Part 13 (2/2)
”And--I suppose there were no signs--no est the possibility of--of--foul play?” stauana; ”the physicians found nothing whatever of that kind How should they? It is certain that both men died in their beds, within the precincts of the temple And who is there within these precincts ould dare to co of the fact that, so far as is known, there is no one ould be in the slightest degree benefited by their death, or could possibly desire it”
Huanacocha looked at his friend aduana,” he reed it, and I am anxious to know
So set aside all further pretence, my friend; be frank with uana firmly ”The man who has a secret and fails to keep it to himself is a fool, friend Huanacocha, and I am not a fool; therefore if I happen to have a secret I prefer to retain it within my own breast But the , and a were to happen to Tiahuana and Motahuana, that they died before it was possible for them to take certain action which you had reason to fear, you would use your powerful influence with our Lord the Inca to see that I obtained proht, together with certain other advantages Is not that so? Very well Singularly enough, that which you desired has happened--most fortunately for you; and now it seems to me that all that reree with me?”
”Yes,” answered Huanacocha frankly, ”I do; and I will proceed hence to the palace and officially inform the Inca of the sudden and lae the ih Priest There is no doubt that you will get the appointment, for in the first place you are entitled to it as senior priest; in the next, you will get the full advantage of my recommendation; and, in the third, the Inca has no personal friend to whoive the appointment in preference to yourself That arded as settled
”But there is another, and an equally iuana, and in which I desire your advice and help Tiahuana and Motahuana being dead, there is nobody, so far as I knoho has any particular interest in retaining the present Inca upon the throne To that remark you may of course object that he is the re- incarnated Manco whose coenerator of the ancient Peruvian nation, was prophesied by titucocha, and that, in the event of anything happening to hi process would be deferred indefinitely But, I ask you, my dear friend, what if it were? In ay should we suffer? It is true that we have accustoeneration as the one thing to be desired above and before all others; but is it? We are perfectly happy here in this valley as we are Do we in very truth desire to exchange our present happy and peaceful existence for an indefinite and doubtless long period of toil, and warfare, and suffering? And in what respects should we be the better at the end, even if we should be successful--of which, permit me to say, I have e in the character of our religion, and the so-called a ards you and enerally Now, I have spoken to you quite frankly; be equally frank with ive your view of the matter”
”I will, uana ”My view of the matter is identical with your own And it is possibly identical also with that ofto help us? Also, with all your frankness you have not yet given utterance to the idea that I see you have in your mind You are far too cautious, friend Huanacocha, ever to become a successful conspirator”
”Onesuch a conspiracy as I have in my mind,” answered Huanacocha ”Nevertheless,” he continued, ”boldness and caution are so, therefore will I be bold with you, Xaxaguana, since I think it will not be difficult for me to prove to you that not only our views, but also our interests, are identical
In a word, then, I believe that it would be advantageous to you and to me--and possibly also to the rest of the inhabitants of this valley--if the present Inca were deposed, and I were made Inca in his place The question is, how is the matter to be accomplished? If he were to die now, even as the Villac--”
”It would be thethat could possibly happen,” cut in Xaxaguana ”The Villac Vmu and Motahuana were both old men, and therefore that they should die is not at all remarkable But that they should both die at the saular, and, despite all our precautions, is not unlikely to arouse more or less suspicion in many minds Now, if the Inca also were to die, that suspicion would undoubtedly be converted into certainty and an investigation would assuredly be set on foot which could not fail to end disastrously for those found responsible for the three deaths, and especially for that of the Inca; for, as of course you are fully aware, practically the whole of the inhabitants of the valley are still old- fashi+oned enough to cling to the superstition that to e
”But on the day when the Inca was presented to us in the temple, you spoke certain words which, if they were now repeated, ht find an echo in the mind of many an inhabitant of this city You boldly expressed your doubts as to the identity of the youth with him whose appearance was foretold by the prophet titucocha, and e of the ancient Peruvian nation have been expecting for the last three hundred years and arded with disfavour by the people generally; and I believe that, as a consequence of this, it would not be very difficult to iestion that the late Villac Vmu made a very serious mistake--if, indeed, he did not co man to us as the re-incarnated Manco Capac That suspicion once instilled into them, it should be a comparatively easy matter to incite them to demand that the Inca shall establish his identity by sub to the ordeal by fire, after which your election to the vacant throne should be a foregone conclusion; for, of course, neither you nor I believe for a lishazed at his companion for several moments in silent admiration; then he exclaimed enthusiastically:
”I have already told you twice thisthat you are a wonder, and I now say it for the third tiuana, the possessor of the most astute and clever brain in the valley; and I foresee that, working together, you and Iresults as we have scarcely yet dared to drea about the result of which you have just spoken? It will be a slow and tedious process at best, and while it is being achieved uana, ”it will not be nearly so lengthy a process as you see his uana proceeded to whisper a few sentences which appeared to fill Huanacocha onder and aduana demanded, as he concluded his communication
”It cannot possibly fail, if carried out with promptitude and discretion,” answered Huanacocha in tones of conviction ”And its perfect sireatest recommendation When do you propose to couana, ”now, this very day Nothing will be talked of during the next few days save the sudden death of the Villac Vmu and Motahuana, and such a topic of conversation will afford me the precise opportunity which I require And now, friend Huanacocha, you and I have been together quite as long as is either prudent or desirable Go, therefore, hence to the palace, acquaint the Inca with the sad news of which you are the official bearer; infore of your duty you have visitedthe fullest information relative to the deplored event, and direct his attention to the extre me Villac Vmu at once”
”Fear not, friend,” answered Huanacocha, as he rose to take his leave, ”you shall receive the notification of your appointuana, who accompanied him as far as the outer door, he left the apartment and proceeded on his way to the palace
Huanacocha was as good as his word; for he not only secured fronity of Villac Vmu, but actually took the trouble to hurry back from the palace to the temple with the inforned
As Xaxaguana had anticipated, alht was the death of the late Villac Vmu, and that of his deputy, at practically the same instant of time, as was determined by the physicians For the first few days this circumstance was spoken of si after the obsequies--which were celebrated with unprecedented poan to be noticed that, when the subject happened to be referred to, people were acquiring a trick of putting their heads together and whispering mysteriously to each other The trick rapidly developed into so a habit; and as it did so, the whispers as rapidly changed into plain, open speech, and the words which were interchanged lost their original air of confidential mysteriousness, until, finally, people told each other without very much circue deaths of Tiahuana and Motahuana than met the eye And if they were asked to express themselves more plainly they reminded each other that the two priests, who had died under such really remarkable circu of the white Inca, and the introduction of him into the community, and this reminder was quite frequently followed by a somewhat pointed question as to whether, after all, they--the priests--could by any chance havethe Inca, so the opinion that it was no question of mistake, but rather a case of deliberate deception of the people, with soht to light, inase in the forion, has cut off the offenders in the n of His displeasure The transition fro the genuineness of the Inca's claim to be the re-incarnation of the divine Manco Capac was an easy one, made all the ht indeed almost say all--of Esob's decrees Yet so consun was conducted that scarcely a whisper of it was allowed to reach the ears of those ere suspected of being favourably inclined toward the Inca, and not the faintest inkling of it ever penetrated to Esob himself Such extre the strings that no sign whatever of the Inca's fast-waning popularity was for athe palace officials and staff generally was found to be exceptionally tedious and difficult, for Esob's genial disposition and straightforward character enabled him to endear hiht into intith by the exercise of alenuity, with a solitary exception in the case of Arinised, was so faithfully and devotedly attached to his royal master that it would be worse than folly to attempt to corrupt hient precautions being taken to keep the whole thing secret froe above indicated when Esob, having grappled with an exceptionally arduous day's work, retired to rest close upon ht, and soon afterward sank into a heavy sleep, only to be, as it seeht of torches flashi+ng upon his closed eyelids, and the scuffle of sandalled feet about his couch Springing up into a sitting posture in his bed, he opened his eyes, still heavy with sleep, to find his cha ere Huanacocha and Xaxaguana, the new Villac V his eyes to assure hiet in here? And what is the matter?”
”The ravity and importance, as the Villac V less than a revolt aainst the modifications in the form of the worshi+p and service in the teainst the Villac Vmu and those others who have pronounced themselves in favour of my Lord's modifications Some of those ere in favour of the er nu to between twenty and thirty, are even now being subjected to the fire ordeal, as would have been the Villac Vmu, had he not happily escaped and made his way to my house for shelter and help That, in brief, is how the matter stands; is it not, Villac Vuana ”And when I had stated the facts to arded theh to justify us even to the extent of disturbing the rest of my Lord the Inca, and--”
”By Jove, yes, I should think so,” exclaih Priest uncere from his couch to the floor
”Where is Arima? Pass the word for Ariet into the for Arima