Manco, the Peruvian Chief / Or, An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas

by William Henry Giles Kingston

He looked up, and, smiling significantly, answered. “I tell you, Señor, not one of our enemies live to bear false witness against us. I have marked among yonder trees signs not to be mistaken of their fate.”

I asked no further questions. We passed, as we rode along, several bodies of horses and men; and as we approached the trees, Ithulpo shouting with all his might, several condors rose slowly on the wing, and a huge tiger stalked slowly away, looking round every now and then at us with an angry glance, for having disturbed him at his repast. I thought I recognised him as the monster who had paid us a visit during the night; and I have no doubt that he was the same.

I can scarcely describe the dreadful scene which met our sight as we at length reached the longed-for oasis. In the centre existed a small shallow pool, filled by a stream which bubbled up through the earth. It would allow scarcely more than a dozen horses to drink therein at a time. We at once perceived what had occurred. The survivors of the cavalry had reached it in a body. Some of the front ranks, both horses and men, overcome by weakness, had, in their attempt to drink, fallen in, and prevented the others from getting their mouths to it. The first lay trampled on and drowned, making the once clear pool a mass of mud and filth. The rear ranks, rushing over them, had died of raging thirst, in sight of the water which might have saved them. Both men and horses were mingled in a dreadful heap, torn and mangled by the birds and beasts of prey. We crossed as rapidly as we could to the other side of the oasis, where Ithulpo produced a skin full of clear water from one of the saddle-bags.

“We must not disappoint our poor beasts,” he observed, as he gave them to drink.

Just then the horse my father rode gave a neigh. It was answered from a distance; and to our no little satisfaction and astonishment, our two horses were seen trotting up towards the oasis. They had evidently been prevented taking shelter in the oasis by the presence of the tiger, but had kept in the neighbourhood, in the hopes of his taking his departure. Ithulpo at once enticed them to him by the offer of water, which they drank eagerly; and having secured them, after allowing them to crop a little of the grass which grew beneath the shade of the trees, we mounted, and prepared to recommence our journey. As we left the now polluted oasis, Ithulpo looked carefully round to examine the traces on the sand, and declared that of all those who had reached the spot, not one had left it.

“A just vengeance has overtaken the tyrants who yesterday so cruelly ill-treated us, Señores,” he remarked. “I knew it would be so. We may now, without fear, proceed to Lima.”

In two hours we reached the confines of the desert, and once more got among streams, and trees, and cultivated fields. We slept that night at an Indian village, where Ithulpo’s influence procured us a warm reception; and after a rest of two days, we proceeded on our journey to Lima. As we rode along a fine straight road, shaded by an avenue of lofty willows, peculiarly grateful in a hot climate, we at length came in sight of the steeples and domes of the far-famed city of Lima, with the blue ocean on one side of us, and the interminable ranges of the snowy Cordilleras reaching to the sky on the other.

“What a magnificent city!” I exclaimed. “Well worthy, indeed, does it appear of its great founder, the conqueror Pizarro.”

“Wait till we get within the walls before you pronounce an opinion,” remarked my father. “Like the deeds of the founder, it gains more admiration when observed at a distance than when examined closely. We admire Pizarro when we regard alone the wonderful conquest he achieved; but when we learn the wrongs, the injustice, the misery he inflicted, the blood he spilled, and the ruin he caused, he and his companions appear monsters of iniquity, worthy of detestation rather than admiration.”

We entered the city by a handsome gateway, and immediately found ourselves in a long street, with low, mean, ruinous houses on either side. The houses had porches in front, and patios or court-yards. The shops were small, with their goods placed on tables at the doors; there was no glass to the windows, and no display of articles of commerce. The street was badly paved, though there was a rough footway on each side. The walls of many of the houses were composed of double rows of bamboo, but some were of brick; the roofs were flat, and very few of the houses had two stories. As we rode on, however, the appearance of the place improved; and in and near the principal square I observed some fine buildings, with handsomely ornamented façades, and many fine churches and convents; but altogether I had to own that the outside beauty was sadly deceptive.