“It was from no lack of duty, Lord,” replied Manco, still keeping his head bent down and his eyes on the foot of the throne. “I only returned to the city at daybreak, and then the guard refused me admittance to the palace. But for that I had not only saluted the majesty of my Lord but given him also a message of moment that I had brought.”
“From whence?” said the Inca, sharply interrupting him. “If you were not in the city, where were you?”
“On the altar of the Unknown on Yavirá, Lord!” answered Manco, raising his head and looking him unflinchingly in the eyes. “And from thence I saw Pichincha put on her fire-crown, and heard the voices of the demons shouting in the halls of the under-world, and felt the earth beneath me tremble with the strength of their struggles as they sought to free themselves from their bondage. And then I saw the Llapa leap up out of the Westward, where they say the pale strangers are, and burst over the city, and Mama-Lupa the priestess was with me, and at her bidding I came to bid thee and all thy people make ready to appease the wrath of the Divine Ones who are angry with their children.”
“And since when, my brother, hast thou been a soothsayer and the messenger of old women?” said Atahuallpa, with a sneer on his lips. “How knowest thou or this doting priestess that the signs portend disaster? Has not Cotopaxi yonder flamed and slept by turns for many years of victory, and has not the Llapa ere now sped flaming through the skies before our armies as they marched to conquest? What has a lad like you to do with signs and omens? Leave them for the old and foolish, and if this is all you have to tell me think your errand done, and give place to those who have weightier matters to speak of. I will forgive your foolishness for the sake of your youth. Nay, I will even grant you a boon if you have one to ask of me.”
“The Inca’s word is passed!” cried Manco, suddenly drawing himself up straight and facing the despot with a smile on his lips, “and the Son of the Sun will perform what he has said.”
“What now?” said Atahuallpa, scowling darkly at him.
“What need for such words from you to me?”
As he spoke Manco dropped suddenly on his knees before him, and, letting the spear fall from his shoulders, spread his hands out towards him, and, with the tears that the grief and terror of the night had frozen falling from his eyes, he said in a low, pleading voice—
“Because I have a prayer to lay at the feet of my Lord, in granting which he will win more favour in the eyes of the Divine Ones, and more love and glory in the hearts of his people than by many victories. I pray for mercy, Lord, such as thy great father and mine has often shown, and which thou, his son, wilt honour him by showing—mercy for the innocent who have not sinned, and forgiveness for him who sinned only because his heart told him that he was doing the right!”
Then he looked up, and so terrible was the wrath depicted on the Inca’s face, and so fierce was the fire that glared out of his eyes, that he shrank back appalled and covered his face with his hands.