“Why was it taken?” asked the high priest. “What crime did you commit? Conceal nothing from the all-knowing king!”
“No crime. I was not even accused of a crime. My plot was more fertile than that of the officer, so he envied me and took it away. I beseech you that justice be done.”
Quizquiz flew into a rage.
“The governor represents me and enforces my laws upon an unworthy people. If he desires your land he shall have it. What right have you to anything? Everything is mine. You have lived many years by my grace and by my father’s, yet you complain. Is it true that you now have nothing—no place to which to go?”
“It is true, most noble king. I know not where to turn.”
“It is well; throw him into the river!”
Two soldiers seized the luckless man and hurried him away. With a chuckle Quizquiz ordered that the march be resumed, while Villac Umu nodded approvingly.
Ted and Stanley were enraged at this high-handed action on the part of the Inca. Even the meanest of his subjects had always retained the right to plead his case before the king, according to the law of the nation. Huayna Capac had without exception listened patiently, caused an investigation to be made, and if one of his officials had been guilty of oppression or had administered the laws badly he had been severely punished. It was obvious that Quizquiz had launched forth upon a career of cruelty and extermination that would surely lead to his own downfall.
Arrived at the Golden City, the procession proceeded directly to the Temple of the Sun. The soldiers arranged themselves to form a hollow square. The nobles, priests, and amautas formed groups in the centre of it. In front of the massive structure of the temple stood a giant tree, its topmost branches reaching well over a hundred feet above the ground. Trailing plants that hugged the earth grew at its base; they were symbolic of the Inca towering high above his lowly, cringing subjects.
The king’s litter was carried to the very door of the temple and placed upon the top of the stone terrace, from which a rug-covered runway led into the building. A carpet of soft chinchilla skins covered the floor of the passage.