The Romance of Golden Star ...

G >> George Chetwynd Griffith >> The Romance of Golden Star ...

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'Are you really in earnest, Vilcaroya? You know, according to our
bargain, we have no claim on you until our part of the work is done.
None of us have any desire to learn your secrets.'

'I am not talking of secrets,' I said, breaking into his speech, 'and
one of my race does not speak to make a liar of himself. What I say I
can do and will, for I wish the work to begin at once. Do you think I
have not waited long enough for my beloved, my sister and my wife?'

'Your what!' cried Joyful Star, rising suddenly from her seat, and
staring at me with fixed and wide-opened eyes. 'Your sister! Oh,
Vilcaroya, surely this is not true!' and as she said this I saw her
cheeks grow pale and her lips tremble.

'Yes,' I answered, 'it is true. Why should I lie to my new sister and
friend, Joyful Star? Golden Star was the daughter of my father, the
great Huayna-Capac, though our mothers were not the same.'

I had no time to finish my speech, for with a look of unutterable horror
in her eyes, which pierced me to the heart and seemed to sever it in
twain, she cried,--

'Oh, no, no! that is too horrible! I don't want to hear any more. I will
go back to England to-morrow. Laurens, come to my room; I want to speak
to you at once.'

So saying, she went to the door and opened it and went out, followed by
her brother, who looked at me as he passed me with a look which I never
forgot or forgave, for it was like the words that I had heard him say to
her in the square.

'What is this?' I said to the professor when the door had closed behind
them. 'What have I said or done that Joyful Star should look with
horror upon me and say such cruel words?'

I saw him exchange glances full of meaning with the English soldier
before he answered me; and then, leaning his arms on the table in front
of him, he said, in that quiet, calm voice of his,--

'My dear Vilcaroya, it is a very strange thing, and, as far as Miss
Djama is concerned, perhaps, a very great pity that this has never come
out before, for without knowing it you have given her a shock that may
have very painful consequences. No, don't interrupt me now, for the
sooner I can make you understand the meaning of your words to her the
better. It is this way: we know, of course, that in your day and among
your people sister-marriage was held to be the most sacred of all
marriages. We know that from such a marriage only might spring the
wearer of the imperial Borla, but to us the idea is so unutterably
horrible and revolting that of all the crimes that could be committed by
one of our race that would be the most fearful. It cannot even be
discussed amongst us, and yet you, in the most perfect innocence, have
spoken of it in the presence--Good Heavens, Hartness! what is to be
done? Do you think Miss Djama was really in earnest when she talked of
going back to England to-morrow? It is impossible--it would ruin
everything!'

I kept silence, for my sorrow and wonder were too great for words, but I
listened eagerly for what Francis Hartness would say in reply.

'She was in earnest when she spoke,' he said, as quietly as the
professor had spoken; 'but, if the doctor has as much sense as I give
him credit for, she will have seen the thing in a different light by
this time. Of course, she has read Prescott, and she really knows as
much about the marriage customs of the ancient Incas as we do. In fact,
to tell you the truth'--and as he said this I saw him frown, and an
angry light came into his eyes that I had never seen in them before--'I
really can hardly understand how, knowing that as she does know it, she
can have been as horrified as she certainly was. She knows perfectly
well that Vilcaroya has come at a single step, as it were, from his age
into ours, and so must have brought all the ideas and beliefs of his
time and his people with him. Depend upon it, a little reflection will
very soon show her that, horrible and all as the idea must naturally
have appeared to her at the first shock of hearing it, from Vilcaroya's
point of view there is nothing in it but what is perfectly natural and
proper. Now, to my mind, the matter is much more sad and serious for
Vilcaroya himself than for anyone else.'

As he said this he turned from the professor to me and went on,
addressing me in a tone so frank and kindly that ever afterwards I
looked upon him as my friend and my brother,--

'It's not a pleasant thing for me to say, and it must, of course, be a
very painful one for you to hear; still, it has got to be said some time
or other, and, unless I am wrong in what I think of you, I believe you
are man enough to hear it and to agree with me that it had better be
said now than later on, when the saying of it might be tenfold more
painful both to you and us.'

'Say on,' I said shortly. 'Your tongue is straight and your eyes look
into mine as those of a friend should look. I am listening.'

'I would wish for no better friend than you, Vilcaroya, after that, for
I know what you mean. Now, what I have to say is this. We know, of
course, that you look upon yourself as doubly married to this love of
yours, who is dead and, like you, may yet be alive again. You are bound
to her, not only by a marriage which, in the time that it took place,
was perfectly lawful and natural, but also by the oath that you took
together. But you have come back to the world in another age and among
another people, and now that form of marriage is looked upon by all
civilised humanity, not only as unlawful, but, as the professor has just
said, unnatural and horrible beyond conception.

'Therefore, if Golden Star is restored to life, for you to love her,
save as a brother, or for you to consummate the union which, as you have
told us, began and ended before the altar of the Sun, would be to make
not only yourself, but your--your sister, Golden Star, as well, looked
upon with horror and loathing by every civilised man and woman who knew
your story. I am speaking strongly, because it is necessary.

'You might succeed in all your aims, you might realise every ambition of
your life, and yet I tell you it is Heaven's own truth, that if you took
Golden Star to sit beside you on the throne of the Incas as your wife
and queen, you would place her upon a pinnacle of infamy which men would
spit upon and women turn their backs on. The reward of all your labours,
the price of all your treasures, no matter how great they might be,
would be nothing but a curse that would fall heavily on you, but a
thousand times more heavily on the woman whom you have loved best in all
the world.'

He stopped, and they both sat and looked at me in silence, awaiting for
me to answer him. As for me, I felt my spirit wandering over a bare
wilderness where all was dark.

I knew that he had spoken truth, strange as the truth seemed to me, for
no man could have heard his voice and seen the steady light in his
eyes, without knowing that he was a true man, and so spoke the truth.
The moments passed, and I could still find no words to say. Then the
silence was broken by the opening of the door, and Djama came in and
said,--

'My sister wishes you to excuse her coming back to the table. Of course,
I have explained matters to her, and I think she now sees them in a
different light, but for some reason or other she seems strangely
shaken. You know how extremely sensitive she is, and so, as her doctor,
as well as her brother, I have sent her to bed. She wasn't really fit to
come back after what has happened, and a night's rest will be the best
thing in the world for her. I suppose you two have explained things to
His Highness as well, eh?'

'Yes,' I said, rising from my seat. 'It has been explained to me. I do
not understand all now, but I must think, and think alone, so I will
go.'

Then I went to Francis Hartness and held out my hand to him and said,
after the fashion of the English,--

'Good-night, Captain Hartness. You have wounded me sorely with your
words, yet you have spoken them as only a friend could speak them. From
now till the day of my death or yours, Vilcaroya Inca is your friend,
and all his people are your servants.'

Then I took my hand from his, and bowing farewell to the others, walked
swiftly out of the room and got my cloak, and went out into the city to
think in silence by myself over the strange and terrible things that I
had heard, and to calm my spirit before I went to do the work which, in
a few hours, would be awaiting me on the hills behind the Sacsahuaman.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The yellow Llautu, or fringed turban of wool, worn on the brows, was
the distinguishing mark of the sacred Inca race. The scarlet was worn
only by the reigning Inca--'Son of the Sun.' Its fringe, called the
'borla,' was mingled with threads of gold.

CHAPTER III

IN THE HALL OF GOLD

I went first to Ullullo's house and changed my clothing, so that I might
the more easily lose myself among the hundreds of Indians about the
streets of the city, for something told me that Djama might make an
attempt to discover the meaning of what I had said about the house by
following me and learning, if possible, the secret of my movements; for
he must have known that, being without money as I was, save for the few
dollars that the professor had lent me, it would not be possible for me
to do as I had said, unless one, at least, of the hiding-places of the
old treasures was within easy reach so that I could take sufficient gold
out of it by the next day to fulfil my promise.

When I changed my clothes I put a dagger into my belt, and a revolver,
which Francis Hartness had already taught me how to use, into a case
slung at my hip, and hidden by my jacket and the long folds of my
poncho. Then I went back into the great square, and across it up the
street in which we had our lodgings. As I passed the house I saw Djama
standing in the archway leading into the courtyard, smoking a cigar. I
turned and looked him in the face as I went by, slouching and trailing
my sandalled feet after the fashion of the natives. He looked at me, but
I saw no recognition in his eyes. Then as I walked on there came a
thought to me.

I hurried to Ullullo's house once more and brought him back with me,
telling him on the way what I wanted him to do for me. When we reached
the house again we saw Djama standing in the courtyard, and Ullullo,
doing as I had bid him, went in to him, and told him in Spanish, which I
could not speak, that if he would give him ten dollars he should learn
the secret of my goings and comings, and where I was to find the gold
with which to pay for the hacienda. Djama instantly promised him the
money, as I thought he would, and Ullullo told him to be at the end of
the street which is now called El Triunfo at eleven o'clock that night.
He was to come alone, for if anyone came with him he would learn
nothing. As you will soon see, I had two objects to serve in doing this.

When Ullullo came back and told me that Djama would be there, I bade
him wait for me at the same place and hour, and then I went away alone
out of the city and up a path which led towards the mountains to the
north. There, alone and in silence, I communed with my own soul, at
first in sorrow, yet slowly becoming more and more peaceful in heart,
even as one who is told that he is to die on a certain day first rages
against his doom and then learns to contemplate with calmness that which
there is no hope of escaping. The words of the professor and Francis
Hartness had shown me that in the world to which I had returned my
sister Golden Star could now never be my wife and queen, and the more I
pondered on what they had said, the more plainly it appeared to me that
this was the truth, however bitter it might seem.

Yet there was something else in my heart, although at that time I did
not dare even to let my inmost thoughts dwell upon it, which in some way
dulled the pain of the blow that had fallen upon me, and reconciled me
to the parting which in one sense must now be eternal. The longer I
pondered the more deeply did that look of horror which I had seen in the
eyes of Joyful Star burn into my soul, and the more clearly did the
words that she had spoken ring in my ears. She had said that it was
horrible and that it was impossible, and she was to me as one of those
bright angels who, according to our ancient faith, awaited the heroes
and sages of our race in the Mansions of the Sun--a being so far above
me that I could look upon her only as a mortal might look from afar upon
a daughter of the Celestials.

Thus, musing in silence and solitude on the wild mountain-side, now
looking back into my distant past, and now hazarding a glance into the
fast-approaching future, the hours slipped by quickly for me, and I
heard the bells of the churches--bells which they had told me had been
cast out of the copper and gold and silver that our conquerors had taken
from our temples and palaces--chiming the half-hour before eleven.

So I turned back to the city, and made haste to the place where Djama
and Ullullo would be waiting for me. I found them there talking
together, and without discovering myself to Djama, I told Ullullo in
Quichua to follow me with the Englishman. Then I went on swiftly along
the rivulet of Tullamayo, past the terrace of Rocca Inca, and along the
smooth, dark wall of what had once been the Yachahuasi, or College of
the Youths, and so out of the city and the gorge of the little river
Rodadero. Then, with the two still following me a few yards behind, I
climbed the lower terraces of the Colcompata, or the Granaries, where
the divine Manco built his first palace, and then on up the hillside to
the Tiupunco, or Gate of Sand, which led through the fragments of what
had once been the outer wall of the great fortress, and so on to the
little level pampa of the Rodadero, which was my meeting-place with
Tupac.

Now as I went I began to sing one of our ancient songs, which was the
signal that I had agreed upon with Tupac, and presently, one after
another, silent, stealthy forms crept out from the angles of the great
zig-zag wall and came towards me. One of them, taller than the rest,
threw an iron bar that he was carrying across his shoulders, and came
and stood before me with bowed-down head, waiting for me to speak. I
knew that it was Tupac, and I said to him,--

'Are the Children of the Sun ready to do the bidding of his Son?'

'They are, Lord!' he replied. 'Here are twenty who have sworn by the
heart of the divine Manco to do all things lawful and unlawful, even to
the death, at the bidding of him who shall prove himself to be the true
heir of the royal Llautu.'

'It is good,' I said, 'and the proof shall soon be given. Now, take the
stranger yonder; do him no harm, but bind his eyes so that he cannot
see, and tie his hands behind him. Then follow me.'

Instantly the stealthy forms closed around Djama. Not a word was spoken
save his startled, angry exclamation, which was soon stifled, and then
they brought him along after me, I going first and Tupac following close
behind me. Like a string of shadows we moved across the plain past the
great carved rock which is still called the Inca's Seat, and over the
ridge of the Sliding Stones and down into the valley beyond, which is
thickly strewn with great rock-masses carved into seats, and altars, and
baths, and chambers, of which no man knows the origin, and which were
ancient when Manco-Capac and Mama-Occlu first came into the land.

The greatest of these is a high white rock carved all over into steps
and seats and altars and basins, which are said to have been made to
catch the blood of the living sacrifices that were offered up here by a
race of men whose name has been forgotten. It is called in our language
the Sayacusca, or Tired Stone, for an old tradition says that ages ago
it was brought from the mountains by the toil of ten thousand men, and
when it reached its present place it rolled over and killed three
hundred of them, and could never be moved again upon its journey.

On the south side of this there is a great cleft from the top to the
bottom, and up the sides of this cleft are the two halves of a stairway,
which was carved there before some earthquake rent the stone in twain,
and under this is a deep dark pool of water. At the entrance to the
cleft I stopped and beckoned to the others to come round me. Then I told
them that they were about to see that which no man then alive on earth
had ever seen, and made all swear by the Glory of the Sun that each and
every one of them would slay without pity him who revealed anything seen
or heard that night, even though he were his own brother, or his own
father, or his own son. As for Djama, they held him there bound and
blindfolded amongst them, and when he tried to speak they stopped his
mouth at my bidding, for I had told them that I would be answerable for
him, since I had brought him here for my own purposes.

Then I made two of the men stretch a cord tightly across the mouth of
the cleft close down to the ground, and to the middle of this I tied
another cord, and stretched it out straight twelve foot-lengths from the
centre, and here I bade them clear away the bushes, and dig. Then axe
and hoe and spade went to work. In that clear air, and under that
cloudless sky, the stars gave light enough to work by, and soon a space
had been cleared, and a round hole about three feet across was being dug
down through the loose, rocky soil.

When it was about half the depth of a man the spades struck on the solid
rock below, and could go no farther. When Tupac told me of this, I, who
had been standing by the cleft, looking--full of strange thoughts--down
into the dark pool of water, called the man who had been digging out of
the hole, and, taking an iron bar from Tupac, I dropped into it.

I sought about the bottom with my hands for a few moments till I found
the outline of a squared stone that had been let into the rock. In the
centre of this I found a hole, out of which I picked the dirt with my
dagger. Then, putting the end of my iron bar into it, I pulled, and the
stone turned over on a hinge, leaving an opening half its size. Down
this I thrust my arm, and found a chain of copper which hung down into a
deep well below. I pulled this with all my strength until something gave
way at the bottom, then I drew the chain up, and cast my iron bar under
it across the hole. As I did this, I heard the deep, smothered roar of
waters rushing away far below me into the bowels of the earth.

Then I got out of the hole and went back to the cleft. I lit a candle
and looked down at the pool. It was no longer stagnant now, but seething
and eddying like a whirlpool. I beckoned to Tupac, who was standing a
little way behind me, and as he came and looked over my shoulder I
pointed down into the dark gulf, out of which the bottom was rapidly
falling, and said,--

'See, the waters are opening the way by which the Son of the Sun shall
go into his kingdom. Watch now, and listen!'

'Son of the Sun and Lord of the Four Regions, it is true!' he whispered
as the waters eddied round faster and faster, and gurgled and rattled
down into some unknown abyss. Soon they vanished altogether, leaving
only a dark, black, and seemingly fathomless cavern in the place where
they had been. I waited until the sound of the last gurgle had died away
in the depths, and then I turned to Tupac and said,--

'The way is open. Tell Ullullo to bring the lantern and light it. There
must be no other light. You and the rest follow me, and let two strong
men bring the stranger.'

He did as I bade him, and when I had lit the lantern I cast its rays
about the gulf beneath me till I found the continuation of the broken
stairway above, and then picking my way carefully down the dank, slimy
steps, I led the way into the heart of the rock, the rest following,
guided by the spreading ray of light in front of me.'

I counted fifty steps, and then stopped and turned sharply to the right.
The fiftieth step ended against a wall of rock, still dripping with the
water that was running down from the arched roof of the chamber. I
measured ten spans with my hand from the wall where the steps ended,
and made a mark with my dagger on the rock. Then from the floor I
measured eight spans in a line across the mark. Where the eighth span
ended I made another mark, and with the help of my lantern I found a
silver socket let into the rock. It was a plate with a hole in the
centre large enough to admit the iron bar which I had brought for the
purpose. I put it in, and whispering to Tupac to help me, we gripped the
bar, and after two or three hard pulls felt it coming towards us.

A great slab of rock, which fitted into the wall with all the perfection
that our old Inca masons could give it, turned on a central hinge,
leaving a space that two men could have walked through abreast.

'Go in,' I said to Tupac, 'and let all follow you.'

He obeyed, and standing by the opening with a ray of my lantern shooting
across it, I watched them file past one by one until all had gone in.
Then I followed, and as I crossed the threshold set my shoulder against
the edge of the slab and pushed it back into its place.

Now I covered my lantern with my poncho and cried aloud in the
darkness,--

'Let the torches be got ready, but let no light be struck till that
which is to be revealed may be seen.'

A low murmur answered me, and then, still keeping my lantern hidden, I
felt my way along the wall, treading softly as a mountain lion
approaching its prey, until I had counted forty paces. The fortieth
brought me to a doorway, through which I turned. Five paces more brought
me to another turning, ten more to the end of the passage, and then I
uncovered my light and found myself in a little square chamber hewn out
of the rock and surrounded with stone chests covered with lids of
copper.

In the centre of the chamber stood a smaller one, all of metal. I set my
lantern down on one of the others so that the light fell across this
one; then I raised the lid, and there before me lay, perfect as they had
been on the day when Anda-Huillac, last High Priest of the Sun, had laid
them there, the imperial robes and insignia that had last been worn by
the ill-fated Huascar, son of the great Huayna-Capac.

Quickly throwing off the mean garments that I wore, I dressed myself in
them. Then, binding the golden sandals on my feet, and clasping the long
mantle emblazoned in gold and jewels with the symbols of the Sun and his
sister-wife the Moon across my shoulders, I wound the scarlet Llautu
around my head, with the crimson fringe of the Borla interlaced with
gold falling upon my brow, and then, closing the chest, I took up my
lantern and went back along the passages I had traversed.

In the middle of the last one I put my lantern down with the glass
against the wall, and feeling my way into the doorway, which opened on
to the chamber in which the others were awaiting me, I cried, in a voice
that echoed strangely through the great chamber,--

'Let the torches be kindled, and let the Children of the Sun look upon
their Lord!'

I heard a shuffling of feet and a whispering of many voices. Then lights
were struck, and I stepped back quickly into the shadow of the doorway.
I saw the glow of light grow into a glare that was flashed back in a
thousand many-coloured rays from the walls of the chamber. I heard a
deep, low cry of wonder, and then I strode out into the midst and
said,--

'I am he who went into the shadows at the bidding of our Father the Sun,
and by his will I have returned to bring deliverance to his children!'

For one moment of affrighted amazement they stared wide-eyed at me
standing there before them, as though Huayna-Capac himself had returned
from the Mansions of the Sun to resume his sceptre and his crown. Then,
with one accord, they sank on their knees before me, holding their
torches above their bent heads and murmuring,--

'Hail, Son of the Sun and deliverer of his children, who hast come to
bring the daylight back to the long-darkened Land of the Four Regions!'

I looked at them and saw Djama standing erect, still bound and
blindfold, in the midst of them. I went through the kneeling forms to
him, and taking the bandage from his eyes stepped back, and while he was
blinking at the light of the torches, said to him in English,--

'Look about you, Laurens Djama, and tell me if you believe now that I,
the friend of the filthy Indians whom you despise, can do that which I
have said?'

He was still half dazzled by the glare of the torches and the thousand
rays of many colours that were flashing about him. Wherever his
wondering glance fell it saw great golden plates covering the walls,
thick-set with jewels, and in front of him, piled up against the end
wall of the chamber, a shining heap of gold bars in the shape of a
pyramid reaching to the roof of the chamber, and on either side of this,
half way up, was a great image of the Sun, like to that which in the
olden times stood above the altar in the sanctuary of the great temple
of Cuzco, each with its centre fashioned as a human face, with great
flashing diamonds for eyes, with lips of rubies, and long pendants of
emeralds hanging from the ears, and all round a hundred curving rays of
gold edged and lined with jewels.

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