In the tiger's lair

A few breaths of the fresh, outer air restored the two prisoners to their senses, although it was some time before the stupor caused by the suffocating fumes left them entirely; this was followed by severe spells of coughing and a choking sensation. They asked for water but none was given them.

If Quizquiz had looked upon them before with a triumphant gleam in his eyes, he now regarded them with utter disdain. An insect or a reptile could not have been treated with greater contempt. His lips were set. Cruelty and the desire for revenge showed in every line of his face. He had suffered what he considered an unspeakable indignity; the captives had actually dared touch his sacred person, and none too gently at that. The temple had been desecrated. It was only by sheer luck that he had succeeded in escaping them. In the secret underground passage into which he had disappeared he had taken enough time to collect his composure and to straighten out his dishevelled clothes and diadem before appearing to the multitude that awaited him. Halting an instant he had spoken quickly and in a whisper to Villac Umu, whereupon an officer and a squad of soldiers, accompanied by one of the priests, entered the labyrinth of galleries that undermined the holy edifice to start the smudges. Then, without referring to his experience, the Inca calmly seated himself on the throne and proceeded with the business for which the assembly had been called. As king he owed explanations to no man; and, besides, he was in no humor to recall or to make known to others the humiliation he had suffered. However, his scathing remarks to the unfortunate ones who were called before him gave evidence to his state of mind; the rage that boiled within him found an outlet and an antidote in the denunciations and sentences he hurled at those of his nobles who had been chosen to forfeit their lives for no other reason than that it pleased him that it should be so.

This gruesome work finished, the high priest followed the soldiers into the temple and soon returned with the captives. For Quizquiz that was the supreme moment.

“I am the most luckless of kings,” he began, feigning deep sorrow and unclasping his hands in despair, “for when it is my pleasure to call upon the members of my court for advice or assistance, even the highest fail me miserably. What have I done to deserve such punishment? Slaves all, you do not deserve to have a king to rule and to protect you; better by far that I return to the glory of the Sun, whence I came, and leave you to perish miserably without my wise guidance than remain among you. Is there not a single man of intelligence in my whole nation?”

This was no doubt the cue for the high priest. It was inconceivable that the plan had not been prearranged, and judging by the looks of several in the crowd, Ted and Stanley were not the only ones to see through the wily monarch’s tactics.

Villac Umu came forward and bowed low, too low in fact for entire sincerity. “Beloved ruler,” he smirked, “do not desert us; tarry a moment longer, I beseech you on bended knees. If you will lend your most gracious ears to my unworthy words, I——”

“By all means, good Villac Umu,” Quizquiz said indulgently. “After listening to the jabbering of these ignoble ones my ears long for words of real wisdom, such as always flow from your lips.”

“I, Villac Umu, high priest of the Temple of the Sun though I am, do not deserve the praise of my adored sovereign. What man, indeed, lives who is worthy of even one glance from those august eyes, or one thought from that godlike mind?”

“True! But I would have it so. So do not hesitate to speak freely; that is my pleasure.”

“In the Temple of the Snakes there are two serpents of immense size, with unusual length of fangs, and with the dispositions of all the demons combined. As I studied them in their golden dens, a thought came to me.”

Quizquiz leaned forward eagerly.

“You interest me, great Villac. I would hear the thought that formed itself in your brain.”

“Yesterday, Sarrak, keeper of the serpents, was struck in the thigh by one of these devils. They brought him to me without delay that I might observe his writhings, for it was I who ordered him to stroke the snake-gods to soothe their tempers. For half an hour he suffered all the pains of a lost soul before death came. I saw it with my own eyes, and I heard his cries of agony; it thrilled me with a strange joy, for nothing that I have ever experienced was more magnificent and at the same time more terrible. Might we not rid the valley of these two,” pointing to Ted and Stanley, “in the same manner?”

“You possess the wisdom of a god, Villac Umu. You are sublime! I am more pleased than words can express. You may kiss both my feet, nay, even my hands, and I will invest you with a chain of emeralds in appreciation of your nobleness of character. You will see that I amply reward those who prove themselves worthy of my confidence.”

The high priest was enraptured. He raised his voice to a scream and waved his arms wildly, so that his numerous bracelets tinkled like miniature bells.

“But they shall not die the easy death of Sarrak,” he shouted. “Horrible though that was, it is still too good for them, and not edifying enough for your eyes. So I would have it arranged thus. Chain the two prisoners to a wall, their backs to the cold stones; and to stakes driven into the ground in front of them tie the great serpents—but just a hair’s breadth out of reach of their victims. There let them remain, the men to gaze in terror into the green eyes of the merciless monsters, and the snakes to glare with impatience and increasing rage at the victims who cannot escape them. Hour after hour you shall witness this glorious spectacle. The heat of the midday sun and hunger and thirst will add to the suffering of the captives. But human nature can endure only so much, and then at last their limbs will grow numb and sag, and they will crumple and fall to the ground. The great moment will have arrived; they will be in reach of the snakes. You shall see the gleam of white fangs and the lightning thrusts of arrow-shaped heads, and hear the cries of the doomed ones. It will be a sight for the gods, and—your revenge will be complete.”

“But, good Villac,” Quizquiz protested mildly and hypocritically, “is the venom of these serpents really so deadly? May not the white men possess some antidote or some magic charm to counteract its effect?”

“There is no antidote known to god or man effective against the poison of these snakes. Upon that point I will stake my life.”

“Now only does my mind feel relieved, and I shall sleep again, for at last I have heard words of real wisdom. Your description, dear Villac Umu, has aroused my interest and curiosity; I can picture the grandeur of the spectacle—it unfolds itself like a vision before my eyes. And the plan shall be carried into execution with the least possible delay. To-morrow we begin the return journey to the plain beside the river. I shall allow two days after our arrival for the preparations. On the following morning the festivities shall begin. Look well to the prisoners—the eleven who condemned themselves by their own stupidity, and these two enemies of the common good, who stop at nothing to attain their evil end, not even at invading the temple and scoffing at the Sun-God.”

“Quizquiz”—Stanley took a step forward, with clinched fists and blanched face—“King though you are of a nation of ignorant, cringing people, you are a coward at heart, and you know it. What is more important still, your subjects know it too, and the day is coming when your tyranny and abuse will bring them to their senses. They will cast off their superstitious reverence for you, for they will see in you the weakling you are, dominated by a cunning hypocrite who calls himself high priest, but who is, in reality, lower than the snakes in the temple.”

“Speech shall not be denied you,” the Inca mocked. “The more you talk the surer I am that your anguish has commenced. What next?”

“Do you not fear our friends in the outer world, whose number is greater than the grains of sand in the desert? They will avenge our death. You and your people will be reduced to slavery and destroyed!”

“Should other men from the outer world invade my kingdom they shall receive the same welcome that has been prepared for you. But they will not come. Your greed for gold is so great that you kept to yourselves the knowledge gained during your previous visit here; if others were informed of your secret they too would come to share the spoils; so you have told no one. I know that.”

“Our promise to Huayna Capac has been kept, for we are men of honor. But a letter has been left behind. If we fail to return within a given time, that letter will be opened. Others will learn of our whereabouts, and how to get here, for we included a map and full directions for reaching the valley. Your existence will be known. Men in great numbers will enter your hiding-place armed with contrivances against which you will be powerless. They will annihilate you, carry away everything of value, and leave your cities masses of deserted ruins.”

“You cannot frighten me. The Sun-God will protect his children. He demands vengeance upon you particularly because you profaned his temple; he never forgets. Perhaps you too have a god? Why not appeal to him? Of what use is any god if he will not help you?”

At this sally Quizquiz and Villac Umu burst into loud laughter. Several in the crowd followed their example.

“Yes,” the high priest seconded, “call upon your god. Tell him to show us what he can do; we shall see who is the more powerful, yours or our own.”

“The sun is not a god at all, if you want to know the truth,” Stanley hotly proclaimed. “You might as well worship a stick or a stone for all the good it would do you. Therefore we could not have possibly offended that which does not exist.”

“Blasphemer! When your backs are chained to the cold stones, when the snakes have struck and the poison from their fangs is burning in your veins, you will think of your words and wish you had left them unsaid,” Quizquiz hissed. “We have proof of the sun’s power. We are not blind. Each day as the florid tints of dawn light up the eastern sky we are reminded anew of his glory and greatness. Without his light and warmth the valley would be steeped in everlasting gloom, and life could not exist. What other evidence do we need? None! Now, perhaps you can give some proof of the——”

“You ask for proof? All right, you shall have it, and of a most convincing nature. You shall see that the object of your adoration is as nothing in the hand that created it. Then you will believe—but it will be too late.”

“Does the king wish him to speak more in this irreverent manner?” Villac Umu asked, seeming ill at ease. “May not he be struck dead and thus evade our plans of a just punishment?”

“Let him continue, for his show of suffering gives me delight. The more he talks the greater his guilt.”

“On the fourth day from to-day,” said Stanley, drawing from his pocket the string with many knots tied in it, “you shall see a miracle, and one not soon to be forgotten. You say that the sun gives the light and warmth that makes life possible, and even the most ignorant of your people know that that is the truth. Then you shall experience the despair of seeing that light and warmth shut off in the middle of the day while it is at its height. Darkness, like a cloak of mourning, will sweep over the valley and blot from your sight each familiar thing. In the cold blackness, with the chill gnawing into your bones, you will grovel in the dust and raise your voice in lamentations and in prayer, but your words will be wasted, for you will be powerless to drive away the darkness. All that live will curse Quizquiz and Villac Umu, and rightly accuse them of having brought the terrible catastrophe upon their heads.”

The Inca grew pale and arose from his cushions. “Tell me, Villac Umu, is such a thing possible? You talk with the gods and know their thoughts.”

“It is not possible or I should have been informed of it,” the priest assured him, although he too was perturbed. “How could such a thing come about? I assure you there is no god but the sun, and he always protects his child, the Inca, and his people.”

Evidently Stanley was thinking fast, while Ted, dazed at his companion’s rash predictions, gazed at him wide-eyed, not knowing what to make of the situation.

“And then,” Stanley continued, pointing straight at the Inca, “while the darkness is heaviest, you shall have proof of other strange powers of which you know nothing, for in spite of your good opinion of yourself, you have the mind of a child. From out of the blackness will come a roar mightier than the loudest thunder, and more penetrating than the rumble of the volcanoes all around you. The ground under your feet will tremble, and even the stones in the great wall will hurl themselves into the air and fall with a crash. The barrier between Uti and the valley that has stood for hundreds of years shall no longer exist; and that will serve as an invitation to the evil spirits who slumber there to come back to life to complete the work of destruction. Quizquiz, the days of your glory are no more than the number of fingers on one of your hands.”

“I will listen to no more,” Quizquiz screamed, clapping his hands over his ears. “I should not have listened to anything at all.”

“Nor I,” wailed Villac Umu. “Take them away. To-morrow we start on the journey. The sentence must be carried out. Let there be no delay!”

“Poor Stanley,” Ted thought sadly as the guards seized them and hurried them away to the place of confinement, “his mind has snapped. He is as crazy as a loon. I wonder how much longer I can stand it.”