In the tiger's lair

After a few hours Stanley awoke with a start. The seriousness of their position made lengthy or restful sleep impossible. As he lay thinking of their plight and raking his brain for some means by which its outcome could be averted, he heard a sigh from Ted.

“Are you awake?” he whispered.

“Yes. I have given up trying to sleep. I am thinking of to-morrow and what it may bring. For once I wish the night would last forever.”

“I have made up my mind. I am not going to stay here longer waiting for them to drag me away——”

“That’s just the way I feel. Suppose we try to get away. It seems hopeless, but we can try. The guards may be overconfident or drowsy. And, anyway, whatever they would do to us if they caught us would be quicker than the plan Quizquiz is preparing.”

“Then let’s go. Try to get hold of a weapon of some kind; perhaps the guards have stacked their arms, or we might be able to overpower one of them. A knife, a spear, anything will help if we have to fight our way through.”

Apparently the watch was being changed, for they had not heard the footfalls of the sentinels for several minutes.

Cautiously stealing out of the tent, they listened for a moment; then they began to crawl in the direction of the river. If they could gain its banks they would brave the current in an attempt to reach Uti, beyond the wall, and once there the numberless caves offered places of at least temporary security against any horde of besiegers.

When they had crawled a distance of twenty yards they heard the sound of approaching footsteps; they stopped and flattened themselves to the ground. Four sentries passed between them and the end of their tent.

Ted touched Stanley lightly on the shoulder. “We are through the line,” he whispered. Again they resumed their stealthy advance. From out of the blackness ahead of them came the murmur of flowing water; it must be the river.

And then, without warning, a loud clangor broke upon their startled ears; it seemed to come from all around them at the same time, and bewildered them by its suddenness. Before they fully realized what had happened, a dozen soldiers with flaming torches came running from various directions, shouting as they ran. The two sprang to their feet and started away as fast as they could, but other guards headed them off and, tripping them, pinned them to the ground. Before long they had been taken back to their tents, bruised from the rough treatment they had received, but leaving several of the soldiers sprawled on the ground from the mauling they had given in return.

“We travel in circles,” Stanley panted. “Here we are, back again in the place we started from. But that was a clever plan of theirs; we have to give them credit for that. And we fell for it like a couple of chumps.”

“What caused all the racket?” Ted, too, was breathing hard. “I don’t know yet what happened, unless some one saw us and gave the alarm.”

“Nothing of the kind. We gave the alarm ourselves, or at least I did. The place is surrounded with a rope fence with bells attached to it. I was all tangled up in it.”

“Well,” Ted tried to console his companion, at the same time paying him a graceful compliment, “you could not help it. You got into it only because you were in the lead; if I had been first I should have done the same thing.”

The end of that night, wretched as it was, came all too soon. As day was breaking the journey began to the City of Gold, where stood the great Temple of the Sun, for it was in the court of this sacred edifice that the sentence was to be pronounced. The procession was already formed when the prisoners joined it. Every one of the numerous host was in his proper place in the line that reached far into the distance, excepting only a small detachment of soldiers that remained behind to look after the encampment.

Quizquiz truly travelled in all the barbaric splendor and luxury at his command. Riding aloft in his golden litter, borne on the shoulders of his uncomplaining nobles, he looked down haughtily upon the throng that formed his escort; he even gazed defiantly or with a superior air at the snow-capped mountains in the distance marking the confines of his empire, as if they, too, were subject to his wishes. Occasionally he amused himself by striking those nearest him with his whip, or in admiring the flashing jewels on his fingers and around his neck.

The march was interrupted frequently while the monarch took long draughts of corn beer from golden goblets served by the numerous attendants.

Other menials of the retinue carried cages of live ducks, doves, and tinamou or mountain partridges, so that their sovereign might not want for these highly esteemed delicacies while on the march. Another group had charge of the Inca’s wardrobe, which was of necessity very large, for with the exception of the outer mantles he never donned the same garment more than once. After having been worn it was discarded forever, nor could it be used by any other person after having graced the sacred person of the king. It was either burned outright or stored in the repositories of the palace to be destroyed with much ceremony at some future time.

One incident of the march well illustrated the cruel and unfeeling nature of Quizquiz, as well as his entire lack of justice or desire to provide for the welfare of his people.

In passing through one of the settlements an elderly man rushed out of the crowd and knelt in the street; as the royal litter approached he threw himself flat on the ground and begged the Inca to grant him an audience.

“What does this insolent creature want?” Quizquiz asked in a surly voice of Villac Umu, whose sedan was carried directly in back of the king’s.

“Speak!” Villac commanded the man.

“My allotment of land has been taken from me by my gracious lord’s governor. I have nothing now and am starving,” the aged man pleaded.

“Why was it taken?” asked the high priest. “What crime did you commit? Conceal nothing from the all-knowing king!”

“No crime. I was not even accused of a crime. My plot was more fertile than that of the officer, so he envied me and took it away. I beseech you that justice be done.”

Quizquiz flew into a rage.

“The governor represents me and enforces my laws upon an unworthy people. If he desires your land he shall have it. What right have you to anything? Everything is mine. You have lived many years by my grace and by my father’s, yet you complain. Is it true that you now have nothing—no place to which to go?”

“It is true, most noble king. I know not where to turn.”

“It is well; throw him into the river!”

Two soldiers seized the luckless man and hurried him away. With a chuckle Quizquiz ordered that the march be resumed, while Villac Umu nodded approvingly.

Ted and Stanley were enraged at this high-handed action on the part of the Inca. Even the meanest of his subjects had always retained the right to plead his case before the king, according to the law of the nation. Huayna Capac had without exception listened patiently, caused an investigation to be made, and if one of his officials had been guilty of oppression or had administered the laws badly he had been severely punished. It was obvious that Quizquiz had launched forth upon a career of cruelty and extermination that would surely lead to his own downfall.

Arrived at the Golden City, the procession proceeded directly to the Temple of the Sun. The soldiers arranged themselves to form a hollow square. The nobles, priests, and amautas formed groups in the centre of it. In front of the massive structure of the temple stood a giant tree, its topmost branches reaching well over a hundred feet above the ground. Trailing plants that hugged the earth grew at its base; they were symbolic of the Inca towering high above his lowly, cringing subjects.

The king’s litter was carried to the very door of the temple and placed upon the top of the stone terrace, from which a rug-covered runway led into the building. A carpet of soft chinchilla skins covered the floor of the passage.

Quizquiz arose, stepped out of his conveyance, and in a haughty, deliberate manner entered the holy edifice—alone and unattended. No one dared enter the temple while the king was within, lest they disturb his devotions.

A loud voice raised in a chant soon came out of the open door and reached the ears of the waiting multitude, which promptly fell upon its knees; supposedly Quizquiz was praying to his Sun-God for guidance in dealing with his prisoners in a proper manner, but the tone and words were of such nature that they were obviously calculated to impress his hearers rather than any divinity.

The soldiers, too, were kneeling, with heads bowed low. For a moment Ted and Stanley stood alone. Not an eye was turned upon them.

“Come!” Stanley whispered. “This is our chance.”

Closely followed by Ted, he sprang lightly to the raised platform, and before the guards knew what had occurred the two had disappeared into the gloomy building. Knowing that there could be no pursuit, they moved slowly and silently through a corridor flanked by tall columns of stone, and reached the main room, which was the place of worship.

They saw Quizquiz in the distance, and once again they gasped in astonishment. They had fully expected that at least in the temple the vainglorious monarch would dispense with some of his conceit. But they had been mistaken.

A representation of the sun, emblazoned with gold and jewels, covered the entire end wall of the building. Instead of kneeling, or at least standing in front of it, with outstretched arms, as the ritual prescribed, Quizquiz had seated himself on a cushion, with his back turned toward the sacred emblem. That accounted for the fact that his voice could be heard so distinctly by the multitude outside. But, most profane of all, he held a large metal mirror in his hands and admired his own reflection the while he prayed.

So absorbed was he in this fascinating occupation that he did not see the two until they had left their place of concealment and were close upon him. Hearing the sound of their footsteps at last, he looked up to ascertain their cause. As he beheld the onrushing pair a shudder passed over his frame and the mirror fell from his hands; his arms froze in mid-air while a look of terror came into his face. Before he could recover the two had reached his side.

“One sound and I will choke the life out of you,” Stanley threatened in a whisper, at the same time grasping him by the throat, while Ted, picking up a heavy gold sceptre that lay on the floor, raised it above the startled ruler’s head in a manner that left no doubt as to his intentions.

Quizquiz was too frightened to speak.

“You are our prisoner now, understand?” Stanley continued. “The tables are turned. Now you know just how we felt up to a few minutes ago, and you will learn other things, too, before we are through with you. Not a sound, remember, or it will be the last one you ever make.”

“You dared follow me here?” At last words came to the lips of the terrified monarch, but his voice was scarcely audible; the thing seemed so impossible to him. “Here! in the holy temple—in the presence of the Sun-God and of my sacred forefathers——”

“Shut up!” Stanley commanded, while Ted’s eyes, becoming accustomed to the semi-darkness, made out a row of mummies seated on gold thrones that lined the walls on both sides of them.

“Take us to one of the inner chambers,” Stanley continued, “and we will tell you what to do, but do not forget, no treachery, or you know what will happen,”—and he tightened his fingers perceptibly.

“I am the king; I obey no man’s orders,” Quizquiz protested weakly.

“You were king; now you are our prisoner and you will do exactly as we say. Move on!”

Without another word the captive led them to a small, bare room, with four walls of solid, hewn stone. Light was admitted through an opening ten feet above their heads. Ted stood guard at the door, while Stanley pushed Quizquiz to the centre of the floor, still retaining his hold on the prisoner’s throat.

In this position they stood for an appreciable length of time, looking at one another, the Inca’s wily brain busy trying to devise some means of outwitting his captors, and the two Americans hoping they could gain their end without resort to the violence they had promised in the event their demands were refused.