In the tiger's lair

The two prisoners were closely guarded by a double circle of soldiers until the day drew to a close; then the guards tied their hands securely behind their backs, but not without a struggle, and lashed their feet with tough thongs and fastened the ends to stakes driven into the ground. A small shelter-tent was erected over them.

There they remained throughout the long hours of the night, helpless and suffering from the numerous bruises they had received in the encounter and from the cramped position of their limbs. Added to these tortures were hunger and a burning thirst, for they had been given neither food nor drink. And during all this time they heard the monotonous tramp of many sentinels walking around their prison.

In the morning the thongs were loosened and coarse bread and a basin of water were placed before them. As they ate Stanley tried to engage the guards in conversation.

“What is all the noise outside?” he asked.

The soldiers did not reply.

“Is the Inca still here? Tell him to call; I have thought of several other things I should like to say to him.” But still no reply, so Stanley concluded that further attempts would be futile.

When the two had eaten, the guards gathered up the empty bowls and departed. Ted looked through the opening in the tent; what he saw made him stare in wonder. There was great activity in the direction he could see. Tents in hundreds were being put up and groups of soldiers, led by gaily dressed officers, were marching back and forth. The surrounding country was assuming the aspect of a vast encampment.

Stanley, too, came up to the opening.

“Looks like preparations for a battle,” he said.

“And it is all for our benefit, no doubt. I wonder what Quizquiz intends to do?”

“We shall find out soon enough. I wonder where he is?”

They tried to venture out of their tent, but the guards pounced upon them immediately and forced them back into the prison.

Days passed slowly for the two confined within the narrow space of their shelter; but, fortunately, they were not again bound. Evidently their captor had no fear that they might escape—the place was too well guarded. The suspense was terrible. They knew only too well that all the preparations going on around them were directly connected with their fate; but what that fate was to be they could not even surmise.

One day Ted noticed that Stanley was counting a number of knots that he had tied in a string. “Poor fellow,” he thought as he watched him sadly, “his mind is going, but I cannot blame him. It’s enough to drive any one mad. Sometimes I think I feel myself slipping, too”; the latter was uttered half aloud.

“What are you mumbling about?” Stanley asked, looking up. “I guess I know; it is enough to drive anybody crazy.”

“I was just thinking the same thing about you when I saw you playing with that string. What are you doing?”

“What, this? Take a good look and see if you can’t guess.”

After a while Ted was compelled to admit that he could not make out the meaning of the string.

“Well,” Stanley informed him, “this is my calendar. I am keeping track of the days. Each morning I tie another knot. We left Cuzco on the 12th of the month; it is the 26th to-day.”

“How the days pass, even if the hours drag! I would not have thought it is so long since we got into this. By now we have been given up for lost. I can only hope the colonel suspects what happened and starts an investigation. One of the sentinels must have been in the plot and may talk if he is cornered.”

Further conversation was checked by the entrance of an officer of the guard attended by a score of soldiers. He looked at them haughtily and elevated his dagger to the waist-line, point outward.

“Quizquiz, Inca, Child of the Sun, greatest king that ever came from heaven to rule the earth, commands that you appear before his sacred person. Prepare at once to face the mighty sovereign,” he announced in a loud voice.

“Did he tell you to say that?” Stanley asked.

“He did. You will come at once. The king waits on no man.”

“I thought so. It sounds like him. Tell Quizquiz, Inca, and biggest coward that ever lived that we are ready to fight at any time he desires.”

“You dare be insolent! You shall pay for this,” the officer retorted. “Come with me at once.”

“Suppose we refuse?”

“Refuse the king’s command?” incredulously.

“Why not? He is nothing to us.”

“Then you will be carried forcibly.”

“Not a bad idea. Being carried is better than walking. The king rides from place to place, so why not we?”

At a word of command from their leader the soldiers seized the two, raised them to their shoulders and passed quickly out of the tent.

An encampment of great size had sprung up on the level floor of the valley. It was well laid out. The tents were placed in straight rows with wide streets between them, and there seemed to be armed guards and soldiers everywhere.

The Inca’s quarters, covering a large plot of ground, were easily distinguishable on account of the brilliantly colored tapestries that adorned the sides of the tents. In the rear was a spacious courtyard, and it was there that the monarch awaited them, sitting in a raised chair covered with a silky brown vicuna robe. His nobles and amautas, or wise men, formed groups on each side. In front was a double row of soldiers with spears held in a horizontal position, the points outward, similar to the “on guard” position of bayonet drill.

The prisoners were brought close to the rows of spear-points and unceremoniously deposited on the ground. Quizquiz cast one scornful, triumphant glance in their direction, but without one word to them turned and addressed the officials at his sides.

“Many, many months ago, as you are all aware, I, Quizquiz the Great, commanded you, my abject servants to devise the means of punishment for these two creatures from the outer world upon their return to my kingdom, for my unfailing wisdom told me that they should one day return to complete the plunder of my treasure. They are here; they are in my hands. I am impatient to mete out to them their justly deserved fate. But the modes of execution that have been placed before me are too mild, too lenient; they must be more severe, more terrible, and death must come only after a period of lingering horror and fear of a very apparent end. You have not justified my confidence in your intelligence. If you have not the knowledge to better serve me, I would be well rid of your presence also. Therefore, I have selected twelve of the highest in rank from among you, and do hereby command you to appear before me to-morrow to make known to me the method of punishment you have devised. But,” and he slowly turned his head to look first at one, then the other of the groups of silent officials, “in order that I may not be further annoyed with your stupidity, I shall cause to be inflicted upon each one of you the mode of torture he prepares for the prisoners, if I deem it too mild for them. Villac Umu, High Priest of the Temple of the Sun, will now announce the names of the twelve whom it has been my pleasure to honor. Proceed, good Villac!”

The throng stood in awe, while Villac Umu walked ceremoniously to the front and, first kneeling, kissed both the sovereign’s feet with a show of great humility. Then the high priest took up his position at one side of the king. Aged men inclined their heads forward and pushed back their snowy locks with trembling hands to hear the better; others looked stolid or indifferent, while in the eyes of not a few appeared a gleam of resentment and defiance.

The high priest, in a loud and officious voice, called a dozen names in rapid succession, and finished by admonishing the chosen ones to think well before they spoke or they should pay dearly for their haste. After bestowing a look of approval on Villac Umu, the Inca was carried into his apartments, which was the sign of dismissal for the assembly.

Not a word was spoken by any one as the crowd dispersed. A pall had fallen over all, for the officials whose names had been announced were the highest, the most respected, and the best beloved in the nation. For the twelve it was a virtual sentence; according to the terms announced, only one of them had a possible chance of escape, and Quizquiz was to be their judge.

As Ted and Stanley were being taken back to their prison tent, walking this time by preference, they realized that Quizquiz had had some deep, ulterior motive when he called the assembly. It was but a flimsy way of finding an excuse to rid himself of the most popular of his officials. He envied them their knowledge and ability and the just esteem in which they were held by the populace. But even he, powerful as he was, did not dare condemn them without some pretext to his people. And, judging by the saddened looks of the unfortunate ones, they, too, understood his true motives. However, so accustomed were they to obeying without question the mandates of their ruler, that apparently they would rather suffer death than question an action of a Child of the Sun.

Quizquiz was indeed developing all the unjust, tyrannical, and evil tendencies of which he had shown symptoms in his youth. Added to these was his colossal conceit. If he continued to govern his people in his present manner he must, before long, succeed in destroying all the sacred traditions of the nation, and the nation itself, unless there should be a revolution against his despotism.

That night Ted and Stanley had a visitor. They could not see his face in the darkness, but they knew that he must be a person of distinction, for at his word of command the guards withdrew to a distance at which their footfalls were scarcely audible.

The curtained end of the shelter parted, and a stooped figure entered hastily. That much but no more they could see in the semi-darkness.

“I am Soncco,” a tremulous voice announced without ceremony. “Do you not remember me? I was one of the two amautas who instructed you in preparation for your position as princes when you were here before. You cannot see my face, and a light is forbidden you, but do you not remember my voice?”

The two feared some new trap, so were on the alert.

“If you are Soncco, give some proof of the fact,” Ted demanded.

“I can soon prove that I am no other. If you will but recall, one day when your fare was reduced to almost nothing, you complained to me about it. I told you that others, including Quizquiz, son of the Inca, were undergoing the same ordeal. You replied that ‘if the others can do it we can.’ Those words impressed me. I admired your courage and nobleness of spirit, and I felt that the nation would be honored in admitting you to the lofty station you were about to occupy. I was more sad than I can express when the council condemned you, for I knew in my heart that you were guiltless of any intention of doing wrong. Men of your character could not commit treason against the good Huayna Capac, who had been so generous to you. And now I regret that your punishment must be so terrible, for I feel that again you are innocent of evil intentions against us.”

“We thank you, Soncco, and assure you that your confidence is not misplaced. We did not intend to visit this place again. An accident brought us here. We had no choice in the matter. We would have given anything to have avoided it. But why talk of it? When we were here before you taught us how to live; now you have come to instruct us how to face the ordeal that is being prepared for us! Am I right?”

“No. This time I seek your advice. Tell me how I may meet my fate.”

“You, Soncco? What makes you talk like that?”

“Because I am compelled to. Was not my name called to-day by Villac Umu, High Priest of the Temple of the Sun? It means that I and all the other luckless ones must perish by the means we suggest for your punishment, for Quizquiz will heed none of us. It is merely a pretext for getting rid of those of us who have won his disfavor.”

“We thought the same thing. And while Quizquiz is bad enough, there is another who is infinitely worse; that one is Villac Umu, who is the real ruler. You know that as well as we do. Then why do you meekly submit, like a flock of brainless llamas? Why not be men and fight for your rights and your lives?”

“Quizquiz is king. The Inca always has been looked upon as a holy being. In all the history of the nation none has ever resisted him because he is a Child of the Sun, and no one dares question his actions now. He cannot do wrong. If his will seems unjust to us it is only because we lack the wisdom to see the higher aims that are clear to him. We are as nothing compared to his magnificence.”

“Soncco, it is hard to believe that you really think that. You seem to be a man of intelligence, but if you are really in earnest it is time you knew better. The Inca is a person like any one else, and is great only because the people make him so. Strip him of his crown, his jewels, and his finery, and he would look exactly like any other human being. Dress him in the rags of a menial, and he would not even be recognized in the street. He eats, drinks, and sleeps just as we do; he is a king because the people are ignorant enough to want some one to worship and to bow to,” Stanley said.

“If you were to choose your own mode of punishment, what would it be?” Soncco evaded.

“I understand now why he came,” Stanley whispered to Ted. “He knows we should pick out something easy, so he figures on getting off easily himself, for he is to receive what he proposes for us. Let’s humor him. Who knows what it may lead to?” Then to Soncco: “Nothing could be more terrible than to keep us in the valley the rest of our natural lives and to do everything possible to make us live a long, long time. We should be given full liberty, of course, to come and go as we please, and should live in state, like princes. But still we should be prisoners of the Inca.”

Soncco appeared to be surprised.

“What would be so terrible about that?” he asked.

“Just think of it, prisoners in this small place, when we have been accustomed to the outer world. We long to travel its vast lands, its great rivers, and the mighty oceans. We have even conquered the air and can fly from place to place like the birds. Here we are far from home and all those we hold dear; we should never see them again, nor would they know what had befallen us. What could be more horrible?”

“I understand now,” Soncco replied with enthusiasm. “You speak wisely. I shall suggest it at the meeting to-morrow, and I can only hope that my words will be heeded. And now I must go. Good night, my friends.”

As he stole away they heard him mutter to himself: “I am afraid Quizquiz will never let them off so easily, for they might escape; but, at any rate, he can do nothing worse to me, for if he refuses the request for them he will be compelled to grant it to me. I am safe. And the proposition offers the one chance to——”

They could hear no more, for he had passed into the night. Soon the guards were back at their posts and the steady tramp of their feet was the last sound the two heard before falling into a fitful sleep.