The Sambo cast down his head without reply.
"Did not my brethren know," resumed Manangani, "that there was an exchange of shots between the Annonciation and the custom-house officers, and that the capture of the vessel would have ruined our projects of conspiracy?"
A murmur of approbation received the words of the Indian.
"Those of my brethren who will wait before they judge will be the beloved of my heart," resumed the Sambo; "who knows whether my son Martin Paz will not one day re-appear? Listen now; the arms which have been sent us from Sechura are in our power; they are concealed in the mountains of the Cordilleras, and ready to do their office when you shall be prepared to do your duty."
"And what delays us?" said a young Indian; "we have sharpened our knives and are waiting."
"Let the hour come," said the Sambo; "do my brethren know what enemy their arms should strike first?"
"Those mestizoes who treat us as slaves, and strike us with the hand and whip, like restive mules."
"These are the monopolizers of the riches of the soil, who will not suffer us to purchase a little comfort for our old age."
"You are mistaken; and your first blows must be struck elsewhere," said the Sambo, growing animated; "these are not the men who have dared for three hundred years past to tread the soil of our ancestors; it is not these rich men gorged with gold who have dragged to the tomb the sons of Manco-Capac; no, it is these proud Spaniards whom Fate has thrust on our independent shores! These are the true conquerors of whom you are the true slaves! If they have no longer wealth, they have authority; and, in spite of Peruvian emancipation, they crush and trample upon our natural rights. Let us forget what we are, to remember what our fathers have been!"
"Anda! anda!" exclaimed the assembly, with stamps of approbation.