“It is necessary for the sake of Peru that they should be kept prisoners,” he observed; “had it not been for you and the padre, they would probably have lost their lives. I can trust you if you will give me your oath not to betray what has occurred or what you suspect, but I cannot trust them. When your son is able to move, you shall proceed on your journey; but they must remain here till it is safe to set them at liberty.”
“I do not seek to pry into your secrets, and should be guilty of the greatest ingratitude by saying a word even to injure you or your people,” said my father. “I am doubly anxious to reach Cuzco, lest my family not hearing of me from thence, should become alarmed.”
“Write a few lines to assure your family of your safety, and it shall reach them long before they could hear from you were you to write from our ancient capital. Trust that to me,” answered Manco, and he was afterwards found as good as his word.
The observations which the Indian chief let fall made me suspect that some plan was forming among the Indians to emancipate themselves from the Spanish yoke; and when I mentioned my surmises to my father, I found that he was of the same opinion, but he warned me not to mention my thoughts to any one.
“The less we know on the subject the better for us,” he observed. “Living under the protection of the Spanish government, it might be our duty to warn them of danger, while it is equally our duty not to betray those who have trusted us.”
“A curious sort of protection they afford us, when they allow bands of robbers, who were near cutting our throats, to scour the country unmolested,” I answered. “For my part, I think the Indians would be perfectly right to emancipate themselves from the galling chains which enthral them.”
“But were they to make the attempt, they could not do so,” said my father. “The discipline and gold of a civilised people will always in the end prevail over a half savage one, in spite of their bravery and resolution.”
Our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Manco. No longer a hunted fugitive, he now walked with the air of a chieftain, his costume also being that of an Inca noble of old. Although the dress had long been disused, except on festive occasions, he had now assumed it to give him greater authority among his countrymen.
We found at the huts a considerable number of women and children, some of them belonging to the Indians who were with us, and some, I concluded, related to others who were absent. They were evidently collected here to be beyond the reach of the Spaniards, and to avoid the flagitious Repartimiento and Meta, the more rigid imposition of which was about that time, I knew, causing great discontent among the people. The Spaniards, long accustomed to treat the Peruvians as inferior beings, destitute alike of feeling and courage, forgot that even a worm will at times turn and attempt to bite the foot that presses it.
I had observed at times a larger number of persons than had accompanied us to the village; and I remarked several strangers, dressed in skins and feathers, who came and went, and again speedily returned, as if they had gone only to a short distance. I told our host that I had observed this, and inquired where the people came from.