diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-0.txt | 10277 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 203935 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-8.txt | 10276 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 203190 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 213824 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153-h/3153-h.htm | 12027 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153.txt | 10276 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3153.zip | bin | 0 -> 203151 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/3153-h.htm.2021-01-27 | 12026 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/tvots10.txt | 10436 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/tvots10.zip | bin | 0 -> 207326 bytes |
14 files changed, 65334 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3153-0.txt b/3153-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..87d31e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10277 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Virgin of the Sun + +Author: H. R. Haggard + +Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3153] +Last Updated: September 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 3153-0.txt or 3153-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/3153/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3153-0.zip b/3153-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db19031 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-0.zip diff --git a/3153-8.txt b/3153-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c218e54 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10276 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Virgin of the Sun + +Author: H. R. Haggard + +Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3153] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +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 curs +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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 3153-8.txt or 3153-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/3153/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3153-8.zip b/3153-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3517f43 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-8.zip diff --git a/3153-h.zip b/3153-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7f016a --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-h.zip diff --git a/3153-h/3153-h.htm b/3153-h/3153-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95f6b98 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153-h/3153-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12027 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Virgin of the Sun, by H. Rider Haggard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Virgin of the Sun + +Author: H. R. Haggard + +Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3153] +Last Updated: September 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + First Published in 1922. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> DEDICATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <big><b>THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>BOOK I</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> <b>BOOK II</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIII </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + DEDICATION + </h2> + <p> + My Dear Little, + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + Ever sincerely yours, H. Rider Haggard. Ditchingham, Oct. 24, 1921. + </p> + <p> + James Stanley Little, Esq. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + </h1> + <p> + INTRODUCTORY + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>her</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + Sir, + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Your obedient, Tom. + </p> + <p> + (He always signed himself Tom, I suppose to mystify, although I believe + his real name was Betterly.) + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What do <i>you</i> want, sir?” he said grumpily. “Vests, hose, collars, + or socks?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “It was £15 you wanted for it, Mr. Potts?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir, it was £17 and now it’s 10 per cent. on to that; you can work + out the sum for yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Marriage coffer,” said Potts, answering my unspoken question. + </p> + <p> + “Italian, about 1600?” I suggested. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Very nice,” I said, “very nice, though a good deal knocked about.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s the price?” I asked with airy detachment. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + So I stopped and began to fill my pipe. + </p> + <p> + “Put that pipe away,” said Potts, coming out of his reverie, “pipes mean + matches; no matches here.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “With the contents?” I said casually. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with the contents. It’s the contents I’m told you are to have.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Thick with whom?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Good day, Potts,” I said hastily. + </p> + <p> + “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; <i>then</i> + you will see.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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, <i>that</i>,” 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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? + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + This was the end of the writing. + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Looks pretty hopeless,” he said, after staring at these. “Still, let’s + have a try; one never knows till one tries.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Then for heaven’s sake, do read it,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK I + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + THE SWORD AND THE RING + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I will begin at the beginning. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Conquering, conquered shall he be, + And far away shall sleep with me”? +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Oh! the truth is that here on earth there is no happiness for man. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Then the fog closed down again, and in it we slipped through the French + fleet. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Stir! stir! the French are upon you! To arms! We have slipped through a + whole fleet of them in the mist.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Stir! the French are upon you. To arms, I say. To arms!” + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + The crowd obeyed, opening a path, and soon we were face to face. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Hubert of Hastings?” he asked. “Is there fire that you shout + so loudly?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence come they?” asked the bailiff, bewildered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + At the sound of my footsteps she woke up and saw me. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed, first kissing her on the brow, and when she was seated in her + armed chair by the table, I said, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Draw it,” said my mother. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What of this sword?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “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. +</pre> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Here I would have asked about this grandson and the tomb, but having no + time, held my peace. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She paused for a moment, then went on: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE LADY BLANCHE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Certainly she did cling to me for all the rest of that terrible day, as + will be seen. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>la belle dame</i> + to be their sport. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “A great shot, Master,” said William, “that no other bow in Hastings could + have sped.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “It is our fleet, William,” I said, “come to talk with these French.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I would that it had come sooner,” answered William. “Still, better + now than not at all.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Mayhap,” answered Sir Robert, adding other oaths, “but why does he buss + my daughter?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Here the fine young captain cut in, saying, + </p> + <p> + “Whatever else this worshipful trader may need, he does not lack a + trumpeter.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he turned to me and added: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + HUBERT COMES TO LONDON + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>plastron</i>, or breast-plate, was inlaid with gold, + having over it a <i>camail</i> 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.) + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Thus this matter was settled. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, sir,” I answered, “I have naught to sell who in this hive of traders + seek one bee and cannot find him.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, aye, that’s the man,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If you would tell me where to find him it would be more seasonable.” + </p> + <p> + “All in good time. But first, young sir, where did you get that fine + armour? If you stole it, it should be better hid.” + </p> + <p> + “Stole it!” I began in wrath. “Am I a London chapman——?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Murderer!” I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I gaped at him. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “You are John Grimmer!” I muttered. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “You mock me, sir,” I stammered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Without a word the man led off the horses. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + Within was a shop where I saw precious things such as furs and gold + ornaments lying about. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Now tell me of my sister’s death and all the rest of your tale.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Who was Odin?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Because my mother bade me and to seek my fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + KARI + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he dictated a short letter to me as to shipping wine from Spain, and + when it was sanded, read it carefully. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + One day, it was when I had been with him about eighteen months, he said to + me suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + He closed the book, saying, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I would have thanked him, but he waved my words aside and went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He paused a while, picking at the bedclothes as the dying do, and + continued, + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + When she looked at him at midnight just as the bells rang in the new year, + he was dead. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Pachacamac</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Tavantinsuyu</i>. + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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>I should + accompany him</i>. At this I laughed again and said that if so it would be + after we were both dead. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Quichua</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] 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. +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + THE COMING OF BLANCHE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Your meaning?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I turned and bade the shopman command Kari to come hither and bring + with him the choicest of our cups and jewels. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Which mayhap I should be willing to do from one of your quality, my + lord,” I interrupted, bowing. + </p> + <p> + He looked at me and said: + </p> + <p> + “Can I have a word apart with you, merchant?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “I am told,” he said at length, “that John Grimmer did other business + besides that of selling jewels.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my lord, some foreign trade.” + </p> + <p> + “And some home trade also. I mean that he lent money.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Be pleased to state the amount and the security offered, my lord.” + </p> + <p> + He did so. The sum was high and the security was bad. + </p> + <p> + “Are there any who would stand surety for my lord?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, one of great estate, Sir Robert Aleys, who has wide lands in + Sussex.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “For a young man you are careful, merchant.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again he looked at the furnishings of the room and shrugged his shoulders, + then said: + </p> + <p> + “Good, it shall be done for the need is urgent. To whom is the letter to + be sent?” + </p> + <p> + “To John Grimmer, at the Boat House, Cheapside.” + </p> + <p> + “But you told me that John Grimmer was dead.” + </p> + <p> + “And so he is, my lord, but his name remains.” + </p> + <p> + Then we returned to the sop and as we went I said, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Man, she is my distant cousin, not my wife. I would she were, but how can + two high-placed paupers wed?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it is for this reason that my lord wishes to borrow money.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Surely, surely,” she began, “you are he who shot the three arrows at the + cave’s mouth at Hastings.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my lady, and did your hawk escape the dogs upon the London road?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think the matter is one that can wait.” + </p> + <p> + At that moment the lord Deleroy broke in, saying, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He stared at me and muttered, half to himself: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari followed to the door and watched them mount their horses at the gate, + then he searched the ground with his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “What was it hooked her cloak?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What think you of those two, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “I think that they will not pay for your jewel, but perhaps this was but a + bait upon the hook.” + </p> + <p> + “And what more, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He went, taking the tray of jewels with him, and I, too, went to the + eating-room to think. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Yet you seem to be well planted in London and in rich soil, Master + Hubert.” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, Lady, but it is not my native soil and for the rest we go where Fate + leads us.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I told her all the story of Kari, to which she listened open-eyed and + wondering, saying when I had finished, + </p> + <p> + “So you saved this poor wanderer also, and doubtless he loves you well.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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, + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I have her too fast, and who cares for a pining dove whereof the + feathers adorn another’s cap?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + To which Deleroy mocked in answer: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now my blood flamed up and I answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He heard and called out, “Fore God, this chapman thinks himself a knight!” + </p> + <p> + Then with a mocking laugh he went. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + MARRIAGE—AND AFTER + </h3> + <p> + Sir Robert and I stood facing each other speechless with rage, both of us. + At length he said in a hoarse voice: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you suffer these things, sir?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then, as though he wished to get away from the subject of Deleroy and his + hold upon him, he went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now a thought came to me, and as was my bold fashion in all business, I + acted on it instantly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Then in God’s name speak it! For I see none.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He started but motioned to me to continue. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “A fair offer fairly put,” he said, “but the question is, not what I say, + but what says Blanche.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, I do not know who have never asked her. Yet at times I have thought + that her mind towards me is not unkind.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The sooner the better, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + I bowed my head and paused, not knowing how to begin. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “In one way only,” I exclaimed, “by giving yourself in marriage to me. For + that I seek, no less.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + She moved uneasily and the red colour left her cheeks as though she had + been suddenly pained. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Bethink you again; an ugly slug might have smeared my whiteness.” + </p> + <p> + “If so the honest sun and rain will recover and wash it and I am a + gardener who scatters lime to shrivel slugs.” + </p> + <p> + “If to this one you will not listen, then hear another argument. Perchance + I do not love you. Would you win a loveless bride?” + </p> + <p> + “Perchance you can learn of love, or if not, I have enough to serve for + two.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I tell you all my story, you good, simple gentleman?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Nay, only two things. Are you the wife of some other man?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so, though perhaps—once I went near to it. What is the other + question?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you love some other man so that your heart tells you it is not + possible that you should ever love me?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I do not,” she answered almost fiercely, “but by the Rood! I hate + one.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + When she heard this she coloured to her brow and forgetting her tears, + laughed outright, while I went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “By my soul! the last thing I desire is to be alone with my cousin + Deleroy.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “What will Deleroy do when he comes back to find his darling gone?” and + the other answer with a high laugh: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + In the porch was old Sir Robert Aleys. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Farewell, it was indeed, for never did either of us look on him again. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + At last we came safely to the docks where I found all as my cargo-master + had described. The ship <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Laying his finger on his lips he shut the door softly, then said in a low + voice: + </p> + <p> + “Master, there is a man up yonder with the lady.” + </p> + <p> + “What man?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘Moor-man, I know that your master is from home, but that the lady is + here. I would speak with her.’ + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “God’s truth!” I said, “this is strange,” and hammered on the panel with + my fist. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Why are you here with my wife, Lord Deleroy?” + </p> + <p> + “It is strange, Master merchant,” he answered, “but I was about to put + much the same question to you: namely, why is <i>my</i> wife in your + house?” + </p> + <p> + Now, while I reeled beneath these words, without turning her head, Blanche + by the fire said: + </p> + <p> + “He lies, Hubert. I am not his wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Why are you here, my Lord Deleroy?” I repeated. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “So courteous a question demands a courteous answer, Master merchant, but + to give it I must trouble you to listen to a tale.” + </p> + <p> + “Then let it be like my patience, brief,” I replied. + </p> + <p> + “It shall,” he said with a mocking bow. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Blanche,” I said when he had done, “you have heard. Is this true?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Draw!” I said briefly as I unsheathed my sword. + </p> + <p> + “Why should I fight with a base, trading usurer?” he asked, still mocking + me, though I thought that there was doubt in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Until I dead too, O Lord,” broke in Kari in his gentle voice, bowing in + his courteous foreign fashion. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I commanded, “hold the candles aloft that the light may be good, + and leave this man to me.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Then I cried: “<i>A-hoi!</i>” 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. + </p> + <p> + Again I smote for, as both of us knew, this business was to the death, and + Deleroy fell down dead, smitten through the brain. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I sprang to her, but she lifted her hand and waved me back. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + Thus she spoke, ever more slowly and lower, till with the last word her + life left her lips. + </p> + <p> + Thus ended the story of my marriage with Blanche Aleys. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK II + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + THE NEW WORLD + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>you</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What am I to do?” I asked with a groan. + </p> + <p> + “Ship <i>Blanche</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I refused to listen to them, whereat they seemed to give way. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “I think, Master,” said Kari, “that some have entered the sun-room at your + house.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I said, “what shall we do? Try to run ashore, or sail on?” + </p> + <p> + He thought awhile then answered, pointing to those who galloped, now but + tiny figures on the distant bank: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + So I pressed upon the tiller to bring the <i>Blanche</i> more into + mid-channel, and headed for the sea. Wider and wider grew the estuary and + farther and farther away the shores as the <i>Blanche</i> scudded on + beneath her small sails with the weight of the gale behind her, till at + last there was the open sea. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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 <i>Blanche’s</i> + poop right in the wind, which seemed to blow first from one quarter and + then from that. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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). + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Master awake?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Kari,” I said, “but tell me, where am I?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Kari, but where are we?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But what is the country, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i>, + which timber by timber I had seen built up upon the shores of Thames from + oaks cut in my own woods. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Master,” he whispered to me, “rise and wave your sword and shout + aloud, to show that you are alive and not an image.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE ROCKY ISLE + </h3> + <p> + For another week or more I remained upon the <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “What is your plan, Kari? For, know, I weary of this life.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If so, it is marvellous,” I said. “But what shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And if there were I would not go,” I interrupted. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I thought awhile, and asked what he meant to do if I took this counsel + of his. To which he replied: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + There in the creek below lay the wreck of the <i>Blanche</i>, 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Coca</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “If you wish to travel south, there is a way of doing so,” I said to Kari. + </p> + <p> + At the time he made no answer, but on the following day asked me suddenly + if I dared attempt such a journey. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + The end of it was that for a knife and a few nails Kari purchased the + largest <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + So on a certain fine morning when the wind was blowing steadily but not + too strongly from the north, we embarked upon that <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + Although it was so clumsy the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + Thus we went on for three days and nights, the wind from the north blowing + all the while and the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now we could no longer steer or do anything except lie flat upon the + bottom of the <i>balsa</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Be bold! Our gods are still with us in storm.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “and soon we shall be with our gods—in peace.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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. +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + My last vision was of myself riding a huge breaker as though it were a + horse. Then there came a crash and darkness. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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; + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + He smiled at my jest, and answered more humbly: + </p> + <p> + “Nay, Master, yonder is my land.” + </p> + <p> + Then I looked, following his glance, and saw many leagues way across the + water two snowclad peaks rising above a bank of clouds. + </p> + <p> + “I know those mountains,” he went on; “without doubt they are one of the + gateways of my land.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “This, I think. A very great wave caught us and threw us right over those + rocks on to the shore. Look—there is the <i>balsa</i>,” and he + pointed to a broken heap of reeds and pierced skins. + </p> + <p> + With his help I rose and went to it. Now none could know that it had been + a boat. Still, the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “It has borne us well, but will never bear us again,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “At least we shall not starve,” I said, “though in the dry season we may + die of thirst.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Here we must remain until we die!” at last I cried in my wretchedness. + </p> + <p> + “Nay,” answered Kari, “our gods are still with us and will save us in + their season.” + </p> + <p> + This, indeed, they did in a strange fashion. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + THE DAUGHTER OF THE MOON + </h3> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” I asked idly. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Let her take it, then. Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Because, O friend, because <i>Quilla</i> is wed to <i>Yuti</i>; 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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I stared at her, for move I could not. Then remembering my crazy talk with + Kari, uttered one word, only one. It was—<i>Quilla</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think you must have told me when you knelt over me just now,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I saw the red blood run to her brow, but she only shook her head, and + answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + A question rose to my lips and burst from them; it was: + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, O Quilla, are you wife or maid?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Now I grew cunning and answered, + </p> + <p> + “I am a Son of the Sea as you are a Daughter of the Moon.” + </p> + <p> + She turned her head and glanced at the radiance which lay upon the face of + the deep, then said as though to herself: + </p> + <p> + “The moon shines upon the sea and the sea mirrors back the moon, yet they + are far apart and never may draw near.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again the red blood ran to her brow and her great eyes fell, those eyes of + which never before had I seen the like. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Riding on the ocean billows, riding for thousands of leagues,” he + answered. “And you, O Lady, how did you come to this isle?” + </p> + <p> + “Riding on the moonbeams,” she replied, smiling, “I, the daughter of the + Moon, who am named Moon and wear her symbol on my brow.” + </p> + <p> + “Did I not tell you so?” exclaimed Kari to me with a gloomy air. + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla went on: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>balsa</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “So be it!” exclaimed Quilla. “Now I go to make ready the <i>balsa</i> and + to warn the maidens lest they be frightened. When you are prepared you + will find us yonder behind the rock.” + </p> + <p> + Then she bowed in a stately fashion an departed, walking with the proud, + light step of a deer. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “unless the <i>balsa</i> oversets, when I shall find + mail hard to swim in.” + </p> + <p> + “The <i>balsa</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + “What net?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, what of it, Kari? With such questions this lady will have nothing + to do.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>is</i> affianced, and that in this land men are very + jealous even of a white god who rises from the sea.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I shall remember,” I answered sharply. “Have I not had enough + of women who are affianced?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will remember, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not enough—swear it.” + </p> + <p> + “Good. I swear it—by the moon.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “Fear not,” I said. “The gods are kind to those who do them service, + though to those who would harm them they are terrible.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i>, 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 <i>balsa</i>. Then they shipped the paddles, and + although full laden, we sailed quietly towards the mainland. + </p> + <p> + Now I was at the bow of the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Behold the temple of Pachacamac, Master,” whispered Kari, bowing his head + and kissing the air in token of reverence. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Remain here in the <i>balsa</i>, Lord, while I talk with these people, + and when I summon you be pleased to come. Fear not—none will harm + you.” + </p> + <p> + Then she sprang from the prow of the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now all the men rose, and some of them of the humbler sort, creeping to + the <i>balsa</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “O Lord,” said Quilla, bowing, “behold my kinsman the <i>Caraca</i>” + (which is the name for a lesser sort of king) “of the Yuncas, named + Quismancu, and his wife, Mira.” + </p> + <p> + “Hail, Lord Risen from the Sea!” cried Quismancu. “Hail, White God clothed + in silver! Hail, <i>Hurachi</i>!” + </p> + <p> + 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, <i>hurachi</i> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla and the lady Mira came forward and, placing their hands + beneath my elbows, assisted me to climb out of that <i>balsa</i>, which I + think was the strangest way that ever a shipwrecked wanderer came to land. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>chicha</i>, + 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 + <i>Incas</i>, as they called their kings, and other great lords. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + THE ORACLE OF RIMAC + </h3> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Lord, are you a god or a man?” + </p> + <p> + “What is a god?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “A god is that which is adored and loved.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She shivered a little and answered: + </p> + <p> + “It is not so. I hate him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why are you going to marry him? Are you forced to do so, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “An old story, Quilla, but will you be happy thus?” + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord, I shall be very unhappy. But what does it matter? I am only a + woman, and such is the lot of women.” + </p> + <p> + “Women, like gods and men, are also sometimes loved and adored, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + She flushed at the words and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “To whom are you sworn?” + </p> + <p> + “To the Child of the Sun, no less a man; to the god who will be Inca of + all this land.” + </p> + <p> + “And what is this god like?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Again she flushed. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Quilla, the sacrifice may be all in vain. How long will you hold the + fancy of this loose-living prince?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then, with something like a sob, she rose, made obeisance, and fled away. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think not. I think that like you she hates him, yet will marry him for + reasons of policy.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “For what purpose, Kari?” I answered moodily. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will go if it can be done in secret, say at night, for I weary of being + stared at by these people.” + </p> + <p> + This I said because I desired to learn of the religion of this nation and + to see new things. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it can be so ordered, Master. I will ask of the matter.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Behold Rimac the Speaker!” whispered Kari. + </p> + <p> + “How can gold speak?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + Kari made no answer. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + As we had come, so we went, and at last found ourselves outside the + glittering temple doors where the litters awaited us. + </p> + <p> + “What did it mean?” I whispered to Quilla, who was by my side. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Curacas</i>, + or chiefs of the towns, waited upon me with offerings as though I were + indeed divine. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Curacas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “So it seems that the gods can weep. Why do you weep, O God-from-the-Waves + who here are named Hurachi?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me awhile, then said, most gently: + </p> + <p> + “And whither would you fly, O God-from-the-Sea? Back into the sea?” + </p> + <p> + “Cease to call me a god,” I answered, “who, as you know well, am but a man + though of another race than yours.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought it but I did not know. But whither would you fly, O Lord + Hurachi?” + </p> + <p> + “To the land where I was born, Lady Quilla; the land that I shall never + see again.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! doubtless there you have wives and children for whom your heart is + hungry.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, now I have neither wife nor child.” + </p> + <p> + “Then once you had a wife. Tell me of that wife. Was she fair?” + </p> + <p> + “Why should I tell you a sad story? She is dead.” + </p> + <p> + “Dead or living, you still love her, and where there is love there is no + death.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I only love what I thought she was.” + </p> + <p> + “Was she false, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, false and yet true. So true that she died because she was false.” + </p> + <p> + “How can a woman be both false and true?” + </p> + <p> + “Woman can be all things. Ask the question of your own heart. Can you not + perchance be both false and true?” + </p> + <p> + She thought awhile and, leaving this matter, said: + </p> + <p> + “So, having once loved, you can never love again.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not? Perchance I can love too much. But what would be the use when + more love would but mean more loss and pain?” + </p> + <p> + “Whom should you love, my lord Hurachi, seeing that the women of your own + folk are far away?” + </p> + <p> + “I think one who is very near, if she would pay back love for love.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Why do you weep?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I, too, must know loneliness, and with it shame, Lord Hurachi.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Do you, then, also love?” I whispered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let me go, and hear me,” she murmured presently, “for you are strong and + I am weak.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed, and she sank back upon the stone. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” I asked hoarsely. “Your people think me a god; cannot a god + take whom he wills to wife?” + </p> + <p> + “Not when she is vowed to another god, he who will be Inca; not when on + her, mayhap, hangs the fate of nations.” + </p> + <p> + “We might fly, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “There are worse things than death, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What then?” I asked hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Have I found you, Lord, and you also, Lady Quilla? Return, I pray you, + for all search and are frightened.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” I answered. “The lady Quilla and I study this wondrous scene.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + KARI GOES + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “The truth is, Kari, that you are jealous of the lady Quilla as once you + were jealous of another.” + </p> + <p> + He considered the matter in his grave fashion, and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “There are different sorts of loves,” I said; “that of a man for man is + one, that of man for woman is another.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you done?” I asked angrily, who wearied of his homilies. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I will tell you now. I do and she does.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” I said in a rage. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I answered, “if there be such a game, are you not perchance one of + the players on this side or on that?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Some of the troops! Has he more, then?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Fear nothing; it is I—Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Hearken!” she said. “It is dangerous to both of us, but I have come to + bid you farewell.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell! I feared it would be thus, but why so soon, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + “What did he answer, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.’” + </p> + <p> + “Then he guesses, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he say no more, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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?’ + </p> + <p> + “I answered that it was so, and my father went on: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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!’ + </p> + <p> + “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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “How came you here?” I asked hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What question, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Which do you desire—to live or to die?” + </p> + <p> + She laughed a little as she answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “And if this happens, what shall I do?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen, Quilla. I have a story to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + Then, as briefly as I could, I set out the tale of Blanche and of her end, + while she hung upon my every word. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I grieve for you,” she said, when I had finished. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, not that!” she murmured. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Is your love so great that you would dare this for my sake, Lord?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Another moment and she had glided away and was lost in the shadows. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Who is it?” I asked, grasping my sword, for his face was hidden in the + shadows. + </p> + <p> + “I,” answered a voice which I knew to be that of Kari. + </p> + <p> + “Then how did you come here? I saw no one pass the open ground.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Then, Kari, you must have seen——” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I am minded to kill you, Kari,” I said between my teeth, “who play the + spy upon me.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely you deserve to die,” I exclaimed furiously. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whither will you vanish, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank you,” I answered, “and certainly you watch well—too well, + sometimes, as I have found to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you go, what shall I do alone?” I asked, alarmed. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + THE CHOICE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “In my country with it one can corrupt them,” I answered, “or buy them to + be friends.” + </p> + <p> + “So you have a country,” he interrupted shrewdly. “I thought that the gods + had none.” + </p> + <p> + “Even the gods live somewhere,” I replied. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Ask of the Lady Quilla, O King.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now, making no attempt to deny or explain which I saw would be useless, + since he knew it all, I asked boldly: + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I thought awhile and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it and I grieve for both of you,” he said courteously. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The gods see far, White Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Doubtless this is so, O Son-of-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a good offer, King, but not enough. Give me your daughter, Quilla, + and you may keep all the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “White Lord, I cannot, since to do so I must break my word.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Perchance I shall find the wings,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Lord and Father, I come to tell you that the Inca Upanqui draws near with + his princes and captains.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That shall be as the gods decree, my father, and meanwhile I play my part + as <i>you</i> decree. Lord Hurachi, fare you well till in life or death we + meet again.” + </p> + <p> + Then she bowed to me, and went, and presently without more words we + followed after her. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let him approach!” said Huaracha briefly, and they departed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Lautu</i>. 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: + </p> + <p> + “Welcome to the land of the Chancas, O Upanqui, Inca of the Quichuas.” + </p> + <p> + The old monarch eyed him for a moment, then answered in a thin voice: + </p> + <p> + “Greeting to Huaracha, <i>Curaca</i> of the Chancas.” + </p> + <p> + Huaracha bowed and said: + </p> + <p> + “I thank you, but here among my own people my title is not <i>Curaca</i>, + but King, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + Upanqui drew himself up to his full height and replied: + </p> + <p> + “The Incas know no kings throughout the land of Tavantinsuyu save + themselves, O Huaracha.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “He will come, but I do not think that he will worship. They say he is a + god himself, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The lord Hurachi is my guest, O Inca, and here he bides with me,” said + Huaracha. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Coya</i>, or Queen, and the mother of him + who shall succeed to the throne.” + </p> + <p> + “The embassy came, and received my answer, O Inca,” said Huaracha. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did not the Prince Urco come in person, O Inca?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “So I might for you, his father, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Here Upanqui, who hitherto had been listening in silence to the words of + Larico, spoken on his behalf, broke in, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla spoke for the first time, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then at last Huaracha grew angry. + </p> + <p> + “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.’” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Huaracha sat silent, lost in thought, and the old Inca Upanqui began to + babble again, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I, Hubert, watching Quilla out of the corners of my eyes, saw her turn + pale and tremble. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, I swear it by the Moon your mother, also that I will die with my + soldiers.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + “Be swift,” she whispered again. + </p> + <p> + Then I spoke, or something spoke through me, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Do what honour bids you, O Daughter of the Moon, for what is love without + honour? Perchance both shall still be yours at last.” + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “Father, I go, but that I will wed this Urco I do not promise.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <h3> + THE RETURN OF KARI + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What reason, Quilla?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will stay,” I answered hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “So I guessed, but where is he now?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “This, too, is old and has a story; wear it in memory of me.” + </p> + <p> + Then we parted and presently she was gone. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “but what of Quilla and what of me?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “To what end is the sacrifice made?” I asked bitterly. “That one people + may struggle for dominion over another people, no more.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Urco might die or be deposed, Huaracha.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I stretched out my hand to him and so our compact was sealed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Soon, however, all news ceased, for Huaracha shut his frontiers, hoping + that thus Urco might not learn that he was gathering armies. + </p> + <p> + At length, when our forces were almost ready to march, Kari came, Kari + whom I thought lost. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Have you food, Lord?” he asked while I stared at him. “I need it and + would eat before I speak.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence come you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “From Cuzco, Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what of the lady Quilla? Does she still live? Is she wed to Urco?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If she lives and is unwed, why?” I asked, trembling. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Has this ever chanced?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “History does not tell it, Lord, since none have been so wicked, but such + is the law.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + “What news, Kari?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What happened then?” I asked, staring him in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then we were parted and I saw her no more.” + </p> + <p> + “And did you hear no more, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘Where is the lady Quilla, daughter of Huaracha, who is promised to me in + marriage, Inca? Why have you hidden her away, Inca?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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. + </p> + <p> + “‘You mean that robbing me, you have taken her for yourself, Inca,’ + shouted Urco again. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Now at these words Upanqui stood up and rent his robes. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘What sin?’ shouted Urco. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you hear more of Quilla, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Poisoned her!” I muttered, well-nigh falling to the ground. “Poisoned + her!” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That does not comfort me, man. What of Quilla? Did she die?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I groaned, for the thought of Quilla blinded was horrible. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Such is my tale.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIELD OF BLOOD + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet it was you, King Huaracha, who sent the lady Quilla to this Urco for + your own purposes,” said Kari in his quiet fashion. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + For a while Huaracha stared at him astonished, then said: + </p> + <p> + “And if you prove it, what do you ask of me, O Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “The help of your armies to enable me to overthrow Urco, who is very + strong, being the Commander of the Quichua hosts.” + </p> + <p> + “And if your tale be true and Urco is overthrown, what do you promise me + in return?” + </p> + <p> + “The independence of the Chanca people, who otherwise must soon be + destroyed, and certain other added territories which you covet, while I am + Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “And with this my daughter, if she still lives?” asked Huaracha looking at + him. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps the Moon, her mother, may have something to say in that matter,” + said Huaracha gloomily. “Still, let it lie for the while.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + After this Huaracha took me to another chamber, where we debated the + business. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Urco is ready for us,” said Kari to me grimly as he pointed to these + tents. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “How know you that she is dead?” asked the spokesman. + </p> + <p> + “If she is not dead,” replied Huaracha, “show her to us.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That is yet to be seen,” answered Huaracha, and without more words the + embassy withdrew. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “<i>The shafts of the god! The shafts of the god!</i>” they cried, and + shrank back from before me. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “An omen, O Urco, an evil omen!” + </p> + <p> + “Aye,” he shouted, “for the White Wizard who shot the arrow.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, “<i>Kari! Kari!</i>” 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Huaracha appeared, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Strike, White Lord! It is our hour! The heart is out of them.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + The Inca warriors grew afraid and shrank back. + </p> + <p> + “This Red-Beard from the sea is indeed a god. He cannot be slain!” I heard + them cry. + </p> + <p> + Then Urco appeared, bloody and furious, shouting: + </p> + <p> + “Cowards! I will show you whether he cannot be slain.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>laso</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Greeting, White-Lord-from-the-Sea. So you have come to visit me after + all, though you said that you would not.” + </p> + <p> + “I have been brought to visit you, Inca,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>laso</i> + can hold a god?” + </p> + <p> + “None,” I answered boldly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I thought to myself that so did I, but I only asked: + </p> + <p> + “How did the battle end, Inca?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Because your son, the prince Urco, has poisoned, or tried to poison, his + only child, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Naturally. How could she help it, Inca? Who, after seeing you, would wish + to turn to Urco?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems that she was not safe, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Mama-conas</i>, knocked the + cup away before she drank, but some of the horrible poison went into her + eyes and blinded her.” + </p> + <p> + “So she lives, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Mama-conas</i> + 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?” + </p> + <p> + “He wants his blinded daughter back, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Speak on, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “With the army of Huaracha, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I understand, O Inca, that the kings of this land have many children. + Perhaps he might be one of them.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The dead come to life again sometimes, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why should I tell you, Inca? Is it because you want to kill him who is so + like to this lost Kari of yours?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand, but how can I help you, Inca, who am but a prisoner in your + palace?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If I should do this, Inca, will the lady Quilla be given back to her + father?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am weary now. Afterwards we will talk again. Farewell, + Lord-from-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <h3> + KARI COMES TO HIS OWN + </h3> + <p> + 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 <i>Villaorna</i> desired speech with me. I + wondered who this <i>Villaorna</i> 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 <i>Villaorna</i> was his title and meant “Chief priest.” + </p> + <p> + We bowed to each other and all were sent from the chamber, leaving us + quite alone. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + He did so in these words: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Priest Larico, Urco, they say, is like to die, and if so all this + trouble will melt like a cloud.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Which means that I deal with you who are the chief priest, and those + behind you,” I said, looking him in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + We looked at each other. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again we looked at each other and I went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What did he answer, Lord?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “But do you always think thus yourselves, O High-priest?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>before</i> 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 <i>after</i> 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?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite. But what would Upanqui or Kari say? The Incas you declare are + always bigots and might interpret this law otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell, Lord, but let us cease from beating bushes. I will help + you if I can, if you will help me if <i>you</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + After this we parted, I promising to work for his cause and to come to see + him again, if I might. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + When he had learned all, he said: + </p> + <p> + “This may be a trap, Lord. I do not trust yonder Larico, who has always + been my enemy and Urco’s friend.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Villaorna</i> + Larico. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “How then is he named?” asked the Inca again. + </p> + <p> + “He is named Kari, first-born son of Upanqui, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “Such a son I had once, but he is long dead, or so they told me,” said + Upanqui in a trembling voice. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Kari opened his robe and drew out that golden effigy of Pachacamac which + he always wore. + </p> + <p> + Upanqui examined it, holding it close to his rheumy eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then he handed back the image to Kari and after reflecting awhile, said: + </p> + <p> + “Bring hither the Mother of the Royal Nurses.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently this lady was in waiting, for in a minute she appeared before + the throne, an old and withered woman with beady eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Mother,” said the Inca, “you were with the <i>Coya</i> (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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “How, Mother?” + </p> + <p> + “By three moles, O Inca, which we women used to call <i>Yuti</i>, <i>Quilla</i>, + and <i>Chasca</i>” (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.” + </p> + <p> + “Man who call yourself Kari, are you willing that this old crone should + see your flesh?” asked Upanqui. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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, <i>Yuti</i>, + <i>Quilla</i>, and <i>Chasca</i>, set one above the other, though <i>Chasca</i> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Restore his garments to the royal Prince,” said Upanqui, “and bring + hither the Fringe that is worn by the Inca’s heir.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “your gods are in the way of giving you all you want, + but it is not so with mine and me.” + </p> + <p> + “What then do you desire, Brother, who can have even to the half of the + kingdom?” + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I replied, “I cry not for the Earth, but for the Moon.” + </p> + <p> + He understood, and his face grew stern. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <h3> + THE GREAT HORROR + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Cupay</i>, some worshipped in that land, though + others declared that this <i>Cupay</i> was the God of the Dead. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + To this they answered that they were content and would stand by him. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Do you, Children of the Sun, accept the prince Kari, my first-born, to be + Inca after me?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he fell forward on his face and when we lifted him he was dead. + </p> + <p> + Still the silence hung; it was as though the tongues of men were smitten + with dumbness. At length Kari stepped forward and cried: + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That I could never do,” I answered sadly. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + In such words as these he preached at me, till at length I could bear no + more, and said roughly: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + We built a fleet of <i>balsas</i> 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 <i>balsas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + <h3> + THE HOUSE OF DEATH + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What bargain, Lord-of-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now his face grew troubled and he answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I find that the law of my faith is against it, Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all, Larico?” I asked with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord. Because I find that the Inca would not suffer it and swears to + kill all who attempt to touch the lady Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord. Because I find that a woman who has been betrothed to one of + the royal blood may never pass to another man.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then from my robe I drew out those knotted fibres that I had taken from + his messenger and held them before Larico’s eyes. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “If I pardon you, what will you give me?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “How do I know that you will not set some trap for me, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “Thus, Lord, that I shall be with you and share your sacrilege. Also my + life will be in your hand.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now, though my gorge rose at it, I lied to him, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Aye, Kari,” I replied, still lying. “Since I must dwell in this strange + land, I would do so as a king—no less.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I shall never make war upon you, Kari, unless you break your treaty + with the Chancas and strive to subdue them.” + </p> + <p> + “Which I shall never do, Brother.” + </p> + <p> + Then he paused awhile and spoke again with more passion that I had ever + known in him, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Do not add to this lady’s wrongs by robbing her of life as well as of + sight and liberty, Kari,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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! + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then at last I found my tongue and said hoarsely, + </p> + <p> + “Love is left, Quilla, and—life.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “It is—dead or living—it is——” and she opened her + arms. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + We clung and kissed. Then I thrust her away, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Come swiftly from this ill-omened place. All is ready. The Chancas wait.” + </p> + <p> + She slipped her hand into mine and I turned to lead her away. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “You have the first fruits, but it seems that another will reap the + harvest, Lord-from-the-Sea,” he jeered. + </p> + <p> + “Seize her,” cried Urco in his guttural voice, pointing to Quilla with his + mace, “and brain that white thief.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + It shattered and went out! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIGHT TO THE DEATH + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “The White God! The terrible White God!” + </p> + <p> + Then fear took hold of them and they fled, leaving the litter on the + ground. Yes, all of them fled save one, Urco himself. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Urco’s neck was broken. Urco quivered and was dead! + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “One died, but who lives?” asked the voice. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “I <i>see</i> who it is that lives,” she said. “Something has broken in my + eyes and, Lord and Love, I see that it is <i>you</i> who live. You, you, + and oh! you bleed.” + </p> + <p> + Then the Chancas came bounding down the gorge and found us. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I went forward to meet him and we spoke together just out of earshot of + our followers. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And thus made your throne safe for you, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “And thus made my throne safe for me. You also who clove Larico to the + breast in the death-house of Upanqui, my father——” + </p> + <p> + “And thus delivered you from a traitor, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I bowed, and after a little silence he went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And was the lie righteous also, Brother?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Fight <i>you!</i> Fight <i>you</i> Kari, the Inca,” I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It is not,” I broke in. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + At this word I started and bit my lip. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + Kari’s gentle voice died away; he had finished his speech and all men + looked at me. + </p> + <p> + “What word?” I said roughly to my captains. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Have done!” I said. “It lies between the Inca and myself,” while Kari + nodded, and repeated “Have done!” after me. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari saw and heard. + </p> + <p> + “Noble as ever,” he said aloud. “Oh! that such bright honour should have + been tarnished by a woman’s breath.” + </p> + <p> + Our lords discussed the manner of our fighting, but to them I paid little + heed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Oh! my Lord, fight not. Inca, I will return to the House of the Sun!” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now one called aloud the pledges of the fight which were as Kari had + spoken them. He listened and added: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari folded his arms upon his breast and bent his head. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I rested myself upon Wave-Flame and answered: + </p> + <p> + “If I strike not, O Inca, will you take back your words and let peace + reign between your people and the Chancas?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “O Lord, shed not the Inca’s holy blood for me. Let me be given up! Let me + be given up!” + </p> + <p> + Then some spirit entered into me and I spoke, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE KISS OF QUILLA + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + That night King Huaracha died. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I grew foolish and tongue-tied, but at length stammered out: + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, except what I have said before—that I love you.” + </p> + <p> + She smiled a little in her slow fashion, then asked: + </p> + <p> + “Is there naught to add?” + </p> + <p> + “What can there be to add to love, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not,” she answered, still smiling. “Yet in what does the love of + man and woman end?” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head and answered: + </p> + <p> + “In many things, all of them different. In hell sometimes, and more rarely + in heaven.” + </p> + <p> + “And on earth which lies between the two, should those who love escape + death and separation?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, on earth—in marriage.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me again and this time a new light shone in her eyes which I + could not misinterpret. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that you will marry me, Quilla?” I muttered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember it,” I said. “That in the beloved arms you should sleep at + last.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “As the rest shall come true,” I broke in, awaking, and swept her to my + breast. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure,” she murmured presently, “that you love me, a woman whom + you think savage, well enough to wed me?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, more than sure,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “And my hope, most dear, is that you will be mine, not for an hour but for + all our life’s days,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “First, learn this, that I, your Queen and Lady, have been chosen as wife + by him who sits at my side.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “We know it,” shouted the nobles. “War is decreed, let war come!” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay!” they cried. “We would have her wed you, White Lord-from-the-Sea, + that she may become a mother of kings.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did you not kill him when he was in your hand, and take his throne?” + asked one. + </p> + <p> + “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——” + </p> + <p> + At this moment there was disturbance at the end of the hall, and a herald + cried: + </p> + <p> + “An embassy! An embassy from Kari, the Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it be admitted,” said Quilla. + </p> + <p> + Presently up the central passage marched the embassy with pomp, great + lords and “earmen,” every man of them, and bowed before us. + </p> + <p> + “Your words?” said Quilla quietly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And if I refuse to surrender myself, what then, O Ambassador?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Quilla listened and turned pale, though more, I think, with wrath than + fear. Then she said: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Now every man in that great hall leapt up and from every throat there + arose a shout of, + </p> + <p> + “Never!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Thus say we all!” repeated the great company with a roar that shook the + walls. + </p> + <p> + In the silence that followed Quilla asked: + </p> + <p> + “Have you aught to add, O Ambassadors?” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, this,” said the first of them. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let them be escorted safely from the city,” commanded Quilla, and + soldiers went to do her bidding. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “‘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. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Back thundered the answer: + </p> + <p> + “It is our will, O Daughter of the Moon!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Is it your will also, O Lord-from-the-Sea?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. . . . + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 3153-h.htm or 3153-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/3153/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/3153.txt b/3153.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b90f613 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10276 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Virgin of the Sun + +Author: H. R. Haggard + +Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3153] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny + + + + + +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 L15 you wanted for it, Mr. Potts?" I asked. + +"No, sir, it was L17 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 L20 or, to be accurate, L18 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 L50. Now for +heaven's sake don't offer me L40, or it will be L100 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 +L50 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 cures +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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 3153.txt or 3153.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/3153/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3153.zip b/3153.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d906ae3 --- /dev/null +++ b/3153.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8a8cc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3153 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3153) diff --git a/old/3153-h.htm.2021-01-27 b/old/3153-h.htm.2021-01-27 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2a1ea0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/3153-h.htm.2021-01-27 @@ -0,0 +1,12026 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Virgin of the Sun, by H. Rider Haggard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Virgin of the Sun + +Author: H. R. Haggard + +Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3153] +Last Updated: September 23, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + First Published in 1922. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> DEDICATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <big><b>THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>BOOK I</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> <b>BOOK II</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIII </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + DEDICATION + </h2> + <p> + My Dear Little, + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + Ever sincerely yours, H. Rider Haggard. Ditchingham, Oct. 24, 1921. + </p> + <p> + James Stanley Little, Esq. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN + </h1> + <p> + INTRODUCTORY + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>her</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + Sir, + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Your obedient, Tom. + </p> + <p> + (He always signed himself Tom, I suppose to mystify, although I believe + his real name was Betterly.) + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What do <i>you</i> want, sir?” he said grumpily. “Vests, hose, collars, + or socks?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “It was £15 you wanted for it, Mr. Potts?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir, it was £17 and now it’s 10 per cent. on to that; you can work + out the sum for yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Marriage coffer,” said Potts, answering my unspoken question. + </p> + <p> + “Italian, about 1600?” I suggested. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Very nice,” I said, “very nice, though a good deal knocked about.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s the price?” I asked with airy detachment. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + So I stopped and began to fill my pipe. + </p> + <p> + “Put that pipe away,” said Potts, coming out of his reverie, “pipes mean + matches; no matches here.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “With the contents?” I said casually. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with the contents. It’s the contents I’m told you are to have.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Thick with whom?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Good day, Potts,” I said hastily. + </p> + <p> + “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; <i>then</i> + you will see.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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, <i>that</i>,” 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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? + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + This was the end of the writing. + </p> + <p> + 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:— + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Looks pretty hopeless,” he said, after staring at these. “Still, let’s + have a try; one never knows till one tries.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Then for heaven’s sake, do read it,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK I + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + THE SWORD AND THE RING + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I will begin at the beginning. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Conquering, conquered shall he be, + And far away shall sleep with me”? +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Oh! the truth is that here on earth there is no happiness for man. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Then the fog closed down again, and in it we slipped through the French + fleet. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Stir! stir! the French are upon you! To arms! We have slipped through a + whole fleet of them in the mist.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Stir! the French are upon you. To arms, I say. To arms!” + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + The crowd obeyed, opening a path, and soon we were face to face. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Hubert of Hastings?” he asked. “Is there fire that you shout + so loudly?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence come they?” asked the bailiff, bewildered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + At the sound of my footsteps she woke up and saw me. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed, first kissing her on the brow, and when she was seated in her + armed chair by the table, I said, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Draw it,” said my mother. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What of this sword?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “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. +</pre> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Here I would have asked about this grandson and the tomb, but having no + time, held my peace. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She paused for a moment, then went on: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE LADY BLANCHE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Certainly she did cling to me for all the rest of that terrible day, as + will be seen. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>la belle dame</i> + to be their sport. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “A great shot, Master,” said William, “that no other bow in Hastings could + have sped.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “It is our fleet, William,” I said, “come to talk with these French.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I would that it had come sooner,” answered William. “Still, better + now than not at all.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Mayhap,” answered Sir Robert, adding other oaths, “but why does he buss + my daughter?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Here the fine young captain cut in, saying, + </p> + <p> + “Whatever else this worshipful trader may need, he does not lack a + trumpeter.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he turned to me and added: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + HUBERT COMES TO LONDON + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>plastron</i>, or breast-plate, was inlaid with gold, + having over it a <i>camail</i> 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.) + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Thus this matter was settled. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, sir,” I answered, “I have naught to sell who in this hive of traders + seek one bee and cannot find him.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, aye, that’s the man,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If you would tell me where to find him it would be more seasonable.” + </p> + <p> + “All in good time. But first, young sir, where did you get that fine + armour? If you stole it, it should be better hid.” + </p> + <p> + “Stole it!” I began in wrath. “Am I a London chapman——?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Murderer!” I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I gaped at him. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “You are John Grimmer!” I muttered. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “You mock me, sir,” I stammered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Without a word the man led off the horses. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + Within was a shop where I saw precious things such as furs and gold + ornaments lying about. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Now tell me of my sister’s death and all the rest of your tale.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Who was Odin?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Because my mother bade me and to seek my fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + KARI + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he dictated a short letter to me as to shipping wine from Spain, and + when it was sanded, read it carefully. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + One day, it was when I had been with him about eighteen months, he said to + me suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + He closed the book, saying, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I would have thanked him, but he waved my words aside and went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He paused a while, picking at the bedclothes as the dying do, and + continued, + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + When she looked at him at midnight just as the bells rang in the new year, + he was dead. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Pachacamac</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Tavantinsuyu</i>. + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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>I should + accompany him</i>. At this I laughed again and said that if so it would be + after we were both dead. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Quichua</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] 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. +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + THE COMING OF BLANCHE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Your meaning?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I turned and bade the shopman command Kari to come hither and bring + with him the choicest of our cups and jewels. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Which mayhap I should be willing to do from one of your quality, my + lord,” I interrupted, bowing. + </p> + <p> + He looked at me and said: + </p> + <p> + “Can I have a word apart with you, merchant?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “I am told,” he said at length, “that John Grimmer did other business + besides that of selling jewels.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my lord, some foreign trade.” + </p> + <p> + “And some home trade also. I mean that he lent money.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Be pleased to state the amount and the security offered, my lord.” + </p> + <p> + He did so. The sum was high and the security was bad. + </p> + <p> + “Are there any who would stand surety for my lord?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, one of great estate, Sir Robert Aleys, who has wide lands in + Sussex.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “For a young man you are careful, merchant.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again he looked at the furnishings of the room and shrugged his shoulders, + then said: + </p> + <p> + “Good, it shall be done for the need is urgent. To whom is the letter to + be sent?” + </p> + <p> + “To John Grimmer, at the Boat House, Cheapside.” + </p> + <p> + “But you told me that John Grimmer was dead.” + </p> + <p> + “And so he is, my lord, but his name remains.” + </p> + <p> + Then we returned to the sop and as we went I said, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Man, she is my distant cousin, not my wife. I would she were, but how can + two high-placed paupers wed?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it is for this reason that my lord wishes to borrow money.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Surely, surely,” she began, “you are he who shot the three arrows at the + cave’s mouth at Hastings.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my lady, and did your hawk escape the dogs upon the London road?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think the matter is one that can wait.” + </p> + <p> + At that moment the lord Deleroy broke in, saying, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He stared at me and muttered, half to himself: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari followed to the door and watched them mount their horses at the gate, + then he searched the ground with his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “What was it hooked her cloak?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What think you of those two, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “I think that they will not pay for your jewel, but perhaps this was but a + bait upon the hook.” + </p> + <p> + “And what more, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He went, taking the tray of jewels with him, and I, too, went to the + eating-room to think. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Yet you seem to be well planted in London and in rich soil, Master + Hubert.” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, Lady, but it is not my native soil and for the rest we go where Fate + leads us.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I told her all the story of Kari, to which she listened open-eyed and + wondering, saying when I had finished, + </p> + <p> + “So you saved this poor wanderer also, and doubtless he loves you well.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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, + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I have her too fast, and who cares for a pining dove whereof the + feathers adorn another’s cap?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + To which Deleroy mocked in answer: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now my blood flamed up and I answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He heard and called out, “Fore God, this chapman thinks himself a knight!” + </p> + <p> + Then with a mocking laugh he went. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + MARRIAGE—AND AFTER + </h3> + <p> + Sir Robert and I stood facing each other speechless with rage, both of us. + At length he said in a hoarse voice: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Why do you suffer these things, sir?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then, as though he wished to get away from the subject of Deleroy and his + hold upon him, he went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now a thought came to me, and as was my bold fashion in all business, I + acted on it instantly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Then in God’s name speak it! For I see none.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He started but motioned to me to continue. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “A fair offer fairly put,” he said, “but the question is, not what I say, + but what says Blanche.” + </p> + <p> + “Sir, I do not know who have never asked her. Yet at times I have thought + that her mind towards me is not unkind.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The sooner the better, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + I bowed my head and paused, not knowing how to begin. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “In one way only,” I exclaimed, “by giving yourself in marriage to me. For + that I seek, no less.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + She moved uneasily and the red colour left her cheeks as though she had + been suddenly pained. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Bethink you again; an ugly slug might have smeared my whiteness.” + </p> + <p> + “If so the honest sun and rain will recover and wash it and I am a + gardener who scatters lime to shrivel slugs.” + </p> + <p> + “If to this one you will not listen, then hear another argument. Perchance + I do not love you. Would you win a loveless bride?” + </p> + <p> + “Perchance you can learn of love, or if not, I have enough to serve for + two.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I tell you all my story, you good, simple gentleman?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Nay, only two things. Are you the wife of some other man?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so, though perhaps—once I went near to it. What is the other + question?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you love some other man so that your heart tells you it is not + possible that you should ever love me?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I do not,” she answered almost fiercely, “but by the Rood! I hate + one.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + When she heard this she coloured to her brow and forgetting her tears, + laughed outright, while I went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “By my soul! the last thing I desire is to be alone with my cousin + Deleroy.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “What will Deleroy do when he comes back to find his darling gone?” and + the other answer with a high laugh: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + In the porch was old Sir Robert Aleys. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Farewell, it was indeed, for never did either of us look on him again. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + At last we came safely to the docks where I found all as my cargo-master + had described. The ship <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Laying his finger on his lips he shut the door softly, then said in a low + voice: + </p> + <p> + “Master, there is a man up yonder with the lady.” + </p> + <p> + “What man?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘Moor-man, I know that your master is from home, but that the lady is + here. I would speak with her.’ + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “God’s truth!” I said, “this is strange,” and hammered on the panel with + my fist. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Why are you here with my wife, Lord Deleroy?” + </p> + <p> + “It is strange, Master merchant,” he answered, “but I was about to put + much the same question to you: namely, why is <i>my</i> wife in your + house?” + </p> + <p> + Now, while I reeled beneath these words, without turning her head, Blanche + by the fire said: + </p> + <p> + “He lies, Hubert. I am not his wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Why are you here, my Lord Deleroy?” I repeated. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “So courteous a question demands a courteous answer, Master merchant, but + to give it I must trouble you to listen to a tale.” + </p> + <p> + “Then let it be like my patience, brief,” I replied. + </p> + <p> + “It shall,” he said with a mocking bow. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Blanche,” I said when he had done, “you have heard. Is this true?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Draw!” I said briefly as I unsheathed my sword. + </p> + <p> + “Why should I fight with a base, trading usurer?” he asked, still mocking + me, though I thought that there was doubt in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Until I dead too, O Lord,” broke in Kari in his gentle voice, bowing in + his courteous foreign fashion. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I commanded, “hold the candles aloft that the light may be good, + and leave this man to me.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Then I cried: “<i>A-hoi!</i>” 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. + </p> + <p> + Again I smote for, as both of us knew, this business was to the death, and + Deleroy fell down dead, smitten through the brain. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I sprang to her, but she lifted her hand and waved me back. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + Thus she spoke, ever more slowly and lower, till with the last word her + life left her lips. + </p> + <p> + Thus ended the story of my marriage with Blanche Aleys. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK II + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + THE NEW WORLD + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>you</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What am I to do?” I asked with a groan. + </p> + <p> + “Ship <i>Blanche</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I refused to listen to them, whereat they seemed to give way. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “I think, Master,” said Kari, “that some have entered the sun-room at your + house.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I said, “what shall we do? Try to run ashore, or sail on?” + </p> + <p> + He thought awhile then answered, pointing to those who galloped, now but + tiny figures on the distant bank: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + So I pressed upon the tiller to bring the <i>Blanche</i> more into + mid-channel, and headed for the sea. Wider and wider grew the estuary and + farther and farther away the shores as the <i>Blanche</i> scudded on + beneath her small sails with the weight of the gale behind her, till at + last there was the open sea. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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 <i>Blanche’s</i> + poop right in the wind, which seemed to blow first from one quarter and + then from that. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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). + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Master awake?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Kari,” I said, “but tell me, where am I?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Kari, but where are we?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But what is the country, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i>, + which timber by timber I had seen built up upon the shores of Thames from + oaks cut in my own woods. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Master,” he whispered to me, “rise and wave your sword and shout + aloud, to show that you are alive and not an image.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + THE ROCKY ISLE + </h3> + <p> + For another week or more I remained upon the <i>Blanche</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “What is your plan, Kari? For, know, I weary of this life.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If so, it is marvellous,” I said. “But what shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And if there were I would not go,” I interrupted. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I thought awhile, and asked what he meant to do if I took this counsel + of his. To which he replied: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + There in the creek below lay the wreck of the <i>Blanche</i>, 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Coca</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “If you wish to travel south, there is a way of doing so,” I said to Kari. + </p> + <p> + At the time he made no answer, but on the following day asked me suddenly + if I dared attempt such a journey. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + The end of it was that for a knife and a few nails Kari purchased the + largest <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + So on a certain fine morning when the wind was blowing steadily but not + too strongly from the north, we embarked upon that <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + Although it was so clumsy the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + Thus we went on for three days and nights, the wind from the north blowing + all the while and the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now we could no longer steer or do anything except lie flat upon the + bottom of the <i>balsa</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Be bold! Our gods are still with us in storm.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “and soon we shall be with our gods—in peace.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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. +</pre> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + My last vision was of myself riding a huge breaker as though it were a + horse. Then there came a crash and darkness. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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; + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + He smiled at my jest, and answered more humbly: + </p> + <p> + “Nay, Master, yonder is my land.” + </p> + <p> + Then I looked, following his glance, and saw many leagues way across the + water two snowclad peaks rising above a bank of clouds. + </p> + <p> + “I know those mountains,” he went on; “without doubt they are one of the + gateways of my land.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “This, I think. A very great wave caught us and threw us right over those + rocks on to the shore. Look—there is the <i>balsa</i>,” and he + pointed to a broken heap of reeds and pierced skins. + </p> + <p> + With his help I rose and went to it. Now none could know that it had been + a boat. Still, the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “It has borne us well, but will never bear us again,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “At least we shall not starve,” I said, “though in the dry season we may + die of thirst.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Here we must remain until we die!” at last I cried in my wretchedness. + </p> + <p> + “Nay,” answered Kari, “our gods are still with us and will save us in + their season.” + </p> + <p> + This, indeed, they did in a strange fashion. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + THE DAUGHTER OF THE MOON + </h3> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” I asked idly. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Let her take it, then. Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “Because, O friend, because <i>Quilla</i> is wed to <i>Yuti</i>; 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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I stared at her, for move I could not. Then remembering my crazy talk with + Kari, uttered one word, only one. It was—<i>Quilla</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think you must have told me when you knelt over me just now,” I said. + </p> + <p> + I saw the red blood run to her brow, but she only shook her head, and + answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + A question rose to my lips and burst from them; it was: + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, O Quilla, are you wife or maid?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Now I grew cunning and answered, + </p> + <p> + “I am a Son of the Sea as you are a Daughter of the Moon.” + </p> + <p> + She turned her head and glanced at the radiance which lay upon the face of + the deep, then said as though to herself: + </p> + <p> + “The moon shines upon the sea and the sea mirrors back the moon, yet they + are far apart and never may draw near.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again the red blood ran to her brow and her great eyes fell, those eyes of + which never before had I seen the like. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Riding on the ocean billows, riding for thousands of leagues,” he + answered. “And you, O Lady, how did you come to this isle?” + </p> + <p> + “Riding on the moonbeams,” she replied, smiling, “I, the daughter of the + Moon, who am named Moon and wear her symbol on my brow.” + </p> + <p> + “Did I not tell you so?” exclaimed Kari to me with a gloomy air. + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla went on: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>balsa</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “So be it!” exclaimed Quilla. “Now I go to make ready the <i>balsa</i> and + to warn the maidens lest they be frightened. When you are prepared you + will find us yonder behind the rock.” + </p> + <p> + Then she bowed in a stately fashion an departed, walking with the proud, + light step of a deer. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “unless the <i>balsa</i> oversets, when I shall find + mail hard to swim in.” + </p> + <p> + “The <i>balsa</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + “What net?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, what of it, Kari? With such questions this lady will have nothing + to do.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>is</i> affianced, and that in this land men are very + jealous even of a white god who rises from the sea.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I shall remember,” I answered sharply. “Have I not had enough + of women who are affianced?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will remember, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not enough—swear it.” + </p> + <p> + “Good. I swear it—by the moon.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “Fear not,” I said. “The gods are kind to those who do them service, + though to those who would harm them they are terrible.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i>, 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 <i>balsa</i>. Then they shipped the paddles, and + although full laden, we sailed quietly towards the mainland. + </p> + <p> + Now I was at the bow of the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Behold the temple of Pachacamac, Master,” whispered Kari, bowing his head + and kissing the air in token of reverence. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Remain here in the <i>balsa</i>, Lord, while I talk with these people, + and when I summon you be pleased to come. Fear not—none will harm + you.” + </p> + <p> + Then she sprang from the prow of the <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now all the men rose, and some of them of the humbler sort, creeping to + the <i>balsa</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>balsa</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + “O Lord,” said Quilla, bowing, “behold my kinsman the <i>Caraca</i>” + (which is the name for a lesser sort of king) “of the Yuncas, named + Quismancu, and his wife, Mira.” + </p> + <p> + “Hail, Lord Risen from the Sea!” cried Quismancu. “Hail, White God clothed + in silver! Hail, <i>Hurachi</i>!” + </p> + <p> + 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, <i>hurachi</i> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla and the lady Mira came forward and, placing their hands + beneath my elbows, assisted me to climb out of that <i>balsa</i>, which I + think was the strangest way that ever a shipwrecked wanderer came to land. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>chicha</i>, + 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 + <i>Incas</i>, as they called their kings, and other great lords. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + THE ORACLE OF RIMAC + </h3> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Lord, are you a god or a man?” + </p> + <p> + “What is a god?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “A god is that which is adored and loved.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She shivered a little and answered: + </p> + <p> + “It is not so. I hate him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why are you going to marry him? Are you forced to do so, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “An old story, Quilla, but will you be happy thus?” + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord, I shall be very unhappy. But what does it matter? I am only a + woman, and such is the lot of women.” + </p> + <p> + “Women, like gods and men, are also sometimes loved and adored, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + She flushed at the words and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “To whom are you sworn?” + </p> + <p> + “To the Child of the Sun, no less a man; to the god who will be Inca of + all this land.” + </p> + <p> + “And what is this god like?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Again she flushed. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Quilla, the sacrifice may be all in vain. How long will you hold the + fancy of this loose-living prince?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then, with something like a sob, she rose, made obeisance, and fled away. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I think not. I think that like you she hates him, yet will marry him for + reasons of policy.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “For what purpose, Kari?” I answered moodily. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will go if it can be done in secret, say at night, for I weary of being + stared at by these people.” + </p> + <p> + This I said because I desired to learn of the religion of this nation and + to see new things. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it can be so ordered, Master. I will ask of the matter.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Behold Rimac the Speaker!” whispered Kari. + </p> + <p> + “How can gold speak?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + Kari made no answer. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + As we had come, so we went, and at last found ourselves outside the + glittering temple doors where the litters awaited us. + </p> + <p> + “What did it mean?” I whispered to Quilla, who was by my side. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Curacas</i>, + or chiefs of the towns, waited upon me with offerings as though I were + indeed divine. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Curacas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “So it seems that the gods can weep. Why do you weep, O God-from-the-Waves + who here are named Hurachi?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me awhile, then said, most gently: + </p> + <p> + “And whither would you fly, O God-from-the-Sea? Back into the sea?” + </p> + <p> + “Cease to call me a god,” I answered, “who, as you know well, am but a man + though of another race than yours.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought it but I did not know. But whither would you fly, O Lord + Hurachi?” + </p> + <p> + “To the land where I was born, Lady Quilla; the land that I shall never + see again.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! doubtless there you have wives and children for whom your heart is + hungry.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, now I have neither wife nor child.” + </p> + <p> + “Then once you had a wife. Tell me of that wife. Was she fair?” + </p> + <p> + “Why should I tell you a sad story? She is dead.” + </p> + <p> + “Dead or living, you still love her, and where there is love there is no + death.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I only love what I thought she was.” + </p> + <p> + “Was she false, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, false and yet true. So true that she died because she was false.” + </p> + <p> + “How can a woman be both false and true?” + </p> + <p> + “Woman can be all things. Ask the question of your own heart. Can you not + perchance be both false and true?” + </p> + <p> + She thought awhile and, leaving this matter, said: + </p> + <p> + “So, having once loved, you can never love again.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not? Perchance I can love too much. But what would be the use when + more love would but mean more loss and pain?” + </p> + <p> + “Whom should you love, my lord Hurachi, seeing that the women of your own + folk are far away?” + </p> + <p> + “I think one who is very near, if she would pay back love for love.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Why do you weep?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I, too, must know loneliness, and with it shame, Lord Hurachi.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Do you, then, also love?” I whispered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let me go, and hear me,” she murmured presently, “for you are strong and + I am weak.” + </p> + <p> + I obeyed, and she sank back upon the stone. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” I asked hoarsely. “Your people think me a god; cannot a god + take whom he wills to wife?” + </p> + <p> + “Not when she is vowed to another god, he who will be Inca; not when on + her, mayhap, hangs the fate of nations.” + </p> + <p> + “We might fly, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “There are worse things than death, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What then?” I asked hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Have I found you, Lord, and you also, Lady Quilla? Return, I pray you, + for all search and are frightened.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” I answered. “The lady Quilla and I study this wondrous scene.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + KARI GOES + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “The truth is, Kari, that you are jealous of the lady Quilla as once you + were jealous of another.” + </p> + <p> + He considered the matter in his grave fashion, and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “There are different sorts of loves,” I said; “that of a man for man is + one, that of man for woman is another.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you done?” I asked angrily, who wearied of his homilies. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I will tell you now. I do and she does.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” I said in a rage. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I answered, “if there be such a game, are you not perchance one of + the players on this side or on that?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Some of the troops! Has he more, then?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Fear nothing; it is I—Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Hearken!” she said. “It is dangerous to both of us, but I have come to + bid you farewell.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell! I feared it would be thus, but why so soon, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + “What did he answer, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.’” + </p> + <p> + “Then he guesses, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Did he say no more, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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?’ + </p> + <p> + “I answered that it was so, and my father went on: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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!’ + </p> + <p> + “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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “How came you here?” I asked hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What question, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Which do you desire—to live or to die?” + </p> + <p> + She laughed a little as she answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “And if this happens, what shall I do?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen, Quilla. I have a story to tell you.” + </p> + <p> + Then, as briefly as I could, I set out the tale of Blanche and of her end, + while she hung upon my every word. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I grieve for you,” she said, when I had finished. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, not that!” she murmured. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Is your love so great that you would dare this for my sake, Lord?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Another moment and she had glided away and was lost in the shadows. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Who is it?” I asked, grasping my sword, for his face was hidden in the + shadows. + </p> + <p> + “I,” answered a voice which I knew to be that of Kari. + </p> + <p> + “Then how did you come here? I saw no one pass the open ground.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Then, Kari, you must have seen——” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I am minded to kill you, Kari,” I said between my teeth, “who play the + spy upon me.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely you deserve to die,” I exclaimed furiously. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whither will you vanish, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank you,” I answered, “and certainly you watch well—too well, + sometimes, as I have found to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you go, what shall I do alone?” I asked, alarmed. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + THE CHOICE + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “In my country with it one can corrupt them,” I answered, “or buy them to + be friends.” + </p> + <p> + “So you have a country,” he interrupted shrewdly. “I thought that the gods + had none.” + </p> + <p> + “Even the gods live somewhere,” I replied. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Ask of the Lady Quilla, O King.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now, making no attempt to deny or explain which I saw would be useless, + since he knew it all, I asked boldly: + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I thought awhile and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it and I grieve for both of you,” he said courteously. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The gods see far, White Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Doubtless this is so, O Son-of-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a good offer, King, but not enough. Give me your daughter, Quilla, + and you may keep all the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “White Lord, I cannot, since to do so I must break my word.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Perchance I shall find the wings,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Lord and Father, I come to tell you that the Inca Upanqui draws near with + his princes and captains.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That shall be as the gods decree, my father, and meanwhile I play my part + as <i>you</i> decree. Lord Hurachi, fare you well till in life or death we + meet again.” + </p> + <p> + Then she bowed to me, and went, and presently without more words we + followed after her. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let him approach!” said Huaracha briefly, and they departed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Lautu</i>. 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: + </p> + <p> + “Welcome to the land of the Chancas, O Upanqui, Inca of the Quichuas.” + </p> + <p> + The old monarch eyed him for a moment, then answered in a thin voice: + </p> + <p> + “Greeting to Huaracha, <i>Curaca</i> of the Chancas.” + </p> + <p> + Huaracha bowed and said: + </p> + <p> + “I thank you, but here among my own people my title is not <i>Curaca</i>, + but King, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + Upanqui drew himself up to his full height and replied: + </p> + <p> + “The Incas know no kings throughout the land of Tavantinsuyu save + themselves, O Huaracha.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “He will come, but I do not think that he will worship. They say he is a + god himself, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The lord Hurachi is my guest, O Inca, and here he bides with me,” said + Huaracha. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Coya</i>, or Queen, and the mother of him + who shall succeed to the throne.” + </p> + <p> + “The embassy came, and received my answer, O Inca,” said Huaracha. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did not the Prince Urco come in person, O Inca?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “So I might for you, his father, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Here Upanqui, who hitherto had been listening in silence to the words of + Larico, spoken on his behalf, broke in, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then Quilla spoke for the first time, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then at last Huaracha grew angry. + </p> + <p> + “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.’” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Huaracha sat silent, lost in thought, and the old Inca Upanqui began to + babble again, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I, Hubert, watching Quilla out of the corners of my eyes, saw her turn + pale and tremble. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, I swear it by the Moon your mother, also that I will die with my + soldiers.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + “Be swift,” she whispered again. + </p> + <p> + Then I spoke, or something spoke through me, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Do what honour bids you, O Daughter of the Moon, for what is love without + honour? Perchance both shall still be yours at last.” + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “Father, I go, but that I will wed this Urco I do not promise.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <h3> + THE RETURN OF KARI + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What reason, Quilla?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I will stay,” I answered hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “So I guessed, but where is he now?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “This, too, is old and has a story; wear it in memory of me.” + </p> + <p> + Then we parted and presently she was gone. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “but what of Quilla and what of me?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “To what end is the sacrifice made?” I asked bitterly. “That one people + may struggle for dominion over another people, no more.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Urco might die or be deposed, Huaracha.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then I stretched out my hand to him and so our compact was sealed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Soon, however, all news ceased, for Huaracha shut his frontiers, hoping + that thus Urco might not learn that he was gathering armies. + </p> + <p> + At length, when our forces were almost ready to march, Kari came, Kari + whom I thought lost. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Have you food, Lord?” he asked while I stared at him. “I need it and + would eat before I speak.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Whence come you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “From Cuzco, Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “Then what of the lady Quilla? Does she still live? Is she wed to Urco?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If she lives and is unwed, why?” I asked, trembling. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Has this ever chanced?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “History does not tell it, Lord, since none have been so wicked, but such + is the law.” + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + “What news, Kari?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What happened then?” I asked, staring him in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then we were parted and I saw her no more.” + </p> + <p> + “And did you hear no more, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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: + </p> + <p> + “‘Where is the lady Quilla, daughter of Huaracha, who is promised to me in + marriage, Inca? Why have you hidden her away, Inca?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘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. + </p> + <p> + “‘You mean that robbing me, you have taken her for yourself, Inca,’ + shouted Urco again. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Now at these words Upanqui stood up and rent his robes. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘What sin?’ shouted Urco. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you hear more of Quilla, Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Poisoned her!” I muttered, well-nigh falling to the ground. “Poisoned + her!” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That does not comfort me, man. What of Quilla? Did she die?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I groaned, for the thought of Quilla blinded was horrible. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Such is my tale.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIELD OF BLOOD + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yet it was you, King Huaracha, who sent the lady Quilla to this Urco for + your own purposes,” said Kari in his quiet fashion. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + For a while Huaracha stared at him astonished, then said: + </p> + <p> + “And if you prove it, what do you ask of me, O Kari?” + </p> + <p> + “The help of your armies to enable me to overthrow Urco, who is very + strong, being the Commander of the Quichua hosts.” + </p> + <p> + “And if your tale be true and Urco is overthrown, what do you promise me + in return?” + </p> + <p> + “The independence of the Chanca people, who otherwise must soon be + destroyed, and certain other added territories which you covet, while I am + Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “And with this my daughter, if she still lives?” asked Huaracha looking at + him. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps the Moon, her mother, may have something to say in that matter,” + said Huaracha gloomily. “Still, let it lie for the while.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + After this Huaracha took me to another chamber, where we debated the + business. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Urco is ready for us,” said Kari to me grimly as he pointed to these + tents. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “How know you that she is dead?” asked the spokesman. + </p> + <p> + “If she is not dead,” replied Huaracha, “show her to us.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That is yet to be seen,” answered Huaracha, and without more words the + embassy withdrew. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “<i>The shafts of the god! The shafts of the god!</i>” they cried, and + shrank back from before me. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “An omen, O Urco, an evil omen!” + </p> + <p> + “Aye,” he shouted, “for the White Wizard who shot the arrow.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, “<i>Kari! Kari!</i>” 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Huaracha appeared, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Strike, White Lord! It is our hour! The heart is out of them.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + The Inca warriors grew afraid and shrank back. + </p> + <p> + “This Red-Beard from the sea is indeed a god. He cannot be slain!” I heard + them cry. + </p> + <p> + Then Urco appeared, bloody and furious, shouting: + </p> + <p> + “Cowards! I will show you whether he cannot be slain.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>laso</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Greeting, White-Lord-from-the-Sea. So you have come to visit me after + all, though you said that you would not.” + </p> + <p> + “I have been brought to visit you, Inca,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>laso</i> + can hold a god?” + </p> + <p> + “None,” I answered boldly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I thought to myself that so did I, but I only asked: + </p> + <p> + “How did the battle end, Inca?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Because your son, the prince Urco, has poisoned, or tried to poison, his + only child, Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Naturally. How could she help it, Inca? Who, after seeing you, would wish + to turn to Urco?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems that she was not safe, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Mama-conas</i>, knocked the + cup away before she drank, but some of the horrible poison went into her + eyes and blinded her.” + </p> + <p> + “So she lives, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>Mama-conas</i> + 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?” + </p> + <p> + “He wants his blinded daughter back, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Speak on, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “With the army of Huaracha, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “I understand, O Inca, that the kings of this land have many children. + Perhaps he might be one of them.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “The dead come to life again sometimes, Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why should I tell you, Inca? Is it because you want to kill him who is so + like to this lost Kari of yours?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand, but how can I help you, Inca, who am but a prisoner in your + palace?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “If I should do this, Inca, will the lady Quilla be given back to her + father?” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am weary now. Afterwards we will talk again. Farewell, + Lord-from-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <h3> + KARI COMES TO HIS OWN + </h3> + <p> + 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 <i>Villaorna</i> desired speech with me. I + wondered who this <i>Villaorna</i> 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 <i>Villaorna</i> was his title and meant “Chief priest.” + </p> + <p> + We bowed to each other and all were sent from the chamber, leaving us + quite alone. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + He did so in these words: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Priest Larico, Urco, they say, is like to die, and if so all this + trouble will melt like a cloud.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Which means that I deal with you who are the chief priest, and those + behind you,” I said, looking him in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + We looked at each other. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Again we looked at each other and I went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What did he answer, Lord?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “But do you always think thus yourselves, O High-priest?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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 <i>before</i> 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 <i>after</i> 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?” + </p> + <p> + “Quite. But what would Upanqui or Kari say? The Incas you declare are + always bigots and might interpret this law otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot tell, Lord, but let us cease from beating bushes. I will help + you if I can, if you will help me if <i>you</i> 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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + After this we parted, I promising to work for his cause and to come to see + him again, if I might. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + When he had learned all, he said: + </p> + <p> + “This may be a trap, Lord. I do not trust yonder Larico, who has always + been my enemy and Urco’s friend.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Villaorna</i> + Larico. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “How then is he named?” asked the Inca again. + </p> + <p> + “He is named Kari, first-born son of Upanqui, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “Such a son I had once, but he is long dead, or so they told me,” said + Upanqui in a trembling voice. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Kari opened his robe and drew out that golden effigy of Pachacamac which + he always wore. + </p> + <p> + Upanqui examined it, holding it close to his rheumy eyes. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then he handed back the image to Kari and after reflecting awhile, said: + </p> + <p> + “Bring hither the Mother of the Royal Nurses.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently this lady was in waiting, for in a minute she appeared before + the throne, an old and withered woman with beady eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Mother,” said the Inca, “you were with the <i>Coya</i> (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?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, O Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “How, Mother?” + </p> + <p> + “By three moles, O Inca, which we women used to call <i>Yuti</i>, <i>Quilla</i>, + and <i>Chasca</i>” (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.” + </p> + <p> + “Man who call yourself Kari, are you willing that this old crone should + see your flesh?” asked Upanqui. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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, <i>Yuti</i>, + <i>Quilla</i>, and <i>Chasca</i>, set one above the other, though <i>Chasca</i> + 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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Restore his garments to the royal Prince,” said Upanqui, “and bring + hither the Fringe that is worn by the Inca’s heir.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I answered, “your gods are in the way of giving you all you want, + but it is not so with mine and me.” + </p> + <p> + “What then do you desire, Brother, who can have even to the half of the + kingdom?” + </p> + <p> + “Kari,” I replied, “I cry not for the Earth, but for the Moon.” + </p> + <p> + He understood, and his face grew stern. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <h3> + THE GREAT HORROR + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Cupay</i>, some worshipped in that land, though + others declared that this <i>Cupay</i> was the God of the Dead. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + To this they answered that they were content and would stand by him. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Do you, Children of the Sun, accept the prince Kari, my first-born, to be + Inca after me?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then he fell forward on his face and when we lifted him he was dead. + </p> + <p> + Still the silence hung; it was as though the tongues of men were smitten + with dumbness. At length Kari stepped forward and cried: + </p> + <p> + “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!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “That I could never do,” I answered sadly. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + In such words as these he preached at me, till at length I could bear no + more, and said roughly: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + We built a fleet of <i>balsas</i> 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 <i>balsas</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + <h3> + THE HOUSE OF DEATH + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “What bargain, Lord-of-the-Sea.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now his face grew troubled and he answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I find that the law of my faith is against it, Lord.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all, Larico?” I asked with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord. Because I find that the Inca would not suffer it and swears to + kill all who attempt to touch the lady Quilla.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that all, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “No, Lord. Because I find that a woman who has been betrothed to one of + the royal blood may never pass to another man.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Then from my robe I drew out those knotted fibres that I had taken from + his messenger and held them before Larico’s eyes. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “If I pardon you, what will you give me?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “How do I know that you will not set some trap for me, Larico?” + </p> + <p> + “Thus, Lord, that I shall be with you and share your sacrilege. Also my + life will be in your hand.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded and answered: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now, though my gorge rose at it, I lied to him, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “Aye, Kari,” I replied, still lying. “Since I must dwell in this strange + land, I would do so as a king—no less.” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, I shall never make war upon you, Kari, unless you break your treaty + with the Chancas and strive to subdue them.” + </p> + <p> + “Which I shall never do, Brother.” + </p> + <p> + Then he paused awhile and spoke again with more passion that I had ever + known in him, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Do not add to this lady’s wrongs by robbing her of life as well as of + sight and liberty, Kari,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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! + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Then at last I found my tongue and said hoarsely, + </p> + <p> + “Love is left, Quilla, and—life.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “It is—dead or living—it is——” and she opened her + arms. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + We clung and kissed. Then I thrust her away, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Come swiftly from this ill-omened place. All is ready. The Chancas wait.” + </p> + <p> + She slipped her hand into mine and I turned to lead her away. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “You have the first fruits, but it seems that another will reap the + harvest, Lord-from-the-Sea,” he jeered. + </p> + <p> + “Seize her,” cried Urco in his guttural voice, pointing to Quilla with his + mace, “and brain that white thief.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + It shattered and went out! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIGHT TO THE DEATH + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “The White God! The terrible White God!” + </p> + <p> + Then fear took hold of them and they fled, leaving the litter on the + ground. Yes, all of them fled save one, Urco himself. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Urco’s neck was broken. Urco quivered and was dead! + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “One died, but who lives?” asked the voice. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “I <i>see</i> who it is that lives,” she said. “Something has broken in my + eyes and, Lord and Love, I see that it is <i>you</i> who live. You, you, + and oh! you bleed.” + </p> + <p> + Then the Chancas came bounding down the gorge and found us. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + I went forward to meet him and we spoke together just out of earshot of + our followers. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And thus made your throne safe for you, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “And thus made my throne safe for me. You also who clove Larico to the + breast in the death-house of Upanqui, my father——” + </p> + <p> + “And thus delivered you from a traitor, Kari.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I bowed, and after a little silence he went on: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And was the lie righteous also, Brother?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Fight <i>you!</i> Fight <i>you</i> Kari, the Inca,” I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “It is not,” I broke in. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + At this word I started and bit my lip. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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? + </p> + <p> + 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.” + </p> + <p> + Kari’s gentle voice died away; he had finished his speech and all men + looked at me. + </p> + <p> + “What word?” I said roughly to my captains. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Have done!” I said. “It lies between the Inca and myself,” while Kari + nodded, and repeated “Have done!” after me. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari saw and heard. + </p> + <p> + “Noble as ever,” he said aloud. “Oh! that such bright honour should have + been tarnished by a woman’s breath.” + </p> + <p> + Our lords discussed the manner of our fighting, but to them I paid little + heed. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Oh! my Lord, fight not. Inca, I will return to the House of the Sun!” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Now one called aloud the pledges of the fight which were as Kari had + spoken them. He listened and added: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Kari folded his arms upon his breast and bent his head. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + I rested myself upon Wave-Flame and answered: + </p> + <p> + “If I strike not, O Inca, will you take back your words and let peace + reign between your people and the Chancas?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “O Lord, shed not the Inca’s holy blood for me. Let me be given up! Let me + be given up!” + </p> + <p> + Then some spirit entered into me and I spoke, saying: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE KISS OF QUILLA + </h3> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + That night King Huaracha died. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Now I grew foolish and tongue-tied, but at length stammered out: + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, except what I have said before—that I love you.” + </p> + <p> + She smiled a little in her slow fashion, then asked: + </p> + <p> + “Is there naught to add?” + </p> + <p> + “What can there be to add to love, Quilla?” + </p> + <p> + “I know not,” she answered, still smiling. “Yet in what does the love of + man and woman end?” + </p> + <p> + I shook my head and answered: + </p> + <p> + “In many things, all of them different. In hell sometimes, and more rarely + in heaven.” + </p> + <p> + “And on earth which lies between the two, should those who love escape + death and separation?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, on earth—in marriage.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at me again and this time a new light shone in her eyes which I + could not misinterpret. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean that you will marry me, Quilla?” I muttered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “I remember it,” I said. “That in the beloved arms you should sleep at + last.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “As the rest shall come true,” I broke in, awaking, and swept her to my + breast. + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure,” she murmured presently, “that you love me, a woman whom + you think savage, well enough to wed me?” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, more than sure,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “And my hope, most dear, is that you will be mine, not for an hour but for + all our life’s days,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “First, learn this, that I, your Queen and Lady, have been chosen as wife + by him who sits at my side.” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “We know it,” shouted the nobles. “War is decreed, let war come!” + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay!” they cried. “We would have her wed you, White Lord-from-the-Sea, + that she may become a mother of kings.” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did you not kill him when he was in your hand, and take his throne?” + asked one. + </p> + <p> + “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——” + </p> + <p> + At this moment there was disturbance at the end of the hall, and a herald + cried: + </p> + <p> + “An embassy! An embassy from Kari, the Inca.” + </p> + <p> + “Let it be admitted,” said Quilla. + </p> + <p> + Presently up the central passage marched the embassy with pomp, great + lords and “earmen,” every man of them, and bowed before us. + </p> + <p> + “Your words?” said Quilla quietly. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “And if I refuse to surrender myself, what then, O Ambassador?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Quilla listened and turned pale, though more, I think, with wrath than + fear. Then she said: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + Now every man in that great hall leapt up and from every throat there + arose a shout of, + </p> + <p> + “Never!” + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “Thus say we all!” repeated the great company with a roar that shook the + walls. + </p> + <p> + In the silence that followed Quilla asked: + </p> + <p> + “Have you aught to add, O Ambassadors?” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, this,” said the first of them. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + “Let them be escorted safely from the city,” commanded Quilla, and + soldiers went to do her bidding. + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “‘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. + </p> + <p> + “‘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.’ + </p> + <p> + “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. + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + Back thundered the answer: + </p> + <p> + “It is our will, O Daughter of the Moon!” + </p> + <p> + 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: + </p> + <p> + “Is it your will also, O Lord-from-the-Sea?” + </p> + <p> + “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.” + </p> + <p> + “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. . . . + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Virgin of the Sun, by H. R. Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VIRGIN OF THE SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 3153-h.htm or 3153-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/5/3153/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> 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 curs 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. + diff --git a/old/tvots10.zip b/old/tvots10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73c79e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tvots10.zip |