QUEEN AND CROWN
I found them in the midst of an English lesson which Golden Star was
taking, sitting, still clad in her Inca costume, between the professor
and Joyful Star, who also was dressed in the same fashion. They all
three rose to meet me as I entered the throne-room, and Ruth coming
forward with both hands outstretched, as she had never done before,
said,--
'What have you been doing all this time, Vilcaroya, and why are you
looking so worn and haggard? Have--have you been fighting? And why have
you come back here alone?'
'Yes,' I answered, taking her hands into mine, and feeling all my blood
turn to flame as their gentle pressure thrilled along my nerves. 'Yes,
we have been fighting, and the Lord of Light has fought upon our side,
for we have gained the victory, and the city is ours.'
'Thank God for that!' she said; 'and that no harm has come to you--or to
Captain Hartness.'
'What! do you mean to say you have taken Cuzco already?' cried the
professor. 'How on earth did you manage that so quickly?'
'Because,' I replied, 'as I told you, my father the Sun fought on my
side and turned the hearts of his children towards me, and so Francis
Hartness led them to speedy victory, and the hearts of our enemies
fainted within them, and they have yielded. Now I have come to tell you
how it happened, and to take Joyful Star back to the city, where she
shall be hailed as queen.'
Then I sat down with them and told them all, from the taking of the
Governor and his officers prisoners by the Sayacusca to the capture of
the Cuartel and the making of Francis Hartness Governor of Cuzco. After
that I went and put on the imperial robes, which I had now a double
right to wear, and led them through the gates of bronze into the Hall of
Gold.
Now, in the joy of my triumph, and the greeting that Ruth had given me,
I had forgotten to bid her keep silence while going through the hall,
and when she saw the two cells in the corner built up with blocks of
gold she stopped and said,--
'Those were not here the other night. What have you had them built up
like that for?'
And before I could answer, Djama's voice, shrill and trembling, rose out
of the cell, crying,--
'Ruth, Ruth, I am here! This is my prison. It is a grave of gold. Curse
the gold! Save me, save me, Ruth, for I am going mad--and I am your
brother!'
She stopped and took hold of my arm with both her hands, and looked up
at me. Her face was very pale and her lips were trembling. Yet though
her voice was low, it was firm as she said to me,--
'I have no brother who is a liar and a traitor to his friends; but,
Vilcaroya, I had a brother once who was very good and kind to me, and
for the sake of his goodness and kindness I ask you to treat this--this
prisoner of yours more gently.'
'Joyful Star can ask nothing to-day that I could refuse,' I said. 'He
shall be taken out forthwith and lodged with all comfort, though I must
keep him safely.'
'No, no, not till I am gone!' she whispered, taking Golden Star by the
arm and leading her towards the passage. But, softly as she had spoken,
Djama heard her, and in his rage and despair at her words he cried,--
'You--you won't see me! But you will go with your lover, your Indian
master, who owes his life to me! You will sell yourself for his gold and
be his wife. Oh, my God!--my sister!'
And then he raved in the madness that came upon him, and his voice rang
horridly out of his cell and echoed shrilly through the hall and the
passages about it. I could feel no anger against a man who was helpless
and my prisoner, so I followed Ruth without speaking; and when we stood
once more in the sunlight she turned to me with a bright flush on her
cheeks and great tears in her eyes, and said very softly and sweetly,--
'He is mad, poor Laurens! he must be. That terrible gold has turned his
brain, or he could never speak to me like that. You will not treat him
more harshly for it, Vilcaroya, will you, for you know, after all, he
is--I mean he was my brother, and I loved him very much--once?'
'Yes, he is mad,' I said; 'and yet the lips of madness may speak truth,
for what am I but what he said?'
'Have you forgotten what you asked me, or what I answered when I kissed
Golden Star in the throne-room, that you can speak like that?' she said,
with one swift glance that told me I had not asked in vain.
What more she might have said I know not, but she had said enough to
set my heart dancing and my blood thrilling with a joy greater than I
had found in the speedy conquest of the city of my fathers, and just
then Tupac came to me and said that a sufficient quantity of gold had
been taken out, and that all was ready to return to the city. Then I
told him what he was to do with Djama and his fellow-prisoner, and
ordered Golden Star's litter and the horse for Ruth which we had brought
with us to be made ready, and also a mule for the professor, and when
Tupac had returned we set out along the road that leads to the Gate of
Sand, I riding in the midst of the troop, and Ruth on my left hand and
Golden Star in her litter on the right.
As we approached the streets, great crowds of my delivered people
thronged out to welcome us, and when they saw me riding on my black
horse, dressed in the imperial robes and with the Llautu on my brow,
they set up a shout of joy and welcome that went ringing along the
streets and through the squares and all over the city, and so I rode on
through the bareheaded throngs, who bowed themselves almost to the earth
before me.
As we were crossing the great Plaza, Ruth looked about her with bright
cheeks and shining eyes and said to me,--
'Is it not all like a dream, Vilcaroya? Only a few weeks ago you came
here poor and unknown, and now you are a king come back to your own
again. Is it not wonderful?'
'Yes,' I said, looking into her eyes with more courage than before; 'but
something more wonderful even than that has befallen me. Is it not so,
my queen?'
'Your queen is not crowned yet, your Majesty!' she said, looking down,
and yet not frowning, as I half feared she would.
'No,' I answered, 'nor shall she be till my work is done, and the whole
land that was my fathers' is mine to give her, and then all that power
and gold and love can give her shall be hers.'
'Give me the last and I shall ask no more,' she said softly, chasing
with that first sweet confession from my heart the last lingering doubt
of the great blessing that my Father the Sun had bestowed upon me.
Thus we came to the front of the Cuartel, where all the troops were
already drawn up to do us honour, and Hartness came out to greet us. He
stopped for an instant, and his cheeks paled a little as he saw Ruth
riding at my side, already dressed as she would be when she was my
queen. But then the goodness of his honest heart spoke from his lips,
and he said, as he held out his hand to me,--
'Welcome, your Majesty! Majesties, I might almost say, I suppose! The
city is ours and everything is quiet. Some of the officials have come in
and submitted; others I have had to put under arrest, and runners are
coming in every minute from the other towns in the valley to say that
our plans have been carried out perfectly. The rest of our work won't be
as easy as this has been, but we've made a very good beginning, and, at
anyrate, I think I can congratulate your Majesty on having made your two
most important captures.
He looked at Ruth as he said this, and though her fair face flushed
brightly and her eyes fell, yet she spoke steadily enough when she
answered him, saying,--
'You can hardly call me one of the spoils of war, I think, Captain
Hartness, though I confess that I have surrendered at discretion. Now
give me your hand and help me down, and don't look so disconsolate, for
you are not nearly as unfortunate as you think. There is an Inca
princess for you also, a real one, too. I have been teaching Golden Star
to say your name, and, do you know, she makes it sound just like music
with that sweet voice of hers. See, here she is, and you shall hear her
say it.'
I had dismounted meanwhile, and taken Golden Star from her litter, and
when the people saw her, her name ran swiftly from lip to lip, and a
great shout of delight rose up from thousands of throats to welcome her
back to life and the home of her long-dead fathers. Then I took her hand
and Hartness's, and put hers in his, and said to him,--
'My friend, what I have taken I can in some measure give back to you.
Here is Joyful Star's sister-soul and living likeness. I have seen her
newly-awakened soul look out of her eyes with love upon you, as in good
truth it well might, for you are a true son of the Sun, though not of
our blood. In the days to come you may learn to love her too, and then
all will be well.'
'Yes,' said Ruth, coming to his side, 'and better than it could have
been in any other way. The very Fates themselves seemed to have arranged
all this, so it is not for mortals to rebel, Captain Hartness.'
He looked at her almost sadly for a moment, and then he laughed a little
and said,--
'I should be more or less than mortal if I did, Miss Ruth. But mind, if
I am faithless, remember it is you who have done the most to make me
so.'
As he said this he took Golden Star's little hand in his own and kissed
it. As she felt the touch of his lips a new light sprang into her eyes
and shone and danced there, and she said to me,--
'Why does the Son of the Great People do that, and what have you said to
him about me, my brother?'
'He has kissed your hand in loving greeting,' I answered, 'and what I
have said he will no doubt tell you better some day when you can speak
together.'
The bright blood in her cheeks told me that she had understood me, and
she turned her head away, but she did not take her hand from Hartness's,
and so I gave my hand to Ruth and led her into the Cuartel, and Hartness
and Golden Star followed us hand in hand amidst the cheers of the
soldiers and the joyful shouts of the people.
That night there were such rejoicings in Cuzco as the City of the Sun
had not seen since the Spaniards came into the land. I distributed the
gold among the soldiers as I had promised, giving to each man a piece of
about two ounces in weight, and they, who had never possessed, even if
they had ever seen, gold before, kissed it and fondled it in their
delight, and swore that they would fight for me as long as one of them
was left alive; and then I spoke to them and told them that they had but
to be faithful and brave, and their English leader would lead them to
victory after victory, until the whole land should be ours.
Later on I sent Tupac with many men up to the fortress, and they
brought down the Golden Throne and the symbols of the Sun and great
quantities of gold and jewels, and they set the throne in the midst of
the terrace in front of the cathedral, with silver seats on either side
of it, on the spot where in the olden time stood the Palace of
Viracocha; and on the front of the cathedral, over the great doors, they
fixed the symbols of the Sun, and high above all, between the two
bell-towers, they placed a great flagstaff.
Before daybreak the next morning the square was thronged with people,
save for an open space which the soldiers kept before my throne. I took
my place amidst an utter silence. Ruth and Golden Star sat on my right
and on my left, and Francis Hartness, with a drawn sword in his hand,
stood by my throne to the right, and on the terrace behind me, and on
either side, stood the Men of the Blood, dressed in their ancient and
long-forbidden costumes, with which I had furnished them out of the
stores in the secret chambers of the fortress.
No word was spoken and no sound was heard over the whole city, and all
eyes were turned to the swiftly brightening eastern sky.
The blue changed to silver and the silver to crimson and gold. Then the
sun, the glorious image of the Lord of Life, uprose in all his sudden
splendour, and as his rays fell on the great golden jewel-rayed circle
on the cathedral front, the Rainbow Banner ran swiftly up to the head of
the flagstaff, and I, rising from my throne, bared my head and, turning
my face to the rising sun, bowed myself before it, and at the same
instant every head in the vast assembly was uncovered, and all, save the
soldiers, fell on their knees and stretched out their hands to heaven in
silent joy and thankfulness.
Then I lifted up my voice and spoke the ancient Invocation to the Sun
which generation after generation of my fathers had spoken from the same
spot at the beginning of the feast of Raymi, and when I had ended this
the Children of the Blood lifted up their voices after me and sang the
long-silenced and yet never-forgotten hymn to the Sun, and then,
standing before the kneeling multitude, I replaced the Llautu on my brow
and proclaimed myself Inca and supreme Lord of the Land of the Four
Regions in the name of my long-dead fathers, whose divine right to
lordship had been preserved in me.
And so I, Vilcaroya, son of Huayna-Capac, first fulfilled the prophecy
that had been spoken in the Days of Darkness, and so did I come, as had
been said, from one life into another through the shadow of death and
the silence of the grave, with her whose love, now changed, though no
less dear, had nerved me to face the ordeal of the strangest fate that
had ever befallen one born in mortal shape.