The Sun Virgin
in a small measure the loss by the clause allowing the vessels stored
before melting.
“You have also much silver,” he remarked to Atahualpa.
“Yes, much.”
“We ask then, that you fill the adjoining room twice full of silver in
like manner.”
“Agreed.”
In the contract the Inca solemnly bound himself to permit no movement
of his troops during the two months in which the ransom was being
collected.
To show his good faith, he called a courier and sent the royal order
immediately to Challcuchima, his commanding general, directing his
troops, under no circumstances, to stir from their camp for two months
unless by his personal order.
Pizarro responded by striking the chains from Atahualpa’s limbs.
“I allow you the freedom of your apartments, attended by your wives and
mother,” the commander agreed. “And more. Your privacy shall not be
disturbed. And your subjects shall have free access to your person to
pay their homage.”
The Inca bowed in appreciation of the privileges granted and hastened
to fulfill his contract.
Swift messengers flew to the limits of the empire and from north and
south, east and west, streams of gold began to pour into the hands of
the Spaniards. It was a thing unbelievable and yet it was happening
before their eyes.
CHAPTER XXII
Pizarro’s guard over Atahualpa’s house allowed its most dangerous
visitor to pass and repass without hindrance. Yma’s garb of the Sun
Virgin gave her instant admission and exit. The commander’s orders
against any molestation of these girls had been rigidly enforced and
scrupulously obeyed. None knew better than the Spaniard the force of
religious fanaticism. More than one guard had cast longing eyes on the
beautiful dancer. But none of them had offered the slightest insult.
The girl took advantage of her freedom to give her whole energy to the
cause of the Inca. From the convent on the outskirts of the city she
organized an uprising for the rescue of the captive. Every convent and
temple of the Sun was now a rallying point of her conspiracy. Yet it
was necessary to keep from Atahualpa and his household the slightest
hint of this secret. There was a woman among the royal wives whom
she had caught speaking in whispers to Felipillo, the interpreter,
whose hatred of Atahualpa was well known. This venomous betrayer of
his people was rapidly learning the worst traits of the Spaniards and
counting them virtues. He had been to Spain with Pizarro and reckoned
himself the equal of any Spaniard in subtlety and ambition. He was
in love with a wife of the sovereign and now that the Inca was in
captivity had determined to take advantage of the situation to seize
the girl under his very nose. How far the woman had gone in disloyalty
to her master it was impossible to tell. Too far, Yma believed, to
permit a word of her plans to be breathed in the House of the Serpent.
The royal court had been restored to something of its old splendor in
spite of the restrictions on the monarch’s movements. He daily held
a state reception and received his nobles and the humblest subject
who sought his decisions. They came in hundreds and then in thousands
bearing gifts and offering their love and reverence in the hour of
their master’s humiliation. No member of the nobility, however exalted,
ever dared to enter his presence without removing his shoes and bearing
a load of some kind on his back in token of his full submission to the
Lord of the Sun. These acts of homage were received by the ruler as
a matter of course, and drew from him no response, as none had been
expected.
The Spaniards watched the growth of these levees with a touch of
suspicion, and redoubled the vigilance of his guard.
Yma had quickly seen the importance of this court scene. It fitted
perfectly with her scheme. While the ransom was pouring into Caxamalca,
her chosen warriors were drilling in secret for the _coup_ she had
planned.
While Pizarro guarded the roads entering the Plaza with care, Yma and
her five hundred sisters in the convent of the Sun organized a far more
efficient guard on the roads outside the city. No native now entered
its gates without giving an account of himself to these secret agents.
Her one big fear was from the prisoner in Andamarca. Pizarro had not
yet discovered the place of Huascar’s confinement, but it could not be
concealed much longer.
A faithful spy at Andamarca reported to the Court at Caxamalca that
Huascar was wildly excited over the news of his rival’s fall. On the
following night his courier was on the way with a message written in
the _quipa_ strings and knots which Felipillo could read. The road
from Andamarca led across the ridge on which the fortress stood in
which Molina was hidden.
Yma stood beside her guards watching the roadway. She was absolutely
sure that Huascar’s messengers were on the way. They appeared at the
very hour they were expected. The courier was accompanied by a heavy
veteran of Huascar’s, faithful to the sovereign of the South.
The two men stopped in amazement at a girl’s voice calling from the
shadows:
“Halt!”
The answer was a leap forward in an attempt to pass down the stairway
toward Caxamalca.
“Take them!” cried Yma in a sharp command.
Her two guards leaped like jaguars and the fight was on. With desperate
courage the men from Andamarca fought until overcome. But with a knife
at his throat the leader surrendered his _quipa_ message. The two
were bound, led into the fortress and safely lodged to await the orders
of the Inca.
Yma’s entrance into his levee was most casual on the following morning.
She knelt at his feet and gave a sign to the group of Sun Virgins who
formed a circle of adoration. When they rose the Inca was completely
hidden from the crowd who yielded to the ceremony of his chosen
servants.
In low tones Yma murmured:
“Read, O Lord of the Sun, and give thy commands.”
The blood-shot eyes stared in cold anger at the message from his
brother. It was addressed to Felipillo for his master Francisco
Pizarro. Huascar proposed to the invaders to double the amount of the
ransom offered by his rival if the Spaniards would restore him to the
throne. He declared that Atahualpa could not make good his agreement as
he had never known the hiding place of the greatest treasures of the
temple at Cuzco.
“Thank you, glorious Virgin of the Sun,” the Inca whispered. “Come
to-morrow at this hour and receive my orders.”
The girl had scarcely left the presence of Atahualpa when Pizarro
entered and asked an audience. The Inca waved his nobles and all
attendants aside and the Spaniard explained his presence.
“I have just received, Your Highness, a request from the nobles of the
South that I act as judge in the dispute between your brother Huascar
and yourself. Their petition seems fair and if you will bring your
brother from his secret prison I will do this duty to you both. I need
not say that my feelings are with you. But if I may render a decision
as arbiter, it might do much to pacify the nobles.”
The Inca pursed his lips and held his silence for a moment. How much
the Spaniard knew he could only guess. It was safe to venture that he
did not know the place of Huascar’s confinement and that he had as yet
received no message from the traitor. The request was so obvious a
threat that Atahualpa restrained his anger with an effort. His voice
was smooth as velvet when he finally answered.
“I thank you for your noble intentions, commander,” he said, “but there
is nothing to arbitrate. The question was settled in battle and the
country is now tranquil. I am acknowledged the Supreme Lord of all the
nation. But for my foolish generosity my misguided brother would have
been executed for plunging the people in a bloody civil war. I trust
that you will not press on me this request while I am straining every
resource of the kingdom to fulfill my contract with you. The very
mention of such a trial would destroy my authority in a moment and
cause the immediate suspension of the delivery of your gold.”
The commander quickly saw the logic of the argument.
“Of course,” he agreed, “I will not press such an issue on you, but I
will be ready to serve you in the matter at any time after you are set
at liberty, if it is desired.”
The Inca bowed his pleasure at the suggestion, but his mind was
working now with lightning-like rapidity. He asked the chief priest to
attend him in a sacrifice in his own rooms at nightfall.
When the inhabitants of the Square were wrapped in sleep, the Inca,
attended by his Queen, the Dowager and High Priest, opened a heavy door
under the stairway of the House of the Serpent and the Council of State
was convened in a secret chamber below.
The question of Huascar’s treason was put to the Council and his death
decreed by unanimous vote. The High Priest wrote the sentence in the
_quipa_, and the Inca signed it with the scarlet knot only tied by
his hand.
“To-morrow I will dispatch this order to the keeper of the prison at
Andamarca for execution.”
Little could he dream the use the Spaniards would make of this rightful
exercise of his sovereignty.
CHAPTER XXIII
As the piles of gold and silver grew higher, the lust of the conquerors
mounted. They complained that the Inca was not using the speed he had
promised. They could make no allowance for the distance covered by
many of his messengers or the difficulty with which such treasure was
transported by hand in litters, or on the slender backs of llamas. The
pack load for this curious little camel of the south could not contain
more than seventy-five pounds and five to six miles a day was the limit
to which they could be pressed.
In spite of these difficulties, articles worth as much as two hundred
thousand _castellanos_ sometimes came in a day and once the total
daily receipts reached three hundred and fifty thousand.
Each article, carefully weighed, was piled in the room under heavy
guard. With each day’s growth of the fabulous wealth before their eyes,
nerves grew more and more taut. The strain at last became terrific.
They began to build all sorts of wild fancies. Atahualpa had merely
devised the scheme to gain two months’ time in which to organize in
secret his forces. He never intended to allow this enormous treasure
to be taken from the country. When ready to strike he would take it
again. They would never get it to the coast. Felipillo saw to it that
rumors of uprisings continued to disturb the peace of the invaders. It
was impossible to trace these rumors to their source, a fact that made
them all the more sinister and alarming.
The stir reached a climax on the arrival at the court of a messenger
from Andamarca reporting the death of Huascar. Atahualpa sent for
Pizarro and made the announcement.
“I am sorry to have to report to you, commander, the death of my
brother Huascar....”
“And how did he die?” growled the Spaniard.
“It is said that in walking along a steep cliff of the river, he fell
from the heights and was drowned....”
“It can’t be true!” stormed Pizarro.
The Inca’s voice expressed the deepest sorrow.
“I have just received the full account of his unhappy end.”
“If your brother is dead I will hold you accountable for his life!”
thundered the Spaniard.
“But how, Your Excellency, could I be held accountable for the acts
of a jailor in a distant province, seeing that I am a prisoner? His
jailor is my friend and was appointed to his office by me. If this man
believed that in Huascar’s death he might advance my interests surely
you cannot accuse me of his acts?”
The smooth words of the Inca did not deceive the commander. That he
was justified in executing his prisoner as a traitor, Pizarro did not
question for a moment; but it did not suit his purpose to allow this