the other day. Yet it is +strange, for I thought that only women could be jealous of men, and +men of women. Hush! they are mocking us because we talk so friendly." + +I looked up, following her glance, and saw that Deleroy and the two +fine ladies between whom he sat, all of whom appeared to have had +enough of wine, were pointing at us. Indeed, in a silence, such as now +and again happens at feasts, I heard one of them say, + +"You had best beware lest that fair white dove of yours does not slip +your hand and begin to coo in another's ear, my Lord Deleroy," and +heard his answer, + +"Nay, I have her too fast, and who cares for a pining dove whereof the +feathers adorn another's cap?" + +Whilst I was wondering what this dark talk might mean the company +broke up, the lady Blanche gliding away through a door at the back of +the dais, followed, as I noted, by Deleroy who seemed flushed and +angry. + +Many times I visited that prodigal house which seemed to me to be the +haunt of folk who, however highly placed and greatly favoured at +Court, were as loose in their lives as they were in their talk. +Indeed, although I was no saint, I liked them not at all, especially +the men with their scented hair, turned-up shoes, and party-coloured +clothes. Nor as I thought, did Sir Robert Aleys like them, who, +whatever his faults, was a bluff knight of the older sort, who had +fought with credit in the French wars. Yet I noted that he seemed to +be helpless in their hands, or rather in those of Deleroy, the King's +favourite, who was the chief of all the gang. It was as though that +gay and handsome young man had some hold over the old soldier, yes, +and over his daughter also, though what this might be I could not +guess. + +Now I will move on with the tale. In due course the parchments were +signed and delivered, and the money in good gold was paid over on my +behalf, after which the great household at Westminster became more +prodigal than before. But when the time came for the discharge of the +interest due not a groat was forthcoming. Then afterwards there was +talk of my taking over certain of the pledged lands in lieu of this +interest. Sir Robert suggested this and I assented, because Blanche +had told me that it would help her father. Only when the matter was +set on foot by my lawyers was it found that these lands were not his +to transfer, inasmuch as they had been already mortgaged to their +value. + +Then there was a fierce quarrel between Sir Robert Aleys and the lord +Deleroy, at which I was present. Sir Robert with many oaths accused +his cousin of having forged his name when he was absent in France, +while Deleroy declared that what he did was done with due authority. +Almost they drew swords on each other, till at length Deleroy took +Aleys aside and with a fierce grin whispered something into his ear +which caused the old knight to sink down on a stool and call out, + +"Get you gone, you false rogue! Get out of this house, aye, and out of +England. If I meet you again, by God's Blood I swear that King's +favourite or no King's favourite, I'll throat you like a hog!" + +To which Deleroy mocked in answer: + +"Good! I'll go, my gentle cousin, which it suits me well to do who +have certain business of the King's awaiting me in France. Aye, I'll +go and leave you to settle with this worthy trader who may hold that +you have duped him. Do it as you will, except in one fashion, of which +you know. Now a word with my cousin Blanche and another at the Palace +and I ride for Dover. Farewell, Cousin Aleys. Farewell, worthy +merchant for whose loss I should grieve, did I not know that soon you +will recoup yourself out of gentle pockets. Mourn not over me over +much, either of you, since doubtless ere so very long I shall return." + +Now my blood flamed up and I answered: + +"I pray you do not hurry, my lord, lest you should find me waiting for +you with a shield and a sword in place of a warrant and a pen." + +He heard and called out, "Fore God, this chapman thinks himself a +knight!" + +Then with a mocking laugh he went. + + + + CHAPTER VI + + MARRIAGE--AND AFTER + +Sir Robert and I stood facing each other speechless with rage, both of +us. At length he said in a hoarse voice: + +"Your pardon, Master Hastings, for the affronts that this bastard +lordling has put upon you, an honest man. I tell you that he is a +loose-living knave, as you would agree if you knew all his story, a +cockatrice that for my sins I have nurtured in my bosom. 'Tis he that +has wasted all my substance; 'tis he that has made free of my name, so +that I fear me you are defrauded. 'Tis he that uses my house as though +it were his own, bringing into it vile women of the Court, and men +that are viler still, however high their names and gaudy their +attire," and he choked with his wrath and stopped. + +"Why do you suffer these things, sir?" I asked. + +"Forsooth because I must," he answered sullenly, "for he has me and +mine by the throat. This Deleroy is very powerful, Master Hastings. At +a word from him whispered in the King's ear, I, or you, or any man +might find ourselves in the Tower accused of treason, whence we should +appear no more." + +Then, as though he wished to get away from the subject of Deleroy and +his hold upon him, he went on: + +"I fear me that your money, or much of it, is in danger for Deleroy's +bond is worthless, and since the land is already pledged without my +knowledge, I have nowhere to turn for gold. I tell you that I am an +honest man if one who has fallen into ill company, and this wickedness +cuts me deep, for I know not how you will be repaid." + +Now a thought came to me, and as was my bold fashion in all business, +I acted on it instantly. + +"Sir Robert Aleys," I said, "should it be pleasing to you and another, +I can see a way in which this debt may be cancelled without shame to +you and yet to my profit." + +"Then in God's name speak it! For I see none." + +"Sir, in bygone time, as it chanced I was able yonder at Hastings to +do some service to your daughter and in that hour she took my heart." + +He started but motioned to me to continue. + +"Sir, I love her truly and desire more than anything to make her my +wife. I know she is far above me in station, still although but a +merchant, I am of good descent as I can prove to you. Moreover, I am +rich, for this money that I have advanced to you, or to the lord +Deleroy, is but a small part of my wealth which grows day by day +through honest trade. Sir, if my suit were accepted I should be ready, +not only to help you further on certain terms, but by deed and will to +settle most of it upon the lady Blanche and upon our children. Sir, +what say you?" + +Sir Robert tugged at his red beard and stared down at the floor. +Presently he lifted his head and I saw that his face was troubled, the +face of a man, indeed, who is struggling with himself, or, as I +thought, with his pride. + +"A fair offer fairly put," he said, "but the question is, not what I +say, but what says Blanche." + +"Sir, I do not know who have never asked her. Yet at times I have +thought that her mind towards me is not unkind." + +"Is it so? Well, perhaps now that he--well, let that lie. Master +Hastings, you have my leave to try your fortune and I tell you +straight that I hope it will be good. With your wealth your rank may +be soon mended and you are an honest man whom I should be glad to +welcome as a son, for I have had enough of these Court knaves and +painted Jezebels. But if such is your fancy towards Blanche, my +counsel to you is that you put it quickly to the proof--aye, man, at +once. Mark my words, for such a swan as she is many snares are set +beneath the dirty waters of this Court." + +"The sooner the better, sir." + +"Good. I'll send her to you and, one word more--be not over shy, or +ready to take the first 'no' for an answer, or to listen to the tale +of bygone fancies, such as all women have." + +Then suddenly he went, leaving me there wondering at his words and +manner, which I did not understand. This I understood, however, that +he desired that I should marry Blanche, which considering all things I +held somewhat strange, although I had the wealth she lacked. +Doubtless, I thought, it must be because his honour had been touched +on the matter of the trick that had been played upon him without his +knowledge. Then I ceased from these wonderings and gave my thought to +what I should say to Blanche. + +I waited a long while and still she did not come, till at last I +believed that she was away from the house, or guessing my business, +had refused to see me. At length, however, she entered the room, so +silently that I who was staring at the great abbey through a window- +place never heard the door open or close. I think that some sense of +her presence must have drawn me, since suddenly I turned to see her +standing before me. She was clad all in white, having a round cap or +coronet upon her head beneath which her shining fair hair was looped +in braids. Her little coat, trimmed with ermine, was fastened with a +single jewel, that ruby heart embraced by serpents which I had given +her. She wore no other ornament. Thus seen she looked most lovely and +most sweet and all my heart went out in yearning for her. + +"My father tells me that you wish to speak with me, so I have come," +she said in her low clear voice, searching my face curiously with her +large eyes. + +I bowed my head and paused, not knowing how to begin. + +"How can I serve you, who, I fear, have been ill served?" she went on +with a little smile as though she found amusement in my confusion. + +"In one way only," I exclaimed, "by giving yourself in marriage to me. +For that I seek, no less." + +Now her fair face that had been pale became stained with red and she +let her eyes fall as though she were searching for something among the +rushes that strewed the floor. + +"Hearken before you answer," I continued. "When first I spoke with you +on that bloody day at Hastings and you had but just come to womanhood, +I loved you and swore to myself that I would die to save you. I saved +you and we kissed and were parted. Afterwards I tried to put you out +of my heart, knowing that you were set far above me and no meat for +such as I, though still for your sake I wooed no other woman in +marriage. The years went by and fortune brought us together again, and +lo! the old love was stronger than before. I know that I am not worthy +of you who are so high and good and pure. Still----" and I stopped, +lacking words. + +She moved uneasily and the red colour left her cheeks as though she +had been suddenly pained. + +"Bethink you," she said with a touch of hardness in her voice, "can +one who lives the life I live and keeps my company, remain as holy and +unstained as you believe? If you would gather such a lily, surely you +should seek it in a country garden, not in the reek of London." + +"I neither know nor care," I answered, whose blood was all afire. "I +know only that wherever you grow and from whatever soil, you are the +flower I would pluck." + +"Bethink you again; an ugly slug might have smeared my whiteness." + +"If so the honest sun and rain will recover and wash it and I am a +gardener who scatters lime to shrivel slugs." + +"If to this one you will not listen, then hear another argument. +Perchance I do not love you. Would you win a loveless bride?" + +"Perchance you can learn of love, or if not, I have enough to serve +for two." + +"By my faith! it should not be difficult with a man so honest and so +well favoured. And yet--a further plea. My cousin Deleroy has cheated +you" (here her face hardened), "and I think I am offered to you by my +father in satisfaction of his honour, as men who have no gold offer a +house or a horse to close a debt." + +"It is not so. I prayed you of your father. The loss, if loss there +be, is but a chance of trade, such as I face every day. Still, I will +be plain and tell you that I risked it with open eyes, expecting +nothing less, that I might come near to you." + +Now she sat herself down in a chair, covering her face with her hands, +and I saw from the trembling of her body that she was sobbing. While I +wondered what to do, for the sight wrung me, she let fall her hands +and there were tears upon her face. + +"Shall I tell you all my story, you good, simple gentleman?" she +asked. + +"Nay, only two things. Are you the wife of some other man?" + +"Not so, though perhaps--once I went near to it. What is the other +question?" + +"Do you love some other man so that your heart tells you it is not +possible that you should ever love me?" + +"No, I do not," she answered almost fiercely, "but by the Rood! I hate +one." + +"Which is no affair of mine," I said, laughing. "For the rest, let it +sleep. Few are they that know life's wars who have no scar to hide, +and I am not one of them, though in truth your lips made the deepest +yonder by the cave at Hastings." + +When she heard this she coloured to her brow and forgetting her tears, +laughed outright, while I went on: + +"Therefore let the past be and if it is your will, let us set our eyes +upon the future. Only one promise would I ask of you, that never again +will you be alone with the lord Deleroy, since one so light-fingered +with a pen would, I think, steal other things." + +"By my soul! the last thing I desire is to be alone with my cousin +Deleroy." + +Now she rose from the chair and for a little while we stood facing +each other. Then she very slightly opened her arms and lifted her face +towards me. + +Thus did Blanche Aleys and I become affianced, though afterwards, when +I thought the business over, I remembered that never once did she say +that she would marry me. This, however, troubled me little, since in +such matters it is what women do that weighs, not what they say. For +the rest I was mad with love of her, also both then and as the days +went by, more and more did she seem to be travelling on this same road +of Love. If not, indeed she acted well. + +Within a month we were wed on a certain October day in the church of +St. Margaret's at Westminster. Once it was agreed all desired to push +on this marriage, and not least Blanche herself. Sir Robert Aleys said +that he wished to be gone from London to his estates in Sussex, having +had enough of the Court and its ways, desiring there to live quietly +till the end; I, being so much in love, was on fire for my bride, and +Blanche herself vowed that she was eager to become my wife, saying +that our courtship, which began on Hastings Hill, had lasted long +enough. For the rest, there was nothing to cause delay. I cancelled +Sir Robert's debt to me and signed a deed in favour of his daughter +and her offspring, whereof I gave a copy to his lawyer and there was +nought else to be done except to prepare my house for her which, with +money at command, was easy. + +No great business was made of this marriage, since neither his kin nor +Sir Robert himself wished to noise it about that his only child, the +last of his House, was taking a merchant for her husband to save her +and him from wreck. Nor did I, the merchant, wish to provoke talk +amongst those of my own station, especially as it was known that I had +advanced moneys to these fine folks of the Court. So it came about +that few were asked to the ceremony that was fixed for an early hour, +and of these not many came, because on that day, although it was but +October, a great gale with storms of rain began to blow, the greatest +indeed that I had known in my life. + +Thus it chanced that we were wed in an almost empty church while the +fierce wind, thundering against the windows, overcame the feeble voice +of the old priest, so that he looked like one acting in a show without +words. The darkness caused by the thick rain was so deep, also, that +scarce could I see my bride's lovely face or find the finger upon +which I must set the ring. + +At length it was done and we went down the aisle to find our horses +whereon we must ride to my house in Cheapside, where there was to be a +feast for my dependents and such of my few friends as cared to come, +among whom were not numbered any grand folk from Westminster. As we +drew near the church door I noted among those who were present those +two gaudy ladies between whom Deleroy had sat at that meal after the +business of the loan was settled. Moreover, I heard one of them say: + +"What will Deleroy do when he comes back to find his darling gone?" +and the other answer with a high laugh: + +"Seek another, doubtless, or borrow more money from the merchant, +and----" Here I lost their talk in the rush of the wind through the +opened door. + +In the porch was old Sir Robert Aleys. + +"Mother of God!" he shouted, "may the rest of the lives of you two be +smoother than your nuptials. No Cheapside feast for me, I'm for home +in such fiend's weather. Farewell, son Hubert, and all joy to you. +Farewell, Blanche. Learn to be obedient as a wife and keep your eyes +for your husband's face, that is my counsel to you. Till we meet again +at Christmastide in Sussex, whither I ride to-morrow, farewell to both +of you." + +Farewell, it was indeed, for never did either of us look on him again. + +Wrapped close in our cloaks we battled through the storm and at +length, somewhat breathless, reached my house in the Cheap where the +garlands of autumn flowers and greenery that I had caused to be +wreathed from posts before the door were all torn away by the gale. +Here I welcomed my wife as best I could, kissing her as she crossed +the threshold and saying certain sweet words that I had prepared, to +which she smiled an answer. Then the women took her to her chamber to +make herself ready and afterwards came the feast, which was sumptuous +of its sort, though the evil weather kept some of the guests away. + +Scarcely had it begun when Kari, who of late had been sad-faced and +brooding, and who did not eat with us, entered and whispered to me +that my Master of Lading from the docks prayed to see me at once on a +matter which would brook no delay. Making excuse to Blanche and the +company, I went out to see him in the shop and found the man much +disturbed. It seemed that a certain vessel of mine that I had +rechristened /Blanche/ in honour of my wife, which lay in the stream +ready to sail, was in great danger because of the tempest. Indeed, she +was dragging at her anchor, and it was feared that unless more anchors +could be let down she would come ashore and be wrecked against the +jetty-heads or otherwise. The reason why this had not been done, was +that only the master and one sailor were on board the vessel; the rest +were feasting ashore in honour of my marriage, and refused to row out +to her, saying that the boat would be swamped in the gale. + +Now this ship, although not very large, was the best and staunchest +that I owned, being almost new; moreover, the cargo on board of her, +laden for the Mediterranean, was of great value, so great indeed that +its loss would have been very grievous to me. Therefore, it was plain +that I must see to the matter without delay, since from my servant's +account there was no hope that these rebellious sailors would listen +to any lesser man than myself. So, if I would save the ship and her +cargo, I must ride for the docks at once. + +Going back to the eating-chamber, in a few words I told my wife and +the guests how the matter stood, praying the oldest man among the +latter to take my place by the bride, which he did unwillingly, +muttering that this was an unlucky marriage feast. + +Then it was that Blanche rose, beseeching me earnestly and almost with +tears that I would take her with me to the docks. I laughed at her, as +did the company, but still she besought with much persistence, till I +began to believe that she must be afraid of something, though the +others cried that it was but love and fear lest I should come to harm. + +In the end I made her drink a cup of wine with me, but her hand shook +so much that she spilled the cup and the rich red wine ran down her +breast, staining the whiteness of her robe, whereat some women among +the company murmured, thinking it a bad omen. At length with a kiss I +tore myself away, for I could bide no longer and the horses were +waiting presently. So I was riding for the docks as fast as the storm +would suffer, with tiles from the roofs, and when we were clear of +these the torn-off limbs of trees hurtling round me. Kari, I should +say, would have accompanied me, but I took a serving-man, bidding Kari +bide where he was in the house in case he might be of service. + +At last we came safely to the docks where I found all as my cargo- +master had described. The ship /Blanche/ was in great peril and +dragging every minute towards a pierhead which, if she struck, would +stave her in and make an end of her. The men, too, were still feasting +in the inn with their wharfside trollops, and some of them half drunk. +I spoke to them, showing them their shame, and saying that if they +would not come, I and my man would take a boat and get aboard alone +and this upon my wedding day. Then they hung their heads and came. + +We won to the ship safely though with much toil and danger, and there +found the master almost crazed with fear and doubt of the issue, and +the man with him injured by a falling block. Indeed, this poor captain +clung to the rail, watching the cable as it dragged the anchor and +fearing every moment lest it should part. + +The rest is soon told. We got out two more anchors and did other +things such as sailors know, to help in such a case. When all was as +safe as it could be made, I and my man and four sailors started for +the quay, telling the master that I would return upon the morrow. The +wind and current aiding us, we landed safe and sound and at once I +rode back to Cheapside. + +Now, though it is short to tell, all this had taken a long while, also +the way was far to ride in such a storm. Thus it came about that it +was nigh to ten o'clock at night when, thanking God, I dismounted at +the gate of my house and bade the servant take the horses to the +stable. As I drew near the door, it opened, which astonished me and, +as the light within showed, there stood Kari. What astonished me still +more, he had the great sword, Wave-Flame, in his hand, though not +drawn, which sword he must have fetched from where it was kept with +the French knight's armour and the shield that bore three arrows as a +cognizance. + +Laying his finger on his lips he shut the door softly, then said in a +low voice: + +"Master, there is a man up yonder with the lady." + +"What man?" I asked. + +"That same lord, Master, who came here with her once before to buy +jewels and borrow gold. Hearken. The feast being finished the guests +went away at fall of night, but the wife-lady withdrew herself into +the chamber that is called sun-room (the solar), that up the stairs, +which looks out on the street. About one hour gone there came a knock +at the door. I who was watching, opened, thinking it was you returned, +and there stood that lord. He spoke to me, saying: + +"'Moor-man, I know that your master is from home, but that the lady is +here. I would speak with her.' + +"Now I would have turned him away, but at that moment the lady +herself, who it seemed was watching, came down the stairs, looking +very white, and said: + +"'Kari, let the lord come in. I have matters of your master's business +about which I must talk with him.' So, Master, knowing that you had +lent money to this lord, I obeyed, though I liked it not, and having +fetched the sword which I thought perchance might be needed, I +waited." + +This was the substance of what he said, though his talk was more +broken since he never learned to speak English well and helped it out +with words of his own tongue, of which, as I have told, he had taught +me something. + +"I do not understand," I exclaimed, when he had finished. "Doubtless +it is little or nothing. Yet give me the sword, for who knows? and +come with me." + +Kari obeyed, and as I went up the stairs I buckled Wave-Flame about +me. Also Kari brought two candles of Italian wax lighted upon their +stands. Coming to the door of the solar I tried to open it, but it was +bolted. + +"God's truth!" I said, "this is strange," and hammered on the panel +with my fist. + +Presently it opened, but before entering it, for I feared some trick, +I stood without and looked in. The room was lit by a hanging lamp and +a fire burned brightly on the hearth, for the night was cold. In an +oak chair by the fire and staring into it sat Blanche still as any +statue. She glanced round and saw me in the light of the candles that +Kari held, and again stared into the fire. Half-way between her and +the door stood Deleroy, dressed as ever in fine clothes, though I +noted that his cape was off and hung over a stool near the fire as +though to dry. I noted also that he wore a sword and a dagger. I +entered the room, followed by Kari, shut the door behind me and shot +the bolt. Then I spoke, asking: + +"Why are you here with my wife, Lord Deleroy?" + +"It is strange, Master merchant," he answered, "but I was about to put +much the same question to you: namely, why is /my/ wife in your +house?" + +Now, while I reeled beneath these words, without turning her head, +Blanche by the fire said: + +"He lies, Hubert. I am not his wife." + +"Why are you here, my Lord Deleroy?" I repeated. + +"Well, if you would know, Master merchant, I bring a paper for you, or +rather a copy of it, for the writ itself will be served on you +to-morrow by the King's officers. It commits you to the Tower under +the royal seal for trading with the King's enemies, a treason that can +be proved against you, of which as you know, or will shortly learn, +the punishment is death," and as he spoke he threw a writing down upon +a side table. + +"I see the plot," I answered coldly. "The King's unworthy favourite, +forger and thief, uses the King's authority to try to bring the King's +honest subject to bonds and death by a false accusation. It is a +common trick in these days. But let that be. For the third time I ask +you--why are you here with my new-wed wife and at this hour of the +night?" + +"So courteous a question demands a courteous answer, Master merchant, +but to give it I must trouble you to listen to a tale." + +"Then let it be like my patience, brief," I replied. + +"It shall," he said with a mocking bow. + +Then very clearly and quietly he set out a dreadful story, giving +dates and circumstances. Let that story be. The substance of it was +that he had married Blanche soon after she reached womanhood and that +she had borne him a child which died. + +"Blanche," I said when he had done, "you have heard. Is this true?" + +"Much of it is true," she answered in that strange, cold voice, still +staring at the fire. "Only the marriage was a false one by which I was +deceived. He who celebrated it was a companion of the Lord Deleroy +tricked out as a priest." + +"Do not let us wrangle of this matter," said Deleroy. "A man who mixes +with the world like yourself, Master merchant, will know that women in +a trap rarely lack excuses. Still if it be admitted that this marriage +did not fulfil all formalities, then so much the better for Blanche +and myself. If she be your lawful wife and not mine, you, I learn, +have signed a writing in her favour under which she will inherit your +great wealth. That indenture I think you can find no opportunity to +dispute, and if you do I have a promise that the property of a certain +traitor shall pass to me, the revealer of his treachery. Let it +console you in your last moments, Master merchant, to remember that +the lady whom you have honoured with your fancy will pass her days in +wealth and comfort in the company of him whom she has honoured with +her love." + +"Draw!" I said briefly as I unsheathed my sword. + +"Why should I fight with a base, trading usurer?" he asked, still +mocking me, though I thought that there was doubt in his voice. + +"Answer your own question, thief. Fight if you will, or die without +fighting if you will not. For know that until I am dead you do not +leave this room living." + +"Until I dead too, O Lord," broke in Kari in his gentle voice, bowing +in his courteous foreign fashion. + +As he did so with a sudden motion Kari shook the cloak back from his +body and for the first time I saw that thrust through his leathern +belt was a long weapon, half sword and half dagger, also that its +sharpened steel was bare. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Deleroy, "now I understand that I am trapped and that +when you told me, Blanche, that this man would not return to-night and +that therefore we were safe together, you lied. Well, my Lady Blanche, +you shall pay for this trick later." + +Whilst he spoke thus, slowly, as though to gain time, he was looking +about him, and as the last word left his lips, knowing that the door +was locked, he dashed for the window, hoping, I suppose, to leap +through the casement, or if that failed, to shout for help. But Kari, +who had set the candles he bore on a side table, that where the +writing lay, read his mind. With a movement more swift than that of a +polecat leaping on its prey, the swiftest indeed that ever I saw, he +sprang between him and the casement, so that Deleroy scarce escaped +pinning himself upon the steel that he held in his long, outstretched +arm. Indeed, I think it pricked his throat, for he checked himself +with an oath and drew his sword, a double-edged weapon with a sharp +point, as long as mine perhaps, but not so heavy. + +"I see that I must finish the pair of you. Perchance, Blanche, you +will protect my back as a loving wife should do, until this lout is +done with," he said, swaggering to the last. + +"Kari," I commanded, "hold the candles aloft that the light may be +good, and leave this man to me." + +Kari bowed and took the copper taper stands, one in either hand, and +held them aloft. But first he placed his long dagger, not back in his +belt, but between his teeth with the handle towards his right hand. +Even then in some strange fashion I noted how terrible looked this +grim dark man holding the candles high with the knife gripped between +his white teeth. + +Deleroy and I faced each other in the open space between the fire and +the door. Blanche turned round upon her stool and watched, uttering no +sound. But I laughed aloud for of the end I had no doubt. Had there +been ten Deleroys I would have slain them all. Still presently I found +there was cause to doubt, for when, parrying his first thrust, I drove +at him with all my strength, instead of piercing him through and +through the ancient sword, Wave-Flame, bent in my hand like a bow as +it is strung, telling me that beneath his Joseph's coat of silk +Deleroy wore a shirt of mail. + +Then I cried: "/A-hoi!/" as Thorgrimmer my ancestor may have done when +he wielded this same sword, and while Deleroy still staggered beneath +my thrust I grasped Wave-Flame with both hands, wheeled it aloft, and +smote. He lifted his arm round which he had wound his cloak, to +protect his head, but the sword shore through cloak and arm, so that +his hand with the glittering rings upon it fell to the floor. + +Again I smote for, as both of us knew, this business was to the death, +and Deleroy fell down dead, smitten through the brain. + +Kari smiled gently, and lifting the cloak, shook it out and threw it +over what had been Deleroy. Then he took my sword and while I watched +him idly, cleansed it with rushes from the floor. + +Next I heard a sound from the neighbourhood of the fire, and +bethinking me of Blanche turned to speak to her, though what I was +going to say God knows for I do not. + +A terrible sight met my eyes and burned itself into my very soul so +that it could never be forgot. Blanche was leaning back in the oak +chair over which flowed her long, fair locks, and the front of her +robe was red. I remembered how she had spilt the wine at the feast and +thought I saw its stain, till presently, still staring, I noted that +it grew and knew it to be caused by another wine, that of her blood. +Also I noted that from the midst of it seen in the lamplight, just +beneath the snake-encircled ruby heart, appeared the little handle of +a dagger. + +I sprang to her, but she lifted her hand and waved me back. + +"Touch me not," she whispered, "I am not fit, also the thrust is +mortal. If you draw the knife I shall die at once, and first I would +speak. I would have you know that I love you and hoped to be a good +wife to you. What I said was true. That dead man tricked me with a +false marriage when I was scarcely more than a child, and afterwards +he would not mend it with an honest. Perchance he himself was wed, or +he had other reasons, I do not know. My father guessed much but not +all. I tried to warn you when you offered yourself, but you were deaf +and blind and would not see or listen. Then I gave way, liking you +well and thinking that I should find rest, as indeed I do; thinking +also that I should be wealthy and able to shut that villain's mouth +with gold. I never knew he was coming here or even that he had sailed +home from France, but he broke in upon me, having learned that you +were away, and was about to leave when you returned. He came for money +for which he believed that I had wed, and thinking to win me back from +one doomed by his lies to a traitor's death. You know the rest, and +for me there was but one thing to do. Be glad that you are no longer +burdened with me and go find happiness in the arms of a more fortunate +or a better woman. Fly, and swiftly, for Deleroy had many friends and +the King himself loved him as a brother--as well he may. Fly, I say, +and forgive--forgive! Hubert, farewell!" + +Thus she spoke, ever more slowly and lower, till with the last word +her life left her lips. + + + +Thus ended the story of my marriage with Blanche Aleys. + + + + + BOOK II + + + + CHAPTER I + + THE NEW WORLD + +They were forever silent now, who, but a breath before, had been so +full of life and the stir of mortal passion; Deleroy dead beneath the +cloak upon the floor, Blanche dead in the oaken chair. We who remained +alive were silent also. I glanced at Kari's face; it was as that of a +stone statue on a tomb, only in it his large eyes shone, noting all +things and, as I imagined in my distraught fancy, filled with triumph +and foreknowledge. Considering it in that strange calm of the spirit +which sometimes supervenes on great and terrible events that for a +while crush its mortality from the soul and set it free to marvel at +the temporal pettiness of all we consider immediate and mighty, I +wondered what was the aspect of my own. + +At the moment, I, who on this day had passed the portals of so many +emotions: that of the lover's longing for his bride won at last, only +to be lost again, that of acute and necessary business, that of the +ancient joy of battle and vengeance wreaked upon an evil man; that of +the unshuttering of my own eyes to the flame of a hellish truth, that +of the self-murder and turning to cold clay before those same eyes of +her whom I had hoped to clasp in honest love--I, I say, felt as though +I, too, were dead. Indeed all within was dead, only the shell of flesh +remained alive, and in my heart I echoed the words of my old uncle and +of a wiser than he who went before him--"Vanity of vanities! All is +vanity!" + +It was Kari who spoke first, Kari as ever calm and even-voiced, saying +in his broken English of which but the substance is recorded: + +"Things have happened, good things I hold, though you, Master, may +think otherwise for a little while. Yet in this rough land of savages +and small justice these things may bring trouble. That lord brought a +writing," and he nodded towards the document on the table, "and talked +of death for /you/, Master--not for himself. And the lady, while she +still lived, she say--'Fly, fly or die!' And now?" and he glanced at +the two bodies. + +I looked at him vacantly for the numbness following the first shock +was passing away and all the eating agony of my loss began to fix its +fangs upon my heart. + +"Whither can I fly?" I asked. "And why should I fly? I am an innocent +man and for the rest, the sooner I am dead the better." + +"My Master must fly," answered Kari in swift, broken words, "because +he still live and is free. Also sorrow behind, joy before. Kari, who +hate women and read heart, Kari who drink this same bitter water long +ago, guess these things coming and think and think. No need that +Master trouble, Kari settle all and tell Master that if he do what he +say, everything come right." + +"What am I to do?" I asked with a groan. + +"Ship /Blanche/ on great river ready for sea. Master and Kari sail in +her before daybreak. Here leave everything: much land, much wealth-- +what matter? Life more than these things which can get again. Come. +No, one minute, wait." + +Then he went to the body of Deleroy and with wonderful swiftness took +off it the chain coat he wore beneath his tunic, which he put on his +own body. Also he took his sword and buckled it about him, while the +parchment writ he threw upon the fire. Then he extinguished the +hanging lamp and gave me one of the candles, taking the other himself. + +At the door I held up my candle and by the light of it looked my last +upon the ashen face of Blanche, which face I knew must go with me +through all my life's days. + +Kari locked the stout oaken door of the solar from the outside and +took me into my chamber, where was the armour of the knight whom I had +killed on Hastings Hill, which armour I had caused to be altered to +fit myself. Swiftly he buckled it on to me, throwing over all a long, +dark robe such as merchants wear. From the cupboard, too, he brought +the big black bow and a sheath of arrows, also a purseful of gold +pieces from where they were kept, and with them the leathern bag which +he had worn when I found him on the quay. + +We went into the room where the feast had been held and there drank +some wine, though eat I could not. The cup from which I drank was, as +it chanced, the same in which I had pledged Blanche at the bride +feast. Now I pledged her spirit whereon I prayed God's mercy. + +We left the house and in the stable saddled two horses, strong, quiet +beasts. Then by way of the back yard we rode out into the night, none +seeing us, for by now all were asleep, and in that weather the streets +were empty, even of such as walked them in darkness. + +We reached the quay I know not how long afterwards whose mind was full +of thoughts that blotted out all else. How strange had been my life-- +that was one of them. Within a few years I had risen to great wealth, +and won the woman I desired. And now where was the wealth and where +was the woman, and what was I? One flying his native land by night +with blood upon his hands, the blood of a King's favourite that, if he +were taken, would bring him to the noose. Oh! how great was the +contrast between the morn and the midnight of that day for me! "Vanity +of vanities. All is vanity!" + +I think that my mind must have wandered, for when my soul was +swallowed in this deepest pit of hell, it seemed to me that he whom I +had worshipped as a heavenly patron, St. Hubert, appeared striding by +my horse with a shining countenance and said to me: + +"Have good courage, Godson, and remember your mother's words--a +wanderer shall you be, but where'er you go the good bow and the good +sword shall keep you safe and I wander with you. Nor does all love die +with one woman's passing breath." + +This phantasy, as it were, lanced the abscess of my pain and for a +while I was easier. Also something of hope came back to me. I no +longer desired to die but rather to live and in life, not in the tomb, +to find forgetfulness. + +We reached the quay and placed the horses in a shed that served as +stables there, ridding them of their bits and saddles that they might +eat of the hay in the racks. The thought to do this came to me, which +showed that my mind was working again since still I could attend to +the wants of other creatures. Then we went to the quayside where was +made fast that boat in which I had come ashore some hours gone. There +was a moon which now and again showed between the drifting clouds, and +by the light of it I saw that the /Blanche/ lay safe at her anchors +not a bowshot away. The gale had fallen much with the rising of the +moon, as it often does, and so it came about that although the boat +was over-large for two men to handle rightly, Kari and I, by watching +our chance, were able to row it to the ship, on to which we climbed by +the ladder. + +Here we found a sailor on watch who was amazed to see us, and with his +help, made the boat fast by the tow rope to the stern of the ship. + +This done I caused the captain to be awakened and told him briefly +that as the gale had abated and tide and wind served, I desired to +sail at once. He stared at me, thinking me mad, whom he knew to have +been married but that day. + +Surely, he said, I should wait for the light and to gather up those of +the ship's company who were still ashore. I answered that I would wait +for nothing, and when he asked why, was inspired to tell him that it +was because I went about the King's business, having letters from his +Grace to deliver to his Envoys in the South Seas that brooked of no +delay, since on them hung peace or war. + +"Beware," I said to him, "how you, or any of you, dare to disobey the +King's orders, for you know that the fate of such is a short shrift +and a long rope." + +Then that captain grew frightened and summoned the sailors, who by now +had slept off their drink, and to them he told my commands. They +murmured, pointing to the sky, but when they saw me standing there, +wearing a knight's armour and looking very stern with my hand upon my +sword, when also through Kari I promised them double pay for the +voyage, they, too, grew frightened, and having set some small sails, +got up the anchors. + +So it came about that within little more than an hour of our boarding +of that ship she was running out towards the sea as fast as tide and +wind could drive her. I think that it was not too soon, for as the +quay vanished in the gloom I saw men with lanterns moving on it, and +thought to myself that perhaps an alarm had been given and they were +come to take me. + +This captain was one who knew the river well, and with the help of +another sailor he steered us down its reaches safely. By dawn we had +passed Tilbury and at full light were off Gravesend racing for the +open sea. Now it was that behind us we perceived from the rushing +clouds that the gale, which had lulled during the night, was coming up +more strongly than ever and still easterly. The sailors grew afraid +again and together with the captain vowed that it was madness to face +the sea in such weather, and that we must anchor, or make the shore if +we could. + +I refused to listen to them, whereat they seemed to give way. + +At that moment Kari, who had gone forward, called to me. I went to him +and he pointed out to me men galloping along the bank and waving +kerchiefs, as though to signal to us to stop. + +"I think, Master," said Kari, "that some have entered the sun-room at +your house." + +I nodded and watched the men who galloped and waved. For some minutes +I watched them till suddenly I saw that the ship was altering her +course so that her bow pointed first one way and then another, as +though she were no longer being steered. We ran aft to learn the +cause, and found this. + +That crew of dastards, every man of them and the captain with them, +had drawn up the boat in which Kari and I came aboard, that was still +tied to the ship's stern, and slid down the rope into her, purposing +to win ashore before it was too late. Kari smiled as though he were +not astonished, but in my rage I shouted at them, calling them curs +and traitors. I think that the captain heard my words for I saw him +turn his head and look away as though in shame, but not the others. +They were engaged in hunting for the oars, only to find them gone, for +it would seem that they had been washed or had fallen overboard. + +Then they tried to set some kind of sail by aid of a boathook, but +while they were doing this, the boat, which had drifted side on to the +great waves raised by the gale upon the face of the broad river, +overturned. I saw some of the men clinging to the boat and one or two +scrambling on to her keel, but what chanced to them and the others I +do not know, who had rushed to the steering gear to set the ship upon +her course again, lest her fate should be that of the boat, or we +should go ashore and be captured by those who galloped on the bank, or +be drowned. This was the last I ever saw or heard of the crew of the +/Blanche/. + +The ship's bow came round and, driven by the ever-increasing gale, she +rushed on her course towards the sea, bearing us with her, two weak +and lonely men. + +"Kari," I said, "what shall we do? Try to run ashore, or sail on?" + +He thought awhile then answered, pointing to those who galloped, now +but tiny figures on the distant bank: + +"Master, yonder is death, sure death; and yonder," here he pointed to +the sea, "is death--perhaps. Master, you have a God, and I, Kari, have +another God, mayhap same God with different name. I say--Trust our +Gods and sail on, for Gods better than men. If we die in water, what +matter? Water softer than rope, but I think not die." + +I nodded, for the reasoning seemed good. Rather would I be drowned +than fall into the hands of those who were galloping on the shore, to +be dragged back to London and a felon's doom. + +So I pressed upon the tiller to bring the /Blanche/ more into mid- +channel, and headed for the sea. Wider and wider grew the estuary and +farther and farther away the shores as the /Blanche/ scudded on +beneath her small sails with the weight of the gale behind her, till +at last there was the open sea. + +Within a few feet of the tiller was a deck-house, in which the crew +ate, built of solid oak and clamped with iron. Here was food in +plenty, ale, too, and with these we filled ourselves. Also, leaving +Kari to hold the tiller, I took off my armour and in place of it +clothed myself in the rough sea garments that lay about with tall +greased boots, and then sent him to do likewise. + +Soon we lost sight of land and were climbing the great ocean billows, +whose foamy crests rolled and spurted wherever the eye fell. We could +set no course but must go where the gale drove us, away, away we knew +not whither. As I have said, the /Blanche/ was new and strong and the +best ship that ever I had sailed in upon a heavy sea. Moreover, her +hatches were closed down, for this the sailors had done after we +weighed, so she rode the waters like a duck, taking no harm. Oh! well +it was for me that from my childhood I had had to do with ships and +the sailing of them, and flying from the following waves thus was able +to steer and keep the /Blanche's/ poop right in the wind, which seemed +to blow first from one quarter and then from that. + + + +Now over my memory of these events there comes a great confusion and +sense of amazement. All became fragmentary and disjointed, separated +also by what seemed to be considerable periods of time--days or weeks +perhaps. There was a sense of endless roaring seas before which the +ship fled on and on, driven by a screaming gale that I noted dimly +seemed to blow first from the northwest and then steadily from the +east. + +I see myself, very distinctly, lashing the tiller to iron rings that +were screwed in the deck beams, and know that I did this because I was +too weak to hold it any longer and desired to set it so that the +/Blanche/ should continue to drive straight before the gale. I see +myself lying in the deck-house of which I have spoken, while Kari fed +me with food and water and sometimes thrust into my mouth little +pellets of I knew not what, which he took from the leathern bag he +wore about him. I remembered that bag. It had been on his person when +I rescued him at the quay, for I had seen it first as he washed +himself afterwards, half full of something, and wondered what it +contained. Later, I had seen it in his hand again when we left my +house after the death of Blanche. I noted that whenever he gave me one +of these pellets I seemed to grow strong for a while, and then to fall +into sleep, deep and prolonged. + +After more days--or weeks, I began to behold marvels and to hear +strange voices. I thought that I was talking with my mother and with +my patron, St. Hubert; also that Blanche came to me and explained +everything, showing how little she had been to blame for all that had +happened to me and her. These things made me certain that I was dead +and I was glad to be dead, since now I knew there would be no more +pain or strivings; that the endeavours which make up life from hour to +hour had ceased and that rest was won. Only then appeared my uncle, +John Grimmer, who kept quoting his favourite text at me--"Vanity of +vanities. All is vanity," he said, adding: "Did I not tell you that it +was thus years ago? Now you have learned it for yourself. Only, Nephew +Hubert, don't think that you have finished with vanities yet, as I +have, for I say that there are plenty more to come for you." + +Thus he seemed to talk on about this and other matters, such as what +would happen to his wealth and whether the hospitals would be quick to +seize the lands to which he had given it the reversion, till I grew +quite tired of him and wished that he would go away. + +Then at length there was a great crash that I think disturbed him, for +he did go, saying that it was only another "vanity," after which I +seemed to fall asleep for weeks and weeks. + +I woke up again for a warmth and brightness on my face caused me to +open my eyes. I lifted my hand to shield them from the brightness and +noted with a kind of wonder that it was so thin that the light shone +through it as it does through parchment, and that the bones were +visible beneath the skin. I let it fall from weakness, and it dropped +on to hair which I knew must be that of a beard, which set me +wondering, for it had been my fashion to go clean-shaven. How, then, +did I come by a beard? I looked about me and saw that I was lying on +the deck of a ship, yes, of the /Blanche/ itself, for I knew the shape +of her stern, also certain knots in one of the uprights of the deck- +house that formed a rude resemblance to a human face. Nothing of this +deck-house was left now, except the corner posts between which I lay, +and to the tops of these was lashed a piece of canvas as though to +keep off the sun and the weather. + +With difficulty I lifted my head a little and looked about me. The +bulwarks of the ship had gone, but some of the uprights to which the +planks had been nailed remained, and between them I perceived tall- +stemmed trees with tufts of great leaves at the top of them, which +trees seemed to be within a few yards of me. Bright-winged birds flew +about them and in their crowns I saw apes such as the sailors used to +bring home from Barbary. It would seem, then, that I must be in a +river (in fact, it was a little bay or creek, on either side of which +these trees appeared). + +Noting these and the creeping plants with beautiful flowers, such as I +had never seen, that climbed up them, and the sweet scents that +floated on the air, and the clear light, now I grew sure that I was +dead and had reached Paradise. Only then how came it that I still lay +on the ship, for never had I heard that such things also went to +Paradise? Nay, I must dream; it was nothing but a dream that I wished +were true, remembering as I did the terrors of that gale-tossed sea. +Or, if I did not dream, then I was in some new world. + +While I mused thus I heard a sound of soft footsteps and presently saw +a figure bending over me. It was Kari, very thin and hollow-eyed, +much, indeed, as he had been when I found him on the quay in London, +but still Kari without doubt. He looked at me in his grave fashion, +then said softly: + +"Master awake?" + +"Yes, Kari," I said, "but tell me, where am I?" + +He did not answer at once but went away and returned presently with a +bowl from which he bade me drink, holding it to my lips. I did so, +swallowing what seemed to be broth though I thought it strangely +flavoured, after which I felt much stronger, for whatever was in that +broth ran through my veins like wine. At last he spoke in his queer +English. + +"Master," he said, "when we still in Thames River, you ask me whether +we should run ashore into the hands of the hunters who try to catch +us, or sail on. I answer, 'You have God and I have God and better fall +into hands of gods than into hands of men.' So we sail on into the big +storm. For long we sail, and though once it turn, always the +great wind blew, behind us. You grow weak and your mind leave you, but +I keep you alive with medicine that I have and for many days I stay +awake and steer. Then at last my mind leave me, too, and I know no +more. Three days ago I wake up and find the ship in this place. Then I +eat more medicine and get strength, also food from people on the shore +who think us gods. That all the story, except that you live, not die. +Your God and my God bring us here safe." + +"Yes, Kari, but where are we?" + +"Master, I think in that country from which I come; not in my own land +which is still far away, but still in that country. You remember," he +added with a flash of his dark eyes, "I always say that you and I go +there together one day." + +"But what is the country, Kari?" + +"Master, not know its name. It big and have many names, but you first +white man who ever come here, that why people think you God. Now you +go sleep again; to-morrow we talk." + +I shut my eyes, being so very tired, and as I learned afterwards, +slept for twelve hours or more, to awake on the morning of the +following day, feeling wonderfully stronger and able to eat with +appetite. Also Kari brought me water and washed me, and clean clothes +which he had found in the ship that I put on. + +Thus it went on for a long while and day by day I recovered strength +till at length I was almost as I had been when I married Blanche Aleys +in the church of St. Margaret at Westminster. Only now sorrow had +changed me within and without my face had grown more serious, while to +it hung a short yellow beard which, when I looked at my reflection, +seemed to become me well enough. That beard puzzled me much, since +such are not grown in a day, although it is true that as yet it was +not over-long. Weeks must have passed since it began to sprout upon my +chin and as we had been but three days in this place when I woke up, +those weeks without doubt were spent upon the sea. + +Whither, then, had we come? Driving all the while before a great gale, +that for most of our voyage had blown from the east, as, if Kari were +right, we had done, this country must be very far away from England. +That it was so, indeed there could be no doubt, since here everything +was different. For example, having been a mariner from my childhood, I +had been taught and observed something of the stars, and noted that +the constellations had changed their places in the heavens, also that +some with which I was familiar were missing, while other new ones had +appeared. Further, the heat was great and constant, even at night +being more than that of our hottest summer day, and the air was full +of stinging insects, which at first troubled me much, though +afterwards I grew hardened to them. In short, everything was changed, +and I was indeed in a new world that was not told of in Europe, but +what world? What world? At least the sea joined it to the old, for +beneath me was still the /Blanche/, which timber by timber I had seen +built up upon the shores of Thames from oaks cut in my own woods. + +As soon as I was strong enough, I went over the ship, or what was left +of her. It was a marvel that she had floated for so long, since her +hull was shattered. Indeed, I do not think she could have done so, +save for the fine wool that was packed into the lower part of her, +which wool seemed to have swollen when it grew wet and to have kept +the water out. For the rest she was but a hulk, since both her masts +were gone, and much of the deck with them. Still she had kept afloat +and driving into this creek, had beached herself upon the mud as +though it were the harbour that she sought. + +How had we lived through such a journey? The answer seemed to be, +after we were too weak to find or take food, by means of the drug that +Kari cherished in his skin bag, and water of which there was plenty +left at hand in barrels, since the /Blanche/ had been provisioned for +a long voyage to Italy and farther. At least we had lived for weeks, +and weeks, being still young and very strong, and not having been +called upon to suffer great cold, since it would appear that although +the gale continued after the first few days of our flight before it, +the weather had turned warm. + +During this time of my recovery, every morning Kari would go ashore, +which he did by means of planks set upon the mud, since we were within +a few feet of the bank of the creek into which a streamlet ran. Later +he would return, bringing with him fish and wildfowl, and corn of a +sort that I did not know, for its grains were a dozen times the size +of wheat, flat-sided, and if ripe, of a yellow colour, which he said +he had purchased from those who dwelt upon the land. On this good food +I feasted, washing it down with ale and wine from the ship's stores; +indeed never before did I eat so much, not even when I was a boy. + +At length, one morning Kari made me put on my armour, the same which I +had taken from the French knight, and fled in from London, that he had +burnished till it shone like silver, and seat myself in a chair upon +what remained of the poop of the ship. When I asked him why, he +answered in order that he might show me to the inhabitants of that +land. In this chair he bade me sit and wait, holding the shield upon +my arm and the bare sword in my right hand. + +As I had come to know that Kari never did anything without a reason +and remembered that I was in a strange country where, lacking him, I +should not have lived or could continue to do so, I fell into his +humour. Moreover, I promised that I would remain still and neither +speak, nor smile, nor rise from my chair unless he bade me. So there I +sat glittering in the hot sunshine which burned me through the armour. + +Then Kari went ashore and was absent for some time. At length among +the trees and undergrowth I heard the sound of people talking in a +strange tongue. Presently they appeared on the bank of the creek, a +great number of them, very curious people, brown-skinned with long, +lank black hair and large eyes, but not over-tall in stature; men, +women and children together. + +Among them were some who wore white robes whom I took to be their +gentlefolk, but the most of them had only cloths or girdles about +their middles. Leading the throng was Kari, who, as it appeared from +the bushes, waved his hand and pointed me out seated in the shining +armour on the ship, the visor up to show my face and the long sword in +my hand. They stared, then, with a low, sighing exclamation, one and +all fell upon their faces and rubbed their brows upon the ground. + +As they lay there Kari addressed them, waving his arms and pointing +towards me from time to time. Afterwards I learned that he was telling +them I was a god, for which lie may his soul be forgiven. + +The end of it was that he bade them rise and led certain of them who +wore the white robes across the planks to the ship. Here, while they +hung back, he advanced towards me, bowing and kissing the air till he +drew near, then he went upon his knees and laid his hands upon my +steel-clad feet. More, from the bosom of his robe he drew out flowers +which he placed upon my knees as though in offering. + +"Now, Master," he whispered to me, "rise and wave your sword and shout +aloud, to show that you are alive and not an image." + +So up I sprang, circling Wave-Flame about my head and roaring like any +bull of Bashan, for my voice was always loud and carried far. When +they saw the bright sword whirling through the air and heard these +bellowings, uttering cries of fear, those poor folk fled. Indeed most +of them fell from the plank into the mud, where one stuck fast and was +like to drown, had not Kari rescued him, which his brethren were in +too great haste to do. + +After they had gone Kari came and said that everything went well and +that henceforward I was not a man but the Spirit of the Sea come to +earth, such a spirit as had never been dreamed of even by the wizards. + + + +Thus then did Hubert of Hastings become a god among those simple +people, who had never before so much as heard of a white man, or seen +armour or a sword of steel. + + + + CHAPTER II + + THE ROCKY ISLE + +For another week or more I remained upon the /Blanche/ waiting till my +full strength returned, also because Kari said I must do so. When I +asked him why, he replied for the reason that he wished news of my +coming to spread far and wide throughout the land from one tribe to +another, which it would do with great swiftness, flying, as he put it, +like a bird. Meanwhile, every day I sat upon the poop in the armour +for an hour or more, and both these people and others from afar came +to look at me, bringing me presents in such quantity that we knew not +what to do with them. Indeed, they built an altar and sacrificed wild +creatures to me, and birds, burning them with fire. Both those that I +had seen and the other folk from a long way off made this offering. + +At last one night, when, having eaten, Kari and I were seated together +in the moonshine before we slept, I turned on him suddenly, hoping +thus to surprise the truth out of his secret heart, and said: + +"What is your plan, Kari? For, know, I weary of this life." + +"I was waiting for the Master to ask that question," he replied with +his gentle smile. (Again, I give not the very words he spoke in his +bad English, but the substance of them.) "Now will the Master be +pleased to listen? As I have told the Master, I believe that the gods, +his God and my God, have brought me back to that part of the world +which is unknown to the Master, where I was born. I believed this from +the first hour that my eyes opened on it after our swoon, for I knew +the trees and the flowers and the smell of the earth, and saw that the +stars in the heavens stood where I used to see them. When I went +ashore and mingled with the natives, I discovered that this belief was +right, since I could understand something of their talk and they could +understand something of mine. Moreover, among them was a man who came +from far away, who said that he had seen me in past years, wandering +like one mad, only that this man whom he had seen wore the image of a +certain god about his neck, whose name was too high for him to +mention. Then I opened my robe and showed him that which I wear about +my neck, and he fell down and worshipped it, crying out that I was the +very man." + +"If so, it is marvellous," I said. "But what shall we do?" + +"The Master can do one of two things. He can stop here, where these +simple people will make him their king and give him wives and all that +he desires, and so live out his life, since of return to the land +whence he came there is no hope." + +"And if there were I would not go," I interrupted. + +"Or," went on Kari, "he can try to travel to my country. But that is +very far away. Something of the journey which I made when I was mad +comes back and tells me that it is very, very far away. First, yonder +mountains must be crossed till another sea is reached, which is no +great journey, though rough. Then the coast of that sea must be +followed southward, for I know not how far, but, as I think, for +months or years of journeying, till at length the country of my people +is reached. Moreover, that journeying is hard and terrible, since the +road runs through forests and deserts where dwell savage tribes and +huge snakes and wild beasts, like those planted on the flag of your +country, and where famine and sicknesses are common. Therefore my +counsel to the Master is that he should leave it unattempted." + +Now I thought awhile, and asked what he meant to do if I took this +counsel of his. To which he replied: + +"I shall wait here awhile till I see the Master made a king among +these people and established in his rule. Then I shall start on that +journey alone, hoping that what I could do when I was mad I shall be +able to do again when I am not mad." + +"I thought it," I said. "But tell me, Kari, if we were to make this +journey and perchance live to reach your people, how would they +welcome us?" + +"I do not know, Master; but I think that of the master they would make +a god, as will all the other people of this country. Perhaps, too, +they will sacrifice this god that his strength and beauty may enter +into them. As for me, some of them will try to kill me and others will +cling to me. Who will conquer I do not know, and to me it matters +little. I go to take my own and to be avenged, and if in seeking +vengeance I die--well, I die in honour." + +"I understand," I said. "And now, Kari, let us start as soon as +possible before I become as mad from staring at those trees and +flowers and those big-eyed natives, that you say would make me a king, +as you tell me you were when you left your country. Whether we shall +ever find that country I cannot say. But at least we shall have done +our best and, if we fail, shall perish seeking, as in this way or in +that it is the lot of all brave men to do." + +"The Master has spoken," said Kari, even more quietly than usual, +though as he spoke I saw his dark eyes flash and a trembling as of joy +run down his body. "Knowing all, he has made his choice, and whatever +happens, being what it is, he will not blame me. Yet because the +Master has thus chosen, I say this--that if we reach my country, and +if, perchance, I become a king there, even more than before I shall be +the Master's servant." + +"That is easy to promise now, Kari, but it will be time to talk of it +when we do reach your land," I said, laughing, and asked him when we +were to start. + +He replied not yet awhile, as he must make plans, and that in the +meantime I must walk upon the shore so that my legs might grow strong +again. So there every day I walked in the cool of the morning and in +the evening, not going out of sight of the wreck. I went armed and +carrying my big bow, but saw no one, since the natives had been warned +that I should walk and must not be looked upon while I did so. +Therefore, even when I passed through one of their villages of huts +built of mud and thatched with leaves, it seemed to be deserted. + +Still, in the end the bow did not come amiss, for one evening, hearing +a little noise in a big tree under which I was about to pass that +reminded me of the purring of a cat, I looked up and saw a great beast +of the tiger sort lying on the bough of the tree and watching me. Then +I drew the bow and sent an arrow through that beast, piercing it from +side to side, and down it came roaring and writhing, and biting at the +arrow till it died. + +After this I returned to the ship and told Kari what had happened. He +said it was fortunate I had killed the beast, which was of a very +fierce kind, and if I had not seen it, would have leapt on me as I +passed under the tree. Also he sent natives to skin it who when they +saw that it was pierced through and through by the arrow, were amazed +and thought me an even greater god than before, their own bows being +but feeble and their arrows tipped with bone. + + + +Three days after the killing of this beast we started on our journey +into a land unknown. For a long while before Kari and I had been +engaged in collecting all the knives we could find in the ship, also +arrows, nails, axes, tools of carpentering, clothes, and I know not +what else besides, which goods we tied up in bundles wrapped in +sailcloth, each bundle weighing from thirty to forty pounds, to serve +as presents to natives or to trade away with them. When I asked who +would carry them, Kari answered that I should see. This I did at dawn +on the following morning when there arrived upon the shore a great +number of men, quite a hundred indeed, who brought with them two +litters made of light wood jointed like reeds, only harder, in which +Kari said he and I were to be carried. Among these men he parcelled +out the loads which they were to bear upon their heads, and then said +that it was time for us to start in the litters. + +So we started, but first I went down into a cabin and kneeling on my +knees, thanked God for having brought me safe so far, and prayed Him +and St. Hubert to protect me on my further wanderings, and if I died, +to receive my soul. This done I left the ship and while the natives +bowed themselves about me, entered my litter, which was comfortable +enough, having grass mats to lie on and other mats for curtains, very +finely woven, so that they would turn even the heaviest rain. + +Then away we went, eight men bearing the pole to which each litter was +slung on their shoulders, while others carried the bundles upon their +heads. Our road ran through forest uphill, and on the crest of the +first hill I descended from the litter and looked back. + +There in the creek below lay the wreck of the /Blanche/, now but a +small black blot showing against the water, and beyond it the great +sea over which we had travelled. Yonder broken hulk was the last link +which bound me to my distant home thousands of miles across the ocean, +that home, which my heart told me I should never see again, for how +could I win back from a land that no white foot had ever trod? + +On the deck of this ship Blanche herself had stood and smiled and +talked, for once we visited it together shortly before our marriage, +and I remembered how I had kissed her in its cabin. Now Blanche was +dead by her own hand and I, the great London merchant, was an outcast +among savages in a country of which I did not even know the name, +where everything was new and different. And there the ship with her +rich cargo, after bearing us so bravely through weeks of tempest, must +lie until she rotted in the sun and rain and never again would my eyes +behold her. Oh! then it was that a sense of all my misery and +loneliness gripped my heart as it had not done before since I rode +away after killing Deleroy with the sword Wave-Flame, and I wondered +why I had been born, and almost hoped that soon I might die and go to +seek the reason. + +Back into the litter I crept and there hid my face and wept like a +child. Truly I, the prosperous merchant of London town who might have +lived to become its mayor and magistrate and win nobility, was now an +outcast adventurer of the humblest. Well, so God had decreed, and +there was no more to say. + +That night we encamped upon a hilltop past which rushed a river in the +vale below and were troubled with heat and insects that hummed and +bit, for to these as yet I was not accustomed, and ate of the food +that we had brought with us, dried flesh and corn. + +Next morning with the light we started on again, up and down mountains +and through more forests, following the course of the river and the +shores of a lake. So it went on until on the third evening from high +land we saw the sea beneath us, a different sea from that which we had +left, for it seemed that we had been crossing an isthmus, not so wide +but that if any had the skill, a canal might be cut across it joining +those two great seas. + +Now it was that our real travels began, for here, after staring at the +stars and brooding apart for a long while, Kari turned southwards. +With this I had nothing to do who did not greatly care which way he +turned. Nor did he speak to me of the matter, except to say that his +god and such memory as remained to him through his time of madness +told him that the land of his people lay towards the south, though +very far away. + +So southwards we went, following paths through the forests with the +ocean on our right hand. After a week of this wearisome marching we +came to another tribe of natives of whose talk those with us could +understand enough to tell them our story. Indeed the rumour that a +white god had appeared in the land out of the sea had already reached +them, and therefore they were prepared to worship me. Here our people +left us, saying that they dared not go further from their own country. + +The scene of the departure was strange, since every one of them came +and rubbed his forehead in the dust before me and then went away, +walking backwards and bowing. Still their going did not make a great +difference to us, since the new tribe was much as the old one, though +if anything, rather less clothed and more dirty. Also it accepted me +as a god without question and gave us all the food we needed. +Moreover, when we left their land men were provided to carry the +litters and the loads. + +Thus, then, passing from tribe to tribe, we travelled on southward, +ever southwards, finding always that the rumour of the coming of "the +god" had gone before us. So gentle were all these people, that not +once did we meet with any who tried to harm us or to steal our goods, +or who refused us the best of what they had. Our adventures, it is +true, were many. Thus, twice we came to tribes that were at war with +other tribes, though on my appearance they laid down their arms, at +any rate, for a time, and bore our litters forward. + +Again, sometimes we met tribes who were cannibals and then we suffered +much from want of meat, since we dared not touch their food unless it +were grain. In the town of the first of these cannibal people, being +moved with fury, I killed a man whom I found about to murder a child +and eat her, sweeping off his head with my sword. For this deed I +expected that they would murder us, but they did not. They only +shrugged their shoulders and saying that a god can do as he pleases, +took away the slain man and ate him. + +Sometimes our road ran through terrible forests where the great trees +shut out the light of day, and a path must be hacked through the +undergrowth. Sometimes it was haunted by tigers or tree lions such as +I have spoken of, against which we must watch continuously, especially +at night, keeping the brutes off by means of fires. Sometimes we were +forced to wade great rivers, or worse still, to walk over them on +swaying bridges made of cables of twisted reeds that until I grew +accustomed to them caused my head to swim, though never did I permit +myself to show fear before the natives. Again, once we came to swampy +lands that were full of snakes which terrified me much, especially +after I had seen some natives whom they bit, die within a few minutes. + +Other snakes there were also, as thick as a man's body, and four or +five paces in length, which lived in trees and killed their food by +coiling round it and pressing it to death. These snakes, it was said, +would take men in this fashion, though I never saw one of them do so. +At any rate, they were terrible to look on, and reminded me of their +forefather through whose mouth Satan talked with Mother Eve in the +Garden of Eden, and thus brought us all to woe. + +Once, too, on the bank of a great river, I saw such a snake that at +the sight of it my knees knocked together. By St. Hubert, the beast +was sixty feet or more in length; its head was of the bigness of a +barrel, and its skin was of all the colours of the rainbow. Moreover, +it seemed to hold me with its eyes, for till it slipped away into the +river I could not move a foot. + +Month after month we travelled thus, covering a matter of perhaps five +miles a day, since sometimes the country was open and we crossed it +with speed. Yet although our dangers were so many, strangely enough, +during all this time, even in that heat neither of us fell sick, as I +think because of the herb which Kari carried in his bag, that I found +was named /Coca/, whereof we obtained more as we went and ate from +time to time. Nor did we ever really suffer from starvation, since +when we were hungry we took more of this herb which supported us until +we could find food. These mercies I set down to the good offices of +St. Hubert watching from Heaven over me, his poor namesake and godson, +though perhaps the skill and courage of Kari which provided against +everything had something to do with them. + +At length, in the ninth month of our travelling, as Kari reckoned it +by means of knots which he tied on pieces of native string, for I had +long lost count of time, we came to the borders of a great desert that +the natives said stretched southwards for a hundred leagues and more +and was without water. Moreover, to the east of this desert rose a +chain of mountains bordered by precipices up which no man could climb. +Here, therefore, it seemed as though our journey must end, since Kari +had no knowledge of how he crossed or went round this desert in his +madness of bygone years, if indeed he ever travelled that road at all, +a matter of which I was not certain. + +For a week or more we remained among the tribe that lived in a +beautiful watered valley upon the borders of this desert, wondering +what we should do. For my part I was by now so tired of travelling +upon an endless quest that I should have been glad to stay among that +tribe, a very gentle and friendly people, who like all the rest +believed me to be a god, and make my home there till I died. But this +was not Kari's mind, which was set fiercely upon winning back to his +own country that he believed to lie towards the south. + +Day by day we sat there regaining our strength upon the good food of +that valley, and staring first at the desert to the south, then at the +precipices on our left hand, and lastly at the ocean upon our right. +Now this people, I should say, drew their wealth from the sea as well +as from the land, since they were great fishermen and went out upon it +in rude boats or rafts made of a wooden frame to which were lashed +blown-up skins and bundles of dried reeds. Upon these boats, frail as +they seemed, such as further south were called balsas, they made +considerable journeys to distant islands where they caught vast +quantities of fish, some of which they used to manure their land. +Moreover, besides the oars, they rigged a square cotton sail upon the +balsas which enabled them to run before the wind without labour, +steering the craft by means of a paddle at the stern. + +While we were there I observed that on the springing up of a wind from +the north, although it was of no great strength, the /balsas/ all came +to shore and were drawn up out of reach of the waves. When I inquired +why through Kari, the answer given was because the fishing season was +over, since that wind from the north would blow for a long time +without changing and those who went out in it upon the sea might be +driven southwards to return no more. They stated, indeed, that often +this had happened to venturesome men who had vanished away and been +lost. + +"If you wish to travel south, there is a way of doing so," I said to +Kari. + +At the time he made no answer, but on the following day asked me +suddenly if I dared attempt such a journey. + +"Why not?" I answered. "It is as easy to die in the water as on land +and I weary of journeying through endless swamps and forests or of +crossing torrents and climbing mountain ridges." + +The end of it was that for a knife and a few nails Kari purchased the +largest /balsa/ that these people had, provisioning it with as much +dried fish, corn and water in earthenware jars as it would carry +together with ourselves, and such of our remaining goods as we wished +to take with us. Then we announced that I, the god who had come out of +the sea, desired to return into the sea with himself, my servant. + +So on a certain fine morning when the wind was blowing steadily but +not too strongly from the north, we embarked upon that /balsa/ while +the simple savages made obeisance with wonder in their eyes, hoisted +the square canvas, and sailed away upon what I suppose was one of the +maddest voyages ever made by man. + +Although it was so clumsy the /balsa/ moved through the water at a +good rate, covering quite two leagues the hour, I should say, before +that strong and steady wind. Soon the village that we had left +vanished; then the mountains behind it grew dim and in time vanished +also, and there remained nothing but the great wilderness upon our +left and the vast sea around. Steering clear of the land so as to +avoid sunken rocks, we sailed on all that day and all the night that +followed, and when the light came again perceived that we were running +past a coastline that was backed by high mountains on some of which +lay snow. By the second evening these mountains had become tremendous, +and between them I saw valleys down which ran streams of water. + +Thus we went on for three days and nights, the wind from the north +blowing all the while and the /balsa/ taking no hurt, by the end of +which time I reckon that we had travelled as far along the coast as we +had done in six months when we journeyed over land, at which I +rejoiced. Kari rejoiced also, because he said that the shape and +greatness of the mountains we were passing reminded him of those of +his own country, to which he believed that we were drawing near. + +On the fourth morning, however, our troubles began, since the friendly +wind from the north grew steadily stronger, till at length it rose to +a gale. Soon our little rag of canvas was torn away, but still we +rushed on before the following seas at a very great speed. + +Now I thought of trying to make the land, but found that we could not +do so with the oars, because of the current that set out towards the +ocean against which it was impossible to urge our clumsy craft. +Therefore we must content ourselves with trying to keep her head +straight with the steering oar, but even then we were often whirled +round and round. + +About two hours after noon the sky clouded over, and there burst upon +us a great thunder-storm with torrents of rain; also the wind grew +stronger and stronger. + +Now we could no longer steer or do anything except lie flat upon the +bottom of the /balsa/, gripping the cords with which it was tied +together, to save ourselves from being washed overboard, since often +the foaming crests of the waves broke upon us. Indeed, it was +marvellous that this frail craft should hang together at all, but +owing to the lightness of the reeds and the blown-up skins that were +tied in them, still she floated and, whirling round and round, sped +upon her southward path. Yet I knew that this could not endure for +very long, and committed my soul to God as well as I was able in my +half-drowned state, wishing that my miseries were ended. + +The darkness came down, but still the thunder roared and the lightning +blazed, and by the flare of it I caught sight of snow-capped mountains +far away upon the coast, also of Kari clinging to the reeds of the +/balsa/ at my side, and from time to time kissing the golden image of +Pachacamac which hung about his neck. Presently he set his lips +against my ear and shouted: + +"Be bold! Our gods are still with us in storm." + +"Yes," I answered, "and soon we shall be with our gods--in peace." + +After this I heard no more of him, and fell to thinking with such wits +as were left to me of how many perils we had passed since we saw the +shores of Thames, and that it seemed sad that all should have been for +nothing, since it would have been better to die at the beginning than +now at the end, after so much misery. Then the glare of the lightning +shone upon the handle of the sword Wave-Flame, which was still +strapped about me, and I remembered the rune written upon it which my +mother had rendered to me upon the morning of the fight against the +Frenchmen. How did it run? + + He who lifts Wave-Flame on high + In love shall live and in battle die. + Storm-tossed o'er wide seas shall roam + And in strange lands shall make his home. + Conquering, conquered shall he be + And far away shall sleep with me. + +It fitted well, though of the love I had known little and that most +unhappy, and the battle in which I must die was one with water. Also, +I had conquered nothing who myself was conquered by Fate. In short, +the thing could be read two ways, like all prophecies, and only one +line of it was true beyond a doubt--namely, that Wave-Flame and I +should sleep together. + +Awhile later the lightning shone awesomely, like to the swords of a +whole army of destroying angels, so that the sky became alive with +fire. In its light for an instant I saw ahead of us great breakers, +and beyond them what looked like a dark mass of land. Now we were in +them, for the first of those hungry, curling waves got a hold of the +/balsa/ and tossed it up dizzily, then flung it down into a deep +valley of water. Another came and another, till my senses reeled and +went. I cried to St. Hubert, but he was a land saint and could not +help me; so I cried to Another greater than he. + +My last vision was of myself riding a huge breaker as though it were a +horse. Then there came a crash and darkness. + + + +Lo! it seemed to me as though one were calling me back from the depths +of sleep. With trouble I opened my eyes only to shut them again +because of the glare of the light. Then after a while I sat up, which +gave me pain, for I felt as if I had been beaten all over, and looked +once more. Above me shone the sun in a sky of deepest blue; before me +was the sea almost calm, while around were rocks and sand, among which +crawled great reptiles that I knew for turtles, as I had seen many of +them in our wanderings. Moreover, kneeling at my side, with the sword +that he had taken from the body of Deleroy still strapped about him, +was Kari, who bled from some wound and was almost white with encrusted +salt, but otherwise seemed unharmed. I stared at him, unable to open +my mouth from amazement, so it was he who spoke the first, saying, in +a voice that had a note of triumph in it: + +"Did I not tell you that the gods were with us? Where is your faith, O +White Man! Look! They have brought me back to the land of which I am +Prince." + +Now there was that in Kari's tone which in my weak state angered me. +Why did he scold me about faith? Why did he address me as "White Man" +instead of "Master"? Was it because he had reached a country where he +was great and I was nothing? I supposed so, and answered; + +"And are these your subjects, O noble Kari?" and I pointed to the +crawling turtles. "And is this the rich and wondrous land where gold +and silver are as mud?" and I pointed to the barren rocks and sand +around. + +He smiled at my jest, and answered more humbly: + +"Nay, Master, yonder is my land." + +Then I looked, following his glance, and saw many leagues way across +the water two snowclad peaks rising above a bank of clouds. + +"I know those mountains," he went on; "without doubt they are one of +the gateways of my land." + +"Then we might as well be in London for all the hope we have of +passing that gate, Kari. But tell me what has chanced." + +"This, I think. A very great wave caught us and threw us right over +those rocks on to the shore. Look--there is the /balsa/," and he +pointed to a broken heap of reeds and pierced skins. + +With his help I rose and went to it. Now none could know that it had +been a boat. Still, the /balsa/ it was and nothing else, and tied in +its tangled mass still remained those things which we had brought with +us, such as my black bow and armour, though all the jars were broken. + +"It has borne us well, but will never bear us again," I said. + +"That is so, Master. But if we were in my own country yonder I would +set its fragments in a case of gold and place them in the Temple of +the Sun as a memorial." + +Then we went to a pool of rainwater that lay in a hollow rock near by, +and drank our fill, for we were very thirsty. Also among the ruins of +the /balsa/ we found some of the dried fish that was left to us, and +having washed it, filled ourselves. After this we limped to the crest +of the land behind and perceived that we were on a little island, +perhaps two hundred English acres in extent, whereon nothing grew +except some coarse grass. This island, however, was the haunt of great +numbers of seafowl which nested there, also of the turtles that I have +mentioned, and of certain beasts like seals or otters. + +"At least we shall not starve," I said, "though in the dry season we +may die of thirst." + + + +Now there on that island we remained for four long months. For food we +ate the turtles, which we cooked over fires that Kari made by +cunningly twirling a pointed piece of driftwood in the hollow of +another piece that he filled with the dust of dried grass. Had he +lacked that knowledge we must have starved or lived on raw flesh. As +it was, we had plenty with this meat and that of birds and their eggs, +also of fish that we caught in the pools when the tide was down. From +the shells of the turtles, by the help of stones, we built us a kind +of hut to keep off the sun and the rain, which in that hot place was +sufficient shelter; also, when the stench was out of them, we used +other shells in which to catch rainwater that we stored as best we +could against seasons of drought. Lastly, with my big bow which was +saved with the armour, I shot sea-otters, and from their pelts we made +us garments after rubbing the skins with turtle fat and handling them +to make them soft. + +Thus, then, we lived from moon to moon upon that desert place, till I +thought I should go mad with loneliness and despair, for no help came +near us. There were the mountains of the mainland far away, but +between them and us stretched leagues of sea that we could not swim, +nor had we anything of which to make a boat. + +"Here we must remain until we die!" at last I cried in my +wretchedness. + +"Nay," answered Kari, "our gods are still with us and will save us in +their season." + + + +This, indeed, they did in a strange fashion. + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE DAUGHTER OF THE MOON + +For the fourth time since we were cast away on this island the huge +full moon shone in a sky of wondrous blue. Kari and I watched it rise +between the two snow-clad peaks far away that he had called a gateway +to his land, which was so near to us and yet it would seem more +distant than Heaven itself. Heaven we might hope to reach upon the +wings of spirit when we died, but to that country how could we come? + +We watched that great moon climb higher and higher up a ladder of +little bar-like clouds, till wearying we let our eyes fall upon the +glittering pathway which its light made upon the bosom of the placid +sea. Suddenly Kari stared and stared. + +"What is it?" I asked idly. + +"I thought I saw something yonder far away where Quilla's footsteps +make the waters bright," he said, speaking in his own language in +which now we often talked together. + +"Quilla's?" I exclaimed. "Oh! I forgot: that is the lady moon's name +in your tongue, is it not? Well, come, Quilla, and I will wed and +worship you, as 'tis said the ancients did, and never turn to look +upon another, be she woman, or goddess, or both. Only come and take me +from this accursed isle and in payment I'll die for you, if need be, +when first I've taught you how to love as star or woman never loved +before." + +"Hush!" said Kari in a grave voice, when he had listened to this mad +stuff that burst through my lips from the spring of a mind distraught +by misery and despair. + +"Why should I hush?" I asked. "Is it not pleasant to think of the moon +wearing a lovely woman's shape and descending to give a lonely mortal +love and comfort?" + +"Because, Master, to me and my people the moon is a goddess who hears +prayer and answers it. Suppose, then, that she heard you and answered +you and came to you and claimed your love, what then?" + +"Why, then, friend Kari," I raved on, "then I should welcome her, for +love goes a begging, ready as ripe fruit to be plucked by the first +hand if it be fair enough, ready to melt beneath the first lips if +they be warm enough. 'Tis said that it is the man who loves and the +woman who accepts the love. But that is not true. It is the man, Kari, +who waits to be loved and pays back just as much as is given to him, +and no more, like an honest merchant; for if he does otherwise, then +he suffers for it, as I have learned. Therefore, come, Quilla, and +love as a Celestial can and I swear that step by step I'll keep pace +with you in flesh and spirit through Heaven, or through Hell, since +love I must have, or death." + +"I pray you, talk not so," said Kari again, in a frightened voice, +"since those words of yours come from the heart and will be heard. The +goddess is a woman, too, and what woman will turn from such a bait?" + +"Let her take it, then. Why not?" + +"Because, O friend, because /Quilla/ is wed to /Yuti/; the Moon is the +Sun's wife, and if the Sun grows jealous what will happen to the man +who has robbed the greatest of the world's gods?" + +"I do not know and I do not care. If Quilla would but come and love +me, I'd take my chance of Yuti whom as a Christian I defy." + +Kari shuddered at this blasphemy, then having once more scanned that +silver pathway on the waters, but without avail for the great fish or +drifting tree or whatever he had seen, was gone, prayed after his +fashion at night, to Pachacamac, Spirit of the Universe, or to the Sun +his servant, god of the world, I know not which, and rolling himself +in his rug of skins, crept into our little hut to sleep. + +But as yet I did not sleep, for though Kari hated both, this talk of +love and women had stirred my blood and made me wakeful. So I took a +rough comb that I had fashioned from the shell of a turtle, and +dragged it through my long fair beard, which, growing fast, now hung +down far upon my breast, and through the curling hair that lay upon my +shoulders, for I had become as other wild men are, and sang to myself +there by the little fire which we kept burning day and night and tried +to think of happy things that never should I know again. + +At length the fit passed and I grew weary and laid myself down by the +fire, for the night being so fine and warm I would not go into the +hut, and there sleep found me. + +I dreamed in my sleep. I dreamed that a very beautiful woman who wore +upon her naked breast the emblem of the moon fashioned in crystal, +stood over me, looking down upon me with large dark eyes. And as she +looked she sighed. Thrice she sighed, each time more deeply than the +last. Then she knelt down by me--or so it seemed in my dream, and laid +a tress of her long dark hair against my yellow locks, as though she +would match them together. She did more, indeed--in my dream--for +lifting that tress of fragrant hair, she let it fall like thistledown +across my face and mouth, and then kissed the hair, for I felt her +breath reach me through its strands. + +The dream ended thus, though I wished very much that it would go on, +and I felt as though it had gone away as such visions do. Awhile +later, as I suppose, I awoke quite suddenly, and opened my eyes. +There, near to me, glittering in the full light of the brilliant moon, +stood the woman of my dream, only now her naked breast was covered +with a splendid cloak broidered with silver, and on her dark locks was +a feathered headdress in front of which rose the crescent of the moon, +likewise fashioned in silver. Also in her hand she held a little +silver spear. + +I stared at her, for move I could not. Then remembering my crazy talk +with Kari, uttered one word, only one. It was--/Quilla/. + +She bowed her head and answered in a voice soft as the murmur of the +wind through rushes, speaking in the rich language called Quichua that +Kari had taught me. In this tongue, as I have told, we talked together +for practice during our journeys and on the island. So that now I knew +it well. + +"So indeed am I named after my mother, the 'Moon,'" she said. "But how +did you know it, O Wanderer, whose skin is white as the foam of the +sea and whose hair is yellow as the fine gold in the temples?" + +"I think you must have told me when you knelt over me just now," I +said. + +I saw the red blood run to her brow, but she only shook her head, and +answered: + +"Nay, my mother, the Moon, must have told you; or perchance you +learned it in the spirit. At least, Quilla am I named and you called +me aright." + +Now I stood up and stared at her, overcome by the strangeness of the +business, and she stared at me. A marvellously beautiful woman she was +in her dazzling robe and headdress, and lighter coloured than any +native I had seen, almost white, indeed, in the moonlight save for the +copper tinge that marked her race; tall, too, yet not over-tall; slim +and straight as an arrow, but high-breasted and round-limbed, and with +a wild grace in her movements like to that of a hawk upon the wing. +Also to my fancy in her face there was something more than common +youthful beauty, something spiritual, such as great artists show upon +the carven countenances of saints. + +Indeed she might well have been one whose human blood was mixed with +some other alien strain--as she had called herself, a daughter of the +Moon. + +A question rose to my lips and burst from them; it was: + +"Tell me, O Quilla, are you wife or maid?" + +"Maid am I," she answered, "yet one who is promised as a wife," and +she sighed, then went on quickly as though this matter were something +of which she did not wish to talk, "And tell me, O Wanderer, are you +god or man?" + +Now I grew cunning and answered, + +"I am a Son of the Sea as you are a Daughter of the Moon." + +She turned her head and glanced at the radiance which lay upon the +face of the deep, then said as though to herself: + +"The moon shines upon the sea and the sea mirrors back the moon, yet +they are far apart and never may draw near." + +"Not so, O Quilla. Out of the sea does the moon rise and, her course +run, into the sea's white arms she sinks to sleep at last." + +Again the red blood ran to her brow and her great eyes fell, those +eyes of which never before had I seen the like. + +"It seems that they speak our tongue in the sea, and prettily," she +murmured, adding, "But is it not from and into Heaven that the Moon +rises and departs?" + +At that moment to my grief our talk came to an end, for out of the hut +crept Kari. He rose to his feet and stood there as ever calm and +dignified, looking first at Quilla and then at me. + +"What did I tell you, Master?" he said in English. "Did I not say that +prayers such as yours are answered? Lo! here is that Child of the Moon +for whom you sought, clothed in beauty and bringing her gifts of love +and woe." + +"Yes," I exclaimed, "and I am glad that she is here. For the rest, +were she but mine, I think I should not grudge her price whate'er it +be." + +Quilla looked at Kari frowning over the spear that when he appeared +she had lifted, as though to defend herself, which in my case she had +not thought needful. + +"So the sea breeds men of my own race also," she said, addressing him. +"Tell me, O Stranger, how did you and yonder white god come to this +isle?" + +"Riding on the ocean billows, riding for thousands of leagues," he +answered. "And you, O Lady, how did you come to this isle?" + +"Riding on the moonbeams," she replied, smiling, "I, the daughter of +the Moon, who am named Moon and wear her symbol on my brow." + +"Did I not tell you so?" exclaimed Kari to me with a gloomy air. + +Then Quilla went on: + +"Strangers, I was out fishing with two of my maidens and we had +drifted far from land. As the sun sank I caught sight of the smoke of +your fire, and having been told that this isle was desert, my heart +drew me to discover who had lit it. So, though my maidens were afraid, +hither I sailed and paddled, and the rest you know. Hearken! I will +declare myself. I am the only child of Huaracha, King of the People of +the Chancas, born of his wife, a princess of the Inca blood who now +has been gathered to her Father, the Sun. I am here on a visit to my +mother's kinsman, Quismancu, the Chief of the Yuncas of the +Coastlands, to whom my father, the King, has sent an embassy on +matters of which I know nothing. Behind yonder rock is my /balsa/ and +with it are the two maidens. Say, is it your wish to bide here upon +this isle, or to return into the sea, or to accompany me back to the +town of Quismancu? If so, we must sail ere the weather breaks, lest we +should be drowned." + +"Certainly it is my wish to accompany you, Lady, though a god of the +sea cannot be drowned," I said quickly before Kari could speak. +Indeed, he did not speak at all, he only shrugged his shoulders and +sighed, like one who accepts some evil gift from Fate because he must. + +"So be it!" exclaimed Quilla. "Now I go to make ready the /balsa/ and +to warn the maidens lest they be frightened. When you are prepared you +will find us yonder behind the rock." + +Then she bowed in a stately fashion an departed, walking with the +proud, light step of a deer. + +From our little hut I took out my armour and with Kari's help, put it +on, because he declared that thus it would be more easily carried, +though I think he had other reasons in his mind. + +"Yes," I answered, "unless the /balsa/ oversets, when I shall find +mail hard to swim in." + +"The /balsa/ will not overset, sailing beneath the moon with that +Moon-lady for a pilot," he replied heavily. "Had the sun been up, it +might have been different. Moreover, the path into a net is always +wide and easy." + +"What net?" I asked. + +"One that is woven of women's hair, I think. Already, if I mistake +not, such a net has been about your throat, Master, and next time it +will stay there. Hearken now to me. The gods thrust us into high +matters. The Yuncas of whose chief this lady is a guest are a great +people whom my people have conquered in war, but who wait the +opportunity to rebel, if they have not already done so. The Chancas, +of those king she is the daughter, are a still greater people who for +years have threatened war upon my people." + +"Well, what of it, Kari? With such questions this lady will have +nothing to do." + +"I think she has much to do with them. I think that she knows more +than she seems to know, and that she is an envoy from the Chancas to +the Yuncas. To whom is she affianced, I wonder? Some Great One, +doubtless. Well, we shall learn in time; and meanwhile, I pray you, +Master, remember that she says she /is/ affianced, and that in this +land men are very jealous even of a white god who rises from the sea." + +"Of course I shall remember," I answered sharply. "Have I not had +enough of women who are affianced?" + +"By your prayer of the moon this night, which the moon answered so +well and quickly, one might think not. Also this daughter of hers is +fair, and perchance when she gave her hand she kept her heart. Listen +again, Master. Of me and of whom I am, say nothing, save that you +found me on this island where I dwelt a hermit when you rose from the +sea. As for my name, why, it is Zapana. Remember that if you breathe +my rank and history, however much sweet lips may try to cozen them out +of you, you bring me to my death, who now do not wish to die, having a +vengeance to accomplish and a throne to win. Therefore treat me as a +dog, as one of no account, and be silent even in your sleep." + +"I will remember, Kari." + +"That is not enough--swear it." + +"Good. I swear it--by the moon." + +"Nay, not by the moon, for the moon is woman and changes. Swear it by +this," and from beneath his skin robe he drew out the golden image of +Pachacamac. "Swear it by the Spirit of the Universe, of whom Sun and +Moon and Stars are but servants, the Spirit whom all men worship in +this shape or in that." + +So to please him I laid my hand upon the golden symbol and swore. +Then, very hurriedly, we made up a tale of how, clad in my armour, I +had risen from the sea and found him on the island, and how knowing me +for a white god who once in ages past had visited that land and who, +as prophecy foretold, should return to it in days to come, he had +worshipped me and become my slave. + +This done we went down to the rock, Kari walking after me and bearing +all our small possessions and with them Deleroy's sword. Passing round +the rock we saw the /balsa/ drawn up to the sand, and by it the lady +Quilla, who now had put off her fine robes and again was attired as a +fishing-girl as I had seen her in my dream, and with her two tall +girls in the same scanty garments. When these saw me in the glittering +armour, which in our long idle hours we had polished till it shone +like silver, with the shield upon my arm and the casque upon my head +and the great sword girded about my middle and the black bow in my +hand, they screamed with fear and fell upon their faces, while even +Quilla started back and glanced towards the boat. + +"Fear not," I said. "The gods are kind to those who do them service, +though to those who would harm them they are terrible." + +Kari also went to them and whispered in their ears what tale I know +not. In the end they rose trembling, and having motioned to me to be +seated in it, with the help of Kari pushed the /balsa/, which I noted +with joy was large and well made, down into the sea. Then one by one +they climbed in, Quilla taking the steering-oar, while Kari and the +two maidens hoisted the little sail and paddled till we were clear of +the island, where the gentle wind caught the /balsa/. Then they +shipped the paddles, and although full laden, we sailed quietly +towards the mainland. + +Now I was at the bow of the /balsa/ and Quilla was at its stern, and +between us were the others, so that during all that long night's +journey I had no speech with her and must content myself with gazing +over my shoulder at her beauty as best I could, which was not well, +because of Kari, who ever seemed to come between my eyes and hers. + +Thus the long hours went by till at length when we were near the land +the moon sank, and we sailed on through the twilight. Then came the +dawn, and there in front of us we saw the lovely strand green with +palms within a ring of snow-clad mountains, two of them the great +peaks that we had seen from our isle. + +On the shore was a city of white, flat-roofed houses, and rising above +it, perchance the half of a mile from the sea, a hill four or five +hundred feet in height and terraced. On the top of the hill stood a +mighty building, painted red, that from the look of it I took to be +one of the churches of these people, in the centre of which gleamed +great doors that, as I found afterwards, were covered with plates of +gold. + +"Behold the temple of Pachacamac, Master," whispered Kari, bowing his +head and kissing the air in token of reverence. + +By this time watchmen, who had been set there to search the sea or the +boat of Quilla, had noted our approach. They shouted and pointed to me +who sat in the prow clad in my armour upon which the sun glittered, +then began to run to and fro as though in fear or excitement, so that +ere we reached the shore a great crowd had gathered. Meanwhile, Quilla +had put on her silver-broidered mantle and her head-dress of feathers, +crowned with the crescent of the moon. As we touched the beach she +came forward, and for the first time during that night spoke to me +saying: + +"Remain here in the /balsa/, Lord, while I talk with these people, and +when I summon you be pleased to come. Fear not--none will harm you." + +Then she sprang from the prow of the /balsa/ to the shore, followed by +her two maidens, who dragged it further up the beach, and went forward +to talk with certain white-robed men in the crowd. For a long while +she talked, turning now and again to point at me. At length these men, +accompanied by a number of others, ran forward. At first I thought +they meant mischief and grasped my sword-hilt, then, remembering what +Quilla had said, remained seated and silent. + +Indeed, there was no cause for fear, for when the white-robed chiefs +or priests and their following were close to me, suddenly they +prostrated themselves and beat their heads upon the sand, from which I +learned that they, too, believed me to be a god. Thereon I bowed to +them and, drawing my sword--at the sight of which I saw them stare and +shiver, for to these people steel was unknown--held it straight up in +front of me in my right hand, the shield with the cognizance of the +three arrows being on my left arm. + +Now all the men rose, and some of them of the humbler sort, creeping +to the /balsa/, suddenly seized it and lifted it on to their +shoulders, which, being but a light thing of reeds and blown-out +skins, they could do easily enough. Then, preceded by the chiefs, they +advanced up the beach into the town, I still remaining seated in the +boat with Kari crouching behind me. So strange was the business that +almost I laughed aloud, wondering what those grave merchants of the +Cheap whom I had known in London would think if they could see me +thus. + +"Kari," I said, without turning my head, "what are they going to do +with us? Set us in yonder temple to be worshipped with nothing to +eat?" + +"I think not, Master," answered Kari, "since there the lady Quilla +could not come to speak with you if she would. I think that they will +take you to the house of the king of this country where, I understand, +she is dwelling." + +This, indeed, proved to be the case, for we were borne solemnly up the +main street of the town, that now was packed with thousands of people, +some of whom threw flowers before the feet of the bearers, bowing and +staring till I thought that their eyes would fall out, to a large, +flat-roofed house set in a walled courtyard. Passing through the gates +the bearers placed the /balsa/ on the ground and fell back. Then from +out of the door of the house appeared Quilla, accompanied by a tall, +stately looking man who wore a fine robe, and a woman of middle age +also gorgeously apparelled. + +"O Lord," said Quilla, bowing, "behold my kinsman the /Caraca/" (which +is the name for a lesser sort of king) "of the Yuncas, named +Quismancu, and his wife, Mira." + +"Hail, Lord Risen from the Sea!" cried Quismancu. "Hail, White God +clothed in silver! Hail, /Hurachi/!" + +Why he called me "Hurachi" at the time I could not guess, but +afterwards I learned that it was because of the arrows painted on my +shield, /hurachi/ being their name for arrows. At any rate, +thenceforth by this name of Hurachi I was known throughout the land, +though when addressed for the most part I was called "Lord-from-the- +Sea" or "God-of-the-Sea." + +Then Quilla and the lady Mira came forward and, placing their hands +beneath my elbows, assisted me to climb out of that /balsa/, which I +think was the strangest way that ever a shipwrecked wanderer came to +land. + +They led me into a large room with a flat roof that was being hastily +prepared for me by the hanging of beautiful broideries on the walls, +and sat me on a carven stool, where presently Quilla and other ladies +brought me food and a kind of intoxicating drink which they called +/chicha/, that after so many months of water drinking I found cheering +and pleasant to the taste. This food, I noted, was served to me on +platters of gold and silver, and the cups also were of gold strangely +fashioned, by which I knew that I had come to a very rich land. +Afterwards I learned, however, that in it there was no money, all the +gold and silver that it produced being used for ornament or to +decorate the temples and the palaces of the /Incas/, as they called +their kings, and other great lords. + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE ORACLE OF RIMAC + +In this town of Quismancu I remained for seven days, going abroad but +little, for when I did so the people pressed about me and stared me +out of countenance. There was a garden at the back of the hose +surrounded by a wall built of mud bricks. Here for the most part I sat +and here the great ones of the place came to visit me, bringing me +offerings of robes and golden vessels and I know not what besides. To +all of them I told the same story--or, rather, Kari told it for me-- +namely, that I had risen out of the sea and found him a hermit, named +Zapana, on the desert island. What is more, they believed it and, +indeed, it was true, for had I not risen out of the sea? + +From time to time Quilla came to see me also in this garden, bearing +gifts of flowers, and with her I talked alone. She would sit upon a +low stool, considering me with her beautiful eyes, as though she would +search out my soul. One day she said to me: + +"Tell me, Lord, are you a god or a man?" + +"What is a god?" I asked. + +"A god is that which is adored and loved." + +"And is a man never adored and loved, Quilla? For instance, I +understand that you are to be married, and doubtless you adore and +love him who will be your husband." + +She shivered a little and answered: + +"It is not so. I hate him." + +"Then why are you going to marry him? Are you forced to do so, +Quilla?" + +"No, Lord. I marry him for my people's sake. He desires me for my +inheritance and my beauty, and by my beauty I may lead him down that +road on which my people wish that he should go." + +"An old story, Quilla, but will you be happy thus?" + +"No, Lord, I shall be very unhappy. But what does it matter? I am only +a woman, and such is the lot of women." + +"Women, like gods and men, are also sometimes loved and adored, +Quilla." + +She flushed at the words and answered: + +"Ah! if that were so life might be different. But even if it were so +and I found the man who could love and adore even for a year, for me +it is now too late. I am sworn away by an oath that may not be broken, +for to break it might bring death upon my people." + +"To whom are you sworn?" + +"To the Child of the Sun, no less a man; to the god who will be Inca +of all this land." + +"And what is this god like?" + +"They say that he is huge and swarthy, with a large mouth, and I know +that he has the heart of a brute. He is cruel and false also, and he +counts his women by the score. Yet his father, the Inca, loves him +more than any of his children, and ere long he will be king after +him." + +"And would you, who are sweet and lovely as the moon after which you +are named, give yourself body and soul to such a one?" + +Again she flushed. + +"Do my own ears hear the White-God-from-the-Sea call me sweet and +lovely as the moon? If so, I thank him, and pray him to remember that +the perfect and lovely are always chosen to be the sacrifice of gods." + +"But, Quilla, the sacrifice may be all in vain. How long will you hold +the fancy of this loose-living prince?" + +"Long enough to serve my purpose, Lord--or, at least," she added with +flashing eyes, "long enough to kill him if he will not go my country's +road. Oh! ask me no more, for your words stir something in my breast, +a new spirit of which I never dreamed. Had I heard them but three +moons gone, it might have been otherwise. Why did you not appear +sooner from the sea, my lord Hurachi, be you god or man?" + +Then, with something like a sob, she rose, made obeisance, and fled +away. + + + +That evening, when we were alone in my chamber where none could hear +us, I told Kari that Quilla was promised in marriage to a prince who +would be Inca of all the land. + +"Is it so?" said Kari. "Well, learn, Master, that this prince is my +brother, he whom I hate, he who has done me bitter wrong, he who stole +away my wife and poisoned me. Urco is his name. Does this lady Quilla +love him?" + +"I think not. I think that like you she hates him, yet will marry him +for reasons of policy." + +"Doubtless she hates him now, whatever she did a week ago," said Kari +in a dry voice. "But what fruit will this tree bear? Master, are you +minded to come with me to-morrow to visit the temple of Pachacamac in +the inner sanctuary of which sits the god Rimac who speaks oracles?" + +"For what purpose, Kari?" I answered moodily. + +"That we may hear oracles, Master. I think that if you choose to go +the lady Quilla would come with us, since perhaps she would like also +to hear oracles." + +"I will go if it can be done in secret, say at night, for I weary of +being stared at by these people." + +This I said because I desired to learn of the religion of this nation +and to see new things. + +"Perhaps it can be so ordered, Master. I will ask of the matter." + +It seemed that Kari did ask, perhaps of the high priest of Pachacamac, +for between all the worshippers of this god there was a brotherhood; +perhaps of the lord Quismancu, or perhaps of Quilla herself--I do not +know. At least, on this same day Quismancu inquired whether it would +please me to visit the temple that night, and so the matter was +settled. + +Accordingly, after the darkness had fallen, two litters were brought +into which we entered, Quilla and a waiting woman seating themselves +in one of them and Kari and I in the other, for Quismancu and his wife +did not come--why I cannot say. Then, preceded by another litter in +which was a priest of the god, and surrounded by a guard of soldiers, +through a rain-storm we were borne up the hill--it was but a little +way--to the temple. + +Here, before the golden doors on which the lightning glimmered +fitfully, we descended and were led by white-robed men bearing +lanterns, through various courts to the inner sanctuary of the god, on +the threshold of which I crossed myself, not loving the company of +heathen idols. So far as I could see by the lamplight it was a great +and glorious place, and everywhere that the eye fell was gold--places +of gold on the walls, offerings of gold upon the floor, stars of gold +upon the roof. The strange thing about this holy place, however, was +that it seemed to be quite empty except for the aforesaid gold. There +was neither altar nor image--nothing but a lamp-lit void. + +Here all prostrated themselves, save I alone, and prayed in silence. +When they rose again, in a whisper I asked of Kari where was the god. +To which he answered: "Nowhere, yet everywhere." This I thought a true +saying, and indeed so solemn was that place that I felt as though I +were surrounded by that which is divine. + +After a while the priests, who were gorgeously apparelled, led us +across the sanctuary to a door that opened upon some stairs. Down +these stairs we went into a long passage that seemed to run beneath +the earth, for the air in it was heavy. When we had walked a hundred +paces or more in this narrow place, we came to other steps and another +door, passing through which we found ourselves in a second temple, +smaller than that which we had visited, but like to it rich with gold. +In the centre of this temple sat the image of a man rudely fashioned +of gold. + +"Behold Rimac the Speaker!" whispered Kari. + +"How can gold speak?" I asked. + +Kari made no answer. + +Presently the priests began to mutter prayers and incantations that I +thought unholy, after which they laid offerings of what looked like +raw flesh set in cups of gold before the idol, that I thought unholier +still. Lastly they drew back and asked of what we would learn. + +I made no answer who did not like the business. Nor did Kari say +anything, but Quilla spoke out boldly, saying that we would learn of +the future and what would befall us. + +Now there was a long silence, and I confess that fear got hold of me, +for it seemed to me as though spirits were moving in the air and +through the darkness behind us--yes, as though I could hear their +whisperings and the rustle of their wings. Suddenly, at the end of +this silence, the golden image in front of us began to glow as though +it were molten, and the emerald eyes that were set in its head to +sparkle terribly, which frightened me so much that had it not been for +shame's sake I would have run away, but because of this stood still +and prayed to St. Hubert to protect me from the devil and his works. +Presently I prayed still harder, for the image began to speak--yes, in +a horrid, whistling voice it spoke, although no one was near to it. +These were the words it said: + +"Who is this clad in silver whose skin is white and whose hair is +yellow? Such an one I have not seen for a thousand years, and such as +he it is that shall possess themselves of the Land of Tavantinsuyu, +shall steal its wealth, shall slay its people, and shall cast down its +gods. But not yet, not yet! Therefore this is the command of +Pachacamac, uttered by the voice of Rimac the Speaker, that none do +harm to or cross the will of this mighty seaborn lord, since he shall +be as a strong wall to many and his sword shall be red with the blood +of the wicked." + +The whistling voice ceased while the priests and all there stared at +me, for they seemed to think its words fateful. Then suddenly it began +again: + +"And who is this that came out of the sea with the Shining One, having +wandered further than any of his ancient blood? I know. I know, yet I +may not say, since the Spirit of spirits whose image he wears upon his +heart bids me be silent. Be bold! Be bold! Prosper and grow great, +Child of Pachacamac, for thy wanderings are not yet done. Still there +is a mountain to be climbed, and on the crest of it hangs a fringe of +Heaven's gold." + +Again the voice ceased, while this time all stared at Kari, who shook +his head humbly as though bewildered by what he could not understand. +Once more the image spoke: + +"Who is this daughter of the Sun, in whose veins play moonbeams and +who is fairer than the evening star? One, I think, whom men shall +desire and because of whom shall flow the blood of the great. One +whose thought is swift as the lightning and subtle as the snake, one +in whom passion burns like fire in the womb of the mountain, but who +is filled with spirit that dances above the fire and who longs for +things that are afar. Daughter of the Sun in whose blood run the +moonbeams, thou shalt slip from the hated arms and the Sun shall be +thy shelter, and in the beloved arms thou shalt sleep at last. Yet +from the vengeance of the god betrayed fly fast and far!" + +Again the voice ceased, and I thought that all was over. But it was +not so, for after a little space the golden figure of the oracle +glowed more fiercely than before and the emerald eyes shone more +terribly, and in a kind of scream it spoke, saying: + +"The snows of Tavantinsuyu shall be red with blood, the waters of her +rivers shall be full of blood. Yes, ye three shall wade through blood, +and in a rain of blood shall pluck the fruit of your desires. Still +for a while the gods of Tavantinsuyu shall endure and its kings shall +reign and its children shall be free. But in the end death for the +gods and death for the kings and death for the people. Still, not yet +--not yet! None who live shall see it, nor their children, nor their +children's children. Rimac the Voice has spoken; treasure ye his words +and interpret them as ye will." + + + +The whistling voice died away like the thin cry of some starving child +in a desert, and there was a great silence. Then in a moment the +figure of gold ceased to glow and the eyes of emerald to burn, leaving +the thing but a dead lump of metal. The priests prostrated themselves, +and rising, led us from the place without a word, but in the light of +the lamps I saw that their faces were full of terror--so full that I +doubted whether it could be feigned. + +As we had come, so we went, and at last found ourselves outside the +glittering temple doors where the litters awaited us. + +"What did it mean?" I whispered to Quilla, who was by my side. + +"For you and the other I know not," she answered hurriedly; "but for +me I think that it means death. Yet, not until--not until----" And she +ceased. + +At that moment the moon appeared from behind the rain-clouds and shone +upon her upturned face, and in her eyes there was a glory. + + + +Now, as I learned afterwards, these words of its most famous oracle +went all through the land and caused great talk and wonder mixed with +fear, for none of such import had been spoken by it for generations. +More, they shaped my own fortunes, for, as I came to know, Quismancu +and his people had determined that I should not be allowed to go from +among them. Not every day did a white god rise from the sea, and they +desired that having come to them, there he should bide to be their +defence and boast, and with him that hermit named Zapana, to whom, as +they believed, he had appeared upon the desert isle. But after Rimac +had spoken all this was changed, and when I said it was my will to +depart and accompany Quilla upon her journey home to her father, +Huaracha, King of the Chancas, as by swift messenger this King +invited me to do, Quismancu answered that if I so desired I must be +obeyed as the god Rimac had commanded, but that nevertheless he was +sure that we should meet again. + +Now, thinking these things over, I wondered much whether that oracle +came out of the golden Rimac or perchance from the heart of Quilla, or +of Kari, or of both of them, who desired that I should leave the +Yuncas and travel to the Chancas and further. I did not know, nor was +I ever to learn, since about matters to do with their gods these +people are as secret as the grave. I asked Kari and I asked Quilla, +but both of them stared at me with innocent eyes, and replied who were +they to inspire the golden tongue of Rimac? Nor, indeed, did I ever +learn whether Rimac the Speaker was a spirit or but a lump of metal +through which some priest talked. All I know is that from one end of +Tavantinsuyu to the other he was believed to be a spirit who spoke the +very will of God to those who could understand his words, though this +as a Christian man I could not credit. + +So it came about that some days later, with Quilla and Kari and +certain old men who, I took it, were priests or ambassadors, or both, +I departed on our journey. As we went the people wept around my litter +for sorrow, real or feigned, for we travelled in litters guarded by +some two hundred soldiers armed with axes of copper and bows, and cast +flowers before the feet of the bearers. But I did not weep, for though +I had been very kindly treated there and, indeed, worshipped, glad was +I to see the last of that city and its people who wearied me. + +Moreover, I felt that there I was in the midst of plots, though of +what these were I knew nothing, save that Quilla, who to the outward +eye was but a lovely, innocent maiden, had a hand in them. Plots there +were indeed, for, as I came to understand in time, they were nothing +less than the preparing of a great war which the Chancas and the +Yuncas were to wage against their over-lord, the Inca, the king of the +mighty nation of the Quichuas, who had his home at a city called Cuzco +far inland. Indeed, there and then this alliance was arranged, and by +Quilla--Quilla, who proposed to sacrifice herself and by the gift of +her person to his heir, to throw dust in the eyes of the Inca, whose +dominion her father planned to take and with it the imperial crown of +Tavantinsuyu. + + + +Leaving the coastland, we were borne forward through the passes of +great mountains, upon a wonderful road so finely made that never had I +seen its like in England. At times we crossed rivers, but over these +were thrown bridges of stone. Or mayhap we came to swamps, yet there +the road still ran, built upon deep foundations in the mud. Never did +it turn aside; always it went on, conquering every hindrance, for this +was one of the Inca's roads that pierced Tavantinsuyu from end to end. +We came to many towns, for this land was thickly populated, and for +the most part slept in one of them each night. But always my fame had +gone before me, and the /Curacas/, or chiefs of the towns, waited upon +me with offerings as though I were indeed divine. + +For the first five days of that journey I saw little of Quilla, but at +length one night we were forced to camp at a kind of rest-house upon +the top of a high mountain pass, where it was very cold, for the deep +snow lay all about. At this place, as here were no /Curacas/ to +trouble me, I went out alone when Kari was elsewhere, and climbed a +certain peak which was not far from the rest-house, that thence I +might see the sunset and think in quiet. + +Very glorious was the scene from that high point. All round me stood +the cold crests of snow-clad mountains towering to the very skies, +while between them lay deep valleys where rivers ran like veins of +silver. So immense was the landscape that it seemed to have no end, +and so grand that it crushed the spirit, while above arched the +perfect sky in whose rich blue the gorgeous lights of evening began to +gather as the great sun sank behind the snowy peaks. + +Far up in the heavens floated one wide-winged bird, the eagle of the +mountains, which is larger than any other fowl that I have ever seen, +and the red light playing on it turned it to a thing of fire. I +watched that bird and wished that I too had pinions which could bear +me far away to the sea and over it. + +And yet did I wish to go who had no home left on all the earth and no +kind heart that would welcome me? Awhile ago I should have answered, +"Yes, anywhere out of this loneliness," but now I was not so sure. +Here at least Kari was my friend if a jealous one, though of late, as +I could see, he was thinking of other things than friendship--dark +plottings and high ambitions of which as yet he said little to me. + +Then there was that strange and beautiful woman, Quilla, to whom my +heart went out and not only because she was beautiful, and who, as I +thought, at times looked kindly on me. But if so, what did it avail; +seeing that she was promised in marriage to some high-placed native +man who would be a king? Surely I had known enough of women who were +promised in marriage to other men, and should do well to let her be. + +Thinking thus, desolation took hold of me and I sat myself down on a +rock and covered my face with my hands that I might not see the tears, +which I knew were gathering in my eyes, as they fell from them. Yes, +there in the midst of that awful solitude, I, Hubert of Hastings, +whose soul it filled, sat down like a lost child and wept. + +Presently I felt a touch upon my shoulder and let fall my hands, +thinking that Kari had found me out, to hear a soft voice, the voice +of Quilla, say: + +"So it seems that the gods can weep. Why do you weep, O God-from-the- +Waves who here are named Hurachi?" + +"I weep," I answered, "because I am a stranger in a strange land; I +weep because I have not wings whereon I can fly away like that great +bird above us." + +She looked at me awhile, then said, most gently: + +"And whither would you fly, O God-from-the-Sea? Back into the sea?" + +"Cease to call me a god," I answered, "who, as you know well, am but a +man though of another race than yours." + +"I thought it but I did not know. But whither would you fly, O Lord +Hurachi?" + +"To the land where I was born, Lady Quilla; the land that I shall +never see again." + +"Ah! doubtless there you have wives and children for whom your heart +is hungry." + +"Nay, now I have neither wife nor child." + +"Then once you had a wife. Tell me of that wife. Was she fair?" + +"Why should I tell you a sad story? She is dead." + +"Dead or living, you still love her, and where there is love there is +no death." + +"Nay, I only love what I thought she was." + +"Was she false, then?" + +"Yes, false and yet true. So true that she died because she was +false." + +"How can a woman be both false and true?" + +"Woman can be all things. Ask the question of your own heart. Can you +not perchance be both false and true?" + +She thought awhile and, leaving this matter, said: + +"So, having once loved, you can never love again." + +"Why not? Perchance I can love too much. But what would be the use +when more love would but mean more loss and pain?" + +"Whom should you love, my lord Hurachi, seeing that the women of your +own folk are far away?" + +"I think one who is very near, if she would pay back love for love." + +Quilla made no answer, and I thought that she was angry and would go +away. But she did not; indeed, she sat herself down upon the stone at +my side and covered her face with her hands as I had done and began to +weep as I had done. Now in my turn I asked her: + +"Why do you weep?" + +"Because I, too, must know loneliness, and with it shame, Lord +Hurachi." + +At these words my heart beat and passion flamed up in me. Stretching +out my hand I drew hers away and in the dying light gazed at the face +beneath. Lo! on its loveliness there was a look which could not be +misread. + +"Do you, then, also love?" I whispered. + +"Aye, more, I think, than ever woman loved before. From the moment +when first I saw you sleeping in the moonbeams on the desert isle, I +knew my fate had found me, and that I loved. I fought against it +because I must, but that love has grown and grown, till now I am all +love, and, having given everything, have no more left to give." + +When I heard this, making no answer, I swept her into my arms and +kissed her, and there she lay upon my breast and kissed me back. + +"Let me go, and hear me," she murmured presently, "for you are strong +and I am weak." + +I obeyed, and she sank back upon the stone. + +"My lord," she said, "our case is very sad, or at least my case is +sad, since though you being a man may love often, I can love but once, +and, my lord, it may not be." + +"Why not?" I asked hoarsely. "Your people think me a god; cannot a god +take whom he wills to wife?" + +"Not when she is vowed to another god, he who will be Inca; not when +on her, mayhap, hangs the fate of nations." + +"We might fly, Quilla." + +"Whither could the God-from-the-Sea fly and whither could fly the +daughter of the Moon, who is vowed to the son of the Sun in marriage, +save to death?" + +"There are worse things than death, Quilla." + +"Aye, but my life is in pawn. I must live that my people may not die. +Myself I offered it to this cause and now, being royal, I cannot take +it back again for my own joy. It is better to be shamed with honour +than to be loved in the lap of shame." + +"What then?" I asked hopelessly. + +"Only this, that above us are the gods, and--heard you not the oracle +of Rimac that declared to me that I should slip from the hated arms, +that the Sun should be my shelter, and in the beloved arms I should +sleep at last, though from the vengeance of the god betrayed I must +fly fast and far? I think that this means death, but also it means +life in death and--O arms beloved, you shall fold me yet. I know not +how, but have faith--for you shall fold me yet. Meanwhile, tempt me +not from the path of honour, since this I know, that it alone can lead +me to my home. Yet who is the god betrayed from whom I must fly? Who, +who?" + +Thus she spoke and was silent, and I, too, was silent. Yes, there we +sat, both silent in the darkness, searching the heavens for a guiding +star. And as we sat, presently I heard the voice of Kari saying: + +"Have I found you, Lord, and you also, Lady Quilla? Return, I pray +you, for all search and are frightened." + +"Why?" I answered. "The lady Quilla and I study this wondrous scene." + +"Yes, Lord, though to those who are not god-born it would be difficult +in this darkness. Suffer, now that I show you the path." + + + + CHAPTER V + + KARI GOES + +As it chanced during the remaining days of that journey, Quilla and I +were not again alone together (that is to say, except once for a few +minutes), for we were never out of eyeshot of someone in our company. +Thus Kari clung to me very closely, indeed, and when I asked him why, +told me bluntly that it was for my safety's sake. A god to remain a +god, he said, should live alone in a temple. When he began to mix with +others of the earth and to do those things they did, to eat and to +drink, to laugh and to frown; even to slip in the mud or to stumble +over the stones in the common path, those others would come to think +that there was small difference between god and man. Especially would +they think so if he were observed to love the company of women or to +melt beneath their soft glances. + +Now I grew sore at the sting of these arrows which of late he had +loved to shoot at me, and without pretending to misunderstand him, +said outright: + +"The truth is, Kari, that you are jealous of the lady Quilla as once +you were jealous of another." + +He considered the matter in his grave fashion, and answered: + +"Yes, Master, that is the truth, or part of it. You saved my life, and +sheltered me when I was alone in a strange land, and for this and for +yourself I came to love you very greatly, and love, if it be true, is +always jealous and always hates a rival." + +"There are different sorts of loves," I said; "that of a man for man +is one, that of man for woman is another." + +"Yes, Master, and that of woman for man is a third; moreover, there is +this about it--it is the acid which turns all other loves sour. Where +are a man's friends when a woman has him by the heart?--although +perchance they love him better than ever will the woman who at bottom +loves herself best of all. Still, let that be, for so Nature works, +and who can fight against Nature? What Quilla takes, Kari loses, and +Kari must be content to lose." + +"Have you done?" I asked angrily, who wearied of his homilies. + +"No, Master. The matter of jealousy is small and private; so is the +matter of love. But, Master, you have not told me outright whether you +love the lady Quilla, and, what is more important, whether she loves +you." + +"Then I will tell you now. I do and she does." + +"You love the lady Quilla and she says that she loves you, which may +or may not be true, or if true to-day may be false to-morrow. For your +sake I hope that it is not true." + +"Why?" I said in a rage. + +"Because, Master, in this land there are many sorts of poison, as I +have learned to my cost. Also there are knives, if not of steel, and +many who might wish to discover whether a god who courts women like a +man can be harmed by poisons or pierced by knives. Oh!" he added, in +another tone, ceasing from his bitter jests, "believe me that I would +shield, not mock you. This Lady Quilla is a queen in a great game of +pieces such as you taught me to play far away in England, and without +her perchance that game cannot be won, or so those who play it think. +Now you would steal that queen and thereby, as they also think, bring +death and destruction on a country. It is not safe, Master. There are +plenty of fair women in this land; take your pick of them, but leave +that one queen alone." + +"Kari," I answered, "if there be such a game, are you not perchance +one of the players on this side or on that?" + +"It may be so, Master, and if you have not guessed it, perhaps one day +I will tell you upon which side I play. It may even be that for my own +sake I should be glad to see you lift this queen from off the board, +and that what I tell you is for love of you and not of myself, also of +the lady Quilla, who, if you fall, falls with you down through the +black night into the arms of the Moon, her mother. But I have said +enough, and indeed it is foolish to waste breath in such talk, since +Fate will have its way with both of you, and the end of the game in +which we play is already written in Pachacamac's book for every one of +us. Did not Rimac speak of it the other night? So play on, play on, +and let Destiny fulfil itself. If I dared to give counsel it was only +because he who watches the battle with a general's eye sees more of it +than he who fights." + +Then he bowed in his stately fashion and left me, and it was long ere +he spoke to me again of this matter of Quilla and our love for one +another. + +When he was gone my anger against him passed, since I saw that he was +warning me of more than he dared to say, not for himself, but because +he loved me. Moreover, I was afraid, for I felt that I was moving in +the web of a great plot that I did not understand, of which Quilla and +those cold-eyed lordlings of her company and the chief whose guest I +had been, and Kari himself, and many others as yet unknown to me, spun +the invisible threads. One day these might choke me. Well, if they +did, what then? Only I feared for Quilla--greatly I feared for Quilla. + +On the day following my talk with Kari at length we reached the great +city of the Chancas, which, after them, was called Chanca--at least I +always knew it by that name. From the dawn we had been passing through +rich valleys where dwelt thousands of these Chancas who, I could see, +were a mighty people that bore themselves proudly and like soldiers. +In multitudes they gathered themselves together upon either side of +the road, chiefly to catch a sight of me, the white god who had risen +from the ocean, but also to greet their princess, the lady Quilla. + +Indeed, now I learned for the first time how high a princess she was, +since when her litter passed, these folk prostrated themselves, +kissing the air and the dust. Moreover, as soon as she came among them +Quilla's bearing changed, for her carriage grew more haughty and her +words fewer. Now she seldom spoke save to issue a command, not even to +myself, although I noted that she studied me with her eyes when she +thought that I was not observing her. + +During our midday halt I looked up and saw that an army was +approaching us, five thousand men or more, and asked Kari its meaning. + +"These," he answered, "are some of the troops of Huaracha, King of the +Chancas, whom he sends out to greet his daughter and only child, also +his guest, the White God." + +"Some of the troops! Has he more, then?" + +"Aye, Master, ten times as many, as I think. This is a great people; +almost as great as that of the Incas who live at Cuzco. Come now into +the tent and put on your armour, that you may be ready to meet them." + +I did so, and, stepping forth clad in the shining steel, took my stand +where Kari showed me, upon a rise of ground. On my right at a little +distance stood Quilla, more splendidly arrayed than I had ever seen +her, and behind her her maidens and the captains and counsellors of +her following. + +The army drew nearer, marshalled in regiments and halted on the plain +some two hundred yards away. Presently from it advanced generals and +old men, clad in white, whom I took to be priests and elders. They +approached to the number of twenty or more and bowed deeply, first to +Quilla, who bent her head in acknowledgment and then to myself. After +this they went to speak with Quilla and her following, but what they +said I did not know. All the while, however, their eyes were fixed on +me. Then Quilla brought them to me and one by one they bowed before +me, saying something in a language which I did not understand well, +for it was somewhat different from that which Kari had taught me. + +After this we entered the litters, and, escorted by that great army, +were borne forward down valleys and over ridges till about sunset we +came to a large cup-like plain in the centre of which stood the city +called Chanca. Of this city I did not see much except that it was very +great as the darkness was falling when we entered, and afterwards I +could not go out because of the crowds that pressed about me. I was +borne down a wide street to a house that stood in a large garden which +was walled about. Here in this fine house I found food prepared for +me, and drink, all of it served in dishes and cups of gold and silver; +also there were women who waited upon me, as did Kari who now was +called Zapana and seemed to be my slave. + +When I had eaten I went out alone into the garden, for on this plain +the air was very warm and pleasant. It was a beautiful garden, and I +wandered about among its avenues and flowering bushes, glad to be +solitary and to have time to think. Amongst other things I wondered +where Quilla might be, for of her I had seen nothing from the time +that we entered the town. I hated to be parted from her, because in +this vast strange land into which I had wandered she was the only one +for whom I had come to care and without whom I felt I should die of +loneliness. + +There was Kari, it is true, who I knew loved me in his fashion, but +between him and me there was a great gulf fixed, not only of race and +faith, but of something now which I did not wholly understand. In +London he had been my servant and his ends were my ends; on our +wandering he had been my companion in great adventures. But now I knew +that other interests and desires had taken a hold of him, and that he +trod a road of which I could not see the goal; and no longer thought +much of me save when what I did or desired to do came between him and +that goal. + +Therefore Quilla alone was left to me, and Quilla was about to be +taken away. Oh! I wearied of this strange land with its snowclad +mountains and rich valleys, its hordes of dark-skinned people with +large eyes, smiling faces, and secret hearts; its great cities, +temples, and palaces filled with useless gold and silver; its +brilliant sunshine and rushing rivers, its gods, kings, and policies. +They were alien to me, every one of them, and if Quilla were taken +away and I were left quite alone, then I thought that it would be well +to die. + +Something moved behind a palm trunk of the avenue in which I walked, +and not knowing whether it were beast or man, I laid my hand upon my +sword which I still wore, although I had taken off the armour. Before +I could draw it my wrist was grasped and a soft voice whispered in my +ear: + +"Fear nothing; it is I--Quilla." + +Quilla it was, wrapped in a long hooded cloak such as the peasant +women wear in the cold country, for she threw back the hood and a beam +of starlight fell upon her face. + +"Hearken!" she said. "It is dangerous to both of us, but I have come +to bid you farewell." + +"Farewell! I feared it would be thus, but why so soon, Quilla?" + +"For this reason, Love and Lord. I have seen my father the King, and +made my report to him of the matter with which I was sent to deal +among the Yuncas. It pleased him, and since his mood was gracious, I +opened my heart to him and told him that no longer did I wish to be +given in marriage to Urco, who will soon put on the Inca fringe, for, +as you know, it is to him that I am promised!" + +"What did he answer, Quilla?" + +"He answered: 'This means, Daughter, that you have met some other man +to whom you do wish to be given in marriage. I will not ask his name, +since if I knew it it would be my duty to kill him, however high and +noble he might be.'" + +"Then he guesses, Quilla?" + +"I think he guesses; I think that already some have whispered in his +ear, but he does not wish to listen who desires to remain deaf and +blind." + +"Did he say no more, Quilla?" + +"He said much more; he said this--now I tell you secrets, Lord, and +place my honour in your keeping, for having given you all the rest, +why should I not give you that also? He said: 'Daughter, you who have +been my ambassador, you, my only child, who know all my counsel, know +also that there is about to be the greatest war that the land of +Tavantinsuyu has ever known, war between the two mighty nations of the +Quichuas of Cuzco whereof the old Upanqui is king and god, and the +Chancas whereof I am king and you, if you live, in a day to come will +be the queen. No longer can these two lions dwell in the same forest; +one of them must devour the other; nor shall I fight alone, since on +our side are all the Yuncas of the coast who, as you report to me, are +ripe for rebellion. But, as you also report, and as I have learned +from others, they are not yet ready. Moons must go by before their +armies are joined to mine and I throw off the mask. Is it not so?' + +"I answered that it was so, and my father went on: + +"'Then during that time, Daughter, a dust must be raised that will +hide the shining of my spears, and, Daughter, you are that dust. +To-morrow the old Inca Upanqui visits me here with a small army. I +read your thought. It is--Why do you not kill him and his army? +Daughter, for this reason. He is very aged and about to lay down his +sceptre, who grows feeble of mind and body. If I killed him what would +it serve me, seeing that he has left his son, Urco, who will be Inca, +ruling at Cuzco, and that of his soldiers not one in fifty will be +with him here? Moreover, he is my guest, and the gods frown on those +who slay their guests, nor will men ever trust them more.' + +"Now I answered: 'You spoke of me as a cloud of dust, Father; how, +then, can this poor dust serve your ends and those of the Chanca +people?' + +"'Thus Daughter,' he answered. 'With your own consent you are promised +in marriage to Urco. Upanqui the Inca has heard rumours that the +Chancas prepare for war. Therefore, he who travels on his last journey +through certain of his dominions comes to lead you away, to be Urco's +bride, saying to himself, "If those rumours are true, King Huaracha +will withhold his only child and heiress, since never will he make war +upon Cuzco if she rules there as its queen." Therefore, if I refuse +you to him, he will withdraw and begin the war, rolling down his +thousands upon us before we are ready, and bringing the Chancas to +destruction and enslavement. Therefore also not only my fate, but the +fate of all your country lies in your hand.' + +"'Father,' I said, 'tell me, who was ever dear to you that lack sons, +is there no escape? Must I eat this bitter bread? Before you answer, +learn that you have guessed aright, and that I who, when I made that +promise, cared for no man, have come to feel the burning of love's +fire!' + +"Now he looked at me awhile, then said: 'Child of the Moon, there is +but one escape, and it must be sought--in the moon. The dead cannot be +given in marriage. If your strait is so sore, though it would cut me +to the heart, perchance it is better that you should die and go +whither doubtless he whom you love will soon follow you. Depart now +and counsel with Heaven in your sleep. To-morrow, before Upanqui +comes, we will talk again.' + +"So I knelt and kissed the hand of the King, my father, and left him, +wondering at his nobleness who could show such a road to his only +child, though its treading would mean woe to him and mayhap the ruin +of his hopes. Still that road is an old one among the women of my +people, and why should I not walk it, as thousands have done before +me?" + +"How came you here?" I asked hoarsely. + +"Lord, I guessed that you would be walking in this garden which joins +on to that of the palace, and--none were about, and--the door in the +wall was open. Indeed, it was almost as though I were left alone and +unwatched of set purpose. So I came and sought--and found, having a +question to put to you." + +"What question, Quilla?" + +"This: Shall I live or shall I die? Speak the word and I obey. Yet ere +you speak, remember that if I live we meet for the last time, since +very soon I go hence to become the wife of Urco and play the part that +is prepared for me?" + +Now when I, Hubert, heard these words, I felt as though my heart would +burst within my breast and knew not what to say. So to gain time I +asked her: + +"Which do you desire--to live or to die?" + +She laughed a little as she answered: + +"That is a strange question, Lord. Have I not told you that if I live +I must do so befouled as one of Urco's women, whereas, if I die, I die +clean and take my love with me to where Urco cannot come, but where, +mayhap, another may follow at the appointed time." + +"Which time would be very soon, I think, Quilla, seeing that he who +had spoiled all this pretty plot would scarcely be left long upon the +earth, even if he wished to stay there. Yet I say: Do not die--live +on." + +"To become Urco's woman! That is strange counsel from a lover's lips, +Lord; such as would scarcely have been given by any of our nobles." + +"Aye, Quilla, and it is given because I am not of your people and do +not think as they think, who reject their customs. You are not yet +Urco's wife, and may be rid of him by other paths than that of death, +but from the grave there is no escape." + +"And in the grave there is no more fear, Lord. Thither Urco cannot +come; there are neither wars nor plottings; there honour does not +beckon and love hold back. I say that I will die and make an end, as +for like causes many of my blood have done, though not here and now. +When I am about to be delivered to Urco then I will die, and perchance +not alone. Perchance he will accompany me," she added slowly. + +"And if this happens, what shall I do?" + +"Live on, Lord, and find other women to love you, as a god should. +There are many in this land fairer and wiser than I, and, save myself, +you may take whom you will." + +"Listen, Quilla. I have a story to tell you." + +Then, as briefly as I could, I set out the tale of Blanche and of her +end, while she hung upon my every word. + +"Oh! I grieve for you," she said, when I had finished. + +"You grieve for me, and yet, what she did for my sake you would do +also, so that, as it were, both my hands must be dyed with blood. This +first terror I have borne, but if a second falls upon me then I know +that I shall go mad and perish in this way or in that, and you, +Quilla, will be my murderess." + +"No, no, not that!" she murmured. + +"Then swear to me by your god and by your spirit, that you will do +yourself no harm, whatever chances, and that if die you must, it shall +be with me for company." + +"Is your love so great that you would dare this for my sake, Lord?" + +"I think so, though not till all else had failed. I think that if you +were taken from me, Quilla, I could not live on here in loneliness and +exile--however great the sin. But do you swear?" + +"Aye, Love and Lord, I swear, for your sake. Moreover, I add to the +oath. If perhaps we should escape these perils and come together, I +will be such a wife to you as never man has had. I will wrap you round +with love and lift you up to be a king, that you may live in glory +forgetting your home across the sea, and all the sorrows that befell +you there. Children you shall have also of whom you need not be +ashamed, though my dark blood runs in them, and armies at command and +palaces filled with gold, and all royal joys. And if perchance the +gods declare against us, and we pass from the world together, then I +think, oh! then I think that I shall give you finer gifts than these, +though what they are I know not yet, since to the power of love there +is no end--here on earth or yonder in the skies." + +I stared at her face in the starlight, and oh! it had grown splendid. +No longer was it that of a woman, since through it, like light through +pearl, shone a soul divine. It might have been a goddess who stood +beside me, for those eyes were holy and her embrace that wrapped me +close was not that of the flesh alone. + +"I must be gone," she whispered, "but now I go without fear. Perchance +we may not speak again for long, but trust me always. Play your part +and I will play mine. Follow me wherever I am taken and keep near to +me, if you may, as ever my spirit shall be near to you. Then what +matters anything, even if we are slain? Farewell, beloved, kiss me and +farewell." + +Another moment and she had glided away and was lost in the shadows. + + + +She was gone, and I stood amazed and overcome. Oh! what a love it was +that this alien woman had given to me and how could I be worthy of it? +Now I forgot my griefs; now I no longer mourned because I was an +outcast who nevermore might look upon the land where I was born, nor +see the face of one my own race or blood. All my loss was paid back to +me again and yet again, in the coin of the glory of this woman whom I +had won. Dangers rose about us, but I feared them no more, because I +knew that her love's conquering feet would stamp them flat and lead me +safe to a joyful treasure-house of splendour of spirit and of body +where we should dwell side by side, triumphant and unafraid. + +Whilst I thought thus, lost in a rapture such as I had not felt since +Blanche kissed me at the mouth of the Hastings cave after I had killed +the three Frenchmen with as many arrows from my black bow, I heard a +sound and looked up to see a man standing before me. + +"Who is it?" I asked, grasping my sword, for his face was hidden in +the shadows. + +"I," answered a voice which I knew to be that of Kari. + +"Then how did you come here? I saw no one pass the open ground." + +"Master, you are not the only one who loves to walk in gardens in the +quiet of the night. I was here before yourself, behind yonder tree," +and he pointed to a palm not three paces distant. + +"Then, Kari, you must have seen----" + +"Yes, Master, I saw and heard, not everything, because there came a +point at which I shut my eyes and stopped my ears, but still much." + +"I am minded to kill you, Kari," I said between my teeth, "who play +the spy upon me." + +"I guessed it would be so, Master," he replied in his gentlest voice, +"and for that reason, as you will notice, I am standing out of reach +of your sword. You wonder why I am here. I will tell you. It is not +from any desire to watch your love-makings which weary me, who have +seen such before, but rather that I might find secrets, of which love +is always the loser, and those secrets I have learned. How could I +have come by them otherwise, Master?" + +"Surely you deserve to die," I exclaimed furiously. + +"I think not, Master. But listen and judge for yourself. I have told +you something of my story, now you shall hear more, after which we +will talk of what I do or do not deserve. I am the eldest son of the +Inca Upanqui, and Urco, of whom you have been talking is my younger +brother. But Upanqui, our father, loved Urco's mother while mine he +did not love, and swore to her before she died that against right and +law, Urco, her son, should be Inca after him. Therefore he hated me +because I stood in Urco's path; therefore too many troubles befell me, +and I was given over into Urco's hand, so that he took my wife and +tried to poison me, and the rest you know. Now it was needful to me to +learn how things went, and for this reason I listened to the talk +between you and a certain lady. It told me that Upanqui, my father, +comes here to-morrow, which indeed I knew already, and much else that +I had not heard. This being so I must vanish away, since doubtless +Upanqui or his councillors would know me again, and as they are all of +them friends of Urco, perhaps I should taste more poison and of a +stronger sort." + +"Whither will you vanish, Kari?" + +"I know not, Master, or if I know, I will not say, who have but just +been taught afresh how secrets can pass from ear to ear. I must lie +hid, that is enough. Yet do not think that therefore I shall desert +you--I, while I live, will watch over you, a stranger in my country, +as you watched over me when I was a stranger in your England." + +"I thank you," I answered, "and certainly you watch well--too well, +sometimes, as I have found to-night." + +"You think it pleases me to spy upon you and a certain lady," went on +Kari with an unruffled voice, "but it is not so. What I do is for good +reasons, amongst others that I may protect you both, and if I can, +bring about what you desire. That lady has a great heart, as I learned +but now, and after all you did well to love her, as she does well to +love you. Therefore, although the dangers are so many, if I am able, I +will help you in your love and bring you together, yes, and save her +from the arms of Urco. Nay, ask me not how, for I do not know, and the +case seems desperate." + +"But if you go, what shall I do alone?" I asked, alarmed. + +"Bide here, I think, Lord, giving it out that your servant Zapana has +deserted you. Indeed it seems that this you must do, since the king of +this country will scarcely suffer you to be the companion of his +daughter upon her marriage journey to Cuzco, even if Upanqui so +desires. Nor would it be wise, for if he did, misfortune might befall +you on the road. There are some women, Lord, who cannot keep their +love out of their eyes, and henceforward there will be plenty to watch +the eyes and hearken to the most secret sighings of one of the +greatest of them. Now farewell until I come to you again or send +others on my behalf. Trust me, I pray you, since to whomever else I +may seem false, to you I am true; yes, to you and to another because +she has become a part of you." + +Then before I could answer, Kari took my hand and touched it with his +lips. Another moment and I had lost sight of him in the shadows. + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE CHOICE + +That night I slept but ill who was overwhelmed with all that had +befallen me of good and evil. I had gained a wondrous love, but she +who gave it was, it seemed, about to be lost to me, aye, and to be +thrown to another whom she hated, to forward the dark policies of a +great and warlike people. I had spoken to her with high words of hope, +but of it in my heart there was little. She would follow what she held +to be her duty to the end, and that end, if she kept her promise and +did not die as she desired to do--was--the arms of Urco. From these I +could see no escape for her, and the thought maddened me. Moreover, +Kari was gone leaving me utterly alone among these strangers, and +whether he would return again I did not know. Oh! almost I wished that +I were dead. + +The morning broke at last and I arose and called for Zapana. Then came +others who said that my servant, Zapana, could not be found, whereat I +affected surprise and anger. Still these others waited on me well +enough, and I rose and ate in pomp and luxury. Scarcely had I finished +my meal than there appeared heralds who summoned me to the presence of +the king Huaracha. + +I went, borne in a litter, although an arrow from my black bow would +have flown from door to door. At the portal of the palace, which was +like others I had seen, only finer, I was met by soldiers and gaily +dressed servants and led across a courtyard within, which I could see +was prepared for some ceremony, to a small chamber on the further +side. Here, when my eyes grew accustomed to the half-darkness, I +perceived a man of some sixty years of age, and behind him two +soldiers. At once I noted that everything about this man was plain and +simple; the chamber, which was little more than four whitewashed walls +with a floor of stone, the stool he sat on, even his apparel. Here +were no gold or silver or broidered cloths, or gems, or other rich and +costly things such as these people love, but rather those that are +suited to a soldier. A soldier he looked indeed, being burly and broad +and scarred upon his homely face, in which gleamed eyes that were +steady and piercing. + +As I entered, the king Huaracha, for it was he, rose from his stool +and bowed to me, and I bowed back to him. Then he motioned to one of +the soldiers to give me another stool, upon which I sat myself, and +speaking in a strong, low voice, using that tongue which Kari had +taught me, said: + +"Greeting, White-God-from-the-Sea, or golden-bearded man named the +lord Hurachi, I know not which, of whom I have heard so much and whom +I am glad to behold in my poor city. Say, can you understand my talk?" + +Thus he spoke, searching me with his eyes, though all the while I +perceived that they rested rather on my armour and the great sword, +Wave-Flame, than on my face. + +I gave him back his greeting and answered that I understood the tongue +he used though not so very well, whereon he began to speak about the +armour and the sword, which puzzled him who had never seen steel. + +"Make me some like them," he said, "and I will give you ten times +their weight in gold, which, after all, is of no use since with it one +cannot kill enemies." + +"In my country with it one can corrupt them," I answered, "or buy them +to be friends." + +"So you have a country," he interrupted shrewdly. "I thought that the +gods had none." + +"Even the gods live somewhere," I replied. + +He laughed, and turning to the two soldiers, who also were staring at +my mail and sword, bade them go. When the heavy door had shut behind +them and we were quite alone, he said: + +"My lord Hurachi, I have heard from my daughter how she found you in +the sea, a story indeed. I have also heard, or guessed, it matters not +which, that her heart has turned towards you, as is not strange, +seeing the manner of man you are, if indeed you be not more than man, +and that women are ever prone to love those whom they think they have +saved. Is this true, my lord Hurachi?" + +"Ask of the Lady Quilla, O King." + +"Mayhap I have asked and at last it seems that you make no denial. Now +hearken, my lord Hurachi. You are my honoured guest and save one +thing, all I have is yours, but you must talk no more alone with the +lady Quilla in gardens at night." + +Now, making no attempt to deny or explain which I saw would be +useless, since he knew it all, I asked boldly: + +"Why not?" + +"I thought that perchance my daughter had told you, Lord Hurachi, but +if you desire to hear it from my own lips also, for this reason. The +lady Quilla is promised in marriage and if she lives that promise must +be fulfilled, since on it hangs the fate of nations. Therefore, it is, +although to grieve to part such a pair, that you and she must meet no +more in gardens or elsewhere. Know that if you do, you will bring +about her death and your own, if gods can die." + +Now I thought awhile and answered: + +"These are heavy words, King Huaracha, seeing that I will not hide +from you that I love your daughter well and that she, who is great- +hearted, loves me well and desires me for her husband." + +"I know it and I grieve for both of you," he said courteously. + +"King Huaracha," I went on, "I see that you are a soldier and the lord +of armies, and it has come into my mind that perchance you dream of +war." + +"The gods see far, White Lord." + +"Now god or man, I also am a soldier, King, and I know arts of battle +which perhaps are hidden from you and your people; also I cannot be +harmed by weapons because of magic armour that I wear, and none can +stand before me in fight because of this magic sword I carry, and I +can direct battles with a general's mind. In a great war, King, I +might be useful to you were I the husband of your daughter and +therefore your son and friend, and perchance by my skill make the +difference to you and your nation between victory and defeat." + +"Doubtless this is so, O Son-of-the-Sea." + +"In the same fashion, King, were I upon the side of your enemies, to +them I might bring victory and to you defeat. Whom do you desire that +I should serve, you or them?" + +"I desire that you should serve me," he replied with eagerness. "Do so +and all the wealth of this land shall be yours, with the rule of my +armies under me. You shall have palaces and fields and gold and +silver, and the fairest of its daughters for wives, and be worshipped +as a god, and for aught I know, be king after me, not only of my +country but mayhap of another that is even greater." + +"It is a good offer, King, but not enough. Give me your daughter, +Quilla, and you may keep all the rest." + +"White Lord, I cannot, since to do so I must break my word." + +"Then, King, I cannot serve you, and unless you kill me first--if you +are able--I will be, not your friend, but your enemy." + +"Can a god be killed, and if so can a guest be killed? Lord, you know +that he cannot. Yet he can remain a guest. To my country you have +come, Lord, and in my country you shall stay, unless you have wings +beneath that silver coat. Quilla goes hence but here you bide, my lord +Hurachi." + +"Perchance I shall find the wings," I answered. + +"Aye, Lord, for it is said that the dead fly, and if I may not kill +you, others may. Therefore my counsel to you is to stay here, taking +such things as my poor country can give you, and not to try to follow +the moon (by this he meant Quilla) to the golden city of Cuzco, which +henceforth must be her home." + +Now having no more to say, since war had been declared between us, as +it were, I rose to bid this king farewell. He also rose, then, as +though struck by a sudden thought, said that he desired to speak with +my servant, Zapana, he whom the lady Quilla had found with me in the +island of the sea. I replied that he could not since Zapana had +vanished, I knew not where. + +At this intelligence he appeared to be disturbed and was beginning to +question me somewhat sternly as to who Zapana might be and how I had +first come into his company, when the door of the room opened and +through it Quilla entered even more gorgeously robed and looking +lovelier than ever I had seen her. She bowed, first to the King and +then to me, saying: + +"Lord and Father, I come to tell you that the Inca Upanqui draws near +with his princes and captains." + +"Is it so, Daughter?" he answered. "Then make your farewell here and +now to this White-Son-of-the-Sea, since it is my will that you depart +with Upanqui who comes to escort you to Cuzco, the City of the Sun, +there to be given as wife to the prince Urco, son of the Sun, who will +sit on the Inca's throne." + +"I make my farewell to the lord Hurachi as you command," she answered, +curtseying , and in a very quiet voice, "but know, my father, that I +love this White Lord as he loves me, and that therefore, although I +may be given to the Prince Urco, as a gold cup is given, never shall +he drink from the cup and never will I be his wife." + +"You have courage, Daughter, and I like courage," said Huaracha. "For +the rest, settle the matter as you will and if you can slip from the +coils of this snake of an Urco unpoisoned, do so, since my bargain is +fulfilled and my honour satisfied. Only hither you shall not return to +the lord Hurachi, nor shall the lord Hurachi go to you at Cuzco." + +"That shall be as the gods decree, my father, and meanwhile I play my +part as /you/ decree. Lord Hurachi, fare you well till in life or +death we meet again." + +Then she bowed to me, and went, and presently without more words we +followed after her. + + + +In front of the palace there was a great square of open ground +surrounded by houses, except towards the east, and on this square was +marshalled an army of men all splendidly arrayed and carrying copper- +headed spears. In front of these was pitched a great pavilion made of +cloths of various colours. Here King Huaracha, simply dressed in a +robe of white cotton but wearing a little crown of gold and carrying a +large spear, took his seat upon a throne, while to his right, on a +smaller throne, sat Quilla, and on his left stood yet another throne +ornamented with gold, that was empty. Between the throne of Huaracha +and that which was empty stood a chair covered with silver on which I +was bidden to take my seat, so placed that all could see me, while +behind and around were lords and generals. + +Scarcely were we arranged when from the dip beyond the open space +appeared heralds who carried spears and were fantastically dressed. +These shouted that the Inca Upanqui, the Child of the Sun, the god who +ruled the earth, drew near. + +"Let him approach!" said Huaracha briefly, and they departed. + +Awhile later there arose a sound of barbarous music and of chanting +and from the dip below emerged a glittering litter borne upon the +shoulders of richly clothed men all of whom, I was told afterwards, +were princes by blood, and surrounded by beautiful women who carried +jewelled fans, and by councillors. It was the litter of the Inca +Upanqui, and after it marched a guard of picked warriors, perhaps +there were a hundred of them, not more. + +The litter was set down in front of the throne; gilded curtains were +drawn and out of it came a man whose attire dazzled the eyes. It +seemed to consist of gold and precious stones sewn on to a mantle of +crimson wool. He wore a head-dress also of as many colours as Joseph's +coat, surmounted by two feathers, which he alone might bear, from +which head-dress a scarlet fringe that was made of tasselled wool hung +down upon his forehead. This was the Inca's crown, even to touch which +was death, and its name was /Lautu/. He was a very old man for his +white locks and beard hung down upon his splendid garments and he +supported himself upon his royal staff that was headed by a great +emerald. His fine-cut face also, though still kingly, was weak with +age and his eyes were blear. At the sight of him all rose and Huaracha +descended from his throne, saying in a loud voice: + +"Welcome to the land of the Chancas, O Upanqui, Inca of the Quichuas." + +The old monarch eyed him for a moment, then answered in a thin voice: + +"Greeting to Huaracha, /Curaca/ of the Chancas." + +Huaracha bowed and said: + +"I thank you, but here among my own people my title is not /Curaca/, +but King, O Inca." + +Upanqui drew himself up to his full height and replied: + +"The Incas know no kings throughout the land of Tavantinsuyu save +themselves, O Huaracha." + +"Be it so, O Inca; yet the Chancas, who are unconquered, know a king, +and I am he. I pray you be seated, O Inca." + +Upanqui stood still for a moment frowning, and, as I thought, was +about to make some short answer, when suddenly his glance fell upon me +and changed the current of his mind. + +"Is that the White-god-from-the-Sea?" he asked, with an almost +childish curiosity. "I heard that he was here, and to tell the truth +that is why I came, just to look at him, not to bandy words with you, +O Huaracha, who they say can only be talked to with a spear point. +What a red beard he has and how his coat shines. Let him come and +worship me." + +"He will come, but I do not think that he will worship. They say he is +a god himself, O Inca." + +"Do they? Well, now I remember there are strange prophecies about a +white god who should rise out of the sea, as did the forefather of the +Incas. They say, too, that this god shall do much mischief to the land +when he comes. So perhaps he had better not draw too near to me, for I +like not the look of that great big sword of his. By the Sun, my +father, he is tall and big and strong" (I had risen from my chair) +"and his beard is like a fire; it will set the hearts of all the women +burning, though perhaps if he is a god he does not care for women. I +must consult my magicians about it, and the head priest of the Temple +of the Sun. Tell the White God to make ready to return with me to +Cuzco." + +"The lord Hurachi is my guest, O Inca, and here he bides with me," +said Huaracha. + +"Nonsense, nonsense! When the Inca invites any one to his court, he +must come. But enough of him for the present. I came here to talk of +other matters. What were they? Let me sit down and think." + +So he was conducted to his throne upon which he sat trying to collect +his mind, which I saw was weak with age. The end of it was that he +called to his aid a stern-faced, shifty-eyed, middle-aged minister, +whom after I came to know as the High-priest Larico, the private +Councillor of himself and of his son, Urco, and one of the most +powerful men in the kingdom. This noble, I noted, was one who had the +rank of an Earman, that is, he wore in his ear, which like that of +Kari was stretched out to receive it, a golden disc of the size of an +apple, whereon was embossed the image of the sun. + +At a sign and a word from his dotard master this Larico began to speak +for him as though he were the Inca himself, saying: + +"Hearken, O Huaracha. I have undertaken this toilsome journey, the +last I shall make as Inca, for be it known to you that I purpose to +divest myself of the royal Fringe in favour of the prince, Urco, +begotten to me in the body and of the Sun in spirit, and to retire to +end my days in peace at my palace of Yucay, waiting there patiently +until it pleases my father, the Sun, to take me to his bosom." + +Here Larico paused to allow this great news to sink into the minds of +his hearers, and I thought to myself that when I died I would choose +to be gathered to any bosom rather than to that of the Sun, which put +me in mind of hell. Then he went on: + +"Rumours have reached me, the Inca, that you, Huaracha, Chief of the +Chancas, are making ready to wage war upon my empire. It was to test +these rumours, although I did not believe them, that awhile ago I sent +an embassy to ask your only child, the lady Quilla, in marriage to the +prince Urco, promising, since he has no sister whom he may wed and +since on the mother's side she, your daughter, has the holy Inca blood +in her veins, that she should become his /Coya/, or Queen, and the +mother of him who shall succeed to the throne." + +"The embassy came, and received my answer, O Inca," said Huaracha. + +"Yes, and the answer was that the lady Quilla should be given in +marriage to the Prince Urco, but as she was absent on a visit, this +could not happen until she returned. But since then, O Huaracha, more +rumours have reached me that you still prepare for war and seek to +make alliances among my subjects, tempting them to rebel against me. +Therefore I am here myself to lead away the lady Quilla and to deliver +her to the Prince Urco." + +"Why did not the Prince Urco come in person, O Inca?" + +"For this reason, Huaracha, from whom I desire to hide nothing. If the +Prince had come, you might have set a trap for him and killed him, who +is the hope of the Empire." + +"So I might for you, his father, O Inca." + +"Aye, I know it, but what would that avail you while the Prince sits +safe at Cuzco ready to assume the Fringe? Also I am old and care not +when or how I die, whose work is done. Moreover, few would desire to +anger the gods by the murder of an aged guest, and therefore I visit +you sitting here in the midst of your armies with but a handful of +followers, trusting to your honour and to my father the Sun to protect +me. Now answer me--will you give the hand of your daughter to my son +and thereby make alliance with me, or will you wage war upon my empire +and be destroyed, you and your people together?" + +Here Upanqui, who hitherto had been listening in silence to the words +of Larico, spoken on his behalf, broke in, saying: + +"Yes, yes, that is right, only make him understand that the Inca will +be his over-lord, since the Inca can have no rivals in all the land." + +"My answer is," said Huaracha, "that I will give my daughter in +marriage as I have promised, but that the Chancas are a free people +and accept no over-lord." + +"Foolishness, foolishness!" said Upanqui. "As well might the tree say +that it would not bend before the wind. However, you can settle that +matter afterwards with Urco, and indeed with your daughter, who will +be his queen and is your heiress, for I understand you have no other +lawful child. Why talk of war and other troubles when thus your +kingdom falls to us by marriage? Now let me see this lady Quilla who +is to become my daughter." + +Huaracha, who had listened to all this babble with a stern set face, +turned to Quilla and made a sign. She descended from her chair and +advancing, stood before the Inca, a vision of splendour and of beauty, +and bowed to him. He stared at her awhile, as did all his company, +then said: + +"So you are the lady Quilla. A fair woman, a very fair woman, and a +proud, one who ought to be able to lead Urco aright if any one can. +Well named, too, after the moon, for the moonlight seems to shine in +your eyes, Lady Quilla. Indeed and indeed were I but a score of years +younger I should tell Urco to seek another queen and keep you for +myself." + +Then Quilla spoke for the first time, saying: + +"Be it as you will, O Inca. I am promised in marriage to the Child of +the Sun and which child is nothing to me." + +"Well said, Lady Quilla, and why should I wonder? Though I grow old +they tell me that I am still handsome, a great deal better looking +than Urco, in fact, who is a rough man and of a coarser type. You ask +my wives when you come to Cuzco; one of them told me the other day +that there was no one so handsome in the whole city, and earned a +beautiful present for her pretty speech. What is it you say, Larico? +Why are you always interfering with me? Well, perhaps you are right, +and, Lady Quilla, if you are ready, it is time to start. No, no, I +thank you, Curaca, but I will not stop for any feasting who desire to +be back at my camp before dark, since who knows what may happen to one +in the dark in a strange country?" + +Then at last Huaracha grew angry. + +"Be it as you will, O Inca," he said, "but know that you offer me a +threefold insult. First you refuse the feast that has been made ready +for you whereat you were to meet all the notables of my kingdom. +Secondly, you give me, who am a king, the title of a petty chief who +owns your rule. Thirdly, you throw doubts upon my honour, hinting that +I may cause you to be murdered in the dark. Now I am minded to say to +you, 'Begone from my poor country, Lord Inca, in safety, but leave my +daughter behind you.'" + +Now at these words, I, Hubert, saw the fires of hope burn up in the +large eyes of Quilla, as they did in my own heart, for might they not +mean that she would escape from Urco after all? But, alas, they were +extinguished like a brand that is dipped in water. + +"Tush, tush!" said the old dotard, "what a fire-eater are you, friend +Huaracha. Know that I never care to eat, except at night; also that +the chill of the air after my father the Sun has set makes my bones +ache, and as for titles--take any one you like, except that of Inca." + +"Mayhap that is the one I shall take before all is done," broke in the +furious Huaracha, who would not be quieted by the councillors +whispering in his ears. + +It was at this moment that the minister and high-priest, Larico, who +had been noting all that passed with an impassive face, said coldly: + +"Be not wroth, O King Huaracha, and lay not too much weight upon the +idle words of the glorious Inca, since even the gods will doze at +times when they are weighed down by the cares of empire. No affront +was meant to you and least of all does the Inca or any one of us, +dream that you would tarnish your honour by offering violence to your +guests by day or by night. Yet know this, that if, after all that has +been sworn, you withhold your daughter, the lady Quilla, from the +house of Urco who is her lord to be, it will breed instant war, since +as soon as word of it comes to Cuzco, which will be within twenty +hours, for messengers wait all along the road, the great armies of the +Inca that are gathered there will begin to move. Judge, then, if you +have the strength to withstand them, and choose whether you will live +on in glory and honour, or bring yourself to death and your people to +slavery. Now, King Huaracha, speaking on behalf of Urco, who within +some few moons will be Inca, I ask you--will you suffer the lady +Quilla to journey with us to Cuzco and thereby proclaim peace between +our peoples or will you keep her here against your oath and hers, and +thereby declare war?" + +Huaracha sat silent, lost in thought, and the old Inca Upanqui began +to babble again, saying: + +"Very well put, I could not have said it better myself; indeed, I did +say it, for this coxcomb of a Larico, who thinks himself so clever +just because I made him high-priest of the Sun under me and he is of +my blood, is after all nothing but the tongue in my mouth. You don't +really want to die, Huaracha, do you, after seeing most of your people +killed and your country wasted? For you know that is what must happen. +If you do not send your daughter as you promised, within a few hours a +hundred thousand men will be marching on you and another hundred +thousand gathering behind them. Anyhow, please make up your mind one +way or another, as I wish to leave this place." + +Huaracha thought on awhile. Then he descended from his throne and +beckoned to Quilla. She came and he led her towards the back part of +the pavilion behind and a little to the left of the chair on which I +sat where none could hear their talk save me, of whom he seemed to +take no note, perhaps because he had forgotten me, or perhaps because +he desired that I should know all. + +"Daughter," he said in a low voice, "what word? Before you answer +remember that if I refuse to send you, now for the first time I break +my oath." + +"Of such oaths I think little," answered Quilla. "Yet of another thing +I think much. Tell me, my father, if the Inca declares war and attacks +us, can we withstand his armies?" + +"No, Daughter, not until the Yuncas join us for we lack sufficient +men. Moreover, we are not ready, nor shall be for another two moons, +or more." + +"Then it stands thus, Father. If I do not go the war will begin, and +if I do go it seems that it will be staved off until you are ready, or +perhaps for always, because I shall be the peace-offering and it will +be thought that I, your heiress, take your kingdom as my marriage +portion to be joined to that of the Incas at your death. Is it thus?" + +"It is, Quilla. Only then you will work to bring it about that the +Land of the Incas shall be joined to the Land of the Chancas, and not +that of the Chancas to that of the Incas, so that in a day to come as +Queen of the Chancas you shall reign over both of them and your +children after you." + +Now I, Hubert, watching Quilla out of the corners of my eyes, saw her +turn pale and tremble. + +"Speak not to me of children," she said, "for I think that there will +be none, and talk not of future glories, since for these I care +nothing. It is for our people that I care. You swear to me that if I +do not go your armies will be defeated and that those who escape the +spear will be enslaved?" + +"Aye, I swear it by the Moon your mother, also that I will die with my +soldiers." + +"Yet if I go I leave behind me that which I love," here she glanced +towards me, "and give myself to shame, which is worse than death. Is +that your desire, my father?" + +"That is not my desire. Remember, Daughter, that you were party to +this plan, aye, that it sprang from your far-seeing mind. Still, now +that your heart has changed, I would not hold you to your bargain, who +desire most of all things to see you happy at my side. Choose, +therefore, and I obey. On your head be it." + +"What shall I say, O Lord, whom I saved from the sea?" asked Quilla in +a piercing whisper, but without turning her head towards me. + +Now an agony took hold of me for I knew that what I bade her, that she +would say, and that perchance upon my answer hung the fate of all this +great Chanca people. If she went they would be saved, if she remained +perchance she would be my wife if only for a while. For the Chancas I +cared nothing and for the Quichuas I cared nothing, but Quilla was all +that remained to me in the world and if she went, it was to another +man. I would bid her bide. And yet--and yet if her case were mine and +the fate of England hung upon my breath, what then? + +"Be swift," she whispered again. + +Then I spoke, or something spoke through me, saying: + +"Do what honour bids you, O Daughter of the Moon, for what is love +without honour? Perchance both shall still be yours at last." + +"I thank you, Lord, whose heart speaks as my heart," she whispered for +the third time, then lifting her head and looking Huaracha in the +eyes, said: + +"Father, I go, but that I will wed this Urco I do not promise." + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE RETURN OF KARI + +So Quilla, seated in a golden litter and accompanied by maidens as +became her rank, soon was borne away in the train of the Inca Upanqui, +leaving me desolate. Before she went, under pretence of bidding me +farewell, none denying her, she gained private speech with me for a +little while. + +"Lord and Lover," she said, "I go to what fate I know not, leaving you +to what fate I know not, and as your lips have said, it is right that +I should go. Now I have something to ask of you--that you will not +follow me as it is in your heart to do. But last night I prayed of you +to dog my steps and wherever I might go to keep close to me, that the +knowledge of your presence might be my comfort. Now my mind is +different. If I must be married to this Urco, I would not have you see +me in my shame. And if I escape marriage you cannot help me, since I +may only do so by death or by taking refuge where you cannot come. +Also I have another reason." + +"What reason, Quilla?" I asked. + +"This: I ask that you will stop with my father and give him your help +in the war that must come. I would see this Urco crushed, but without +that help I am sure that the Chancas and the Yuncas are too weak to +overthrow the Inca might. Remember that if I escape marriage thus only +can you hope to win me, namely, by the defeat and death of Urco. Say, +then, that you will stay here and help to lead the Chanca armies, and +say it swiftly, since that dotard, Upanqui, frets to be gone. Hark! +his messengers call and search; my women can hold them back no more." + +"I will stay," I answered hoarsely. + +"I thank you, and now farewell, till in life or death we meet again. +Thoughts come to my mind which I have no time to utter." + +"To mine also, Quilla, and here is one of them. You know the man who +was with me on the island. Well, he is more than he seems." + +"So I guessed, but where is he now?" + +"In hiding, Quilla. If you should chance to find him, bear in mind +that he is an enemy of Urco and one not friendless; also that he loves +me after his fashion. Trust him, I pray you. Urco is not the only one +of the Inca blood, Quilla." + +She glanced at me quickly and nodded her head. Then without more +words, for officers were pressing towards us, she drew a ring off her +finger, a thick and ancient golden ring on which were cut what looked +like flowers, or images of the sun, and gave it to me. + +"Wear this for my sake. It is very old and has a story of true love +that I have no time to tell," she said. + +I took it and in exchange passed to her that ancient ring which my +mother had given to me, the ring that had come down to her with the +sword Wave-Flame, saying: + +"This, too, is old and has a story; wear it in memory of me." + +Then we parted and presently she was gone. + +I stood watching her litter till it vanished in the evening haze. Then +I turned to go to find myself face to face with Huaracha. + +"Lord-from-the-Sea," he said, "you have played a man's--or a god's-- +part to-day. Had you bidden my daughter bide here, she would have done +so for love of you and the Chanca people must have been destroyed, for +as that old Inca or his spokesman told us, the breaking of my oath +would have been taken as a declaration of instant war. Now we have +breathing time, and in the end things may go otherwise." + +"Yes," I answered, "but what of Quilla and what of me?" + +"I know not your creed or what with you is honour, White Lord, but +among us whom perhaps you think of small account, it is thought and +held that there are times when a man or a woman, especially if they be +highly placed, must do sacrifice for the good of the many who cling to +them for guidance and for safety. This you and my daughter have done +and therefore I honour both of you." + +"To what end is the sacrifice made?" I asked bitterly. "That one +people may struggle for dominion over another people, no more." + +"You are mistaken, Lord. Not for victory or to increase my dominions +do I desire to war upon the Incas, but because unless I strike I shall +presently be struck, though for a little while this marriage might +hold back the blow. Alone in the midst of the vast territories over +which the Incas rule, the Chancas stem their tide of conquest and +remain free amongst many nations of slaved. Therefore for ages these +Incas, like those who ruled before them at Cuzco, have sworn to +destroy us, and Urco has sworn it above all." + +"Urco might die or be deposed, Huaracha." + +"If so another would put on the Fringe and be vowed to the ancient +policy that does not change from generation to generation. Therefore I +must fight or perish with my people. Hearken, Lord-from-the-Sea! Stay +here with me and become as my brother and a general of my armies, for +where will they not follow when you lead, who are held to be a god? +Then if we conquer, in reward, from a brother you shall become a son, +and to you after me I swear shall pass the Chanca crown. Moreover, to +you, if she can be saved, I will give in marriage her whom you love. +Think before you refuse. I know not whence you come, but this I know: +that you can return thither no more, unless, indeed, you are a spirit. +Here your lot is cast till death. Therefore make it glorious. +Perchance you might fly to the Inca and there become a marvel and a +show, furnished with gold and palaces and lands, but always you would +be a servant, while I offer to you a crown and the rule of a people +great and free." + +"I care nothing for crowns," I answered, sighing. "Still, such was +Quilla's prayer, perchance the last that ever she will make to me. +Therefore I accept and will serve you and your cause, that seems +noble, faithfully to the end, O Huaracha." + +Then I stretched out my hand to him and so our compact was sealed. + + + +On the very next day my work began. Huaracha made me known to his +captains, commanding them to obey me in all things, which, looking on +me as half divine, they did readily enough. + +Now, of soldiering I knew little who was a seaman bred, yet as I had +learned, a man of the English race in however strange a country he +finds himself can make a path there to his ends. + +Moreover, in London I had heard much talk of armies and their ordering +and often watched troops at their exercise; also I know how to handle +bow and sword, and was accustomed to the management of men. So putting +all these memories together, I set myself to the task of turning a mob +of half-savage fellows with arms into an ordered host. I created +regiments and officered them with the best captains that I could find, +collecting in each regiment so far as possible the people of a certain +town or district. These companies I drilled and exercised, teaching +them to use such weapons as they had to the best purpose. + +Also I caused them to shape stronger bows on the model of my own with +which I had shot the three Frenchmen far away at Hastings that, as it +was said, once had been the battle-bow of Thorgrimmer the Norseman my +ancestor, as the sword Wave-Flame was his battle-sword. When these +Chancas saw how far and with what a good aim I could shoot with this +bow, they strove day and night to learn to equal me, though it is true +they never did. Also I bettered their body-armour of quilting by +settings sheets of leather (since in that country there is no iron) +taken from the hides of wild animals and of their long-haired native +sheep, between the layers of cotton. Other things I did also, too many +and long to record. + +The end of it was that within three months Huaracha had an army of +some fifty thousand men who, if not well trained, still kept +discipline, and could move in regiments; who knew also how to shoot +with their bows and to use their copper-headed spears and axes of that +metal, or of hard stone, to the best purpose. + +Then at length came the Yuncas to join us, thirty or forty thousand of +them, wild fellows and brave enough, but undisciplined. With these I +could do little since time was lacking, save send some of the officers +whom I had trained to teach their chiefs and captains what they were +able. + +Thus I was employed from dawn till dark and often after it, in talk +with Huaracha and his generals, or in drawing plans with ink that I +found a means to make, upon parchment of sheepskin and noting down +numbers and other things, a sight at which these people who knew +nothing of writing marvelled very much. Great were my labours, yet in +them I found more happiness than I had known since that fatal day when +I, the rich London merchant, Hubert of Hastings, had stood before the +altar of St. Margaret's church with Blanche Aleys. Indeed, every +cranny of my time and mind being thus filled with things finished or +attempted, I forgot my great loneliness as an alien in a strange land, +and once more became as I had been when I trafficked in the Cheap. + +But toil as I would, I could not forget Quilla. During the day I might +mask her memory in its urgent business, but when I lay down to rest +she seemed to come to me as a ghost might do and to stand by my bed, +looking at me with sad and longing eyes. So real was her presence that +sometimes I began to believe that she must have died to the world and +was in truth a ghost, or else that she had found the power to throw +her soul afar, as it is said certain of these Indian folk, if so they +should be called, can do. At least there she seemed to be while I +remained awake and afterwards when I slept, and I know not whether her +strange company joyed or pained me more. For alas! she could not talk +to me, or tell me how it fared with her, and, to speak truth, now that +she was the wife of another man, as I supposed, I desired to forget +her if I could. + +For of Quilla no word reached us. We heard that she had come safely to +Cuzco and after that nothing more. Of her marriage there was no +tidings; indeed she seemed to have vanished away. Certain of +Huaracha's spies reported to him, however, that the great army which +Urco had gathered to attack him had been partly disbanded, which +seemed to show that the Inca no longer prepared for immediate war. +Only then what had happened to Quilla, whose person was the price of +peace? Perhaps she was hidden away during the preparations for her +nuptials; at least I could think of nothing else, unless indeed she +had chosen to kill herself or died naturally. + +Soon, however, all news ceased, for Huaracha shut his frontiers, +hoping that thus Urco might not learn that he was gathering armies. + +At length, when our forces were almost ready to march, Kari came, Kari +whom I thought lost. + +One night when I was seated at my work by lamplight, writing down +numbers upon a parchment, a shadow fell across it, and looking up I +saw Kari standing before me, travel-worn and weary, but Kari without +doubt, unless I dreamed. + +"Have you food, Lord?" he asked while I stared at him. "I need it and +would eat before I speak." + +I found meat and native beer and brought them to him, for it was late +and my servants were asleep, waiting till he had filled himself, for +by this time I had learned something of the patience of these people. +At length he spoke, saying: + +"Huaracha's watch is good, and to pass it I must journey far into the +mountains and sleep three nights without food amid their snows." + +"Whence come you?" I asked. + +"From Cuzco, Lord." + +"Then what of the lady Quilla? Does she still live? Is she wed to +Urco?" + +"She lives, or lived fourteen days ago, and she is not wed. But where +she is no man may ever come. You have looked your last upon the lady +Quilla, Lord." + +"If she lives and is unwed, why?" I asked, trembling. + +"Because she is numbered among the Virgins of the Sun our Father, and +therefore inviolate to man. Were I the Inca, though I love you and +know all, should you attempt to take her, yes, even you, I would kill +you if I could, and with my own sword. In our land, Lord, there is one +crime which has no forgiveness, and that is to lay hands upon a Virgin +of the Sun. We believe, Lord, that if this is done, great curses will +fall upon our country, while as for the man who works the crime, +before he passes to eternal vengeance he and all his house and the +town whence he came must perish utterly, and that false virgin who has +betrayed our father, the Sun, must die slowly and by fire." + +"Has this ever chanced?" I asked. + +"History does not tell it, Lord, since none have been so wicked, but +such is the law." + +I thought to myself that it was a very evil law, and cruel; also that +I would break it if I found opportunity, but made no answer, knowing +when to be silent and that I might as well strive to move a mountain +from its base as to turn Kari from the blindness of his folly bred of +false faith. After all, could I blame him, seeing that we held the +same of the sacredness of nuns and, it was said, killed them if they +broke their vows? + +"What news, Kari?" I asked. + +"Much, Lord. Hearken. Disguised as a peasant who had come into this +country to barter wool from a village near to Cuzco, I joined myself +to the train of the Inca Upanqui, among whose lords I found a friend +who had loved me in past years and kept my secret as he was bound to +do, having passed into the brotherhood of knights with me while we +were lads. Through him, in place of a man who was sick, I became one +of the bearers of the lady Quilla's litter and thus was always about +her and at times had speech with her in secret, for she knew me again +notwithstanding my disguise and uniform. So I became one of those who +waited on her when she ate and noted all that passed. + +"After the first day the Inca Upanqui, he who is my father and whose +lawful heir I am, although he discarded me for Urco and believes me +dead, made it a habit to take his food in the same tent or rest-house +chamber as the lady Quilla. Lord, being very clever, she set herself +to charm him, so that soon he began to dote upon her, as old, worn-out +men sometimes do upon young and beautiful women. She, too, pretended +to grow fond of him and at last told him in so many words that she +grieved it was not he that she was to marry whose wisdom she hung +upon, in place of a prince who, she heard, was not wise. This, she +said, because she knew well that the Inca would never marry any more +and indeed had lived alone for years. Still, being flattered, he told +her it was hard that she should be forced to wed one to whom she had +no mind, whereon she prayed him, even with tears, to save her from +such a fate. At last he vowed that he would do so by setting her among +the Virgins of the Sun on whom no man may look. She thanked him and +said that she would consider the matter, since, for reasons that you +may guess, Lord, she did not desire to become a Virgin of the Sun and +to pass the rest of her days in prayer and the weaving of the Inca's +garments. + +"So it went on until when we were a day's march from Cuzco, Urco, my +brother, came to meet his promised bride. Now, Urco is a huge man and +hideous, one whom none would believe to have been born of the Inca +blood. Coarse he is, and dissolute, given to drink also, though a +great fighter and brave in battle, and quick-brained when he is sober. +I was present when they met and I saw the lady Quilla shiver and turn +pale at the sight of him, while he on his part devoured her beauty +with his eyes. They spoke but few words together, yet before these +were done, he told her it was his will that they should be wed at once +on the day after she came to Cuzco, nor would he listen to the Inca +Upanqui who said, being cunning and wishing to gain time, that due +preparation must be made for so great a business. + +"Thereupon Urco grew angry with his father, who both fears and loves +him, and answered that, being almost Inca, this matter was one which +he would settle for himself. So fierce was he that Upanqui became +afraid and went away. When they were alone Urco strove to embrace +Quilla, but she fled from him and hid with her maidens in a private +place. After this, at the feast Urco took too much drink according to +his custom and was led away to sleep by his lords. Then Quilla waited +upon the Inca and said: + +"'O Inca, I have seen the Prince and I claim your promise to save me +from him. O Inca, abandoning all thought of marriage, I will become +the bride of our Father the Sun.' + +"Upanqui, who was wroth with Urco because he had crossed his will, +swore by the Sun itself that he would not fail her, come what might, +since Urco should learn that he was not yet Inca." + +"What happened then?" I asked, staring him in the eyes. + +"After this, Lord, when we were halted before making the state entry +into Cuzco, for a moment the lady Quilla found opportunity for private +speech with me. This is what she said: + +"'Tell my father, King Huaracha, that I have fulfilled his oath, but +that I cannot marry Urco. Therefore I seek refuge in the arms of the +Sun, as the oracle Rimac foretold that I should do, having to choose +between this fate and that of death. Tell my Lord-from-the-Sea what +has befallen me and bid him farewell to me. Still say that he must +keep a good heart, since I do not believe that all is ended between +us.' + +"Then we were parted and I saw her no more." + +"And did you hear no more, Kari?" + +"I heard much, Lord. I heard that when Urco learned that the lady +Quilla had vanished away into the House of Virgins, whither he might +not come, and that he was robbed of the bride whom he desired, he grew +mad with rage. Indeed, of this I saw something myself. Two days later, +with thousands of others I was in the great square in front of the +Temple of the Sun, where the Inca Upanqui sat in state upon a golden +throne to receive the praise of his people upon his safe return after +his long and hard journey, and as some reported, to lay down his +lordship in favour of Urco; also to tell the people that the danger of +war with the Chancas had passed away. Scarcely had the ceremony begun +when Urco appeared at the head of a number of lords and princes of the +Inca blood, who are of his clan, and I noticed that he was drunk and +furious. He advanced to the foot of the throne, almost without +obeisance, and shouted: + +"'Where is the lady Quilla, daughter of Huaracha, who is promised to +me in marriage, Inca? Why have you hidden her away, Inca?' + +"'Because the Sun, our Father, has claimed her as his bride and has +taken her to dwell in his holy house, where never again may the eyes +of man behold her, Prince!' answered Upanqui. + +"'You mean that robbing me, you have taken her for yourself, Inca,' +shouted Urco again. + +"Then Upanqui stood up and swore by the Sun that this was not so and +that what he had done was done by the decree of the god and at the +prayer of the lady Quilla, who having seen Urco, had declared that +either she would be wed to the god or die by her own hand, which would +bring the vengeance of the Sun upon the people. + +"Then Urco went mad. He raved at the Inca and while all present +shivered with fear, he cursed the Sun our Father, yes, even when a +cloud came up in the clear sky and veiled the face of the god, +heedless of the omen, he continued his curses and blasphemy. Moreover, +he said that soon he would be Inca and that then, if he must tear the +House of Virgins stone from stone, as Inca he would drag forth the +lady Quilla and make her his wife. + +"Now at these words Upanqui stood up and rent his robes. + +"'Must my ears be outraged with such blasphemies?' he cried. 'Know, +Son Urco, that this day I was minded to take off the Royal Fringe and +to set it on your head, crowning you Inca in my place while I withdrew +to pass the remainder of my days at Yucay in peace and prayer. My will +is changed. This I shall not do. My life is not done and strength +returns to my mind and body. Here I stay as Inca. Now I see that I am +punished for my sin.' + +"'What sin?' shouted Urco. + +"'The sin of setting you before my eldest lawful son, Kari, whose wife +you stole; Kari, whom also it is said you poisoned and who at least +has vanished and is doubtless dead.' + +"Now, Lord, when I, Kari, heard this my heart melted in me and I was +minded to declare myself to Upanqui my father. But while I weighed the +matter for a moment, knowing that if I did so, such words as these +might well be my last since Urco had many of is following present, who +perhaps would fall upon and kill me, suddenly my father Upanqui fell +forward in a swoon. His lords and physicians bore him away. Urco +followed and presently the multitude departed this way and that. +Afterwards we were told that the Inca had recovered but must not be +disturbed for many days." + +"Did you hear more of Quilla, Kari?" + +"Yes, Lord," he answered gravely. "It was commonly reported that, +through some priestess in his pay, Urco had poisoned her, saying that +as she had chosen the Sun as husband, to the Sun she would go." + +"Poisoned her!" I muttered, well-nigh falling to the ground. "Poisoned +her!" + +"Aye, Lord, but be comforted for this was added--that she who gave the +poison was taken in the act by her who is named the Mother of the +Virgins, and handed over to the women who cast her into the den of +serpents, where she perished, screaming that it was Urco who had +forced her to the deed." + +"That does not comfort me, man. What of Quilla? Did she die?" + +"Lord, it is said not. It is said that the Mother of the Virgins +dashed away the cup as it touched her lips. But this is said also, +that some of the poison flew into her eyes and blinded her." + +I groaned, for the thought of Quilla blinded was horrible. + +"Again take comfort, Lord, since perchance she may recover from this +blindness. Also I was told, that although she can see nothing, her +beauty is not marred; that the venom indeed has made her eyes seem +larger and more lovely even than they were before." + +I made no answer, who feared that Kari was deceiving me or perhaps was +himself deceived and that Quilla was dead. Presently he continued his +story in the same quiet, even voice, saying: + +"Lord, after this I sought out certain of my friends who had loved me +in my youth and my mother also while she lived, revealing myself to +them. We made plans together, but before aught could be done in +earnest, it was needful that I should see my father Upanqui. While I +was waiting till he had recovered from the stroke that fell upon him, +some spy betrayed me to Urco, who searched for me to kill me and well- +nigh found me. The end of it was that I was forced to fly, though +before I did so many swore themselves to my cause who would escape +from the tyranny of Urco. Moreover, it was agreed that if I returned +with soldiers at my back, they and their followers would come out to +join me to the number of thousands, and help me to take my own again +so that I may be Inca after Upanqui my father. Therefore I have come +back here to talk with you and Huaracha. + +"Such is my tale." + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE FIELD OF BLOOD + +When on the morrow Huaracha, King of the Chancas, heard all this story +and that Urco had given poison to his daughter Quilla, who, if she +still lived at all, did so, it was said, as a blind woman, a kind of +madness took hold of him. + +"Now let war come; I will not rest or stay," he cried, "till I see +this hound, Urco, dead, and hang up his skin stuffed with straw as an +offering to his own god, the Sun." + +"Yet it was you, King Huaracha, who sent the lady Quilla to this Urco +for your own purposes," said Kari in his quiet fashion. + +"Who and what are you that reprove me?" asked Huaracha turning on him. +"I only know you as the servant or slave of the White-Lord-from-the- +Sea, though it is true I have heard stories concerning you," he added. + +"I am Kari, the first-born lawful son of Upanqui and by right heir to +the Inca throne, no less, O Huaracha. Urco my brother robbed me of my +wife, as through the folly of my father, upon whose heart Urco's +mother worked, he had already robbed me of my inheritance. Then, to +make sure, he strove to poison me as he has poisoned your daughter, +with a poison that would make me mad and incapable of rule, yet leave +me living--because he feared lest the curse of the Sun should fall +upon him if he murdered me. I recovered from that bane and wandered to +a far land. Now I have returned to take my own, if I am able. All that +I say I can prove to you." + +For a while Huaracha stared at him astonished, then said: + +"And if you prove it, what do you ask of me, O Kari?" + +"The help of your armies to enable me to overthrow Urco, who is very +strong, being the Commander of the Quichua hosts." + +"And if your tale be true and Urco is overthrown, what do you promise +me in return?" + +"The independence of the Chanca people, who otherwise must soon be +destroyed, and certain other added territories which you covet, while +I am Inca." + +"And with this my daughter, if she still lives?" asked Huaracha +looking at him. + +"Nay," replied Kari firmly. "As to the lady Quilla I promise nothing. +She has vowed herself to my Father the Sun, and what I have already +told the Lord Hurachi here, who loves her I tell you. Henceforward no +man may look upon her, who is the Bride of the Sun, for if I suffered +this, certainly the curse of the Sun would fall upon me and upon my +people. He who lays a hand upon her I will strive to slay"--here he +looked at me with meaning--"because I must or be accurst. Take all +else, but let the lady Quilla be. What the Sun has, he holds forever." + +"Perhaps the Moon, her mother, may have something to say in that +matter," said Huaracha gloomily. "Still, let it lie for the while." + +Then they fell to discussing the terms of their alliance and, when it +came to battle, what help Kari could bring from among those who clung +to him in Cuzco. + +After this Huaracha took me to another chamber, where we debated the +business. + +"This Kari, if he be Kari himself, is a bigot," he said, "and if he +has his way, neither you nor I will ever set eyes on Quilla again, +because to him it is sacrilege. So, what say you?" + +I answered that it would be best to make an alliance with Kari, whom I +knew to be honest and no Pretender, since without his help I did not +think that it would be possible to defeat the armies of the People of +the Incas. For the rest, we must trust to chance, making no promises +as to Quilla. + +"If we did they would avail little," said Huaracha, "seeing that +without doubt she is dead and only vengeance remains to us. There is +more poison in Cuzco, White Lord!" + + + +Eight days later we were marching on Cuzco, a great host of us, +numbering at least forty thousand Chancas and twenty-five thousand of +the rebellious Yuncas, who had joined our standard. + +On we marched by the great road over mountains and across plains, +driving with us numberless herds of the native sheep for food, but +meeting no man, since so soon as we were out of the territory of the +Chancas all fled at our approach. At length one night we camped upon a +hill named Carmenca and saw beneath us at a distance the mighty city +of Cuzco standing in a valley through which a river ran. There it was +with its huge fortresses built of great blocks of stone, its temples, +its palaces, its open squares, and its countless streets bordered by +low houses. Moreover, beyond and around it we saw other things, +namely, the camps of a vast army dotted with thousands of white tents. + +"Urco is ready for us," said Kari to me grimly as he pointed to these +tents. + +We camped upon the hill Carmenca and that night there came to us an +embassy which spoke in the names of Upanqui and Urco, as though they +reigned jointly. This embassy of great lords who all wore discs of +gold in their ears asked us what was our purpose. Huaracha answered-- +to avenge the murder of the lady Quilla, his daughter, that he heard +had been poisoned by Urco. + +"How know you that she is dead?" asked the spokesman. + +"If she is not dead," replied Huaracha, "show her to us." + +"That may not be," replied the spokesman, "since if she lives, it is +in the House of the Virgins of the Sun, whence none come out and where +none go in. Hearken, O Huaracha. Go back whence you came, or the +countless army of the Incas will fall upon you and destroy you, you +and your handful together." + +"That is yet to be seen," answered Huaracha, and without more words +the embassy withdrew. + +That night also men crept into our camp secretly, who were of the +party of Kari. Of Quilla they seemed to know nothing, for none spoke +of those over whom the veil of the Sun had fallen. They told us, +however, that the old Inca, Upanqui, was still in Cuzco and had +recovered somewhat from his sickness. Also they said that now the feud +between him and Urco was bitter, but that Urco had the upper hand and +was still in command of the armies. These armies, they declared, were +immense and would fight us on the morrow, adding, however, that +certain regiments of them who were of the party of Kari would desert +to us in the battle. Lastly, they said that there was great fear in +Cuzco, since none knew how that battle would end, which was understood +by all to be one for the dominion of Tavantinsuyu. + +They had nothing more to say except that they prayed the Sun for our +success to save them from the tyranny of Urco. This prince, it +appeared, suspected their conspiracy, for now the rumour that Kari +lived was everywhere, and having obtained the names of some who were +connected with it through his spies, he pursued them with murder and +sudden death. They were poisoned at their food; they were stabbed as +they walked through the streets at night; their wives, if young and +fair, vanished away, as they believed into the houses of those who +desired them; even their children were kidnapped, doubtless to become +the servants of whom they knew not. They had complained of these +things to the old Inca Upanqui, but without avail, since in such +matters he was powerless before Urco who had command of the armies. +Therefore they would even welcome the triumph of Huaracha, which meant +that Kari would become Inca if with lessened territory. + +Before they parted to play their parts, Kari brought them before me, +whom in their foolishness they worshipped, believing me to be in truth +a god. Then he told them to have no fear, since I would command the +armies of Huaracha in the battle. + +Having surveyed the ground while the light lasted, for the most of +that night, together with Huaracha and Kari, I toiled, making plans +for the great fight that was to come. All being ready, I lay down to +sleep awhile, wondering whether it were the last time I should do so +upon the earth and, to tell the truth, not caring overmuch who, +believing that Quilla was dead, had it not been for my sins which +weighed upon me with none to whom I might confess them, should have +been glad to leave the world and its troubles for whatever might lie +beyond, even if it were but sleep. + +There comes a time to most men when above everything they desire rest, +and now that hour was with me, the exiled and the desolate. Here in +this strange country and among these alien people I had found one soul +which was akin to mine, that of a beautiful woman who loved me and +whom I had come to love and desire. But what was the end of it? Owing +to the necessities of statecraft and her own nobleness, she had been +separated from me and although, as it would seem, she had as yet +escaped defilement, was spirited away into the temple of some +barbarous worship where I was almost sure death had found her. + +At the best she was blinded, and where she lay in her darkness no man +might come because of the superstitions of these folk. Even if Kari +became Inca, it would not help me or her, should she still live, since +he was the fiercest bigot of them all and swore that he would kill me, +his friend, rather than that I should touch her, the vowed to his +false gods. + +Or perhaps, through the priests, to save himself such sorrow, he would +kill her. At the least, dead or not, she was lost to me, while I-- +utterly alone--must fight for a cause in which I had but one concern, +to bring some savage prince to his end because of his crime against +Quilla. And, if things went well and this chanced, what of the Future? +Of what use to me were rewards that I did not want, and the worship of +the vulgar which I hated? Rather would I have lived out my life as the +humblest fisherman on Hastings beach, than be made a king over these +glittering barbarians with their gold and gems which could buy nothing +that I needed, not even a Book of Hours to feed my soul, or the sound +of the English tongue to comfort my empty heart. + +At length I fell asleep, and as it seemed but a few minutes later, +though really six hours had gone by, was awakened by Kari, who told me +that the dawn was not far off and came to help me to buckle on my +armour. Then I went forth and together with Huaracha arranged our army +for battle. Our plan was to advance from our rising ground across a +great plain beneath us which was called Xaqui, but afterwards became +known by the name of Yahuar-pampa, or Field of Blood. + +This plain lay between us and the city of Cuzco, and my thought was +that we would march or fight our way across it and rush into the city +which was unwalled, and there amidst its streets and houses await the +attack of the Inca hosts that were encamped upon its farther side, for +thus protected by their walls we hoped that we should be more equal to +them. Yet things happened otherwise, since with the first light, +without which we did not dare to move over unknown ground, we +perceived that during the darkness the Inca armies had moved round and +through the town and were gathered by the ten thousand in dense +battalions upon the farther side of the plain. + +Now we took council together and in the end decided not to attack as +we had proposed, but to await their onslaught on the rocky ridge up +which they must climb. So we commanded that our army, which was +marshalled in three divisions abreast and two wings with the Yuncas as +a reserve behind, should eat and make ready. In the centre of our main +division, which numbered some fifteen thousand of the Chanca troops, +and a little in front of it, was a low long hill upon the highest +point of which I took my place, standing upon a rock with a group of +captains and messengers behind me and a guard of about a thousand +picked men massed upon the slopes and around the hill. From this high +point I could see everything, and in my glittering armour was visible +to all, friends and foes together. + +After a pause, during which the priests of the Chancas and of the +Yuncas behind us sacrificed sheep to the moon and the many other gods +they worshipped, and those of the Quichuas, as I could see from my +rock, made prayers and offerings to the rising sun, with a mighty +shouting the Inca hosts began to advance across the plain towards us. +Reckoning them with my eye I saw that they outnumbered us by two or +three to one; indeed their hordes seemed to be countless, and always +more of them came on behind from the dim recesses of the city. Divided +into three great armies they crept across the plain, a wild and +gorgeous spectacle, the sunlight shining upon the forest of their +spears and on their rich barbaric uniforms. + +A furlong or more away they halted and took counsel, pointing to me +with their spears as though they feared me. We stood quite still, +though some of our generals urged that we should charge, but this I +counselled Huaracha not to do, who desired that the Quichuas should +break their strength upon us. At length some word was given; the +splendid "rainbow Banner" of the Incas was unfurled and, still divided +into three armies with a wide stretch of plain between each of them +they attacked, yelling like all the fiends of hell. + +Now they had reached us and there began the most terrible battle that +was told of in the history of that land. Wave after wave of them +rolled up against us, but our battalions which I had not trained in +vain stood like rocks and slew and slew and slew till the dead could +be counted by the thousand. Again and again they strove to storm the +hill on which I stood, hoping to kill me, and each time we beat them +back. Picking out their generals I loosed shaft after shaft from my +long bow, and seldom did I miss, nor could their cotton-quilted armour +turn those bitter arrows. + +"/The shafts of the god! The shafts of the god!/" they cried, and +shrank back from before me. + +There appeared a man with a yellow fillet on his head and a robe that +was studded with precious stones; a huge man with great limbs and +flaming eyes; a loose-mouthed, hideous man who wielded a big axe of +copper and carried a bow longer than any I had seen in that land. +Hooking the axe to his belt, he set an arrow on the bow and let drive +at me. It sped true and struck me full upon the breast, only to +shatter on the good French mail, which copper could not pierce. + +Again he shot, and this time the arrow glanced from my helm. Then I +drew on him and my shaft, that I had aimed at his head, cut away the +fringe about his brow and carried it far away. At this sight a groan +went up from the lords about him, and one cried: + +"An omen, O Urco, an evil omen!" + +"Aye," he shouted, "for the White Wizard who shot the arrow." + +Dropping the bow, he rushed up the hill at me roaring, axe aloft, and +followed by his company. He smote, and I caught the blow upon my +shield, and striking back with Wave-Flame, shore through the shaft of +the axe that he had lifted to guard his head as though it had been +made of reed, aye, and through the quilted cotton on his shoulder +strengthened with strips of gold, and to the bone beneath. + +Then a man slipped past me. It was Kari, striking at Urco with +Deleroy's sword. They closed and rolled down the slope locked in each +other's arms. What chanced after this I do not know, for others rushed +in and all grew confused, but presently Kari limped back somewhat +shaken and bleeding, and I caught sight of Urco, little hurt, as it +seemed, amidst his lords at the bottom of the slope. + +At this moment I heard a great shouting and looking round, saw that +the Quichuas had broken through our left and were slaughtering many, +while the rest fled, also that our right was wavering. I sent +messengers to Huaracha, bidding him call up the Yunca rear guard. They +were slow in coming and I began to fear that all was lost for little +by little the hordes of the men of Cuzco were surrounding us. + +Then it was that Kari, or some with him, lifted a banner that had been +wrapped upon a pole, a blue banner upon which was embroidered a golden +sun. At the sight of it there was tumult in the Inca ranks, and +presently a great body of men, five or six thousand of them that had +seemed to be in reserve, ran forward shouting, "/Kari! Kari!/" and +fell upon those who were pursuing our shattered left, breaking them up +and dispersing them. Also at last the Yuncas came up and drove back +the regiments that assailed our right, while from Urco's armies there +rose a cry of "Treachery!" + +Trumpets blew and the Inca host, gathering itself together and +abandoning its dead and wounded, drew back sullenly on to the plain, +and there halted in three bodies as before, though much lessened in +number. + +Huaracha appeared, saying: + +"Strike, White Lord! It is our hour! The heart is out of them." + +The signal was given, and roaring like a hurricane, presently the +Chancas charged. Down the slope they went, I at the head of them with +Huaracha on one side and Kari on the other. The swift-footed Chancas +outran me who was hindered by my mail. We charged in three masses as +we had stood on the ridge, following those open lanes of ground up +which the foe had not come, because these were less cumbered with dead +and wounded. Presently I saw why those of Cuzco had left these lanes +untrod, for of a sudden some warriors, who had outstripped me, +vanished. They had fallen into a pit covered over with earth laid upon +canes, of which the bottom was set with sharp stakes. Others, who were +running along the lanes of open ground to right and left, also fell +into pits of which there were scores all carefully prepared against +the day of battle. With trouble the Chancas were halted, but not +before we had lost some hundreds of men. Then we advanced again across +that ground over which the Inca host had retreated. + +At length we reached their lines, passing through a storm of arrows, +and there began such a battle as I had never heard of or even dreamed. +With axes, stone-headed clubs and spears, both armies fought +furiously, and though the Incas still outnumbered us by two to one, +because of my training our regiments drove them back. Lord after lord +rushed at me with glaring eyes, but my mail turned their copper spears +and knives of flint. Oh! Wave-Flame fed full that day, and if +Thorgrimmer my forefather could have seen us from his home in +Valhalla, surely he must have sworn by Odin that never had he given it +such a feast. + +The Inca warriors grew afraid and shrank back. + +"This Red-Beard from the sea is indeed a god. He cannot be slain!" I +heard them cry. + +Then Urco appeared, bloody and furious, shouting: + +"Cowards! I will show you whether he cannot be slain." + +He rushed onward to meet--not me, but Huaracha, who seeing that I was +weary, had leapt in front of me. They fought, and Huaracha went down +and was dragged away by some of his servants. + +Now Urco and I were face to face, he wielding a huge copper-headed +club with which, as my mail could not be pierced, he thought to batter +out my life. I caught the blow upon my shield, but so great was the +giant's strength that it brought me to my knees. Next second I was up +and at him. Shouting, I smote with both hands, for my shield had +fallen. The thick, turban-like headdress that Urco wore was severed, +cut through as the axe had been, and Wave-Flame bit deep into the +skull beneath. + +Urco fell like a stunned ox and I sprang upon him to make an end. Then +it was that a rope was flung about my shoulders, a noosed rope that +was hauled tight. In vain I struggled. I was thrown down; I was seized +by a score of hands and dragged away into the heart of Urco's host. + +Waiting till a litter could be brought, they set me on my feet again, +my arms still bound by the noose that these Indians call /laso/, which +they know so well how to throw, the red sword Wave-Flame still hanging +by its thong from my right wrist. Whilst I stood thus, like a bull in +a net, they gathered round, staring at me, not with hate as it seemed +to me, but in fear and with reverence. When at length the litter came +they aided me to enter it quite gently. + +As I did so I looked back. The battle still raged but it seemed to me +with less fury than before. It was as though both sides were weary of +slaughter, their leaders being fallen. The litter was borne forward, +till at length the noise of shouting and tumult grew low. Twisting +myself round I peered through the back curtains and saw that the Inca +host and that of the Chancas were separating sullenly, neither of them +broken since they carried their wounded away with them. It was plain +that the battle remained drawn for there was no rout and no triumph. + +I saw, too, that I was entering the great city of Cuzco, where women +and children stood at the doors of the houses gazing, and some of them +wringing their hands with tears upon their faces. + +Passing down long streets and across a bridge, I came to a vast square +round which stood mighty buildings, low, massive, and constructed of +huge stones. At the door of one of these the litter halted and I was +helped to descend. Men beautifully clad in broidered linen led me +through a gateway and across a garden where I noted a marvellous +thing, namely: that all the plants therein were fashioned of solid +gold with silver flowers, or sometimes of silver with golden flowers. +Also there were trees on which were perched birds of gold and silver. +When I saw this I thought that I must be mad, but it was not so, for +having no other use for the precious metals, of which they had so much +abundance, thus did these Incas adorn their palaces. + +Leaving the golden garden, I reached a courtyard surrounded by rooms, +to one of which I was conducted. Passing its door, I found myself in a +splendid chamber hung with tapestries fantastically wrought and having +cushioned seats, and tables of rich woods incrusted with precious +stones. Here servants or slaves appeared with a chamberlain who bowed +deeply and welcomed me in the name of the Inca. + +Then, as though I were something half divine, gently enough, they +loosed the sword from my wrist, took the long bow from my back, with +the few arrows that remained, also my dagger, and hid them away. They +unbound me, and freeing me from my armour, as I told them how, and the +garments beneath, laved me with warm, scented water, rubbed my bruised +limbs, and clothed me in wonderful soft garments, also scented and +fastened about my middle with a golden belt. This done, food and +spiced drinks of their native wine were brought to me in golden +vessels. I ate and drank and, being very weary, laid myself down upon +one of the couches to sleep. For now I no longer took any thought as +to what might befall me, but received all as it came, good and ill +together, entrusting my body and soul to the care of God and St. +Hubert. Indeed, what else could I do who was disarmed and a prisoner? + +When I awoke again, very stiff and bruised, but much refreshed, night +had fallen, for hanging lamps were lit about the room. By their light +I saw the chamberlain of whom I have spoken standing before me. I +asked him his errand. With many bows he said that if I were rested the +Inca Upanqui desired my presence that he might speak with me. + +I bade him lead on, and, with others who waited without, he conducted +me through a maze of passages into a glorious chamber where everything +seemed to be gold, for even the walls were panelled with it. Never had +I dreamt of so much gold; indeed the sight of it wearied me till I +could have welcomed that of humble brick or wood. At the end of this +chamber that was also lit with lamps, were curtains. Presently these +were drawn by two beautiful women in jewelled skirts and head-dresses, +and behind them on a dais I saw a couch and on the couch the old Inca +Upanqui looking feebler than when I had last beheld him in the Chanca +city, and very simply clad in a white tunic. Only on his head he wore +the red fringe from which I suppose he never parted day or night. He +looked up and said: + +"Greeting, White-Lord-from-the-Sea. So you have come to visit me after +all, though you said that you would not." + +"I have been brought to visit you, Inca," I answered. + +"Yes, yes, they tell me they captured you in the battle, though I +expect that was by your own will as you had wearied of those Chancas. +For what /laso/ can hold a god?" + +"None," I answered boldly. + +"Of course not, and that you are a kind of god there is no doubt +because of the things you did in that battle. They say that the arrows +and spears melted when they touched you and that you shot and cut down +men by scores. Also that when the prince Urco tried to kill you, +although he is the strongest man in my kingdom, you knocked him over +as though he had been a little child and hacked his head open so that +they do not know whether he will live or die. I think I hope he will +die, for you see I have quarrelled with him." + +I thought to myself that so did I, but I only asked: + +"How did the battle end, Inca?" + +"As it began, Lord Hurachi. A great many men have been killed on both +sides, thousands and thousands of them, and neither army has the +victory. They have drawn back and sit growling at each other like two +angry lions which are afraid to fight again. Indeed, I do not want +them to fight, and now that Urco cannot interfere, I shall put a stop +to all this bloodshed if I am able. Tell me, for you were with him, +why does this Huaracha, who I hear is also wounded, want to make war +on me with those troublesome Chancas of his?" + +"Because your son, the prince Urco, has poisoned, or tried to poison, +his only child, Quilla." + +"Yes, yes, I know, and it was a wicked thing to do. You see, Lord, +what happened was this: That lovely Quilla, who is fairer than her +mother the Moon, was to have married Urco. But, Lord, as it chanced on +our journey together, although I am old--well, she became enamoured of +me, and prayed me to protect her from Urco. Such things happen to +women, Lord, whose hearts, when they behold the divine, are apt to +carry them away from the vulgar," and he laughed in a silly fashion +like the vain old fool that he was. + +"Naturally. How could she help it, Inca? Who, after seeing you, would +wish to turn to Urco?" + +"No one, especially as Urco is a coarse and brutal fellow. Well, what +was I to do? There are reasons why I do not wish to marry again at my +age; indeed I am tired of the sight of women, who want time to pray +and think of holy things; also if I had done what she wished, some +might have thought that I had behaved badly to Urco. At the same time, +a woman's heart is sacred and I could not do violence to that of one +so sweet and understanding and lovely. So I put her into the House of +the Virgins of the Sun where she will be quite safe." + +"It seems that she was not safe, Inca." + +"No, because that violent man, Urco, being disappointed and very +jealous, through some low creature of his, who waited on the Virgins, +tried to poison her with a drug which would have made her all swollen +and hideous and covered her face with blotches, also perhaps have sent +her mad. Luckily one of the matrons, whom we call /Mama-conas/, +knocked the cup away before she drank, but some of the horrible poison +went into her eyes and blinded her." + +"So she lives, Inca." + +"Certainly she lives. I have learnt that for myself, because in this +country it is not wise to trust what they tell you. You know as Inca I +have privileges, and although even I do not talk to them, I caused +those Virgins of the Sun to be led in front of me, which in strictness +even I ought not to have done. It was a dreary business, Lord Hurachi, +for though those Virgins may be so holy, some of them are very old and +hideous and of course Quilla as a novice came last in the line +conducted by two /Mama-conas/ who are cousins of my own. The odd thing +is that the poison seems to have made her much more beautiful than +before, for her eyes have grown bigger and are glorious, shining like +stars seen when there is frost. Well, there she is safe from Urco and +every other man, however wicked and impious. But what does this +Huaracha want?" + +"He wants his blinded daughter back, Inca." + +"Impossible, impossible! Who ever heard of such a thing! Why, Heaven +and Earth would come together and the Sun, my father, and her husband, +would burn us all up. Still, perhaps, we could come to an agreement +for Huaracha must have had enough fighting and very likely he will +die. Now I am tired of talking about the lady Quilla and I want to ask +you something." + +"Speak on, Inca." + +Suddenly the old dotard's manner changed: he became quick and shrewd, +as doubtless he was in his prime, for this Upanqui had been a great +king. At the beginning of our talk the two women of whom I have spoken +and the chamberlain had withdrawn to the end of the chamber where they +waited with their hands folded, like those who adore before an altar. +Still he peered about him to make sure that none were within hearing, +and in the end beckoned to me to ascend the dais and sit upon the +couch beside him, saying: + +"You see I trust you although you are a god from the sea who has been +fighting against me. Now hearken. You had a servant with you, a very +strange man, who is said also to have come out of the sea, though that +I cannot believe since he is like one of our princes. Where is that +man?" + +"With the army of Huaracha, Inca." + +"So I have heard. I heard also that in the battle he hoisted a banner +with the sun blazoned on it, and that thereon certain regiments of +mine deserted to Huaracha. Now, why did they do that?" + +"I understand, O Inca, that the kings of this land have many children. +Perhaps he might be one of them." + +"Ah! You are clever as a god should be. Well, I am a god also and the +same thought has come to me, although as a fact I have only had two +legitimate sons and the others are of no account. The eldest of these +was an able and beautiful prince named Kari, but we quarrelled, and to +tell the truth there was a woman in the matter, or rather two women, +for Kari's mother fought with Urco's mother whom I loved, because she +never scolded me, which the other did. So Urco was named to be Inca +after me. Yet that was not enough for him who remained jealous of his +brother Kari who outpassed him in all things save strength of body. +They wooed the same beautiful woman and Kari won her, whereon Urco +seduced her from him, and afterwards he or someone killed her. At +least she died, I forget how. Then the lords of the Inca blood began +to turn towards Kari because he was royal and wise, which would have +meant civil war when I had been gathered to the Sun. Therefore Urco +poisoned him, or so it was rumoured; at any rate, he vanished away, +and often since then I have mourned him." + +"The dead come to life again sometimes, Inca." + +"Yes, yes, Lord-from-the-Sea, that happens; the gods who took them +away bring them back--and this servant of yours--they say he is so +like to Kari that he might be the same man grown older. And--why did +those regiments, all of them officered by men who used to love Kari, +go over to Huaracha to-day, and why do rumours run through the land +like the wind that springs up suddenly in fine weather? Tell me of +this servant of yours and how you found him in the sea." + +"Why should I tell you, Inca? Is it because you want to kill him who +is so like to this lost Kari of yours?" + +"No, no--gods can keep each other's counsel, can they not? It is +because I would give--oh! half my godship to know that he is alive. +Hark you, Urco wearies me so much that sometimes I wonder whether he +really is my son. Who can tell? There was a certain lord of the +coastlands, a hairy giant who, they said, could eat half a sheep at a +sitting and break the backs of men in his hands, of whom Urco's mother +used to think much. But who can tell? No one except my father, the +Sun, and he guards his secrets--for the present. At least Urco wearies +me with his coarse crimes and his drunkenness, though the army loves +him because he is a butcher and liberal. We quarrelled the other day +over the small matter of this lady Quilla, and he threatened me till I +grew wrath and said that I would not hand him my crown as I had +purposed to do. Yes, I grew wrath and hated him for whose sake I had +sinned because his mother bewitched me. Lord-from-the-Sea," here his +voice dropped to a whisper, "I am afraid of Urco. Even a god such as I +am can be murdered, Lord-from-the-Sea. That is why I will not go to +Yucay, for there I might die and none know it, whereas here I still am +Inca and a god whom it is sacrilege to touch." + +"I understand, but how can I help you, Inca, who am but a prisoner in +your palace?" + +"No, no, you are only a prisoner in name. At the worst Urco will be +sick for a long while, since the physicians say that sword of yours +has bitten deep, and during that time all power is mine. Messengers +are at your service; you are free to come and go as you will. Bring +this servant of yours to my presence, for doubtless he trusts you. I +would speak with him, O Lord-from-the-Sea." + +"If I should do this, Inca, will the lady Quilla be given back to her +father?" + +"Nay, it would be sacrilege. Ask what else you will, lands and rule +and palaces and wives--not that. Myself I should not dare to lay a +finger on her who rests in the arms of the Sun. What does it matter +about this Quilla who is but one fair woman among thousands?" + +I thought awhile, then answered, "I think it matters much, Inca. +Still, that this bloodshed may be stayed, I will do my best to bring +him who was my servant to your presence if you can find me the means +to come at him, and afterwards we will talk again." + +"Yes, I am weary now. Afterwards we will talk again. Farewell, Lord- +from-the-Sea." + + + + CHAPTER IX + + KARI COMES TO HIS OWN + +When I awoke on the following morning in the splendid chamber of which +I have spoken, it was to find that my armour and arms had been +restored to me, and very glad was I to see Wave-Flame again. After I +had eaten and, escorted by servants, walked in the gardens, for never +could I be left alone, marvelling at the wondrous golden fruits and +flowers, a messenger came to me, saying that the /Villaorna/ desired +speech with me. I wondered who this /Villaorna/ might be, but when he +entered I saw that he was Larico, that same stern-faced, cunning-eyed +lord who had been the spokesman of the Inca when he visited the city +of the Chancas. Also I learned that /Villaorna/ was his title and +meant "Chief priest." + +We bowed to each other and all were sent from the chamber, leaving us +quite alone. + +"Lord-from-the-Sea," he said, "the Inca sends me, his Councillor and +blood relative, who am head priest of the Sun, to desire that you will +go on an embassy for him to the camp of the Chancas. First, however, +it is needful that you should swear by the Sun that you will return +thence to Cuzco. Will you do this?" + +Now as there was nothing I desired more than to return to Cuzco where +Quilla was, I answered that I would swear by my own god, by the Sun, +and by my sword, unless the Chancas detained me by force. Further, I +prayed him to set out his business. + +He did so in these words: + +"Lord, we have come to know, it matters not how, that the man who +appeared with you in this land is no other than Kari, the elder son of +the Inca, whom we thought dead. Now it is in the Inca's mind, and in +the minds of us, his councillors, to proclaim the Prince Kari as heir +to the throne which soon he would be called upon to fill. But the +matter is very dangerous, seeing that Urco still commands the army and +many of the great lords who are of his mother's House cling to him, +hoping to receive advancement from him when he becomes Inca." + +"But, Priest Larico, Urco, they say, is like to die, and if so all +this trouble will melt like a cloud." + +"Your sword bit deep, Lord, but I have it from his physicians that as +the brain is uncut he will not die, although he will be sick for a +long while. Therefore we must act while he is sick, since it is not +lawful to bring about his end, even if he could be come at. Time +presses, Lord, for as you have seen, the Inca is old and feeble and +his mind is weak. Indeed at times he has no mind, though at others his +strength returns to him." + +"Which means that I deal with you who are the chief priest, and those +behind you," I said, looking him in the eyes. + +"That is what it means, Lord. Now hearken while I tell you the truth. +After the Inca I am the most powerful man in Tavantinsuyu, indeed for +the most part the Inca speaks with my voice although I seem to speak +with his. Yet I am in a snare. Heretofore I have supported Urco +because there was no other who could become Inca, although he is a +brutal and an evil man. Of late, however, since my return from the +City of the Chancas, I have quarrelled with Urco because he has lost +that witch, the lady Quilla, whom he desires madly and lays the blame +on me, and it has come to my knowledge that when he succeeds to the +throne it is his purpose to kill me, which doubtless he will do if he +can, or at the least to cast me from my place and power, which is as +bad as death. Therefore, I desire to make my peace with Kari, if he +will swear to continue me in my office, and this I can only do through +you. Bring this peace about, Lord, and I will promise you anything you +may wish, even perchance to the Incaship itself, should aught happen +to Kari or should he refuse my offers. I think that the Quichuas might +welcome a white god from the Sea who has shown himself so great a +general and so brave in battle, and who has knowledge and wisdom more +than theirs, to rule over them," he added reflectively. "Only then, +Lord, it would be needful to be rid of Kari as well as of Urco." + +"To which I would never consent," I replied, "seeing that he is my +friend with whom I have shared many dangers. Moreover, I do not wish +to be Inca." + +"Is there then anything else that you wish very much, Lord? A thought +came to me, yonder at the City of the Chancas. By the way, how lovely +is that lady Quilla and how royal a woman. It is most strange that she +should have turned her mind towards an aged man like Upanqui." + +We looked at each other. + +"Very strange," I said. "It seems to me sad also that this beauteous +Quilla should be immured in a nunnery for life. To tell you the truth, +High-priest, since it is not good for man to live alone, rather than +that such a thing should have happened I would have married her +myself, to which perchance she might have consented." + +Again we looked at each other and I went on: + +"I hinted as much to Kari after we heard she was numbered amongst the +Virgins, and asked him whether, should he become Inca, he would take +her thence and give her to me." + +"What did he answer, Lord?" + +"He said that though he loved me like a brother, first he would kill +me with his own hand, since such a deed would be sacrilege against the +Sun. Last night also the Inca himself said much the same." + +"Is it so, Lord? Well, we priests bring up our Incas to think thus. If +we did not, where would our power be, seeing that we are the Voice of +the Sun upon earth and issue his decrees?" + +"But do you always think thus yourselves, O High-priest?" + +"Not quite always. There are loopholes in every law of gods and men. +For example, I believe I see one in the instance of this lady Quilla. +But before we waste more time in talking--tell me, White Lord, do you +desire her, and if so, are you ready to pay me my price? It is that +you shall assure to me the friendship of the prince Kari, should he +become Inca, and the continuance of my power and office." + +"My answer is that I do desire this lady, O High-priest, and that if I +can I will obtain from Kari the promise of what you seek. And now +where is the loophole?" + +"I seem to remember, Lord, that there is an ancient law which says-- +that none who are maimed may be the wives of the Sun. It is true that +this law applies to them /before/ they contract the holy marriage. +Still, if the point came up before me as high-priest, I might perhaps +find that it applied also to those who were maimed /after/ marriage. +The case is rare, for which precedents cannot be found if the search +be thorough. Now through the wickedness of Urco, as it happens, this +lady Quilla has been blinded, and therefore is no longer perfect in +her body. Do you understand?" + +"Quite. But what would Upanqui or Kari say? The Incas you declare are +always bigots and might interpret this law otherwise." + +"I cannot tell, Lord, but let us cease from beating bushes. I will +help you if I can, if you will help me if /you/ can, though I daresay +that in the end you, who are not a bigot, must take the law into your +own hands, as perhaps the lady Quilla, who is a moon-worshipper, would +be willing to do also." + +The finish of it was that this cunning priest and statesman and I made +a bargain. If I could win Kari over to his interests, then he swore by +the Sun that he would gain me access to the lady Quilla and help me to +fly with her, if so we both wished, while I on my part swore to plead +his cause with Kari. Moreover, as he showed me, there was little fear +that either of us would break these oaths since henceforth each lay in +the power of the other. + +After this we passed on to public matters. I was charged to offer an +honourable truce to Huaracha and the Chancas with permission to them +to camp their armies in certain valleys near to Cuzco where they would +be fed until peace was declared, which peace would give them all they +needed, namely, their freedom and safeguards from attack. For the rest +I was to bring Kari and those who had deserted to him on the yesterday +into Cuzco where none would molest them. + +Then he went, leaving me happier than I had been since I bade farewell +to Quilla. For now at last I saw light, a faint uncertain light, it +was true, only to be reached, if reached at all, through many +difficulties and dangers, but still light. At last I had found someone +in this land of black superstition who was not a bigot, and who, being +the High-priest of the Sun, knew too much of his god to fear him or to +believe that he should come down to earth and burn it up should one of +the hundreds of his brides seek another husband. Of course this Larico +might betray me and Quilla, but I did not think he would, since he had +nothing to gain thereby, and might have much to lose, for the reason +that I was able, or he thought that I was able, to set Kari against +him. At least I could only go forward and trust to fortune, though in +fact hitherto she had never shown me favour where woman was concerned. + + + +Awhile later I was being borne in one of the Inca's own litters back +to the camp of the Chancas, accompanied by an embassy of great lords. + +We passed over that dreadful, bloodstained plain where, under a flag +of truce, both sides were engaged in burying the thousands of their +dead, and came to the ridge whence we had charged on the yester morn. +Here sentries stopped us and I descended from my litter. When the +Chancas saw me in my armour come back to them alive, they set up a +great shouting and presently I and the lords with me were led to the +pavilion of King Huaracha. + +We found him lying sick upon a couch, for though he showed no wound he +had been badly bruised upon the body by a blow from Urco's club and, +as I feared, was hurt in the bowels. He greeted me with delight, since +he thought that I might have been killed after I was captured, and +asked how I came to appear in his camp in the company of our enemies. +I told him at once what had chanced and that I was sworn to return to +Cuzco when I had done my business. Then the Inca's ambassadors set out +their proposals for a truce, and retired, while Huaracha discussed +them with his generals and Kari, who also was overjoyed to see me +safe. + +The end of it was that they were accepted on the terms offered, +namely, that Huaracha and his army should withdraw to the valleys of +which I have spoken, and there camp, receiving all the food they +needed until a peace could be offered such as he would be willing to +accept. Indeed, the Chancas were glad to agree to this plan for their +losses in the battle had been very great and they were in no state to +renew the attack upon Cuzco, which was still defended by such mighty +hordes of brave warriors fighting for their homes, families, and +freedom. + +So all was agreed on the promise that peace should be made within +thirty days or sooner, and that if it were not the war should +re-commence. + +Then privately, I told Huaracha all that I had learned about Quilla +and that I had still hopes of saving her though what these were I did +not tell him. When he had thought, he said that now the fate of Quilla +must be left in the hands of the gods and mine, since not even for her +could he neglect the opportunity of an honourable peace, seeing that +another battle might mean destruction. Also he pointed out that he was +hurt and I who had been general under him was a prisoner and bound by +my oath to return to prison, so that the Chancas had lost their +leaders. + +After this we parted, I promising to work for his cause and to come to +see him again, if I might. + +These matters finished I went aside with Kari to a place where none +could hear us, and there laid before him the offers of Larico, the +high-priest, showing him how the case stood. Of Quilla, however, I +said nothing to him, though it pained me to keep back part of the +truth even from Kari. Yet, what was I to do, who knew that if I told +him all and he became Inca, or the Inca's acknowledged heir, he would +work against me because of his superstitious madness, and perhaps +cause Quilla to be killed by the priests, as one whose feet were set +in the path of sacrilege? So on this matter I held my peace, nor did +he ask me anything concerning Quilla who, I think, wished to hear +nothing of that lady and what had befallen her. + +When he had learned all, he said: + +"This may be a trap, Lord. I do not trust yonder Larico, who has +always been my enemy and Urco's friend." + +"I think he is his own friend first," I answered, "who knows that if +Urco recovers he will kill him, because he has taken the part of your +father, Upanqui, in their quarrels, and suspects him." + +"I am not sure," said Kari. "Yet something must be risked. Did I not +tell you when we were sailing down the English river that we must put +faith in our gods, yes, afterwards also, and more than once? And did +not the gods save us? Well, now again I trust to my god," and drawing +out the image of Pachacamac, which he wore round his neck, he kissed +it, then turning, bowed and prayed to the Sun. + +"I will come with you," he said, when he had finished his devotions, +"to live to be Inca, or to die, as the Sun decrees." + +So he came and with him some of his friends, captains of those who had +deserted to him in the battle. But the five thousand soldiers, or +those who were left of them, did not come as yet because they feared +lest they should be set upon and butchered by the regiments of Urco. + + + +That night, when we were back safe in Cuzco, Kari and the high-priest, +Larico talked together in secret. Of what passed between them he only +told me that they had come to an agreement which satisfied them both. +Larico said the same to me when next I saw him, adding: + +"You have kept your word and served my turn, Lord-from-the-Sea, +therefore I will keep mine and serve yours when the time comes. Yet be +warned by me and say nothing of a certain lady to the prince Kari, +since when I spoke a word to him on the matter, hinting that her +surrender to her father Huaracha would make peace with him more easy +and lasting, he answered that first would he fight Huaracha, and the +Yuncas as well, to the last man in Cuzco. + +"To the Sun she has gone," he said, "and with the Sun she must stay, +lest the curse of the Sun and of Pachacamac, the Spirit above the sun, +should fall on me and all of us." + +Larico told me also that, fearing something, the great lords, who were +of Urco's party, had borne him away in a litter to a strong city in +the mountains about five leagues from Cuzco, escorted by thousands of +picked men who would stay in and about that city. + +On the next morning I was summoned to wait upon the Inca Upanqui, and +went, wearing my armour. I found him in the same great chamber as +before, only now he was more royally arrayed, and with him were sundry +of his high lords of the Inca blood, also certain priests, among them +the /Villaorna/ Larico. + +The old king, who on that day seemed clear in his mind and well, +greeted me in his kindly fashion and bade me set out all that had +passed between me and Huaracha in the Chanca camp. This I did, only I +hid from him how great had been the Chanca losses in the battle and +how glad they were to declare a truce and rest. + +Upanqui said that the matter should be attended to, speaking in a +royal fashion as though it were one of little moment, which showed me +how great an emperor he must be. Great he was, indeed, seeing that all +the broad land of England would have made but one province of his vast +dominions, which in every part were filled with people who, unless +they chanced to be in rebellion like the Yuncas, lived but to do his +will. + +After this, when I thought the audience was ended, a chamberlain +advanced to the foot of the throne, and kneeling, said that a +suppliant prayed speech with the Inca. Upanqui waved his sceptre, that +long staff which I have described, in token that he should be +admitted. Then presently up the chamber came Kari arrayed in the tunic +and cloak of an Inca prince, wearing in his ear a disc carved with the +image of the Sun, and a chain of emeralds and gold about his neck. Nor +did he come alone, for he was attended by a brilliant band of those +lords and captains who had deserted to him on the day of the great +battle. He advanced and knelt before the throne. + +"Who is this that carries the emblems of the Holy Blood and is clothed +like a Prince of the Sun?" asked Upanqui, affecting ignorance and +unconcern, though I saw the colour mount to his cheeks and the sceptre +shake in his withered hand. + +"One who is indeed of the holy Inca blood; one sprung from the purest +lineage of the Sun," answered the stately Kari in his quiet voice. + +"How then is he named?" asked the Inca again. + +"He is named Kari, first-born son of Upanqui, O Inca." + +"Such a son I had once, but he is long dead, or so they told me," said +Upanqui in a trembling voice. + +"He is not dead, O Inca. He lives and he kneels before you. Urco +poisoned him, but the Sun his Father recovered him, and the Spirit +that is above all gods supported him. The sea bore him to a far land, +where he found a white god who befriended and cared for him," here he +turned his head towards me. "With this god he returned to his own +country and here he kneels before you, O Inca." + +"It cannot be," said the Inca. "What sign do you bring who name +yourself Kari? Show me the image of the Spirit above the gods that +from his childhood for generations has been hung about the neck of the +Inca's eldest son, born from the Queen." + +Kari opened his robe and drew out that golden effigy of Pachacamac +which he always wore. + +Upanqui examined it, holding it close to his rheumy eyes. + +"It seems to be the same," he said, "as I should know upon whose +breast it lay until my first son was born. And yet who can be sure +since such things may be copied?" + +Then he handed back the image to Kari and after reflecting awhile, +said: + +"Bring hither the Mother of the Royal Nurses." + +Apparently this lady was in waiting, for in a minute she appeared +before the throne, an old and withered woman with beady eyes. + +"Mother," said the Inca, "you were with the /Coya/ (that is the Queen) +who has been gathered to the Sun, when her boy was born, and +afterwards nursed him for years. If you saw it, would you know his +body again after he has come to middle age?" + +"Aye, O Inca." + +"How, Mother?" + +"By three moles, O Inca, which we women used to call /Yuti/, /Quilla/, +and /Chasca/" (that is, the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus), +"which were the marks of good fortune stamped by the gods upon the +Prince's back between the shoulders, set one above the other." + +"Man who call yourself Kari, are you willing that this old crone +should see your flesh?" asked Upanqui. + +By way of answer Kari with a little smile stripped himself of his +broidered tunic and other garments and stood before us naked to the +middle. Then he turned his back to the Mother of the Nurses. She +hobbled up and searched it with her bright eyes. + +"Many scars," she muttered, "scars in front and scars behind. This +warrior has known battles and blows. But what have we here? Look, O +Inca, /Yuti/, /Quilla/, and /Chasca/, set one above the other, though +/Chasca/ is almost hidden by a hurt. Oh! my fosterling, O my Prince +whom I nursed at these withered breasts, are you come back from the +dead to take your own again? O Kari of the Holy Blood; Kari the lost +who is Kari the found!" + +Then sobbing and muttering she threw her arms about him and kissed +him. Nor did he shame to kiss her in return, there before them all. + +"Restore his garments to the royal Prince," said Upanqui, "and bring +hither the Fringe that is worn by the Inca's heir." + +It was produced without delay by the high-priest Larico, which told me +at once that all this scene had been prepared. Upanqui took it from +Larico, and beckoning Kari to him, with the priest's help bound it +about his brow, thereby acknowledging him and restoring him as heir- +apparent to the Empire. Then he kissed him on the brow and Kari knelt +down and did his father homage. + +After this they went away together accompanied only by Larico and two +or three of the councillors of Inca blood and as I learned from Larico +afterwards, told each other their tales and made plans to outwit, and +if need were to destroy, Urco and his faction. + +On the following day Kari was established in a house of his own that +was more of a fortress than a palace, for it was built of great stones +with narrow gates, and surrounded by an open space. Upon this space, +as a guard, were encamped all those who had deserted to him in the +battle of the Field of Blood, who had returned to Cuzco from the camp +of Huaracha now that Kari was accepted as the royal heir. Also other +troops who were loyal to the Inca were stationed near by, while those +who clung to Urco departed secretly to that town where he lay sick. +Moreover, proclamation was made that on the day of the new moon, which +the magicians declared to be auspicious, Kari would be publicly +presented to the people in the Temple of the Sun as the Inca's lawful +heir, in place of Urco disinherited for crimes that he had committed +against the Sun, the Empire, and the Inca his father. + +"Brother," said Kari to me, for so he called me now that he was an +acknowledged Prince, when I went to meet him in his grandeur, +"Brother, did I not tell you always that we must trust to our gods? +See, I have not trusted in vain though it is true that dangers still +lie ahead of me, and perhaps civil war." + +"Yes," I answered, "your gods are in the way of giving you all you +want, but it is not so with mine and me." + +"What then do you desire, Brother, who can have even to the half of +the kingdom?" + +"Kari," I replied, "I cry not for the Earth, but for the Moon." + +He understood, and his face grew stern. + +"Brother, the Moon alone is beyond you, for she inhabits the sky while +you still dwell upon the earth," he answered with a frown, and then +began to talk of the peace with Huaracha. + + + + CHAPTER X + + THE GREAT HORROR + +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. + + + + CHAPTER XI + + THE HOUSE OF DEATH + +Now at one time during this long war against Urco victory smiled upon +him, though afterwards the scale went down against him. Kari was +defeated in a pitched battle and I who commanded another army was +almost surrounded in a valley. When everything seemed lost, afterwards +I escaped by leading my soldiers round up the slope of a mountain and +surprising Urco in the rear, but as it ended well for us I need not +speak of that matter. + +It was while all was at its blackest for us that a certain officer was +brought to me who was captured while striving to desert, or at least +to pass our outposts. As it happened I knew this man again having, +unseen myself, noted him on the previous day talking earnestly to the +high-priest Larico, who, with other priests, accompanied my army, +perhaps to keep a watch on me. I took this captain apart and +questioned him alone, threatening him with death by torment if he did +not reveal his errand to me. + +In the end, being very much afraid, he spoke. From him I learned that +he was a messenger from Larico to Urco. Believing that our defeat was +almost certain, Larico had sent him to make his peace with Urco by +betraying all Kari's and my own plans to him and revealing how he +might most easily destroy us. He said also that he, Larico, had only +joined the party of Upanqui, and of Kari after him, under threats of +death and that always in his heart he had been true to Urco, whom he +acknowledged as his Lord and as the rightful Inca whom he would help +to restore to the Throne with all the power of the Priesthood of the +Sun. Further, he sent by this spy a secret message by means of little +cords cunningly knotted, which knots served these people as writing, +since they could read them as we read a book. + +Now, being always desirous of knowledge, I had caused myself to be +instructed in the plan of this knot-writing which by this time I could +read well enough. Therefore I was able to spell out this message. It +said shortly but plainly, that knowing he still desired her, he, +Larico, as high-priest would hand over to Urco the lady Quilla, +daughter to the King of the Chancas who unlawfully had been hidden +away among the Virgins of the Sun, also that he would betray me, the +White-God-from-the-Sea who sought to steal her away, into Urco's +hands, that he might kill me if he could. + +When I had mastered all this I was filled with rage and bethought me +that I would cause Larico to be taken and suffer the fate of traitors. +Soon, however, I changed this mind of mine and placing the spy in +close keeping where none could come at him, I set a watch on Larico +but said nothing to him or to Kari of all that I had learned. + +A few days later our fortunes changed and Urco, defeated, was in full +flight to the shores of Lake Titicaca. After this I knew we had +nothing more to fear from this fox-hearted high-priest who above +everything desired to be on the winning side and to continue in his +place and power. So knowing that I held him fast I bided my time, +because through him alone I could hope to come at Quilla. That time +came after the war was over and we had returned to Cuzco in triumph. +As soon as the rejoicings were over and Kari was firmly seated on his +throne, I sent for Larico, which, as the greatest man in the kingdom +after the Inca, I was able to do. + +He appeared in answer to my summons and we bowed to each other, after +which he began to praise me for my generalship, saying that had it not +been for me, Urco would have won the war and that the Inca had done +well to name me his Brother before the people and to say that to me he +owed his throne. + +"Yes, that is true," I answered, "and now, since through me, you, +Larico, are the third greatest man in the kingdom and remain High- +Priest of the Sun and Whisperer in the Inca's ear, I would put you in +mind of a certain bargain that we made when I promised you all these +things, Larico." + +"What bargain, Lord-of-the-Sea." + +"That you would bring me and a Virgin of the Sun, who while she was of +the earth was named Quilla, together, Larico, and enable her to return +from those of the Sun to my arms, Larico." + +Now his face grew troubled and he answered: + +"Lord, I have thought much of this matter, desiring above all things +to fulfil my word and I grieve to tell you that it is impossible." + +"Why, Larico?" + +"Because I find that the law of my faith is against it, Lord." + +"Is that all, Larico?" I asked with a smile. + +"No, Lord. Because I find that the Inca would not suffer it and swears +to kill all who attempt to touch the lady Quilla." + +"Is that all, Larico?" + +"No, Lord. Because I find that a woman who has been betrothed to one +of the royal blood may never pass to another man." + +"Now perhaps we come nearer to it, Larico. You mean that if this +happened and perchance after all Urco should come to the throne, as he +might do if Kari his brother died--as any man may die--he would hold +you to account." + +"Yes, Lord, if that chanced, as chance it may, since Urco still lives +and I hear is gathering new armies among the mountains, certainly he +would hold me to account for I have heard as much. Also our father the +Sun would hold me to account and so would the Inca who wields his +sceptre upon earth." + +I asked him why he did not think of all these things before when he +had much to gain instead of now when he had gained them through me, +and he answered because he had not considered them enough. Then I +pretended to grow angry and exclaimed: + +"You are a rogue, Larico! You promise and take your pay and you do not +perform. Henceforth I am your enemy and one to whom the Inca +hearkens." + +"He hearkens still more to this god the Sun and to me who am the voice +of God, White Man," he answered, adding insolently, "You would strike +too late; your power over me and my fortunes is gone, White Man." + +"I fear it is so," I replied, pretending to be frightened, "so let us +say no more of the matter. After all, there are other women in Cuzco +besides this fair bride of the Sun. Now before you go, High-Priest, +will you who are so learned help me who am ignorant? I have been +striving to master your method of conveying thoughts by means of +knots. Here I have a bundle of strings which I cannot altogether +understand. Be pleased to interpret them to me, O most holy and +upright High-Priest." + +Then from my robe I drew out those knotted fibres that I had taken +from his messenger and held them before Larico's eyes. + +He stared at them and turned pale. His hand groped for his dagger till +he saw that mine was on the hilt of Wave-Flame, whereon he let it +fall. Next the thought took him that in truth I could not read the +knots which he began to interpret falsely. + +"Have done, Traitor," I laughed, "for I know them all. So Urco may wed +Quilla and I may not. Also cease to fret as to that messenger of yours +for whom you seek far and near, since he is safe in my keeping. +To-morrow I take him to deliver his message not to Urco, but to Kari-- +and then, Traitor?" + +Now Larico who, notwithstanding his stern face and proud manner, was a +coward at heart, fell upon his knees before me trembling and prayed me +to spare his life which lay in my hand. Well he knew that if once it +came to Kari's ears, even a high priest of the Sun could not hope to +escape the reward of such treachery as his. + +"If I pardon you, what will you give me?" I asked. + +"The only thing that you will take, Lord--the lady Quilla herself. +Hearken, Lord. Outside the city is the palace of Upanqui whom Urco +slew. There in the great hall the divine Inca sits embalmed and into +that holy presence none dare enter save the Virgins of the Sun whose +office it is to wait upon the mighty dead. To-morrow one hour before +the dawn, when all men sleep, I will lead you to this hall disguised +in the robes of a priest of the Sun, so that on the way thither none +can know you. There you will find but one Virgin of the Sun, the lady +whom you seek. Take her and begone. The rest I leave to you." + +"How do I know that you will not set some trap for me, Larico?" + +"Thus, Lord, that I shall be with you and share your sacrilege. Also +my life will be in your hand." + +"Aye, Larico," I answered grimly, "and if aught of ill befalls me, +remember that this," and I touched the knotted cords, "will find its +way to Kari, and with it the man who was your messenger." + +He nodded and answered: + +"Be sure that I have but one desire, to know you, Lord, and this woman +whom, being mad, you seek so madly, far from Cuzco and never to look +upon your face again." + +Then we made our plans as to when and where we should meet and other +matters, after which he departed, bowing himself away with many +smiles. + +I thought to myself that there went as big a rogue as I had ever +known, in London or elsewhere, and fell to wondering what snare he +would set for me, since that he planned some snare I was sure. Why, +then, did I prepare to fall into it? I asked myself. The answer was, +for a double reason. First, although my whole heart was sick with +longing for the sight of her, now, after months of seeking, I was no +nearer to Quilla than when we had parted in the city of the Chancas, +nor ever should be without Larico's aid. Secondly, some voice within +me told me to go forward taking all hazards, since if I did not, our +parting would be for always in this world. Yes, the voice warned me +that unless I saved her soon, Quilla would be no more. As Huaracha had +said, there was more poison in Cuzco, and murderers were not far to +seek. Or despair might do its work with her. Or she might kill herself +as once she had proposed to do. So I would go forward even though the +path I walked should lead me to my doom. + +That day I did many things. Now, being so great a general and man--or +god--among these people, I had those about me who were sworn to my +service and whom I could trust. For one of these, a prince of the Inca +blood, of the House of Kari's mother, I sent and gave to him those +knotted cords that were the proof of Larico's treachery, bidding him +if aught of evil overtook me, or if I could not be found, to deliver +them to the Inca on my behalf and with them the prisoned messenger who +was in his keeping, but meanwhile to show them to no man. He bowed and +swore by the Sun to do my bidding, thinking doubtless that, my work +finished in this land, I purposed to return into the sea out of which +I had risen, as doubtless a god could do. + +Next I summoned the captains of the Chancas who had fought under me +throughout the civil war, of whom about half remained alive, and bade +them gather their men upon the ridge where I had stood at the +beginning of the battle of the Field of Blood, and wait until I joined +them there. If it chanced, however, that I did not appear within six +days I commanded that they should march back to their own country and +make report to King Huaracha that I had "returned into the sea" for +reasons that he would guess. Also I commanded that eight famous +warriors whom I named, men of my own bodyguard who had fought with me +in all our battles and would have followed me through fire or water or +the gates of Hell themselves, should come to the courtyard of my +palace after nightfall, bringing a litter and disguised as its +bearers, but having their arms hidden beneath their cloaks. + +These matters settled, I waited upon the Inca Kari and craved of him +leave to take a journey. I told him that I was weary with so much +fighting and desired to rest amidst my friends the Chancas. + +He gazed at me awhile, then stretched out his sceptre to me in token +that my request was granted, and said in a sad voice: + +"So you would leave me, my brother, because I cannot give you that +which you desire. Bethink you. You will be no nearer to the Moon (by +which he meant Quilla) at Chanca than you are at Cuzco and here, next +to the Inca, you are the greatest in the Empire who by decree are +named his brother and the general of his armies." + +Now, though my gorge rose at it, I lied to him, saying: + +"The Moon is set for me, so let her sleep whom I shall see no more. +For the rest, learn, O Kari, that Huaracha has sworn to me that I +shall be, not his brother but his son, and Huaracha is sick--they say +to death." + +"You mean that you would choose to be King over the Chancas rather +than stand next to the throne among the Quichuas?" he said, scanning +me sharply. + +"Aye, Kari," I replied, still lying. "Since I must dwell in this +strange land, I would do so as a king--no less." + +"To that you have a right, Brother, who are far above us all. But when +you are a king, what is your plan? Do you purpose to strive to conquer +me and rule over Tavantinsuyu, as perchance you could do?" + +"Nay, I shall never make war upon you, Kari, unless you break your +treaty with the Chancas and strive to subdue them." + +"Which I shall never do, Brother." + +Then he paused awhile and spoke again with more passion that I had +ever known in him, saying: + +"Would that this woman who comes between us were dead. Would that she +had never been born. In truth, I am minded to pray to my father, the +Sun, that he will be pleased to take her to himself, for then +perchance we two might be as we were in the old time yonder in your +England, and when we faced perils side by side upon the ocean and in +the forests. A curse on Woman the Divider, and all the curses of all +the gods upon this woman whom I may not give to you. Had she been of +my Household I would have bidden you to take her, yes, even if she +were my wife, but she is the wife of the god and therefore I may not-- +alas! I may not," and he hid his face in his robe and groaned. + +Now when I heard these words I grew afraid who knew well that she of +whom the Inca prays the Sun that she may die, does die, and swiftly. + +"Do not add to this lady's wrongs by robbing her of life as well as of +sight and liberty, Kari," I said. + +"Have no fear, Brother," he answered, "she is safe from me. No word +shall pass my lips though it is true that in my heart I wish that she +would die. Go your ways, Brother and Friend, and when you grow weary +of kingship if it comes to you, as to tell truth already I grow weary, +return to me. Perchance, forgetting that we had been kings, we might +journey hence together over the world's edge." + +Then he stood up on his throne and bowed towards me, kissing the air +as though to a god, and taking the royal chain that every Inca wore +from about his neck, set it upon mine. This done, turning, he left me +without another word. + +With a heavy heart I returned to my palace where I dwelt. At sundown I +ate according to my custom, and dismissed those who waited upon me to +the servants' quarters. There were but two of them for my private life +was simple. Then I slept till past midnight and rising, went into the +courtyard where I found the eight Chanca captains disguised as litter- +bearers and with them the litter. I led them to an empty guard-house +and bade them stay there in silence. After this I returned to my +chamber and waited. + +About two hours before the dawn Larico came, knocking on the side-door +as we had planned. I opened to him and he entered disguised in a +hooded cloak of sheep's wool which covered his robes and his face, +such as priests wear when the weather is cold. He gave to me the +garments of a priest of the Sun which he had brought with him in a +cloth. I clothed myself in them though because of the fashion of them +to do this I must be rid of my armour which would have betrayed me. +Larico desired that I should take off the sword Wave-Flame also, but, +mistrusting him, this I would not do, but made shift to hide it and my +dagger beneath the priest's cloak. The armour I wrapped in a bundle +and took with me. + +Presently we went out, having spoken few words since the time for +speech had gone by and peril or some fear of what might befall weighed +upon our tongues. In the guard-house I found the Chancas at whom +Larico looked curiously but said nothing. To them I gave the bundle of +armour to be hidden in the litter and with it my long bow, having +first revealed myself to them by lifting the hood of my cloak. Then I +bade them follow me. + +Larico and I walked in front and after us came the eight men, four of +them bearing the empty litter, and the other four marching behind. +This was well planned since if any saw us or if we met guards as once +or twice we did, these thought that we were priests taking one who was +sick or dead to be tended or to be made ready for burial. Once, +however, we were challenged, but Larico spoke some word and we passed +on without question. + +At length in the darkness before the dawn we came to the private +palace of dead Upanqui. At its garden gate Larico would have had me +leave the litter with the eight Chanca warriors disguised as bearers. +I refused, saying that they must come to the doors of the palace, and +when he grew urgent, tapped my sword, whispering to him fiercely that +he had best beware lest it should be he who stayed at the gate. Then +he gave way and we advanced all of us across the garden to the door of +the palace. Larico unlocked the door with a key and we entered, he and +I alone, for here I bade the Chancas await my return. + +We crept down a short passage that was curtained at its end. Passing +the curtains I found myself in Upanqui's banqueting-hall. This hall +was dimly lit with one hanging golden lamp. By its light I saw +something more wondrous and of its sort more awful than ever I had +seen in that strange land. + +There, on a dais, in his chair of gold, sat dead Upanqui arrayed in +all his gorgeous Inca robes and so marvellously preserved that he +might have been a man asleep. With arms crossed and his sceptre at his +side, he sat staring down the hall with fixed and empty eyes, a +dreadful figure of life in death. About him and around the dais were +set all his riches, vases and furniture of gold, and jewels piled in +heaps, there to remain till the roof fell in and buried them, since on +this hallowed wealth the boldest dared not lay a hand. In the centre +of the hall, also, was a table prepared as though for feasters, for +amid jewelled cups and platters stood the meats and wines which day by +day were brought afresh by the Virgins of the Sun. Doubtless there +were more wonders, but these I could not see because the light did not +reach them, or to the doorways of the chambers that opened from the +hall. Moreover, there was something else which caught my eye. + +At the foot of the dais crouched a figure which at first I took to be +that of some dead one also embalmed, perhaps a wife or daughter of the +dead Inca who had been set with him in this place. While I stared at +it the figure stirred, having heard our footsteps, rose and turned, +standing so that the light from the hanging lamp fell full upon it. It +was Quilla clad in white and purple with a golden likeness of the Sun +blazoned upon her breast! + +So beauteous did she look searching the darkness with great blind eyes +and her rich flowing hair flowing from beneath her jewelled headdress, +a diadem fashioned to resemble the Sun's rays, that my breath failed +me and my heart stood still. + +"There stands she whom you seek," muttered Larico in a mocking +whisper, for here even he did not seem to dare to talk aloud. "Go take +her, you whom men call a god, but I call a drunken fool ready to risk +all for a woman's lips. Go take her and ask the blessing upon your +kisses of yonder dead king whose holy rest you break." + +"Be silent," I whispered back and passed round the table till I came +face to face with Quilla. Then a strange dumbness fell upon me like a +spell or dead Upanqui's curse, so that I could not speak. + +I stood there staring at those beautiful blind eyes and the blind eyes +stared back at me. Presently a look of understanding gathered on the +face and Quilla spoke, or rather murmured to herself. + +"Strange--but I could have sworn! Strange, but I seemed to feel! Oh! I +slept in my vigils upon that dead old man who in life was so foolish +and in death appears to have become so wise, and sleeping I dreamed. I +dreamed I heard a step I shall never hear again. I dreamed one was +near me whom I shall never touch again. I will sleep once more, for in +my darkness what are left to me save sleep and--death?" + +Then at last I found my tongue and said hoarsely, + +"Love is left, Quilla, and--life." + +She heard and straightened herself. Her whole body seemed to become +rigid as though with an agony of joy. Her blind eyes flashed, her lips +quivered. She stretched out her hand, feeling at the darkness. Her +fingers touched my forehead, and thence she ran them swiftly over my +face. + +"It is--dead or living--it is----" and she opened her arms. + +Oh! was there ever anything more beautiful on the earth than this +sight of the blind Quilla thus opening her arms to me there in the +gorgeous house of death? + +We clung and kissed. Then I thrust her away, saying: + +"Come swiftly from this ill-omened place. All is ready. The Chancas +wait." + +She slipped her hand into mine and I turned to lead her away. + +Then it was that I heard a low, mocking laugh, Larico's, I thought, +heard also a sound of creeping footsteps around me. I looked. Out of +the darkness that hid the doors of the chamber on the right appeared a +giant form which I knew for that of Urco, and behind him others. I +looked to the left and there were more of them, while in front beyond +the gold-laid board stood the traitor, Larico, laughing. + +"You have the first fruits, but it seems that another will reap the +harvest, Lord-from-the-Sea," he jeered. + +"Seize her," cried Urco in his guttural voice, pointing to Quilla with +his mace, "and brain that white thief." + +I drew Wave-Flame and strove to get at him, but from both sides men +rushed in on me. One I cut down, but the others snatched Quilla away. +I was surrounded, with no room to wield my sword, and already weapons +flashed over me. A thought came to me. The Chancas were at the door. I +must reach them, for perhaps so Quilla might be saved. In front was +the table spread for the death feast. With a bound I leapt on to it, +shouting aloud and scattering its golden furnishings this way and +that. Beyond stood the traitor, Larico, who had trapped me--I sprang +at him and lifting Wave-Flame with both hands I smote with all my +strength. He fell, as it seemed to me, cloven to the middle. Then some +spear cast at me struck the lamp. + +It shattered and went out! + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE FIGHT TO THE DEATH + +There was tumult in the hall; shoutings, groans from him whom I had +first struck down, the sound of vases and vessels overthrown, and +above all those of a woman's shrieks echoing from the walls and roof, +so that I could not tell whence they came. + +Through the gross darkness I went on towards the curtains, or so I +hoped. Presently they were torn open, and by the faint light of the +breaking dawn I saw my eight Chancas rushing towards me. + +"Follow!" I cried, and at the head of them groped my way back up the +hall, seeking for Quilla. I stumbled over the dead body of Larico and +felt a path round the table. Then suddenly a door at the back of the +hall was thrown open and by the grey light which came through the +doorway I perceived the last of the ravishers departing. We scrambled +across the dais where the golden chair was overthrown and the embalmed +Upanqui lay, a stiff and huddled heap upon his back, staring at me +with jewelled eyes. + +We gained the door which, happily, none had remembered to close, and +passed out into the parklike grounds beyond. A hundred paces or more +ahead of us, by the glowing light, I saw a litter passing between the +trees surrounded by armed men, and knew that in it was Quilla being +borne to captivity and shame. + +After it we sped. It passed the gate of the park wall, but when we +reached that gate it was shut and barred and we must waste time +breaking it down, which we did by help of a felled tree that lay at +hand. We were through it, and now the rim of the sun had appeared so +that through the morning mist, which clung to the hillside beyond the +town, we could see the litter, the full half of a mile away. On we +went up the hill, gaining as we ran, for we had no litter to bear, nor +aught else save the sack of armour which one of the Chancas had +thought to bring with him when he rushed into the hall, and with it my +long bow and shaft. + +Now, at a certain place between this hill and another there was a +gorge such as are common in that country, a gorge so deep and narrow +that in places the light of day scarcely struggles to the pathways at +its bottom. Into this tunnel the litter vanished and when we drew near +I saw that its mouth was held by armed men, six of them or more. +Taking my bow from the Chanca I strung it and shot swiftly. The man at +whom I aimed went down. Again I shot and another fell, whereon the +rest of them took cover behind stones. + +Throwing back the bow to the Chanca, for now it was useless, we +charged. That business was soon over, for presently all those of +Urco's men who remained there were dead, save one who, being cut off, +fled down hill towards the city, taking with him the news of what had +passed in the palace of dead Upanqui. + +We entered the mouth of the gorge, plunging towards the gloom, though +as it chanced this place faced towards the east, so that the low sun, +which now was fully up, shone down it and gave us light that later +would have been lacking. + +I, who was very swift of foot and to whom rage and fear gave wings, +outran my companions. Swinging myself round a rock which lay in the +pathway, I saw the litter again not a hundred yards ahead. It halted +because, as it seemed to me, one or more of the bearers stumbled and +fell among the stones. I rushed at them, roaring. Perhaps it had been +wiser to wait for my companions, but I was mad and feared nothing. +They saw me and a cry went up of: + +"The White God! The terrible White God!" + +Then fear took hold of them and they fled, leaving the litter on the +ground. Yes, all of them fled save one, Urco himself. + +He stood there rolling his eyes and gnashing his teeth, looking huge +and awful in those shadows, looking like a devil from hell. Suddenly a +thought seemed to take him, and leaping at the litter he tore aside +its curtains and dragged out Quilla, who fell prone upon the ground. + +"If I may not have her, you shall not, White Thief. See! I give back +his bride to the Sun," he shouted, and lifted his copper sword to +pierce her through. + +Now I was still ten paces or so away and saw that before I could reach +him that sword would be in her heart. What could I do? Oh! St. Hubert +must have helped me then for I knew in an instant. In my hand was +Wave-Flame and with all my strength I hurled it at his head. + +The great blade hurtled hissing through the air. I saw the sunlight +shine on it. He strove to leap clear, but too late, for it caught him +on the hand that he had lifted to protect his head, and shore off two +of his fingers so that he dropped his sword. Next instant, still +roaring, as doubtless old Thorgrimmer, my forefather, used to do when +he fought to the death, for blood is very strong, I leapt on the +giant, who like myself was swordless. There in the gulf we wrestled. +He was a mighty man, but now my strength was as that of ten. I threw +him to the ground by a Sussex trick I knew and there we rolled over +and over each other. Once he had me undermost and I think would have +choked me, had it not been that his right hand lacked two fingers. + +With a mighty heave I lifted him so that now we lay side by side. He +was groping for a knife--I did not see, but knew it. Near his head a +sharp-edged stone rose in the path to the height of a man's hand or +more. I saw it and bethought me what to do if I could. Again I heaved +and as at length he found the knife and stabbed at me, scratching my +face, I got his bull's neck upon that stone. Then I loosed my hand and +caught him by the hair. Back I pressed his great head, back and back +with all my might till something snapped. + +Urco's neck was broken. Urco quivered and was dead! + +I lay by his side, panting. A voice came from the white heap upon the +ground by whom and for whom this dreadful combat had been fought, the +voice of Quilla. + +"One died, but who lives?" asked the voice. + +I could not answer because I had no breath. All my strength was gone. +Still I sat up, supporting myself with my hand and hoping that it +would come back. Quilla turned her face towards me, or rather towards +the sound that I had made in moving, and I thought to myself how sad +it was that she should be blind. Presently she spoke again and now her +voice quavered: + +"I /see/ who it is that lives," she said. "Something has broken in my +eyes and, Lord and Love, I see that it is /you/ who live. You, you, +and oh! you bleed." + +Then the Chancas came bounding down the gorge and found us. + +They looked at the dead giant and saw how he had died, killed by +strength, not by the sword; they looked and bent the knee and praised +me, saying that I was indeed a god, since no man could have done this +deed, killing the huge Urco with his naked hands. Then they placed +Quilla back in her litter and six of them bore her down that black +gorge. The two who remained, for in that fight none of them had been +hurt, supported me till my strength came back, for the cut in the face +that I had received from Urco's dagger was but slight. We reached the +mouth of the gorge and took counsel. + +To return to Cuzco after what I had done, would be to seek death. So +we bore away to the right and, making a round, came about ten o'clock +of the morning unmolested by any, to that ridge on which I had stood +at the beginning of the battle of the Field of Blood. There I found +the Chancas encamped, some three thousand of them, as I had commanded. +When they saw me, living and but little hurt, they shouted for joy, +and when they learned who was in that litter they went well-nigh mad. + +Then the eight warriors with me told them all the tale of the saving +of Quilla and the death of the giant Urco at my hands, whereon their +captains came and kissed my feet, saying that I was in truth a god, +though heretofore some of them had held me to be but a man. + +"God or man," I answered, "I must rest. Let the women tend to lady +Quilla, and give me food and drink, after which I will sleep. At +sunset we march home to Huaracha, your king and mine, to give him back +his daughter. Till then there is naught to fear, since Kari has no +troops at hand with which to attack us. Still, set outposts." + +So I ate and drank, but little of the former and much of the latter, I +fear, and after that I slept as soundly as one who is dead, for I was +outworn. + +When the sun was within an hour of setting, captains awakened me and +said that an embassy from Cuzco, ten men only, waited outside our +lines, seeking speech with me. So I rose, and my face and wound having +been dressed, caused water to be poured over my body, and was rubbed +with oil; after which, clothed in the robes of a Chanca noble, but +wearing no armour, I went out with nine Chanca captains to receive the +embassy on the plain at the foot of the hill, at that very spot where +first I had fought with Urco. + +When we drew near, from out of the group of nobles advanced one man. I +looked and saw that he was Kari, yes, the Inca himself. + +I went forward to meet him and we spoke together just out of earshot +of our followers. + +"My brother," said Kari, "I have learned all that has passed and I +give you praise who are the most daring among men and the first among +warriors; you who slew the giant Urco with your naked hands." + +"And thus made your throne safe for you, Kari." + +"And thus made my throne safe for me. You also who clove Larico to the +breast in the death-house of Upanqui, my father----" + +"And thus delivered you from a traitor, Kari." + +"And thus delivered me from a traitor, as I have learned also from +your messenger who handed to me the knotted cord, and from the spy +whom you had in your keeping. I repeat that you are the most daring +among men and the first among warriors; almost a god as my people name +you." + +I bowed, and after a little silence he went on: + +"Would that this were all that I have to say. But alas! it is not. You +have committed the great sacrilege against the Sun, my father, of +which I warned you, having robbed him of his bride, and, my brother, +you have lied to me, who told me but yesterday that you had put all +thought of her from your mind." + +"To me that was no sacrilege, Kari, but rather a righteous deed, to +free one from the bonds of a faith in which neither she nor I believe, +and to lead her from a living tomb back to life and love." + +"And was the lie righteous also, Brother?" + +"Aye," I answered boldly, "if ever a lie can be. Bethink you. You +prayed that this lady might die because she came between you and me, +and those that kings pray may die, do die, if not with their knowledge +or by their express command. Therefore I said that I had put her from +my mind in order that she might go on living." + +"To cherish you in her arms, Brother. Now hearken. Because of this +deed of yours, we who were more than friends have become more than +foes. You have declared war upon my god and me; therefore I declare +war upon you. Yet hearken again. I do not wish that thousands of men +should perish because of our quarrel. Therefore I make an offer to +you. It is that you should fight me here and now, man to man, and let +the Sun, or Pachacamac beyond the Sun, decide the matter as may be +decreed." + +"Fight /you!/ Fight /you/ Kari, the Inca," I gasped. + +"Aye, fight me to the death, since between us all is over and done. In +England you nurtured me. Here in the land of Tavantinsuyu, which I +rule to-day, I have nurtured you, and in my shadow you have grown +great, though it is true that had it not been for your generalship, +perchance I should no longer be here to throw the shadow. Let us +therefore set the one thing against the other and, forgetting all +between us that is past, stand face to face as foes. Mayhap you will +conquer me, being so mighty a man of war. Mayhap, also, if that +chances, my people who look upon you as half a god will raise you up +to be Inca after me, should such be your desire." + +"It is not," I broke in. + +"I believe you," he answered, bowing his head, "but will it not be the +desire of that fair-faced harlot who has betrayed our Lord the Sun?" + +At this word I started and bit my lip. + +"Ah! that stings you," he went on, "as the truth always stings, and it +is well. Understand, White Lord who were once my brother, that either +you must fight me to the death, or I declare war upon you and upon the +Chanca people, which war I will wage from month to month and from year +to year until you are all destroyed, as destroyed you shall be. But +should you fight and should the Sun give me the victory, then justice +will be accomplished and I will keep the peace that I have sworn with +the Chanca people. Further, should you conquer me, in the name of my +people I swear that there shall still be peace between them and the +Chancas, since I shall have atoned your sacrilege with my blood. Now +summon those lords of yours and I will summon mine, and set out the +matter to them." + +So I turned and beckoned to my captains, and Kari beckoned to his. +They came, and in the hearing of all, very clearly and quietly as was +his fashion, he repeated every word that he had said to me, adding to +them others of like meaning. While he spoke I thought, not listening +over-much. + +This thing was hateful to me, yet I was in a snare, since according to +the customs of all these peoples I could not refuse such a challenge +and remain unshamed. Moreover, it was to the advantage of the Chancas, +aye, and of the Quichuas also, that I should not refuse it seeing that +whether I lived or died, peace would then reign between them who +otherwise must both be destroyed by war. I remembered how once Quilla +had sacrificed herself to prevent such a war, though in the end that +war had come; and what Quilla had done, should I not do also? Weary +though I was I did not fear Kari, brave and swift as he might be, +indeed I thought that I could kill him and perhaps take his throne, +since the Quichuas worshipped me, who so often had led their armies to +triumph, almost as much as did the Chancas. But--I could not kill +Kari. As soon would I kill one born of my own mother. Was there then +no escape? + +The answer rose in my mind. There was an escape. I could suffer Kari +to kill me. Only if I did this, what of Quilla! After all that had +come and gone, must I lose Quilla thus, and must Quilla lose me? +Surely she would break her heart and die. My plight was desperate. I +knew not what to do. Then of a sudden, while I wavered, some voice +seemed to whisper in my ear; I thought it must be that of St. Hubert. +It seemed to say to me, "Kari trusts to his god, cannot you trust to +yours, Hubert of Hastings, you who are a Christian man? Go forward, +and trust to yours, Hubert of Hastings." + +Kari's gentle voice died away; he had finished his speech and all men +looked at me. + +"What word?" I said roughly to my captains. + +"Only this, Lord," answered their spokesman, "Fight you must, of that +there can be no doubt, but we would fight with you, the ten of the +Chancas against the ten of the Quichuas." + +"Aye, that is good," replied the first of Kari's nobles. "This +business is too great to set upon one man's skill and strength." + +"Have done!" I said. "It lies between the Inca and myself," while Kari +nodded, and repeated "Have done!" after me. + +Then I sent one of the captains back to the camp for my sword and Kari +commanded that his should be brought to him, since according to the +custom of these people when ambassadors meet, neither of us was armed. +Presently, the captain holding my sword returned, and with him +servants who brought my armour. Also after them streamed all the army +of the Chancas among whom the news had spread like wind-driven fire, +and lined themselves upon the ridge to watch. As he came, too, I +noticed that this captain sharpened Wave-Flame with a certain kind of +stone that was used to give a keen edge to weapons. + +He brought the ancient weapon and handed it to me on his knee. The +Inca's man also brought his sword and handed it to him, as he did so, +bowing his forehead to the dust. Well I knew that weapon, since once +before I had faced it in desperate battle for my life. It was the +ivory-handled sword of the lord Deleroy which Kari had taken from his +dead hand after I slew him in the Solar of my house in the Cheap at +London. Then the servant came to me with the armour, but I sent him +away, saying that as the Inca had none, I would not wear it, at which +my people murmured. + +Kari saw and heard. + +"Noble as ever," he said aloud. "Oh! that such bright honour should +have been tarnished by a woman's breath." + +Our lords discussed the manner of our fighting, but to them I paid +little heed. + +At length all was ready and we stepped forward to face each other at a +given word, clad much alike. I had thrown off my outer garment and +stood bareheaded in a jerkin of soft sheepskin. Kari, too, was +stripped of his splendid dress and clad in a tunic of sheepskin. Also, +that we might be quite equal, he had taken off his turban-like +headgear and even the royal Fringe, whereat his lords stared at each +other for they thought this a bad omen. + +It was just then I heard a sound behind me, and turning my head I saw +Quilla stumbling towards us down the stony slope as best her half- +blind eyes would let her, and crying as she came: + +"Oh! my Lord, fight not. Inca, I will return to the House of the Sun!" + +"Silence, accursed woman!" said Kari, frowning. "Does the Sun take +back such as you? Silence until the woe that you have wrought is +finished, and then wail on forever." + +She shrank back at his bitter, unjust words, and guided by the women +who had followed her, sank upon a stone, where she sat still as a +statue or as dead Upanqui in his hall. + +Now one called aloud the pledges of the fight which were as Kari had +spoken them. He listened and added: + +"Be it known, also, that this battle is to the death of one or both of +us, since if we live I take back my oaths and I will burn yonder witch +as a sacrifice to the Sun whom she has betrayed, and destroy her +people and her city according to the ancient law of Vengeance on the +House of those who have deceived the Sun." + +I heard but made no answer, who did not wish to waste my breath in +bandying words with a great man, whose brain had been turned by +bigotry and woman-hatred. + +A moment later the signal was given and we were at it. Kari leapt at +me like the tree-lion of his own forests, but I avoided and parried. +Thrice he leapt and thrice I did this; yes, even when I saw an opening +and might have cut him down. Almost I struck, then could not. The +Chancas watched me, wondering what game I played who was not wont to +fight in this fashion, and I also wondered, who still knew not what to +do. Something I must do, or presently I should be slain, since soon my +guard would fail and Deleroy's sword get home at last. + +I think that Kari grew perplexed at this patient defence of mine, and +never a blow struck back. At least he withdraw a little, then came for +me with a rush, holding his sword high above his head with the purpose +of striking me above that guard, or so I supposed. Then, of a sudden, +I knew what to do. Wheeling Wave-Flame with all my strength in both +hands, I smote, not at Kari but at the ivory handle of his sword. The +keen and ancient steel that might well have been some of that which, +as legend told, was forged by the dwarfs in Norseland, fell upon the +ivory between his hand-grip and the cross-piece and shore through it +as I had hoped that it would do, so that the blade of Kari's sword, +severed just above the hilt, fell to the ground and the hilt itself +was jarred from his hand. + +His nobles saw and groaned while the Chancas shouted with joy, for now +Kari was defenceless and save for the death itself, this fight to the +death was ended. + +Kari folded his arms upon his breast and bent his head. + +"It is the decree of my god," he said, "and I did ill to trust to the +sword of a villain whom you slew. Strike, Conqueror, and make an end." + +I rested myself upon Wave-Flame and answered: + +"If I strike not, O Inca, will you take back your words and let peace +reign between your people and the Chancas?" + +"Nay," he answered. "What I have said, I have said. If yonder false +woman is given up to suffer the fate of those who have betrayed the +Sun, then there shall be peace between the peoples, but not otherwise, +since while I live I will wage war upon her and you, and upon the +Chancas who shelter both of you." + +Now rage took hold of me, who remembered that while this woman-hater +lived blood must flow in streams, but that if he died there would be +peace and Quilla would be safe. So I lifted my sword a little, and as +I did so Quilla rose from her stone and stumbled forward, crying: + +"O Lord, shed not the Inca's holy blood for me. Let me be given up! +Let me be given up!" + +Then some spirit entered into me and I spoke, saying: + +"Lady, half of your prayer I grant and half I deny. I will not shed +the Inca's blood; as soon would I shed yours. Nor will I suffer you to +be given up who have done no wrong, since it was I who took you away +by force, as Urco would have done. Kari, hearken to me. Not once only +when we were in danger together in past days have you said to me that +we must put our faith in the gods we worship, and thus we did. Now +again I hearken to that counsel of yours and put my faith in the God I +worship. You threaten to gather all the strength of your mighty +empire, and because of what I hold to be your superstitions, to +destroy the Chanca people to the last babe and to level their city to +the last stone. I do not believe that the God I worship will suffer +this to come about, though how he will stay your vengeance I do not +know. Kari, great Inca of Tavantinsuyu, Lord of all this strange new +world, I, the White Wanderer-from-the-Sea, give you your life and save +you as once before I saved you in a far land, and with your life I +give you my blessing in all matters but this one alone. Kari, my +brother, look your last on me and go in peace." + +The Inca heard, and raising his head, stared at me with his fine, +melancholy eyes. Then suddenly from those eyes there came a gush of +tears. More, he knelt before me and kissed the ground, as the humblest +of his slaves might do before his own majesty. + +"Most noble of men," he said, lifting himself up again, "I worship +you. Yes, I, the Inca, worship you. Would that I might take back my +oath, but this I cannot do because my god hardens my heart and then +would decree destruction on my people. Mayhap he whom you serve will +bring things to pass as you foretell, as it would seem he has brought +it to pass that I should eat the dust before you. I hope that it may +be so who love not the sight of blood, but who like the shot arrow +must yet follow my course, driven by the strength that loosed me. +Brother, honoured and beloved, fare you well! May happiness be yours +in life and death, and there in death may we meet again and once more +be brothers where no women come to part us." + + + +Then Kari turned and went with bowed head, together with his nobles, +who followed him as sadly as those who surround a corpse, but not +until they had given to me that royal salute which is only rendered to +the Inca in his glory. + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE KISS OF QUILLA + +Her women bore Quilla swooning from that ill-fated field, and sick and +sad she remained until once more we saw the City of the Chancas. Yet +all this while strength and sight were returning to her eyes, so that +in the end she could see as well as ever she had done, for which I +thanked Heaven. + +Messengers had gone before us, so that when we drew near all the +people of the Chancas came out to meet us, a mighty multitude, who +spread flowers before us and sang songs of joy. On the same evening I +was summoned by Huaracha and found him dying. There in the presence of +his chief captains Quilla and I told him all our story, to which he +listened, answering nothing. When it was finished he said: + +"I thank you, Lord-from-the-Sea, who through great perils have saved +my daughter and brought her home to bid farewell to me, untarnished as +she went. I understand now that it was an evil policy which led me to +promise her in marriage to the prince Urco. Through your valour it has +come to naught and I am glad. Great dangers still lie ahead of you and +of my people. Deal with them as you will and can, for henceforward, +Lord-from-the-Sea, they are your people, yours and my daughter's +together, since it is my desire and command that you two should wed so +soon as I am laid with my fathers. Perchance it had been better if you +had slain the Inca when he was in your hand, but man goes where his +spirit leads him. My blessing and the blessing of my gods be on you +both and on your children. Leave me, for I can say no more." + +That night King Huaracha died. + +Three days later he was buried with great pomp beneath the floor of +the Temple of the Moon, not being preserved and kept above ground +after the fashion of the Incas. + +On the last day of the mourning a council was summoned of all the +great ones in the country to the number of several hundreds, to which +I was bidden. This was done in the name of Quilla, who was now named +by a title which meant, "High Lady," or "Queen." I went to it eagerly +enough who had seen nothing of her since that night of her father's +death, for, according to the custom of this people, she had spent the +time of mourning alone with her women. + +To my surprise I was led by an officer, not into the great hall where +I knew the notables were assembling, but to that same little chamber +where first I had talked with Huaracha, Quilla's father. Here the +officer left me wondering. Presently I heard a sound and looking up, +saw Quilla herself standing between the curtains, like to a picture in +its frame. She was royally arrayed and wore upon her brow and breast +the emblem of the moon, so that she seemed to glitter in that dusky +place, though nothing about her shone with such a light as did her +large and doe-like eyes. + +"Greeting, my Lord," she said in her soft voice, curtseying to me as +she spoke. "Has my Lord aught to say to me? If so, it must be quick, +since the Great Council waits." + +Now I grew foolish and tongue-tied, but at length stammered out: + +"Nothing, except what I have said before--that I love you." + +She smiled a little in her slow fashion, then asked: + +"Is there naught to add?" + +"What can there be to add to love, Quilla?" + +"I know not," she answered, still smiling. "Yet in what does the love +of man and woman end?" + +I shook my head and answered: + +"In many things, all of them different. In hell sometimes, and more +rarely in heaven." + +"And on earth which lies between the two, should those who love escape +death and separation?" + +"Well, on earth--in marriage." + +She looked at me again and this time a new light shone in her eyes +which I could not misinterpret. + +"Do you mean that you will marry me, Quilla?" I muttered. + +"Such was my father's wish, Lord, but what is yours? Oh! have done," +she went on in a changed voice. "For what have we suffered all these +things and gone through such long partings and dangers so dreadful? +Was it not that if Fate should spare us we might come together at +last? And has not Fate spared us--for a while? What said the prophecy +of me in the Temple of Rimac? Was it not that the Sun should be my +refuge and--I forget the rest." + +"I remember it," I said. "That in the beloved arms you should sleep at +last." + +"Yes," she went on, the blood mounting to her cheeks, "that in the +beloved arms I should sleep at last. So, the first part of the +prophecy has come true." + +"As the rest shall come true," I broke in, awaking, and swept her to +my breast. + +"Are you sure," she murmured presently, "that you love me, a woman +whom you think savage, well enough to wed me?" + +"Aye, more than sure," I answered. + +"Hearken, Lord. I knew it always, but being woman I desired to hear it +from your own lips. Of this be certain: that though I am but what I +am, a maiden, wild-hearted and untaught, no man shall ever have a +truer and more loving wife. It is my hope, even that my love will be +such that in it at last you may learn to forget that other lady far +away who once was yours, if only for an hour." + +Now I shrank as from a sword prick, since first loves, whatever the +tale of them, as Quilla guessed or Nature taught her, are not easily +forgot, and even when they are dead their ghosts will rise and haunt +us. + +"And my hope, most dear, is that you will be mine, not for an hour but +for all our life's days," I answered. + +"Aye," she said, sighing, "but who knows how many these will be? +Therefore let us pluck the flowers before they wither. I hear steps. +The lords come to summon us. Be pleased to enter the Council at my +side and holding me by the hand. There I have somewhat to say to the +people. The shadow of the Inca Kari, whom you spared, still lies cold +upon us and them." + +Before I could ask her meaning the lords entered, three of them, and +glancing at us curiously, said that all were gathered. Then they +turned and went before us to the great hall where every place was +filled. Hand in hand we mounted the dais, and as we came all the +audience rose and greeted us with a roar of welcome. + +Quilla seated herself upon a throne and motioned to me to take my +place upon another throne at her side, which I noted stood a little +higher than that on which she sat, and this, as I learned afterwards, +not by chance. It was planned so to tell the people, of the Chancas +that henceforth I was their king while she was but my wife. + +When the shouting had died away Quilla rose from her throne and began +to speak, which like many of the higher class of this people she could +do well enough. + +"Lords and Captains of the Chanca nation," she said, "my father, the +king Huaracha, being dead, leaving no lawful son, I have succeeded to +his dignities, and summoned you here to take counsel with me. + +"First, learn this, that I, your Queen and Lady, have been chosen as +wife by him who sits at my side." + +Here the company shouted again, thus announcing that this tidings +pleased them. For though by now only the common people still believed +me to be a god risen from the sea, all held that I was a great general +and a great man, one who knew much that they did not know, and who +could both lead and fight better than the best of them. Indeed, since +I had slain Urco with my hands and overcome Kari, who as Inca was +believed to be clothed with the strength of the Sun and therefore +unconquerable, I was held to be unmatched throughout Tavantinsuyu. +Moreover, the army that had fought under my command loved me as though +I were their father as well as their general. Therefore all greeted +this tidings well enough without astonishment, for they knew it was +their dead king's wish that I should wed his daughter and that to win +her I had gone through much. + +In answer to their shoutings I, too, rose from my seat, and drawing +the sword Wave-Flame, which I wore girt about my dinted armour, with +it I saluted first Quilla and then the gathered nobles, saying: + +"Lords of the Chancas, when on an island in the sea, my eyes fell upon +this lady who to-day is your queen, I loved her and swore that I would +wed her if I might. Between that day and this much has befallen. She +was snatched away to be made the wife of Urco, heir to the Inca +throne, and afterwards, to escape him whom she hated, she took refuge +in the House of the Inca god. Then, people of the Chancas, came the +great war which we shared together, and in the end I rescued her from +that house of bondage, and slew Urco while he strove to steal or stab +her. This done, I conquered Kari the Inca, who was as my brother, yet +because I saved your lady from his god the Sun, became my enemy, and +together she and I returned to this, her land. Now it is her will to +wed me, as it has always been mine to wed her, and here in front of +all of you I take her to wife, as she takes me to husband, hoping that +for many years it may be given to us to rule over you, and to our +children after us. Yet I warn you that although in the great war that +has been, if with much loss, we have held our own against all the +hosts of Cuzco and won an honourable peace, by this marriage of ours, +which robs the Inca god of one of a thousand brides, that peace is +broken. Therefore in the future, as in the past, there will be war +between the Quichua and the Chanca peoples." + +"We know it," shouted the nobles. "War is decreed, let war come!" + +"What would you have had me do?" I went on. "Leave your queen to +languish in the House of the Sun, wed to nothingness, or suffer her to +be dragged away to be one of Urco's women, or hand her back to Kari to +be slain as a sacrifice to a god whom you do not accept?" + +"Nay!" they cried. "We would have her wed you, White Lord-from-the- +Sea, that she may become a mother of kings." + +"So I thought, Chancas. Yet I warn you that there is trouble near. The +storm gathers and soon it will burst, since Kari is not one who breaks +his oaths." + +"Why did you not kill him when he was in your hand, and take his +throne?" asked one. + +"Because I could not. Because it would not have been pleasing to +Heaven that I should slay a man who for years had been as my brother. +Because in this way or in that the deed would have fallen back upon my +head, upon the head of the lady Quilla, and upon your heads also, O +people of the Chancas, because----" + +At this moment there was disturbance at the end of the hall, and a +herald cried: + +"An embassy! An embassy from Kari, the Inca." + +"Let it be admitted," said Quilla. + +Presently up the central passage marched the embassy with pomp, great +lords and "earmen," every man of them, and bowed before us. + +"Your words?" said Quilla quietly. + +"They are these, Lady," answered the spokesman of the party. "For the +last time the Inca demands that you should surrender yourself to be +sacrificed as one who has betrayed the Sun. He asks it of you since he +has learned that your father Huaracha is no more." + +"And if I refuse to surrender myself, what then, O Ambassador?" + +"Then in the name of the Empire and in his own name the Inca declares +war upon you, war to the end, until not one of Chanca blood is left +living beneath the sun and not one stone marks where your city stood. +It may be that a while will pass before this sword of war falls upon +your head, since the Inca must gather his armies and give a breathing +space to his peoples after all the troubles that have been. Yet if not +this year, then next year, and if not next year, then the year after, +that sword shall fall." + +Quilla listened and turned pale, though more, I think, with wrath than +fear. Then she said: + +"You have heard, Chancas, and know how stands this case. If I +surrender myself to be sacrificed, the Inca in his mercy will spare +you; if I do not surrender myself, soon or late he will destroy you-- +if he can. Say, then, shall I surrender myself?" + +Now every man in that great hall leapt up and from every throat there +arose a shout of + +"Never!" + +When it had died away an aged chief and councillor, an uncle of +Huaracha, the dead King, came forward and stared at the envoys with +his horny eyes. + +"Go back to the Inca," he said, "and tell him that the threats of the +mouth are one thing and the deeds of the hand are another. In the late +war that has been he has learned something of our quality, both as +foes and friends, and perchance more remains for him to learn. Yonder +is one"--and he pointed to myself--"who is about to become our King +and the husband of our Queen. By the help of that one and of some of +us the Inca won his throne. From the mercy of that one, also, but a +little while ago the Inca won his life. Let him be careful lest +through the might of that one, behind whom stands every Chanca that +breathes, the Inca Kari Upanqui should yet lose both throne and life, +and with them the ancient empire of the Sun. Thus say we all." + +"Thus say we all!" repeated the great company with a roar that shook +the walls. + +In the silence that followed Quilla asked: + +"Have you aught to add, O Ambassadors?" + +"Ay, this," said the first of them. + +"The Chanca tree is about to be cut down, but the Inca still offers a +refuge to the Lion that hides among its branches because he has loved +that Lion from of old. Let the White Lord-from-the-Sea over whom you +have cast the net of your witcheries return with us and he shall be +saved and given place and power, and with them a brother's love." + +Now Quilla looked at me, and I rose to speak but could not, since all +that came from my lips was laughter. At length I said: + +"But the other day when I gave him his life, the Inca named me noble. +What would he think of me if I said yes to this offer? Would he call +me noble then and the Lion that dwells in the Chanca tree? Or, +whatever his lips might speak, would not his heart name me the basest +of slaves and no lion of the tree, but rather a snake that creeps at +its roots? Get you gone, my lords, and say that here I bide happy with +her whom I have won, and that the ancient sword Wave-Flame, on which +Kari has looked of late, is still sharp and the arm that wields it is +still strong, and that he will do well now that it has served his +turn, to look on it no more," and again I drew the great blade and +flashed it before their eyes there in that dusky hall. + +Then, bowing courteously, for every man of them knew me and some of +them loved me well, they turned and went. That was the last that ever +I, Hubert of Hastings, saw of nobles of the Inca blood, though +perchance, ere long, I shall meet them again in war. + +"Let them be escorted safely from the city," commanded Quilla, and +soldiers went to do her bidding. + +When they had gone she issued another order, that the door should be +closed and watchmen set about the hall, so that none could approach it +unseen. Then after a pause she rose and spoke: + +"My Lord," she said, "who soon, as I trust, will be my husband and my +king, and you, the chosen of my people, hearken to me for I have a +matter to lay before you. You have heard the Inca's message and you +know that his words are not vain. He who is great in many ways, in one +is small and narrow. He sets his god before his honour, and to satisfy +his god, whom he thinks that I have outraged, is prepared to sacrifice +his honour, and even to kill one to whom he owes all," and she touched +me with her hand. "Moreover, these things he can do, not at once but +in time to come, because for every man of ours he is able to gather +ten. Therefore we stand thus; death and destruction stare us in the +face." + +She paused, and that old chief of whom I have spoken, asked in the +midst of a silence, as I think was planned that he should ask: + +"You have set our teeth in the bitter rind of truth. Is there no sweet +fruit within? Can you not show us a way of escape, O Quilla, Daughter +of the Moon, whose heart is fed with the wisdom of the Moon?" + +"I believe that I can show you such a way," she answered. "You know +the legend of our people--that in the old days, a thousand years ago-- +we came to this country out of the forests. + +"You know, too, the legend tells that once far away, beyond the +forest, there was a mighty empire of which the king sat in a City of +Gold hidden within a ring of mountains. That king, it is said, had two +sons, and when he died these sons made war upon each other, and one of +them, my forefather, was defeated and driven away into the forests by +those who clung to him. By boats he descended the river that runs +through the forest, and at length with those who remained to him came +to this land and there once more grew to be a king. Is it not so?" + +"It is so," answered the aged chief. "The tale has come down to me +through ten generations, and with it the prophecy that in a day to +come the Chancas would return to that City of Gold whence they came +and be welcomed of its people." + +"I have heard that prophecy," said Quilla. "Moreover, of it I have +something to tell you. While I sat in despair and blindness in the +Convent of the Sun at Cuzco it came into my mind and I brooded upon it +much, who was always sure that the war between the Chancas and the +armies of the Incas was but begun. In my darkness I prayed to my +Mother, the Moon, for light and help. Long and often I prayed, and at +length an answer came. One night the Spirit of the Moon appeared to my +soul as a beautiful and shining goddess, and spoke to me. + +"'Be brave, Daughter,' she said, 'for all that seems to be lost shall +yet be found again, and the light of a certain flashing sword shall +pierce the blackness and give back vision to your eyes.' This, indeed, +happened, my people, since it was when the sword of my Lord saved me +from death at the hands of Urco that the first gleam of light returned +to my darkened eyes. + +"'Be not afraid, moreover, for the Children of the Chancas who bow to +me,' went on the shining Spirit of the Moon, 'since in the day of +their danger I will show them a path towards my place of resting in +the west. Yea, I will lead them far from wars and tyrannies back to +that ancient city whence they came, and there they shall sleep in +peace till all things are accomplished. Moreover, you shall be their +ruler during your appointed days, you and another whom I led to you +out of the deeps of the sea and showed to you sleeping in my beams.' + +"Thus that Spirit spoke to me, Councillors, though at the time I did +not know whether the vision were more than a happy dream. But now I do +know that it was no dream, but the truth. + +"For did not my sight begin to return to me in the flashing of the +sword that is named Flame-of-the-Wave? And if this were true, why +should not the rest be true also? People of the Chancas, I am your +Queen to-day and my counsel to you is that we flee from this land +before the Inca's net closes round us and the Inca's spears pierce our +heart, to seek our ancient home far in the depths of the western +forest where, as I trust, his armies cannot come. Is that your will, O +my People? If so, by the tongues of your Lords and Captains declare it +here and now before it be too late." + +Back thundered the answer: + +"It is our will, O Daughter of the Moon!" + +When its echoes had died away Quilla turned to me, lovely to look on +as the evening star and with eyes that shone like stars, and asked: + +"Is it your will also, O Lord-from-the-Sea?" + +"Your will is my will, Quilla," I answered, "and your heart is my +home. Lead on; where you go I follow, even to the edge of the world +and beyond the world." + +"So be it!" she cried in a triumphant voice. "Now the evil past is +finished with its fears and battles and before our feet, lit by +moonbeams, stretches the Future's shining road leading us to the +mystery in which all roads begin and for an hour are lost again. Now, +too, our separations end in a perfect unity that perchance we have +known before and shall know again in ages to be born and lands +revisited. Now, Lord-from-the-Sea, at whose coming my sleeping heart +awoke to love and whose sword saved me from shame and death, giving me +back to life and light, here, before this company of our people, I, +the Daughter of the Moon, defying the Sun who held me captive, and all +his servants, take you to husband with this kiss," and leaning forward +Quilla pressed her lips upon my own. . . . + + + + The remaining parchment sheets of the ancient Manuscript are + rotted with the damp of the tomb in which it lay for centuries + and quite undecipherable. + Editor. + |