YOU ARE THE MAN.
Early next morning I sent Gahra secretly up to the lake on the bastion for
a jar of chalybeate water, which, after being colored with red earth and
flavored with wild garlic, was nauseous enough to satisfy the most
exacting of physic swallowers. Then the negro sacrificed a cock in the
royal presence, and performed an incantation in the most approved African
fashion, and we made the creature's claws and comb into an amulet, which I
requested the queen to hang round her neck.
This done, I gave my instructions, assuring her that if she failed in any
particular to observe them my efforts would be vain, and her cure
impossible. She was to drink nothing but water and physic (of the latter
very little), eat animal food only once a day, and that sparingly, and
walk two hours every morning; and finding that she could ride on horseback
(like a man), though she had lately abandoned the exercise, I told her to
ride two hours every evening. I also laid down other rules, purposely
making them onerous and hard to be observed, partly because I knew that a
strict regimen was necessary for her recovery, partly to leave myself a
loop-hole, in the event of her not recovering, for I felt pretty sure that
she would not do all that I had bidden her, and if she came short in any
one thing I should have an excuse ready to my hand.
But to my surprise she did not come short. For Mamcuna to give up her
cider and her flesh pots, and, flabby and fat as she was, to walk and ride
four hours every day, must have been very hard, yet she conformed to
regulations with rare resolution and self-denial. As a natural consequence
she soon began to mend, at first slowly and almost imperceptibly,
afterward rapidly and visibly, as much to my satisfaction as hers; for if
my treatment had failed, I could not have said that the fault was hers.
Meanwhile I was picking up information about her people, and acquiring a
knowledge of their language, and as I was continually hearing it spoken I
was soon able to make myself understood.
The Pachatupecs, though heathens and savages, were more civilized than any
of the so-called _Indios civilizados_ with whom I had come in contact.
They were clean as to their persons, bathing frequently, and not filthy in
their dwellings; they raised crops, reared cattle, and wore clothing,
which for the caciques consisted of a tunic of quilted cotton, breeches
loose at the knees, and sandals. The latter virtue may, however, have been
due to the climate, for though the days were warm the nights were chilly,
and the winters at times rather severe, the country being at a
considerable height above the level of the sea. On the other hand, the
Pachatupecs were truculent, gluttonous, and not very temperate; they
practised polygamy, and all the hard work devolved on the women, whose
husbands often brutally ill-used them. It was contrary to etiquette to ask
a man questions about his wives, and if you went to a cacique's house you
were expected either to ignore their presence or treat them as slaves, as
indeed they were, and the condition of captive Christian girls was even
worse than that of the native women.
Considering the light esteem in which women were held I was surprised that
the Pachatupecs consented to be ruled by one of the sex. But Gondocori
told me that Mamcuna came of a long line of princes who were supposed to
be descended from the Incas, and when her father died, leaving no male
issue, a majority of the caciques chose her as his successor, in part out
of reverence for the race, in part out of jealousy of each other, and
because they thought she would let them do pretty much as they liked. So
far from that, however, she made them do as she liked, and when some of
the caciques raised a rebellion she took the field in person, beat them in
a pitched battle, and put all the leaders and many of their followers to
death. Since that time there had been no serious attempt to dispute her
authority, which, so far as I could gather, she used, on the whole, to
good purpose. Though cruel and vindictive, she was also shrewd and
resolute, and semi-civilized races are not ruled with rose-water. She
could only maintain order by making herself feared, and even civilized
governments often act on the principle that the end justifies the means.
Mamcuna had never married because, as she said, there was no man in the
country fit to mate with a daughter of the Incas; but as Gondocori and
some others thought, the man did not exist with whom she would consent to
share her power.
The Pachatupec braves were fine horsemen and expert with the lasso and the
spear and very fine archers. They were bold mountaineers, too, and
occasionally made long forays as far as the pampas, where, I presume, they
had brought the progenitors of the _nandus_, of which there were a
considerable number in the country, both wild and tame. The latter were
sometimes ridden, but rather as a feat than a pleasure. The largest flock
belonged to the queen.
By the time I had so far mastered the language as to be able to converse
without much difficulty, the queen had fully regained her health. This
result--which was of course entirely due to temperate living and regular
exercise--she ascribed to my skill, and I was in high favor. She made me a
cacique and court medicine-man; I had quarters in her house, and horses
and servants were always at my disposal. Had her Majesty's gratitude gone
no further than this I should have had nothing to complain of; but she
never let me alone, and I had no peace. I was continually being summoned
to her presence; she kept me talking for hours at a time, and never went
out for a ride or a walk without making me bear her company. Her
attentions became so marked, in fact, that I began to have an awful fear
that she had fallen in love with me. As to this she did not leave me long
in doubt.
One day when I had been entertaining her with an account of my travels,
she startled me by inquiring, _à propos_ to nothing in particular, if I
knew why she had not married.
"Because you are a daughter of the Incas, and there is no man in
Pachatupec of equal rank with yourself."
"Once there was not, but now there is."
I breathed again; she surely could not mean me.
"There is now--there has been some time," she continued, after a short
pause. "Know you who he is?"
I said that I had not the slightest idea.
"Yourself, señor; you are the man."
"Impossible, Mamcuna! I am of very inferior rank, indeed--a common
soldier, a mere nobody."
"You are too modest, señor; you do yourself an injustice. A man with so
white a skin, a beard so long, and eyes so beautiful must be of royal
lineage, and fit to mate even with the daughter of the Incas."
"You are quite mistaken, Mamcuna; I am utterly unworthy of so great an
honor."
"You are not, I tell you. Please don't contradict me, señor" (she always
called me 'señor'); "it makes me angry. You are the man whom I delight to
honor and desire to wed; what would you have more?"
"Nothing--I would not have so much. You are too good; but it would be
wrong. I really cannot let you throw yourself away on a nameless
foreigner. Besides what would your caciques say?"
"If any man dare say a word against you I will have his tongue torn out by
the roots."
"But suppose I am married already--that I have left a wife in my own
country?" I urged in desperation.
"That would not matter in the least. She is not likely to come hither, and
I will take care that I am your only wife in this country."
"Your condescension quite overwhelms me. But all this is so sudden; you
must really give me a little time--"
"A little time! why? You perhaps think I am not sincere, that I do not
mean what I say, that I may change my mind. Have no fear on that score.
There shall be no delay. The preparations for our wedding shall be begun
at once, and ten days hence, dear señor, you will be my husband."
What could I say? I had, of course, no intention of marrying her--I would
as lief have married a leopardess. But had I given her a peremptory
negative she might have had me laid by the heels without more ado, or
worse. So I bowed my head and held my tongue, resolving at the same time
that, before the expiration of the ten days' respite, I would get out of
the country or perish in the attempt. Whereupon Mamcuna, taking my silence
for consent, showed great delight, patted me on the back, caressed my
beard, fondled my hands, and called me her lord. Fortunately, kissing was
not an institution in Pachatupec.
One good result of our betrothal, if I may so call it, was that the
preparations for the wedding took up so much of Mamcuna's time that she
had none left for me, and I had leisure and opportunity to contrive a plan
of escape, if I could, for, as I quickly discovered, the difficulties in
the way were almost if not altogether insurmountable. I could neither go
back to the eastern Cordillera by the road I had come, nor, without
guides, find any other pass, either farther north or farther south.
Westward was a range of barren hills bounded by a sandy desert, destitute
of life or the means of supporting life, and stretching to the desolate
Pacific coast, whence, even if I could reach it, I should have no means of
getting away.
There was, moreover, nobody to whom I could appeal for counsel or help.
Gondocori thought me the most fortunate of men, and was quite incapable of
understanding my scruples. Gahra, albeit willing to go with me, knew no
more of the country than I did, and there was not a man in it who could
have been induced even by a bribe either to act as my guide or otherwise
connive at my escape; and I had no inducement to offer.
Nevertheless, the opportunity I was looking for came, as opportunities
often do come, spontaneously and unexpectedly, yet in shape so
questionable that it was open to doubt whether, if I accepted it, my
second condition would not be worse than my first.