“Are you the Inca woman, Mama Huello?” broke in Montt; “for, if so, we wish to consult you. We are two naval officers who have heard of your wonderful powers of foretelling the future, and we should like to have a demonstration of them.”
There was a pause, and then the whining voice replied: “Yes, I am the Mama Huello; wait ye there for a short time, while I prepare for your reception.”
Again that curious shuffling sound was heard, and Jim somehow felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. It was only a disordered fancy, of course; but to him it certainly seemed as though the voice proceeded from an animal, rather than from a human being. Then Montt remarked:
“She must surely have a big dog, or some other pet animal with her, I should think, for I distinctly heard the ‘pad-pad’ of paws when the Mama turned away. I hope the creature will not attempt to worry us, under the impression that we mean harm to the old woman.”
Jim did not reply. He felt instinctively that they would find no animal there when they entered the house; but he had no further time for reflection, for, at that moment, the door opened with startling suddenness, and a voice invited them to enter.
Montt stepped inside, and Jim followed close upon his heels. The door shut after them, of its own accord, apparently; and they found themselves in a narrow stone-flagged passage, which was dimly lighted by an oil-lamp with a large red shade over it. The whitewashed walls were covered with all manner of hieroglyphs and drawings, the meaning of which Jim could not fathom. Nor had he much time to examine them, for the voice of the Mama, still proceeding from some unseen quarter, invited them to go forward, and they presently found themselves in a large apartment, built of stone, upon the walls of which hung rich silks and cloths made of vicuna-wool, together with a number of other articles, evidently of ancient native manufacture, the like of which the young Englishman had never seen before. To say that he was astonished at the barbaric splendour of the apartment is to put it very mildly; and he could not understand how it was that such an apparently diminutive house could contain a room of such large size as the one in which he now stood.
But he soon forgot his astonishment in watching the extraordinary owner of the place. She was a wizened little woman, of an age far beyond the allotted threescore years and ten, if appearances went for anything; but it was her face and hands that riveted Jim’s attention and excited his disgust. Her features bore a strongly marked resemblance to those of an animal of the cat species, and her teeth were all pointed instead of being square; while her hands resembled claws, the fingers were hooked and skinny, and the nails were discoloured and extraordinarily long. Taken altogether, it was a personality to excite repulsion and fear in any one brought in contact with it, and Douglas felt another strong shiver run down his back as he looked at her. She stood in the middle of the room, leaning upon a thick ebony stick, and peering out from beneath her overhanging eyebrows at the two young officers, with an expression which they could not quite fathom, and which seemed to be reading their very souls. Then Montt pulled himself together and remarked:
“We have heard of your powers, Mama, and we have come to ask you to foretell the future to us. As I said before, we are both naval officers in the service of—well—I won’t say what country; and we are anxious to learn what may be in store for us. Will you read our lives?”
“Sit ye both down there,” replied the old crone, pointing to a richly cushioned couch which was placed against one of the walls. “If ye really wish to know the future I can tell it ye. Oh yes, the Mama can tell ye. You, Don Jorge Montt, have visited me before—seven years ago; and I told you many things about your future. Have they yet come to pass?”
Montt started. He had not expected that she would again recognise him, for he was very much changed in appearance; and her remembrance of his name, and the date when he last visited her, seemed rather to savour of the uncanny.