Part 15 (1/2)
”You had reason to believe that your master had conspired with the Villac Vmu to seize the Inca and subject him to the fire ordeal, yet you never took the trouble to come and report the matter to me?” roared Umu
”I--I--Lord, I knew not that--it was no part of my duty to--” staan to realise the terrible nature of the predicareat fidelity to his h,” interrupted Umu ”Bind him hand and foot; lay hieant Huarima, you will remain here with six men to ensure the utter destruction of this house, after which you will follow the rest of the corps to the te to the staff of servants, ere huddling together, paralysed with terror at the tragic turn which affairs were taking, ”you would only be receiving your just deserts if I were to order you to be consumed, with your chief, upon that pile I ao But let the fate of the steward be a lesson to you all henceforth, that fidelity to the Inca comes before fidelity to your master And now, men, pass out and mount Our next place of call is the temple”
CHAPTER TWENTY
IN THE NICK OF TIME!
”Well,” soliloquised Harry, as he glanced about hi that he was indeed a prisoner, ”what does this mean? Is ita revolt of the priests, I don't believe a word of it Had there been any such thing it would not have been possible for n--either sight or sound--of it No; that was just a yarn, a ruse to get ly Noonder what the dickens they ith me, and what they intend to do withvery serious, I expect; for I am the Inca, and they would never dare to lay violent hands upon the Inca; that ae of the very worst kind Yes; no doubt And yet I am by no means certain that that fact would exercise any very powerful restraining influence upon our friends Huanacocha and Xaxaguana They are both ambitious ious convictions of either e, if his aed him in that direction Ah, well! time will show, I have no doubt; ht's rest, so I will do what I can to recover arrears” And, thus thinking, he quietly stretched hiainst one wall of the rooht-hearted carelessness of extreme youth he actually did sleep--slept so soundly that he was not even disturbed when, some hours later, the door was quietly opened and two attendants entered bearing food and drink, which, seeing that the prisoner still slu the door again as they passed out It was past ten o'clock in the forenoon when the youngcompletely rested, opened his eyes and looked about hie quarters The next moment, however, s of the past night, and once an to speculate upon the purpose which could have been powerful enough to induce Huanacocha and Xaxaguana to resort to so extreme a measure as that of his abduction from the palace And noith the ht's rest, he began to take a soan to realise that what these terful nobles had done was no hasty, ill-considered act, undertaken upon the spur of the ht of the probable consequences, but was doubtless the result of long and anxious premeditation; and, if so, they would surely have taken every possible precaution to guard theht shudder thrilled through hiht that he could tell to the contrary one of those precautionsthat he should never return to the light of day, and that no one should ever knohat had becoain the optirim reflection with a s like so serious as that, he told himself, and without doubt in an hour or two hence he would be back in the palace, heartily laughing at the whole adventure
He drew forth his watch and looked at it To his astonishment he found that it was a quarter after ten o'clock--for, his place of confineround level, and hewn out of the heart of the rock, there were no s to it, and the only source of light was the lahtly For an instant he was under the iht at the hour indicated, but upon putting it to his ear he found that it was still running Then his eye felt upon the viands on the table, and he suddenly discovered that he was hungry Without further ado, therefore, he seated hi for the moment all further considerations of the future, fell to and made a most excellent breakfast
Esob had finished his meal a full hour and more, and had found time once more to become distinctly apprehensive as to the intentions of Huanacocha and Xaxaguana toward hie outside his door warned him that the crisis was at hand, and the nextopen and a priest entered
”My Lord,” he said, ”it is the command of the Villac Vmu that you accompany me into his presence”
”The command, did you say?” retorted Harry ”Surely the Villac Vets himself and his position when he presu that the passage outside was full of armed men ere evidently quite prepared to enforce obedience to the orders of the High Priest, he continued, ”I will not stand upon ceremony, or carp at a mere form of words, but will obey the summons of the Villac Vmu Yet, let him and all who hear me remember that I areat as it is to punish presumption Now, lead on”
The priest led the way into the passage, Harry following, and the ed frouard of a dozenescape on his part i the passage, up the steps which Harry had descended upon his arrival, and thence along a corridor into a room croith priests and civilians, where, raised upon a dais, sat the Villac Vuard, Harry was halted in front of this dais, and directed to seat himself in a handsome chair that had been placed there for his reception This done, the proceedings at once commenced, and Harry immediately perceived that he was about to be subjected to some sort of a trial, for no sooner was he seated than the Villac Vmu cried:
”Let my Lord Huanacocha stand forth”
There was a moment's bustle and confusion, and then from the midst of the asseh, and placed hiuards
”My Lord Huanacocha,” said the Villac Vation, and because of certain representationsour Lord the Inca to be brought hither, that he es which I understand you desire to bring against hi so ye shall swear by the Light of our Lord the Sun that your s is free from all bias or personal ill will; that you are animated therein solely by anxiety for the public welfare, and that you will say no word save what you, personally, know to be the truth”
”All this I swear!” answered Huanacocha, raising his right hand aloft
”It is well,” coes”
”My Lord,” answered Huanacocha, ” man who sits there, and e have for these many months past honoured and served as the re-incarnated Manco Capac, the father and founder of our nation, is that he is an iht or title whatsoever to the service and reverence which we have given hie,” continued Huanacocha, ”which, however, should be preferred by you rather than by me, O Villac Ver to worshi+p our Lord the Sun, our Father and Benefactor, and the Giver of all good gifts, and has commanded that we shall worshi+p instead Pachaca, and e have never until now been bidden to worshi+p I aion-- for it a less--as is everybody else hoe will certainly bring disaster and ruin upon the nation There are other charges which could be preferred against the prisoner,” concluded Huanacocha; ”but I aainst him shall rest upon those which I have already enuuana ”My Lord Huanacocha, the gratitude of the community is due to you for the public spirit which has pronise to be an exceedingly disagreeable task, and doubtless the public generally will be careful to see that your disinterestedness is suitably rewarded Is there anyone present who desires to support the charges preferred against the prisoner by h treason once set rolling, everybody seemed anxious to add to its momentues rievance, real or ith soimpatient, refused to listen to any further evidence He then turned to Esob and said:
”Prisoner, you have heard the charges that have been brought against you What answer have you to theht well answer,” said Esob, ”that I aht to question ht to bring me to trial, as you have dared to do; for I am supreme and infinitely above and beyond you all But I have no desire to take refuge behind ainst me, as appears to be the case, I prefer to answer it