“It isn’t fair to let you face all the danger.”
“There is no danger, but even if there were, it would be up to me because I started the thing, and I shall have to see it through. You entertain the substitute while I am away.”
“It is all a capital idea. How easy everything is when you know just how to do it! You are a better general than Pizarro. He killed the Inca and caused the death of millions of the people. You will bring the whole nation to its knees through strategy, and they will respect you instead of hating you as they did the Spaniard.”
“Never mind that kind of talk. We haven’t done a thing yet.”
“But we shall, to-morrow,” Ted said confidently.
Stanley suppressed a sigh and turned away.
Soncco arrived in due time.
“You see, I have kept my promise,” he said without enthusiasm. “And I have brought a man who can neither hear, see, nor speak.”
“You are a wonder, Soncco,” Stanley returned gleefully. Then he told him what was expected of him.
At first the aged teacher was absolutely set against allowing Stanley to accompany him after exchanging clothes with the man he had brought. He was certain that it must be part of a plot to escape, the far-reaching branches of which he could not foresee.