The meal over, it became necessary for Escombe to effect another change
of attire, the simple garb that he had assumed upon emerging from the
bath being discarded in favour of certain gorgeous garments that had
been especially prepared for the solemn service in the great Temple of
the Sun. There was only one item in this costume which Harry had worn
before, and that was the borla or tasselled fringe of scarlet round the
temples, which proclaimed his royal rank. On this occasion also, the
ceremony in which he was about to take part being a strictly religious
one, he wore no weapons. The great Temple of the Sun being the most
important building in the city, not even excepting the royal palace, was
built on the crest of a hill which dominated the entire city, and was
situated about a mile from the palace; the journey thither, therefore,
afforded opportunity for another royal procession, in which Harry was to
figure in a sort of litter borne aloft on the shoulders of eight men.
This litter consisted of a platform covered with a magnificent carpet
woven in a pattern composed of many rich colours, and supported by two
pairs of shafts made of some tough, springy wood, the end of each shaft
being attached to a kind of yoke which rested upon the shoulders of two
of the bearers. Upon the platform, which was carried shoulder-high, was
mounted a throne, the woodwork of which was entirely enclosed in gold
plates, richly wrought and thickly studded with emeralds; and, seated on
this throne and surrounded by an escort of some five hundred foot
soldiers gorgeously attired and armed with bows, spears, and maces with
heavy spiked heads, the young Inca presently found himself being borne
at a rapid trot through another wide and handsome street, which, judging
from the character of the buildings bordering it, evidently formed the
aristocratic quarter of the town. This street, like those which he had
already passed through, was lined on both sides by gaily attired people
of both sexes and all ages, who rent the air with their enthusiastic
acclamations as the cortege swept past them, the only difference being
that the majority at least of these folk were, like himself, hurrying in
the direction of the temple.
It was with a somewhat abstracted air that Harry acknowledged the
salutations of these people, for, truth to tell, his mind and his
conscience were being rather severely exercised upon the subject of the
function in which he was about to take part. The one great outstanding
fact in relation to it was that it was a pagan rite; and he felt that,
regarded from an abstract point of view, it was distinctly wrong for
him, a professed Christian, to countenance or abet idolatry in any form.
Yet he had not been all those months in Peru without having acquired a
certain elementary knowledge of the early history of the country, much
of which, by the way, had been gained through his conversations with
Arima long before that individual had so much as dreamed of the
brilliant destiny that awaited his pleasant-mannered young English
master. Thus, for instance, he knew that the Peruvian Indians
recognised the existence of a Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of
the Universe, whom they sometimes named Pachacamac, and at others
Viracocha; and he also knew that the attributes of this Being were
believed to be of so superlatively divine a character that the simple
Indians had never dared to rear more than one temple in his honour,
which had long since been destroyed. He was aware also that the Inca
was not only an absolute monarch, an autocrat invested with greater
powers than any other earthly monarch, but that he was implicitly
believed to be of divine origin, and that some of the attributes of
divinity still clung to him; he was therefore not only a monarch who
wielded absolute power, and whose will was law, but he was also the head
of the priesthood. Taking these two facts in conjunction, Escombe, with
the extreme assurance of youth, and perhaps not attaching quite enough
importance to the fact that the sun was the deity whose worship had been
especially inculcated and carefully handed down from generation to
generation, thought, as he considered the matter, that he could see his
way first to divert the adoration of his subjects from the sun to
Pachacamac, and afterwards to explain that Pachacamac and the God of the
Christians were one and the same, thus insensibly leading them from the
paths of paganism into those of Christianity. And he resolved to do it.
It was a grand ambition, and it spoke well for him that this should be
the first definite resolution that he had taken in connection with the
tremendous powers with which he had become so strangely invested; for,
singularly enough, it had never occurred to him until within the last
hour that he would be called upon to take any part in the functions and
ceremonies of pagan worship. Moreover, it swept away every one of the
scruples that had been worrying him as to whether or not he was
justified in being present at the impending function; for he felt that,
having come to the above resolution, he was justified in being present,
otherwise how could he offer any suggestions as to a change in the
ceremonial?
By the time that he had thought the matter out thus far, and had arrived
at the conclusion that he believed he could see his way pretty clearly
before him, he had reached the great open space, in the centre of which
stood the temple, and he had time only to run his eye hastily over the
enormous building and gather in a general idea of its aspect before his
litter was deposited at the foot of the magnificent flight of forty-five
broad, shallow steps which ran all round the building, and which gave
access to the spacious platform upon which the edifice was raised.
As Harry leisurely dismounted from the litter his escort ran nimbly up
the steps and arranged itself--four deep on each step, and the remainder
on the platform above--into a wide avenue of spearmen to keep back the
crowds that thronged the steps, and thus afford the young Inca a clear
space in which to accomplish the ascent to the great main doorway of the
building. At the same moment Tiahuana, gorgeously attired in a long
flowing robe of white that was stiff with the heavy gold embroidery
which almost covered it, with a mitre-like headdress, similarly
embroidered, on his head, and a gold wand surmounted by a golden image
of the sun in his right hand, emerged from the doorway, followed by
apparently the entire staff of the priesthood, and stood at the head of
the long flight of steps to receive the Inca.
Contrary to his expectation, instead of being conducted directly into
the main body of the building, Escombe, surrounded by fully a hundred
priests, was led by Tiahuana into an anteroom, where he found assembled
the Council of Seven, under the leadership of one Huanacocha--who,
Tiahuana whisperingly mentioned, was the chief and most powerful noble
of the entire nation--and some five hundred other nobles, to whom he was
now to be presented, and who were thus to be afforded an opportunity of
thoroughly satisfying themselves before matters were allowed to proceed
any further, that the young man was indeed the re-incarnated Manco, for
whose return to earth the nation had been looking forward for over three
hundred years.
Upon entering this anteroom Escombe found himself upon a dais occupying
one end of, and reaching across the entire width of the apartment. In
the centre of the dais, but close up to the front of it, was a throne of
solid silver, with a footstool before it, and upon this throne Harry was
directed by Tiahuana to seat himself, the body of priests immediately
arranging themselves behind and on either side of it. Before him, and
on the main floor of the room, which was some eighteen inches below the
level of the dais, were arranged several rows of benches upon which the
nobles were seated, the Council of Seven, which had governed in the
absence of an Inca, with Huanacocha occupying the middle place, being
seated on the front bench, or that nearest the dais.
The little stir which had been occasioned by the entrance of Harry and
the priests having subsided, Arima--to Escombe's amazement--was
mysteriously produced by Tiahuana and led forward to the front of the
dais, from which standpoint he was ordered to relate the circumstances
under which he first came into contact with the young Englishman; how
his suspicions as to the identity of his employer with the expected Inca
were first aroused; what steps he took to verify those suspicions, and
how he proceeded after those suspicions were confirmed; all of which he
told in the Quichua language, not only with a total absence of
embarrassment, but with a certain undertone of pride and exultation
running through his narrative; for he felt that, as the first discoverer
of the returned Manco, he was a person of very great consequence. Then
Harry was requested to state where and in what manner he came into
possession of the long-lost emerald collar of Manco Capac, which he did
in Spanish, Tiahuana afterwards interpreting his brief statement into
Quichua. Then came Tiahuana's own turn. He began by reminding his
hearers of the terrible happenings of that dreadful day when Atahuallpa,
deceived by the treacherous Spaniards, unsuspectingly entered the city
of Caxamalca, only to see his followers ruthlessly slaughtered, and to
find himself a captive in the hands of the _Conquistadors_. Then he
drew a graphic word picture of that still more awful night when
Atahuallpa, chained hand and foot, was led out into the great square of
the city and ignominiously strangled by his unscrupulous and
bloodthirsty betrayers. Warming to his subject, he next very briefly
sketched the untoward fate of the Inca Manco, son of Huayna Capac, whom
the Spaniards had installed, as their tool and puppet, on the throne
vacated by the murder of Atahuallpa; and he concluded this portion of
his address by briefly reminding his hearers of the sudden and dramatic
appearance of the prophet-priest Titucocha on the night of Atahuallpa's
murder, and of the prophecy then uttered by him, which Tiahuana repeated
word for word. Then, gathering fresh energy and fire as he proceeded,
the High Priest told how, after waiting impatiently all his life long
for the reappearance of the great Manco, foretold by Titucocha, until he
had begun to despair of living to see that happy day, he had been
suddenly startled into new life and hope by the arrival of Arima in the
city with the glad news that the divine Manco had actually returned to
earth and was even then among the mountains of his beloved Peru. He
reminded them of how he, Tiahuana, had conducted Arima into the presence
of the Council of Seven and caused him to relate his story to them; of
the scepticism with which that story had been received, of the
difficulty which he had encountered in persuading the Council that it
was their duty to permit him, as High Priest, to sift the story and
ascertain how far it was true; and how, having at length secured their
somewhat reluctant consent, he had triumphantly accomplished his mission
and now had the duty and pleasure to present them to the divine Manco,
promised of Heaven as the deliverer and restorer of the Peruvian nation.
"But how are we to be assured beyond all possibility of doubt that this
young man is in very deed the reincarnated Manco, whose return was
foretold by the prophet Titucocha, and for whom the nation has looked
these three hundred years and more?" demanded Huanacocha, the head of
the Council of Seven. "He is a white man to begin with; and for my part
it has always been in my mind that when the divine Manco should deign to
return to us, he would come in the form of a full-blooded Peruvian
Indian, even as we are."
A low murmur of concurrence and approval filled the room at these bold
words of Huanacocha, and every eye was at once turned upon Tiahuana to
see what reply he would give to this apparently unanswerable objection.
"Why should you suppose any such thing?" demanded Tiahuana in a cold,
level voice. "There is no word in Titucocha's prophecy, as handed down
to us in our records, to justify any such belief. I am prepared to
admit, if you like, that such an expectation was natural, but further
than that I cannot go. Nay, rather let me say that, taking into
consideration the careful minuteness with which Titucocha particularised
the several means of identification--every one of which has been
literally fulfilled in him whom you now see before you--I am convinced
that if our Lord the Sun had intended that his child should return to us
as an Indian, born of us and among us, Titucocha would have specifically
said so. But, as I have already reminded you, he did not. What he said
was that the re-incarnated Manco was to be the deliverer and restorer of
the ancient Peruvian nation; and who so fit to undertake and
successfully carry through this stupendous task as one born, and who has
lived all his life in England, that great nation of which we have all
heard, whose empire extends north and south, east and west, to the
uttermost parts of the earth, so that it has been said of her that she
is the empire upon which the sun never sets. My Lords, I, who am full
of years and of the wisdom that comes with many years, tell you that if
ever we are to free ourselves from the yoke of the oppressor, and to
restore Peru to its ancient position of power and glory, we must be
helped and guided in that great, that almost impossible task, by one who
unites within himself superlative wisdom and superlative courage; and
the crowning proof, to my mind, that heaven has now at last fulfilled
its glorious promise is to be found in the fact that it has ordained our
new Inca to be born an Englishman, possessed of all that courage, that
wisdom, and that knowledge for which Englishmen are famed throughout the
world. I have spoken! And now, I pray you, come forward every one of
you, from the first unto the last, and see with your own eyes the final
proof that the great Manco has indeed returned to us. Thus far you have
merely been called upon to believe the testimony of Arima and myself;
but now it is for you to look with your own eyes upon the collar which
this young man wears, and to say whether in very truth it is or is not
the emerald collar of the divine Manco, of which we have so perfect and
complete a description, and by the wearing of which he was to be
recognised in his re-incarnated form."
As Tiahuana ceased speaking, another low murmur ran round the assembly,
but whether of approval or of dissent it was not easy to judge. Then
Huanacocha, as chief of the Council of Seven, arose, and, stepping
forward to the dais, took in his hand the emerald collar that Tiahuana
handed to him--having removed it from Harry's neck for the purposes of
inspection--and examined it with the most scrupulous care. He was about
to return it to Tiahuana when the latter said:
"Has my Lord Huanacocha compared the features delineated on the pendant
with those of him whom I am offering to the nation as its long-looked-
for deliverer?"
Huanacocha had not, it seemed, for, taking the pendant in his hand, he
studied it intently, and then gazed long and steadily at Harry's
features.
"I admit that there certainly is some resemblance," he said coldly, as
he handed back the jewel.
Then, one after the other, the remaining members of the assembly came
forward one by one, scrutinised the jewel with more or less
deliberation, and returned to their seats, until every one in the room
had obeyed Tiahuana's summons. Then the High Priest stepped forward to
the edge of the dais, and said:
"Nobles of the ancient Peruvian blood-royal, I have now submitted to you
the last piece of evidence upon which I base my contention that the
young man whom I have brought into your midst--and of whose existence we
became aware through a sequence of events that can only be described as
miraculous--is in very truth he for whose appearance we and our
forefathers have been anxiously looking during a period of more than
three hundred years. You are all perfectly acquainted with the words of
the prophecy which foretold his appearance; for so important, so vital
to the interests of the nation, were those words regarded that it has
been our rule throughout the ages to teach them to every child until
that child can repeat them by heart. You are therefore perfectly
cognisant of all the signs and tokens of identification by which the re-
incarnated Manco was to be recognised when in the fulness of time he
should again come to us, to execute his great mission of our
regeneration. It now rests with you to decide whether those signs and
tokens have been fulfilled in the case of this young man so clearly and
unmistakably as to justify our acceptance of him as the being whom I
claim him to be. Although it is perhaps hardly necessary for me to do
so, it is my duty to remind you that never in the history of our nation
have the Peruvian nobility been called upon to decide a more momentous
question. I now ask you to rise in your places, one by one, beginning
with my Lord Huanacocha, and say whether or not you are satisfied that
this young man is in very truth the divine Manco returned to earth."
A very perceptible pause followed this appeal, and then Huanacocha rose
to his feet.
"Before replying to your question, my Lord Tiahuana," said he, "I should
like the young man to tell us what he can remember of his former
existence. The history of Manco Capac, our first Inca and the founder
of our nation, is well known to all of us, and if your claim be indeed
justified there must be many incidents in his career, well known to us
but quite unknown to the outer world, which the claimant can recall.
Let him mention a few of those incidents, and the most doubting among us
will be satisfied."
This speech was delivered in the Quichua language, and it was necessary
for Tiahuana to translate to Harry, who at once replied:
"I have already told you, I believe, that I have no recollection
whatever of any former state of existence."
"My Lords," said Tiahuana, "the young man asserts, with perfect candour,
that he has no recollection whatever of any former state of existence;
therefore he is unable to furnish those further proofs demanded by the
Lord Huanacocha. But what of that? Does this absence of recollection
invalidate all the other proofs that have been given? How many of us
remember any of our former states of existence distinctly enough to
recall any of their happenings? I confess that I do not. Does my Lord
Huanacocha, or do any of you?"
A long and profound silence followed this pointed question. So
prolonged, indeed, was it that it at length became evident that no one
in that assembly had a reply to it; whereupon Tiahuana, his eyes
gleaming with triumph, once more stepped forward and said:
"My Lords, your silence is a complete and sufficient answer to my
question, and proves that the objection raised by my Lord Huanacocha was
an unreasonable one. I must therefore again call upon him to say
whether he is or is not satisfied with the other proofs advanced."
There was no pause or hesitation this time; Huanacocha at once rose and
said:
"I have no fault to find with the other proofs; but I contend that they
do not go far enough. I am still strongly of opinion that when the
divine Manco returns to us he will come in the guise of one of
ourselves, an Indian of the blood-royal; and therefore I must refuse to
accept the dictum of my Lord Tiahuana that the young white man is the
re-incarnation of the first Manco, the founder of our nation." And he
resumed his seat.
This bold and defiant speech created, as might be expected, a most
tremendous sensation among the other occupants of the hall; but
Tiahuana, with a slight gesture of impatience, at once threw up his hand
to demand silence, and said:
"You have all heard the objections raised by my Lord Huanacocha, and are
as well able as I am to weigh and judge their value. Let now the other
lords arise, each in his turn, and express his opinion."
The man on Huanacocha's right at once arose, and said:
"I am quite satisfied with the proofs adduced by the High Priest. To me
they are complete and perfectly convincing."
The man on the left of Huanacocha then sprang to his feet and said:
"I find it quite impossible to come to a definite decision, one way or
the other. On the one hand, I regard the proofs adduced by my Lord
Tiahuana as perfectly satisfactory; but on the other I think there is
reason in the objection raised by my Lord Huanacocha that the aspirant
is a white man. Notwithstanding what has been said by the High Priest,
my conviction is that the true Manco, when he appears, will be born
among us and be one of ourselves. I am unconvinced."
Thus the expression of opinion went on until all had given one, when it
appeared that Huanacocha had four adherents to his views, the remainder
of the nobles being quite unanimous in their conviction that Harry was
in very deed the re-incarnation of the first Manco. He was therefore
accepted by an overwhelming majority, as Tiahuana had confidently
anticipated; and the discomfited Huanacocha and his friends were
compelled to waive their objections, which, after recording them, they
did with a somewhat better grace than might have been expected.
Then came the ceremony of swearing allegiance to the new sovereign,
which was done by every individual present, beginning with Tiahuana, who
was followed by Motahuana and the entire body of the priests, who, in
their turn, were succeeded by the nobles, beginning with Huanacocha.
By the time that this ceremony was concluded the afternoon was well
advanced and it was time to repair to the main body of the temple, where
the service of thanksgiving was to be held; and in consideration of the
fact that Harry was a stranger, and of course completely ignorant of the
religious ritual followed by the worshippers of the Sun, Motahuana was
told off to accompany and prompt him. Accordingly, led by the deputy
High Priest, the young monarch, followed by the nobles, passed down a
long corridor and, wheeling to the left, passed through an enormous
archway veiled by great gold-embroidered curtains which, upon being
drawn aside at their approach, revealed the whole of the vast interior
of the temple proper in which the ceremony was to be held.
When, an hour or two earlier, the young Inca--whose official name was
now Manco Capac--had approached the enormous building in which he now
found himself, he had promptly come to the conclusion that the edifice
owed little or nothing of its imposing character to the skill of the
architect; for, so far as architectural beauty was concerned, it was
almost as plain and unpretentious as his own palace: it was imposing
merely because of its immense dimensions. It consisted of a huge
rectangular block of pure white marble, the walls of which were from
eight to ten feet thick, without columns, or pediment, or even so much
as a few pilasters to break up the monotonous smoothness and regularity
of its exterior surface, the only aids in this direction being the great
east doorway, or main entrance, which was some thirty feet wide by about
sixty feet high, with an immense window opening on either side of it,
through which and the doorway entered all the light which illuminated
the interior. True, the doorway and window openings were each
surrounded by heavy marble borders, or frames, encrusted with great
plates of gold elaborately ornamented with a boldly sculptured design.
There was also a heavy gold string course and bull-nose moulding similar
to that on the palace; but, apart from that and the gold-tiled roof,
there was no attempt at exterior decorative effect. Whatever might have
been deemed lacking in this direction, however, was more than
compensated for by the barbaric splendour and profusion of the interior
decorations. The entire west wall of the building was covered with a
solid plate of burnished gold emblazoned with a gigantic face from which
emanated rays innumerable, representing the sun, the great eyes being
reproduced in a perfect blaze of gems; precious stones of all kinds
being thickly powdered also all over the plate, which was primarily
intended to receive the rays of the rising sun through the great east
door in the early morning--at which hour the most impressive ceremony of
the day was celebrated--and reflect the light back upon the people. The
two side walls were also decorated with great gold plates, about two
feet square, richly engraved, and arranged in a chequer pattern, a
square of gold alternating with a square of the white marble wall of the
building from top to bottom and from end to end, each of the white
marble squares having in its centre a gold ornament about the size of
one's hand which formed a mount for a precious stone, rubies and
emeralds being the most numerous, although diamonds of considerable size
gleamed here and there. Had the stones been cut and polished, instead
of being set in the rough, the effect would have been gorgeous beyond
description. Perhaps the most wonderful part of the whole building,
however, was the ceiling. This was composed entirely of white marble
slabs supported and divided into panels by great beams of solid marble
made up of enormous blocks of the stone the ends of which were so
cunningly "scarphed", or fitted together, that the joints were invisible
and gripped each other so tightly that neither cement nor bolts were
needed to complete the union. And in the centre of each panel of the
ceiling, and at each crossing of the beams, was a great golden ornament
bearing some resemblance to a full-blown rose. The western wall of the
building was decorated like the two side walls, save that in place of
the bare marble a silver square alternated with a gold one. And,
finally, the great doors in the western wall were of solid silver
wrought to represent timber, the grain and knots of the wood being
imitated with marvellous fidelity, while the nails were represented in
gold.