in the home of the sun,” sang the mammaconas for the hundredth time, “the trees are heavy with fruits, and when they are ripe the branches bend down to the earth, that the indian need not even raise his hand to pick them. do not weep! thou shalt live eternally, eternally! death knocks at the doors of the earthly palace, and the spirit of evil stretches his accursed wings over our forests. weep not! on high in the heavens, near the sun and the moon, who is his sister and his first bride, near charca, who is his faithful page, thou shalt live eternally, eternally!”
on maria-teresa’s perfumed tresses they placed the royal borla, its golden fringe overshadowing her eyes and giving her a strange hieratic beauty. she shivered when the bat-skin robe slipped over her limbs; it was as if she had donned something viscous and icy, which from that instant made her part and parcel of the eternal night of which the bat is coya.
then they placed on her wrist a circlet which she recognized as the golden sun bracelet. she realized that her last hours had begun, and thought sadly of the happy yet terrible day when this bracelet first appeared in her existence; she remembered the horror-stricken face of aunt agnes, the old duenna crossing herself, her father’s skepticism and dick’s loving laugh. where were they all now? why—why did they not come to her rescue?
maria-teresa stretched out her arms to the providence that seemed to have deserted her, and closed them again on little christobal, placed in her lap by one of the attendants. when she saw him, clad like herself in the robes of night, she was seized with revolt. this could not be! she turned to the guardians of the temple, who came forward in answer to her look, gently swaying. there was no doubt of it! there were the same horrible skulls which dick and she had seen taken out of the earth, come from their tombs to take her back with them. but she would speak, and test their mercy. she turned away her eyes, mortally afraid that the steady swaying would overpower her will, and told them she was ready to die quietly, as befitted a bride of the sun, if only they would spare the little boy and send him safely back to lima.
“i will not leave you, maria-teresa! i will not leave you!”
“the child has spoken. so it is ordained.”
the guardians of the temple exchanged glances and moved away again, gently swaying.
maria-teresa burst into tears, the ring of madness in her high sobs, while the little boy clung desperately, striving to console her.
“do not cry, maria-teresa! they will come to save us. papa and dick will come.... oh! what was that?”
from behind the walls come the strains of music. a curtain is raised, and the players enter—tall, sad-faced men who take their places in a ring around them. they are the sacred players of the quenia, the flute which is made of human bones. their song is sadder than a de profundis, and maria-teresa shivers, her beseeching eye exploring in vain every corner of the great bare room which is the antechamber of her tomb.
monstrous, cyclopean masses of stone, hexagonal in shape and placed one upon the other without mortar, held in place by their mighty weight alone, from the walls of the house of the serpent. she knows where she is, for the mammaconas have told her. there are two houses of the serpent, one at cajamarca, the other at cuzco. they are called thus because of the stone serpent carved over the main entrances. the serpent is there to guard the sacred precincts, and never allows the victims of the sun to escape. aunt agnes and old irene have often told her this, and until now she has always laughed.
maria-teresa, then, is in cuzco, in a palace well known to travelers, historians, and archaeologists; a place which all may enter, which all may leave in freedom; a place to which guides bring the curious stranger. then what does it all mean? why should she fear? they are sure to come to her rescue. but why are they still not here?
which way will they come? listen! yes, above the sad piping of the quenias rise other sounds: murmurs, footsteps, and the dull rumble of a gathering throng. it comes from over there, from behind that vast curtain, that vast golden-yellow curtain which stretches right across the room and prevents her from seeing. what does it hide, and what is that crowd awaiting?
maria-teresa questions the two mammaconas who are to die with her. they are stretched at her feet in their long black veils, and rise with respect to answer. the faithful are waiting to adore king huayna capac, who will come to lead her back to atahualpa. maria-teresa, uncomprehending, asks more questions. he will come from the bowels of the earth to claim them, and they will pass through the realms of night in their robes of mourning, till they reach the enchanted realms of the sun. then they will be clad all in gold, with golden dresses and jewels of gold, for all time.
“and the little boy?” asked maria-teresa.
to her horror, they turned their heads away and did not answer. she caught christobal more closely to her, covering his face with kisses, as if she wished to smother him with caresses to save him from a more terrible fate. the child strove to console her. “do not be afraid,” he whispered. “papa and dick will come, not the wicked king. they will soon be here.”
on one of the giant stones are mysterious signs to which the whispering mammaconas draw each other’s attention—strange sculptured figures with the head of man and the body of the coraquenque. in all time and on all the earth, so say the incas, there has been only one couple of coraquenques, two of the mystic birds which appeared in the mountains at the coronation of each new king and gave him two of their feathers to adorn his head-dress.
behind the curtain, the noise has ceased, and the song of the quenias suddenly grows so piercing that maria-teresa cries out in terror. christobal, clutching at her bosom, nestles closer. then the curtains are parted, and the whole hall is revealed.
below, a long way below her, is a prostrate and silent crowd. on the porphyry steps which stretch down to this crowd stand the three guardians of the temple. a step below them, huas-car, his arms crossed under his red poncho. lower still, four prostrate red ponchos, who are the guards of the sacrifice. their heads, completely hidden by the sacred bonnet and ear-caps, are bent so low that none can see their faces.
surely there is somebody in that huge crowd who will free her! maria-teresa, filled with a wild hope, rises with the child in her arms, and cries for mercy. but the booming answer takes away all hope. “muera la coya! muera la coya! to death with the queen!” they give her the title in a?mara, but clamor for her death in spanish, that she may understand.
the four mammaconas on her right, the four others on her left and the two who were to die with her surrounded the young girl, forced her back to her seat. but she still struggled, holding up the boy, and begging that he at least might be spared.
“he is the sacrifice of pacahuamac,” came the answer. and the mammaconas, taking up the echo, chanted: “the sacrifice of pacahuamac! before all things began, before the sun and before the moon, his sister, was the great spirit, pacahuamac. pacahuamac, the great spirit!”
down below there, the surging crowd took up the cry. huascar, turning, commanded silence with a gesture.
they were all standing now, except the four red ponchos on the last step; still prostrate and silent. the cry of the quenias rose again, strident and shrill; soon they alone were to be heard. maria-teresa, crushed, conquered, had ceased struggling. not a voice, not a sign, had answered the appeal. in a groan, she begged the mammaconas for their perfumes. “have mercy. bring your perfumes. then we shall not suffer.” the two who were to die with her shook their heads. “we must go to atahualpa waking, with all our hearts and all our senses, that heart and senses may live hereafter.”
the quenia players ceased their music, and a terrible, gripping silence descended on the hall. the faithful fell to their knees, and huascar’s sonorous voice commanded silence.
“silence! silence in the house of the serpent! the dead king is coming! listen!”
it was as if an earthquake had shaken the walls. the place was filled with thunder. but instead of coming from the heavens, it rose from the very bowels of the earth.
little christobal trembled in his sister’s arms, clung closer, and whispered, “look, maria-teresa! look at the red ponchos.” she lifted her eyes, looked, trembled, and forced herself to silence. while every other head was bent in worship, the guards of the sacrifice had raised theirs, and under the sacred bonnets, despite the stain that disguised them, maria-teresa recognized the faces of dick, her father, natividad and uncle francis.
when she looked a second time, the four bonnets were prostrate again, and a cry from huascar, herald of huayna capac, brought the multitude to its feet.
another tremor shook the very foundations of the temple, and one wall seemed to vanish.
“huayna capac!”
