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THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS 
 
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THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " TUMBLEDOWN TOWERS." 
 
 ■' It's just throwin' away your dividends, that's what it is, Molly, bringin' 
 me here for the cure, as these medical liars call it. Cure indeed ! Is 
 it bein' pickled like a side of bacon that's goin' to cure me, I should like 
 to know ? — it's liars they are, me dear, iviry one of them."- 
 
 " Still the pains have left you, uncle, and your right hand is better, "- 
 observed the girl on whose arm he leaned. 
 
 " And small thanks that is to thim ; me nerves are strained and 
 pinched like harp-strings, no less ; and the divil's own fijugers it is that 
 have been playin' upon thim. He's twiddlin' at my heart-strings this 
 very moment, bad luck to him ! "- 
 
 " Hush, Uncle Tom ; you shouldn't speak like that. Remember 
 you are a priest." 
 
 " I am not. 'Tis your mother's own rheumatic brother I am, livin' 
 on your charity. A priest ! — it's a saint, me dear, I should be called for 
 not swearin' hourly, God forgive me ! Ah well ; I'm not dead yet, 
 Molly, though it's in Purgatory I am for me sins."- 
 
 " Let us walk down the street, uncle."- 
 
 " Street indeed ! — say a ram's horn rather, by the twist of it. If the 
 inhabitants' conduct is no straighter than their houses, it's mighty hard 
 work the good saints must have to keep the fire of Heaven from scorchin' 
 the whole place. Well, well ; maybe it's out of good taste for the 
 crooked creatures who come here for the picklin', that they warp their 
 cabins so : " from which it will be seen that Father O'Dwyer, like the 
 majority of his race, could be whimsical when he chose. His niece sup- 
 pressed a smile and proceeded to assist him over the uneven pavement. 
 
 Never was there so deformed a town. Its name need not be set down 
 here ; no one who has been there will fail to identify it. Father O'Dwyer 
 called it "Tumbledown Towers '' ; than which it would be difiicult to 
 provide a better name. Far and wide the place is renowned for its 
 brine baths ; and to the copious excavations of salt made in connection 
 therewith is due its present distorted appearance. The main street, 
 and indeed most, of the other streets, seem fixed as by enchantment in 
 a series of undulations. Houses perch on hillock, or sink in hollow ; 
 now leaning cheek by jowl, now shunning one another. Obtusely they 
 withdraw from the pavement, or acutely overhang it, avoiding with 
 astounding unanimity all approach to the vertical. Scarce a window or 
 a door will close as it was originally designed, and the roofs point sky- 
 wards at every conceivable angle. Even the tower of the parish church 
 lurches forward in drunken fashion, incongruous, bordering well-nigh 
 on the disreputable. The whole place has the appearance of having 
 suffered from a seismic seizure of undoubted severity. 
 
 " They must have faith in the saints, hereabouts," said Father Tom, 
 
 li" 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 pointing to a house through the open door of which could be seen the 
 hall lamp swinging at an angle of some forty-five degrees. '- Mary be 
 good to us ; whoever saw the like of that now ? " 
 
 " On the contrary, uncle, I don't think the people here are of the true 
 faith I " 
 
 " Bad luck to thim then for heretics, Molly. Maybe, if they held fast 
 by Peter, he wouldn't be after lettin' them dwell in this valley of dry 
 bones. -Tis only a miracle could straighten their houses anyhow ! ''- 
 
 The amber lights of the sunset were fading on the horizon into one 
 uniform grey mist ; and overhead a star or two twinkled sharply in the 
 unclouded blue. Already a chill breeze swept down from the neighbour- 
 ing hills, and the priest shivered as he felt the nip in the ak. That 
 rheumatic frame of his responded instantly to the smallest change of 
 temperature. Molly noticed this ; so, carefully adjusting his grey 
 dufiel cloak she wa,lked him back to the hotel as fast as he was able to go. 
 
 Neither summer heats nor the thickest of clothing served to keep the 
 cold from that sensitive frame. She led the old man along. It was as 
 Spring leading Winter to the grave. 
 
 No more comely figure ever walked that crooked town than Molly 
 Prynne. There were all the graces of young womanhood — bronze hair, 
 shot with glorious ruddy lights ; a spotlessly fair complexion ; the 
 kindest of grey eyes ; and a figure which amid those distorted surround- 
 ings seemed the sole symmetrical creation. Yet there was something of 
 sadness in the face — something of that sadness which of itself makes for 
 beauty. Her expression was a thought too pensive to betoken all absence 
 from care. But the tread was firm and elastic ; and would alone 
 have sufficed to show that the girl was no weakling either in mind or 
 body. The little chin too, rounded off cunningly as it was, plainly in- 
 dicated strength of character. 
 
 Father Tom adored his niece, and she on her part loved him dearly. 
 They were the only two of their blood left — so far as they knew. It 
 is true that Molly's father — ^but there, this story greatly concerns Molly's 
 father and his fate, so it will be best to take that as it coraes. 
 
 Despite his rheumatic pains — perhaps the more to distract his atten- 
 tion from them — the priest talked volubly on the way home ; for in 
 truth Father O'Dwyer had a long tongue though withal a kind one. " It 
 seems he's coming here/' he said ; which abrupt and apparently irrelevant 
 remark seemed wholly intelligible to Molly, for the blood mounted to her 
 cheeks, and her eyes beamed with a brighter light for it. Yet with true 
 feminine fence, she asked for explanation. Now, thirty or more years 
 of the confessional had not been without their teaching for Father Tom. 
 In that time he had obtained what he would doubtless have allowed 
 to be an imperfect, yet, so far as it went, a comparatively clear insight 
 into tlie devious ways of feminine nature. He chuckled now at the trans- 
 parency of his niece's suppression of the truth. " I'm talkin' of Prester 
 John and the Great Cham, me dear,"- he said in his sly way ; "of whom 
 else, when one of 'em writes askin' the manager of the hotel for a room, 
 and that untidy creature leaves the letter on his desk for me to read 
 when I'm payin' the weekly bill ? " 
 " Did you see the name then ? " 
 
 " As plain as the nose on your pretty face, dear — Prester John sprawled 
 ' all over the one side of it.'' 
 
 " Why is he coming here, uncle ? *' 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Maybe his rheumatism "■ 
 
 " Oh, the idea ; as if Mr. Hazel suffered from rheumatism ! "■ 
 
 " Ah, thin, 'tis not Prester John we're talkiij' of, is it ? " 
 
 Molly laughed. She frowned too, and sighed. " I wish Mr. Hazel 
 was not coming here," she said pensively, " it isn't fair " 
 
 " Fair — to whom ? — to you ? Begad that's just where it is fair, rao 
 dear." 
 
 " I was going to say, uncle, that it is not fair to him."- 
 
 Now it was Father O'Dwyer who frowned. " It's that blackguard 
 you're thinkin' of, is it ? " he questioned sharply. 
 
 " Dick is not a blackguard — he is unfortunate ! " 
 
 " And Judas Iscariot was the best of the Twelve, maybe. Oh, Molly, 
 Molly, are you nivir goin' to learn sense ? The man's a drunken prodigal, 
 I tell you. If you marry him it's sorrow alone will be your portion. 
 And 'tis not love that gives you conceit of the rascal ; I know that well." 
 
 " I may not -love him, uncle ; but at least I pity him." 
 
 " Pity is it ? — and a mighty sound foundation that is to build your 
 marriage happiness upon. Mary Prynne, 'tis me sister's own child you 
 are, rest her soul, and she fed you with her heart's blood like the pelican 
 of the wilderness. When she died, Mary, 'twas you she thought of at 
 the last. ' Be a father to her, Tom,' she said, ' be a father to the orphan, 
 for that's what she is seein' her own father's a wanderin' Cain in the naked 
 lands at the back of beyond.' Those were her words, Molly me dear ; 
 and standin' in her place, I had rather see you cold and coffined than 
 married to Dick Amherst, black reptile that he is ! " 
 
 "It is too late to talk about that now, Uncle Tom. Dick's salvation 
 depends upon my marrying him. He implored me to be his good angel ; 
 I alone, he said, could save him from himself. Could I — could ally 
 woman withstand such an appeal as that ? I promised him I would. 
 I gave him my word I would be his wife, and I must abide by it. Be- 
 sides," added the girl, as if in rebuke, " Mrs. Amherst has been a mother 
 to me ever since I was five years old, and Dick was brought up with 
 me ! '' 
 
 " And a mighty fine bringing-up it was,'' muttered Father O'Dwyer, 
 " — a foolish mother, and a bad son. Talk about bringin' up a child in 
 the way it should go — did she bring up that boy as she should have done, 
 I ask you ? — faith, you know better ! No, she spared the rod and spoilt 
 the child ; and now he's a strayin' vagabond upon the earth keepin' 
 the company of divils like himself. Marry him ! — Save him ? — I wonder 
 you don't see the folly of it, child, whin the inimy of mankind has him 
 fast by the ear. Your tinder heart it is, and the sophistry of that piother 
 of his fightin' for her cub, that's brought you to this way of thinkin'." 
 
 " But, uncle, poor Mrs. Amherst would break her heart if I were to give 
 Dick up now : oh no, it would not be right." 
 
 " An' he'll break yours if you don't. It's no ripintance you'll ever 
 see from Dick Amherst — grapes from a thorn more like. You've set him 
 roUin' round the world again, Molly, and you had best let him roll now 
 till he drops into the black pit that's yawnin' for him. God forgive me 
 that I should speak so of the creature ; but true it is." 
 
 " That's just it, uncle, it weis I who sent him away — to search for my 
 father, and so far, if no further, I am responsible. You would not have 
 me shirk the responsibility of my own act. He is working for me ; and 
 I must keep my promise to him.'' 
 
8 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Well, ye may, me dear, if he keeps his. He has been in Peru these 
 two years now, and not a sign is there of his bein' alive. If he's not dead, 
 I'll go bail he's drinkin' hijnself into Purgatory. Believe me, Molly, it':i 
 with the saints in glory your father is, this long time. Give up this folly, 
 me child, and marry the man you love." 
 
 " How do you know I love Mr. Hazel, uncle ? " 
 
 The priest chuckled. " How do I know it ? — why, much the same 
 way as I know his heart is set on yourself. Haven't I seen you together 
 cooin' like turtle doves more than once ? You have nc^ vocation for 
 bein' a nun, me dear, so give the boy a good word. He has followed 
 the longings of his heart here ; be careful thin, Molly, I say, and don't 
 spoil your life like a foolish virgin." 
 
 " I must do my duty, uncle." 
 
 " Is it your duty you call it ; and what is that anyhow ? " 
 
 " If Mr. Hazel cisks me to marry him, I must tell him of my compact 
 with, Dick. That is right, and that is my duty, uncle." 
 
 " Ah well, you must boil your kittle in your own way, Mary Prynne, 
 and God forgive me for the sore heart I have. Maybe I won't be here 
 long, and I can put in a good word with St. Peter for you. Sure you'll 
 need it as Mrs. Amherst ! " 
 
 Molly made no reply, but leaving her uncle seated in the hall^ — they 
 had now arrived at the hotel — walked off to her own room. And Father 
 O'Dwyer sighed. He knew that the girl was quite capable of marring 
 her life for what she considered her duty. He was a fine enough young 
 man, this Amherst, so far as looks went. But, unfortunately, an hereditary 
 tendency for strong drink had chosen him for its development, and so 
 rendered him an unpromising husband for Molly or any other woman. 
 He had used — and nCt without effect — a most sure and deadly plea ; 
 for he had sworn to the girl that all he needed to save him from himself 
 was the influence of some good woman. And that had gone straight 
 home with Molly : few women are proof against it. She had pitied the 
 man so sorely ; and she had half promised to become his wife. Then 
 O'Dwyer had intervened. He knew that Amherst's craving was too 
 strong for any amount of good intention ; he knew that he could not 
 but make the girl wretched — more than that, that she would have to 
 sink with him to the depths of misery and degradation. And so the 
 priest had cunningly suggested that the marriage should take place only 
 when his wandering brother-in-law should be Iciind ard brought heme to 
 be present at the wedding. And through love lor her father Molly had 
 supported his suggestion, and Dick had betaken himself off to Peru 
 where Mr. Prynne had last been heard of. 
 
 For two years this man dropped out of Molly's life. Beyond a letter 
 or two received shortly after his departure, she heard nothing from or 
 of him. So it was that Father O'Dwyer really believed both Dick and 
 Prynne to be dead, and urged the girl to grasp the happiness that offered 
 itself to her, in the person of Gerald Hazel. But there, as we have seen, 
 Molly's sense of duty stood in the way. Till Dick returned, or till proofs 
 of his death and that of her father were forthcoming, she most resolutely 
 refused to listen to any lover. It seemed probable now that Hazel was 
 coming to her with a' proposal of marriage. But Father Tom foresaw 
 little chance of his success. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " BETWEEN TWO FIRES." 
 
 As Father O'Dwyer sat in the hall of the hotel, he groaned inwardly at 
 what he would have termed his niece's " obstinate rectitude." And 
 when Father O'Dwyer sorrowed, he did it thoroughly. He had got hold 
 of a very tangible grievance, or at least he thought so, and he was not going 
 to dismiss it lightly. And it is doubtful whether of itself the arrival of 
 the hotel omnibus which just then came up, would have been sufficient 
 to distract him from his lugubrious yet (to him) pleasurable employ- 
 ment. Despite the clanging of bells and scuttering of waiters, and the 
 general riot which ensued upon the arrival of this very unimportant 
 looking vehicle. Father O'Dwyer would no doubt have continued in the 
 deepest of sorrow for himself, had not the fates been against him. As 
 it was, he was obliged to give it up, for from out the Mttle crowd there 
 came to him with outstretched hand a handsome young man, whom 
 he did not fail instantly to recognise, and having recognised, to welcome. 
 Again let it be said that with this genial priest there were no half measures. 
 His welcome was no mere phrase. It was hearty and spontaneous, and 
 tinged with the very definite charm of manner of his race. 
 
 " Ah, it's you, Mr. Hazel," said he kindly, " indeed it's glad I am to 
 see you at last;" 
 
 " At last ? Why how, pray, did you know I was coming at all ? " 
 
 " How do I laiow the sun will rise to-morrow in the East ? — how do 
 I know these old bones of mine will ache as long as they are inside me, — 
 how do I ? " 
 
 " And Miss Prynne, she is well I hope ? " murmured this very conscious 
 lover, colouring vividly. For the fife of him he could not repress the 
 interruption. 
 
 " And why should she not be ? Indeed, the girl is bloomin' like the 
 first rose of summer, though 'twas the last one Tom Moore wrote about, 
 I know well. And you are no sick man by the look of you — it's no pain 
 has brought you to Tumbledown Towers, I'll go bail ! " 
 
 " Tumbledown Towers ? " 
 
 " Oh, 'tis just a name I give the place, by reason of its crookedness. 
 It's all crooked togither as ye may see, though there's mighty httle to 
 choose between the place and its people for dilapidation." 
 
 " Miss Prynne is with you, of course ? where is she now ? " 
 
 " Improvin' the looks God has given her ; that's where she is. Dressin' 
 for dinnei' is the plain English of it. And why not — seein' the creature's 
 as vain as a peacock ? " 
 
 " Oh, come. Father, that's not quite fair. On the contrary. Miss Prynne 
 is as artless and simple as a child." 
 
 " Maybe it's yourself is that last. Hazel, now I think of it, I wonder 
 how you came to escape Herod's massacre at all, at all." 
 
 The young man laughed. " You credit me in a somewhat wrong 
 direction, I fear. Father. But come, there goes what I take to be a sum- 
 mons to eat, and I am both dirty and hungry. See you at dinner, of 
 
10 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 course ? " Hazel slipped into the of&ce for the key of his room and 
 bounded upstairs. 
 
 " See me at dinner, will you, deceiver that you are ! " muttered the 
 priest. " It's little seein' you'll have for any soul but Mary Prynne, 
 I'm thinkin' ; and a bitter cup it is she's brewin' for your thirst, if ye only 
 knew it, me boy ! Ah well, it's mighty hard to understand the divilments 
 of the sex." 
 
 Hazel made a hasty, though scrupulous toilet — ^hasty because not one 
 moment of his weU-beloved's company would he lose — scrupulous because, 
 for one reason, he was a man who inclined to belief that in most things 
 in this Ufe the best was bad enough; He was fair, and he suddenly became 
 aware that the sombre tones of an evening coat set off his well-knit frame. 
 He was guilty of a white waistcoat, too, and a trifle captious, too, over the 
 set of his cambric bow. Then he became distinctly conscious that his 
 present state of mind was extraordinary, not to say fastidious. There 
 had been a time when he would have laughed at himself for a peacock. 
 But he donned his feathers now- — magpie feathers even though they 
 were — with a pride and a care which he felt to be not only legitimate 
 but called for. The enervating influence of sentiment was well at work 
 upon Gerald Hazel, hard-headed, much-travelled, and journahst though 
 he was. 
 
 To be precise, his especial business was that of roving correspondent. 
 He possessed a small income, which since leaving Oxford, he had been 
 in the habit of supplementing by newspaper work of a desultory order. 
 His gifts happened to be of that variety which thrives under compression. 
 As a lurid and graphic depictor of warfare, as a dihgent student and clear 
 exponent of strategy he was hard to beat. His copy had the real smell 
 of the powder ; consequently, let there be strife worth the chronicling 
 in any quarter of the globe, and Gerald Hazel was very quickly on the 
 scene. Then there invariably followed in the columns of one or the other 
 journal to which he was addicted, a procession of papers, picturesque, 
 though for that none the less critical, upon the men and manners of the 
 country which at the moment he happened to be exploiting. From 
 Persia to Patagonia, from Iceland to the Cape, there was little his pen 
 had not " let go " upon. His work was eagerly sought and therefore 
 highly paid, so that he was really weU-to-do for a bachelor. He was a 
 Bohemian and free to live the Lfe he loved — the only life in which he could 
 hope wholly to thrive. He had no patience with the " chocolate-cream " 
 soldier. He hated the fringes of society with the gusto of a born pioneer, 
 for he belonged by instinct to that band of restless Englishmen who for 
 their individual pleasure directly — ^though for their country's good in- 
 directly — expand the Umits of the Empire. Then for the moment he 
 would grow weary and come and shave his beard, and spruce his dress 
 and, apparently without inconvenience, submit generally to the de- 
 civilizations of civiUzed society. And his friends wondered — at least 
 the female portion of th'em did — why so pecuharly adaptable a man 
 did not fulfil his very obvious destiny, and marry ! They asked them- 
 selves, and they asked each other. But somehow, no one ever asked 
 the man hiimself. Yet he could have explained his feehngs on that as on 
 most other things, with ease. He would probably have told them that 
 he could in nowise ranger himself, as the French say ; and that hitherto 
 his duties had not permitted him the relaxation of seeking a wife. Thus 
 it was at thirty Gerald Hazel found himself quite heart-whole and un- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. ii 
 
 reclaimed — a veritable wild man of the woods, wholly averse to what 
 he was pleased to terra the "smug " existence of matrimony. He would 
 never marry, he said, thereby invoking the interference of the gods, who 
 forthwith went to work to make him eat his words. 
 
 On his last visit to London he had formed a notion of exploring his 
 own country, about which he knew just as much, or rather, just as little, 
 as most men of his kind. His notion led him to Harrogate, and there he 
 saw Molly Prynne ministering as usual upon her good uncle, and helping 
 him to bear those pains which, had he only known it, not all the com- 
 bined waters of Europe would ever disperse. The girl's beauty attracted 
 him in the first instance, and her personahty did the rest. He recognised 
 that he was doomed, and surrendered himself to his fate con amore. And 
 the very obvious fact that his admiration for Molly was somewhat ex- 
 tensively shared did nothing to lessen it. But in her allegiance to the 
 absent Amherst the girl had never wavered, though in truth it must be 
 confessed that not one of those who up to this time had followed in her 
 train, had put it to any severe test. She was merely indifierent to them. 
 And so she was to Hazel in the beginning. But she came to feel differently. 
 Indeed, she did not fail to recognise that from being merely one among 
 others, he was fast becoming to her the one. She was of too truthful 
 a nature — too strong, to blind herself. She understood quite well how it 
 was with her, and she began to rate herself roundly for having exposed 
 Dick's interests to such danger. Doubtful of her own fortitude, she was 
 strong enough to take to flight, although instinctively she knew it would 
 be of small avail. Her insight into Gerald Hazel's character told her 
 that he was not a man to be put off easily. And now she found that it 
 had all come about just as she had thought, and her good actions were all 
 for nothing, for he was here, clearly with a purpose, of the nature of which 
 she could not for one moment pretend to be in doubt. She felt that her 
 loyalty to Dick would require all that she could muster in support of it, 
 so she began the battle with herself there and then. She did not dine at 
 the table d'hdte that night, but tHe-A-tete with her uncle in their sitting- 
 room ; whereat the holy father pondered, and the disconsolate young 
 man nearly lost his appetite. As for Molly herself she rested com- 
 paratively content, obhvious utterly to the fact that her first manoeuvre 
 was a very patent avowal of her assailant's strength and of her own 
 weakness. 
 
 Of itself the dinner was not such as to recompense Mr. Hazel for his 
 disappointment. He was decidedly unquiet in spirit. He could not 
 understand Molly's absence at all. Nor was the company amid which 
 he found himself calculated in the least degree to cheer. It was a uni- 
 versally afflicted community ; egotistical, dyspeptic, neurotic and com- 
 bative. Its conversational area was Umited to its afflictions, and its ideas 
 and experiences were distinctly circumscribed. In short, the young man 
 felt .instinctively that this was a table at which there might easily be 
 trouble. 
 
 It was difficult to find one man who had not suffered more than his 
 neighbour. Hazel felt himself to be aggressively healthy ; indeed, he 
 was not at all sure that his presence might not be taken as directly in- 
 sulting. But he hoped for the best, ate his dinner, and whiled away the 
 very substantial interims between courses in taking stock of the sur- 
 roundi^g wreckage. It was not until he was nearly through the meaj 
 that he caught sight of a handsome florid woman, imposing, and if one 
 
12 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 might judge by her present expression — more than high-spirited. This 
 lady he instantly recognised as Mrs. Amherst, the companion and champion 
 of Molly, and a lady who bore no very good-will towards himself. 
 
 Indeed Mrs. Amherst detested Hazel with all the energy of her singu- 
 larly undisciphned nature ; and during the course of a short' but stormy 
 acquaintance, she did not fail effectually to remove any uncertainty he 
 might have felt on the point. Ignorant as he was of Molly's engagement 
 to her son, Hazel could not in the least understand how he came to be so 
 perpetual a mark for the woman's spleen. Mrs. Amherst, of course, 
 could easily have informed him, and would indeed have done so long since 
 in manner worthy of her, had she not feared to bring the two men into 
 open rivalry. But there was something about this young gentleman, 
 with the steady grey eyes, which impressed Mrs. Amherst. She had 
 a notion that he was a rock against which her fury would expend itself 
 in vain. So for her son's sake, she avoided open warfare, lest in the con- 
 flict his interests might be jeopardised. She contented herself with being 
 just politely disagreeable and contentious. Usually Hazel avoided her, 
 but he waylaid her now in the hope of news concerning his well-beloved. 
 Mrs. Amherst rustled out of the dining-room in her most formidable 
 fashion. Her manner towards the intruder was glacial. " I am as well 
 as can be expected," she replied in answer 'to his conventional enquiry 
 after her health. 
 
 " Miss Prynne was not at dinner," said Hazel. He knew that the 
 remark was obvious, and he was not at all given to that kind of thing, 
 but for the life of him he could think of nothing else to say. 
 
 " No, Mr. Hazel-^a slight headache. She dined in her room I do 
 not think " rthis with great emphasis) " she will be down this evening." 
 " Really ! I'm very sorry to hear that. Perhaps the place^- — " 
 " The place is dull, Mr. Hazel ; very duU indeed : not at all the place 
 for a gay young man like you ; I really should advise you to go away." 
 
 " Now, that's very good of you, Mrs. Amherst ; really very good of 
 you. Believe me, I appreciate it. I'll take your advice and get out of 
 it — in a day or two." 
 
 Mrs. Amherst did not reply. She didn't quite know what she had 
 expected him to say, but she was distinctly conscious that what he had 
 said was not what she had expected. She took herself upstairs. 
 
 Hazel, deprived of the company he wished for, consoled himself with 
 a cigar on the lawn. He needed consolation, for somehow he felt the 
 prospect was by no means rosy. The presence of such a counsellor as 
 Mrs. Amherst ever at Molly's elbow, was not Ukely to conduce to his 
 success. As for that lady's attitude towards him, though he felt strongly 
 that it called for frustration on his part, he did not in the least know 
 how to set about frustrating it. Her enmity was very obvious, and in the 
 future might take any form. He presumed it had a cause, and he could 
 only hope that sooner or later the good lady herself would make some 
 false move by which he would be able to arrive at it. For the present 
 he could only wait patiently until chance should afford him the oppor- 
 tunity of free converse with Molly. He believed that " Kismet " was the 
 final word in most human affairs. 
 
 Mrs. Amherst was not in an amiable mood when she went upstairs. 
 And she was prepared to vent her feeUngs upon either O'Dwyer or Molly, 
 lU-regulated as was her mind, her temper was not regulated at all. She 
 was a very bad companion for a girl like Molly. And therefore it is per- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 13 
 
 haps right to say that her presence was not due to selection, either in that 
 or in any other capacity. Circumstances alone had brought about her 
 installation, and once installed she had remained, a across thrust upon 
 the shoulders of this good priest and his niece " just to keep one mindful 
 of what poor creatures we are," as he put it, " and to give us a taste of 
 Purgatory maybe." 
 
 Mrs. Amherst had been a school companion of the late Mrs. Prynne, 
 who had always been wont to look upon her as a friend, and a widow 
 with a most unruly boy to manage. And when Mrs. Prynne died, the 
 lady did not fail to come forward as the rightful person to take charge 
 of the orphan girl. She installed herself as cuckoo in the nest, the in- 
 habitants of which speedily realised the utter futility of any attempt 
 at removing her. Then followed, in the most natural way, an arrange- 
 ment by which Mrs. Amherst was to draw a " nominal '' salary in recom- 
 pense for her performance of the various responsibilities and duties 
 incumbent upon her in the capacity of Molly's official mother. Indeed, 
 there were moments when the good father expressed it as his view that so 
 far as Mrs. Amherst was concerned, her motherhood was official merely 
 through force of circumstances. Prynne was continually abroad on what 
 were termed his " travels," and of his absence Mrs. Amherst's presence 
 might have been either the cause or the effect. And Father O'Dwyer 
 had been known to suggest it was the cause. He appeared to be quite 
 certain that Mrs. Amherst would require no great pressure to induce 
 her to take her late friend's name in addition to her other responsibilities. 
 And if only Mr. Prynne had proved as anxious to be a father to Dick as 
 she had to be a mother to Molly, things might have been different. But 
 for the present that did not appear to be so. Indeed, for long past, 
 Mr. Prynne had shown no sign of life at all. 
 
 Thus Mrs. Amherst continued in possession of her salary, and exercised 
 her maternal supervision over Molly to the extreme unhappiness of the 
 girl and everyone around her. She had neither home, nor money nor 
 friends, and it was quite impossible to oust her. She took her stand as 
 a despot and maintained it. 
 
 With all the force of a fine healthy Irish spirit did Father O'Dwyer 
 hate this woman. And now that Hazel had come upon the scene again, 
 he had a very shrewd idea of what he might expect from her. The sparkle 
 of the lady's eyes as she entered the sitting-room confirmed his worst 
 fears. So, without further ado he betook himself to bed, arguing that 
 as some part of him must suffer, it might as well be his digestive apparatus. 
 
 At the window MoUy stared out into the darkling twiUght, and won- 
 dered how best she could evade Hazel's impending proposal. Mrs. Am- 
 herst sat down, and in another moment opened fire. In the adjacent 
 room Father O'Dwyer thanked the saints that he was sheltered from 
 the storm. 
 
 " I have been insulted," began Mrs. Amherst, without preamble. 
 " Yes, you may well look, Mary ; I have been insulted, I say, and on 
 your account." 
 
 The statement appeared to be so unanswerable that MoUy attempted 
 none. Moreover, she thought that silence on her part might perhaps 
 serve to avert the coming trouble. But in that she proved to be mis- 
 taken ; for upon her very passiveness Mrs. Amherst did not fail at once 
 to pounce. 
 
 " Qh, I know I am of no account — self-saprificing people never are in 
 
14 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 the eyes of those for whom they immolate themselves. But if I am 
 to be sneered at by the girl I have brought up as my own child, I had 
 better leave the room : there is no more to be said." 
 
 " What is the matter ? Has " 
 
 " Yes ; Mary, he has ; and on your account — such insolence I I 
 wonder you can look me in the face ; that you are not black ashamed 1 " 
 
 " Of what, of what ? I have done nothing, Mrs. Amherst." 
 
 " Nothing ! — you have asked that impertinent Hazel fellow to come 
 here, to insult me. Oh, I know- — I know, you are tired of my poor boy — ■ 
 you want to marry this man. But I am a mother ; I will not stand by 
 and see such injustice done." 
 
 " I did not ask Mr. Hazel to come here, and I certainly said nothing 
 about wishing to marry him ; as for Dick, you know that he has my pro- 
 mise, and I intend to keep it." 
 
 " That's right; that's right ; accuse me of falsehood. Do j Oh, I 
 have long foreseen this. If I remain here, I shall lose my temper., You 
 ungrateful girl ! This Hazel " 
 
 " Oh, for Heaven's sake, leave Mr. Hazel's name out of the question ! " 
 cried Molly, furious in her turn. " I am engaged to your son ; there's an 
 end of it. You needn't fear I shall break my word." 
 
 " Then tell this fellow to go." 
 
 " Oh no. I really can't do that. The hotel isn't my property. I 
 have no right to dictate to Mr. Hazel what he shall do." 
 
 " All this is mere, subterfuge, Mary ; you know well enough what I 
 mean." 
 
 " Of course I know what you mean, and I've given you your answer. 
 I tell you I shall not marry Mr. Hazel if it should break my heart to 
 refuse him." 
 
 " Break your heart ! What has your heart got to do with him, I should 
 like to know ? Are you not engaged to a noble, handsome gentleman, 
 my " 
 
 " I am engaged to a weak creature, in the hope of making a man of him. 
 Do you think I love Dick ? I don't ; it is out of sheer pity I marry 
 him. You have failed utterly to influence him for good ; and it seems 
 to be my lot to take up the burden." 
 
 " How dare you speak to me like that, Mary ? Have I not been the 
 most 'indulgent mother to my son ? " 
 
 " Yes, far, far too indulgent. In a great measure you have made 
 him what he is." 
 
 " Oh, this is too much. Did I make him a drunkard ? " 
 
 " No, I am bound to say that he seems to have inherited that. But 
 you have never trained him as you should have done. You have never 
 corrected him. He grew up to know no wiU but his own — ^to defy you 
 absolutely." 
 
 Mrs. Amherst was fast reaching the secondary stage of her malady. 
 She was on the verge of tears. 
 
 " Oh, that I should be spoken to like this J " she wailed. " And after 
 all my trouble ! That ungrateful boy ran away from school, and wan- 
 dered about the Colonies and America for years. He came back a ruffian, 
 only to disgrace me ; and now, Mary, it is you who have sent hiiD away ; 
 yes, sent him to his death ! " 
 
 " That is not true. Dick went to Peru of his own free wiU. I cer- 
 tainly made it a condition of my marrying him that he should find my 
 
THE MOTHER O F EMERALDS. 15 
 
 father, and he gladly accepted it. You couldn't expect everything to be 
 on my side, Mrs. Aroherst 1 " 
 
 " Ah, it is a good thing your mother is not alive to hear you insult 
 her best friend." 
 
 " If my mother was ahve, she would most certainly not allow me to 
 marry ydur son. Indeed, I am beginning to think I did a very rash thing 
 when I consented to." 
 
 " No, no, Mary. Don't say that " (she had reached yet another stage 
 now, and was prepared to be coaxing), " Dick loves you truly, and once 
 you are his wife you will be able to twist him round your finger. Don't 
 break my heart by throwing him over for that detestable Hazel." 
 
 " Mr. Hazel is not detestable ; "but you need not go on like this, Mrs. 
 Amherst. I tell you if Dick is aUve and returns with my father, I will 
 marry him ; but it is just possible, since I have not heard from him for 
 so long, that he may not be." 
 
 " Oh cruel, cruel, to speak so callously of my poof boy ! He is not 
 dead. He can't be. I have always written to him, and my letters were 
 addressed to the post office at Lima. If he had not had them they would 
 have been returned to me." 
 
 " I doubt it very much. The Peruvians are the laziest of people. 
 Your letters may be lying there unopened at this moment. We know 
 Dick was going into the interior, and it is not the safest country in the 
 world. A hundred and one things may have happened to him." 
 
 '■ Then you should remain true to the memory of a martyr." 
 
 Molly laughed a trifle hysterically. " With the greatest stretch of 
 imagination I cannot picture Dick a martyr. But good-night, Mrs. Am- 
 herst. I am tired of this fruitless discussion." 
 
 " Tell me again you don't intend to accept Mr. Hazel." 
 
 " If Mr. Hazel proposes to me, I shall refuse him." 
 
 " Bless you, bless you for that ; if a mother's love " 
 
 " Good-night, Mrs. Amherst," repeated Molly, cutting short this 
 harangue. Then she left the room. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " molly's confession.'-' 
 
 " Ah, Hazel, it's yourself, is it ? An hour of sleep after sunrise is worth 
 a dozen before, despite the busybodies and their distractin' proverbs." 
 
 Father O'Dwyer had just returned from his brine bath, and met the 
 young man as he was coming down the stairs. It was somewhere about 
 eleven ^o'clock, and neither of them had breakfasted. Hazel accepted 
 readily the priest's invitation to join him. And so they had their cloth 
 spread in the shade of a mighty sycamore on the lawn. Your ceUbate is 
 invariably an adept in the gentle art of eating. Certainly Father O'Dwyer 
 was no exception to prove the rule. He had the tenderest regard for 
 his internal economy, and he treated it with the very greatest respect, 
 not to say consideration. A stodgy meal he abhorred, and in his opinion 
 the usual English breakfast was stodgy. Hence Hazel saw appear in 
 goodly array cold viands, sardines, and luscious fruits ; and the matutinal 
 coffee, or infusion of tea-leaves and indigo, which as often as not serves 
 in its stead, was replaced by a mellifluous Hock, and the best product 
 of La Bourgogne. 
 
i6 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose I am a bit behind time, Father ; but you, I don't 
 think, are one to condemn me on that score. You're not going to tallc 
 about Solomon, the sluggard, and the ant, eh ? " 
 
 " Augh ! a most over-rated insect, believe me ; and the man Solomon 
 but a trifle better, as his scandalous old age shows plainly enough. Early 
 risin' is mighty well for an old man like me, but for you, why, you show 
 your sinse in takin' your fill of your pillow. I commind ye for it, me 
 boy I " 
 
 " Ah, that's good. Nine out of ten men wouldn't, you know. On 
 the contrary, they'd dub me the sluggard, if nothing worse." 
 
 " More shame to thim. They nivir do any good in this world for all 
 their leavin' a warm bed at dawn. They wear themselves out with over- 
 eatin' and under-sleepin", to the worry of their nerves, and ruin of their 
 digestions. Thin they marry and populate the jails and workhouses 
 with children of Uttle stamina. Original sin, I teU ye, is the outcome 
 of over-work and an immoderate appetite." 
 
 " But you know what Dr. Watts says, ' Birds in their little nests, etc' " 
 " And isn't he a fool, sir ? Is that Natural History, I ask you? — it's 
 not even common sense. ' Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to 
 do,' that's another silly sayin' for ye, as if the old inimy didn't invariably 
 employ the busiest people to make all the trouble. An' the bee — ^the 
 same Dr. Watts on the bee — faith, 'tis the bee on Dr. Watts I'd rather 
 be seein', and that in good goin' order. But I'm not lookin' after ye, me 
 boy. Is it a good meal you're makin' ? — if not, sing out for more.'' 
 " A superlative meal. Father, fit for a king 1 " 
 
 " Ah, poor souls, 'tis not the kind they take, pamperin' their bodies at 
 the expinse of their Uves, and bringin' whole nations into conflict, through 
 sheer biliousness. What ruined Napoleon, I ask ye — wasn't it eatin' 
 the wrong food too fast, and thinkin' more of his battles than his stomach, 
 when that same had to do a lot of the work ? If you'll believe me. Hazel, 
 the ruck of humanity needs lookin' after like infants, no less. Holy 
 Church knew that same whin she declared Friday a meagre day. And 
 Moses, the wise man ! Why, it's keepin' to his bill of fare that gives the 
 Jews their clear heads, and makes them grow rich, bad luck to 'em I 
 Ah, well, but it's not in the pulpit I am for sure ! " 
 " No ; one hears worse sermons there. Father." 
 
 " You may well say that. Hazel ; for it's of people's souls they're al- 
 ways talkin', forgittin' as they do, that their souls are largely depindent 
 on their bodies. You'll nivir get a man with his liver wrong to put his 
 morals right. Augh! but it's dry I am with talkin'. Pass the ' Liebfrau,' 
 hilp yourself to a cigar, and praise the saints I have not stuffed you with 
 ham and eggs,- and tea to make lither of them.'' 
 
 Hazel laughed. The old man amused him vastly ; and he did feel 
 singularly content within himself. But Molly was not to be banished 
 from his thoughts, even by the gastronomic attentions of Father O'Dwyer, 
 subtle as they undoubtedly were. While he did not fail to appreciate the 
 aroma of a good cigar — and this was a very good one — he was nevertheless 
 conscious that with his divinity away, complete happiness was not for 
 him. He was shy of introducing her as a subject of conversation, but 
 for the hfe of him he could not suppress an allusion to her. 
 
 " And do Miss Prynne and Mrs. Amherst share your very excellent 
 dietary principles, sir ? '-' 
 
 " There now 1 Well, I'm surprised at ye ; did ye ever hear of a woman 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 17 
 
 sinsible enough to take thought of her eatin' ? Isn't it buns and milk 
 and pastry, and unwholesome sugary things they live on ? Have you 
 any shares in the aerated bread shops ? If ye have, you'll know the sin- 
 ful way they eat, since you'll be pocketin' handsome dividends. 'Tis 
 positively sinful, I tell you. You may see thim in herds any day of the 
 week, eatin' and talkin' with their loins girded up Passover fashion. 
 More than half the trouble they give us, and that's no little, as m.aybe 
 you're aware, comes from the poison they're always consumin', and mis- 
 callin' it eatin'." 
 
 " But come. Father, your niece is more sensible than that ; it does not 
 do to generaUse you know ; there are exceptions^ — " 
 
 " Not a»bit of it — a woman's a woman, no less, and she's like the rest 
 of thim. With all me warnin's she breakfasts always at the wrong time, 
 on the wrong food. She^s away now on a long walk, and I'll go bail her 
 meal before startin' was no more than a cup of tea with a morsel of 
 toast to soak it up. Ah, the folly of it ! I've no patience with the girl. 
 It's a husband she needs to show her sinse." 
 
 The opportunity came so pat, that almost before he was aware of it, 
 Hazel had grasped it. 
 
 " H'm, like m.yself, for instance — tell me what would you think of me 
 in that capacity ? " 
 
 O'Dwyer had long ago foreseen some such conversation as this. He 
 was not in the least surprised. He was even ready with his answer. 
 
 " What I think does not matter," he said, " so much as what Molly 
 thinks. Ask her, me boy, and tell me what she has to say on the subject. 
 She's of age this long time, and her tongue's not tied that I know of."- 
 
 " I can't say you're inspiring." 
 
 " Maybe I've me reasons for that," rejoined O'Dwyer, dryly. 
 
 " I don't quite follow you." 
 
 " It's the girl herself you should follow, don't I tell you ; she's over 
 yonder, where the church sits on the hill." 
 
 " Alone ? " 
 
 " Not so much as a fly with her that I'm aware of." 
 
 " All right ; I will — at least, sir, tell me that I may count on your 
 support." 
 
 " And what good'U that do you. Hazel ? If the girl says ' no,' her uncle's 
 ' yes ' won't mend matters, eh ? Fight with your own hand, me son, 
 and ask the good saints to aid you, for vain is the hilp of mortal man whin 
 a woman's in the case." 
 
 " Yes ; I'll risk it," said Hazel, abruptly, as the result of his cogitations, 
 it seemed, rather than of O'Dwyer's excellently well-meant counsel. 
 
 But he noticed as he walked off, a look on the genial Father's face 
 which, if he mistook not, signified approval. 
 
 Hazel made straight for the church on the hill, that is, as straight 
 as the devious by-ways would perAiit. It was a good mile from the 
 hotel. But a quarter of an hour's sharp walk brought him close under 
 the tower. He had not far to seek for Molly. There, on one of the flat 
 heavy tomb-stones, describing with the tip of her parasol the most won- 
 derful diagrams, she sat. She saw him, and his eye caught hers. She 
 quickly realised there was no chance of escape — that her fateful moment 
 had come. Already he was doffing his straw hat in greeting. 
 
 " Ah, Miss Prynne," he said. " I must count myself lucky in finding 
 you at last.'' 
 
i8 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Oh, is it you, Mr. Hazel ? — I heard of your arrival." 
 
 " Is that the reason you did not breakfast with your uncle this 
 morning ? '' 
 
 Molly raised her brows. " Now you must know that you are risking 
 the most severe of snubs by asking me a question Uke that. But I will 
 refrain on this occasion. Come', won't you sit down ? You are keeping 
 the sun from me." 
 
 " Miss Diogenes speaks ; Alexander obeys.'' 
 
 She continued to stare directly in front of her. Yet of itself the 
 prospect was wholly unattractive — notliing but a railway cutting through 
 the red sandstone, and a jumble of waste building plots, iron foundries, 
 and tumbledown houses. Her instinct was to beat a retreat without 
 loss of time, but somehow she did not act upon it. 
 
 He, too, seemed a trifle ill at ease. He could think of nothing to say 
 that seemed worth saying. It was she who broke the silence. 
 
 " You have travelled a great deal, have you not, Mr. Hazel ? " 
 
 " Yes, Miss Prynne, I have — more than most people, perhaps. The 
 SeveSni Seas and their shores know me fairly well, I think.-' 
 
 " Can you teU me anything about South America ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, I can teU you a good deal one way and another, though 
 not from personal observation. Curiously enough, you name the one 
 Continent I have not explored."- 
 
 " Oh, what a pity ! I was hoping you could tell me something about 
 Peru."- 
 
 Hazel seemed a little curious. " May I ask what it is that interests 
 you so particularly in Peru ? "- 
 
 " My father is there." 
 
 " Really ; I didn't know your father was alive. I thought you were 
 an orphan.'' 
 
 " So I may be for all I know. It is fifteen years since my father went 
 on an exploring expedition into the wilds of that country. From -that 
 time we have heard no word of him. I don't know if he is dead or ahve — 
 probably I never shall, unless Mr. Amherst should find him.'-' 
 
 " Amherst !■ — is that any relation of our amiable friend Mrs. iVm- 
 herst ? -' 
 
 " Her son — in fact her only child. It was at my request he set out in 
 search of my father. Poor fellow, I'm afraid I sent him on a sorry 
 errand ! " 
 
 This produced precisely the effect she had intended. It implanted 
 a nice httle root of suspicion in his mind. 
 
 " Then he is a friend of yours, this — this Mr. Amherst ? " 
 " Oh, yes, Dick and I are old playfellows. We were brought up to- 
 gether, you know. He was just like a brother to me — though a bad 
 brother, I must admit. He is a dreadful scamp. He ran away from 
 school, and nearly broke his mother's heart."- 
 
 " Dear me, is that so ? I should have thought the cardiac region was 
 particularly robust in that quarter. But teU me,'' he noticed her colour 
 was rising, " Mr. Amherst's absence is not causing you any anxiety ? " 
 " Well, I am somewhat anxious about him, of course." 
 " Why ? " His tone was hard and cold. He was experiencing a 
 sensation utterly new to him. It was not a pleasant one. As she did 
 not answer, he repeated his question. " Why, may I ask. Miss Prynne ? " 
 " WeU, because I — I am engaged to be married to htm." 
 
THE MOTHER OF EME RALDS. 19 
 
 Then she waited for the storm. But it did not come. All he did was 
 to get up and walk to the far end of the churchyard. He was pretty 
 hard hit, and he felt he must have it out with himself for a few moments, 
 at least. He was not a man wont to shirk the inevitable, but he craved 
 the time to " strip " mentally. She would probably think him rude, 
 eccentric even, and he knew well he was neither. He succeeded so well, 
 that he was able to return with something approaching a smile on his face. 
 " What you have just told me has taken me somewhat by surprise, Miss 
 Prjmne," he said ; " I confess too, it is a blow to me. I had thought you 
 
 understood that Well, suppose we return to the hotel, eh ? " 
 
 " No, not yet. I wafit you to let me explain to you — let me explain."- 
 " One moment, please. Miss Prynne. You must not misunderstand 
 me. Believe me, I ask you for no explanation. You are in no way to 
 blame ; I was mistaken, tirat's all." 
 
 " You need not be so certain of that," said Molly, softly. 
 " Please don't make it worse for me ; there's a good deal of the human 
 about me, you know. I don't want to say things I ought not to say.- 
 You are engaged to Mr. Amherst ; that seems to me quite final." 
 
 " I know I should have told you that I was engaged. I see that now 
 — ^when it is too late. But you will do me the justice to say that I never 
 encouraged you in any way " 
 
 " I say you are in no way to blame. I said so before. Why continue 
 the subject ? " 
 
 " Because I can't bear you to think badly of me. With no disloyalty 
 to Dick I can say that I feel this — this mistake as much as you do. You 
 understand me, don't you ? You don't think it is a matter of indifference 
 to me ? You wouldn't — -you wouldn't, if you knew why I engaged 
 myself to Dick." 
 
 " The basis of your engagement was, I presume, -the usual one." 
 " It was not, it is not. I accepted Dick because I — -well, just because 
 I was sorry for him. There is a great deal that is good in him, he was my 
 old playfellow, and he was going to the dogs rapidly. He was becoming 
 hopelessly irretrievable. He is weak--willed, dissipated, foohsh — it was a 
 case in which only my influence could save. I would not let him fall 
 beyond reach without exerting that influence. In sheer pity, in despair 
 for him, I promised to be his wife. I feel I must tell you this. I owe it 
 to you because — I have perhaps sho-wn a deeper interest in you than T 
 ought to have done. But I have never meant to mislead you. I have 
 tried hard to do what is right, to keep to the path I have chosen. I 
 would not be disloyal to Dick — not for the world would I hurt you. What 
 I did was of my own free will. I can blame no one but myself. If I had 
 met you before it happened — ^but there, I have said enough. You know 
 -the truth now ; you must think of me as you will." 
 
 " I think you are a noble woman ; with the courage of your nobility. 
 There are few who would do as you are doing — -who would speak out as 
 you have done to me. It is not for me to criticise the action you have 
 decided upon ; but simply to keep in mind that it is decided upon. Of 
 course you must keep your promise." 
 
 " Dick is searching for my father on that understanding. "- 
 " I think I am beginning to see it all, now ; would you mind being 
 a little more explicit ? " 
 
 The worst was over, so she did not mind. " Perhaps I had better 
 ■tell you all about myself from the beginning: I was born and brought 
 
20 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 up in a small village — the village of Hagbourne, to be precise, in Berk- 
 shire. My mother died when I was but five years old, and Mrs. Amherst 
 came to look after, me. She brought Dick with her, and we grew up 
 together until he was sent to school. My father had a good income; 
 but he was never satisfied with it. He chanced to come across the history 
 of a Jacobean ancestor. It had to do with some hidden treasure in Peru. 
 From that time he was possessed with one idea — to go in search of it. 
 He arranged for Mrs. Amherst to remain with me, and appointed Father 
 O'Dwyer my guardian. Then he set out in quest of this thing, and from 
 that day to this, not a word have we heard of him. Wheh his health 
 became bad — he suffers chronically from rheumatism, as you know — 
 Uncle Tom came to live with us. The next thing that happened was 
 that Dick ran away from school, and for a long time was wandering about 
 in Australia and America." 
 
 " A rolling stone by nature, evidently." 
 
 " Yes. I don't defend Dick. But he is more unfortunate than de- 
 signedly wicked. Well, he returned home, some four years ago, and 
 nothing would do but I must marry him. He implored me to save him 
 from himself — he said I was the only one in the world who could save him. 
 I had not the heart to refuse him ; and his mother, too, had been good to 
 me in her own way — I felt my duty was plainly before me, and I deter- 
 mined I would not shirk it." 
 
 " Ah, I understand Mrs. Amherst's feelings for myself now ! " 
 
 "Oh, of course she is afraid I may break my promise. But she need 
 have no fear. Well — two years ago, Dick went off in search of my 
 father ; and it was agreed that when he returned with him we should 
 be married. Now he seems to have disappeared altogether. His mother 
 has had no word from* him, neither have I, for over a year. I think he 
 must be dead. Of course if that were so — but there, as things stand at 
 present, they must remain." 
 
 " How old is Mr. Amherst ? "- 
 
 " Thirty- three." 
 
 " Then I fear he is past your help. If a man cannot pull himself 
 together by that age, I am afraid not the influence of you or any woman 
 is of much avail. But don't think I seek to discourage you. After all 
 you have told me, I agree most emphatically that you must stick to him.'= 
 
 " It is very difficult," sighed Molly, " sometimes I " 
 
 " There now, come, I am going to help you." 
 
 " You ? " 
 
 " Why not ? You didn't think I would do the other thing, did you ? 
 You have just got to think of me — to remember that I am always your 
 very good friend, eh ? Now that's settled." 
 
 " There's one o'clock ringing," was all she said. She did not know 
 what to think of him. She was conscious of his goodness, his great un- 
 selfishness ; of his consideration for her, above all things. But she could 
 not keep away from her a sensafion of definite disappointment. Her 
 hero, her immaculate ideal, would surely have taken her in his arms 
 and forced her to give up all for him, would have carried her away in 
 spite of protest, in the face of everything — they two against the world. 
 
 Yet he was here by her side, cool and collected ; prepared to help her 
 yes, even to help her to marry another man. • 
 
 " We shall be late for luncheon,'' he said. 
 
 She could have cried with vexation. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "O'DWYER'S STOR Y." 
 
 Neither of these young people ate any luncheon. Hazel had perhaps 
 something more thaxi the remembrance of his recherche little repast under 
 the sycamore tree to serve him ; and the girl's emotions were too keenly 
 aroused to permit of her doing more than pick at the not too appetising 
 fare which awaited her. They parted at the door of the hotel. He felt 
 that nothing but sheer muscular exertion could satisfy him for the next 
 hour at least. His ideas, too, always flowed more freely when walking. 
 He was oblivious utterly to time or distance, the leafy beauty of the lanes 
 failed in ever so small a degree to arrest his attention. It was a strong 
 characteristic of the man that, when confronted with difficulty in any 
 guise, he must be up and at it there and then. He could not procrastinate. 
 Yet he was not impulsive to a fault. It was never necessary to him to put 
 his plans into execiition merely because he had formulated them. But it 
 was always necessary for him to formulate them. He was conscious that 
 the present juncture was a highly critical one, and that as he acted towards 
 it, so would the future in large measure shape itself : and the future was 
 of all import to him, for he always vowed that if he left nothing else behind 
 him, he would leave a clean trail. The situation was quite clear to him. 
 He reduced it to its elements. He quickly saw that the question of 
 Amherst's success or failure was of minor importance. What wsis not, 
 was to know if he still lived, and to a man of his active temperament there 
 seemed but one way of arriving at a reliable answer to that. It appeared 
 inevitable that if the man were alive Molly must marry him. On the 
 other hand, if he were not, well, then he argued, he had every excuse 
 for thinking she had rather be Mrs. Gerald Hazel than anybody else. He 
 returned to the hotel with more than half an eye on Peru. Even the 
 hundred and one details of the journey had flashed in confused array 
 through his mind — -the best line of boats, their probable dates of departure, 
 the time of year, the possibilities of the country, and all that had happened 
 to him on his last visit to that part of the world, for although South 
 America, sis a continent, was practically strange land to him, he had skirted 
 its shores, and probed the local life of the more important of its coast 
 towns. He possessed some knowledge of the language, having learned 
 Spanish during the course of a somewhat protracted Peninsular tour, 
 so that a comparatively short residence in Mexico had done the rest. The 
 prospect undoubtedly allured him. He was never riiore happy than when 
 his life depended on straight shooting. There had been many times when 
 he had been strongly drawn towards this land of the Incas, but somehow 
 up till now, though the attraction had in no sense waned, feasible oppor- 
 tunity had not presented itself. Now came Destiny knocking at his door 
 in a manner that was not to be denied. The trail ran westward to some 
 spot unknown, where, it would seem, were to be decided the fates of him- 
 self and the girl who was most to him in the world. 
 
 He took a tepid bath, an hour's sleep, and felt better. By the time he 
 had dressed and come down for dinner, his mind was made up. Usually a 
 pure water drinker, he ordered half a pint of his favourite wine. There, 
 
22 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 a little way down the room, he could see Molly — a very pale-faced Molly 
 — dining with the good priest, and the amiable Mrs. Amherst. He had 
 decided to avoid the girl until he had put things before Father O'Dwyer. 
 So after dinner, he tramped the' lawn with a cigar for company. It is 
 safe to say that the lady of his love resented his apparent indifference, 
 and while in one breath dubbing him the most heartless of men, confessed 
 to herself in the next that she loved him beyond telling. 
 
 He made sure she had gone upstairs, and then he ventured in. 
 
 In a corner of the smoking-room sat the Reverend Father, his senses 
 for the time being given over to the severally counteracting, yet jointly 
 soothing, influences of coffee and tobacco. He had heard nothing from 
 Molly of what had passed between her and Hazel, and the young man's 
 absence during the entire afternoon, and his pointed avoidance of the 
 girl at dinner, together aroused his curiosity. But he felt confident 
 Hazel would not keep him much longer in ignorance, and his presence 
 at this moment in the smoking-room was in some measure due to his 
 expectancy. He had ordered two glasses with his liqueur, and they had 
 not been there much more than five minutes, when Hazel came in. The 
 evening was fine and dry, which perhaps accounted for the room being 
 comparatively deserted. 
 
 " Ah, Father, you expected me, I see," said Hazel, noticing the empty 
 liqueur glass. 
 
 " To be sure I did. And now you're here, I hope it's good news you 
 bring with you." 
 
 " You shall judge of that for yourself. I am going to Peru." 
 
 " Faith, and I guessed that would be it. She has a real gift that girl for 
 originatin' a wild-goose chase. And whin do you start ? " 
 
 " Oh, in a week or so. But why wild-goose chase ? " 
 
 " Well, that perhaps depends if it's the father or the rascal you're goin'- 
 after."- 
 
 " Well, both, as a matter of fact. But you're wrong in assuming Miss 
 Prynne sent me. On the contrary, she doesn't even know I'm going."' 
 
 " Miss Pryrine is it ? Have you got no further than that ? " 
 
 " For the present, no. Have you spoken with her ? " 
 
 " God forbid ; 'twould be indilicate of me to get pokin' about in a 
 young girl's mind. And but that my real wish Is for her happiness not 
 one word would I be sayin' to you on the subject. Maybe I should keep 
 a silent tongue in any case, but it's me love for the dear girl must be me 
 excuse. She told you her story, I suppose." 
 
 " Yes ; briefly, though sufficiently. I understand that if Amherst 
 succeeds in finding her father, she has promised to marry him. She seems 
 convinced that the redemption of the man is her mission in life." 
 
 " Her mission is it, she calls it ? — the black curse on that mission, God 
 forgive me for swearin'. But what, good can come, I ask you, of a girl 
 tyin' herself up for life to a drunken scoundrel who hasn't the pluck to 
 fight his own battles ? It's more your mission to save the girl, Hazel, 
 than hers to save that thirsty blackguard. "- 
 
 " He seems a bad lot." 
 
 " One of the worst — ^a swearin', drinkin', quarrelsome rascallion, with 
 love for nought but his own dirty carcase. I could do nothing with him, 
 and all the mighty ragin' of his mother only served to send him to the 
 bottle, though it's but right to say it might have done the same to many 
 a better man than him. Save her fron\ this, Amherst, if ye can, me boy. 
 
THE MOTH ER OF EMERALDS. 23 
 
 You've hit upon the right course, I can see. Get you to Peru, as you say. 
 It's in Lima you'll probably find the fellow, drinkin' himself blind in some 
 den, I'll go bail, unless he's tucked away in six foot of soil with his soul 
 in Purgatory. Anyhow, it's the father he was sint after, and if he hasn't 
 found him, he won't get MoUy. About the old lady you needn't trouble 
 your head. I'll manage her. It's my own conviction neither you nor 
 he nor any one else will iver find Prynne. He's been gone now well-nigh 
 twinty years, and divil a sign of him. Mark me, me boy, he'll niver 
 come back."- 
 
 " No ? — well, you know, in matters of this kind, a few years are neither 
 here nor there. I understand he went in search of some unique treasure, 
 and that's not the sort of thing that's to be found just for the looking.'' 
 
 " That's true enough. Still, take me word for it, the poor chap's not 
 above ground. Didn't Molly tell you 'twas the Mother qf Emeralds he 
 went after — a stone of huge price that those idolatrous rascals worship ? 
 It's a long story, and maybe it'll interest you not a little, more especially 
 just now. I've got an old manuscript here of BevU Prynne's, which I 
 brought down for you. You'll find it queer sort of readin', but whin you've 
 gone through it, I'LL be mighty astonished if it isn't with me you are about 
 Prynne. He'll niver come back. He's probably been only too successful 
 in his search, and thim Indian divils have got him fast in their hidden 
 city." 
 
 O'Dwyer handed him the manuscript. It seemed a somewhat lengthy 
 document. Hazel turned over the sheets casually, and his eye caught 
 •such words as " Tavantisuyu,'' '- Cuzco,'' " Manco," "Capac,'' " Yupan- 
 qui."- The style of the narrative was more or less modern. 
 
 " This is not a verbatim copy of the original ? '' he asked. 
 
 '- No, it's not. It's a precis adapted from it, on the multum in parvo 
 principle. The other -v^as a fearfully long-winded affair. You'll notice 
 some of the old style there, but it's plain readin' enough for a careful man 
 Uke you. If you can understand DefoC' — and I make no doubt you can, 
 and like him — you'll not fail to understand that. It might have been 
 written by him. You'll probably find it fascinatin', and not a little help 
 to ye. Dick Amherst had a copy of it, and it may have led him to his 
 destruction. You'll have to look out it doesn't lead you the same way, 
 me boy.'' 
 
 '-' Oh, I'U manage to look after my own skin. I've had a fair amount 
 of practice you know, Father. Upon my word, the whole thing takes 
 my fancy hugely, apart from Molly — I should say, Miss Prynne. An 
 ancient civilization — a hidden city — a treasure of jewels — it sounds 
 attractive, eh ? '' 
 
 " So John Prynne thought, poor soul. Maybe he thinks it less 
 attractive now. Anyhow, you read the story and tell me what you 
 think of it." 
 
 " Yes, I will. I'll talk to you about it in the morning. Now just tell 
 me, Father, what sort of man is Mr. Prynne — ^we'll say ' is ' because it's 
 always well to look at the bright side of things while we can.'' 
 
 " Me brother-in-law ? — well, 'tis a scientific creature he is mostly.'-' 
 
 " Pond of money as well as of science ? " 
 
 " Only as far as one is good for the other. At the time he wint out 
 after that treasure he was mad on raisin' the capital for some flyin' machine 
 of his. He was always a dreamer, and an inventor- — and it's mighty costly 
 things' they are both whin you come to realisin' therh. Faith, it would 
 
24 THE MOTHER OF EME RALDS. 
 
 have needed all the mines of Golconda to carry out his whims. But he'd 
 always plenty to live on ; two thousand a year, no less, though he could 
 ' not touch the principal. It's Molly and meself have the money now. He 
 made that safe before he wint. It's probable the poor soul had mis- 
 givin's about his return, and he seems to have been a mighty true prophet. '- 
 
 " Well, that has yet to be proved." 
 
 " The Lord hilp you with the task thin — you're bint upon it, I can 
 see."- 
 
 " Yes, I think I'll go to Peru. As a matter of fact, I mapped out the 
 route this afternoon.'' • 
 
 " And how is it ? " 
 
 " Leave Southampton Thursday by Royal Mail Liner for Colon, thence 
 rail to Panama. There I pick up one of the Pacific Company's boats for 
 Lima — that's not complicated, is it, and it's enough for the present." 
 
 " It's a clear head you' have, me boy. I couldn't wish me dear girl a 
 better husband ; and ye've money, or I'm mistaken." 
 
 " Five hundred a year with power of pen to double it." 
 
 " Good. Molly has two thousand a year secured to her by her father, 
 and though, as I told you, I share it with her now, it's not long I am for 
 this world. 'Tis P.P. of Ballyderry, County Clare, I was till these cursed 
 rheumatics warped me into a pauper. But Molly, the heavens be her bed, 
 loves her old uncle, and does not grudge him his bed and board, though 
 he's a trifle saucy about the board." 
 
 " Nor will her husband, if I'm ever the lucky man." 
 
 " I believe you, Gerald Hazel. Bring home John Prynne by the ear 
 if needs be ; but bring him home, and take the girl with an old man's 
 blessing. 'Tis you she loves right enough, me boy ; 'tis you can set her 
 feet dancin' to the music of her heart ; and if I die before you chance on 
 the Mother of Emeralds, maybe you'll have a mass or two said for Father 
 O'Dwyer. But it's nonsinse I'm talkin' with this salt picklin' makin' a 
 new man of me. Tin o'clock, past 1^ — ^Holy Mary, and me a-chatterin' 
 here nineteen to the dozen ! Good-ilight, me son. God bless you, and 
 the saints have you in mind.'' 
 
 Then Hazel went to bed too, intent on the story of Bevil Prynne. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " THE MANUSCRIPT. *'■ 
 
 This I write in the hidden City of the Idolators, beneath the great Hills 
 they call the Andes, or Copper Mountains, to the which I did come through 
 many terrible great Perils ; and it is my Hope that by God His Blessing 
 this Account of my Hardships and Captivity may come to the Hands of 
 my Son Philip, if it be that he is yet alive. 
 
 It is now three Years and more, that to mend my Fortunes, impaired 
 by the late horrid Rebellion against the King's Majesty, I did seek the 
 Mother of Emeralds : yet, although I have succeeded beyond my Hopes, 
 I shall not bring the great Jewel to my House at Hagbourne, nor see 
 the pleasant Lands of my Inheritance, since it has fallen out otherwise. 
 Much Greed hath brought me into Tribulation, and I am Captive to savage 
 Wretches in the Hollows of the great Cordilleras, whence I cannot escape 
 but by a Miracle and Christ His Help. The huge Emerald I have indeed 
 seen with these Eyes, where its green Glory fills the Idol Temple before 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 25 
 
 the Moonface of wrought Silver ; but the Treasure is not for me who 
 write, or indeed for anyone, seeing how much Store is set upon it by 
 those blinded Heathen, who worship it as their Lord God, and guard it 
 with everlasting Watchfulness, as the Palladium of their brutish Worship. 
 This will testify that I still live, although in much Affliction, being cut ofE 
 from my own Kind, and condemned to melancholy Life. But this being 
 the Station of Life which God His Providence hath determined for me, 
 it is my Part to submit to His Divine Wisdom, as I am His Creature, and 
 He hath judicial Right to afflict me for the Degeneracy of my Nature. 
 That which led me into this Strait was the Loss of my Inheritance, on 
 the Roundhead Rogues, and more particularly the Rebel Cromwell (whom 
 God confound), slaying his most sacred Majesty to the Horror of all 
 loyal Cavaliers. When that iniquitous Crime made Havoc in the Realm, 
 many who held by the Divine Right of the Prince of Wales, did become 
 Marks for Malignity and Robbery, and the Name of Bevil Prynne, who 
 had fought for his Sovereign, was treated with Contumely and with 
 Scorn. Mine own House of Hagbourne, with the rich Lands thereof, 
 was wrested from me by one Puritan Knave — ^Balm-in-Gilead Napper, 
 who did sit in my Seat and rob me of my Rents with horrid Wickedness, 
 leaving me with scarce a Mouthful of Bread. My dear Wife Dorinda, 
 and her pretty Chicks, he bade tramp with me, whereby we were afflicted 
 with Want and many Sorrows of the Flesh. But God His Mercy pre- 
 vailed, and my worthy Neighbour, Sir Byng Caston, did give us Food 
 and Raiment and Shelter for many Years : Praise be to him for his 
 Charity to the Poor. 
 
 Then it was that it came about for me to converse with one Hidalgo 
 of Spain, Don Miguel de Torrez Vasquez, who had followed his most sacred 
 Majesty from Madrid, what Time he journeyed there with my Lord Duke 
 Buckingham, for the Spanish Match in the Reign of the late King. 
 
 Don Miguel, knowing the Indies in his Youth, did tell me many signal 
 Histories of golden Peru, where those lost in Darkness, possess much 
 Treasure, the which they use for the Worship of their Idol Gods : and in 
 particular he made Mention of a prodigious Jewel, said by Report to lie 
 at a City in Earth's Bowels to which po man might come by Reason of 
 fierce Savages, who have laid up their Treasure in this safe Place. None 
 of our Nation can gain this Jewel, said Don Miguel, although many 
 Indians know well the City, for they fear us exceedingly, seeing that 
 Don Francisco Pizzarro made Havoc of their Idols at Cuzco, the Seat of 
 the Inca, or King. And said he, if a daring Cavalier could but come 
 upon this secret Place, he would therefrom gain immeasurable Wealth, 
 such as his sacred Majesty King Solomon had not in his Coffers. Further- 
 more, the Ancient did say that the Savages aware of this City were sworn 
 to Secrecy, and carried on the bare Skin of their Breasts the Symbol of a 
 Rainbow ; such to the Shame of Mankind-being adored of them. And, 
 said he, if one could force to Speech a Savage adorned with such a Symbol, 
 the City of the Jewel might be found speedily by one daring of Heart ; 
 the which Relation told daily did set me dreaming of great Wealth, and 
 the Regaining of my Lands from the filthy Puritan who sat wrongly in my 
 House at Hagbourne, by the Rape of this mighty Jewel. The End of 
 which was this, that I resolved to attempt the Adventure with God His 
 Grace. I took ship for the Kingdom of Spain, with the Commendation of 
 Don Miguel to the Count of Salvatierra, who did then rule Peru as Viceroy 
 for his most Catholic Majesty. At the Port of Cadiz I boarded a Ship 
 
26 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 outward for the Indies ; but when our Craft was gotten into the Great 
 Seas the Winds did blow and the Waves did rise to whelm us, much to 
 our Dismay ; but by God His Blessing the Ship did win with Safety and 
 delivered from our Perils we did cast Anchor in the Port of Callao. 
 
 Upon gaining the Capital Town of Lima, where the Viceroy held his 
 State, I made Haste to assure him of my Honesty and Worth by deliver- 
 ing the Letters ; and he, finding me a Person of Repute, and one well 
 commended by his Friend, did embrace me most heartily, and did give 
 me an Assurance of his Aid in my Search for the City of the Jewel. But, 
 said he, should the Discovery be to you, fail not to give me the King's 
 Portion of what Treasure you may chance upon, seeing that I am bounden 
 by my Duty to demand so much. And this I vowed to do with all Wil- 
 lingness, so that the Count of Salvatierra was well pleased that I should 
 gain him Wealth without bestowing upon him the Burden of seeking for 
 same amidst frightful Savages, ill-disposed towards the Spaniards by 
 Reason of their manifold Cruelties to the defenceless Indians, whom God 
 will most surely avenge. Being thus regarded by the Viceroy, I gathered 
 for my Adventures twenty Souls, many being Indians of the Town ; but 
 also seven Spaniards much set upon discovering this Eldorado, as they 
 called the City of Jewels. These I armed with Muskets and Swords and 
 a great Quantity of Ammunition, with Powder Horns and Pistols, and, so 
 accompanied, I set forward to the City of Cuzco, where the ancient Incas 
 of Tavantisuyu (as they call their Land) held their State. Our little 
 Party, taking Farewell of the Count of Salvatierra, pushed forward over 
 the great Mountains, where we underwent many perilous Dangers from 
 Cold and rugged Paths and bitter Winds ; but in Parts we followed 
 the great Road of the Inca Huayha Capac, and thereby we had less Diffi- 
 culty in overcoming the Hostility of Nature. In Time we gained the golden 
 City of Cuzco, which is set like a rich Jewel in the Heart of Peru, near to 
 the great River of Apurimac, of which more hereafter. And it was in this 
 Place that I met with the Englishman, Harry Ingraham, who shared my 
 Perils with much Bravery. This Gentleman had been for long in Peru 
 striving to mend his Fortunes, but had met with repeated and unmerited 
 Reversals, whereby he had fallen as low as Lazarus, the Beggar at the 
 Gate of Dives. But, finding him to be of good Repute and much Honesty, 
 I joined myself to him, seeing that he was acquainted with the Country. 
 When he did learn my Hopes, Ingraham did then relate that he also 
 had heard of the hidden City and its Great Jewel, and, indeed, had ques- 
 tioned a Savage marked with the Rainbow Symbol about the same, yet 
 had learned no Good, by Reason of the sacred Oath of these obstinate 
 Idolators. It was commonly reported that such City lay in the Recesses 
 of the Vilcamba Cordilleras, to which the last Inca Manco had with- 
 drawn when maddened by the Cruelties of , the Spaniards. For, said he, 
 I mark that those Savages stamped with their God, the Rainbow, come 
 always down the Rio Apurimac ; and it may be that they come hither 
 from the City of Jewels, so if our Company venture up the River and 
 enter the Interior of the Land beyond the civilised Part of it, may be wc 
 shall come upon it. 
 
 Yet did I fear to take this Counsel, lest we might mistake the Path, 
 seeing we had no Guide, and the Land over by the Rivers is wild beyond 
 telling, with many great Hills shagg'd over with great Woods ; so I did 
 abide in Cuzco, and did cast among the poorer Indians for information of 
 their buried Town. Now, it so happens thg,t by God His Will I am skilled 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 27 
 
 beyond common Men in Simples as well as in the cure of Sickness of tlie 
 Body, and, finding many sick among the Savages of Cuzco, by Reason of 
 the hard Labour their inhuman Masters put them to, I did Exercise my 
 Knowledge to make well their Diseases, whereby my Fame as a Lord over 
 Death was spread abroad with much Noise, and the eager Savages came 
 for HeaUng at my Hands. With them it did chance there came a great 
 Noble of the fallen Empire, and he did questioij me much concerning 
 the ' Circumstances of my Knowledge of Sickness and of Disease, to all 
 of which Questions I did reply with open Heart. Then did this Noble 
 say, if you will but trust yourself to my Care, I wiU take you into the 
 Wilderness where there is much Sickness amongst those of my Race who 
 yet hold themselves free of the Spaniards, and it may be, should you 
 restore them to good Health, and thus snatch them from the Grave, I 
 will bestow on you great Quantities of Gold sucih as you white Men love, 
 for I have heard, said he, of your Quest, and for your own Sake, I would 
 bid you believe my Word ; and with that he showed to Ingraham and 
 myself the Symbol of the Rainbow on the bare Skin of his Breast, whereby 
 we cried out for Joy, believing that he knew of the City of the Jewel, 
 and would guide us thereto, did I but cure his People of their Sickness, 
 as was his Wish. And the End of*it was that we did pledge ourselves 
 to foUow Nayamlap (for thus was named the Noble) into the WUdernesSi 
 and do good to his Race in Sickness, if it was his WUl to guide us to 
 the City of the great Emerald, and give us of the Treasure ; and this 
 he swore by his God the Sun to do, keeping us from all Harm at the Hands 
 of his People. For, said he, I know you are of the English, who are not 
 cruel and barbarous like the Spaniards, who oppress us so horribly. Then 
 as the Noble was honest of Complexion, and spoke 'us fair, and had also 
 taken Oath on his God, we did foUow liim according to his Desire, and in 
 Periaques (as the Indians call their Boats) we did row up the Rio Apurimac 
 for many Weeks, until we did come to a Land wherein, said Nayamlap, 
 did dwell fierce Indian Savages, called by the Name of Amahuaca ; and 
 it was in this Country that we left the main Stream and did turn up a 
 Tributary, which did flow swiftly from some great HUls, whose Heads 
 touched the Clouds, an;i were white with the Snows of many Winters, 
 but of this new River we could not gain the Indian name from Nayamlap, 
 whereby we judged that we had arrived in the Neighbourhood of the 
 hidden City of the Jewel, and this was truly so, as I shall presently tell. 
 It did then happen that we did chance upon a Village or Town of savage 
 Creatures, and there did leave the Periaques, when the inhabitants did 
 salute us with a thousand antick Postures and Gestures, even although 
 Nayamlap did speak with Anger to them and bid them to cease. And 
 here it was that the deadly Sickness spoken of by Nayamlap did rage, 
 the which I found to be a foul European Disease, carried hither by the 
 Spaniards, being, indeed, none other than the spotted Sickness or Small- 
 pox, and of this many of these poor Creatures did die, by Reason of their 
 foolish Way of pouring cold Water on'the Body to cool the raging Fever. 
 But God His Mercy did bring me hither to assuage this Plague, and I did 
 cure many who else would have died, whereby Nayamlap did praise me 
 greatly; saying that I was one of the greatest of Amautas, by the which 
 Name those of his Race did call then- wise Men. For a Month or more 
 did we abide in the Village of the Amahuacas Savages, and I did spy 
 out the Land, for it was borne in upon me that the City of the Jewel was 
 not far distant. Now it did so happen that this Village sat at the Foot of 
 
28 THE MOTHER ■^OF EMERALDS. 
 
 a high Hill, the Top whereof was covered with Snow and Clouds, and nigh 
 to it there did run a mighty rapid Stream, out of the Mountain's Bowels, 
 and the ignorant Savages did think the great Hill bewitched by Reason 
 of the Stream bursting from its Womb, and also seeing that at Sum-ise the 
 Rocks of it did breed Musick, the wliich I did hear with mine own Ears, 
 and the Sound thereof was as the Tones of the Organ in the Parish Church 
 of Hagbourne ; but none but God the All-knowing can say whence this 
 Musick doth come, though it may be that the heathen Idols, the which are 
 Devils, produce these sweet strains for the beguiling of their sorry Wor- 
 shippers. But Ingraham did think with me, that the Musick did come 
 from within the Mountain, wherein the City lay concealed, and this we 
 did believe firmly, for that one Day the Body of a fine Man, with a fierce 
 Countenance and many Ornaments of Gold, was borne out of the Entrails 
 of the Hill by the River Current ; and this dead Man did bear on his 
 Breast a pictured Rainbow for all to see, whereas no Savage in the village 
 did wear the same. Therefore, said Ingraham, it is certain that the 
 Indian was offered upon the bloody Altar of their barbarous Gods in the 
 Hollow of the HUl, wherein the City is placed, and that the Stream in its^ 
 flowing hath discovered the horrid Crime ; and it may come about that 
 should we gain the City, we can fly from Captivity by throwing ourselves 
 into the Waters which will bear us out of the Mountain. 
 
 But, alas, the City and its manifold Wealth was not lor him, as that 
 same Night God did smite him with the spotted Sickness, and he came 
 near to Death. And it did so happen that I could not use my Skill on 
 him, for at Dawn I was seized and bound by the treacherous Orders of 
 Nayamlap, and borne up the Mountain, in which Strait I did give myself 
 up for lost, and prayed loudly for my Dorinda and her Chicks, the which 
 did comfort me greatly in my Distress. For many Hours I was so 
 carried, not knowing what would be the End of my Trouble or whither I 
 was going, for the Indians did carry me up the rugged Mountain and 
 I could discover no Road leading to the City of Jewels. 
 
 Then they did cast me down on the Verge of a vast Fissure in the Earth 
 (such as the Spaniards call Quebradas), and it did gape for my Destruc- 
 tion, and truly I did think my last Hour was at Hand ; but, binding a 
 stout Rope round my Body they did lower me into the Abyss, and some 
 did climb down by Ladders of Notches dug from the live Rock, so that 
 when I again was placed on my Feet I stood in the Bed of a deep Gulch, 
 with these by my Side, and they bore me a long Distance, to the Face of 
 a great Waterfall. Here, thought I, is the sad End of Bevil Prynne, but it 
 was not so, for Nayamlap and his Servants did bear me through the Water, 
 and we did pass into a mighty Cavern, with many Lights of Torches set 
 round, whereby I knew that at last (to my Sorrow) I was in the City of 
 Jewels, as the Noble declared, for, said he, this is the Place of Treasure, 
 where you will behold the Mother of Emeralds, and can gain Treasure to 
 your Heart's Desire, although it may not be that you shall pass out, lest 
 you should reveal our Refuge to the Spanish Dogs, for so the Inca Tupac 
 hath determined in his Wisdom. 
 
 And they did bear me to a vast Cave, wherein were many Buildings 
 of Stone and much Light from Lamps and Torches, so that the Palace 
 shone as the Sun at Noonday, And it so happened that their Chief 
 {Inca as they do call him, being of the Seed Royal) bade my Limbs be 
 unbound, and did give me Food, bidding me be of good Cheer, for that 
 my Life was safe. And, said he, I did hear of your Skill in the City of 
 
THE MOTHER O F EMERALDS. 29 
 
 Cuzco, and did send my Noble thither, that he might bring you to this 
 Place, for it is my Will that all those who can teach us the Powers of 
 the white Men should be brought here, that our Hands may be strengthen'd 
 against the barbarous Spaniards. Therefore, said he, take Heed and give 
 your Skill and Knowledge to my People, who dwell here with me, and so 
 you shall fare well and possess great Treasure, howbeit that you may 
 not pass from our Refuge any more, which Speech did throw me into terrible 
 Agonies of Mind, seeing that I was to be held Captive thus in the Womb 
 of the great Hills. And so it came about, as the Inca Tupac did inform 
 me, and for two Years I have abode in this Hell, as I may well call it, 
 since its Place is in the Heart of the Earth, nor have I beheld the Sun oi 
 Sky for that Tinae. Yet my Son Philip may take Comfort in the Know- 
 ledge that I am treated with Kindness, and that the Savages have bestow'd 
 upon me Freedom to roam through many Caves, and mingle with the 
 People who dwell therein, working with Mind and Hand to acquire Know- 
 ledge that may drive out the Spaniards and re-possess their Land. 
 
 They hoard up much Gold and many Jewels, the biggest whereof 
 is the one they call the Mother of Emeralds, which did bring me to my 
 Undoing, and these Treasures they design for the Use of conquering their 
 Enemies. All such as have Knowledge of War or Medicine or Art to 
 strengthen a Nation, do they lure to their hidden City, that the People may 
 be instructed. And the Time one Day will come when the Savages will 
 rise and drive the Spanieirds and their Bastards out of Peru, and this 
 they have sworn by their Gods, and by the Head of Tupac Inca Yupanqui, 
 one of their most renowned Conquerors. 
 
 All through Peru this Thing is known to the Savages who bear the 
 Rainbow Symbol on their Breasts ; yet so strong is their Hatred of their 
 cruel Masters, that none will reveal the Knowledge of the great Treasure. 
 For, indeed, the Inca Tupac is richer than was his most sacred Majesty King 
 Solomon, and all the Wealth of Europe would not form a Tithe of that 
 which is hidden up in those Caves, though none of it is for me to redeem 
 my Fortunes, seeing that I shall never behold my Native Land again, 
 but must go down to the Grave without Sight of the Sun. How it fared 
 with Mr. Ingraham, I know not, nor would Nayamlap tell me ; but if he 
 be recovered from his fell Disease, I know he will watch the River in the 
 Hope of my Escape. For which Reason I have writ this Account of my 
 Sorrows, and have the Intention to wrap it in many Folds of Cloth, so that 
 it may take the Water • the which when done, I shall commit it to the 
 River's Breast (for the same fioweth beneath the Temple of the Moon Idol), 
 and trust that Ingraham, my Friend, may chance upon it, and deliver the 
 same to my Son Philip. 
 
 And I charge my said Son that he be not lured hither by Reports of the 
 Wealth of these horrid Idolaters, lest he, too, should be held Captive among 
 them ; but that he have wise and sober Thoughts, and watch for the 
 Regaining of our Lands of Hagbourne, should his sacred Majesty be called 
 to the Throne of the Realm by a repentant People. 
 
 And should this duly fall into the Hands of Ingraham my Friend, I 
 bid him depart, for never shall he find this City, seeing that I cannot tell 
 him the Way, and it is hidden beyond the Power of Man to discover. 
 And to all Christian Souls I say, pray for poor Bevil Prynne who hath 
 fallen into the Pit, whence he may not come again, but by Christ His 
 Help ; and here I send all Love to my dear Dorinda, who never more will 
 behold her Husband, and to my loving Children bereft of a Father ; with 
 
30 THE MOTH ER OF EMERALDS 
 
 the which I sign my Name to this most true Account, and commit the 
 same to the Breast of the River which floweth from the Mountain of 
 Musick. In God is my Trust, and although I dwell in darloiess, yet shall 
 I behold the eternal Light of Heaven. 
 
 Signed in my Dungeon, 
 
 Bevil Prynne. 
 Some Time of Hagbourne, in the County of Berkshire, England. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " WESTWARD HO ! " 
 
 It was dawn ere Hazel laid down the romance of Bevil Prynne ; for 
 romance it certainly was to him. In all his travels he had heard of nothing, 
 certainly seen nothing, quite like it. Surely it was sheer fiction — this 
 hidden community with its incalculable treasure ! Yet, withal, he was 
 conscious of a ring of truth about the narrative, an element of sincerity, 
 due, no doubt, to a conspicuous absence of digression, and abstinence from 
 aught of ornament or elaboration in the setting forth of it. It might 
 be after all but the quaint recital of actual fact. But he could not make 
 up his mind whether of itself it was sufficient to warrant the very con- 
 siderable outlay and risk of life and limb — though these last had become 
 by habit of Uttle more than insignificant account for him — which the 
 expedition would entail. He turned it all over again and again in his 
 mind. He felt strongly urged towards it ; but then he did not blind him- 
 self to the real reason of that. Although civilization as found in England 
 had little attraction for him, he was of too practical a nature to run on 
 any fool's errand. He knew he was lacking in imagination, and that was 
 why he supposed he could not bring himself wholly to believe in the 
 existence of Bevil Prynne's El Dorado. It was evident that Molly's 
 father had been powerfully influenced by the document in question, 
 though the fact that he had never returned from the city of his ancestor's 
 dreams — if dreams they were — proved nothing. And as O'Dwyer had 
 said, the younger man was, if not aheady dead, probably making for 
 extinction as speedily as his opportunities would permit. In that case 
 it was more than likely he had never got beyond the boundaries of Lima, 
 or wanted to. 
 
 He wondered how they had come by this manuscript, and wished 
 he had asked Father O'Dwyer. A good deal would depend upon that. 
 The city itself might or might not be pure fable, but he doubted not that 
 the dangers in reaching its supposed locaUty would prove substantial 
 enough. If he should come through all right, it seemed^-providing the 
 other men didn't turn up in the meantime, and providing he succeeded in 
 procuring proof of Amherst's death — that Molly would marry him. There 
 had been nothing definite said to that effect, but he felt sure of it. He 
 did not deny to himself that that was his greatest incentive, though 
 it was true he was getting a trifle weary of inactivity, and this would be 
 mostly new ground to him. 
 
 Still dubious, he threw himself on the bed without troubling to undress 
 and slept till ten o'clock. Then there came to him the vision of Father 
 O'Dwyer — and with him this morning, perchance, Molly^ — under the 
 sycamore on the lawn. He decided that he could not do better than join 
 them. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 31 
 
 He took his bath, dressed, and got downstairs within half an hour. 
 In the hall he met Mrs. Amherst, who claimed his attention for a while. 
 She had all the appearance of being in wait for him. As a matter of 
 fact she was. She had made up that complex organism which she termed 
 her mind, that she herself would enlighten him on the subject of Molly's 
 engagement to her dearly-beloved son. And this trenchant manoeuvre 
 she could command. The woman really had the instincts of a despot. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Hazel, I am glad to meet you. I think, with 
 your permission, I must have a few words with you." 
 
 " With all the pleasure in the world, my dear madam. I am wholly 
 at your disposal ; though perhaps it is only right to say that I have had 
 no breakfast. But I daresay you won't mind that. Might I suggest 
 that we — er — retire to some less public place ? — the drawing-room, for 
 instance." 
 
 Mrs. Amherst did not reply, but she made a move in that ditection. 
 The room was empty. She chose the most commodious easy chair — (its 
 back happened to be to the light), and enthroned herself therein with 
 great impressiveness. 
 
 Hazel took up his position on the hearth-rug, placed his hands behind 
 his back, and submitted, with the humility of an entomological specimen, 
 to the lady's lorgnette. Such an instrument was calculated, he could 
 easily understand, to make havoc of most men's nerves, especially at such 
 short range as this ; and although it disturbed him precious little now, he 
 felt there were mornings when he might have been restive under it. 
 
 " Mr. Hazel, I feel called upon to give you a little advice. I am older 
 than you ; I have had much more experience, and I feel that what I am 
 about to say to you, unpalatable as it may be, is necessary, and for your 
 good." 
 
 No answer. Kothing but silence, and the most indulgent of expressions. 
 Mrs. Amherst felt just a little off her balance. She could on occasions 
 — very rare occasions it is true — -consume her own smoke ; but it was 
 rather too much to be asked to provide her own fuel. She continued : 
 
 "It, is with pain, Mr. Hazel, that I see — -iadeed no one could help 
 seeing — that you are most strongly attracted to Miss "■ 
 
 " Pardon me, my dear Mrs. Amherst, but there is surely no need to 
 mention names ! " j 
 
 She erected her crest. This was better. 
 
 " I think otherwise. There is very great need. As the very old friend 
 of Miss Prynne, whom I have brought up from a child, I consider it nothing 
 short of my duty — more especially since I am to be her mother-in-law — • 
 to inform you that she is engaged to be married to my son." 
 
 " Really ! " 
 
 " Yes, and on my son's behalf, I must request you in future to cease 
 your, I may say, your unwelcome attentions to Miss Prynne." 
 
 " Ah ; please continue." 
 
 " I have nothing more to say, except to express my regret that I should 
 be called upon to perform this very painful task." 
 
 " Thank you. I accept your regret with pleasure." 
 
 " Really, Mr. Hazel, have you nothing to add to that ? " 
 
 " Notliing, Mrs. Amherst — absolutely nothing — unless it be what is 
 obvious. You see, I can't deny that you are older than myself. I hold 
 that in any circumstances a lady is always the best judge'of her own age, 
 or any other lady'^, for that matter. And for all I know, you may have 
 
32 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 had many more experiences of every kind than I have had ; and if Miss 
 Prynne (as it seems we must mention names) is to marry your son, I 
 can't deny that you will be her mother-in-law ; so that I think, with 
 your permission, I'll go and see what there is to eat." 
 
 " Well, I " She got up from her chair somewhat less impressively 
 
 than she had sat down. " Of all the — upon my — absolutely, words 
 fail me ! " 
 
 " Allow me," he opened the door for her. She was in a white heat, 
 and rushed upstairs to find Molly. She felt that if she stayed another 
 moment she would hit the man. 
 
 But Molly was under the sycamore tree with her uncle, . who, goodly 
 soul, was doing his best to coax her vestige of an appetite. She looked 
 worn and pale. Hazel was startled at her appearance. She knew that 
 he noticed what her glass had already told her, and she resented not so 
 much that, as the fact that he himself should appear so spick and span. 
 She supposed he was like all men, utterly callous and heartless. They 
 were horrid creatures. She had thought he was different. 
 
 " Come along, me boy, it's just in time you are for the dear little 
 dicky-birds " (holding up a quail). " They're beautiful, they are, cooked 
 to a turn, and after my own recipe. Now, what's to be your wine this 
 morning ? " 
 
 " Can't do better than the best, and that we had yesterday. Father. 
 The same for me, if you please." 
 
 " You're right, me boy. Here it is. Now make a start and continue 
 to a finish. There's plenty more where that came from." 
 
 Molly Was utterly disgusted. If he only knew the night she had passed ! 
 Really, this boisterous hospitality of Uncle Tom's was positively re- 
 volting. 
 
 " And how is Miss Prynne this morning ? " said Hazel, as soon as the 
 old man gave him an opportunity to speak. 
 
 " Oh, I'm quite well, thank you. It seems superfluous to ask how 
 you are, Mr. Hazel." 
 
 " Oh, the perfidy of the sex ! Listen to that now. And she's drooping 
 as a spirea for want of water. Why, I tell ye, man, it's nothing but a 
 morsel of toast and a cup of rank poison she calls tea, that she's taken." 
 
 " But, uncle, "you know I never eat when I don't sleep, and I had not 
 a good night last night."- 
 
 " Tut, tut, it's t'other way round. If you ate, you'd sleep right enough. 
 Do ye iver do more than pick at your food, and thin it's the wrong sort." 
 
 " Well, I didn't sleep at all," said Hazel. 
 
 Molly relented somewhat. He was not quite so callous as she had 
 thought. 
 
 " I was reading that fairy tale of Bevil Prynne's into the small hours, 
 and thinking about it after that." 
 
 " Fairy tale, indeed. You may well say that. It's a regular Baron 
 Munchausen the fellow was with his gold and jewels of size.'' 
 
 " Tell me. Father, candidly ; what do you think of the story yourself ? " 
 
 " I've niver given it a thought at all. There's mighty queer things 
 in thim heathen parts to be sure, and it's possible there may be a morsel 
 of truth in what he says, but I've a feelin' that its Arabian Nights rubbish 
 over again mostly.'' 
 
 " And I'm sure that every word of it is true,'' said Molly vehemently. 
 " My father was not the man to be deceived, and he believed in it, or he 
 
" THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 33 
 
 would never have gone to Peru at all. I have not the least doubt he found 
 the city." 
 
 " An' if he did, the findin's done him mighty little good, me dear. 
 What d'ye say. Hazel ? "■ 
 
 " Well, I'd rather reserve my opinion on that point until I've seen 
 the city. But I quite sympathise with Miss Prynne's confidence in her 
 father's judgment." 
 
 " Until you've seen the city ? — what on earth do you mean, Mr. Hazel ? 
 You're not going to Peru ! " 
 
 " I hope so. Miss Prynne, next week, by one of the Royal Mail boats. 
 It seems to me this question as to the whereabouts of your father and Mr. 
 Amherst would be the better for clearing up, and if I may say so, I think 
 I'm about as capable of doing it as any man."- 
 
 " But you must not. I cannot allow you to take my trouble on your 
 shoulders like that 1 I should feel I was sending you to your death. 
 Really, Mr. Hazel, I cannot allow you to do this. I should never forgive 
 myself. I couldn't hear of your doing any such thing on my account.'' 
 
 " In that case we'll say it's on my own, as you prefer it. Put it down 
 as a mere whim, if you will, but pray give yourselves not the least anxiety 
 on my account, either of you. You may be quite sure I'll turn up all 
 right. I always do. Besides, I've been lazy too long. It's my business, 
 you know, as well as my pleasure, to get to out-of-the-way places. I 
 confess, fiction or not, that story of your Cavalier ancestor has taken my 
 fancy. I may as well go there as anywhere else, better in fact, because 
 I may chance upon one, if not both, of these gentlemen, in which case 
 I should be in the happy position of being able to restore them to — well, 
 let's say to civilization." 
 
 Molly looked at him hard. She didn't half like this phase of him. 
 She felt it was a trifle beyond her. 
 
 " But does it not strike you, that as they neither of them have returned, 
 you may not do so either ? "• 
 
 " Certainly it does. But one would never cross the Channel if one 
 thought of that. I must take my chance as they did. It's quite possible, 
 you know, that I may succeed where they f ailed. "- 
 
 " Molly, dear, it's arrant nonsinse you're talkin'. As if he wouldn't 
 be as near the good saints in Peru, as in this tumbledown place, or any 
 other, for the matter o' that." 
 
 " The saints seem to have taken but little care of my father and Dick, 
 uncle ! If I had dreamt for one moment that Mr. Hazel would have done 
 this, I should never have told him a word about it. It's nothing short 
 of madness for him to risk his life on, such a fruitless errand, for I feel 
 convinced they must be dead. If Mr. Hazel goes, he will offend me 
 seriously. I will not be a party to this — to this suicide ; I " 
 
 She could trust herself no further. Another moment and she felt 
 she must give way. It was all she could do to hold back the tears. She 
 beat a hasty retreat to the far end of the grounds. 
 
 " Foolish, soft-hearted child,"- muttered O'Dwyer ; " no sinse, all 
 sintiment." 
 
 Hazel made no comment. Nor did he attempt to follow her. It 
 would be useless, he argued, in her present frame of mind. And it was 
 as well too, he thought, to carry a point like this in the beginning. She 
 would come to look at it in his way later on. He went on with his break- 
 fast. He was surprised when Father O'Dwyer turned on him; 
 
 2 
 
34 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Ah, it's a cold-blooded Saxon y'are, Hazel. How you can sit there 
 like a block of wood, whin ye see the dear girl is breakin' her heart for ye, 
 passes me entirely. She'll be cryin' her eyes out over yonder, whin it's 
 comfortin' her ye should be." 
 
 " My dear Father, such a position, wha.tever may be in the future, is 
 hardly feasible at present. You, would scarcely have me act as locum 
 tenens for Mr. Richard Amherst 1 " 
 
 " Well, it's no flesh and blood ye are anyhow." 
 
 " Perhaps not — perhaps not ; that is, my flesh and blood are, as you say, 
 Anglo-Saxon, and I supposfe that's a poor variety of the species. But, 
 come now, this is not what I want to talk to you about. I want you 
 to tell me how this manuscript of Prynne's came to England." 
 
 The priest shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " You're like no man I iver met with. Hazel. But I suppose it's just 
 yourself you are, and your own way you must go. But you're no warm- 
 hearted Irish boy, or you'd " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I know ; I'd throw this and every other project to the four 
 winds of Heaven, so long as Miss Prynne was^ comforted, and we'd be 
 married next week, and live happily ever afterwards.- But you see I'm 
 not warm-hearted, and I'm not Irish, nor can you call me exactly a boy 
 — forgive my being so hteral. Father ; as you say, I'm just myself, and 
 I'm afraid that's what I shall continue to be. But what I want most 
 to talk about now is not my pachydermatous self, but this manuscript of 
 Bevil Prynne's. Tell me, how did it get here ? " 
 
 " Well, that's simple enough, anyhow. 'Twas the man Ingraham 
 gave it to the wife, Dorinda." 
 
 " And Ingraham, how did he come by it ? " 
 
 " Ain't I tellin' you ? It was Mistress Prynne wrote out all that this 
 Ingraham man told her, in a sort of appendix to the story. It seems that, 
 by the blessing of Mary, he was cured' of the small-pox, and the Indians, 
 bavin' had about enough of him, no doubt, sent him away from their 
 musical mountain (the liars !). Thin whin he got to the place they call 
 Cuzco, if he wasn't after askin' the Viceroy for another expedition to 
 find the unfortunate Bevil. But the Count Salvatierra put the stop on 
 that. He told 'em it was no good. But he was a persistent divil of a 
 man, this Ingraham, and will ye beUeve it, for two years, no less, he hung 
 about thim parts until his luck brought him in tow with a greedy Spaniard, 
 who was wild after the filthy lucre he thought to be there. So takin' 
 their wretched lives in their hands the two of thim wint back and poked 
 around again after their blessed city. But the man Ingraham had a trifle 
 of sinse left it seems, for he kept his eye, and. told the others to do the 
 same, on the stream of water that came from the mountain. An' sure 
 enough one day there came floatin' along a bundle o' stufi which took the 
 fancy o' one of those Indian fellows, who picked it up ; and a mighty 
 sell it was for him no doubt whin it turned out to be nothin' but a lot 
 of papers done up as cliverly as you Hke. That, me boy, was the manu- 
 script. Of course whin the mad fools read it they were more mad than 
 iver to get at the beastly place, but before they could say Jack Robinson 
 almost, the Indians set upon them and killed ivery blessed one of thim, 
 except the man Ingraham, who, as I told you, was a persistent divil. 
 An' would you believe it, as if he hadn't had enough of that part of the 
 world, no sooner did he get back to this country than he set about 
 workin' upon the avaricious minds of another set of lunatics to start 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 35 
 
 out on a third expedition to the unholy place. But the saints decreed it 
 otherwise, an' he'd just about time to give the manuscript to Dorinda, and 
 die in his bed like a Christian." 
 
 " And this Philip Prynne, didn't he go to Peru ? '-'■ 
 
 " Pie did not. The man had more sinse. Whin the King came to 
 his own again, Philip turned out that heretic blackguard of liagbourne 
 and got back his lands. And the manuscript was just tossed aside as 
 rubbish until John Prynne (may he be forgiven for an obstinate fool) 
 found it and his undoin' at the same time, and must needs go on a wild- 
 goose chase after the Mother of Emeralds." 
 
 " Is the whole story here ? " 
 
 " It is not. Hazel. There are pages and pages about the Ufe^of thim 
 creatures in the city, and tales of treasure' that'd make your mouth 
 water, if you're fond of those things, as I make no doubt you are. But 
 John Prynne took the original with him, leavin'- only the boiled-down 
 affair behind ; and Dick Amherst has a copy of that same." 
 
 " I thiuk-I should like to take this to town with me and have it copied, 
 if you don't mind." 
 
 " Mind t Why should I mind, me boy ? But it's that same you can 
 take if you Uke. It's mighty little good to an old man like me. Whin 
 is it you're goin' to London ? '■'- 
 
 " By the mid-day train. I must get my kit in order, you see, and it 
 doesn't do to cut things too fine. The boat that leaves on Thursday is 
 one of the new ones, and I don't want to miss her." 
 
 " Well, it's God and the saints be with you. Hazel I "- 
 
 The young man took out his watch. " I think I'll go now and say 
 good-bye to Miss Prynne. I haven't too much time." 
 
 He walked off in the direction Molly had gone. He found her pacing 
 up and down an isolated path. His reception was not cordial. She 
 spoke first. 
 
 " Why do you follow me, Mr. Hazel ? " 
 
 " I have come to say good-bye to you — you're not really angry with me. 
 Miss Prynne ? " 
 
 " Oh no, not in the least. It is not calculated to make one angry 
 to have one's express wishes totally disregarded. Besides, angry or not, 
 it cannot possibly aiiect you.'' 
 
 " I don't think you really mean that. Can you not look upon this 
 journey of mine as if it were any other ? " 
 
 " That is quite a different thing. I should not — well, I should not, of 
 course, feel responsible for you in Madagascar, you see, there is no one 
 belonging to me in Madagascar ; besides, I should have no right to object 
 to your going there, should I, and — oh, of what use is it talking hke this ? 
 You know why you are going to Peru, and I know, and I tell you it is to 
 certain death you go, and I — I shall feel — it will be all my fault. Once for 
 all I tell you, you shall not go, you^I — oh, how can I persuade you ? " 
 
 " And if I stay, what happens ? You and I are as far apart — we must 
 
 be — as if I were in Peru. I may bring back Mr. Amherst, or '•'- 
 
 " I never asked you to bring him back ! '-- 
 
 " No, I know that. But, on the other hand, it is just possible I may 
 not be able to bring him back, because he may be dead ; and in that case 
 it would be well surely to — to have proof of his death." 
 
 " But think, think of the terrible risks, the horrible dangers you run." 
 ' ' That is what neither you nor I need think about — at least you need 
 
 2* 
 
36 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 not, and if I think about them at all it will only be to avoid them. I 
 must take my chance of all that ; it is a perfectly fair one — I may say 
 usually a good one. I am one of those people, you know, provided by 
 nature with a self-preserving instinct, almost feline ; as I told your uncle 
 just now, I am pachydermatous — that's an ugly long word, but it explains 
 what I mean. I have come through some pretty tight places in the last 
 few years, and then, you know, it wasn't necessary that I should come 
 through them at aU." 
 
 He waited for her to speak, but she did not. He felt at the moment 
 that he dared not look at her, for his own safety. It was proving a good 
 deal more trying to him than he could have imagined possible. He began 
 to think he could not be pure Anglo-Saxon after all. But he pulled himself 
 together. 
 
 " Good-bye," he said. " It is time for me to go now. There's the 
 'bus. Believe me, I am going for — my — own sake. Look at me. Miss 
 Prynne. Say good-bye to me." 
 
 Still she was silent. The tears were falling fast now, she had given 
 up trying to hide them. He felt that he must not stay. Once again he 
 turned to her. She let her eyes meet his, and then her hand. 
 
 " Good-bye,"- she said. 
 
 Then he turned on his heel, and walked over to the door of the hotel. 
 He thought he had an idea of what it had cost her to say the word ; and 
 now that she had said it he began to wonder whether he had better 
 go, after all. But his indecision was only momentary. 
 
 As soon as he was out of sight Molly went to her room. She could get 
 in by a side entrance. On the threshold she met Mrs. Amherst, prepared, 
 it seemed by the look of her, for battle then and there. 
 
 " Mr. Hazel is '' She stopped and eyed the girl searchingly. 
 
 " Oh yes, I know, he is going — he is going to Peru, and it's all my own 
 wretched doing," burst out Molly, unable to control herself longer. 
 
 " Going to Peru — Mr. Hazel going to Peru ? And why, may I ask ? "■ 
 
 " No, you mayn't — that is — you'd better ask him if you want to ask 
 anybody. I shall never see him again.'' 
 
 " Really, child, to say that you astonish me httle expresses my feelings. 
 You don't seem to be aware that you are a perfect spectacle. I cannot 
 imagine that anything Mr. Hazel intends to do is any excuse for your 
 making such a disgusting exhibition of yourself ! " 
 
 " Oh, leave me alone, can't you — let me go to my room. Don't you 
 see how wretched I am ? Go away, go away.'' Then in sterner tone, " Let 
 me pEiss, please, Mrs. Amherst." 
 
 She did not wait, but pushed by the bulky figure into her room, locked 
 the door, and threw herself into a chair by the window and sobbed hyster- 
 ically. She caught a sight of herself in the glass on the opposite wall, 
 and it arrested her thoughts. Mrs. Amherst was right — she did look 
 awful. She felt glad she had not given way utterly before him. Now 
 she could hear plainly the voices in the porch below ; his amongst them. 
 They were getting up the luggage. And her uncle, too — he must know how 
 miserable she was, yet she could discern his voice high above the rest 
 as hearty and as jovial as ever. Oh, how could they leave her like this ! 
 The world was horrid ; she wished from the bottom of her heart she was 
 out of it. Then the 'bus drove off to the station. She followed it with her 
 eyes out of the gate. ,She could just see him sitting in a corner with a 
 cigar in his mouth. Oh, how could he smoke I Then it seemed as though 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 37 
 
 all the light had gone out of her life, and she threw herself on the bed 
 and sobbed bitterly. 
 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Amherst had gone downstairs with two things upper- 
 most in her mind — to have it out with Father O'Dwyer, and to write 
 to Dick. " For,"- she muttered to herself, " there's something queer — 
 something very queer, about this journey to Peru. At all events Dick 
 shall know of it."- 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PRODIGAL. 
 
 -- Cain, Cain, you black cuss, hurry up there with the grub." 
 
 -' Yah, yah, massa ; don't git mad 'count ob Cain. Dis chile gib you 
 suthin' to eat mighty slick." 
 
 " Oh, hold your jaw ; m' head's splitting and m' tongue's sandy, and 
 there's — -here, damn you, where's the chica ? '-- 
 
 The negro pointed to a large jar on the floor, near the bed. He shook 
 his head, and bent again over his cooking. 
 
 " Dat der arguardiente's jes killin' you, Massa Dick."- 
 
 " 'Bout time too, old man. Guess I'm only fit for manure now.'' 
 
 He took a long pull at the cool maize beer. 
 
 It was Dick Amherst's way never to spare himself. He was under no 
 delusion about his own shortcomings. He would even set them forth for 
 you with a frankness positively alluring, suggestive almost of repentance. 
 And there were people who saw, or thought they saw, in these loud- 
 mouthed avowals, evidence of a desire to improve. 
 
 But they were chiefly those whose knowledge of him was both short 
 and short-sighted. In the course of a more protracted acquaintance with 
 Mr. Richard Amherst, you came to learn many things, amongst them, that 
 when he said he was a " bad lot " it was best to believe him, or at least to 
 act as though you did. It was a trifle disconcerting to be ranldy swindled, 
 and then to be told it was your own fault, because you had heeded not 
 your warning. And Dick Amherst had a little way of " rounding " on his 
 friends like this, that became, in time, quite characteristic of him. So that 
 even the most sanguine and long-sufiering of that select little community 
 had perforce to abandon all attempt at reforming him as utterly hopeless. 
 Thus, in time, what happened to him was that he came to be taken 
 at his own valuation by those who knew him, which, after all, is no more 
 than happens to most of us. And when this was borne in forcibly upon 
 him, all he said was, " Well, at last they've tumbled to the sort of animal 
 I am," and that without the least rancour or resentment in the world. 
 
 He had arrived about two years before, with an excellently well selected 
 stock of intentions, and the promise of ample reward should he carry 
 them out But he seemed to think it was a stock to be got rid of as ex- 
 peditiously as possible, and, indeed, to that end, everything seemed to 
 favour him. As for the reward — ^which was, of course, the hand of Molly 
 Prynne — -he had ceased long since to think of it. It was the old story of 
 the serpent and the bamboo. 
 
 His sensations upon arriving at Lima had been novel, for, in addition 
 to a clean sheet, he had found himself — thanks to Molly — with a supply 
 of money more than ample for his immediate needs, which were the only 
 needs he ever thought of. The attainment of the end he was supposed to 
 
 2t 
 
38 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. ______ 
 
 have in view soon ceased to trouble him altogether. It is true he went so 
 far as to question the very questionable companions with whom, instinc- 
 tively, he seemed to come in contact, somewhat closely, if disconnectedly, 
 upon the subject of the subterranean city and its treasures. But the 
 Limenos scouted the very idea of such an anomaly existing in their own 
 country, though they admitted a considerable tract of it was yet un- 
 explored. But as all native civilization had passed away with the Incas, 
 the survival of any city such as Amherst described, seemed in the highest 
 degree improbable. They exaggerated largely the dangers of the Cordil- 
 leras, and urged that they alone provided an insuperable barrier to any 
 expedition of the Idnd, however wisely conducted and completely equipped. 
 
 In fact he could find no one to sympathise with the project, nor any who, 
 if they felt curiosity as to the wonderful story of Bevil Prynne, were in- 
 clined to gratify it. It became obvious that he would have to go alone 
 if he was to go at all, and that was not in the least to his Uking. And what 
 was not to his liking, Dick Amherst never did. Hence his continued pre- 
 sence in Lima. 
 
 Not for one moment did the question of Molly's feelings weigh with 
 him. Had he been asked such a thing directly, he would have unhesita- 
 tingly declared that he loved her. But his ideas of love were singular, 
 not to say quaint. He was quite aware that she was pretty and young and 
 innocent, and that she would be well-off some day. Then she had been his 
 playfellow from a chila, and that was the kind of thing which as often as 
 not culminated in marriage. His mother, too, had been constantly at 
 his elbow urging him on to that end. So that although he was keen enough 
 to foresee that the girl was not likely to marry him for his own sake, he saw 
 clearly that a marriage with her would be advantageous to himself, in 
 that it would extricate him from a lot of bother. And she was a " devilish 
 pretty girl.'' 
 
 For some time he took counsel with himself how best to go about it. And 
 he decided that his greatest chance of success lay in a more or less du-ect 
 appeal to Molly's womanly nature. So he drew a very pitiful and pathetic 
 caricature of himself, which the girl took for a portrait, and the result was 
 such as to gratify him exceedingly. He patted himself on the back for 
 his ''cuteness,'- for she had agreed to be his '' good angel,'- exacting only 
 as a condition that he should bring back her father from the outlandish 
 place he appeared to have got to. And that was a job after Mr. Dick's 
 own heart. She could not have offered him anything he liked better. 
 It would be a taste of the old — the dear old unregenerate days. He 
 could not — nor did he seek to — disguise from himself that his spasmodic 
 attempts at what he took to be respectability were a dismal failure at 
 aU events, unaided. Perhaps once he was " hitched-up " it would be 
 easy. He was conscious of a slight sense of regret at parting with this 
 beautiful young lady, just as he had some right to look upon her as his own 
 prospective property. But he supposed that was the kind of feeling usual 
 under the circumstances, and would pass o££ with his sea-sickness. 
 
 He had not been long in Lima before he found young women every whit 
 as much to his taste as the girl he had left behind him. And he rejoiced 
 exceedingly because he had in hand sufi&cient money to provide him with 
 what he termed a -' high old time,'' more especially as he felt the breadth 
 of the moral atmosphere to be highly conducive to that end, and greater 
 by far than that in which he had been forced hitherto to support life. 
 
 His letters home became fewer by degrees and beautifully less, and that 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 39 
 
 ecstatic morrow, when, at his dear Molly's side, he was to settle down, a 
 wholly reformed and regenerate being, was never by any chance referred 
 to even in his most maudlin phases of alcoholism. 
 
 His existence became abandoned and Bacchanalian, so long as his 
 money lasted. 
 
 But even at his worst Dick Amherst was a man of considerable physical 
 attractions, and no httle fascination of manner. And when the time 
 came that he had to change his last " real," these were what stood him 
 in good stead. Of a truth, the devil is ever mindful of his own. A young 
 Peruvian, who had known him in his more halcyon days, came across him 
 now, and installed him major-domo of his hacienda, near Chiclayo. And 
 for a while Dick managed the coolies under his charge with no small measure 
 of success, until his drinking played the mischief with him, and once more 
 led to his undoing. Still, he managed to find a job here and there, 
 descending with every change a rung of the ladder. Now he had come to 
 the very lowest, and there was nothing left for him but manual labour, 
 or living on poor old Cain. And so he lived on the negro, whom, in days 
 gone by, he had rescued from the brutality of an overseer in a nitrate 
 factory. On that occasion he had saved the nigger a thrashing, and had 
 ducked the overseer in the river. Henceforth Cain had been devoted to his 
 preserver. He was a puny old creature, hailing originally from the States ; 
 but, somehow, he had drifted South to plantations where the law was of 
 small account, and had suffered accordingly. From the day of his rescue 
 by Dick Amherst he had never left him. And now he was working for 
 him, getting a living for them both here in the Indian quarter of the city, 
 by peddling fresh water. He catered, and cooked, and scrubbed, and 
 washed, and adored the vagabond for whom he did it all. And so it came 
 about that for once in his life Dick Amherst found himself looked up to, 
 instead of the other thing, which, perhaps, accounted for his preservation 
 of one last particle of what had once been self-respect. 
 
 A bare white-washed room, with a bed and a few stools, formed their 
 head-quarters for the time being. The negro occupied a mat in a corner 
 of the room. The climate of the Peruvian littoral does not make for a 
 quantity of luxurious upholstery. At all events, the absence of it troubled 
 Dick but little. He was in his pyjamas now, his feet bare, and his hair 
 innocent of the touch of either brush or comb. It was quite remarkable 
 how, through all his drinking, the man kept his appetite. Cain always 
 knew when his master wanted feeding. And the creature put his very 
 soul into all that he did for him. 
 
 •"' It am jes done, massa — golly 1 don't 'im smell nice 1 '' 
 
 " Deal of sameness about your cooking, Cain,'' replied the white man, 
 ungraciously, " rice and beans, goat's flesh and Chili pepper — that's 
 about the racket I seem doomed to.'' 
 
 They both squatted on the floor. 
 
 " There's a heap o' trouble gettin' things to eat, Massa Dick. Dem 
 black trash don't gib Cain much fo' de watta.'' 
 
 " Who is it you're calling ' black trash ' you damned peacock, you ? 
 Wliat are you, any way ? '' 
 
 " I's a cuU'd gen'lman fro' ole Kentucky, dat's what I is, Massa Dick. 
 'Fore de manciperation by dat Yankee President, dis nigger fetch a heap o' 
 doUas." 
 
 " Rats I — ^you ; who'd part for a one-horse article like you ? Why, 
 you wouldn't fetch a red cent for work I "■■ 
 
40 THE MOTH ER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " I kep de flies off de massa wlien he sleep, same as I does to you, sah. 
 Dem 'skeeters ain't easy fo' to kep 'way." 
 
 " Lazy hog, you ! Here, feed on." 
 
 " Lil rice an' watta, Massa Dick. Ole Cain don't want nutin' else to 
 eat." 
 
 " Now don't lie, but put yourself outside this, or I guess I'll make you 
 skip some." 
 
 There were moments when what was left of the man's better nature 
 oozed out, and this was one of them. 
 
 " You damned old cow you, if I didn't look after you, you'd fill a vacancy 
 for an angel in no time. Here, drink some maize beer, and eat the blooming 
 lot, I tell you." 
 
 " No, Massa, dis food am cook for you. A lil rice an' watta for ole Cain." 
 
 " Drink — the — maize — beer, I tell you, and eat ; d'you hear ? " 
 
 With many protests Cain obeyed. 
 
 " De Lawd bless yo', Massa Dick, you's dat good as nebber was." 
 
 " And stow that Methody lingo. You kept me awake the whole night 
 with your canting hymns and rot.'- 
 
 " Law, dis chile neber sing nohow, massa. You wuz dat drunk, sah, 
 dat I pray de Lawd fo' to sabe yo'." 
 
 " Chuck it, don't I tell you ! You don't think He's got the time to 
 listen to a second-rate old nig like you, do you ? 'Sides, save your breath, 
 you want it, and I ain't worth it.'' 
 
 " Massa Dick, dat not so. You's a good man." 
 
 " Good Lord, Cain ; if I didn't know you, I'd say you were drunk."- 
 
 " You is good, Massa Dick, an' ef ole Cain no find yo' in de Golden City, 
 ole Cain no stay dere." 
 
 " Guess you won't be there long then." 
 
 At the sound of the words, his thoughts ran back to Bevil Prynne's 
 manuscript and the Mother of Emeralds, and John Prynne and Molly. 
 And then he fell to wondering whether, after all, he hadn't been " an awful 
 damned fool." He came to the conclusion that he had. He wondered if 
 it was possible even now to pull himself together, and have a shot at it. 
 Then his eye caught the jug of maize beer. 
 
 " There's no straightenin' out that crook, anyway," he muttered. 
 " Say, Cain ; how about the girl I told you to keep your eye on ? '- 
 
 " De young cull'd lady ? " He reached out for the tobacco. " Why, 
 massa, I see'd dat chile las' night at one ob dem fandango rings." 
 
 " Oh, you did, did you I Well, sjie's an Indian herself, and a bit chumjny 
 with the peons, I suppose." 
 
 " Dat so, sahj but dis one mighty rich, I guess. Dey's all mos' 'specful 
 to de cuU'd young lady. When she get out, ole Cain hobble a'ter her, an' 
 she wuz gwine inter dat dere Huascar Hotel." 
 
 " Oh, come now, you old black beetle, you, I'm a bit of a Uar myself, 
 but that's going it too strong. Why, the ' Huascar's ' the most slap-up 
 grog-shop in Lima. You don't tell me she hangs out there, unless — but 
 no, she can't be a slavey ; she's not the cut." 
 
 " Ole Cain see dat young cuU'd lady gwine inter dat ' Huascar Hotel.' '■'- 
 
 " Did he ? — well, did you find out her handle then ? " 
 
 " Oh, yis, Massa Dick, dey call her Mama OcUo." 
 
 " The devil I that's rum. Why, that was the name of the wife of the 
 Manco Capac chap who started the Inca biz. Seems I've struck a big 
 bug amongst the niggers — she's mighty good to look at, anyhow." 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 41 
 
 " Yes, Massa Dick, an' dis chile he get inter de room while dey dance de 
 panuela, an' dat lil cuU'd gal she hab round her one big colla ob big green 
 stones wid gold. Sakes ! "- 
 
 " H'm, emeralds. Who the devil is she, I wonder. Where was this 
 fandango business, Cain ? '■'- 
 
 " In de ole cabin of Tockto, who sell de limonade." 
 
 '- Great Scott I He's a swell among the Indians, too. There's sometliing 
 groggy about this. Guess I'd better loaf round a bit, and have a look at 
 the show. Here, Cain, can you light out for the biz ? " 
 
 " Dar's your clean shirt ober dere, Massa Dick."- 
 
 " Right you are. Git."- 
 
 The nigger hobbled off. But Dick seemed in no hurry to dress. He 
 selected a maize leaf for a fresh cigarette, and finished the cliica. Then 
 he threw himself on the bed again. His thoughts were with the girl 
 Mama Ocllo. She was a surprisingly handsome creature, -and had taken 
 his fancy hugely. For a week or more, he had noticed her in and out of 
 the houses of the neighbouring Indians. In no way backward with 
 women, he had forced himself upon her attention. And he had been 
 smartly snubbed for his pains. Since then, although he had seen her 
 frequently, he had not again addressed her. He did not half like the scowls 
 of the peons. They could be unpleasant when they liked, and Mr. Dick 
 was still much addicted to this life. 
 
 He grew tired of conjecturing who she might be, and drew out from under 
 his pillow a letter It was from his mother. It set forth in detail the 
 perfidy of MoUy, and it told of Gerald Hazel's expedition to Peru. She 
 hoped that her son would receive the letter, although, sometimes, she 
 really thought he must be dead, seeing that for so many months he had 
 not written her a line. She trusted he would thwart Hazel in every way, 
 though she hoped that on his part Mr. Hazel would succeed in finding him, 
 and would bring him home to her, and then she hoped that her dear boy 
 would at once marry Molly and settle down as a country gentleman should ; 
 and a hundred other things never in the least likely to be fulfilled. 
 
 Dick chuckled. She was evidently just the same old " two and three- 
 pence," as he put it. And he thanked his stars (though, if he had ever 
 had any, he was pretty certain he had long since extinguished them) 
 there were a good few leagues of water between them. " Five sheets, no 
 less,"- he muttered to himself. " Jingo, how the old lady can sling ink ! 
 she'd talk the hind leg off a mule. Thank the Lord, one can shut her up 
 on paper." 
 
 Then he fell to thinking of Molly. He had no great opinion of his own 
 attractions, "fhis Hazel was evidently a good-looking chap. He didn't 
 wonder a bit that she had gone over to him. Yet it raised the devil in him 
 against the other man. It did not take much to work him into a passion, 
 and in ten minutes he was, what he would have caUed, pretty well primed. 
 If only he could meet the beast, he'd show him jolly smartly who was the 
 better of the two. It seemed likely he would. 
 
 " Comin' in search of Prynne and the hidden city, is he ? — and of me, 
 too. Damn him, I'll show him the way. Guess I'm not the man to be 
 played the angora with by a bally tender-foot. He'll have his work cut 
 out to find me, too. When a chap ' goes under '- in this damned hole, he 
 takes some finding." 
 
 Then he dressed, and went down to the shipping-office to find out when 
 his enemy was likely to arrive. 
 
42 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN THE LAND OF THE INCAS. 
 
 In the patio of tlie Fonda de los Ingas sat Gerald Haze], smoking his 
 after-dinner cigar. He looked thoughtful. He was too deeply absorbed 
 even to pay attention to his environment, beautiful as it was. 
 
 The marble court, roofed by the starry sky, bloomed like a garden 
 with the fecund vegetation of the tropics. Blossoms glowed in profusion 
 amid their leaves of glossy green, and from the placid surface of a quad- 
 rangular pool shot up two jets of water, like rods of silver. The palms 
 dropped their supine heads, the orange trees were heavy with their 
 burden of gold, and the spiky blades of the cactus sprouted menacingly 
 in the corners. And under the multitudinous lamps the people lounged, 
 smoking and sipping their coffee, now in animated converse, now striving 
 to catch the strains of a distant band. 
 
 It was the sort of scene which, under other circumstances, would not 
 have failed to attract Hazel, and to leave its impress upon him. But 
 now he was ill at ease, and restless, and, susceptible as he was to beauty 
 in any form, it passed him altogether. He fidgetted in his chair, and his 
 cigar burned unevenly — always a bad sign with him. Half a dozen 
 times in five minutes he took out his watch and looked at ^t. 
 
 Things were not turning out as he had expected. It seemed that the 
 prodigal of whom he was in search had vanished completely, so far as the 
 city of Lima was concerned. There seemed not a few who had known 
 Dick Amherst in his palmy days, and, through the letters of introduction 
 he had been careful to bring, he had been enabled to come in touch with 
 them. But while they one and aU were able to unfold a formidable 
 tale of rascality, more or less embeUished according to their individual 
 proclivities, they confessed themselves utterly ignorant of his present 
 whereabouts. Some there were, who, not averse to indulgence in con- 
 jecture, suggested that he might be found on one of the many inland 
 haciendas ; or, failing that, then in the maritime dens of Callao, if, indeed, 
 he had not migrated to Chili. Others insisted that he was dead. But 
 so far as search in the proper quarters could prove it. Hazel had already 
 made certain that no one of his name had died within the boundaries 
 of the city. This accounted for his present mood. He had grown 
 accustomed to his own picture of Mi, Amherst in Lima. It seemed 
 henceforth, he would have to banish it. He had a very good mind 
 to start for Cuzco straight away. It was from Cuzco that both the 
 Prynnes had set out for the interior. 
 
 At last his look of perplexity somewhat relaxed, and gave way to one 
 of recognition. The man he was waiting for wis coming towards him. 
 He rose to greet him. 
 
 " At last. I had quite given you up,'' he said. 
 
 " No jolly fear, old boy. Trust me to keep my appointments." 
 
 He spoke English^ fluently. Yet he was evidently not Enghsh. He 
 was Don Miguel de ErciUa, a creole, and native of Peru. He admired 
 the English above aH other nations. He had graduated in London 
 society ; had learned its chatter, and its manners, not to speak of its 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 43 
 
 mannerisms, and its affectations of dress and other things. He had 
 learned these things well, so that it Is not to be supposed its vices had 
 passed him altogether, although he was not a man to whom that sort 
 of thing appealed in any strong degree. But, on the whole, he was as 
 thoroughly whited a sepulchre as any devotee of Ma5rfair could desire. 
 You seldom caught Don Miguel tripping. He was aggressively English 
 — a deal more Enghsh than was Hazel himself. And sport, though he 
 affected it largely, was no mere affectation with him. He was a right down 
 good shot, and he had driven tandem from Piccadilly to Barnes in June, 
 and come back " on both wheels," as he himself would have put it. He 
 was invariably sent in first wicket down by his captain, and had covered 
 himself with glory as a " quarter back " at " rugger." And, if he had not 
 acquired just the real " swing " of 'varsity rowing, there was no one in 
 " Leander " who would have denied that Don Miguel puUed his weight 
 and more, on either side of the boat. 
 
 If only he had attended to his hacienda one half as thoroughly as he 
 did any of these things, it would have been well for him. But the busi- 
 ness of life did not attract Don Miguel. SartoriaUy speaking, he might 
 have stepped from anjrwhere round St. James's Street this moment. 
 The cut of his evening coat was altogether irreproachable, if somewhat 
 " out of the picture " amid his present surroundings. Hazel had met 
 him at the Club Nacional, and had been instantly appreciative of his 
 exuberant vitality, and single-mindedness. He hked Don Miguel, and 
 during the short time he had been in Lima, he had made it his business 
 to see a good deal of him. Besides, he seemed of all those he had met, 
 the most likely to be of assistance towards the thing he had in hand. 
 He had confided in Don Miguel quite as much as was necessary to interest 
 th.it young man, who, on his part, had entered into the spirit of it for 
 Hazel's sake, because he hked him. They were on a fair way to becom- 
 ing good friends. At the moment Hazel was anxious for news. He 
 ordered another cofiee and cigar, and waited for Don Miguel's report. 
 That young gentleman did not keep him waiting. 
 
 " Well, Hazel, I wrote to a friend of mine at Cuzco, about Amherst," 
 he said, " and it seems he was last heard of there, but my friend tells me 
 he got into some gambling row about nine months ago, and the place 
 became too hot for him. So he cleared up the Apurimac. So the chances 
 are he's dead by now. Anyhow, here's my friend's letter, and you can 
 read it for yourself." 
 
 Then he relapsed into Spanish, as he would do at times. 
 
 Hazel read the letter, and learned that it was from a friendly peon 
 that the writer had come by his facts. It looked as though Amherst 
 had really gone in search of Prynne, seeing that the Apurimac was the trail 
 indicated in the manuscript. 
 
 " I concluded as much, Ercilla," he said, " when no trace was to be 
 found of him here. It's pretty certain he has gone into the interior. I 
 must follow, sharp." 
 
 " Mother of God, Hazel, is the fellow worth it ? " 
 
 " For himself, perhaps not ; but you see, there are othet reasons — 
 substantial reasons — I may say personal reasons, which make it worth 
 any amount of trouble." 
 
 " Oh, of course if that's so, I have no more to say ; but seems to me 
 he's no good. Of course I never met the man, because for the last three 
 years I've been in England, But from what I've been told of his goings 
 
44 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 on here during that time, I'm afraid he really is a bad lot. He seems to 
 have left his mark, and that pretty indeUbly." 
 
 " I suppose you haven't heard anything he might have let drop about 
 this expedition of his ? " 
 
 " No, I can't say I have. He seems to have gassed a good deal about 
 some subterranean city, where he expected to find emeralds as big as your 
 head, and all the treasures of the Incas — but that's rather vague, isn't 
 it. One's heard of that sort of thing before in this country. Of course, 
 it's true enough, there's a lot of gold stored away up there, because when 
 Pizarro killed Atahualpa — he was the last of the reigning Incas, you 
 know — the Indians buried all the gold they were bringing for his release. 
 But it's ten thousand to one it wiU never be found, and as to subterranean 
 cities and the rest of it, you may take my word for it that's pure rubbish." 
 
 " But there must be some among the Indians now, who know where 
 that gold was hidden." 
 
 " Oh, no doubt there are. But you may bet they'll keep their know- 
 ledge to themselves at any cost. Besides, the natives of the country 
 up the Apurimac are savages. There is no sort of civihzation known 
 up there. Now, if there were any of these highly civihzed hidden cities 
 about, their influence would be bound to make itself felt one way or 
 another." 
 
 " Well, yes, that's a fair enough deduction. But tell me, Ercilla, 
 have you ever heard of these peons being tattooed with a rainbow across 
 the chest ? " 
 
 " No, never. And I have had to do, you know, with a good many 
 of them in my time. 'Sides, I had an old Quichua nurse once, and she used 
 to tell me all manner of stories about the Incas. But I never heard of 
 anything of the kind, nor did she even hint at any existent civilization 
 among the Indians. Believe me, my dear Hazel, there's no such thing 
 ■ — it's all a 5?arn." 
 
 " H'm. Well, at all events, it seems a case of ' gone away,' and I 
 must follow. I promised his relatives, if he was above-ground, I'd bring 
 him back ; and I've no doubt of itself an exploration of the interior will 
 prove diverting ; what do you say, Ercilla ? " 
 
 " I should say it would be joUy hard work." 
 
 " Of course it will. But I like hard work of that sort." 
 
 Then for a while the two men smoked on in silence. A grey-headed 
 old negro came up to them with a tray of curios slung before him. 
 
 " Massa, buy some lil things for de house ? " 
 
 " No," replied ErciUa, in Castihan, " go, black devil ; out, I say. This 
 is neither the time nor place for your traffic." 
 
 " All de time good for ole Cain, sah. Cain a po' sort o' chile. Dere's 
 mighty fine tings in his c'Uecshun. Dis cup wid doUas," and the old 
 man held up a cup of red eai-thenware, graceful in shape, and adorned 
 with quaint figures ; " heah dis figger ob de llama, an' nudder ob puma. 
 Dat de sun wid spiky rays, an' cuU'd rainbow." 
 
 " A rainbow, eh ! " said Hazel, reaching for the vase. " Here, let's 
 have a look at it ; where did you get it from ? " 
 
 " Ole Cain get it fro' Tockto, dat sell de limonade, him get dem fro' 
 dos Huacas ob de ole cuU'd pussons. Dere is de skeletons berrv fine 
 massa, an' de skull ob turquoise." 
 
 Hazel turned the vase slowly round and examined it minutely. He 
 was struck with the marvellous execution and fidelity to nature of the 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 45 
 
 designs. The llama and puma were really wonderfully done. He felt 
 sure it was a genuine relic of the Incas. And it brought to his mind again 
 the symbol mentioned by Bevil Prynne. 
 
 " What about this ? " he asked, pointing to the rainbow. 
 
 " Dat, massa, is de rainbow what de Lawd set in de firmament ob 
 Noa. Dese po' cuU'd folk dey lub it as der god." 
 
 " Speaker of lies," rebuked Ercilla, angrily. " You know well enough 
 the peons are of the true faith." 
 
 " Tockto him no follower ob de Lawd," rephed Cain, obstinately, " he 
 lub dis rainbow berry much. Him hab it on him breast." 
 
 " And who is Tockto ? " asked Hazel, striving to suppress anything 
 more than ordinary curiosity. 
 
 " Law sakes, massa ! why, Tockto what sell de limonade." 
 
 " Oh ; and where are he and his lemonade to be found ? " 
 
 " He means the peons' quarter, across the Rimac," explained Don 
 Miguel. " I know it well ; I was there the other day. Hazel ; saw a 
 jolly pretty little girl there, too, by Jove ! and now I come to think of it, 
 she was with a man selling lemonade and cake stuff." 
 
 " Dat's Tockto, and Mama OcUo." 
 
 " Mama OcUo — who the deuce is Mama Ocllo ? " 
 
 " She dat hi gal, senor. If you lub dat lil gal, ole Cain take you dere. 
 She at Tockto's ole cabin dis night for de fandango ring." 
 
 " Mama Ocllo," repeated Ercilla, thoughtfully, " Ocllo — Ocllo — why, 
 that's an Inca name, unless I'm mistaken. Who is the girl ? " 
 
 " Frien' ob Tockto, Senor. Him berry 'specful to dat gal.'' 
 
 " Respectful, is he ; well, so he ought to be, no doubt." Then turning 
 to Don Miguel. " Suppose we take a turn round there and make the 
 acquaintance of these good people, eh, ErciUa ? I ought to see some- 
 thing of your native customs." 
 
 " AU right. I don't mind. I'd Uke to see the girl again myself. She 
 was a jolly httle creature. Her name's a first rate one among her people. 
 She may be of great use to you, Hazel." 
 
 " Now, really, that's very good of you, Ercilla — I don't know that I 
 ought to aUow you to be so self-sacrificing." 
 
 " I mean it. Hazel. We'll get this good nigger to take us to the dance 
 he talks about." 
 
 " Tockto no like that, senor." 
 
 " Then, understand, Tockto's got to like it," retorted Ercilla, in the 
 imperious fashion of an over-lord. " You can tell him if you hke, that 
 we may buy some of his rubbish." 
 
 " Dis no rubbidge, seiior — dis " 
 
 " Hold your tongue, you black devil, you I We go, that's enough." 
 
 Cain muttered something under his breath. Then the two men 
 followed him out of the patio. 
 
 " Any need to be prepared ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " Not in the least, my friend. Every bit as safe here as in London, 
 All he wants," pointing to the nigger, "is to sell his own stuff, and not 
 give the other chap a 'chance." 
 
 After crossing the Rimac, they left the more frequented thoroughfares, 
 and turned into a series of dark narrow lanes. There was not a human 
 being to be seen. The windows to right and left were protected by their 
 iron rejas, and not a glimmer of Ught escaped into the street. 
 
 Gradually the buildings diminished in size and importance. They 
 
46 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 found themselves in the low quarter, where walls of cane, plastered with 
 mud, supported roofs of straw. Pausing at the door of one of these 
 dwellings, Cain held up his hand.' They could hear the sound of music 
 from inside. 
 
 " Dis am Tockto's," he said in a cautious whisper. " Dere am berry 
 fine dancin' in dere. Go in, seilor, ole Cain come berry soon." Before 
 either of them could stop him, the nigger had vanished round the 
 corner. 
 
 " Seems we must announce ^ourselves," said Don Miguel, with a shrug. 
 " Come on. Hazel." 
 
 They entered. Hardly had they done so, when two dark- forms stole 
 out from the shadows. They were Dick Amherst and Cain. Hurriedly 
 the negro was detailing the success which had attended upon his efforts 
 to decoy Hazel and his friend. 
 
 " Good," said Dick. He patted the negro's wooUy head. " You've 
 come home on the winner this time, sonny. You didn't spin too straight 
 a yarn about that rainbow ? " 
 
 " No, no, massa ; ole Cain jes tell ob Tockto's mark on him breast." 
 
 " Well, that's gospel truth, anyhow. I don't want this chap to know 
 that I know what he knows." 
 
 " GoUy, massa, dat am mighty hard big talk." 
 
 " He mustn't know who I am, don't you understand, you stupid owl ? 
 If I hear you call me by my name I'll knock your silly old head ofi I '' 
 
 " Dat so, Massa Dick." 
 
 " There you go, you fool ; don't I teU you not to do it ? Thought 
 the rainbow tip would fetch him. Now if he puUs out for the buried city, 
 I'm off there too, you bet. You can come an' cook, if you like." 
 
 " Ole Cain must go wid you, massa I " 
 
 " Right. Now keep your eyes open, and vour tongue quiet. Follow 
 me 1 " 
 
 He opened the door of Tockto's den, and walked in. Thus the Rubicon 
 was crossed. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " A NIGHT ADVENTURE." 
 
 Tockto's cabin was Mttle more than a cage of cane, plastered with mud 
 and painted inside and out in imitation of stone. Its extreme lightness 
 of structure was necessary on account of the frequency and severity of 
 the earthquakes- in the country. Its single room was surprisingly large 
 for so unpretentious a dwelling, and boasted no furniture save benches 
 set flat against the waU, and a rude wooden dais at the further end elevating 
 the one distinguished guest above the beaten mud of the floor. From the 
 white-washed ceiling swung a petroleum lamp shedding its crude hght now 
 upon a crowd of natives. Four or five deep they stood around watching 
 the dancers of both sexes who gyrated and rocked to the most melan- 
 choly of music — music as tuneless as it was plaintive. 
 
 Expecting to see the usual medley of cholos, mestizos, and chinos whicli 
 constitutes the lower strata of Peruvian social life. Hazel was surprised, 
 and indeed Don Miguel no less so, at the prevalence of a higher racial type. 
 The taU and well-formed men and women there gathered together were 
 of a coppery complexion, well-nigh Caucasian in4ts fairness. Their eyes 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 47 
 
 were small and black, their noses aquiline, and their hair of a deep brown 
 \hue, oiled and elaborately plaited under chaplets of flowers. Over the 
 ysual peon dress loose cloaks of black stuff were worn, fringed with 
 borders of the brightest hues. An unusual dress ; an unusual type ; 
 and even Ercilla was startled out of his habitual nonchalance. 
 
 " Mourning for the Incas," he muttered. " Santa Rosa, this is more 
 of a coijspiracy than a fandango ring." 
 
 " Is there much conspiracy amongst these peons, Ercilla ? " 
 
 " Dios, I should think so ! They're always hankering after their 
 early civilization. Their great desire is to be ruled by people of their 
 own blood. At Guanta and Andahuyalas they obey their own Alcades 
 rather than the Government ; no doubt their object is to bring about a 
 similar state of things in Lima. Hush, man, here comes our host 1 " 
 
 The advancing native was undoubtedly the master of the house, and 
 although, according to Cain, he was but a lemonade seller, his whole mien 
 gave one the idea rather of the chief of a free tribe than of the peddling 
 peon of a conquered race. He raised his hand to stop the music, and 
 enquired with grave displeasure why the visitors had thrust themselves 
 thus uninvited upon the company. Don Miguel taking umbrage at his 
 tone answered haughtily with the brusque superiority of a master. The 
 atmosphere became a trifle charged, and the looks of the speakers defiant. 
 
 Leaving his friend, as native born, to settle matters. Hazel turned his 
 attention upon the guegt on the dais — a handsome woman, who sat 
 inert and listless under the arc of a rainbow rudely painted on the wall. 
 In her attitude and immobility she was as some tomb idol of Thebes or 
 Memphis. Her feet were drawn close together, her hands placed palm 
 upwards on her knees, her eyes were unblinking and expressionless. 
 Straight before her she stared in fixed gaze, appearing to be quite uncon- 
 scious of what was taking place around her. Her face, of the pure Quichua 
 tjrpe, was singularly beautiful, but disdainful withal. Haughty, stiU 
 to a point suggestive of catalepsy, inanimate whoUy — an imperious 
 Queen Semiramis, changed into stone by enchantment. 
 
 Her dress was very strange. The sable of her cloak — for she likewise 
 affected Incarial mourning — formed a background for the display of her 
 many jewels. She was UteraUy encrusted with gems. A broad band of 
 duU gold, studded with superb emeralds, encircled her neck. Opals, 
 pearls, sapphires, and fragments of lapis lazuh, threaded on silver wires, 
 trailed from a belt of the same metal to the hem of her skirt. Bracelets 
 of golden fretwork were on her wrists, and the fingers of both her hands 
 glittered with the finest brilMants of Brazil. Her black locks, braided 
 with many-coloured ribbons and sprinkled with gold dust, streamed from 
 under a plumed headdress of white feathers artificially streaked with the 
 seven hues of the rainbow. From this, on either side, nets of gold, spark- 
 ling with tiny gems, fell to her shoulders. The jewels scintillated and 
 shot forth their sparks of fire at every heave of her breast. She blazed in 
 the lamp-light like a King-opal, and a splendour seemed to radiate from 
 her to the four comers of the room. Hazel stared speU-bound at this 
 enchantress, so gorgeous yet so relentlessly immobile. 
 
 Of a sudden she called out sharply in a strange tongue, and Tockto, 
 breaking off his wrangle with Don Miguel, hastened to abase himself before 
 her. It was at this moment Dick swaggered into the room. 
 
 " HuUo 1 " said he, feigning surprise at the sight of the white men ; 
 " English or Yankee — ^which ? " 
 
48 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " I am English," replied Hazel, taking him in at a glance. " But my 
 friend here is a Spanish gentleman. And you ? " 
 
 " Oh, I hail from the U.S.A. Wyoming, Wis., if you must be precise, 
 sir. Dodgin' round to see the sights, I guess. Rum lot o' greasers here, 
 ain't they ? — don't look over pleased either." 
 " And why not ? " enquired Ercilla sharply. 
 
 " Lordy, I dunno. Running a private circus, maybe, and don't want 
 no white trash hanging round. Mighty stand-off-the-grass air they have, 
 haven't they ? Won't do any harm if I loosen my shooter." He smiled 
 blandly at the scowling natives, and slipped one hand round to his hip 
 pocket. 
 
 " Simply a rowdy American," Hazel had thought at first ; " probably 
 the human refuse of some digging township, such as are found down 
 south by the dozen." But he altered his opinion on hearing the man 
 talk, for with aU Dick's ostentatious slang he spoke with a purity of in- 
 tonation, and occasionally with a choice of phrase suf&ciently nice to ele- 
 vate him to a sphere far above any to which he made pretension. That 
 accent moreover was palpably acquired — too obtrusively nasal to be 
 convincing. The fellow was English he made not a doubt. 
 
 " Never have taken^you for a Yankee," said Hazel, " in fact I should 
 have sworn you'd been schooled on our side, at all events." 
 
 He could see the man flush under his bronze as he rephed : " WeU, 
 as a matter o' fact that's so. I was at — at Bedford ; but I've been so 
 long in th' States now that I always count m'self a Yank. M'name's 
 
 Dick " 
 
 Hazel started in spite of himself. " Not Dick Amherst — you're not 
 Dick Amherst ? " 
 
 " Guess not ; Gibbs, Dick Gibbs, I ticket m'self. Queer though you 
 should talk of Amherst ; he was a chum of mine tiU he got sent up ; 
 rare good sort too old Dicky, never could see the harm in him 
 m'self." 
 
 From which it will be seen that Mr. Dick was at least skilful in his 
 mendacity. The transposition of his school from one river to another — 
 from Thames to Ouse to be precise — ^was all sufficient for his purpose while 
 preserving the ever-important fact that it was on a river. And in the same 
 way the retention of his own first name was hkely to save him no Uttle 
 inconvenience — chance betrayal by Cain for instance — and at the same 
 time was calculated to dispel any suspicions which might gather in Hazel's 
 mind. And so Dick Amherst was accepted without hesitation as Mr. 
 Richard Gibbs, and Hazel rejoiced exceedingly; in that chance — as he 
 conceived it — should have thrown across his path thus early one so likely 
 to enlighten him as to the probable whereabouts of the prodigal he 
 sought. Indeed he had it in his mind to put a few leading questions to 
 Mr. Gibbs then and there. But Tockto, coming up to them with mani- 
 festly pacific intentions — ^his expression of countenance was all gracious- 
 ness — made that impossible for the moment. 
 
 " Senores," said he, bowing gravely,." although it is not customary for 
 the white man to behold our ceremonies, since you are here it is per- 
 mitted " — ^this with a glance at the figure on the dais — " that you 
 remain! " ' 
 
 " And you will sell my friend here some pottery from the huacas, eh ? " 
 said Don Miguel. Again Tockto bowed. " To-night," he rephed, " I 
 neither buy nor sell. We celebrate a festival of our forefathers — the 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 49 
 
 feast of Hurachillo — and it is not lawful for us to trade. May it please 
 you to be seated here, Seiiores, and to partake of our hospitality ! " 
 
 Both Don Miguel and the EngUshman would have preferred to be seated 
 in closer proximity to the beautiful statue on the dais, and permitted 
 themselves to say as much. But Tockto, with unabated politeness, gave 
 them clearly to understand that such famiUarity could not be ; so they 
 were reluctantly compelled to sit on the benches. Near them several 
 Indian women were sewing vigorously, and these a httle later on were 
 joined by the female dancers, so that only the men were left to maintain 
 the movement of the dance to the sharp notes of the syrinx and the beat- 
 ing of the shallow drums. " Why," enquired Hazel, " do pleasure and 
 work go thus hand in hand ? " Tockto sighed. 
 
 Said he : " They sew the clothes in which their sons are to be dressed 
 for the feast of the huarachicu. It used to be that the youfig men at this 
 festival had their ears bored by the divine Inca and received knighthood ; 
 but now alas " — and he made a gesture of despair — " we are a faUenrace. 
 Still do we keep up this ceremony although the children of Manco Capac 
 are gone to the Sun." 
 
 " You are no Catholic then ? " 
 
 " I am — ^what the Seiior pleases," replied the crafty Indian. " Will 
 it comfort the white man to partake of wine ? " 
 
 One white man at least was comforted, and that Dick, who drained a 
 goodly bowl of Pica with great gusto. Indeed to maintain his courage 
 to the point of recklessness he felt he needed it, for it was not without 
 dismay that he had recognised Mama OcUo in the silent woman on the 
 dais. And the recollection of his last meeting with her did nothing to 
 allay his feehng of uneasiness. 
 
 " There'll be a holy row if that tiger-cat spots me," he muttered to 
 himself, keeping well in the background the while. " That sort of thing 
 won't do now I'm chummy with the tender-foot." 
 
 As he sipped the dark sweet wine Hazel watched intently the extra- 
 ordinary evolutions of the male dancers. It was a shufHing perform- 
 ance at best, two only at a time took the floor, each waving a kerchief 
 rh5rthmically with the music. As they drew further apart their move- 
 ments seemed to become more slow and accentuated, increasing again 
 in pace and agihty as they came together, while those around still clapped 
 their hands to mark the beat of the movement. All this executed without 
 the ghost of a smile gave one the most mournful impression. It was evident 
 that the peons took their pleasures a trifle sadly. Hazel remarked it to 
 Don Miguel. 
 
 " Oh, all the so-caUed amusements of this order are dismal," he ex- 
 plained. " This dance — the panuela they caU it — ^is a very fair example 
 of what they term festivity. Ay de mi, but it is melancholy ! " 
 
 " Guess they've had all the monkey crushed out of them by you Spanish 
 devils," observed Dick, with his customary tact. 
 
 " Seiior Americano, I would remind you that my blood is CastiUan." 
 
 " Guess I said as much ; but I'd lie low about it if I were you, Don. 
 Oh, you needn't get riz at me ; I am no Peon to be scared by big looks or 
 swagger words ! " 
 
 The man's insolence was so pronounced, so uncalled for, that it was 
 difficult for Hazel to refrain from pulhng him up pretty sharply. But 
 for two reasons he kept himself in hand ; in the first place he had no 
 desire for a scuffle with an armed reprobate like Dick in a shady quarter 
 
50 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 such as they were in, and in the second he was very anxious to make use 
 of him to his own ends. But he could see that it was as much as ever 
 Don Miguel could do to restrain himself. His fiery temperament was 
 not easily kept under. So in the hope of averting trouble Hazel chipped 
 in with an enquiry as to the name and title of the queenly personage 
 on the dais. He met with a curt denial from Tockto. 
 
 " I would remind the Seiior that he is here on sufferance," said the 
 Indian, with a glance towards the lady in question, who still remained 
 motionless and staring ; "the name of such a one can have no interest 
 for him." 
 
 " Talking ot Mama Ocllo ? " demanded Dick, in dialect strange to 
 Hazel. Tockto turned upon him with so tigerish a gesture that the 
 scamp gripped his revolver. Seeing that the white man was prepared for 
 any emergency the Indian changed his tone. " You know our tongue, 
 and you speak that name I Say," he said, " who are you ? " 
 " One who knows more of Tavantinsu5ni than of Peru I " 
 " Strange 1 You are not of our blood 1 " 
 
 " You can't be sure of that. Manco Capac was white 1 " The Indian 
 appeared to be much agitated. He looked dubiously at Dick, then 
 alDruptly hurried across the room and prostrated himself before the dais. 
 Dick, knowing that he was still in danger, kept his hand upon his revolver, 
 and a very watchful eye on Tockto. 
 
 Hazel turned to him. " What language was that you were talking ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " Quichua," replied Dick, his eye stiU upon the Indian. " They use it 
 up in the Sierras, you know ; it's the Inca talk." 
 " Oh, so you've been up there ? " 
 
 " You bet ; the Cordilleras are print to me. Look out, boys, there's 
 going to be a shine in Kedar's tents I " 
 
 The warning came none too soon. A few words from Tockto had 
 fastened upon him the angry gaze of Mama Ocllo. To her he was no 
 learned stranger, but the man who had insulted her. With aU the fury of 
 primitive nature she sprang to her feet to pour upon him the most voluble 
 of menaces in the Quichua tongue. There was nothing immobile about 
 her now. " She-devil," sang out Dick, his revolver in hand. 
 
 With a yeU of rage Mama OcUo dashed forward with the spring of a 
 wounded puma. With one accord the Indians followed at her heels. 
 Miguel and Hazel sprang up and set their backs to the wall, staring at the 
 crowd held at bay by Dick's revolver. As they drew their knives Hazel 
 gripped his walking stick, determining to make some show of fight if 
 necessary. Lithely as unexpectedly, Tockto slid under the arm of Mama 
 OcUo and flung himself forward. Hazel knocked him down, and at 
 the same moment Dick levelled his revolver — ^not at the Indians who 
 were leaping and howling around the enraged woman, but at the great 
 petroleum lamp. There was a crash, then utter darkness, and for a 
 moment — silence ! 
 
 " The door — make for th^ door 1 " cried Dick, gripping Hazel's arm ; 
 " hold on to the other chap 1 " 
 
 Arm in arm the three men forged their way through the throng. The 
 Indians bit and kicked and grasped at random. At intervals, through 
 the hubbub. Mama Ocllo would be heard spitting and spluttering for all 
 the world hke a wild cat. Then a bluish flame leapt up. Tockto had put 
 a light to a mass of cotton wool steeped in spirit. The door was but a 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 51 
 
 \ few yards oS, now they could see, but a cluster of natives stopped the way. 
 * Hazel gripped a couple of them and hurled them to the right and left. On 
 the nine-pin principle they did a good deal of damage to their fellows — 
 upsetting their equilibrium sufficiently to allow Dick and Don Miguel to 
 r^ach the door. Against their force it yielded as though it were of cork, 
 and through it and over all they scrambled into the open air, the Indians 
 tui^bling over one another in hot pursuit. 
 
 The warm mellow night had given way to a dense mist. In an instant 
 they were in the thick of it. 
 
 " Stick to me," cried Dick, breathlessly, " I know the beastly place 
 blindfolded." 
 
 And he proved that he did. Whither he was leading them neither 
 Ercilla nor Hazel — who had now come up with them — ^had a notion. 
 With a firm hold of the wrist of each, Dick rushed on through the dark- 
 ness. Up one street and down another, across the squares, round — it 
 seemed — a hundred corners with unerring instinct and never faltering 
 step he led them, until they found themselves across the Rimac, in the 
 more familiar quarter of the city, where the gas lamps gUmmered at 
 intervals through the atmosphere — discs of woolly light. Of a sudden — 
 Hazel never knew quite how — they came upon the doorway of the Fonda 
 de los Ingas Then, with a long gasp as truly expressive of achievement 
 as of a desire for oxygen, Dick sat down on the step and mopped his 
 face. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " he said, " I guess that she-boss has got left this trip ! " 
 
 CHAPTER X.- 
 
 " DICK OBTAINS EMPLOYMENT." 
 
 If Dick had got them into their trouble, most assuredly it was he who 
 had got them out of it. And, as that in Hazel's mind rather more than 
 balanced matters, he felt that he could do no less than ask him into the 
 hotel. A long drink and a good cigar were both things after Dick's 
 own heart, and for their sake alone he would have been ready enough to 
 close with the invitation. As it was, he particularly desired a few words 
 with Hazel, that he might impress upon that gentleman the advantages 
 to be gained from the assistance he was willing to lend towards the 
 expedition into the interior. For Mr. Dick was very tired of Lima, more 
 tired even of Cain's cooking, and desperately weary of being hard up. 
 He felt that he, of all people, should have the right to participate in the 
 hunt after himself. When he grew weary of the thing, and had secured 
 to himself a nice little sum of money, it would be the easiest thing in 
 the world to make a clean breast of it and reveal himself. It was a salve 
 to his feehngs too to feel that yonder beyond all bounds of civilization 
 he would have the chance of settling up with Hazel about Molly, as man 
 to man. There would be none of those awkward httle restrictions such 
 as he was bound for his own personal comfort to take notice of, in a com- 
 munity like that in which they now were. What the exact terms of 
 settlement were to be he could not quite make up his mind at this junctures 
 But he had a kind of hazy notion that they would resolve themselves into 
 so much cash. In the meantime, it amused him to play with his man, 
 and to dwell upon the fact that he was master of the situation. 
 
 Things CEune about very much as he wished for, since Don Miguel, his 
 
52 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. ^^^^ 
 
 Castilian dignity considerably ruffled, took himself off home without 
 delay. Nocturnal adventures such as that which he had just come 
 through were in no wise to his liking. 
 
 On his part, Hazel was glad of the opportuntiy for a few words with 
 Dick alone, and, as soon as the mist had shut down on Ercilla, he led 
 him into the patio of the Fonda. A certain air of swagger, which was 
 noticeable about Amherst, was to be attributed to the fact that at so late 
 an hour he felt he ran no risk of coming into collision with some kind 
 friend who might betray him. There was no false modesty about 
 Dick. 
 
 It was after midnight, and most of the lights were out, so they sat 
 there in the half light under a drooping palm. Here again. Fate was 
 playing into Mr. Amherst's hands, for he had a very formidable string 
 of lies on the tip of his tongue — formidable even to him — and, although 
 he would no doubt have been able to deliver them nicely under any 
 circumistances, he felt more easily able to do full justice to them, now 
 that Hazel's keen eyes had no chance of scanning his face. His host 
 roused a sleepy waiter, who was curled up like a dormouse in a corner, 
 and, in course of time, a bottle of Pica and a box of cigars made their 
 appearance. These monopolised their attention for a while. Dick had 
 evidently made up his mind that this was an instance where silence was 
 golden — or might prove to be so. As a strategist, he deemed it wise 
 to let his friend have the first shot. Hazel took it. 
 
 " To-night," he observed, in the deliberate manner habitual to him, 
 " to-night you mentioned that you were a friend of Amherst's. Now, 
 I think it right to tell you at once that, by the request of his friends at 
 home, I am here to look for him. Do you happen to know where he is ? " 
 
 " That's a large order,'' replied Dick, " because I haven't set eyes on 
 him for six months at least. He made Lima a jolly sight too hot to 
 hold him, I know that, and I believe he went up the Apurimac into the 
 naked lands." 
 
 " That, with slight variation, is the information which I have received 
 by letter through a friend of Ercilla's, only he said it was Cuzco that 
 Amherst had to clear out of, and put down the time of his clearing 
 out at about nine months ago. But, as you saw him six months ago, 
 you are evidently the one who saw him last ! " 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you how it was. I was up at the back o' beyond, myself, 
 and met Amherst making for the Amahuaca country." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Gerald, recalling to mind the manuscript, " that's some- 
 where about where the subterranean city is supposed to be, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's all tommy rot ; I don't believe there's any subterranean 
 city. Old Sir Bevil was a liar " 
 
 " Oh, you know the story, then ? " 
 
 " You bet I do ; and a dandy Arabian Nights yarn it is. Will you 
 beheve it, he wanted me to go back with him, and burrow under the 
 blooming Cordilleras for that No-man's land. But I wasn't such a fool 
 - — not I, sir." 
 
 " Then you feel ceitain in your own mind that there's no such place ? "■ 
 
 Mr. Amherst indulged in another drink before replying. " Well 
 I'm not prepared to say right away that it mightn't," he said. " I don't 
 freeze on to the civilization business and all that poppy-cock ; but as to 
 treasure, there's no harm in that, and what's more, there's a deuce of a 
 lot of it, and the folk up there are just crazy to get at it.6 There's a cache 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 53 
 
 in the Chima pyramid you may have heard of, The greasers call it the 
 peje grande, and swear it's stuffed with gold and silver and barrow loads 
 of gems, but I guess nobody's dropped on the right spot yet. Oh, there's 
 treasure enough thereabouts, you bet, and ruined cities by the dozen ; 
 but as for this Mother of Emeralds subterranean business in full swing, 
 no, sir, I don't cotton to it." 
 
 " Well," said Hazel, coolly, " I'm going to have a look for it, any 
 way, and for John Prynne too — I suppose Amherst told you about John 
 Prynne ? '- 
 
 " Oh, yes ; he spun me the whole yarn. So you're going to look for 
 him, are you ? Now, don't you make any mistake, John Prynne's in the 
 golden city upstairs this long time."- 
 " How do you know that ? " 
 
 " Amherst let loose a few facts he picked up in Cuzco. Seems it was 
 from there the old man lighted out for the Amahuaca, some twenty years 
 back. He got up the Apurimac right enough, but got left on the Cor- 
 dilleras — dropped down a quebrada of sorts, I guess." 
 " What the deuce is a quebrada ? " 
 
 '' Oh, a crevasse, or rather a gulch. There's lots of 'em splitting the 
 mountain flanks — make your hair curl to look d6wn into some of them." ' 
 " How did Amherst get hold of all this ? " 
 
 " Dick ? Oh, he dropped across an Indian cuss iii Cuzco, who, it seems, 
 served John Prynne as guide — a Campa nigger from the Ucayali River. 
 The expedition, he said, was attacked on tlie mountains by the Ama- 
 huacas, and they made precious short work of old John Prynne, by slinging 
 him into a quebrada. Titu — that's the greaser's name — slid down a 
 snow slope and, somehow, got back to the Rio Apurimac with a whole 
 skin." 
 
 " Is the chap reliable ? " 
 
 " Quien sabe ? " retorted Dick, with a shrug. " I'm a bit of a liar 
 myself ; but Titu had no reason to invent, that I know of. Anyhow, 
 Amherst cottoned to his yarn, and gave up the job of finding John Prynne.' 
 Still, he went on looking for Yayacarui all the same."- 
 " Yayacarui ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's the name of the subterranean city, according to the yarn 
 of the Indian. It's a Quichua word — means ' rainbow.' " 
 
 " There's a tradition, I suppose, among the Indians about this city ? " 
 " I guess there is something of the kind. They've all sorts of yarns 
 about a mysterious civilization — expect some descendant of the Incas to 
 turn up and boss Peru again, or, as they call it, Tavantinsuyu — bit of a 
 jaw-breaker, isn't it ? It means the four quarters of the world, in their 
 lingo. But I don't believe the blooming city exists at all. I said it 
 before, and I say it again. John Prynne never managed to get there, 
 anyway, and Amherst's not likely to drop on it either. For all I know, 
 he may be in his httle wooden overcoat by this time. As for the city, 
 it's a sort of Nephelococcygia."- 
 
 " Ah, you haven't forgotten all your Greek, I see,'' said Hazel, a trifle 
 dryly. " All the same, I don't quite agree with you about the city. 
 An old nigger told me that Tockto had the symbol of a rainbow tattooed 
 across his chest." 
 
 " Well, that's a frozen fact, anyhow — -seen it m'self. But what does 
 it prove ? " 
 
 " Clearly some connection between Tockto and Yaya— what is it ? -- 
 
54 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Yayacarui ? Not a bit of it. Besides, if Tockto did know anything, 
 he wouldn't split. They're as close as wax, these Indians." 
 
 " Then^ again, did you notice,'' continued Hazel, reflectively, " over 
 the head of that girl there was a rainbow painted on the wall ? Her 
 name. Mama Ocllo, is pure Inca — and her jewels 1 'pon my soul, I never 
 saw such stones. Then ^ their dances, and the keeping up of the old 
 ceremonies, the mourning for their forefathers — all that doesn't look like 
 fable. I can't help thinking the place exists, and what's more, those 
 beggars we were with to-night know a good deal about it, I swear 1 "• 
 
 " For all we know, Mama Ocllo may have come from there," said 
 Dick, tilting the bottle, to show that he had done his share ; " must be 
 an Eldorado, if she looted those precious stones along with her. Well, I 
 guess there's no chance of my getting into Yayacarui, anyhow. She's 
 got her knife into me — damned mountain cat that she is ! Any more 
 liquor about ? " 
 
 Once again Hazel stirred up the slumbering waiter, and Dick was sup- 
 pUed with another bottle and more cigars. " See here," he said, leaning 
 over the table, " John Prynne may be dead, or he may not, but it's my 
 opinion that Dick Amherst is aUve, and I mean to find him, and the city 
 too, if that's a possibility. Will you join my expedition ? " 
 
 " WeU, there's no saying," Dick lit another cigar ; " but I must tell 
 you first that I'm a damned bad lot 1 "• 
 
 " Oh, I'll take the risk of that I "■ 
 
 " Guess you'll have to keep your weather eye peeled then, sonny. I 
 drink till all's blue, now and again." 
 
 " I dare say ; that's not so difficult to believe ! " 
 
 In no wise offended, Dick poured himself another glass, and pro- 
 ceeded with the catalogue of his iniquities. " It's a tidy while since 
 decency and I ran in double harness, I can tell you. Give me a slant 
 to rob you, and I'll do it safe. When you get me, Mr. Hazel, you get 
 as bad a lot as you'll find about these parts, and that's saying a good 
 deal."- 
 
 For the Hfe of him, Hazel could not help pitying the fellow. His 
 avowal was shameless — perfectly abandoned ; but, like his American 
 accent, he had an idea that it was a trifle overdone. There was good in 
 the man, he felt that instinctively. " Well, you have a couple of virtues, 
 at least," he said, after a pause, " to place against these terrible vices of 
 yours. One is courage — I had a very fair sample of that to-night in 
 Tockto's cabin — and the other is candour, of which you have just afforded 
 me a somewhat striking illustration. Well, even in the face of this none 
 too alluring description of your little ways, I only need to feel sure that 
 you have one other virtue, to renew my offer to you to join my expedition." 
 
 " Guess that puts me out of the running then, straight away — what 
 is it ? "■ 
 
 " Fidelity I I must feel that you are faithful to me, whatever you are 
 — that I can rely upon that absolutely and always, that's all 1 "■ 
 
 Dick dropped his head. How could he promise — even though his 
 promises were made only to be broken, as a rule — how could he promise 
 this thing to this man, above all men ? Here was his hated rival actually 
 fallen into his trap, offering to engage him to accompany him upon a 
 perilous journey into the interior, thereby placing himself at his mercy 
 entirely — at the mercy of him — Dick Amherst, notorious for neither 
 knowing nor caring for law, honour or morality? Why, with his know- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMER ALDS. 55 
 
 ledge of the country and the Indians, it would be the easiest thing in the 
 world to rid himself for ever of this Hazel 1 Still, he hesitated I Fidelity, 
 and to Molly's lover I He squirmed a bit in his seat, and evaded a direct 
 reply. 
 
 " If you reaUsed what a thorough bad lot I am, you'd know that you 
 were demanding the impossible from me, Mr. Hazel.'' 
 
 "I have your own confession that you are the worst of bad lots, my 
 friend — but I don't always beUeve all I am told, even when it comes to 
 taking a man at his own valuation, though I'm aware that is the valuation 
 most readily accepted by the generality of people.'-' 
 
 " By ! '- Dick selected the most powerful expletive in his selection. 
 
 " By , you must believe it 1 " 
 
 " Very well, then, I believe you by your own showing to be hopelessly, 
 irretrievably bad. I am at liberty, I presume, to place my own valua- 
 tion upon the ' showing ' ? Supposing then, that I choose to beUeve that 
 all these vices of yours : drink, theft — since you will have it that you are 
 a thief, when opportunity offers — blasphemy, immorality ; the whole 
 gamut of them spring from one cause only — suppose I hold that you are 
 simply the outcome of a nature abnormally, pitifully weak, not bad ? " 
 
 " Weak ? — why, man, I'm as strong as a horse I '■'■ 
 
 " Yes, yes ; no doubt, physically. But many a man with Herculean 
 biceps is the puny plaything of his will and pleasure ; and that, unless 
 I'm vastly mistaken, is your case, though of course I know nothing about 
 you ; nothing whatever — how should I ? But I'm willing to back my own 
 opinion generally for what I'm worth, and so I say, give me your word, 
 your promise as man to man, that you'll be faithful to me, and I'U risk 
 all the rest — yes, and make a new man of you too.'' 
 
 " It's too late, too late," muttered the remorseful Dick. " I might 
 promise you a heap and go back on the lot, every word of it." 
 
 " No, I don't think so ; not while I'm at hand to nudge you. Come 
 now, I'm not asking so much, and I'm ready to do a good deal 1 " 
 
 Dick could not help being suspicious. " And why the devil should you 
 bother yourself over me, that's what I want to know. You don't know 
 me from a crow, and you're not one of the sky-pilot lot anyway." 
 
 " Well, you leave all that to me. Put me down as a crank if you like. 
 I ask you to join my little picnic, and you tell me in plain language that 
 you're a blackguard and I'd better look after myself. All right, I think 
 none the less of you for the warning. But I'm entitled to ask something 
 from you with such a job in front of us. You teU me plainly I mustn't 
 rely on your honour or honesty, or any of the virtues most men lay pre- 
 tence to, at all events — very well, knowing that, I ask you for what I'm 
 most Ukely, to get, for what you're most able to promise and perform — 
 fideUty, good faith ; you know what I mean 1 I don't even ask you for 
 that to-night. I shall be content to have you swear to it when we get to 
 Cuzco." 
 
 " And how the deuce do you think I'm going to get to Cuzco ? why, 
 ,man, I haven't a red cent 1 " 
 
 " You will come with me ; it's from Cuzco we shall start." 
 " And suppose I don't join ? " 
 
 " Then we'll drop you in Cuzco, that's all, and you must go your own 
 way. I think you may leave it to me that you'll be none the poorer when 
 we part — if we must part ! " 
 
 " You're a rattling good sort," said Dick, getting on his feet. There 
 
56 THEIMOTHER OF EMER ALDS. 
 
 was a quiver in his voice. " See here, suppose I close with you, and 
 promise now ! " 
 
 " No ; I think you'd better not, now.'- 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 Hazel laid his hand on the man's shoulder. " Because I don't think 
 you are quite sure of yourself," he said, steadily. 
 
 Even in the uncertain twilight Dick felt the gaze of those cold grey 
 eyes. Impulsively he grasped Hazel's hand. " Good night," he said — 
 his voice was quite husky now — " see you to-morrow. If you knew " 
 
 He felt he dare not trust himself further. Without another word 
 he beat a retreat from the patio. And he felt glad of the mist and the 
 darkness — for his eyes were filled with tears. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " MAMA OCLLO.'- 
 
 FoR all that could be seen of Lima next morning it might indeed have 
 been that " cloud-cuckoo-town " of Aristophanes to which Dick had 
 alluded when speaking of the subterranean city on the previous night. 
 And although Hazel had been in no wise led astray by the popular idea of 
 a winter in the capital of Peru, which imagines a climate more or less sub- 
 tropical, he had hardly been prepared for the soaking and all-pervading 
 fog and drizzle, which, under the vernacular of " garua," was in no degree 
 distinguishable from an ordinary Caledonian mist. Inside the house 
 and out everything was reeldng with damp. And to be told that on the 
 heights of Morro Solar, but a half dozen miles or so away, the sun was blaz- 
 ing uninterruptedly, was but sorry comfort, despite any amount of inter- 
 esting meteorological phenomena which might go to account for the fact. 
 A glance at the thermometer too showed that there was little to choose in 
 point of frigidity between Lima in August, and London in November. 
 He could well understand how it was that when the last of the Incas 
 heard where Pizarro had resolved to found his Spanish city, he rejoiced 
 exceedingly, predicting that none of them would ever live there ; for this 
 part of the Rimac valley had for generations past served its purpose as a 
 penal locaUty with the Incas. 
 
 It was a day calculated to dispel all visions of a ■' golden Peru " — at 
 least in the month of August — if not to shake the faith of the most ardent 
 believer in the splendours described by De la Vega and Cieza de Leon. As 
 Hazel put it, it was " a beast of a day I '■'- 
 
 Being one of those men who do not fail to profit by experience, he in- 
 variably carried a supply of warm clothing, irrespective altogether of 
 what might be deemed necessary for the latitudes he might contemplate. 
 Hence he was able to start off now on a stroll round the city in much the 
 same apparel as he would have chosen for a Scottish moor. For no weather, 
 however detestable and forbidding, was sufficiently so to interfere with 
 Hazel's activity of habit. Yet, notwithstanding such bodily satisfaction 
 as resulted from a good meal, and a heavy coat, he felt sufiicicntly dismal 
 as he trudged over the slippery cobble-stones towards the bridge over 
 the Rimac — ^the flowing summer torrent reduced now to a dozen or so of 
 mere rivulets. On the old bridge he halted, and kneeling in one of the 
 recesses, leaned over and gazed into the river bed below. The willows 
 of the Paseo de Acho could just be discerned, but the prominent buildings 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 57 
 
 of the city and the glorious background of the mountains were all obscured 
 in mist. For some time Hazel remained thus, occupied only with his own 
 rurninations. Then the fog showed signs of lifting, enabling him to catch 
 now and then a glimpse of the snowy crests of the distant Cordilleras. 
 Not a little bored he made his way as far as the Plaza Mayor, and thence 
 along the arcade for a saunter through the shops — if so they can be called, 
 since they are little more than mere stalls. But he found nothing to cheer 
 him here, and, disgusted with the weather, himself, and his surroundings 
 generally, he made up his mind to return to the hotel until such time as 
 there should be sunshine at least. He turned down a sidewalk— across 
 and through half a dozen others, until in ten minutes he was hopelessly 
 out of his bearings and obliged to confess to himself that he had lost his 
 way. The fog which on the bridge had shown signs of lifting seemed 
 thicker than ever here. He came to a halt and deliberated. Not a soul 
 was to be seen. He decided it was no use waiting, and continued to grope 
 his way slowly along, by keeping touch of the wall and railings. Suddenly 
 he heard a shriek and a scuffle, and the voice of a woman wailing loudly 
 three times in succession, " Yayacarui, Yayacarui, Yayacarui I " 
 
 As swiftly as he could he moved in the direction whence he thought the 
 sound came. Then he saw two figures loom out of the fog — those of a man 
 and a woman struggling together. Without consideration of any kind 
 he made straight for the man, tore his hands from the woman's throat, and 
 closed with him. The man was a zambo — the worst type of mixed negro 
 and Indian. He was half drunk with aguardiente, and swore horribly. 
 As Hazel wrestled with him in the roadway the woman stood by the wall 
 clapping her hands in great glee. At last, losing patience with the brute, 
 he treated him to an old trick he had learned in Cornwall, the immediate 
 result of which was that the nigger found himself for the space of a moment 
 in mid air ; the next he came with a crash to the ground. But he picked 
 himself up, and with his head down, and the roar of an infuriated bull, 
 made straight for Hazel, who was by the woman, close to the wall. Gerald, 
 stepping to one side just at the right moment, let the nigger miss him 
 and come full force against the stones. But the proverbial thickness of 
 the negro skull was proof even against this, and though half stunned, the 
 wretched zambo still managed to recover his balance. Then, before 
 Hazel could interpose, the woman whipped out a small knife and slipped it 
 deftly under her assailant's arm. A spurt of blood, as she withdrew it, 
 and with an inhuman screech, the zambo fell like a log. His murderess 
 seized the Englishman's hand and drew him swiftly- away, and the mist 
 shut down on the scene of the tragedy. 
 
 " Come, Viracocha : Come,"- she murmured, as they fled on through 
 the thickness. Hazel, almost too bewildered to resist, submitted passively 
 to her guidance. She appeared to be well acquainted with the city, for 
 she led him on without hesitation, and with the greatest dexterity avoided 
 any collision with the passers by. For some distance they continued thus, 
 untU a tall gateway appearing suddenly to their left, she drew him into the 
 patio of a luxurious modern hotel. 
 
 There was no mistaking the woman now — it was undoubtedly Mama 
 Ocllo. The picture of her as he had seen her the night before receiving 
 the obeisance and adoration of the peons in Tockto's cabin, was still 
 fresh in Hazel's mind. How immobile she had been then, how silent, how 
 disdainful I And now here she was all activity and chatter, and talking to 
 him in perfectly fluent English. From head to foot she was enveloped in 
 
58 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 a black capote of lustreless material. Only her face was visible. It was 
 very beautiful, Hazel thought — yet wicked withal. But, for him, her 
 preserver, her looks were full of tenderness. He did not speak, for in 
 truth he was too astounded. His silence seemed distasteful to the haughty 
 spirit of the woman. She plucked a leaf from an orange shrub at hand 
 and twisted it irritably between her fingers. At last she lost all patience, 
 and with a withering glance of disdain she addressed him. " Say, my silent 
 Englishman, does the sticking of that pig make you afraid ? '' 
 
 " Senora, the man will die ! " 
 
 " Indeed I hope he may. I struck sure enough and deep I Would you 
 have me spare a thief ? "• With a flourish of one arm she drew her cloak 
 aside and displayed her gorgeous emerald collar. " This," she exclaimed, 
 pointing to it, " he would have stolen this, but for you, who like an English- 
 man struck bravely with your fists, and I, like — ^with my knife ! Between 
 us,'' and she smiled, oh, so cruelly, " there is one pig the less in Lima ! "• 
 
 Hazel could not repress a sensation of disgust at the cold-blooded sava- 
 gery of the woman. With a bow he turned to go. But she was not 
 minded to let him leave her thus. She caught his arm and beckoned to a 
 waiter. 
 
 " The elevator," she said, imperiously. " Come, Mr. Hazel, you must 
 drink a glass of wine. We will go to my room."- 
 
 " How comes it that you know my name, Senora ? "- 
 
 " I know many things — all things ! "■ 
 
 She was pleased to be plajrful, thought Hazel, as perchance a jaguar 
 might be playful. He determined to humour her. There was no telling 
 but that he might obtain from her — as from no one else — the information 
 he so eagerly sought. He followed her to the sitting-room — a comfortable, 
 not to say luxurious, apartment. Then she vanished into a further room, 
 and shortly the waiter appeared with champagne and biscuits. The 
 position amused and interested him. It was difficult to realise that he 
 was there on terms of easy intimacy with this queenly creature of the 
 night before. He had certainly little to complain of from lack of ad- 
 ventures. They had begun, and seemed likely to continue, promising, 
 moreover, to be both dramatic and romantic— perhaps even, so far as they 
 might be concerned with this beautiful lady, a trifle dangerous to boot. 
 
 As she re-entered the room he was almost betrayed into an expression 
 of surprise. She no longer wore the black cloak and gorgeous emerald 
 collar, but a costume which in truth might have been made by Redfern 
 for Goodwood. He wondered if she knew how exquisitely it set off the 
 graceful lines of her figure. He thought it safe to conclude she did. She 
 was modest too, in fact almost retiring in her manner. The chieftainess, 
 the Moenad of the gutter, had vanished completely ; this was a demure 
 young lady of surpassing attractiveness it was true, but such as he would 
 not have been surprised to meet in any drawing-room of Mayfair. He 
 felt there was something well-nigh uncanny about it all. 
 
 " I suppose I should give you tea, should I not, Mr. Hazel ? You 
 English are so devoted to tea ; you drink it at all times, is it not so ? 
 But I fear the tea of the ' Huascar Hotel ' would not be quite to your 
 liking ; so instead you must try this wine and a few of these biscuits — 
 do, please."- 
 
 He poured out a glass of the wine, and passed it to her, and then another 
 for himself. Then he looked at her very hard. 
 
 " Who are you, madame, may I ask ? "■ 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 59 
 
 The look she gave him was of pure coquetry. '- 1 am. not a French 
 woman at all events, Mr. Hazel. Neither am I married. The style of 
 - Madame ' is therefore not quite d propos, eh ? " 
 
 '' Perhaps you will be so good as to enUghten me then ? •* 
 
 " Certainly. You will be safe in addressing me as Senorita Pepa da 
 Herrera.'' 
 
 " You are Spanish ? " 
 
 ■' The name is certainly Spanish.'' 
 
 -'- Peruvian then ? '-'- 
 
 '■' Assuredly Peruvian. I was born in one of the villages near Lake 
 Titicaca." 
 
 " And christened there without doubt,'' added Gerald, with some point. 
 ■' By the way, did not Manco Capac and his sister wife. Mama OcUo, come 
 from those parts ? " 
 
 She produced a golden cigarette case from the pocket of her dress and 
 held it open to him. ■' This is Egyptian tobacco," she said ; " you will 
 find it good, I think. I am no patriot — I fear, so far as tobacco is con- 
 cerned.'' 
 
 " Thank you." He selected and lighted a cigarette, holding the match 
 for her that she might do the same. He waited for her to continue the 
 conversation. She did not keep him long. 
 
 " Manco Capac came from Paccari-tampu, in the valley of the Vil- 
 camayu,'' she said, without removing the cigarette from her lips. " He 
 advanced northward to Cuzco, and there founded the Inca civilization. 
 Perhaps you are not strong in archaeology, Mr. Hazel ? " 
 
 -" Well, Senorita, you see I am yet a stranger in Peru. I have only quite 
 lately arrived, so you must excuse me if I appear but iU-informed. There 
 are many things I would know — amongst them where Yayacarui is to be 
 found I " 
 
 '■ Yayacaxui ? That is an extraordinary name even to me. What 
 does it mean ? '■ 
 
 -- Your knowledge of the Quichua language should surely tell you 
 that, Mama — I beg your pardon, Senorita Pepa." 
 
 She was clever, cool-headed, and withal strong-willed ; but — she was 
 very much a woman, and he exasperated her beyond the Umit of control. 
 Accordingly she corfLmitted herself so far at least as to relapse into speech 
 unequivocal. '' Why do you address me as Mama OcUo ? " she asked. 
 The tone of her voice was raised, and Hazel did not fail to notice it. 
 
 " I beg your pardon,'' he said, " it did not occur to me that Senorita 
 Pepa de Herrera, of the Huascar Hotel, might not hke to recall her Indian 
 name.'' 
 
 " And how, pray, do you come to know my Indian name ? '-' 
 
 Hazel shrugged his shoulders. " I have ears, Senorita^ and I was in 
 Tockto's cabin last night.'' 
 
 There was a look of savagery in her eyes as she turned to him. " You 
 go too far, Mr. Hazel," she said. " I should have thought you would 
 have learned by this time not to meddle with what does not concern yoii. 
 Are you aware that I have but to hft my finger to end you and your curiosity 
 once and for all ? " 
 
 " I must take my chance of that. If I am to die I may as well die in 
 Lima as in Yayacarui. By the way, now that you mention it, that is a 
 very strange name. I quite agree with you. I wonder what would happen 
 if I were to call it out three times in the Plaza Mayor ? " 
 
6o THE MOTHER OF EMERA LDS. 
 
 " Why, what could happen ? " 
 
 " What, indeed 1 Perhaps — mind I say perhaps — a band of Indians 
 might spring as it were out of the earth to help me out of any trouble I 
 might be in. Eh, what do you think ? " 
 
 She looked at him now with something akin to admiration in her eyes. 
 She seemed to realise that he was master of the situation — at least he knew 
 more about her than she was disposed to like. His methods perchance 
 were new to her. She evidently was at a loss how best to answer him. 
 •" Are you married ? " she said, abruptly. 
 
 " No, I am not." His thoughts flew back to England and apparently 
 she was quick enough to divine them. 
 
 " What is her name ? " she asked. 
 
 " Now, that is clever of you, Senorita. But the lady's name can scarcely 
 be oi interest to you." 
 
 " Quien sabe ? " she drawled, with a glance all significance. 
 
 Hazel recollected once having read a story of Balzac's which told of the 
 love of a tigress for a soldier. He imagined he was feeling now as that 
 soldier must have felt. If this lady was connected with the buried city 
 of Yayacarui — and he made no doubt in his own mind that she was — he 
 might safely look for trouble of no ordinary kind. Still there was no need 
 to meet it half way. 
 
 "Tell me, Senorita," he went on, "why did you call me Viracocha ? 
 You see, I can't repress my curiosity on these little points, try as I may ! -' 
 
 " It seems you cannot. I called you ^Viracocha because you are so 
 fair — so like, in fact, the brother of Manco Capac.'- 
 
 -" Indeed ! "- 
 
 " Yes, and you come from the sea. — Viracocha, you know, means 
 ' foam, of the sea.' Does that satisfy you ? Now let me give vent to a 
 little curiosity on my part. Why are you come to Peru ? " 
 
 " I will tell you. I am here to search for a man, a hidden city, and the 
 Mother of Emeralds." 
 
 " The Mother of Emeralds ? " There was something of a tremor in 
 her voice as she repeated the phrase. " I am afraid I cannot help you 
 there. I know nothing of the Mother of Emeralds." 
 
 '■ No ? Nor nothing of the city of Yayacarui, notwithstanding it was the 
 name that sprang to your lips so readily when the zambo attacked you ? '' 
 
 " Did it ? Well, perhaps it did. I am so familiar with the traditions of 
 the Indians that it is quite possible. But for that reason you must not 
 be led astray, Mr. Hazel — you must not credit me with knowledge 
 at first hand when all I can boast of is but hearsay. Do you know, I 
 verily believe that because last night I indulged in a frolic you have got it 
 into your head that I am a daughter of some Inca ! Surely you must see 
 what utter nonsense that is ? Why, all the Incas are dead and gone 
 years ago • their civilization is at an end for all time. Now, do you really 
 wish to know who I am ? " 
 
 " Very much so," replied Hazel, preparing himself for a veritable master- 
 piece of mendacity. 
 
 " Then you shall know. I am a very prosaic person. Not at all the 
 romantic child of the Sun you take me to be. I am a Spanish gentlewoman. 
 My parents died some years ago, leaving me mistress of a sugar-cane 
 plantation in the Carabayllo Valley. Ask there for the De Herrera 
 hacienda and it will be shown to you. I am devoted to the Indians, and 
 like yourself much interested in their glories of the past. Nothing gives 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 6i 
 
 me more pleasure than to fraternise with them here in Lima, and occasion- 
 ally to preside over their festivals. My jewels amazed you ? I know they 
 did. Well, it is natural they should, for they are some of the old Inca 
 jewels which were buried with the dead in those funeral mounds which 
 the peons call huacas. I purchased them at various times, and it pleases 
 the natives that I should wear them. There, that is the whole story in 
 a nutshell — does it satisfy you ? Ask me anything you will." 
 
 " I confess I should like to have explained the meaning of that rainbow 
 device which was painted on the wall in Tockto's cabin, and perhaps you 
 can tell me, too, why a facsimile of it is tattooed upon his breast ? " 
 
 " First teU me how you came to know that." 
 
 " I had it from the Americano who enraged you so last night." 
 
 " The Americano 1 "- Senorita de Herrera was so far surprised out of 
 her European reserve as to spit upon the floor — and that with vigour. 
 " He is a brute beast, that Americano. He insulted me grossly. He 
 shall die. I will have him killed ! "■ 
 
 " Oh no, Senorita," said Hazel, calmly. " He is my very good friend.'' 
 
 " What is that to me ? "- 
 
 " Just this — ^that as I saved you from the zambo so you must pardon 
 him I "• 
 
 She raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " As you please. I pardon your friend. We are quits now so far as 
 obligation goes. Are you making a long stay in Lima ? -' 
 • " No ; within the week I leave for Cuzco."- 
 
 " En route for Yayacarui ? "- 
 
 " Perhaps. Since you refuse me your assistance I must rely upon 
 m5^elf." 
 
 " I cannot help you to what I do not know. Besides you seem suffi- 
 ciently well informed, if I may say so. You have evidently perused the 
 manuscript of Sir Bevil Prynne to some purpose." 
 
 For the life of him Hazel could not conceal his astonishment at this. 
 " What do you know of that manuscript ? " he asked. 
 
 '' I know many things. The peons are my very good friends, and the 
 Americano — ^well, he takes the eleven a trifle too often to be able to keep 
 a secret I "- 
 
 " Takes the eleven ? "- 
 
 " Oh, that is a phrase we Peruvians have for drinking the aguardiente ; 
 it has arisen from there being eleven letters in the word. Well, perhaps 
 we have talked long enough for the present."- She rose, further to intimate 
 that the interview was at an end. 
 
 " So you won't satisfy my curiosity about the rainbow symbol ? '■'- 
 
 " I cannot ; you know more about it than I do."- 
 
 " Nor about Yayacarui ? " 
 
 " I tell you I am absolutely ignorant that such a place exists. You 
 say it does ; but I warn you not to believe all you hear, or you will find 
 yourself in for many a wild goose chase. Good-bye.'' 
 
 Hazel shook her hand. '- Shall we meet again ? '-'- he said. 
 
 " Quien sabe ? '-'- 
 
 " And next time you will tell me all about Mama OcUo, eh ? '-' 
 
 " You speak in riddles, Mr. Hazel I " 
 
 " Not such, surely, as you are unable to solve ? " 
 
 -' Quien sabe ? '' was all she said. And as he left her, there was the most 
 enigmatic of smiles upon her beautiful face. 
 
62 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER. XIIu 
 
 " Hurrah, you black cuss 1 -' 
 
 " Watta ole Cain say dat for, Massa Dick ? " 
 
 " Great Scott, what an ungrateful nig you are, Cain 1 Here we are in 
 Cuzco at the top of the tree : dandy clothes, slap-up grub and billets for 
 the next twelve months. Say ' Hurrah ' damn you 1 " 
 
 " Hurrah, if Massa pleases,'' said Cain, showing what remained of his 
 teeth. " De Lawd am berry good fo' sure. He hab made dis cull'd 
 gentleman cook to Massa Hazel, and gibs you plenty dollas. Praise de 
 Lawd, Massa'- Dick.'- 
 
 " Cain, you Methodist fool, don't I tell you the Lord takes no stock 
 of me ? I have set the gilded roof on my sins long since.'' 
 " No fea', Massa Dick. Yo' i^ a good man." 
 
 " Look here, if you say that much oftener, you'll come to believe it. 
 Well, what are you squinting at, Tarbaby ? " 
 " Dat aguardiente, Massa Dick." 
 
 " Oh, you make me tired. I haven't had my back teeth sluiced with 
 it for the last week.'' 
 
 " But when yo' begins, yo'- go berry fa', Massa 1 " 
 
 " I ain't going to begin. Curse your stupidity 1 I'm a reformed 
 character ; am I the sort to go back on Hazel ? " 
 
 Cain shook his woolly head. " Yo' talks berry fine, Massa Dick, but 
 dat aguardien.te ! Lor-gol-a-marcy, ole Cain skeered ob dat aguar- 
 diente." 
 
 " Shucks ! we light out in a week for the land at the back of beyond. 
 I can't get out of hand in that time, and once on the Apurimac, I'll be 
 as straight as a die. I'm a damned bad lot, Cain, but you can plank your 
 dollars on my keeping square this trip.'' 
 " Hab you tele Massa Hazel dat, sah ? " 
 
 " I've told him nothing — I've promised him nothing. Hang you, I'm 
 m' own master, ain't I ? Shut your head, Cain, and let me engineer 
 this job." Whereat the old negro said no more, but shook his head 
 doubtfully. He knew Dick too well to have much faith in his engineering 
 capacities, so far at least as they might be directed towards moral rectitude. 
 Dick of Cuzco was a finer animal than Dick of Lima had been — but 
 he was still an animal. Sober, well-tlothed, with a prospect of con- 
 genial employment ahead, he had pulled himself together for the time 
 being. He felt that Hazel's great kindness merited at least some show 
 of repentance, and there was no one who could repent so thoroughly 
 and ostentatiously as Mr. Dick Amherst. But his talents in this direction 
 did not deceive Hazel. He was too clear-headed — too sceptical of human 
 nature in general, and of Dick's character in particular, to accept so rapid 
 a transformation — not to say reformation — save for what it was worth. 
 Nevertheless, he recognised that the man was making a certain effort, 
 and tacitly he felt he was encouraging him to persevere, by taking him 
 away from Lima. As yet he had not insisted upon the promise of fidelity. 
 The time had not yet arrived when, if made, it would be of any value. 
 For the present it was sufficient that Dick was to accompany the ex- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMER ALDS. 63 
 
 pedition : and that Cain — who refused to be separated from his " bad 
 child " — was engaged as cook. Nevertheless, before leaving Cuzco for 
 the wilds, Hazel was determined he would have a clear understanding with 
 this prodigal. On no other terms but an oath of fideUty — an oath which 
 he believed he would keep — would he add the man to his party. In the 
 meantime, he kept him interested in bujring stores and necessaries for 
 the journey : and awaited the moment which he should judge favourable 
 for the enactment of his bond. Such was the position of affairs at Cuzco. 
 
 Lima they had left sooner than anticipated. A second visit to the 
 " Huascar Hotel " had discovered that Mama Ocllo had taken her de- 
 parture. Whither she had gone, nobody seemed to know ; but it was 
 significant that Tockto had disappeared about the same time. That 
 there was some collusion between the soi-disanl Spanish lady and the peon, 
 Hazel was convinced, and he felt tolerably certain that in some way it 
 had to do with the subterranean city. Still, on the face of it, her departure 
 was not wholly to be deplored. She had clearly demonstrated that, under 
 pressure, there was little she would stop at. Her assassination of the 
 negro had been no less expert than her powers of mendacity, so that. 
 Hazel argued, there would have been little to be gained from her had she 
 remained. On the contrary, she might, he thought, be depended upon 
 to make trouble of one kind or another, from the mere fact of her presence.- 
 He was not a vain man, but he could not help seeing that he had in some 
 way caught her fancy — to which, he conjectured, her hatred were almost 
 preferable. All things considered, he was glad to find her gone, though 
 he scarcely dared to hope that he had seen the last of her. 
 
 He was not going to allow anything to turn him aside from the main 
 object he had in view — the search for John Prynne. So long as there 
 had been the remotest chance of learning from this woman directly or 
 indirectly, anything likely to be of advantage, he would have remained 
 in Lima. But now she had gone, the sooner he got on, the better. It 
 was uncertain up to the last moment whether Don Miguel would accom- 
 pany him ; but, in the end, the charms of a Limenos widow had pre- 
 vailed, and with many a caution, and the heartiest expression of good 
 will, Ercilla saw them ofi on board the steamer at Callao. On his part, 
 Hazel would gladly have had the Spaniard for company, for he was a 
 cheery comrade, and had all the makings of an excellent pioneer. But 
 he had known from the first that such attractions as he had to offer stood 
 no chance against those of the Limenos lady, and Ercilla's decision was 
 no more than he had anticipated. Thus he was forced to rest content with 
 the companionship of the reprobate Dick, and the eccentricities, culinary 
 and otherwise, of Cain. 
 
 Lima being as yet unconnected with the ancient imperial capital, by 
 rail, the journey had to be made in part by coach, and in part by water.- 
 Embarking at Callao, on a P. S. N. steamer, they dropped south to 
 Mollendo — the great wool-port of the country — then took rail via Arequipa 
 and Juliaca to Sicunani, whence they continued to Cuzco by coach. 
 
 For the more easy manipulation of Mr. Dick, Hazel had engaged rooms 
 at a lodging house, in preference to the hotel. The place was equally 
 as central, being at the comer of the Calla Vela, which is near the Field 
 of the Sun, and calculated moreover not to offer the same invitation to 
 drink, which, from Dick's point of view, was synonymous with, and so 
 essential a feature of, hotel life. It served, too, as an excellent starting- 
 point from which to explpre the city. 
 
64 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Hazel was glad to find that in spite of the close proximity of the snow- 
 clad mountains by which it is surrounded, and which constitute it, as its 
 name implies, the " navel " of Peru, the temperature was in Cuzco but 
 little lower than it had been at Lima. For the rest, the place was full 
 of interest for him. The narrow streets, and blind walls, and occasional 
 ghmpses of flower-filled patios, shut in by ornamental gates of wrought 
 iron, whose design was often of the most curious description, reminded 
 him strongly of Florence, even' though its architecture was for the most 
 part purely Moorish. 
 
 He studied his " Prescott,'' with the dihgence of a Cook's tourist, 
 neglecting nothing, from the Cathedral and the House of the Virgins, to 
 the Palace of Huayna Capac, and the marvellous fortress of Sacrahuaman. 
 It was different altogether from Lima. There was an entire absence of 
 that air of busy-ness which characterises the younger city. In its place 
 was an all-permeating spirit of the past — of a truly glorious past, teeming 
 with the most venerable Spanish and Incarial tradition. For several 
 days he continued absorbed in his surroundings, varying his sight-seeing 
 by further preparations and purchases necessary for the proper equipment 
 of the expedition. In Dick he found as able a guide as he could wish, 
 for the lodging-house scheme had proved remarkably successful, so far as 
 that young gentleman's sobriety was concerned. 
 
 " Dick," he said, as they were returning one afternoon from the ex- 
 ploration of some Incarial remains, " have you noticed that some of 
 these Indians are following us continually ? " 
 
 " You bet, chief I I've seen the beggars sneakin' and dod^in' round 
 corners ever since we struck root here. Guess they fancy we're treasure- 
 hunting and want to loot their swag." 
 
 " H'm. I've an idea Mama Ocllo knows something about their game. 
 What do you think ? " 
 
 " Shucks ! She's got her knife into me right enough. But you — 
 why, I guess you're ' right bower there,' anyhow I can't see why she 
 should want to tickle your ribs with cold steel. 'Sides, we don't know 
 she's here at all I " 
 
 " No : on the other hand we don't know she isn't. I've got my sus- 
 picions. You remember what I told you about my confab with her ? — 
 I bet you she puts a spoke in our wheel if she can." 
 
 " Well, she knows what we're after, of course. Like a bally idiot 
 I blabbed a good deal about that manuscript when I was" ' under way '- 
 once or twice, and Tockto had his ears open right enough, I guess he 
 thieved the papers from Amherst's digs, when he was kicking round 
 Lima last year. Wish to God Amherst had kept his confounded secrets 
 to himself ! " 
 
 " You might have gone one better and kept them to yourstli. How- 
 ever, it's no use talking about that now. I've no doubt you're right, and 
 Tockto did collar the manuscript, as you say, probably under instructions 
 from his chieftainess. Anyhow, as you say, she knows what we're after 
 — I told her as much myself. This is her doing, right enough." 
 
 " Well, it don't matter a red cent so long as the beggars keep their 
 distance. I've got my shooter handy, I reckon, and if they start med- 
 dling, they'd better look out."- 
 
 " So have I for that matter. We'll let them rip for the present. Bv 
 the way, how about the Indian guide you were to hunt out ; did you 
 find him ? " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 65 
 
 " Titu ? No. 'Pears he's gone under — in a bone-yard hereabouts; 
 But I've struck a Montana nigger calling himself Mayta — Quichua, for 
 ' sure ' — who says he can get us a dozen peons this trip." 
 
 " All square ? "- 
 
 " Oh, I guess so — as greasers go. This chap's done a lot with globe- 
 trotters round this district, and seems to have brought 'em all back safe 
 and sound. To go by his papers, he ought to be in Heaven — I told him 
 to yank 'em along for your reading. You can bet he's all right." 
 
 Mayta proved to be a most desirable person. He was a fair-com- 
 plexioned aborigine, belonging-to the Jeveros tribe, who are to be found 
 on the Maranon W3,tershed. His credentials were nothing if not enthusias- 
 tic. Personally, Hazel took a fan5y to the man, and did not hesitate to 
 engage him. So Mayta set about collecting his men, and the final pre- 
 parations for departure were pushed on with all speed. 
 
 It was now only three days from the date which Hazel had fixed for the 
 start, and he was still without the necessary promise from Dick. 'He 
 had made up his mind to settle that question one way or the other during 
 the next twenty-four hours. As fate would have it, Mr. Dick chose the 
 same twenty- four hours in which to kick over the traces. It was from 
 Cain that Hazel heard about it. It seemed, that fatigued with rather a 
 heavier day than usual, his scapegrace master had, on returning home, 
 indulged in " just one " glass of aguardiente. After that the deluge ! 
 Finally, in spite of all entreaties, he had insisted on taking himself off, as 
 Cain put it, "to de cancha — dat is to de cock-pit, at San Andres."- 
 
 " I thought they'd put down all your cock-fights here," said Hazel. 
 
 " Dat so, Massa ; but dere is plenty done widout talk ! Massa Dick 
 him play de debble at San Andres. Oh, Massa Hazel, do come and take 
 de po' chile to bed — him mighty bad, for shua." 
 
 " All right, Cain, don't alarm yourself, I'll come ; lead the way to this 
 cock-pit, if you know where it is." 
 
 Cain hobbled off with all the alacrity he was capable of. Through a 
 maze of back streets and side-walks he led the way, until he pulled up at 
 a mean-looking adobe house, round the door of which some Indians and 
 a few Spaniards were loafing. Hazel did not Uke the looks of them, and 
 they eyed him not a trifie suspiciously. Cain represented himself as 
 the guide of the rich Englishman, and a sufficient inducement did the rest 
 to open the door. As they passed through. Hazel noticed a dwarfish 
 peon slip in close behind them — evidently a spy, he thought, and danger- 
 ous, to boot. But he continued his way, intent on finding Dick at all 
 hazards, the dwarf following closely. 
 
 The cancha was nothing more nor less than a thick ring of mud in the 
 centre of a bare barn, ht by flaring petroleum lamps. The spectators 
 did not attempt to seat themselves, but stood around four and five deep, 
 ready to make good their escape at any moment at a given signal. The two 
 feathered combatants had their -spurs armed with thin steel blades, sharp 
 as razors. With outstretched necks and ruffled plumes they faced each 
 other for the fray. The atmosphere reeked with the smoke of countless 
 cigarettes, and vendors of chica and aguardiente moved through the 
 excited throng, crying their wares. Some of the spectators were betting 
 freely, nearly all were the worse for drink. At last, from out the midst 
 of a little group. Hazel spied Dick, frenzied with alcohol, and gesticulating 
 loudly. With difficulty he made his way towards him. 
 
 " Hullo ! damned if it's not old Hazel himself 1 What larks 1 Say, 
 
66 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. __ 
 
 old man, look at those warriors — ain't they goin' it fine ? I've won a 
 pot on the viscacha, that's the little 'un. He's from Quito, as fine a little 
 beggar as e\'er came out of a nest. Hi, hi ! — go it, you devils ! "- 
 
 He was in a highly dangerous state to meddle with — quarrelsome and 
 vicious. , Hazel was puzzled how best to deal with him. He inclined 
 to think his only chance of success lay in persuasion. 
 
 " Come on, old chap,'' he said, "you've had enough of this." 
 
 " Get out of it : I'm having a bully time. Leave me alone, can't 
 you — I guess I'm a free white man, ain't I ? Golly, that stroke ripped 
 him up 1 " 
 
 It was a sickening sight, for the birds had pecked and lacerated each 
 other, and were now streaming with blood. On either side of the ring 
 their owners still kneeled, urging them to further fury. The noise was in- 
 tolerable, and Hazel could see the crowd were getting mo?e and more out 
 of hand. If it came to a fight, he didn't stand much of a chance, situated 
 as he was, with the ungovernable Dick on his hands. The dwarfish 
 peon still followed close at his heels, and Cain never left his side. He 
 deliberated how he could possibly induce Dick to come outside. Then 
 Cain whispered to him, " Gib him aguardiente — more aguardiente, Massa 
 Hazel. Den he tumble right down, and dis nig carry him 'way on his back." 
 
 Not a bad idea, thought Hazel. He decided to try it. " Well, Dick, 
 if you won't come, perhaps you'll give me a drink, and I'll get along. '- 
 
 " You bet I will. You're a white man, Hazel. Hi, aguardiente, here ! -' 
 
 The man came in answer to his call, and poured out two large cups 
 of the fiery drink. Hazel managed with no little artfulness to empty the 
 contents of his upon the ground. Dick drank to the very dregs and howled 
 for more. 
 
 The crowd was hustling up against them now, and Hazel's hand went 
 to his revolver pocket. 
 
 " I've got left in this hell of a place," whimpered Dick. He was fast 
 reaching the maudhn stage. " 'Tisn't kind of you, old man. I am all 
 
 alone — I'm '' He drained another cup of the spirit, muttered a few 
 
 incoherent words, and slipped down at Hazel's feet. As the Englishman 
 stooped to pick him up, the Indians and the Spaniards with one accord 
 made a rush. Cain commenced to yell furiously. There was complete 
 chaos, and the ring was trampled literally to dust by the riotous crowd. 
 Fortunately, there was plenty of light. Hazel hit out right and left, 
 knocking over half a dozen of them. He watched for his opportunity 
 to drag Dick up to the wall and set his back to it. Then he whipped out 
 his revolver. At the sight of it, some of those who had drawn their 
 knives, stepped back. He let fly a shot at the roof, and the confusion 
 became more than ever reckless and wild. He saw the little Indian tossed 
 like a ball above the mass of heads. Cain crouching beside him, was 
 making no end of a fuss. " Shut up, you fool 1 " he said. " Drag him 
 to the door.'' 
 
 Before they could either of them move, the body of the dwarf seemed 
 to come flying through the air, and fell with a thud at Hazel's feet. Ap- 
 parently the little creature was unhurt. He clutched at Hazel's knees 
 and, in bastard Spanish, implored his protection. A stalwart Peruvian, 
 with one evil eye, made a grab at him, but a blow from Hazel finished 
 all that; and he was trampled and swallowed up in the crowd. Then 
 the dwarf managed to raise himself to his feet, and, with all the power he 
 could summon, yelled out the name " Yayacarui,'* three times. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 67 
 
 As by magic the Indians came together to a common centre, and, in 
 one forceful body, swept over Hazel like a tidal wave. His revolver was 
 snatched from his hand by the dwarf, and he went down under the torrent 
 of savage humanity, conscious only of the fierce faces around him, and 
 the menacing flash of knives. The next moment he was Ufted high and 
 borne swiftly out of the barn. 
 
 " This is the end of all things," he thought. He was dizzy, breatiiless, 
 and utterly helpless. 
 
 It was quite dark outside, for there were no lamps in the narrow streets. 
 Hurriedly he was rushed along, he knew not whither. He closed his 
 eyes, thinking his last moment had come. When he opened them 
 again, the Indians had disappeared. He was on the door-step, with 
 Dick lying senseless on one side of him, and Cain, still terrified, on the 
 other. 
 
 " Where are we, Cain ? "■ he gasped. 
 
 The negro staggered to his feet, looked round him and examined the 
 door against which Hazel was propped up. " Lawd be praised, we am 
 sabed, we am in de Calla Vela, at home I "- 
 
 " Impossible {"■ 
 
 " Golly, massa ; dat de truph 1 "■ 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " THE DWARF-INDIAN." 
 
 A GOOD eight hours' sleep and a cold bath, and Hazel was himself again. 
 The adventure at San Andres puzzled him not a little, and that chiefly 
 because he felt that Mama OcUo had been the moving spirit of it all. 
 He didn't know quite what to make of it — least of all what to make of her. 
 Her conduct baffled him. He felt that he would be the better for an hour 
 or two alone to run things over in his mind. Dick was still sleeping ofE 
 the effects of his debauch, which was the best thing he could do under the 
 circumstances. At least it postponed any discussion of his delinquencies. 
 He sent Cain round for one of the horses which he had secured for the use 
 of Dick and himself while in Cuzco, and by the time he had finished his 
 breakfast and rolled his morning cigarette, the animal was at the door. 
 Cain had taken on an air of vicarious repentance for his master's misdeeds. 
 
 " You is bery angry wid Massa Dick," he said, as he held the stirrup for 
 Hazel. 
 
 Gerald laughed as he swung into the saddle. " Angry I — not a bit of it, 
 Cain. We know what we've got to expect from Master Dick, don't we ? 
 If we don't we ought to. Angry ? — no, I'm not angry. Puzzled at 
 other things, that's all — much puzzled 1 Perhaps I'U be less so when I 
 get back." 
 
 " An' what about Massa Dick, sah ? " 
 
 " Oh, let him sleep it out. Then feed him, and put him on to looking 
 after the boys. There's a deuce of a lot to be done to-day. Expect 
 me in four or five hours from now." 
 
 " You'se a good man, Massa Hazel I " 
 
 " Think so, Cain ? Well, you go and watch over the bad child and 
 comfort him when he wakes with the news that I'm not the least bit 
 angry with him." 
 
 He clattered over the cobble stones with a sense of pleasure born only 
 
 3* 
 
68 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 of the saddle and the keen morning air. But not a hundred yards had he 
 gone when he saw three Indians slip round the corner. They brought 
 to his mind more forcibly than ever the previous evening's adventure. 
 They had probably been watching the house all night, he thought. Again 
 Mama OcUo ? " What the devil can she be driving at ? " he mused. 
 " Last night, protection clearly — ^but to-day ? Perhaps she's changed 
 her mind to-day. The mere fact of that httle beggar having sung out 
 ' Yayacarui ' as he did seems to prove that he's in tow with her." He 
 could only suppose that it was the watchword of some band- — but it was 
 the name of the hidden city too. He wondered what would happen if 
 he were to yell it out three times ! He had half a mind to try the experi- 
 ment. He was riding now down the El Trionfo, close by the Rododero. 
 The place was absolutely soUtary. All the houses were closed up. His 
 curiosity gained upon him, and almost before he was aware of it, he had 
 caUed out three times loudly : " Yayacarui, Yayacarui, Yayacarui." 
 
 He waited, holding his breath. Still there was silence ; but not for 
 long. Softly there came the pad-pad of many feet, then the murmur of 
 subdued voices, and half a dozen peons in gaudy ponchos raced down 
 the lonely street. Then, as they caught sight of the sohtary horseman, 
 they halted and communed together. As Hazel turned in his saddle to 
 look at them, the foremost, a lean stalwart creature, in a red cloak, bent 
 a bow which he drew from under it. He had just time to give his horse the 
 spur and an arrow whizzed past his ear with a buzz hke an angry bee. 
 Even now he was regretting his experiment. On past the Rododero Gorge 
 he galloped for all he was worth, and did not draw rein until he was safe on 
 the lower terrace of the Colcompata. It seemed the peons had made no 
 attempt to follow. He halted and loosened his revolver. " Phew ! 
 things don't seem to be quite so rosy as I thought. But why, after letting 
 me off last night, should they try to stick me this morning ? The signal is 
 evidently one of warning, but not for the white man's use, that seems pretty 
 certain. I wish to heaven I could think that in leaving Cuzco we were 
 leaving Mama OcUo and her gang. But I can't. On the contrary, I 
 expect she'll give us a good deal more trouble yet than she has done. Ah, 
 well, I came out here in search of adventure, and I've got it with a ven- 
 geance — diet's hope the vengeance won't come off." Then he thought 
 of Dick, and with the thought he laughed. 
 
 The path now became steep and dangerous. High on the left he could 
 see the Eastern terraces of the Sacsahuaman fortress, and to the right of 
 him the depths of the Gulch. He rode on until he reached the plateau 
 and then through the Tuipuncu gateway, until he came on to a small pampa 
 scored over with the remains of a once massive fortress. For the best 
 part of an hour he rambled about exploring this most wonderful Incarial 
 work. It was difficult to conceive how those colossal stones had ever been 
 got into position. He continued his way on to the Calvario which over- 
 looks the city. There he tethered his horse and lit his pipe and sat down 
 on the parapet which commands perhaps the finest of all views of Cuzco 
 and the CordiUera peaks. He let his thoughts wander amid the romance 
 and history which were associated with that spot where he now was. 
 And what romance, what history it was 1 There the golden wedge of 
 Manco Capac had sunk into the ground, from there had been exercised the 
 paternal government of the Incas, thence ran the four great highways to 
 the furthermost parts of the Empire. He tried to conjure up before his 
 mind the sacred city of Huyana Capac as it must have been before the 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 69 
 
 coming of the Spaniards — ^to rebuild in his imagination the palace of Inca 
 Rocca, the mammoth walls of which remain as if to put to very shame 
 all efforts of the present or intervening ages ; the convent of the Sun 
 Virgins consecrated now to the nuns of Romish faith ; the most gorgeous 
 Temple of the Sun, which tradition tells surpassed even the splendours of 
 Solomon's fane. All these he tried to picture now as they had been. 
 And he called to mind what Charles the Fifth had said of the Spanish 
 Alhambra, " Unhappy the man who lost all this ! " Why, he wondered, 
 should Spain so have played the role of destroyer ? "A torch she had had 
 to burn, but no hammer to build." And now retribution had her, and she 
 was pa5nng the penalty for her depredatory past^a past of wanton mis- 
 rule and devilry what time three glorious civilizations — Moorish, Mexican, 
 and Peruvian — had been demoUshed ! She was at bay now in her own 
 fastness. No longer did the great yellow banner of Castile — once so 
 famous, since so infamous — flaunt itself in the perfumed breezes of the 
 New World. Her Empire was passed away, her chivalry itself non- 
 existent. She had had a mission from heaven direct, and in it she had 
 failed, utterly, hopelessly, miserably 1 And for why ? Ask it in Rome ! 
 
 Hazel was absorbed in these ruminations. He did not hear the soft 
 footsteps behind him. But a stone slipped and rattled down, and noticing 
 it, he turned, and saw the diminutive figure of a native approaching. It 
 was the Indian dwarf — such a dwarf as must have led Rip up the haunted 
 Catskills. The legend flashed through his mind at the moment. Without 
 a word the little creature rushed forward and embraced his riding boots. 
 For a moment he did so in silence, then he let fly a perfect volley of what 
 was evidently meant to be expressive of gratitude and eulogy. That 
 much Hazel divined, though the mixture of English and bastard Spanish 
 which the little man employed made it all but unintelhgible. 
 
 " Santo Sol ; you save me ; you cover me. May Con sit in your house 
 para eternidad, oh most generous Senor de los Ingles." 
 
 " Then I saved one speaking my own tongue — ^is it not so ? " said Hazel. 
 " For the present, sit you here and let us talk," though in what vernacular 
 that was going to be accomplished it was difficult to say. The sample of 
 Spanish and English — either equally bastard — did not make for fluency. 
 
 " Good, Viracocha ; let us talk. But first, los huacas ! " With every 
 show of gravity the little man advanced towards a heap of stones, and 
 throwing thereon a ball of coca, exclaimed reverentially. " Apachieta- 
 muchani," which being interpreted means, " I worship at this heap " ; 
 so Hazel ascertained from the pocket dictionary of the Quichua which he 
 made a point now of always having with him. It was evidently an offering 
 to the local gods, and argued that the little red Indian was no good Catholic. 
 He shpped another coca pellet into his mouth, and sat down close by Hazel, 
 whom he stared at most gravely. 
 
 His dress was that of the Sierra Indian — a green coat, black breeches, and 
 a black cap adorned with many coloured ribbons. His breast and legs 
 were bare, and on his feet were llama leather sandals. His shock of 
 coarse black hair gave to his cranium a disproportionately large appearance. 
 His mouth was wide and his eyes of extraordinary size. A grotesque 
 little personage truly, yet of countenance not unpleasing, and expression 
 touchingly human, and typical of the Indian chiefly by reason of his beak- 
 like nose. Mis-shapen and dwarfed of stature as he was, he in no wise 
 repelled you. 
 
 " And your name, good friend ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 3t 
 
70 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Graciosa, Senor, my name is Puca, for this " — ^he laid a lean finger on 
 his cheek — " so am I known. But the huaca of my ayllu is Cuy, and so 
 the Villac Umu call me. Cusi-Cuy is Puca's name, Viracocha." 
 
 This was a teaser, and necessitated copious reference to the dictionary, 
 which the little man seemed not at all to resent, waiting most patiently. 
 Hazel made out that he was called Puca evidently from his complexion, 
 since puca means red. That the huaca (diety) of his ayllu (tribe) was a 
 Cuy (guinea-pig) and that Villac Umu (high priest ; literally the head which 
 gives counsel) had christened him Cusi-Cuy (the happy guinea-pig) . 
 
 " And where do you come from, Puca ? " 
 
 The Indian swung his arms to intimate the four points of the compass. 
 " Everywhere — ^from everywhere," said he ; and he produced a kind of 
 shallow drum, which he proceeded to beat with a stump of wood. " I 
 wander, and I make song, Senor." 
 
 " Ah, a Nanki-Pooh of sorts," mused Hazel. " So you're a strolling 
 musician, eh ? " he said. 
 
 Puca nodded, and rapped his tambourine, and began to chant in a 
 musical voice. The song he sang dated probably as far back as the time 
 of Pachacutec Inca,. which was about 1350. Here it is translated after- 
 wards by Dick from Hazel's transcript. • 
 
 Dear humming-bird, you bring for bread 
 
 The yellow maize, the purple maize : 
 
 The sun will burn thro' many days, 
 His arrows shoot the Snow-One dead : 
 You lell us so, and you we praise, 
 Ah Ccenci, rainbow-feathered Ccenti ! 
 
 Swift humming-bird, you bring the girl 
 
 With bosom white as cotton boll, 
 
 Her eyes 'neath rainbow arches roll, 
 Her forehead shines, a moon of pearl 
 Inwoven, black and gold, her cuil, 
 Ah Ccenti, emerald-tinted Ccenti ! 
 
 Bright humming-bird, bring back the sway 
 
 Of Manco Capac, father mild : 
 
 Restore his altars undefiled, 
 To golden skies transform the gray, 
 And let us greet the Sun's own child, 
 Ah Ccenti, ever-darting Ccenti ! 
 
 " All ! as pretty sounding a yaravi (song) as one wants to hear," said 
 Hazel, as he finished. 
 
 The Indian looked up quickly. " Quichua ! Lord, you talk Quichua, 
 Senor ? " 
 
 " Just a word or two, Puca — no more. I cannot follow all your song, 
 but the Ccenti is the humming-bird, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, Seilor — Ccenti is the humming-bird." He stopped abruptly and 
 stared at Hazel. His eyes were full of curiosity. 
 
 " Why come you here, oh, Viracocha ? " he burst out, "' there is sickness 
 in the air for you." 
 
 " Sickness ! — trouble ! for me, Puca ? Then it is through Mama Ocllo 
 that it comes — ^tell me ! " 
 
 " The coya of mighty Manco I Ay di mi, senor, she dwells now in the 
 bright, bright mansion of the sun 1 " 
 
 " I speak of Mama Ocllo who lives, Puca 1 " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 71 
 
 " Truly, Senor, I know not such one ! " 
 
 " Think again, Puca, and you will know. Was it not she who taught 
 you when in trouble to cry ' Yayacarui ' ? " 
 
 The Happy Guinea-pig appeared to be genuinely astounded. 
 
 " Soy hombrecillo, Senor, and I know nothing. One friend, muy 
 bueno, teach me to cry " Yayacarui ' in trouble, and help come. Mama 
 Ocllo ? I know not Mama Ocllo. No I not. For Santa Rosa la Patrona 
 de todas das Americas, I know not that one, Senor ! " 
 
 Could it be that he spoke truth — that from a friend he had heard this 
 name, and parrot-like called it out in time of trouble. He swore that so 
 it was ; but, be it noted, he swore by a Cathohc saint, an oath less binding 
 upon him than one drawn from his own pagan faith. 
 
 " Open your coat, Puca," said Hazel, " and show me what sort of chest 
 you have." He beat his own breast to indicate his meaning. The Indian 
 obeyed without a word, and laid bare the red skin. Then only was Hazel 
 convinced that he had spoken truth, for there was no rainbow scored there- 
 on, and without the symbol he would not be one with Mama OcEo and her 
 band. 
 
 " TeU me, Puca, why did you help me last night ? " 
 
 " Viracocha, you save me from el cuchillo of the Spanish devil — vie jo 
 demonio Espanol. Puca save you — he caU Yayacarui, and Indians come I " 
 
 " Then perhaps you can tell me why an Indian in a red poncho shot an 
 arrow at me as I rode by this morning ? " 
 
 The Happy Guinea-pig shrugged his shoulders. " Quien sabe, Senor ? " 
 was all he said. 
 
 " H'm, you seem to be pretty much in the dark yourself. But come now, 
 Puca, you can tell me about Yayacarui- — the hidden city, the " 
 
 " Seilor ! " The Uttle creature's face took on an expression of abject 
 terror. " Senor," he said, " speak of it not. There is a sick air for you. 
 Dios ! No word 1 " 
 
 " Oh 1 You evidently know a good deal about it ! " 
 
 Puca glanced uneasily to right and left. Then he nodded. " Puca 
 hear Yayacarui near music-hill," he whispered, " Si, Senor, devils in the 
 earth. InferneUos de los Ingas I " 
 
 " Jove, that's the place," exclaimed Hazel, excitedly. 
 
 " No, no ! " Puca shook his head violently. " Music-hill no more. I 
 go all over Peru. I hear speak Yayacarui — I see rainbow here, here 1 " 
 he touched his breast, " but no. Yo sabo poco — muy poco." 
 
 Hazel considered. The man knew apparently that the city was in the 
 neighbourhood of the musical mountain, as it was said to be in the manu- 
 script of Bevil Prynne, but he was afraid that was about all he did know. 
 
 " See here, Puca," he went on, " take me to that mountain and I'll 
 give you more money than you have even seen in your Ufe." 
 
 He was hardly prepared for what followed. With a shriek Puca jumped 
 up, and made off as fast as his tiny legs could carry him. By the time 
 Hazel had realised the fact, he was out of sight. 
 
 Witb-out further ado he mounted his horse and rode back to the city. 
 As he clattered up the Calle Vela, Cain, who was looking out for him, 
 ran down the street in a state of wild excitement. 
 
 " Massa, massa," he cried, " one of dem Indians hab been killed — killed 
 wid a knife, massa Hazel. Gol-a-mighty, day kill dat por ting right dere 
 near de house." Gerald drew rein sharply. "An Indian killed 1 Near 
 which house ? — ours ? " 
 
72 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Yes, massa, Cain saw him dead wif dese berry two eyes." 
 " Wearing a red poncho ? " 
 
 The negro scratched his woolly pate and stared. " Golly, massa, how 
 you know dat ? Yes,fo' su' ; him hab red poncho I " 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " TWO PROMISES." 
 
 As soon as Cain, having relieved himself of his great piece of news, had 
 taken himself off. Hazel crossed the street to where the blood of the Indian 
 bespattered the pavement. He had no doubt that the murdered man was 
 he who had shot at him in the morning. Was this Mama OcUo again ? 
 He had a very shrewd suspicion it was ; certainly the punishment of 
 this peon had been both speedy and drastic. And that was altogether 
 characteristic of this great lady. She had evidently a mind to constitute 
 herself his guardian angel for the time being. And if her methods were 
 a trifle uncomfortable, not to say mystic, it did not become him, as the 
 recipient, to enquire too nicely into them. 
 
 Musing thus he crossed over to the house again, and went in. His ride 
 had given him an appetite worthy of attention. As he entered the 
 eating-room a certain dishevelled-looking gentleman, of a decidedly 
 woe-begone expression, was leaning up against the wall with his hands 
 in his pockets. His general mien was one of intense pity for himself. 
 He greeted Hazel with a scowl, having in it something of defiance. It was 
 met with the most genial of smiles. 
 
 " Ah, Dick, how are you — all right ? Come on, my boy, and feed — 
 or have you fed ? I see one of Cain's culinary creations in the shape 
 of a ' puchero ' inviting mastication if not digestion — that ought to tempt 
 you ! " 
 
 The expression of defiance had merged now into one of unfeigned 
 surprise. This was the " coals of fire " racket, and he didn't appreciate 
 it in the least. It was a mean way to treat a fellow who not only expected 
 to be rated soundly for his misdeeds, but was prepared and ready to " face 
 the music." He was not going to be done Uke that ; so he brought the 
 subject "on the carpet without more ado. " Now then. Hazel," he said, 
 " I'm waiting ; come on, out with it ! " 
 
 " Out with what ? I don't know what the deuce you're talking about ; 
 but it's ' in with it ' with me, just for the moment." He drew his chair 
 to the table. 
 
 " What, aren't you goin' to bully-rag me ? " 
 
 " Bully-rag you, what for ? — don't I tell you, man, I'm starving ! " 
 
 " Oh, damn it all, I thought you Uked me a bit better than that ! " 
 
 " Of course I Uke you, Dick. — ^here, you want a drink, that's what's the 
 matter. There's the chica ; see what that'll do for you." 
 
 Dick proceeded. " Then if you like me, why the devil don't you show 
 it by pitchin' into me ? I'm ready I " 
 
 " My good Richard, you should know by this time that I'm not the man 
 to weave ropes of sand." 
 
 " But it's the last time. Hazel — by Gad, I swear it's the last time." 
 
 " Of course it is, Dick — so was the time before." 
 
 " You don't believe me ! " 
 
 " No, if you are referring to the state you were in last night, frankly 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. ^73 
 
 I don't. Why should I ? Besides, you know it's no affair of mine if 
 you choose to go and get ' paralytic ' this morning 1 " 
 
 " But — Hazel, I say — you're chaffin', aren't you ? It is somethin' to 
 you — I want it to be something to you, Hazel. I thought it was. I swear 
 I'm not the beast you think I am." 
 
 " Now, did I say you were a beast ? " 
 
 " Lord I D'you think I can't see it in your face ? " Dick dropped 
 into a chair. " Well, perhaps you're right. I am a. beast — a brute of 
 a beast, and worse, I dare say, than that. I know I went on the ran-tam 
 last night and made a holy show of myself ; but I'm a kind of ' Crazy 
 Jane,' Hazel, when I get liquor aboard. I told you I was a bad lot " 
 
 " And as I told you when you told me — you're not. Only a fool, Dick 
 — a complete fool ! " 
 
 " Confound you. Hazel, I'm not a fool. I guess I can show you or any 
 other white man round. The chap's not built that'll take a rise out of 
 me." 
 
 Hazel was really enjoying his " puchero." The appetite set up by 
 his ride was sauce, and Dick's little harangue was good enough as garniture 
 thereto. 
 
 " You put me in mind, Dick, of a man I know at home — a bilious, 
 lethargic, querulous beast, who exists under the firm conviction that he 
 is an invalid — to be precise, a victim to ' neurosis ' — that's how he likes 
 to hear it caUed. Occasionally, when they want to humour him especially, 
 his friends call it ' neuritis ' — both terms are equally idiotic as applied to 
 his particular trouble. As a matter of fact, to continue in correct thera- 
 peutic style, the chap's got a cirrhotic liver — that's a liver badly out of 
 order, Dick. In short it's bile, man — pure bile. But, tell him that, and 
 he's your enemy for Ufe. You remind me, I say, of that chap. You don't 
 mind my telhng you you're a damned bad lot, but let me mention the 
 word ' fool ' and you're up on stilts in, no time. But you are a fool, 
 Dick — an awful fool, nevertheless. Now, what have you to say ? " 
 
 " Say ? " Dick thumped the table and glared. " Why if any man 
 but you had said as much I'd have dropped him in his tracks. You 
 don't know the kind of poison I am. Hazel." 
 
 " Oh yes, I do. I've just told you so. Now, Dick, be sensible. You 
 know this sort of thing won't go down with me, though it might with 
 some people. This self-condemnatory business of yours amounts to a 
 vice. It's a species of vanity. You hke to proclaim what you are pleased 
 to call your iniquities from the house-tops. Why, man, they're not 
 iniquities at all, but little piffling lapses into this, that, or the other. Do 
 you know you haven't got the strength of will to accomphsh any real 
 iniquity ? Upon my soul, I'd think more of you if you had ! " 
 
 " WeU, I'm damned ! " 
 
 " No, my boy, you're not, nor wiU you ever be. Your fate will be 
 no worse than relegation to the intermediate limbo which we are told — 
 . — though I admit, the people who tell us know precious little about it 
 — forms the buffer state between Paradise and Sheol. That's your 
 destination, Dick. And what I say is that there's no dignity in it — it's 
 where all the siUy asses go to." 
 
 A long draught of maize beer was absolutely necessary to Dick on top 
 of this. Not that he had any retort to make even then. " What do you 
 want me to do ? " he asked, in all humiUty. 
 
 " Come with me in search of El Dorado." 
 
74 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Well, I am coining, ain't I — else, what the deuce am I roosting in 
 Cuzco for ? " 
 
 " Maybe for your own gratification. We have not yet concluded our 
 little agreement, have we ? I must have a man I can trust to work 
 under me. Now the question is, can I trust you ? " 
 
 " Yes, by thunder, you can I " — he rose excitedly. " You asked me 
 to swear it at Lima. Well, I swear it now." 
 
 " No — hold hard a moment ; fidelity as I understand it implies absolute 
 confidence, man to man." He paused and looked very searchingly at 
 Dick. " Now, I don't fancy I have your confidence — you have, unless 
 I am mistaken, something to teU me — something, shall I say, to con- 
 fess ? " 
 
 " Oanfess ! Why, what more can I confess ? I've told you everything. 
 Hazel. I know I'm a drunkard, a gambler, a " 
 
 " Quite so — you've told me no little about what you are ; but who 
 you are ; that's what I mean, Dick. . Who you are I " 
 
 " Why, who the devil should I be ? I'm — I'm Dick Gibbs, of course — 
 Dick Gibbs ; I told you I " 
 
 " Dick, you may be ; Gibbs, you're not, any more than I am." 
 
 " Oh, hell I P'raps you can figure it out for yourself then ? " 
 
 Hazel laughed. " That's just what I have done, my good Amherst 
 — and that long since." 
 
 Hazel smoked on, and the detected one stared at him as though he 
 were some wild and wonderful animal. By what process of deduction 
 his undoing had been accomplished he could not conceive. 
 
 " What awful rot you talk," he blustered, " I'm not Amherst— how 
 the devil can I be when he's my pal ? " • 
 
 " There again, you're wrong ; he isn't ; he's your worst enemy, because 
 he is yourself. Now, you'd very much better drop this game and own 
 up. I've no stomach for any more hes." 
 
 Id a cold fury Dick jumped up and laid a hand on his revolver. " Damn 
 you, Mr. Gerald Hazel. What d'you mean by talking to me like this' ? 
 I tell you I'm sick of your infernal superior airs. I'm as good a man as you 
 any day of the week, as I can prove right away. Get your shooter ready, 
 and we'll see." 
 
 " When wiU you have it, Amherst — now ? " 
 
 He was irritating the other man intensely by his immobiUty, and he 
 knew it ; and because he liked him — reprobate as he was — so sincerely, 
 he could have had it in his heart to take him by the hand and end the 
 trouble then and there. He hated to be obHged to play the prig. But 
 Mr. Dick required these methods. He must see the thing through now. 
 
 " Confound you, my name's Gibbs 1 " yeUed Dick. 
 
 " Oh, all right — ^just as you please. We'll have it Gibbs, if you hke. 
 It reaUy makes no difference. Sit down and finish your beer — you'll 
 feel better then." 
 
 " By thunder, I'll kiU you ! " 
 
 " Kill away — ^if you dare I " 
 
 Their eyes met. Hazel knew that the supreme moment had come. 
 And he looked the man through to his very soul, until he flung the weapon 
 on the table and turned away. Then the situation adjusted itself. The 
 over-wrought nerves of the unhappy Dick gave way, and he burst into 
 tears. 
 
 Hazel pitied him from the bottom of his heatt. Yet he dared not shovy 
 
THE MOTHER OF, EMERALDS. 75 
 
 it. On the contrary, he walked round the table and shook him sharply 
 by the shoulder. 
 
 " Now stop your damned nonsense, Amherst, and be a man," he said. 
 " I tell you this sort of tommy-rot doesn't appeal to me. If you are keen 
 on keeping up the role of repentant sinner, there's a church round the 
 corner, where it'll go off better than here." 
 
 " Damned httle sympathy from you," moaned Dick. 
 
 " Damned httle," assented Hazel. " I gave you all I had in stock 
 of it at Lima. I knew then, of course, quite well who you were. But 
 I thought it better to let you have your httle joke. But that's all over 
 now, Dicky, my boy. Richard Amherst you are henceforward, if you 
 please — that is if you come with me." 
 
 The salubrious effect of this treatment was beginning to make itself 
 apparent. The arrows were all gone from Dick's quiver. He had run the 
 gamut of his invective — blasphemy, rage, tears, argument — all had been 
 without power to move the inexorable Hazel. 
 
 Dick straightened his back and finished his chica. His demeanour 
 was touchingly naive now. " I should hke to hear. Hazel, how you found 
 it out," he said. 
 
 " Oh, it wasn't dif&cult. In the first place. Miss Prynne gave me 
 a fairly accurate specification of you — so accurate that I had no bother 
 about making it tally when I saw you in the flesh — then there was the 
 fact of Sir Bevil's manuscript, and your — forgive me, Dick, I must say 
 it — inept and clumsy floundering around that subject ; and I think 
 your httle peculiarities, your tendencies to this* that, and the other, 
 finished you in my mind. You were Father O'Dwyer's ' Dick Amherst ' 
 to a T. There was not much deduction about it — mere observation — I 
 wouldn't even caU it intelhgence. There couldn't be two Dicks in Peru 
 so much alike, you know — you'd never have got me to beheve that ! " 
 
 " All the same, it was damned smart of you. Hazel. It's true enough, 
 I am Dick Amherst. And now that you know it, p'raps you'U tell me 
 what the devil you mean by taking my girl from me ? " 
 
 " Ah I your mother has been putting her lady-like spoke into my 
 wheel, I see. She is so fond of me I — couldn't even leave me out of her 
 correspondence with you. Well, it's only fair to her to say that she is a 
 lady who never strives in any way to disguise her feehngs, either for me 
 or anyone else. But the other matter will keep, Dickie. I'm not engaged 
 to marry Miss MoUy Prynne, and you are. I think we'll let it stand at 
 that for the present." 
 
 " I know MoUy promised to be my wife " 
 
 " On the condition that you brought back her father ; wasn't that it ? 
 WeU, here I am organising an expedition which is more than likely to 
 find him, and asking you to join me. I'd hke to know what more you. 
 could want than that ? Once for all now, are you coming ? " 
 
 " You'U have me, honour bright, now that you know who I am ? " 
 
 " Certainly-T— don't I tell you I've known all along who you are ? All 
 I say is, let us drop Molly and your engagement, and all that sort of thing 
 — in fact, your past life altogether. I want a white man — in every sense 
 of the word — to come with me ; a friend and a comrade. You know 
 weU enough what I want.'^WiU you come ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Dick, unhesitatingly, " I wiU." 
 
 " And you swear to be faithful to me, to stick to me through thick 
 and thin, without reserve — ^to trust me as I trust you ? " 
 
76 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " You do trust me, then ? " Dick looked ever so surprised. 
 " Absolutely." Their hands and eyes met, and the bond was sealed. 
 " Hazel, I'll stick to you to Hell and back again— by thunder, that's 
 the almighty truth, and I mean it. After we've seen this business through 
 I don't say ; but till then, I'm your man." 
 
 And Dick felt happier at that moment than he had done for years. It 
 seemed to come upon him that this was the sort of chance he had needed 
 for so long — another man in the boat to set the stroke, and pull with 
 him. He registered a vow to pull his weight and more. There was no 
 mere maudlin determination to " turn over a new leaf," no seU recrimina- 
 tion in his zeal. He felt inspired to effort — to the best that he was capable 
 of for its own sake, and for the sake of the good fellow who had been 
 his salvation. He was saner, healthier, than he had ever known himself 
 to be. Stranger stiU, he was able to see it. And Hazel trusted him 1 
 That was a " knock-me-down staggerer " if you hke ! 
 
 " Now then, Dick," said Hazel, with a breath of relief, " come on and 
 let's get to work. There's a deuce of a lot to be done yet." 
 
 As he moved towards the door it opened, to admit the diminutive 
 person of Puca ! The Indian threw himself at Hazel's feet. 
 " Viracocha, I wiU, I will I The music-hiU, si, si ! " 
 " Who the devil is this monkey ? " asked Dick. 
 
 " Take my word for it, he is no monkey. He got us away from that 
 den last night, and what's more, he promises to take us to the city of cities ; 
 isn't that so, Puca ? " 
 
 " Si, si, gracia Senor, I will do. You save Cuy-cusi. I help you, oh 
 lord of the sea ! " 
 
 " Ha, Quichua, eh ? " said Dick. 
 
 Puca sprang up with no very pleasant expression. " Quichua, speak ? " 
 Dick replied, " Arri ; Yma sutinqui," which means, " What is your 
 name ? " 
 " Cuy-cusi." 
 
 " ' The joyful guinea-pig ' I Great Scott, what a name 1 " 
 " Go on, Dick ; talk to him ; find out what he knows about the musical 
 mountain and Yayacarui. We must manage to get him to guide us there 
 somehow." 
 
 So Dick launched into Quichua for aU he was worth. It appeared 
 that Puca did know something about the city, and that it was situated 
 near what he called " the music-hill." And because the English seiior 
 had saved his life, he ^aid he was wiUing to guide the expedition so far. 
 But he warned them that the risks were great, that the whole country 
 was filled with hostile Indians, whose methods with the white man were 
 summary and drastic. They would in all probabihty drown them in 
 the sacred river which flows from the mountain of music. Even so, and 
 although he was wiUing to guide them thus far, he would not swear that 
 the city existed. 
 
 " We'll take the risk of all that," said Hazel. So it came about that 
 through the intermediary of Dick, Uttle Puca was formally engaged as guide. 
 Then, with many " adios " and " paccaricamas," he departed. 
 Dick looked at Hazel. " Can you trust him ? " he asked. 
 Hazel shook his head. " Wouldn't be fair to try," he said. " There 
 is only one man of the party, Dick, whom I trust, and that's yourself 1 " 
 
 " True bill, old man, you may," replied the reprobate slowly. 
 " Shake ! " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 77 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " IN THE THICK OF IT." 
 
 A FEW weeks later the adventurers reached Todos Santos, a small town 
 on the upper waters of the Ucayali. The voyage had been accomplished 
 expeditiously, and with less difficulty than might have been anticipated, 
 judging from the nature of the navigation. Three or four skirmishes 
 with forest Indians, the loss of a boat while descending a rapid, one or 
 two cases of fever, and the death of two men from arrow wounds ; such 
 were the events which stood out most clearly in Hazel's memory of the 
 journey. What other recollections he had were mostly of the scenery, 
 which was much contrasted, varying from the terrifying spectacle of 
 the river, pent up and raging in the Ayacucha gulch — ^where a spider's- 
 web bridge swings two hundred feet overhead- — ^to the gorgeous colouring 
 and fecund life of the Montano region, overspread with unexplored 
 forests, through which the broadened stream meandered more placidly. 
 
 All this had been exploited with quiet British courage, under burning 
 suns, and the downpour of tropical rains, with intervals of muggy heats 
 and chill night-mists rising from the marshy lands. Through these perils 
 of Nature and Nature's children they had made their way safely, and 
 had brought up at Todos Santos for breathing-time and mature con- 
 sideration of the route thence. For there still remained forests to be 
 pierced, and pampas to be crossed, and the Cordilleras to be ascended ; 
 all promising difficulties and dangers, and — -it might be — death. 
 
 At Todos Santos they lost touch with all traces of civilisation. This 
 collection of houses, lost in an immense region, shagged with forests, 
 facing a lonely stretch of water, unploughed by civilised keels, was in- 
 habited by creatures little above the level of brutes. An adobe church, 
 controlled by a Jesuit missionary, dominated the village. Its congrega- 
 tion confessed to Christianity, but it was Christianity so merged in 
 Paganism that it was difficult to distinguish. The race — -mixed bastard 
 and true-born red-men — ^preserved the characteristic melancholy im- 
 pressed by centuries of tyranny ; but there were occasions when this 
 veneer of sullen patience was overcome. Then Todos Santos would 
 drink deep of potent native liquors, and give itself up to orgies of the 
 worst description. Hazel was disgusted with these festivals ; but Dick 
 enjoyed them, even to participating in their unrestrained mirth. He 
 drank deeply and more deeply, until Hazel, weary of attempting to keep 
 him in the paths of virtue, hastened the departure of the expedition. 
 Deprivation was the sole remedy for Dick's dissipation. 
 
 " I am tired of seeing you deliberately making a hog of yourself, Dick." 
 
 " Don't wonder at it, old man ; but I told you what to expect ! " 
 
 " I know. But there is no need for you to go quite so far. I shall 
 never reform you. Talking is useless." 
 
 " Waste of time,"- assented Dick, cheerfully, " best cut off supplies, 
 chief. Let's haul out for the wilds ; it's m' only chance."- 
 
 And so the next morning the little force re-commenced its march 
 through the dense woodlands on the further side of the Ucayali. Puca as 
 guide, Gerald in command, walked ahead. After them strung a single 
 
78 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 ____^ ___________________ — ^ — ..^ ' — • — r 
 
 file of Indians with the baggage ; and Dick between Cain and Mayta 
 closed the column. .For the most part — shut out from the sky by the 
 thick foliage — they pushed on through a green twilight, steaming ^b.d 
 choking. At intervals they emerged into wild glades, where the sun was 
 visible. On aU sides the monstrous stems and lofty greenery of the trees 
 dwarfed them to the size of ants ; and they crawled along such narrow 
 paths as could be discovered by Puca. Indeed, the dwarf knew the way 
 too well for Hazel's peace of mind, and more than once he expressed his 
 doubts of him. 
 
 " Seems as if the Uttle devil is luring us into a trap of sorts."- 
 
 '* Huh I I guess he's makin* a bee-Une for the ranche we're after. 
 We're a personally conducted party of Cook's tourists ; and Mama OcUo's 
 engineering the job, with Puca in the signal-box.'' 
 
 -- Shouldn't be anxious if I were sure of that,"- mused Hazel.' " Cer- 
 tainly, if Mama Ocllo had wished to get quit of us, she would have arranged 
 that at Lima or Cuzco.'' 
 
 * Oh, she'll play the ace when it suits her,"- said Dick, savagely. He 
 had no great love for the lady. " She'll yank us safely to Yayacarui, 
 
 you bet ; then^ — ^well then '-' Dick waved his hand to indicate that 
 
 the deluge might follow. 
 
 Both white men had a vague feeUng that some unseen power controlled 
 their expedition ; but they could not exactly formulate it. The few 
 Indians they met were suspiciously friendly, or ostentatiously timid, and 
 molested them in no way, regarding them, apparently, with awe. Any 
 effort to extract the meaning of these things from Puca resulted in failure. 
 He professed complete ignorance of everything and everyone ; stated 
 not once, but many times, that he was a guide only, and ascribed his all 
 extensive knowledge of the country to previous wanderings as an itinerant 
 musician. Plainly, there was nothing for it but to accept Puca, and the 
 situation. Whatever might be the facts of the case^ it was evident that 
 they would accompUsh the passage of the forest with less risk than the 
 previous dangers had led them to expect. The white men gave up all 
 attempt to discover what was at the back of this unlooked-for immunity 
 from danger. They took the goods the gods sent them, and pushed on 
 with all speed. 
 
 For days, for weeks, they marched through the forest. It seemed 
 illimitable, endless. As they marched Gerald iound reason to modify 
 considerably any ideas regarding Mama Ocllo as a protecting angel ; 
 for the perpetual peace which had hitherto reigned gave way now to fre- 
 quent and wholly unlooked-for attacks. Without warning of any kind, 
 arrows would be shot out of the underwood, and straggling bands of 
 painted creatures would throw themselves on the column, flourishing 
 axes and spears, to the accompaniment of ear-splitting yells. Gerald 
 did not attempt to account for this sudden change of tactics — ^there was 
 no time for that. He ranged his men and fought. For the most part 
 they did more damage to the enemy than the enemy did to them ; and, 
 although three or four men were killed, Hazel brought his small force 
 through the hostile zone very successfully. 
 
 At last they approached the verge of the forest, for the trees were 
 beginning to thin out, and the grass to dwindle to short cropped levels. 
 All fighting stopped as suddenly as it had begun. They could not under- 
 stand it, and referred to Puca for explanation. But Puca's answer was 
 the usual profession of ignorance. 
 
THE MO THER OF EMERALDS. 79 
 
 " Lemme cowhide the little beast," said Dick, who was furious, " he's 
 at the bottom of all this, for sure."' 
 
 -' No, no." Gerald restrained Dick's ardour. " Thrashing would only- 
 turn, him against us, and he would simply lie like a hatter. Leave him 
 alone. We shall know all about it in time." 
 
 " It's Mama Ocllo," grumbled Dick between his teeth, "that she-boss 
 is playin' low down, chuckin' greasers at us. What's her game ? "• 
 
 " Dios sabe I " said Hazel, quite in the style of Puca, " but if she is 
 mixed up in this, she holds the winning hand. All our cards are on the 
 table, but we can't see hers." 
 
 " The King of Hearts 1 " suggested Amherst, slily glancing at his 
 chief. 
 
 " Rot I " said that young man, reddening, " you ought to know better 
 than that." 
 
 " Perhaps I ought," replied Dick, gloomily. 
 
 Then one night, under a splendid moon of silver, they came to a belt 
 of trees which girdled a ruined city of old — how old, none of them had 
 sufficient archaeological knowledge to say. In a vast space lay what must 
 once have been a populous town, now given over to bats and owls and 
 the beasts of the fields, who there made their lairs. On all sides rose 
 temples, and mansions, and mighty palaces, of Cyclopean architecture 
 and size. Terraces overgrown with weeds ; ranges of carven pillars, wide 
 flights of shallow steps, and many statues with solemn faces looking from 
 niches at the desolation of the place over which they had once ruled as 
 gods. The altars were fallen, the temples deserted, but the gods still 
 remained, looking, as it were, from the past into the far future, and 
 ignoring the present. The streets, which of yore had echoed • to the 
 tread of myriad feet, were silent and deserted ; grass grew from the cracks 
 of the worn pavement, and creepers climbed the pillars of merchants' 
 houses. And in the centre of the desolation the explorers found a still 
 pool of water, rimmed with marble, and glittering now in the moonlight. 
 
 By this they encamped for the night. Dazed by the glare of their fire, 
 the owls and bats fluttered in and out of the roofless halls, and snakes 
 trailed over the marble pavements. 
 
 Gerald strolled away towards the terraces. Puca followed, and Hazel, 
 while he silently accepted him for companion, did not omit to loosen the 
 revolver at his waist. He was ever suspicious of Puca. 
 
 " Would the Senor see what lies before him ? " asked the dwarf, when 
 they were out of sight of the camp fire. " Let us then Eiscend the tower of 
 the stars and behold the desert. Ay de mi ! The sorrow of earth is 
 there. "- 
 
 " What do you know about it, Puca ? "■ 
 
 " Seiior, I know many things of which it is not well to speak ! " 
 
 Hazel said no more. Already they had arrived at the foot of the tall 
 shaft of stone, before a squat door, and slipping into this, the dwarf, 
 chanting a weird melody, vanished. Hazel followed. As in a dream he 
 stumbled up a narrow staircase, which wound round and round, broken 
 and dilapidated, and black as the pit. For hours, as it seemed, he climbed 
 upward, always hearing high above him, the chanting of Puca. At last he 
 emerged on to a small platform of stone, and beheld the Indian kneeling, 
 with his hands crossed on his breast, and a face uplifted to the stars. He 
 finished his devotions, and springing up, led Hazel to the edge of the 
 platform, which was protected by a low wall. 
 
8o THE MOTHER OF EME RALDS. 
 
 " See, Senor," said he, " yonder is the desert, and the hills which fe 
 above the city ; so they say." / 
 
 Gerald folded his arms and silently surveyed the scene. Immediately 
 below the tower lay a belt of scrub, which melted into sands, grey now 
 in the moonlight. Like undulating billows they stretched towards tW far 
 distant horizon, where glittered the white peaks of lofty hills. The 
 desolation and the silence of the place were terrible. / 
 
 " The belt of death," said Puca, solemnly. " Say, Viracocha, do you 
 still wish to find this city of dream, beyond these grey sands ? " 
 
 " I have not come so far to draw back now," said Gerald. " It is your 
 wish to lead us to the city Puca, although you would have me believe 
 you know nothing of it." 
 
 " Truly, Senor, what is said of' this city, I believe not. I lead you to 
 the music-mountain ; and there I leave you. Senor," said Puca, sud- 
 denly, and more earnestly than was his wont, " you saved my life, and I 
 would not be ungrateful. Hearken then to me, and go back while there 
 is yet time. Beyond that belt there may be death." 
 
 " What is, is," retorted Hazel, " I am going on. I have sworn to find 
 that city, and find it I will. We cross that desert to-morrow, Puca." 
 
 Before Gerald was aware of it, the dwarf had flitted forward and laid 
 a light finger on the young man's heart. It beat regularly, and as Hazel 
 stepped suddenly back — for he feared treachery — a look of admiration 
 overspread Puca's face. 
 
 " Surely she will be pleased this time," he muttered. 
 
 Hazel seized him. " What do you mean by all this chatter ? " he said, 
 angrily. " Speak out. Are you a messenger from that woman ? " 
 
 " What is, is," cried Puca, mocking Gerald with his own words ; and, 
 ducking under the arm which held hiin, he fied down the stairs. Hazel 
 followed quickly, but he did not see the dwarf again that night. 
 
 He returned to the camp, speculating freely, but imparted his thoughts 
 to no one, not even to Dick. More than ever he was convinced that he 
 was the object of some intrigue on the part of the strange woman he 
 ,had met with in Lima, and, moreover, that the intrigue was being carried 
 on by the mysterious dwarf. 
 
 With the dawn came Puca, cheerful and grotesque as ever. Gerald 
 did not question him. He knew it was useless. But he kept a close 
 watch on him and told Dick to do the same. Puca was quite cognisant of 
 this espionage, but he took no heed of it. 
 
 At sunrise the column was once more in motion, with Puca guiding 
 them into the trackless waste. A vast plain of loose sand, hemmed in on 
 all sides by a cloudless sky, wherein the sun flamed with merciless splen- 
 dour, lay before them. The heat was teri'ific. It danced over the burning 
 surface till the distant peaks quivered like aspen leaves. Their feet 
 dragged in the loose sand ; their tongues dried up, for water was scarce, 
 and had to be doled out in thimblefuls. 
 
 " Guess Hell must be somethin' of this sort," said Dick. " Gosh what 
 wouldn't I give you for a suck of chica ? " 
 
 " We ought to be glad we have a sufficiency of tepid water, Dick." 
 
 " Huh ! I reckon that won't last long. The skins are nearly empty.'' 
 
 " We must push on more rapidly, then ; there's no going back now." 
 
 " Why not travel by night, chief ? Guess it'd be cooler." 
 
 Hazel decided to try it. And they certainly did get over more ground 
 in the moonlight, although there was not much appreciable difference in 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 8i 
 
 the heat. Then the worst of accidents befel them. One of the boys -went 
 mad, and ripped up their last skin of water. Starvation seemed inevitable, 
 and Hazel was almost in despair ; though by this time they were rapidly 
 liftiag the mountains. There was just a chance that, by making a 
 supreme effort, they might reach water. 
 
 " 'Sides, there's Puca," argued Dick. " He's been in these parts 
 before ; and you bet he's not game to send in his checks yet. He'll en- 
 gineer us through this job somehow. Oh, he's got an ace up his sleeve 
 for sure." 
 
 Dick proved to be a true prophet. One night they became acquainted 
 with Puca's ace. The little force was encamped some few miles from the 
 mountains, which Hazel — if they could hold out — hoped to reach next 
 day. But the men were demoralised, and inclined to be mutinous. Their 
 privations had caused them to sufEer terribly. Dick and his chief, with 
 their Winchesters on their knees, sat looking at the distant peaks, so 
 pallid in the moonUght. Puca, with something under his arm, stole past 
 them, and out of the camp some short distance. 
 
 " Gosh I What's the Uttle devil up to now ? " 
 
 " Don't know ; but he can't do much harm hereabout anyhow. We're 
 all in the same box." Hazel was much too fagged out and weaxy to 
 heed any of Puca's little tricks, just then. He had reached that state of 
 exhaustion when the pluck begins to die out of the strongest man. 
 
 Suddenly a magnificent rocket cleaved the air. It shot up to a great 
 height, scattering its red and green fire. It was followed by another. 
 With a simultaneous shout the white men raced for Puca. The dwarf 
 was found in possession of a store of ships' rockets, which he was pro- 
 ceeding to fire in the most methodical manner. Clearly it was not his 
 first acquaintance with such things. He grinned as the party came up 
 with him. 
 
 " A sign for my people, Senores," he said. 
 
 " Oh, so you're in touch with Yayacarui, after all, are you ? " 
 
 " Nay, Viracocha. My people dwell by the sacred river, at the foot 
 of yonder hUls. They will bring both food and water." 
 
 " Told you the little devil was a tool of Mama OcUo's," muttered Dick, 
 as they returned to camp, " he wouldn't be able to work those rockets 
 if he wasn't up to a trick or two. Oh, you bet he knows what he's about, 
 though we don't. "- 
 
 For a long time Puca continued to fire his rockets. Then, apparently 
 satisfied that his signals had been observed by his mysterious friends, he 
 lay down to sleep with a grunt of satisfaction. 
 
 Towards dawn, when the eastern hills were gilded with fine gold, the 
 noise of galloping horses was heard, and a small band of men could be 
 seen coming over the undulating hollows. Gerald and Dick, ready for 
 emergencies, went out to meet them. Shortly afterwards a troop of 
 light-coloured Indians, well clothed, comparatively civilised, and mounted 
 on mules, swept into the camp. Puca fraternised with them, and presented 
 to them Dick and Gerald, to whom the leader made obeisance. Water 
 and food were produced, and in a very short time the expedition was 
 on the march again. 
 
 " What price Puca now, chief ? "- 
 
 " Yes, he's a creature of that woman's ; there is no doubt on that 
 point. We'll come up with that city after all, Dicky.'* 
 
 -' Huh 1 " said Dick, relapsing into gloom. " I guess we'll see a sight 
 
82 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 r 
 
 more than that, chief ! We're in the claws of the tigress this trip i<k 
 sure ! '' 
 
 And Hazel thought so too. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 " THE ADOBE PUEBLO. "' 
 
 " Well, Dick, I think we've broken the back of it now 1 "• 
 
 " Dunno about that, chief ; but we're alive and I reckon that's some- 
 thing. I don't say we haven't struck pie in this shanty ; and we've put 
 forest and puma at the back of us, but I guess it'll be no easy job to 
 negotiate those mole hills over yonder." 
 
 " Dick, you're not the philosopher I thought you were. Take the good 
 things the gods give you, and be grateful — we're safe, man, so far, any- 
 how 1 " 
 
 " That's an almighty fact. Hazel, I know. It was precious nearly a 
 case of ' Jerusalem's m' happy home ' for us. But there's not much the 
 matter with this ; and I'll be solid enough when the trouble bdgins. Cain, 
 you swine, isn't the grub ready ? " 
 
 " Berry nea', Massa Dick. Dis mos' lubly chupe. Ole Cain jes role de 
 tortillas an' den you eat, sah." 
 
 It was a fair-sized room they occupied, in the house of the Curaca, 
 furnished barely, after the fashion of native houses. The whole party 
 looked in excellent condition considering their recent experiences. Into 
 the Indian town, in the shadow of the great mountains, they had been 
 received with every show of hospitality, well supplied with food, and tended 
 with all possible care. For Puca these gentle people seemed to have 
 the greatest reverence. They treated him as one of an altogether superior 
 race, and their estimation of him seemed to Hazel to be in no wise warranted 
 by his capacities, notwithstanding his rocket-signalling and other ac- 
 compUshments. He could only conclude that it was because of his con- 
 nection in some way with Mama OcUo. A decoy of hers, no doubt, he 
 was, since he had been upon this particular trailbefore, and was apparently 
 well-known to the dwellers in this adobe town; Yet if such were actually 
 the case, it puzzled Hazel to account for the little man having given himself 
 so much unnecessary trouble in directing them. 
 
 " He knew we were after the city," he said to Dick, " so did Mama 
 OcUo. Why then did not he or she frankly lead us there ? " 
 
 Dick spooned out a liberal supply of stew on to the red earthenware plate. 
 
 " Oh, there's no getting down to the bed-rock of these greasers," he 
 replied, with his mouth full. " Perhaps they're chucking borack at us, or 
 maybe Mama OcUo's working out » poker trick on her own account, 
 though it's fair to say she hasn't played low down on us yet, nor has that 
 little red devil. I guess we've got the bulge on 'em so far I " 
 
 " More Ukely they've got the bulge on us," retorted Hazel. " Here we 
 are in this naked place, with our Uves in our hands and dependent on Puca 
 for guidance absolutely. You're going in the other direction now, Dick 
 — you're tempting the gods. For all you know we may be walking clean 
 into their trap."- 
 
 " Mama OcUo's trap then it is — she's engineering the entire job." 
 
 " She must have travelled ahead of us then, and I'm willing to bet you 
 what you like she couldn't stand much of the kind of thing we've been 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 83 
 
 doing lately. If she's on ahead there must be an easier way than the way 
 we've taken. Then I say, why the devil didn't Puca take us by it ? "• 
 
 " Ah, that wasn't his game, you bet. He was cute enough to know that 
 if we got wind of the easy track we mightn't keep it to ourselves. His 
 dodge was to make things as rocky as possible for us — river choke full of 
 alligators, forest jammed with Indians, a forty mile desert tract without a 
 blessed drop of liquid ; I guess you can't beat that in the way of defences for 
 Yayacarui. Take my tip, chief, that guinea-pig can count ten. Now, 
 what's the next move ? - - 
 
 " The mountains. In a couple of days we start the climb at Puca's tail." 
 
 '' Well, let the beggar look out then,'' drawled Dick, rolling a cigarette, 
 " for, by Jimmy, I'll put a charge of buck-shot in his stern if he leads us 
 into any of his beastly ambushes — to the Golden city he comes along o' 
 me for company if I've to make tracks that way 1 '-' 
 
 " Oh, Puca's aU right, Dicky. He's got his orders straight from head 
 quarters, though the little devil '11 never admit it. He says he'll take us 
 as far as the ' music-hill ' but not further." 
 
 " Lawd ob mercy, what am dat, massa Hazel ? De hi hills can skip, 
 as de good book say ; but Cain nebber hea' ob dem singin'."- 
 
 " Cain's going to hear and see a lot he's never heard or seen before — take 
 my word for it, old man." 
 
 " Yes, nig ; that's a true bill ; shouldn't be surprised if that black hide 
 o' yours got blanched a bit before we get back," continued Dick. " Confess 
 I'm fogged myself over all this talk about music-hill and that rot 1 ' 
 
 " Oh, it's right enough," explained Hazel. " Humboldt refers to it in 
 .his book. He says there's a granite rock on the Orinoco which emits 
 sounds at sunrise just like the tones of an organ. He attributes it to the 
 action of the sun's rays on the rarefied air in the crevices. You get the 
 same kind of thing in Arabia. And you've heard, I suppose, about the 
 statue of Memnon, in Egypt ? '-'■ 
 
 " Yes, believe I have, long time ago — speaks at sunrise, don't it ? '-'• 
 
 " Yes ; well, that's the same sort of thing. Deep fissure, rarefied air, 
 and sudden raising of temperature. ''- 
 
 " That's the miracle, no doubt ; but I guess it ain't Puca's way of lookin' 
 at it. He sizes it out as the voice of some big bug in the way of gods." 
 
 " Don't you make any mistake about that. Puca knows a thing or 
 two more than you give him credit for. He's no savage. They're a 
 knowing lot, these Indians. Look how Mama OcUo speaks English, for 
 instance. Why, man, it's wonderful. It wouldn't surprise me in the least 
 if when we do strike this city of cities it turns out to be a slap-up place, right 
 up to date.'- 
 
 " If ever we do, chief 1 " yawned Dick. " Anjrway, let's go round the 
 town now for a stretch — Cain can keep an eye on the fire-irons.'-' 
 
 Hazel nodded assent, and they strolled off, their revolvers in their 
 pockets, despite the gentle demeanour of the Indians. 
 
 The town was built after the fashion of the Zuni pueblos in Arizona — 
 half dwelhng-place, half fortress. It rose in regular terraces, each one 
 being narrower than that immediately below it, and sloping back hke the 
 seats of an amphitheatre. Ladders communicated -with each storey in 
 such a manner tiiat they could be removed at will. In front of each line 
 of cabins ran a narrow walk, and from the lowest of these a mud wall en- 
 circling the whole dropped twenty feet to the ground.- Thus, when the 
 ladders were removed, this human hive was completely isolated from a ny 
 
84 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 raiding Indians, and as impregnable, well-nigh, as any mediaeval castle. 
 Two of these fortresses stood one on each side of a narrow but rapid stream, 
 which, bursting from its source in the mountains, rushed on between these 
 fertile banks, until it disappeared, a silvery snake, in the desert sands. 
 The two pueblos were constructed entirely of mud, plastered over with some 
 hard and shiny white material, which, when the sun's rays were upon it, 
 glittered like silver. Such structures seen under such conditions might 
 easily have given rise to the marvellous legends of Manoa and El Dorado 
 in the times of the Conquest. At the back of the town rose an arid preci- 
 pice, pierced by the low arch of the tunnel through which ran the river. 
 Higher up, verdure and shrubs and trees ; then naked rock of reddish lime- 
 stone, and high above all the serrated peaks of eternal snow. The great 
 range of hills ran North to South, walling in the desert and the pampas. 
 Round about the pueblos fields of maize and potatoes were fenced in by 
 walls of stone, and the great plains stretching away to the horizon, shim- 
 mered in the burning rays of the sun. The pueblo was a veritable oasis 
 of green, fertilised by the river, and isolated utterly by mountain and desert 
 from the world. 
 
 The natives here were pure-blooded Ynca Indians, At the time of the 
 Conquest they had retreated into this fastness for the preservation of their 
 independence. And here they lived, as their forefathers had lived before 
 them, in the same style of semi-civilisation as had existed in the days of 
 Ynca Atahualpa. Their worship was pagan, and was done in their Sun 
 temple according to the rites of Manco Capac. Here was, in fact, the 
 civilisation of the red man as it had flourished in pre-Columbian days. 
 
 When Hazel and Dick descended their ladder to terra firma, they were 
 joined by the Curaca, a stately grey-haired ancient, wrapped in a poncho 
 of vicuna wool. His name was Naiu. He was civil and attentive, but 
 nevertheless showed clearly that he bore no love to the white man. He 
 could speak no other tongue but Indian, and even so was usually reserved 
 in his communications. 
 
 He conducted them up the riverside now, towards the mountains. They 
 saw both men and women working in the fields. Some of the younger 
 women were of graceful figure, and carried jars of water from the stream. 
 Dick's endeavours to attract their attention toward himself passed un- 
 heeded. They were sparsely clad, and wore ornaments rudely carved, of 
 gold, but what Uttle clothing they had was tastefully arranged, and woven 
 _in many hues. They seemed to be sad and silent, and they eyed the 
 strangers mistrustfully. Their conduct was new and strange to Dick, and 
 by no means what he looked for. He turned to Naiu for explanation. 
 
 " We see few white men here," replied the Curaca, " nor do we wish to 
 see more, for the dogs who came from over-sea plundered and slew and 
 enslaved our people in their lust for gold. We dread your race. If they 
 came hither, even we, the exiles from Cuzco the sacred, would be doomed. 
 For you are the children of Supay, not of Pachacutec, and if we did our will 
 we would slay you and all white men who come hither."- 
 
 The man spoke with vehemence, and in a spirit of cold-blooded cruelty. 
 
 " Then why don't you make a start on us ? " replied Dick, recklessly. 
 
 Naiu cast his eyes towards the towering hills. "It is not com- 
 manded 1 " he said, solemnly. 
 
 " I thought not," muttered Dick, translating the man's words to Hazel. 
 
 " She is watching over us," said Hazel, fearful of pronouncing the name 
 of Mama Ocllo lest it should rouse the Curaca's suspicions. " Ask him. 
 
THE MOTHE R OF EMERALDS. 85 
 
 Dick, if any white men have been here before us in his time. He may- 
 know something of Prynne." 
 
 " Many white men have come over this desert," replied Naiu in answer 
 to Dick's question. " They go over the mountains. '- 
 
 " Wtere to ? '■'- 
 
 " They go over the mountains." 
 
 " To Yayacarui ? "- . 
 
 The Indian cast a look full of hatred at the speaker. " They go over 
 the mountains," he said for the third time. 
 
 " Do you remember some twenty years ago a white man who came here, 
 tall, with grey hair and grey beard ? " asked Dick. 
 
 " Many white men have come. They go over the mountain." That 
 was all the information that was to be extracted from Naiu. 
 
 " I guess it's under the mountains then for a change that we'll go," said 
 Dick, in EngUsh. " Recollect, in Bevil Prynne's yarn, chief, how these 
 devils in the mountain city decoyed the white man ? They're at the same 
 game still, you bet.'- 
 
 " No doubt ; that accounts for the white man going over the mountain, 
 as our friend here says, but he omits to add that they never return. You 
 mark me, Dick, we shall find a thoroughly go-ahead fin-de-siecle city over 
 yonder. I am beginning to understand now how Mama OcUo came by 
 her fluent English. She makes good use of her prisoners." 
 
 " Mama Ocllo 1 " exclaimed Naiu, fiercely, as he caught the name. 
 " And what does Viracocha know of Mama Ocllo ? " 
 
 " Oh, she's a friend of ours," replied Dick, carelessly. " No doubt if 
 it didn't happen that she forbade you, you'd make mighty short work of 
 us in that temple of yours over there ! " 
 
 " We offer no human sacrifices to our lord the Sun," replied Naiu, 
 haughtily. But he said no more. 
 
 " Strikes me, Dick, this must be the river down which Bevil Prynne's 
 packet floated. I expect it communicates with the city.'' 
 
 They stared at the stream spouting from under a low arch of rock. 
 It seemed to be forced sheer out of the mountain. No doubt it had its 
 source in the very bowels of the earth, and rolled through miles of darkness 
 ere it reached the light of day. The water was darkish of hue and bitterly 
 cold — colder, it seemed to Hazel, than the snow itself. It put him instantly 
 in mind of Coleridge's lines. He quoted them to Dick ; — ■ 
 
 " 'And from this chasm with ceaseless turmoil seething, 
 As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, 
 A mighty fountain momently was forded.' " 
 
 " Who was the Johnny wrote that, chief — Byron ? By Gad, he must ha'- 
 seen this very squirt o' water."- 
 
 " No, Dick, it was a contemporary of his though — Coleridge." 
 " Jove, I remember a line or two of his scrip. Doesn't it go : 
 
 ' Where Alph the sacred river ran 
 Through caverns measureless to man 
 Down to a sunless sea ! ' 
 
 That's his, isn't it ? "- 
 
 " Yes, those lines are from ' Kubla Khan ' too — same poem ; they're 
 better known than the others. 'Pon my soul, this might be the very river 
 described by Coleridge — its resemblance is wonderful, even to its being 
 sacred I What's the name of it ? " 
 
86 TH E MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Dick put the question to Naiu. " Callparicu," he answered. 
 
 " That means ' one who gives strength,' " said Dick. " They usually 
 apply the word to a wizard chief. I read all about it in a book of the 
 Hakluyt Society when I was getting up facts about this country ^t home. 
 I can't see how it applies though.'-' 
 
 " I do," said Hazel, promptly. " The stream comes from the buried 
 city, and brings with it strength— it's some religious allusion of course — 
 to the Indians. Callparicu 1— '•' 
 
 " Hullo ! "- interrupted Dick, excitedly. " what the devil's that ? "- 
 
 Naiu and Hazel followed the direction of his outstretched finger. As 
 he looked Naiu became greatly excited too. For the river had flung forth 
 a scarlet ball, the size of a man's head. It was bobbing and swaying on the 
 water' like a thing of hfe. " Gosh,"- yelled Dick, trying to hook it out 
 with a stick. " A message from Yayacarui, I'll go nap 1 "- 
 
 Suddenly he felt himself gripped from behind. Naiu had laid hold of 
 him unawares, and nowstood over him machete in hand, as he lay sprawl- 
 ing on the ground. For a moment Hazel was startled ; then he ; sprang 
 forward and closed with the Curaca. Dick found his legs and drew his 
 revolver, but he dared not fire whilst the two men wrestled together. 
 Then Hazel managed to throw Naiu, but the next moment the Indian 
 was up and running for the pueblo, shouting lustily as he ran. With an 
 oath Dick sighted him with his revolver. As he fired Hazel struck the 
 weapon so that the shot flew high. Dick swore furiously. 
 
 " Are you mad, man ? '-' shouted Hazel ; " what can we do against them 
 if it comes to a fight ? Come on, let's make for the pueblo and find Puca. 
 This may turn out pretty badly for us." 
 
 They raced together along the bank, and as they ran the scarlet ball 
 followed them slowly by the stream. . 
 
 Naiu's shouts brought the Indians out like bees from a hive, and he 
 continued to cry out loudly to them, pointing the while to the red ball 
 bobbing down the stream. 
 
 .Then a great and universal cry arose, and the Indians swarmed forward 
 to meet the white men. 
 
 " Shoot, man, shoot," cried Dick, his revolver ever ready. 
 
 " No, no ; don't you see they are unarmed 1 " 
 
 But Dick was not to be stayed. As soon as they were within range he 
 fired into the brown mass. There was a shriek, and one of them fell. 
 Still the Indians came forward, and were upon them like a swarm of 
 bees. Dick was trodden underfoot, and Hazel rushed forward, revolver in 
 hand, to help him. The next moment he too was borne down, helpless and 
 insensible. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " ESCAPE." 
 
 When Hazel regained consciousness, he found himself bound hand and 
 foot, and lying in complete darkness. It was some time before he could 
 comprehend the situation. Then little by little it came back to him, and 
 he knew that the pain he was suffering was due to the knocking about 
 he had had at the hands, or rather at the feet of the Indians. He re- 
 called Dick's rash attempt to obtain possession of the scarlet ball, his 
 own struggle with Niau, and the overwhelming rush of the Indians, that 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 87 
 
 had nearly trodden the life out of them both. Now he was in prison, 
 bound and helpless. It did not take him long to realise that ; and he 
 cursed Dick roundly for his folly and ruthless impetuosity. Rescue 
 seemed impossible, unless through Puca, perchance. But as yet the httle 
 man had made no sign. Perhaps he had turned traitor ; there was no 
 saying ! Then there came upon his ears the sound of certain oaths in a 
 voice too well-known to be mistaken. Dick was stiU very much alive, 
 and apparently in no-wise chastened in spirit. 
 
 " You there, Dick ? " 
 
 " You bet I am — ^tied up hke a damned spiritualist about to do a 
 conjuring trick. Gosh, if I could only get loose, how I'd twist the brown 
 necks of those brutes. Curse and " 
 
 " That's aU right, old chap. I'll take it as said. You won't get us 
 out of this pickle that way, though, and I think you've done enough 
 damage for the present. I've only just pulled myself together. How 
 are you ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had m' wits about me long since. Takes a deuce of a lot 
 to knock me out of time. They've chucked us into prison. Hazel, on 
 top of the pueblo : what's more, they've coUared our guns and knives, 
 the devils — once let me get at 'em, that's aU I " 
 
 " Has Puca made any sign ? " 
 
 " No : guess he's a rotter, and gone off and left us in this hole. Saw 
 Cain though, a while ago — the poor old nig's blubbering like a kid." 
 
 " What do you think their game is, Dick ? " 
 
 " Oh, God knows : offer us up to the sun, I suppose." 
 
 " Don't fancy they'U do that after what Naiu said. But we're in a deuce 
 of a fix, there's no getting out of that ! " 
 
 " Awfully sorry. Hazel : it's just like my cursed luck. But how was 
 I to know that Naiu would get on his hind legs over that blessed red 
 ball ? Wish I'd chucked him in along with it now ! " 
 
 " That ball came down from Yayacarui, Dick, consequently Naiu 
 regarded it as a very sacred object — much too sacred for you to touch." 
 
 " I'd touch him some," muttered Dick ; " but, I say, chief, can't you 
 wriggle out of these knots ? " 
 
 " Haven't tried yet : too joUy sore ! " 
 
 " H'm ; well as I got you into this mess, guess I'll get you out of it 
 — 'Struth, what infernal luck 1 " 
 
 " How can you, man ? we're unarmed and powerless." 
 
 " Shucks, we'll see about that. Puca will give us a hand, so'll Mayta." 
 
 " Doubt if you can : what we've done is to rouse the religious prejudices 
 of these beggars, Dick, and that's about the worst thing we could rouse." 
 
 " I'd rouse 'em a sight more if I'd only got m' shooter. Anyhow, I'm 
 goin' to get quit of these cords." 
 
 As Dick proceeded to struggle with his bonds, the door was opened 
 and a ray of sunlight shone into the cell. Three silent Indians entered, 
 bearing food and drink. They unbound the prisoners, and set the food 
 before them. Then they lit a primitive lamp — a mere cotton wick float- 
 ing in a saucer of oil, and departed as silently as they had entered. Dick 
 swore at them in English, questioned them in Quichua, and Hazel threw 
 in a few words of Spanish. But the red men gave no sign. 
 
 " I guess they don't mean us to fertihse their beastly boneyard, even 
 now," said Dick. " Here's grub and chica anyhow, so let's be joyful, 
 oh my soul ! What are you groaning at, chief ? " 
 
88 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Lord ! Dickie, what wouldn't I give for a wash ? I'm hot and dirty 
 and sore." 
 
 " Same here, my boy, and a black eye into the bargain. Guess I 
 shan't fret about no water while there's grub about. Come on, old man, 
 feed away." 
 
 " You really are a cool hand, Dick ! " 
 
 " Oh, bless you, I'm used to it. I'm always in trouble : everlastingly 
 in the mud. Providence has got a pick at me. I suppose I'll have 
 to go under some day, but that I guess'll be the look-out of the Almighty, 
 and he won't be too hard on poor Dickie. I'm not a reUgious cuss. Hazel, 
 as you know, but I hang by that peg, anyhow ! " 
 
 From which it will be seen that Dick's theology, if somewhat rudi- 
 mentary, was none the less of comfort to him on that account. At least 
 he was both able to eat and drink with gusto, as Hazel could see by the 
 glimmer of the oil-lamp. 
 
 But Hazel felt differently. He could not eat. After a very few mouth- 
 fuls he took refuge in his pipe, and from this he got more solace. But 
 he could not take his thoughts away from the present situation. It was 
 undoubtedly serious, and not all Dick's optimism — the immediate result 
 of his replenished interior — could make him view it otherwise. 
 
 " Oh, keep your pecker up, old man," said Dick, seeing he was in- 
 cUned to be downcast. " Mama Ocllo 'uU put this all right soon as she 
 hears 'bout it. Shouldn't wonder she knows the whole story by now. 
 She's dead nuts on you, you know ! " 
 
 " Explain yourself, Amherst ! " 
 
 " Oh, no offence, chief — she's real sweet on you, that's all. If she 
 wasn't, she wouldn't have taken aU the bother she has." 
 
 Gerald smiled. " I know, Dick — there is something in what you say. 
 I can admit it to you — you won't misunderstand me. I mean to say, you 
 know I'm not a prig — that I find precious little comfort in the knowledge 
 of her ' dead nuts,' as you put it — on the contrary, it bothers me a lot ! " 
 
 " Why ? I can't see how. She's aU the more certain to get us out of 
 this on that account." 
 
 " That may be. But it'U only be to get us — or, at least, me — into 
 another, and, if possible, worse trouble. If ever there was a tiger-cat, 
 that woman's one. She's got the cheek of a dozen she-devils. She's 
 quite game to do any amount of — well, I don't know quite how to put it ; 
 but you know what I mean 1 " 
 
 " Well, and if she does ? " 
 
 " I'm not inclined to respond, that's all ; and quite enough too, I 
 imagine." 
 
 " I daresay she'U get a bit restive under that. It's Molly blocks the 
 way with you. Hazel, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Leave her name out of it, Dick." 
 
 '"Well, 'pon my soul — I should ha' thought if anyone had the right 
 to mention the name of Molly Prynne, it was me, seeing she's engaged 
 to marry me. I only meant to show you that you were perfectly free to 
 go it hammer-and-tongs with Mama O." 
 
 " We agreed to leave the question of your engagement and my feel- 
 ings — in fact, that subject was tabooed, Dick, by mutual consent. Let 
 it he ! " 
 
 " All right, chief— as you Uke. I'm going to turn in. Good-night." 
 
 He put out the Ught. But, in the ensuing darkness, neither of them 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. §9 
 
 slept. Unwilling as he was to confess it. Hazel resented the situation 
 intensely. Dick's proprietorship of the girl — even though he knew her 
 feelings on the subject, irritated him. He seldom, if ever, allowed him- 
 self to think about it. And yet, without thinking of her, she was ever 
 in his mind. Was it not for her that he was here — in trouble, in prison, 
 in hourly danger of his life ? And Dick, on his part, had no great desire 
 to have her for his own. He knew that. It was merely since he had 
 learned that she was coveted, desired, by another man, that there had 
 grown up within him the inclination to assert his rights of proprietorship. 
 A dog in the manger he was, and he knew it. Every day he felt himself 
 drawn closer to Hazel in the bonds of real friendship. His feeling for 
 him was, even now, the strongest feeling he had ever known — stronger 
 by far than anything he had ever felt for Molly. And yet he could not 
 bring himself to part with her — to surrender his property in her. His 
 life he was ready to lay down for his friend at any moment. But a woman ! 
 — a man would surely be a cur who gave up a woman to another man 
 without showing fight for her ! That was how he looked at it. At least, 
 that was the thesis upon which he leant, and with which he comforted 
 himself — in such transient flashes as he felt the need of comfort. And yet, 
 if it came to a point, he was pretty sure that he would allow neither MoUy 
 nor half a hundred MolUes to come between him and Hazel. These 
 things were in his mind as he turned over from side to side for the sleep 
 that would not come. 
 " Hazel ! " 
 
 " HuUo I what is it ? " 
 
 " I promised you what you wanted, didn't I ? " 
 " Yes, Dick, and so far you've kept your promise ; why ? " 
 " Oh, not much. Only I wanted to tell you I'm straight all through. 
 Whatever turns up you've got a square man in Dick Amherst. I want 
 you to hang on to that. Hazel ! " 
 
 " All right, Dickie ; but what the deuce is all this about ? " 
 " Tell you when we're out of this mess. You trust me, chief — whole 
 hog ? " 
 
 " Yes, Dick — as myself." 
 
 " Shake ! Now I guess I know the way I've got to travel." He 
 wrapped the rug well round him and tried again for sleep. In half an 
 hour they were both off. 
 
 At dawn the door opened to show the sky all rose and gold over there 
 beyond the desert. Three Indians came to lead them from the cell. 
 They then saw that they were on the highest terrace of the pueblo, and 
 that it was crowded with natives, suUen-faced and silent. Through their 
 midst the prisoners were conducted to the Sun temple, an edifice built 
 after the Egyptian style, at the end of the terrace. On entering, they 
 found themselves in a large room, low of ceiling and with bare white- 
 washed walls. At the far end was a small altar of stone, upon which 
 burned a handful of fire. Behind this a plain yellow curtain was draped. 
 The temple was crowded. By the altar stood Naiu, throwing incense 
 from a curiously formed golden dish. He, in common with all the others, 
 was dressed in black. On either side of the shrine two Indians sat, wholly 
 naked, save for some fish nets thrown over them. The fish-nets were the 
 symbol of death. They played the most lugubrious music, these two, 
 on a wind instrument called the choimia. When the two Enghshmen 
 entered the sounds ceased. There was dead silence. Naiu did not even 
 
90 THE MOTHER OF E MERALDS. 
 
 glance at them; / He gazed intently on a square aperture directly over the 
 door, against the altar. The sun had not yet^come up over the mountains, 
 though the yellow rays of his unseen giory seemed to boil over the summits 
 of the peaks. ' 
 
 " Gosh," whispered Dick, uneasily. " I beheve they're goiiig to 
 sacrifice us ! " 
 
 Hazel shook his head, and cast an anxious look around. " If only 
 Puca were here ! " he said. 
 
 The naked Indians began their melancholy music again. Naiu joined 
 in now, chanting strange words accompanied with stranger gestures. 
 Then the worshippers prostrated themselves, chanting also. The in- 
 cense curled up white and thick from the altar, and soon the temple was 
 filled with its smoke. And stronger and stronger grew the radiance from 
 behind the giant hills, until, as with a leap, the orb of fire appeared. And 
 through the aperture, penetrating the dense roUing smoke, a radiant shaft 
 of golden light smote the yellow curtain. It was drawn aside, and there 
 glittered a great golden plate, in the centre of which was fashioned a 
 human countenance, awful and of horrid solemnity, studded around with 
 turquoise stones. The chant grew louder, and more shrill, and Naiu 
 threw himself on the ground, covering his head with his dark mantle. 
 Then there came a grating sound, and the sun-face was slid to one side, 
 and through the square aperture one could see the desert stretching 
 away below. Four natives rushed forward and seized the white men. 
 
 " They mean to chuck us through there," roajed Dick, wresthng to 
 free himself, and striking out right and left. " There's a drop of a, clean 
 hundred feet I Fight, chief, for your life — we must get out of this hole 1 " 
 
 Hazel saw that there was nothing for it now, and vowed to sell his 
 life dearly. Very quickly half a dozen Indians were on the floor. The 
 rest had drawn their knives and were prepared to use them. The two 
 Englishmen managed to set their backs against the wall. Hazel caught 
 up an Indian who advanced to strike, and hurled him with aU his force 
 back amongst his feUows, three of whom he knocked over as he fell. 
 But, now, Naiu was on his feet, shouting forth alternate orders and im- 
 precations. With a reckless dash, Dick made for the old man as he stood 
 there by the altar, and, catching him bodily, sent him with a wild 
 " hurrah " flying through the hole in the waU. The Indians drew back 
 for a moment, as they saw the body of the Curaca go hurtling through , 
 the air. And that moment was enough. Before they had time to reaUse 
 it. Hazel and Dick, fighting like demons, were through the doorway. 
 
 " Chuck yourself over, chief," yeUed Dick, jumping the heels of the 
 kneeling crowd outside. The next instant he was dropping from ledge 
 to ledge of the terraces. Hazel following close. The Indians poured 
 after them — a veritable torrent of humanity. 
 
 " Puca I " shouted Hazel. " See, Dick, Puca I " 
 
 There was Puca on the terrace half-way down, calling to them to come 
 on. No sooner had they touched ground on his ledge, than he ran up 
 and thrust their revolvers into their hands. Hazel gripped the butt 
 ever so gratefully. He fired into the very thick of the crowd," and one 
 by one they dropped as he fired. Both white men continued their descent, 
 terrace after terrace, Puca following closely. They were at the lowest 
 now, and there was a sheer drop of at least fifty feet to a sandy bottom. 
 There, belejw, was Cain with four mules saddled. Puca screeched at the 
 top of his voice. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 91 
 
 " Cordel, Senor, cordel." There sure enough was a rope dangling against 
 the wall. 
 
 " Come on, Dick ; you go down first ; I've three shots left ! " 
 
 After settling an Indian who was close upon him, Dick swung himself 
 over, Puca following. The weight of the dwarf put but Uttle more strain 
 on the rope. Then Hazel turned and faced the crowd as they came. 
 The air was rent and shaken with their cry of rage. Spears and arrows 
 came down thick, and three Indians sprang upon Hazel with their 
 machetes. He levelled, and killed one, disabled the other, but missed 
 the third, who sprang forward at him with upUfted knife. Hazel closed 
 with him, collaring " low," but the steel went through his khaki, never- 
 theless, and gashed his arm. He felt no pain. He managed to hold the 
 man's wrist and, inch by inch, he forced him to the parapet. Then he 
 saw two others close upon him, and with a terrific efiort he lifted his man 
 and threw him. Then he sprang for the rope. As he swung over he 
 could see Dick had reached bottom and was sighting the Indians with his 
 Winchester. Another instant, and he was in mid air with the rope run- 
 ning furiously through his hands. 
 
 When he was half-way down there came a shout from Dick, who had 
 now reached a spot where Cain was holding four mules. Hazel looked 
 up. One of the Indians was hacking away at the rope with a knife. 
 Almost as he reaUsed what this meant, there came the crack of the rifle, 
 and the man's body passed him in descent more rapid even than his own. 
 Another stepped forward to finish the work of his brother, only to be picked 
 off again by Dick. StiU undaunted came another in his place. But 
 even as he came Hazel was within reach of the ground. Then — the last 
 strand severed — the rope fell beside him. He staggered forward. 
 
 " Up, chief ! — mount for your hfe 1 " 
 
 " Lawd 'a mercy ! " whimpered Cain, cUnging strenuously to the neck 
 of his animal. 
 
 Already the ladders were out and black with the Indians cUmbing 
 down them. Following Puca's lead the fugitives galloped away between 
 the river and the pueblo, followed by a shower of missiles. Cain was 
 struck by a spear, and Hazel got an arrow in his shoulder. Still they rode 
 on, urging their beasts mercilessly. They rounded the comer and the 
 desert lay before them. . But Puca, shrieking Uke a demon, headed for the 
 mountains. As they swept along Hazel caught sight of Naiu writhing 
 on the ground below the temple. He was literally impaled on spear- 
 heads, which had been planted in the sands like an upturned harrow, 
 and seemed to be in the last agonies of death. They tore past the great 
 walls of the pueblo, the Indians ever following. But the yielding sands 
 were proving too much for the natives, giving them but poor foothold, 
 so that they could not keep pace with the mules. Faint as he was with 
 loss of blood. Hazel managed to hang on until they were well away. 
 Then, after they had been ascending the hill for about a quarter of an 
 hour, Puca called a halt. They were on a great ledge of rock up to which 
 one narrow path ascended. The precipice yawned below them, and 
 dotted away over the plain they could even now see the Indians in groups. 
 Then all became indistinct to Hazel, and his senses left him. The last 
 thing he heard as he fell from the mule, was a cry of dismay from Dick. 
 
 This was the second time he had become unconscious within the last 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
92 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII; 
 
 " THE MUSIC MOUNTAIN." 
 
 Two days later the little party encamped for the night at an altitude of 
 seven thousand feet. Above the camp fire the blind wall of a granite 
 precipice rose sheer a thousand feet. At the snow line it split into jagged 
 peaks, flecked here and there with white. At the base, a grassy shelf, half 
 encircled by rocks, extended for some little distance, suddenly giving 
 place to vast beds of scoriaceous lava, and sloping half a mile to the lips 
 of a huge quebrada. Zig-zag across a bleak plateau, herbless, dry and 
 rugged with fallen rocks, this earthquake fissure stretched, all overlaid 
 with a fine volcanic dust. On its further side, three miles or more away, 
 the ground rose sharply in jags of blackest rock, which lost themselves 
 only in the banks of cloud stretching across the horizon. Above all shot 
 the great peaks of the Andes, pallid with eternal snows. Over one volcano 
 glowed the red glare from the lava seething in its cup. A sky wonderful 
 with stars, and filled with cold moonlight, arched above this grim magni- 
 ficence. 
 
 " It is like the frozen circle of hell," said Gerald, as he surveyed the 
 bleak grandeur of the landscape, " where Dante made stepping-stones 
 on the heads of sinners chained in ice." 
 
 He was standing near the tethered mules on the verge of the platform. 
 The thermometer registered something about fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. 
 He looked out on to the lonely circle of hills. At his feet the plateau 
 with its jagged gulch was hidden in gloom and mist. In silver bands 
 the clouds extended across the bosom of the mountains, and the moon, 
 wheeling along the ragged rims of the lofty peaks, rained down whiteness 
 on the solitary world. He felt they were like emmets at the bottom 
 of a colossal bowl, shut out from all humanity by the frozen rocks. The 
 wonderful gloom, the red glow of the volcano, the chill splendour of moon 
 and stars appealed to his most solemn feelings. And the awful loneliness ! 
 — that was most terrible of all. 
 
 He had a vivid perception of the majesty and of the cruelty of Nature. 
 Here was Nature's workshop, and here the raw material, the naked ribs 
 of earth, from out which she would manufacture a more kindly world. 
 
 " Say, chief," shouted Dick, " ain't you keen on getting your teeth 
 into some llama flesh ? Cain's roasted it to a turn. Huh 1 Lucky I 
 shot the beast or we'd have had nothing but charqui. I never did see 
 much eatin' in charqui myself. By the way, how's the arm, old man ? " 
 
 " Oh, it's heaUng fast enough now — and your shoulder ? " 
 
 " Pooh ! a mere flea bite ; those beggars can't shoot for sour apples 1 " 
 
 " Dey hurt Cain 'nough, Massa Dick," said that gentleman, serving 
 out the llama steak. " Wif dat mule an' dem arrows, old Cain hab had 
 a mos' 'citin' time. Lawd bery good to dis nig." 
 
 " He's good to all of us, Cain." Hazel stretched himself by the fire and 
 reached out for his portion. " What do you say, Cusi-cuy ? " 
 
 Puca, seated like a Uttle clay image, showed his teeth pleasantly at 
 this formal address from his chief; 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 93 
 
 " Con-illa-ticci-vira-cocha — good to white man and red man, Yira- 
 cocha." 
 
 " Great Scott, what a jargon. Say, Puca, you never told us why those 
 damned niggers were after bashing us about ? " 
 
 " Senor I You wished — Rojorojo.'' Here Puca's mixture of Spanish 
 and Anglo-Saxon gave out. He took refuge in Quichua. " Yqu would 
 have taken the red ball which floated on the sacred stream. "- 
 " Well, what of that ? "• 
 
 " I do not know. These"men have their customs ; the river is sacred." 
 " Did the red ball come from Yayacarui ? " 
 
 " I do not know, Uchu," repUed the little Indian, using a name which 
 he had given to Dick as significant of his fiery temper, the word in his 
 own language meaning " pepper." " I know nothing. Viracocha saved 
 my life, and I promised, as he wished, to bring him to the Music Moim- 
 tain." He pointed to the precipice looming overhead. " Behold, Uchu, 
 the Music Mountain 1 My promise is fulfilled."- 
 " But we want to find the city, Puca ! " 
 
 The dwarf looked gravely round at the desolation. " I have no know- 
 ledge of the city, Uchu. To-morrow, when the great god looks over 
 yonder hill, this rock will sing to him. When you hear that, all is done."- 
 Then he relapsed into silence. 
 
 Dick translated all this to Hazel. " The beggar knows where the city 
 is, sure enough,"- he said. " Guess he's bluffing us. Anyhow, we can't 
 take root in this God-forsaken place Ustening to any rocks squeahng. 
 What's the order, chief ? " 
 
 " Indeed I don't know, Dick." Hazel lit his pipe and considered gravely. 
 " We've got rid of the Indians it's true ; but here we are on the hills 
 with only those mules and our guns. Naiu and his lot have got everything 
 else." 
 
 " I guess Naiu hasn't," broke in Dick, grimly. " He's cooking in Sheol 
 by this time, confound him. I'm glad I chucked him on to that crop of 
 spear-heads. I wonder how he liked his own physic ? " 
 
 " Even so, the fact remains they've annexed our stuff," persisted Hazel. 
 " We've got a precious small stock of provisions, and it doesn't look as 
 though- there were much to kill hereabouts. Even if we wanted to turn 
 back, we couldn't in our present pUght. We'd be no match for those 
 beggars down below. As it was we had a precious near squeak." 
 
 " Ah ha," chuckled Cain. " Puca tell dis nigger dere was danger, sah, 
 and say dat you an' Massa Dick be killed. Den he bring dem mules an- 
 tell ole Cain to wait -wid dem below. Lawd-gol-a-mercy, Massa Hazel ; 
 it was bery funny when I see you an' Massa Dick tumble do-wn dem 
 steps." 
 
 " Shut your potato-trap, you silly fool. There was darned little fun 
 about the whole circus. If we hadn't engineered the job ourselves, 
 Puca couldn't have got us out of the trouble." 
 
 " Him was climbing up to help you, sah," protested Cain. 
 " Shucks I He hadn't the boss-word I thought he had." Dick 
 fastened a vindictive gaze on Puca, who was smoking placidly. " He's 
 
 a blamed liar, and a ■" 
 
 " Well, well, Dick," interrupted Hazel, impatiently. "As we can't 
 go back we must go on." 
 
 " Right you are ; but where to, chief ? '-' 
 
 " To the city— we'll hope." He paused, and resumed gravely : " Tell 
 
94 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 you "what, Dick, I still believe JVIama OcUo's got her eye on us. Puca is 
 playing 'possum according to orders. I've a notion we'll drop on the 
 city somehow." 
 
 " Gosh 1 hanged if I see how ! " 
 
 " Trust to the chapter of accidents. We've got so far, you bet we'll 
 get further." 
 
 " Bit vague, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Perhaps ; but so far as that goes the whole thing's very vague. On 
 the slightest of evidence you and I, Dick, have launched out on this 
 queer business. We're looking for a man who is dead according to Titu's 
 story- — in search of a buried city supposed to be filled with immense 
 treasure — an Arabian Nights emerald, which ten to one doesn't exist 
 at all. The whole thing is vague, Dick, very vague ; the kind of thing 
 one reads about in adventure stories of the Mayne Reid order, or Jules 
 Verne. However, circumstances which we will not allude to particularly " 
 — Hazel thought of Molly, and Dick's face showed that he was not very 
 far away from the same subject — " have sent us thus far into the wilder- 
 ness. Puca has fulfilled his promise, and here we are at the Music 
 Mountain. What is next to be done I cannot say offhand ; what will 
 happen neither you nor I, Dick, can prophesy. Therefore," said Hazel, 
 wrapping himself in his poncho, " we must trust, as I said, and as I still 
 say, to the chapter of accidents. Good-night now, you'd better get ofi 
 to sleep." 
 
 Cain and Puca were already asleep, and after a glance at their re- 
 cumbent forms Dick remarked to himself that it was a queer start, and 
 prepared to follow their example. In ten minutes they were all sleeping 
 soundly by the dying fire, in the midst of that tremendous desolation. 
 In that desert, arid and solitary, there was no need for sentry- — the sense 
 of security was absolute. 
 
 As the night drew on the moon dropped behind the western peaks, and 
 the scene was swfallowed up in darkness. The silence deepened, and — 
 as it seemed — even the mules ceased to stamp and snort. After a feeble 
 flicker or so the fire died into a pUe of feathery white ash. There was no 
 breath of wind, and the black night lay over all. 
 
 A fresh cold wind blew down the caiion as the morning dawned ; the 
 mules stretched themselves and began to feed ; Puca woke and shivered. 
 It was bitterly cold ; he threw some wood on the smouldering embers and 
 they broke into flame. Not one of the worn-out trio was yet awake, and 
 Puca, much to his satisfaction, had the field aU to himself. For a time 
 he watched the position of the stars ; then, perching on the extreme 
 verge of the rocky shelf, he fixed a steady eye on some conjectural spot 
 in the gloom below. There was some plan in his mind. 
 
 In an hour or thereabouts a spurt of rainbow-hued fire could be seen 
 to shoot up in the gloom. It was the trail of a rocket. It rose and broke 
 into jewelled flame. Puca knew that it was launched from the depths 
 of the quebrada. Hardly had the sparks died out in the darkness when 
 he slipped noiselessly over the edge of the platform and disappeared 
 in the night. He did not return. 
 
 After the long hours had slowly dragged themselves to dawn a thrill 
 ran through the gloom. It began to disperse, to lift ; and over the 
 rugged hilltops a wan light spread luminpus and pale. It broadened north 
 and south, crept up to the zenith, and made faint the stars, growing 
 stronger and more searching, until the rocky world was revealed, grey. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 95 
 
 colourless, and clear. Delicate as the faintest blush, a pale pink hue 
 tinged the west. It deepened to a fiery crimson, and fan-like shafts of 
 gold radiated from behind the hills. Then the gold became fire, in- 
 tolerable, bhnding ; and flaming in unclouded majesty, the sun leapt Over 
 the world's edge. The hollow was filled with light, Uquid and golden, the 
 shadows of rock and peak grew! black. Across the great amphitheatre 
 shot rays of yellow effulgence, and smote on the granite face of tlie precipice 
 — on the astonished countenances of three newly-awakened men. In 
 awed surprise they sat up and listened. A dull moaning sound, low and 
 faint, welled from the mountain's heart. It grew thinner, higher in pitch, 
 more musical. Below it all the sustained drone as of an organ pedal. In 
 a few minutes, having attained its greatest volume, the strain faltered, 
 broke into confused tones, and these dwindled with a d57ing fall until 
 their melody escaped the sharpest ear. A moment more and the granite 
 harp was mute ; and the planet, having saluted her god, basked silently in 
 the presence of his glory. The hymn of Nature was ended. 
 
 " By George, it's wonderful," cried Gerald, placing his hand on the great 
 slab of stone which now was slightly warm. " It's the first time I ever 
 heard Apollo play his lyre. Ah, how wise these old Greeks were in their 
 interpretation of nature. "- 
 
 Dick rose and shook the frost rime off his poncho, and yawned. Rub- 
 bing his eyes he looked round. Hitherto they had been fiLxed on the rock. 
 Now with the swift change of a wind-swept lake his expression altered. 
 
 " Puca ! " He gathered together his sleepy wits. " Hi, _Puca, you 
 little devil, you, where are you sulkihg ? " 
 
 " Puca ! "- Gerald wheeled round suddenly, looked at the camp fire, 
 at the iron landscape, at Dick himself. With a clatter Cain let fall the 
 tin coffee-pot he was holding. 
 
 " GoUy, massa, why dat Puca gone ? " He stared skyTvard as thaugh 
 expecting to see the dwarf drop therefrom. 
 
 Dick and Hazel, fuUy alive to the danger of the loss, set off in different 
 directions, explored the platform, peered round the corners, looked into 
 the gulch, and shouted the name of their missing follower until the whole 
 place rang with their strident cries. But there was no answer, save a 
 derisive shriek of a slow sailing condor. Puca was gone. 
 
 " Hell ! " said Dick, looking blankly at his chief. " Here's a go ! '-'■ 
 
 " He must come back ! " Gerald spoke much more confidently than he 
 felt. " Where the devil has he got to, I wonder, in this howling wilderness ? 
 The mules are all here ;" he's taken nothing ! -' He looked round at the 
 landscape, now beginning to glow like a furnace in the sunlight. " He 
 must come back."- 
 
 " Hope so," said Dick, gloomily. " Let's have a feed anyhow.'' And 
 they went to breakfast in no very cheerful frame of mind. 
 
 But Puca never came back, although they waited hours for himj 
 
 And so they found themselves in a treeless, arid desert ; left stranded 
 by the only man who knew the geography of that desolate waste. 
 
96 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " IN THE DEPTHS." 
 
 " Council of war, Dick ! " 
 
 Mr. Amherst, who had recovered his spirits, nodded approbation. 
 " Guess that'll about fill the bill, chief. Cain, you blamed fool, hunker 
 down." 
 
 The negro showed what remained of his teeth, and took his place. 
 They still clung to the ledge in the faint .hope that Puca might return. 
 Now at his highest, the sun poured floods of glowing light on the shadow- 
 less earth, and puffs of heated air rose from the arid valley, where the 
 temperature was almost that of a blast furnace. Not a cloud tempered 
 the pitiless glare ; not a shadow was cast by the jumble of black slag ; 
 and arched by a brazen firmament, the earth lay baked, parched, almost 
 molten. With the water giving out ,' the provisions failing ; the grass 
 cropped by the mules to its very quick, there was no time to be lost ; 
 they must descend to a level where they tnight hope to find both food and 
 water. And so they took counsel among themselves, Cain — ^the mere 
 echo of Dick — participating therein as a matter of course. 
 
 " Well, Dicky, what's to be done ? " 
 
 " First and foremost we must get to water, chief." 
 
 " That means we will have to drop down the mountain again. Naiu's 
 gang, or no Naiu's gang, there's nothing else for it, so far as I can see. 
 We'll have to chance it. If only the devils had left us a few more cartridges, 
 I wouldn't mind so much." 
 
 " Dat Puca nebber gib ole Cain time to git dem tings on de mules, 
 Massa Hazel." 
 
 " No, he knew a thing worth two of that," said Dick, gloomily ; " we've 
 got enough to see us through about twenty shots ; after that, whew ! 
 There's just the chance we may pick up some friendlies though. Hazel ! " 
 
 " Can't trust 'em." Hazel knit his brows. " Seems to me the pueblo 
 tamash was a put-up job by Puca, Dick." 
 
 " Quite believe it. I'll wring his blamed neck when I get him ; he 
 needs man-handling. But what's to be done, chief ? " 
 
 " Well, we'd better get back the way we came. If we hide in the gorge 
 above the pueblo until it is dark there may be a chance of stealing down 
 and collaring a couple of the canoes on the sacred river. We shall probably 
 find that the stream joins the Ucayali or some affluent, and that we can 
 reach Todos Santos that way." 
 
 " Huh ! You reckon to shunt the city, then ? " 
 
 " No, by Heaven ! " cried Hazel, vigorously. " We'll replenish both 
 gun and other fodder down below and get back as sharp as we can." 
 
 " H'm ! Guess there ain't much gun-food at Todos I " 
 
 " Then at Iquitos. It only means a run up the Ucayali ; and that 
 town's a boss-centre, where you can get a good deal for money."' Gerald 
 touched his belt. " We'll manage it somehow, Dick." 
 
 ■" It'll be the deuce's own business slipping past that blamed pueblo." 
 
 " Not by night ; and once on the river we'll take our chance. Well ? '' 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 97 
 
 " I'm with you, chief. Cain ? " 
 
 " Lawd, Massa Dick, yo' knows dis niggah do jes' what yo' do." 
 
 " Even to grilling on a rock," grinned Dick, who was recovering his 
 spirits. " 'Twon't be easy to get the mules along the quebrada edge." 
 
 " StufE ! Mules were invented for that sort of thing. I'd ride one 
 along a rainbow. But look here, we must have a snack before starting." 
 
 " Amen to that — I'm with you. Hurry up with the grub, Cain.'' 
 
 In an hour they began the descent, the trifling luggage strapped on 
 one mule, Dick, Cain and Gerald mounted on the other three. Amherst 
 led, and picking out 'the faint trail which had been indicated by Puca, 
 let his mule go free. The sure-footed animal, followed by its companions, 
 descended in a zigzag ; and despite the abrupt slope of the ground, and 
 the rolling of the loose stones, Dick felt as safe there as riding along a 
 level road. It was between two and three o'clock when they turned on 
 the old trail. 
 
 " Hot as Sheol ! " grumbled Gerald, whose skin v/as creased with the 
 fine, slate-coloured dust raised by the feet of the mules, and whose eyes 
 ached with the hard light, hot and shadowless. 
 
 " Hot ? I reckon it is," replied Dick, simply. After that there was 
 no word spoken, save by Cain, whose terror each time his mule stumbled, 
 led him to gasp out a pious prayer. So they dropped down slowly to 
 the lower levels ; not without danger — since a false step might send the 
 whole of them rolling into the quebrada-^but with a dogged courage 
 born of necessity. 
 
 And the abyss was at hand. Two hours of crawling along the lava 
 slopes brought them to the wall of mountains which hemmed in the 
 amphitheatre. Here the earthquake had split the cliffs not only from top 
 to bottom, but down — almost into the womb of the world, and the terrific 
 chasm stretched its gaping mouth through the gorge for many miles. 
 On either side ran a narrow ledge, along which the mules paced, scraping 
 their riders' legs against the rock. It was indeed a perilous way. Above, 
 the frowning clifEs — below, the fathomless crack in the planet's crust ; 
 and between, like the bridge of dread, a path scarcely nine feet wide. 
 The journey along this ledge required the nicest handling — a nerve of 
 steel ; but as it was the sole outlet to the lower slopes of the mountain, 
 the attempt had to be made somehow. At least they were out of the 
 glare of the sun, for here was a slight shade, cool and pleasing to the eye, 
 and a breeze which tempered the heat radiating from the cliffs. Hazel 
 glanced at his watch. 
 
 " We'll get through by sundown," he said. " Cain, let the animals 
 have their heads," to which remark the negro made no reply, being terrified 
 at finding himself hanging between heaven and earth on a nine foot 
 shelf. 
 
 The sun wheeled west, the gloom intensified in the gorge, and still 
 they held on at a slow pace, with straining eyes and aching nerves. As 
 the glimpse of sky overhead changed to a dazzling yellow, they were 
 able to see the pleasant green of the lower hills above the desert. On 
 turning a corner the path grew a trifle wider, and Dick gave a great shout 
 as they emerged from the jaws of the pass. Fatal expression of joy 1 
 for they were yet on the ledge and in peril. Hardly had the echo of his 
 cry died away, when the gorge reverberated with the sharp ping, ping, 
 ping, of three rifles. The mule led by Cain plunged, snorted, and with a 
 loud bray disappeared over the precipice. The old nigger, holding fast 
 
98 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 to the lariat, lost his balance, and in a flash was jerked from his mule 
 into the depths. The incident happened so suddenly that Gerald for the 
 moment lost his head, the next thing he realised was that he was galloping 
 down the broad descent of the valley road, with Cain's mule plunging by 
 his side, and Dick tearing ahead brandishing his revolver and, cursing 
 freely. They hurled themselves blindly into an ambush of Indians, 
 who scattered right and left at the onset, and then wheeled round with 
 rifles levehed. It flashed across Hazel that the end of all things was at 
 hand, and he set his teeth to die game. 
 
 Dick, furious at the loss of C^in, was shooting wildly. Hazel saw an 
 Indian fling up his hands and fall, then as fire spouted from two rifles 
 Amherst's mule rolled under him. The next moment Dick was up, striking 
 and kicking ; but a mass of men flung themselves forward and bore him 
 down. Gerald leaped from his mule and swinging his revolver, dashed 
 forward to his aid. If death must come let them die together. 
 
 " Hold on, Dick, I'm with you," and crack, crack, two men bit the 
 dust.* 
 
 " Shoot ; shoot the devils ! '' 
 
 But the contest was too unequal. Overwhelmed and outnumbered, 
 the white men were struck to the earth and rendered powerless by the 
 sheer weight of their enemies. In another five minutes, bound and blind- 
 folded, they were being borne in some unknown direction to some unknown 
 doom. A quarter of an hour had sufficed to change the whole aspect 
 of affairs. 
 
 Gerald was the coolest of men. The more imminent the danger, the 
 more composed he became ; and in spite of the suddenness of this attack, 
 of the frightful death of the negro, of his own helpless condition, and 
 that of Dick, his wits were always with him. An occasional oath from 
 Amherst no great distance away assured him that his friend was at least 
 alive, which was something to be thankful for in the circumstances. 
 
 The Indians said no word, but carried Gerald swiftly yet not roughly 
 along. In the turmoil he had lost all knowledge of the cardinal points ; 
 and Icnew not whether he was being taken back to the gorge or forward 
 to the lower slopes. But he felt the irregularities of the ground ; first 
 an ascent, then a level path ; then a flight of steps, which his bearers 
 descended, and finally a halt. Shortly after, a rope was knotted under his 
 arms, and he was swung into space. A solution of the attack flashed across 
 his mind. 
 
 " Mama OcUo I The Quebrada ! The buried city ! " 
 
 Reeling and dizzy, he dropped down like a bale of goods. He thought 
 he would never reach the bottom of the abyss, and wondered vaguely 
 how long the rope could be. Strong winds sucked up from the earth's 
 entrails rushed and roared, dashing his body to and fro. He swung like 
 a spider at the end of its self-spun strand. Unexpectedly there came a 
 pause. He was dropped gently as thistledown on to a craggy shelf — ■ 
 midway, he guessed it must be, since the wind still streamed upward. 
 Another rope, and he was again lowered into those tremendous depths. 
 Three times he rested on as many ledges ; three times a fresh rope was 
 bound round him. Down I down I down ! He began to think he would 
 drop to the central fires ; and like the ghosts in the Inferno, he was blown 
 like a withesing leaf along the wind. 
 
 At the fourth rest, the second stage of this blind and nightmare journey 
 was reached. There was no more lowering, but, lifted by strong arms. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 99 
 
 he was borne at a running pace through a warm thick atmosphere. As 
 in a dream he heard the splash of water, the clashing of subterranean 
 winds, the echo of falling rocks, as though he were in the workshop of 
 Nature — in the very bowels of the earth. Still there could be felt a faint 
 breeze, and a damp coolness, which constrained him to believe he was even 
 yet in the open. Then borne up a steep ascent, the thunder of a waterfall 
 struck his ear, and on his cheek he felt the sting of bitterly cold spray. 
 Then the roaring ceased ; so suddenly and completely that the ensuing 
 silence became terrible by contrast. Again came the running on level 
 ground ; then again a pause. Released from his bonds he was rolled 
 on the earth. The bandage was whipped from his eyes, and the soft pad, 
 pad, of bare feet died away. The darkness around him was as the dark- 
 ness of Egypt. 
 
 Physically and mentally incapacitated for the moment, he lay there 
 motionless. Gradually, as the blood circulated, his brain began to work 
 again, and he became more alive to his position. Someone was sobbing 
 by his side. 
 
 " Dick, is that you ? " 
 
 " Y — e — s," after a long interval. 
 
 Gerald groped with his hands, and finally touched what seemed to be 
 a bundle of wet clothes ; a bundle which shook and trembled as with 
 ague. He caught the bundle in his numbed arms. 
 
 " Dick ! Be a man — pull yourself together." 
 
 But Amherst, with his head on Gerald's breast, still sobbed and shivered. 
 " Cain, Cain 1 Poor old Cain ! " he wailed. " Ah, God ! God ! " 
 
 Gerald could give him no consolation on this point. Cain was no 
 doubt lying shattered and dead in some terrific abyss ; never again to 
 be seen by the eye of man. " M'only friend," wept Dick. " A better 
 man than ever I was. Curse them ! Damn them ! Oh I Oh! Oh!" 
 
 Far in the distance a silvery star twinkled unexpectedly in the gloom. 
 It waxed and brightened, and radiated light until it became a moon for 
 size and lustre — and like the naoon seemed to float in the void. Hazel 
 suddenly jerked Dick to his feet. " Look here — we can't stay here for 
 ever, and howling won't do any good ! " he said, almost brutally. " For 
 God's sake let's get out of this I " 
 
 " Where ? " asked Dick, listlessly. 
 
 " Towards that light. Then we may see our surroundings. We must 
 be in the buried city, Amherst." 
 
 " We are in Cain's grave. I'll come ! " 
 
 Hand in hand the two advanced, timoious as children, moving cautiously 
 through the dark lest they should be prvjcipitated into some abyss. Dick's 
 heart was too full to feel much ; but Gerald's throbbed rapidly, fluttered 
 fearfully as they crept along the unknown. The bravest man may be 
 excused terror at a danger he cannot foresee or guard against ; and their 
 nightmare position shook Gerald to the centre of his being. 
 
 The gallery — as it undoubtedly was — trended upward, and with every 
 step they took, the silvery light rose steadily. When they were directly 
 underneath, it hung like a splendid planet high above their heads — so 
 high that its pallid radiance served only to hollow out a small gulf of light 
 in the thick gloom. Then another miracle happened. 
 
 Directly in front of them, an arm's length away, appeared a seven-hued 
 rainbow of considerable size, which glowed like some splendid jewel. 
 At the same moment the star overhead vanished. Filled with curiosity, 
 
 4* 
 
100 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Hazel stretched out his hand. It touched the rainbow, and there was a 
 ripple of delicate sound from silver bells. The tintinnabulation still 
 trembled in the air when a softly sliding door was pushed aside. A blaze 
 of light ; a glitter of silver and crystal and jewels dissolved in a mist 
 of white fire. The two men reeled back, struck blind well-nigh with the 
 dazzle, after those many hours of darkness. From the — to them — blinding 
 light a voice proceeded. 
 
 " Enter into Yayacarui ! " 
 
 It was the voice of Mama OcUo ; and the adventurers leaped forward. 
 At the sound of the well-known voice they were filled with hatred and 
 wrath. As they sprang the sliding sound was again heard. The door 
 closed behind them. They were alone before a throne of resplendent 
 silver, upon which sat Mama OcUo, smiUng mockingly. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " THE END OF THE JOURNEY." 
 
 As Abou Hassan may have felt on waking a caliph in the caliph's palace, 
 so did Hazel feel, surrounded by this unaccustomed and barbaric splen- 
 dour. He and Dick found themselves in a fair-sized room — if room it 
 could be called — having an arched roof, and at the further side a circular 
 recess wherein was placed the throne occupied by Mama Ocllo. 
 
 Both men, unkempt and dishevelled, stared silently at her, for she was 
 once again the bejewelled idol of that never-to-be-forgotten night in Lima. 
 But the shrine was more resplendent now than it had been in Tockto's 
 cabin. Plates of polished silver covered roof and walls and throne, 
 a mosaic pavement of wondrous design and colouring stretched nakedly 
 around, wholly bare of furniture : curtains of purple silk, gold-broidered 
 with grotesque patterns, draped the door, and cushions of the same material 
 and colour enriched the throne. In the dome sparkled a myriad of 
 electric lamps in safiron-hued globes : and over the recess arched a seven- 
 coloured rainbow, formed of gems, which scintillated sparks of fire. The 
 silver walls flashed back the light, the lamps were reflected and reduplicated 
 as in mirrors, and the throne shone with the radiance of white flame. 
 In the centre of this glow and glory and intolerable brilliancy sat Mama 
 Ocllo, concentrating in herself all the wondrous splendour of that wondrous 
 place. .The whole coruscated and streamed with rainbow fires like the 
 Northern Lights. Here, if anywhere, was earth's treasure-house, in earth's 
 womb, and Mama Ocllo sat on its throne as the goddess of Fortune, to be 
 worshipped or cursed. Dick, on recovering from the shock of his first 
 surprise, was quick to enrol himself on the side of those who cursed. 
 
 " You infernal witch ! " shouted he, feeling for his revolver and finding 
 none. " If I'd m' shooter, I'd kill you as you killed Cain." He rushed 
 up the steps of the throne before Hazel could stop him, and shook his 
 clenched hand in the face of the motionless figure. " By God, it's well 
 
 you're a woman, or I'd wipe the floor with you. As it is " choking 
 
 with rage, he raised his fist. 
 
 " Here, I say, Dick, go easy. Pull yourself together. Remember you're 
 a white man.'' 
 
 Mama Ocllo never moved, never flinched. With Dick's fist a few inches 
 away from her face, she still continued to smile, and naocked him with 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. loi 
 
 her smile. By that gaze he was hypnotized, disarmed, put to utter rout, 
 so that he let himself be dragged back by Hazel. 
 
 " Jezebel 1 You murdered my only friend," and tears of which he was 
 not ashamed streamed down his dirty cheeks. " I'll wring your neck, 
 damn you! See if I don't ! " 
 
 Mama Ocllo still sat mute, still smiled. 
 
 It was reserved for Hazel to sting her into speech and action. With 
 a shrug, he gazed at the splendours around him, secretly amazed, out- 
 wardly calm, even contemptuous. When he looked again on the woman 
 there was a sneer on his face and an irony in his voice. Dick, sullen and 
 downcast, held his tongue. 
 
 " This is all very pretty and theatrical," said Hazel dehberately. " Your 
 mise-en-scene is imposing and correct : just what one expects from Peru, 
 after reading Prescott's ' Arabian Nights.' But you will forgive my 
 observing that the preparations for our entrance were a trifle melodra- 
 matic, and — so far as we are concerned — quite ineffective. I don't care 
 for Rosicrucian mysteries myself, and should have preferred more of a 
 welcome and less of a pantomime. Perhaps the Senorita de Herrera will 
 explain why she has taken so much trouble to impress two common-place 
 Englishmen ? '' 
 
 The lazy scorn in his voice wa.s so evident, that Mama Ocllo winced 
 — perhaps for the first time in her Ufe. She evaded his question. " Call 
 me no Spanish dog names," she said, rising with regal pride. " In me 
 you behold the descendant of Manco Capac — the representative of the 
 Incas." 
 
 " Quite so. I was aware in Lima that you exercised your feminine 
 prerogative of — shall we say, equivocation. You are Mama Ocllo, an 
 Inca princess, and, for purposes best known to yourself, you preside over 
 this jeweller's shop. I knew much of this before. But what I do not 
 know, and what I would have you tell me, is why you have seized us ; and 
 how you have dared to kill our servant." 
 
 " Dare ! " Mama Ocllo's black brows drew together. " No one uses that 
 word to me. Here my word is the word of life and death. I am supreme. "■ 
 
 " So I should think — you give every evidence of an undisciplined nature. "- 
 
 " If you speak to me like that, you shall not live." 
 
 Hazel shrugged his shoulders. " As you please. We are in your 
 power." 
 
 " Are you not afraid ? "• 
 
 " Afraid 1 " echoed Dick, taking the word out of Gerald's mouth. 
 " Neither I nor my friend's afraid of any slut sewn up in jewels. Why 
 you ''■ 
 
 " Shut up, Dick,'' whispered Hazel, vehemently. " Let me manage 
 her."- 
 
 " Be damned to her ! " shouted Dick, " She killed Cain."- 
 
 " And you also shall be killed if you are not silent instantly," panted 
 the woman, her eyes flashing, her voice shaking with passion. " Yes, 
 and be days in dying." 
 
 " It's torture you mean, you she-devil 1 "- 
 
 " Yes, torture. Drunken hound, but for your friend there, I would 
 have had you killed long since. You insulted me at Lima : the death of 
 your negro clears that score. But insult me here in my own city, and by 
 Him whose breath is my soul, I will teach you how long death can be in 
 coming. Now you have my warning ! " 
 
 4t 
 
102 THE MOTH ER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Dick snapped his fingers. " Huh ! I should smile. I'd like to see m'self 
 knuckle down to you in this rabbit-burrow. If " 
 
 With a frown Gerald seized Dick's arm. " Hold 5'our tongue, I tell 
 you. You promised to obey me. Let me speak." 
 
 " Fire ahead 1 " said Dick, sullenly. " I guess that cat-a-mountain 'ull 
 make it hot for us anyhow ! " 
 
 By this time Mama Ocllohad recovered herself somewhat. Taking no 
 notice of Dick's insolence, she addressed herself to Hazel. " You are no 
 doubt tired and upset," she observed coolly, " and perhaps you are not 
 well able to measure your words. As I am not naturally a patient woman, 
 it may be best — it will be best if we postpone further conversation till 
 to-morrow. I have given all instructions for your comfort." 
 
 " First tell me why you killed our servant." 
 
 " I had no use for him," replied Mama Ocllo, brutally. " I have still 
 less for your friend, but as I promised you in Lima, I ordered that he should 
 be spared. It is you I want, Mr. Hazel : and," with a slow smile, " it is 
 you I have. Now go ! " 
 
 " But if you will ex " 
 
 " Be wise and go." 
 
 She clapped her hands, and the door rolled back again, showing a rugged 
 gallery now lighted with many electric lamps. Several Indians in cotton 
 dresses waited without, and thinking discretion was the better part of 
 valour, Gerald took Dick's arm and led him out of the silver chamber. 
 As they left it, the door closed again, and shut off its splendours from their 
 view. FoUoAving the Indians, Gerald kept fast grip of Dick, and reproached 
 him for his rashness. 
 
 " We tread on egg-shells here, Dicky," he said impressively, " and your 
 game of blufi won't do — to use your own vernacular, it doesn't pay a red 
 cent." 
 
 " She needn't have killed Cain," grumbled Dick, savagely. 
 
 " I know, and I am sorry. Poor old Cain — he was a decent sort." 
 
 Amherst stopped and struck his heel passionately on the ground. " He 
 was a white man. Hazel. God never made a better. I'm a dandy sinner, 
 I am — and there's no vacancy for an angel which would suit me. But 
 Cain, a good old saint ! He'll be roosting in Abraham's bosom, I guess, 
 while I'm being barracked in the sulphur factory. If there was " 
 
 Dick's queer mixture of lamentation and slang, of sorrow and blasphemy, 
 was interrupted by Hazel, who saw their guide — a tall Indian in blue 
 cotton trousers and blouse — looking curiously at the speaker. " Do you 
 understand English ? " asked Hazel, sharply. 
 
 " Yes, sir," was the ready response, just as a waiter in a London hotel 
 might answer. 
 
 " Great Scott I " gasped Dick," " where did you pick it up ? " 
 
 " Here, sir. We all speak two languages — EngUsh and Quichua " 
 < " But why Enghsh ? " 
 
 The man touched his breast, his mouth, his forehead, rapidly. " The 
 Coya knows — the Coya Mama Ocllo knows all things." 
 
 " Hub 1 Coya means a she-boss. Is Mama Ocllo queen of this due- 
 out ? " ^ 
 
 Again the man repeated his strange gesture. " Inca Sutic-toco 
 reigns I " 
 
 " Guess he doesn't with the Virgin about," growled Dick, resumin<^ his 
 walk. " Go on — what's your name ? " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 103 
 
 " Apu, lord. I am the chief of the Co5'a's servants," he saluted again. 
 " The name signifies ' chief.' " 
 
 " Well, Apu," said Hazel, rather confused to find an Indian speaking 
 the English tongue with such fluency, " we are tired and hungry : lead us 
 to our rooms," and as Apu went forward he whispered in Amherst's ear, 
 " For Heaven's sake, Dick, be careful. All you say will be repeated to 
 that woman, and she's a vindictive devil if ever there was one. Weigh 
 your words, man, or you'll ruin us both." 
 
 " You didn't weigh yours over much, Hazel." 
 
 " Indeed I did. My insolence was studied. I fancy I understand how 
 to deal with Mama OcUo. She understands me.'- 
 " She loves you ! " 
 
 " All the better. That will give me sufficient influence over her to 
 keep us out of danger anyway. But there's no need for you to go out of 
 your way to get us into it, Dick.'- 
 
 " All right. 'I'm square. But I'll get even with her for killing Cain — 
 you bet I will I " 
 
 Still in the lighted gallery, they arrived at a small niche in which was 
 set a dull-looking door of some metal unknown to Hazel — though, to 
 speak truly, his knowledge of metallurgy was not of an extensive order. 
 At a touch from Apu this slipped silently to one side, and they entered an 
 arched corridor, the walls of which were plastered with a silvery cement 
 like that used in the pueblo. At intervals lamps were placed which shed 
 a brilliant light. Another door admitted them to a large room with a 
 domed ceiling studded with electric stars. The walls of this were of a 
 polished blue, the pavement of white slabs, and in it were chairs, tables, 
 sofas, and all the comforts of civilization, even to a clock. Hazel rubbed 
 his eyes. It seemed incredible that such a homely room could exist in 
 this romantic city. In the dome several electric fans kept the air sweet and 
 cool : but there was no fireplace. The natural heat of the caverns did 
 away with the necessity for artificial warmth. 
 
 " This is where you eat, lords," said Apu, and pointed to a table amply 
 served. " Here and here,'' pointing to right and to left, " the sleeping 
 rooms and baths." 
 
 " Baths ! " Hazel raised his eyebrows. " Yayacarui is indeed civilised. 
 Hot and cold water I presume ! "- 
 
 Dick, who had not been long finding out something to drink, finished a 
 glass of chica, and looked gravely at Apu. " Is there an elevator ? " he 
 demanded. " We really can't engage the rooms without an elevator."- 
 " A lift, he means,'' explained Gerald, seeing that Apu was puzzled. 
 " Oh yes ; we have lifts, but not here ; it is not needed."- The Indian 
 turned towards the door. " You have all you wish here, lords. I 
 go."- 
 
 " One moment, Apu. Are we prisoners ? -' 
 
 " No ; Yiracocha, you are free to come and go. Still," Apu looked 
 serious, " it would be better not to leave these rooms, as you do not know 
 our caverns, and there may be danger.'' 
 " Oh, there are caverns then ? " 
 
 " Many caverns, Yiracocha — many and big, under the Andes. But it 
 is late,'' he pointed to the clock, which was on the stroke of midnights 
 
 " Eat, drink and sleep, lords. Should you wish to go out, see " and 
 
 he showed them how to manipulate the door spring. 
 
 ' ' Ain't you afraid we'll clear— make tracks ? Light out ! Oh hang it 1 " 
 
104 THE MOTHER OF EMER ALDS . 
 
 exclaimed Dick, seeing that Apu did not understand him. " Escape I 
 mean." 
 
 For the first time the Indian smiled. . " No one can escape from Yaya- 
 carui," he said. " He who comes stays for ever." He again made the 
 sign and stepped outside. Another moment and the door slipped into 
 its place, and Dick and Hazel were alone. 
 
 " Huh I What do you think, chief ? " said the former thoughtfully. 
 
 " I think we'd better examine our rooms, and make ourselves 
 comfortable." 
 
 " I mean about our chances of getting out of this." 
 
 Hazel shrugged his shoulders. " Oh, I'm in no hurry. We wanted to 
 get into Yayacarui, and we've got there. Now it remains to take the 
 benefit of our success. Come and feed, Dicky." 
 
 " Let's see the ranche first, chief." 
 
 The bedrooms were smaller apartments, one on each side of the central 
 hall. One had walls of smooth green cement, the other red. To each was 
 attached a tiny bath-room of smooth white stone with ample baths sunk 
 in the floor. 
 
 " And silver taps and fittings, by gosh," cried Dick. " Well, they are 
 a dancly lot of bankrupts hereabouts anyway." 
 
 " Silver's as common as tin here, Dick. All the riches of Peru seem to 
 be concentrated in this place. Mammon's church, Dick. Cuzco's sun 
 temple was a fool to this for wealth. I expect revelations to-morrow." 
 
 " Do you think we're safe ? " 
 
 " Quite ; so Ipng as you keep your tongue civil. Mama OcUo would not 
 have brought us all this way to make meat of us." 
 " What about that little devil Puca ? " 
 
 " Oh, I daresay he'll turn up and explain himself. By Jove, I'm so 
 fagged out I can scarcely stand. Come on, Dick, food first and rest after- 
 wards." 
 
 They returned to the first apartment and made a good meal. At its 
 conclusion Dick filled a glass of wine and rose. 
 " To the dear old nig's memory," he said. 
 
 " Amen," replied Hazel. And they drank the toast in silence. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " THE BEGINNINGS OF KNOWLEDGE." 
 
 In these subterranean depths there could be seen no dial of the sky, whereby 
 to gauge the passage of the hours. In time the adventurers came to 
 know more concerning the electric illuminations of the cavern, and to learn 
 how an eight-hour night had been created for recuperative purposes. 
 Indeed, the eight-hour system obtained here throughout ; and the twenty- 
 four were apportioned ofi to slumber, work, and recreation ; and the 
 resultant health and happiness of the troglodytes justified the wisdom of 
 those in authority. 
 
 This underground state was governed on lines wholly ancient in their 
 foundation, and modernised only so far as experience and the exigencies 
 of the peculiar situation seemed to demand. And assuredly no better 
 model than the Inca constitution could have been taken ; for of all con- 
 stitutions known to man it proved itself most conducive to his well-being. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 105, 
 
 Formed on a socialistic basis, administered by discreet rulers, it took 
 equal care of the individual and of the multitude ; arid at the time of the 
 Conquest it was far in advance of any European system. By sheer brute 
 force, the Spaniards, narrow-minded and fanatical, destroyed this ideal . 
 state. The dreams of Plato and of Sir Thomas More, which it realised, 
 they replaced by civil and military and rehgious despotism. The glory of 
 conquest was blotted out by the shame of tyranny. 
 
 Hazel was the first to wake next morning. Worn out by fatigue and 
 the emotion he had felt at poor old Cain's violent end, Dick still slept 
 heavily. As Gerald looked at him he could see the traces of tears on his 
 haggard face. He let him sleep on, and stole back on tip-toe to the central 
 room. Here he found Apu waiting with salutations and a bundle of 
 clothes. The man addressed Hazel with an amiable gravity. 
 
 " Hail, Viracocha ! You have slept late, and indeed I do not wonder 
 at that after your journey down the quebrada. Coya Mama OcUo sends 
 these garments to you and Uchu. But if you would still dress as a white 
 man, your baggage from the pueblo is in your sleeping room." 
 
 In rather a superciUous way, Gerald examined the tunics and breeches 
 of dyed vicuna wool, which, he concluded, went to form the official dress 
 of the Yayacarui citizens. " With aU thanks to Mama Ocllo I prefer my 
 own clothes, Apu ; and I doubt not Uchu will be of the same mind. I 
 suppose Puca told you that name. By the way," Hazel looked up with 
 marked curiosity, " who is this Uttle man we know as Puca ? "■ 
 
 " Cusi-cuy is the jester of Inca Sutic-toco ! " 
 
 " H'm. He struck me as being something in that line, although his 
 merry-making is a trifle dismal. The red rascal ! He is a traitor as well 
 as jester ! " 
 
 " No, lord," remonstrated Apu. " Cusi-cuy did but obey your will. 
 You desired to see our city, and you are in it. What the man promised, 
 the man performed." 
 
 " There is some truth in that, Apu. But why were we blindfolded ? " 
 
 " In truth you ask me a hard question, Viracocha. Perhaps it was that 
 you might not mark the way to our refuge ; but as you wiU never leave 
 it again, I know not why your sight should have been taken." 
 
 " Are you then so certain that we shall never leave this place, Apu ? " 
 
 The Indian smiled grimly. " Many have come ; none have departed, 
 and I do not think you will be the first to find your way out. But these 
 things have to do with the Coya ! " He produced a paper from his girdle. 
 " She sends you this, Viracocha. Bathe and dress, lord. I go for food."- 
 He disappeared, leaving Gerald to digest the letter of Mama Ocllo. It was 
 a lengthy document, containing sundry explanations ; and as exhibiting 
 the attitude of the Coya, may be here set forth with advantage. 
 
 " No doubt you wonder, Viracocha, that you find yourself so unexpec- 
 tedly in our City of the Rainbow. I write to explain, and save myself 
 many questions, which I have not sufficient patience to answer. To 
 make your position clear at the outset, know that it is I who had you 
 brought to this place ; otherwise in seeking our refuge, you would have 
 lost your life. Why did I protect it and admit you into the secret city ? 
 Indeed, Viracocha, I hardly know, and that is a sufficient answer for a 
 woman to make. Perhaps I wish to repay you for having saved me from 
 insult at Lima ; or it may be that I have another and a stronger reason 
 which you may learn later, if it pleases me. Enough ! You are here, and 
 that is the main thing. From the hour you arrived at Cuzco you were 
 
io6 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 under my care ; and your future was of my contrivance. It was I who 
 sent you Cusi-cuy for guide. Had he not gained your friendship at the 
 cock-fight he would have done so in another way, seeing that it was my 
 command you should be led to the mountains, ignorant always that you 
 were so led. Uchu, by his evil doings, threw you across Cusi-cuy's path, 
 and — you know how it all came about. Your life was guarded by me ; 
 and the fool who shot an arrow at you was slain by my order. There is no 
 limit to my power ; otherwise your bones would long since have been 
 bleaching on the hiUs. 
 
 " Cusi-cuy guided you up the Apurimac, through the forest, across the 
 desert, into the mountains. The journey was difficult, was it not ? Ah, 
 there is a nearer and easier way to Yayacarui, by which I preceded you ; 
 but that way was not for you. I had you plunged into dangers and diffi- 
 culties to prove the stuff you were made of — why, you shall learn later. 
 The attacks of Indians in the forest and at the pueblo were arranged by 
 my order. The loss of water in the desert was designed. Naiu died 
 because of Uchu's uncontrolled temper and headstrong courage. He 
 is a brave man as you are. Had either of you ffinched — had either of you 
 gone back with your task unfulfilled, both would have died. I love no 
 cowards ! Cusi-cuy left you to shift for yourselves at the base of the 
 music-mountain in a waterless land. You were never less alone, than 
 when alone — as you thought — on that platform. Many eyes watched 
 what you would do ; many ears overheard your words. How, it does not 
 matter ; my people know the secrets of the hills ; and you were surrounded 
 on all sides by invisible watchers. Thus was your design of the retreat to 
 Todos Santos known ; thus were you seized when you had achieved the 
 dangerous passage of the quebrada. To the very utmost I tested your 
 courage, knowing your heart was brave. I was right, as I always am 
 right ; and so I permitted you to gain your goal. In descending into the 
 depths of the chasm you did not tremble ; borne through the gate of the 
 waterfall you did not flinch ; and you bore yourself with courage when 
 alone with your friend in the very depths of the world. Therefore you 
 sought and found me in my silver chamber ; therefore you gained the end 
 you aimed at. In truth, Viracocha, you are a brave man ; and I love you 
 for your bravery. Well, your reward shall be great — you know not how 
 great. 
 
 " To-day I send you one to display our wonders. Go through our city ; 
 spy out our secrets ; acquaint yourself with our defences ; all is open to 
 you — nothing is withheld. For this also I have my reason. When you 
 know all, ponder in your heart ; then come to me for the reason of these 
 things. Think not of Yayacarui as romantic ; deem it not a city of en- 
 chantment. It is hidden under the crust of our prosaic planet ; no fairy- 
 land, no fabled realm of the ' Arabian Nights,' no Manoa of legend ; but 
 the refuge of a fallen and despoiled people, who work in secret to recover 
 their share of God's world overhead. We who worship Con, the supreme, 
 the All-glorious, through his servant the Sun, are shut out from the glory 
 of that Sun, though his children we know ourselves to be. Cut off from 
 the kindly influence of the sky ; deprived of Moon, and Sun, of fertile 
 rain, and health-giving winds, we grope fike beasts in the clefts of earth ; 
 but unUke beasts strive for the higher and freer life. It wiU come ; it will 
 come, when the wheel of Time comes full circle. The night of sorrow is 
 passing away ; the dawn of joy is at hand. Glory be to Con who ruleth 
 all. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 107 
 
 " Many things in our city will amaze you ; many startle you ; many 
 puzzle you ; but I can explain all ; and the explanation will be common- 
 place and painful. You are brave, Viracocha ! Are you also noble- 
 hearted and generous ? When you have seen and reflected, come to Mama 
 Ocllo and answer that question. I wait ! — I have long waited for Manco 
 Capac ! Why ? He was the father of the red race ; the spouse of an 
 earher Mama Ocllo, when they led those wandering in darkness to the 
 light, raised men above the condition of brutes, and taught them that souls 
 endure though bodies go to dust. Of those who now sit in darkness, I 
 am the new mother. But Ivlanco Capac ! the redeeming one ! the Regener- 
 ator ! the DeUverer ! Where is he ? I, gifted by Con with knowledge, 
 can answer that question when the time is ripe for telhng. The hour 
 demands its hero ! Mine be the task to find him ; to arm him ; to point 
 out his path. And you ? What of you, blinded to what the future hath 
 in store ? But the eyes shall see ; the heart shall know ! Viracocha ! 
 Consider these things, and guess my riddle if you cdn — if you dare. As 
 for me, I wait ! " 
 
 To this extraordinary letter Mama Ocllo had put ng signature. Bewil- 
 dered by its dark Sayings, which were almost on a level with Apocalyptian 
 prophecies, Hazel read it twice and thrice and again in the endeavour to 
 unravel its mysteries. Much that was meant he could guess ; but much 
 again was beyond his comprehension. Perplexed, he sought Dick's 
 counsel ; and dem.anded his opinion of the new Sphinx. The prodigal 
 was awake and melancholy ; staring at the ceihng with his hands behind 
 his head, and the head itself fuU of Cain and Cain's sad end. He grumbled 
 somewhat at his grief being thus intruded upon ; but recognising the call 
 of duty sat up to peruse the document. Its contents embarrassed his 
 understanding very speedily. 
 
 " Well, I'm damned ! " was his sage comment on the riddle. 
 " You see I was right in suspecting Mama Ocllo. We have been under 
 her eye all the time — insects in a microscope ; our designs forestalled ; 
 our very thoughts read. The journey, real enough to us, was a farce to 
 her. We protected ourselves against shadowy dangers, safe-guarded on 
 all sides." 
 
 " None the less courage to face them, chief ! " 
 
 " True. We danced without knowing that she pulled the wires. 
 Faugh ! It is humiliating to have figured as such puppets." 
 
 " Gosh ! to think that the slut should ha' been givin' us borack all the 
 time ! " raged Dick. " She chucked those troubles our way out of sheer 
 devilment. Anyhow, I got even with her over Naiu ; there was no 
 pantomime over that ! " 
 
 " As nttle as there was about the death of poor Cain. She's thrown in 
 a spice of tragedy with her comedy, I must say ! " 
 
 " Curse her ! I'll level up to that some day. What's all this play-actin' 
 for. Hazel ? " 
 
 " That much she puts plainly in the letter — to prove our manhood ! " 
 " Huh I She don't take much stock in this child. No, sir. You are 
 the white-haired innocent, I guess." Dick glanced again at the documep,t 
 and mused. " Seema to me she wants you to freeze on to the name of 
 Manco Capac, an' hitch up 'longside her. It's clear as mud." 
 
 " I fancy even she would stop short of that." v 
 
 "Oh, you bet I'm jamming in the square reason," said i Amherst, 
 gravely ; " she's running you for a god of sorts in her high-falutin' style. 
 
io8 THE MOTHER OF EM ERALDS. 
 
 I've heard the queerest yarns about that red-skinned Adam. The niggers 
 down the coast way let on he was an English boss to pull 'em straight. 
 Ingasman Cocapac, they call him ; an' that means ' bloomin' Enghshman ' 
 in their hngo. Seems as the virgin wants to repeat history. You're 
 bloomin' enough for her, anyhow ! " and despite his sorrow, Dick grinned. 
 
 " Oh, that tradition's of modern manufacture, Dickie. If by any 
 chance one of our race had been cast in the past on South American shores 
 • — which I don't for one mojnent beUeve — he couldn't have called himself 
 an Englishman. Consider an instant. Manco Capac appeared at Cuzco 
 about I02I, long before the battle of Hastings. We were not a nation 
 then, and the term ' EngUsh ' was not invented." 
 
 " Humph ! May be. Still, it's rum these niggers should spout our 
 lingo I " 
 
 " No doubt ; but that is one of the explanations Mama OcUo is pre- 
 pared to furnish in her own good time. We must see the city first ; then 
 her." 
 
 Dick lay down with a sulky face. " Damned if I'm goin' to run round 
 any city," said he, savagely. " Cain's on my mind ; and I've got to howl 
 him out of it." 
 
 Hazel was too weU assured of Dick's genuine grief to enter a protest. 
 He patted his shoulder, and, ever mindful of the prodigal's capacity for 
 getting into trouble, spoke a word in season. " You'll not leave these 
 rooms while I'm away, Dickie ? " 
 
 " No. I only want to be by myself for a shake. The trouble of that old 
 nig's death's enough to make a dog sick." So Gerald went away and left 
 Dick to mourn in his own savage fashion. 
 
 A bath in dehciously cold water, diamond clear, made him feel more like 
 himself. He found all the accessories of his toilet, and selected for wear 
 a fresh suit of khaki, after some rummaging amongst his kit. It seemed 
 rather ridiculous to don riding breeches and high boots underground ; 
 but there was choice only between that and native dress, in which he could 
 in no way fancy himself. That Mama OcUo should even thus outwardly 
 decivihse him was not to be thought of. So his English kit went on ; and 
 he felt smart, clean, and comfortable — all aids to outfacing a difficult 
 situation. But he regretted his revolvers ; which had been carefully 
 removed. 
 
 Apu's catering resulted in a well-cooked meal of the plainest food ; but 
 the coffee was fragrant, and Gerald hungry, so he made no objection to 
 hermit fare. Not so Dick, who came to table attracted by the rattle of 
 dishes ; finding that even grief had an appetite, and must be fed up. 
 He grumbled so much that Hazel rebuked him. • 
 
 " You ought to be jolly glad to get a meal at aU," he said, " and con- 
 sidering we'll need all our wits about us in this place, the less we eat, the 
 clearer they wiU be. You are Hke all the English, Dick, you eat far too 
 much." 
 
 Dick sighed remorsefully. " I'm a beast to eat at all," he said, and no 
 doubt would have gone on to mourn for Cain in his usual unmeasured 
 fashion ; but that a third person appeared ; a tail, burly man, with blue 
 eyes, red-headed, long-bearded ; with a generally active air, rather dis- 
 countenanced by a slouching gait. He wore cotton garments, cut Indian 
 fashion, of a dark blue ; sandals of llama hide, and a broad-brimmed straw 
 hat — ^though why he should require a hat in these sunless regions was 
 matter for conjecture. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 109 
 
 " Morning, gentlemen," said he, in a slow and deliberate voice. " I 
 shall have to introduce myself. James Parry, gentlemen, engineer of 
 Yayacarui." 
 
 " EngUsh, I think ? " 
 
 " True blue. Bedford Town — born in Bunyan's village." 
 
 " Shake 1 " cried Dick, jumping up. " I'm a public-school man myself. 
 Good old Bedford ! Was under Jerry in the school. Huh ! He couldn't 
 make a Bunyan out o', the Ukes o' me. Sit down and grub. Parry." 
 
 " I'd rather smoke, if you don't mind." He spread his large form over 
 the sofa, and proceeded ; " I'm the Baedeker of these parts," said Parry, 
 " an' the local Cook personally to conduct inquiring tourists." 
 
 Hazel laughed at the familiar words.' " Do you know it well ? " 
 
 " If I didn't after fifteen years I would be a " 
 
 " Fifteen years ! " this was Dick's interruption. " Great Scott ! Have 
 you taken root here ? " . 
 
 Parry smiled, knowing what he knew, and raked his beard Vith out- 
 stretched fingers. " Looks like it, doesn't it ! Case of must, gentlemen. 
 There's a wife an' family waiting for me in London — Highgate way. 
 Think I'm bridge-building in Peru. But although they don't know 
 where I am, they get my salary regularly. Oh, I will say that for Mama 
 Ocllo ; she mails the coin all right. There's no playin' low down in the 
 cash department." 
 
 " But, Mr. Parry, are you — that is — do you call yourself a prisoner ? " 
 
 " Within limits I do, Mr. Hazel. You see I know your name, sir ; yes, 
 and Mr. Amherst's too. Prisoner ! That's so. You might put in a day 
 askin' how the lot of us stand bein' jammed in this hole. I don't say," 
 drawled Parry, " as I'd undertake to answer you. Not much ! " 
 
 " The lot of you ? Gosh ! Are there other whites cavortin' round 
 here ? " 
 
 " Twenty, Mr. Amherst. Samples of every nationaUty under the sun. 
 Time of this sort of penal servitude amongst 'em ranges from thirty years 
 to a few months. The last arrival — he was a Yankee inventor from 
 N'York City — dropped in here ten months back. What's your line, 
 gentlemen ? " 
 
 " Ain't got any. Got round just for fun.'' 
 
 " That's unlucky," said Parry, with good-humoured sarcasm. " For 
 you'll get round no more, Mr. Amherst." 
 
 " H'm," Hazel chipped in. " There are two opinions about that. How- 
 ever, we can leave it for the present. The show's the thing now. What 
 do all you whites do with yourselves here, Mr. Parry ? " 
 
 " Act accordin' to our Ughts and trainin', sir. I'm electric myself, an' 
 run the illumination biz. Another of us — an Oxford B.A. he is — teaches 
 the natives to get their tongues round 'Varsity Enghsh. Some one else 
 — ^but here I " Parry rose with the heave of a spouting whale, " come out 
 an' see for yourselves. Good's a play sight-seein', hereabouts." 
 
 " Can't go myself, Mr. Parry. M' chief 'U follow on." 
 
 " Come then." Parry turned to Gerald. " We'll see the city first ; 
 and later take the train to the workshops." 
 
 " The — ^the — train ? " 
 
 " Electric railway, sir," explained the engineer to the astonished 
 questioner. 
 
 " Jove, you are up to date here and no mistake ! " 
 
 Parry let out a short laugh of quiet amusement. " Up to date, sir [ 
 
no THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Why, Yayacarui's ahead of any city in the overhead world. There isn't 
 an invention worth salt that doesn't figure round about here some way." 
 
 " Well ! " Hazel laughed also, and put on his cap. " I'ni prepared to 
 be awe-struck. Dick, 'member to lie up ! " 
 
 " Honest Injin ! See you again. Parry.'' 
 
 " To-night, if you will. We have a White Man's club here. The boys 
 '11 be glad to see you both this evenin'. Come down, and we'll put you 
 through the whole business." 
 
 " Right oh. So-long, chief ! Don't get spilt ! " after which enigmatic 
 advice Dick ushered the two out of doors, and returned to his mourning. 
 He was nothing«.if not thorough, was Dick. 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 " THE CITY OF THE RAINBOW." 
 
 Surprise followed surprise rapidly. Each hour disclosed some new 
 wonder, and at the end of the day Hazel sat down with something ap- 
 proaching a sensation of bewilderment, to consider seriously the 
 topography of this underground world. The immensity and number 
 of the caverns which went to make it up, amazed him. It was weeks 
 before he got what Dick termed " the hang of the place.'' 
 
 Under the guidance of Parry, he commenced exploration with the 
 main gallery. This ran from the quebrada straightway into a, cluster 
 of caverns, and through them into a king-cavern, the Hall of Eblis, the 
 most gigantic of all. He began at the far end. There, a waterfall, 
 skilfully guided over the entrance, fell in glassy sheets, shutting out com- 
 pletely, with its liquid barrier, the external world. With hammer-hke 
 blows it descended on a ledge of rock — as it might be, the threshold of 
 the gateway — and rebounded, foaming and roaring into the fathomless 
 depths. It could be cut off — Parry informed Gerald — at any moment, 
 so that those whom the Inca dehghted to honour could enter. But 
 while its Niagara-like flood masked the door, passage was impossible. 
 As a defence it was as absolute as it was ingenious. 
 
 Thence Gerald and his guide proceeded into the heart of the mountain, 
 and into the Silver Chamber. Passing on through the numerous galleries 
 which diverged from it, like spokes from the hub of a wheel, they emerged 
 on to a terrace of dressed stone running round the craggy shelf of the 
 main cavern. Below, gaped a mighty hollow, circular in shape, and 
 having all the appearance of a crater of some extinct volcano. This was 
 belted by gigantic clifls of grey and black lava. Along the top of them 
 ran the terraces, protected by balustrades of green stone, grotesquely 
 carved. In their rear rose the cavern walls, pierced here and there by 
 tunnels leading into the interior, hollows ; and over it all arched the 
 immense concave roof, starred with electric lamps, brilliant as a South 
 Sea night. Gerald gasped. He felt a very pismire in the appalling 
 vastness of this temple of Nature. 
 
 The city itself filled the crater as water fills a cup, touching it on all 
 sides. Divided into four quarters by broad roads, these converged to 
 a central square ; and at their far ends terminated in vast staircases of 
 red stone, leading up to the terraces. Each quarter was packed with 
 adobe houses — or rather single-roomed cabins — intersected by narrow 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. iii 
 
 lanes. The paltry architecture of these was in marked contrast with 
 the rest of the work, but even here a unique effect was obtained, through 
 the huts being plastered with a kind of white cement, which made them 
 appear as made of silver. A few of the houses in the main streets might 
 be called mansions ; but on the whole Hazel was surprised at the relatively- 
 small proportions of the dwellings. He remarked upon it to his com- 
 panion. 
 
 " Oh, the crowd don't need any better," replied Parry, carelessly. 
 " The cabins are good enough for those not exposed to sun and rain. 
 But the public buildings are finer. Yonder is the palace of the Inca ; 
 opposite the house of Mama OcUo ; and straight ahead the temple of 
 the Sun." 
 
 These great buildings were very much alike ; being constructed of 
 black basalt in the Egyptian style of architecture. Each stood some 
 hundred feet back from its staircase. The walls blazed with colour. 
 Painted in vivid reds, blues, yellows, green with figures of gods and 
 men ; with lines of hieroglyphics, grotesque symbols and mystic signs, 
 they glowed like tulips over the silvery lake of the city. On temple 
 and palace walls were strange devices, descriptive of scenes in the Mstory 
 of Yayacarui for many hundreds of years. The priests alone could 
 interpret the sacred writings. The hues and designs were both crude 
 and rudimentary. Yet the effect was rather pleasing than otherwise. 
 It imparted a sense of mysticism to the place. • 
 
 In the central square spread a wide pool of water, rimmed with stone ; 
 and thence sprang to the height of a hundred feet a jet the thickness of 
 a man's body. In the radiance of the lamps it resembled a silver rod. 
 
 Most of all the lighting of the place held Gerald spellbound. Lines of 
 white-globed lamps ran down the city ways, and clustered in the square ; 
 sparkled on the terraces, and hung overhead. One colossal orb swung 
 low down from the centre, a disc of cold white flame — the moon of that 
 nether world. 
 
 The vast spaces glowed lustrous as a June noon, resplendent but cold 
 — the mysterious resplendence of the moon, not the warm and glowing 
 brilliance of the sun. The silver city glimmered with soft lustre like 
 a mirage, as cloudlike, as unsubstantial. Faint mists drew their lawny 
 veils across the hard outline of rock and stone. There from where he 
 stood, the whole place seemed to Hazel to quiver and recede, like a city 
 of hallucination, built of cloud forms and moon reflections. Cloud- 
 cuckoo town, Fata Morgana's palaces, the necromantic castles of mediaeval 
 fancy — it might have been any one of these. 
 
 Of vegetation nothing was to be seen, and of colouring there was little 
 save for the vermilion staircases, and the tuli^-hued temple and palaces. 
 Black and white predominated — ^colours that are not colours. The 
 kindly influences of nature seemed wholly withheld. No sun shone here, 
 no moon made splendour of the night. Rain fell not, and the green of 
 the fields was wanting. Neither arched the infinite blue of the sky, nor 
 did the winds of heaven blow across the stony waste. The very 
 people who thronged the streets moved low-voiced or silent about their 
 business. No song of bird, no cry of animal, no laughter of children, 
 no murmur of women I All was dead, silent, buried. A city of demons 
 it seemed : one cursed by God — ^terrible in its repose. The city of tears ; 
 the city of refuge 1 yet — with a hope for the future — the city of the 
 Rainbow I 
 
112 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Four roads, you see ! " explained the prosaic engineer, '' corresponding 
 to tlie cardinal points. So was planned the Cuzco of Manco Capac. 
 This is the largest of the caverns. There are many others ; I do not know 
 how many. We shall visit some and you shall see what the Inca race is 
 preparing for the world above. Let us cross to the Temple of the Sun." 
 
 Hazel roused himself from his reverie and followed the engineer. " It 
 is all very wonderful," he said, " it reminds me of that novel — ^what is 
 it ? — ' The Coming Race ' ! " 
 
 " I know," said Parry, " Mama OcUo has it in her library. Yes, you 
 are right, it might fairly be taken as the Baedeker of Yayacarui. Bulwer 
 Lytton wrote more truly than he knew. You, no doubt, thought to find 
 here nothing but barbarism, Mr. Hazel. You will now find no difficulty 
 in believing me when I tell you that the Inc;.is — as I may call them — ■ 
 are every bit as civilised and as clever as the Caucasians. They have 
 learned through suffering, you see. For centuries they have studied 
 the white inan's methods, his thoughts, utilized his inventions, improved 
 on them even ; and you may take my word for it the day is coming when 
 they will avenge the cruelties of Pizarro. Here are we, twenty white 
 men, cultured in modern thought and science, with trained brains and 
 active intellects. Yet we are detained here against our wills to impart 
 our knowledge to our masters; for these niggers, as some fools would 
 call them, arc our masters. We cannot escape ! The Incas are too wary 
 to afford us the chance. Remember, too,^Mr. Hazel, that yoi^ have to do 
 'v;ith a race more cultured in many respects than the nations who dwell 
 overhead. Why you have been brought here, seeing' you and your 
 friend are in no way specialists, I do not know. But this I do laiow — ■ 
 that you will never leave this place again. Never ! Never ! The Incas 
 have us ; they have you — ^and they hold us with a grip of iron." 
 
 " Well ! " said Gerald, impressed in spite of himself by this speech, 
 " that remains to be proved. I, for one, do not intend to stay for ever 
 in this melancholy world." 
 
 Parry smiled sadly. " Many have said the same thing, Mr. Hazel. 
 They died saying it," he added in sombre tones. 
 
 " H'm ! that so ? Are you kindly treated ? " 
 
 " In every way. But there are limitations. We have no freedom 
 beyond these caverns ; and we are not permitted to take wives. I have 
 a wife of my own at home," here Parry sighed. " But it is lonely to 
 live for fifteen years without a helpmate. The Incas, in their pride of 
 race, will not sanction mixed marriages. And we are all in the same 
 plight — ^all bachelors — all prisoners. There's a good deal of hard swearing 
 goes on at times." 
 
 " Excusable enough. Parry. By the way, did you ever meet a man here 
 called Prynne — John Prynne ? " 
 
 " I should think so — knew him well. He died in my arms." 
 
 " Died ! " Hazel stopped short, and fixed a bright eye on the speaker. 
 Here, indeed, ended his quest ; and at the door of the tomb. " When 
 did he die ? " 
 
 " A few years ago — say five. He was trying to invent a flying machine ; 
 but died before it came to anything. Did you know him — in the world ? "- 
 
 " 1 never met him. But for his daughter's sake, I came here to seek 
 him." 
 
 " His daughter I " Parry sighed again. " I know. He often talked of 
 her. I have a daughter of my own ; she must be a grown-up lass by this 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS 113 
 
 time." The engineer mused a space and raised his eyes thoughtfully to 
 the artificial firmament he had created. Not yet prepared to make 
 a confidant of Parry, the young man said nothing ; and they continued 
 their way silently, moved to thought of things far away from those by 
 which they were surrounded. Then they came into contact with some 
 of the inhabitants of the buried city. 
 
 The citizens of Yayacarui were tall, well-formed, and dignified. Yet 
 an inward melancholy showed itself in their looks and bearing. Indeed, 
 they were about as dejected a throng of people as can well be imagined. 
 Occasionally Parry greeted an acquaintance. But, on the whole, little 
 notice was taken of the white men. Amongst themselves these Indians 
 were sparing of speech — utterly devoid of gaiety. Hazel could have 
 imagined himself in the City of Dis, in the Hall of Eblis, where the damned 
 were devoured by inward fire. That the name of this splenetic place should 
 symbolise hop^ seemed to him ironical. If these people looked forward 
 to a brighter future, they gave no sign of the cheerful courage such ex- 
 pectation should create. Silent, dreary, depressed ; they resembled a 
 company of undertakers professionally engaged. 
 
 " No chance of getting into the temple," said Parry, after a short con- 
 versation with a guard. " This chap tells me that the Coya intends to 
 show you round herself. Going to do you honour, sir ! " 
 
 " An honour I could very well dispense with," retorted Gerald, frowning 
 at the closed bronze doors. 
 
 He said no more at the time ; not deeming it politic to be too free 
 spoken even to one of his own countrymen. In his own mind Gerald 
 was afraid of Mama Ocllo — afraid of the length to which she might carry 
 the passion which evidently possessed her. 
 
 When a man captures the fancy of a woman, and when he is in that 
 woman's power, he has but little chance of success in his efforts to resist 
 her. Hazel had a very shrewd idea that this daughter of the Incas was 
 a Catherine of Russia in her own way ; but, thinking of Molly, and still 
 as ever devoted to Molly, he determined he would be no slave of her fancy. 
 But, as he learned later, he did the Coya wrong. Her aims were pat- 
 riotic ; and all her passions were subordinated to the supreme desire for 
 the regeneration of her race. In fact, she was Elizabeth, not Catherine. 
 
 " Shall we return to the city ? " asked Parry. 
 
 " I'd rather see the workshops, I think. Yayacarui can wait." 
 
 The engineer nodded, and skirting the Temple, led the way to a niche 
 in the cliff, wherein they found a lift, as prosaic as could be. Smoothly 
 and !3wiftly it raised them. On this higher level Hazel was conducted to a 
 small series of caves, superimposed on those beneath. Then began a 
 devil's dance, a nightmare journey through the bowels of earth. Electric 
 cars shot through the interminable galleries ; lifts dropped or soared in the 
 chasms ; bridges arched over quebradas ; cranes swung over those places 
 where even the engineer of Yayacarui hesitated to construct a lift. By 
 such means was Gerald borne along, lowered to the depths, raised to 
 the heights, while ever at his elbow Parry discoursed volubly of achieved 
 or projected works. Everywhere the vast place was brilliant with electric 
 light. 
 
 " Mine, all mine," said Parry, with pride. " Fifteen years it has taken 
 me to bring this installation to its present state. It is perfect, sir, per- 
 fect so far as it goes, that is. But it'll go a deal further before I've done 
 with it."- 
 
114 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " What's your power ; steam ? " 
 
 " No ; water. We've got a powerful stream here down below." 
 " And all your fittings — do you make those ? " 
 
 " Most of 'em. We have factories of every Icind, from glass to Whit- 
 worth steel. There's precious little we can't do hero. You see the hills 
 yonder give us plenty of raw material ; what they don't give us wc get. 
 This place is the root of a vast secret society above ground. Its rami- 
 fications extend throughout Peru, and are controlled from this centre. 
 The Inca, or rather Mania OcUo, is the true ruler of this country. She 
 counts her subjects by tens of thousands." 
 
 " Hasn't the Government at Lima a word to say to that ? " 
 
 " My dear sir, it knows nothing about it: It could do nothing if it 
 did, save, perhaps, precipitate a native rising. The Indians recognise 
 one another by signs, and no white man, even though he be half Indian, 
 is trusted. Here, we've got all the Incarial treasures that were buried 
 at the time of the Conquest. In these caves lie buried millions of money. 
 Gold and silver and jewels, crowns, sceptres, thrones — all the para- 
 phernalia of Empire, to be used in due season. When the Incas regain 
 their lost heritage they will be the wealthiest nation in the world. 
 
 And " added Parry, slowly, " I believe they will make the best use 
 
 of their wealth." 
 
 " When do they begin business ? " 
 
 " I don't know. Mama OcUo alone knows that. It is she and she 
 alone who will have her hand on the starting gear — the engine is being 
 put together now. Come and see.'' 
 
 Forthwith Gerald was conducted to a vast iron foundry covering 
 many caves, where a German was at the head of affairs. Here big guns 
 were being cast, barrels rifled, swords welded, and all kinds of small arms 
 in course of construction. In an adjacent workshop the component parts 
 were being put together by skilled artisans. The furnaces roared and 
 flamed at v/hite heat. Hordes of almost naked men toiled in the sulphur- 
 laden atmosphere. The clang and ring of metal was deafening. Here 
 was copper tempered to the hardness of steel by a process known only to 
 the Indians — a secret which all the cruelties of the Spaniards had been 
 unable to extract from them. The weapons welded out of this superb 
 metal resembled the Damascus sabre in their razor-like edge. 
 
 In other caves stood the completed work. Rows of cannon, guns of 
 heavy and light calibre, Maxims, Mausers, Lee-Metfords, automatic re- 
 peating pistols, Mannlichers — all the latest murder toys of war. 
 
 Then they came to the jewellers' cave, where were cast ingots of gold, 
 wedges of silver ; where they polished and cut precious stoiles, and ^vTought 
 all manner of rich material into ornament for personal wear, and for the 
 adornment of high places. Hazel was shown ears of barley ar;d corn ex- 
 quisitely wrought in gold ; a life-size statue of Mama OcUo in her royal 
 robes, was moulded in silver ; and there were coffers of gems both 
 cut and in the matrix. A jewelled breast-plate for the Inca glittered with 
 the hues of the rainbow ■ a throne of rose-wood was plated with gold 
 and inlaid with precious stones so that it out-shone Solomon's seat of 
 pride. 
 
 Gerald was staggered and bewildered by the immense riches here col- 
 lected. It was the temple of Mammon, the cave of Aladdin, the treasure- 
 house of golden Peru. If the Incas failed to conquer the world, they could 
 at least buy it, he thought- — buy it twice over. 
 
THE MOTHER OF E MERALDS. 115 
 
 " But tell me, Parry/' said Gerald, as they descended again to the lower 
 levels, " where do they keep the Mother of Emeralds ? "- 
 
 " Oh, that's in the Temple — ^a most m^vellous jewel. The palladium 
 \ of Yayacarui, and the lure which has decoyed so many to this place."- 
 
 In the depths were factories for carpets, silks, and cloth and woollens, 
 the looms for which were all worked by water power. There were yards 
 for the cutting of stone and marble, and workshops of every kind, wherein 
 all the arts and sciences were drawn upon for the working of the raw 
 material into the finished article ; and in one monster hollow was the 
 whirring clanking machinery which generated in the mighty dynamos 
 the electric current for the illumination of the underground world. 
 
 Yet another descent and Parry conducted Gerald along a narrow rift, 
 to show him the racing river, ink-black and tumultuous. It ripped along 
 at tearing speed, between riven rocks, turning on its way the great wheels 
 continuously. Round and round they spun, and the electric Ught danced 
 madly on the waters, ghnted from the steel and burnished brass of the 
 machinery ; and Parry talked and talked and talked, till Gerald, already 
 bevsdldered by what he was called upon to comtemplate, felt his head whirl 
 almost as the great wheels before him. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake stop, Parry,"- he cried. " I shall go siUy. Let's 
 get back to the city ; I've seen enough and more than enough for one 
 day." 
 
 Parry laughed, quite understanding. He had felt that way himself 
 when introduced to Yayacarui ; and he had seen others so affected after 
 him. Taking Gerald by the arm he led him to a lift, and in a few minutes 
 they were seated on the steps of the Sun Temple, watching the silent 
 people moving about the streets. But still Parry continued to volunteer 
 small doses of information. 
 
 "They call the river sacred," he said, "why, I don't know, unless it 
 is because it runs under the temple here. In fact the temple itself is 
 built over a great rift which extends down to the waters. From the floor 
 is a clean drop into the streain." 
 
 ' ' H'm, sounds unsafe — reminds me a trifle of the Delphic oracle, when 
 the priestess was placed over a chasm to sniEE the gases 'as they rushed 
 up, until she was worked into a frenzy, and discoursed more or less truth- 
 fully concerning the future. But a temple over a rift ! — no, I confess 
 I am not altogether attracted by it." 
 
 " Oh, the temple itself 's safe enough, there's nothing -wrong with that. 
 Wish I could say as much for the rest of the place.'' 
 " Why, is there danger ? " 
 
 " Well," said Parry, " there's a fair chance of the wTrole show going 
 to Kingdom Come in chunks, and us with it. The seismic forces which 
 made these caves can precious quick unmake them if they feel like it. 
 As a matter of fact they have thrown out one or two hints in that direc- 
 tion lately. We get earthquakes of a sort hereabouts, and she quakes 
 pretty loud down here when she starts, I can tell you. We are a bit too 
 close to the fires for my fancy. By the way, I heard you camped at the 
 music mountain ; s'pose you noticed a volcano in the range opposite ? " 
 
 " We did : there was a faint indica-tion of smoke ; bvit no immediate 
 signs of an eruption. '- 
 
 " Worse luck. So long as that chimney's in full blast we're all right 
 here ; but when it shuts up you can bet there's trouble ahead — ^so Mac- 
 lean says, and he's the official geologist of these parts.'- 
 
ii6 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Do the Indians know of these dangers ? "- 
 
 " Known 'em all their little lives : that's why they don't care a cent 
 for 'em. They and theirs have lived over this bombshell for a couple of 
 hundred years, so I guess they think the caves '11 last till Mama OcUo 
 annexes Cuzco, anyway." 
 
 This was not altogether comforting, or rather, it was not convincing 
 to anyone who thought more of a whole skin than an5rthing else. But 
 Hazel was not one of that sort. Had he been so he would not now have 
 found himself in Yayacarui. To get there had been his one great desire, 
 and now that it was gratified, he was more than content to chance any 
 such hasty, if uncomfortable, exit as that at which Parry hinted. It 
 seemed at least there was something over which Mama OcUo had no control. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " THE WHITE man's CLUB." 
 
 One large bare room filled with men, tobacco smoke, and a babel of voices, 
 represented the White Man's Club, to which Parry had so proudly alluded. 
 The entire Caucasian population foregathered in the engineer's house, and 
 squatted round as best they could on stools and forms. Chica in unUmited 
 quantities was provided by the host. But there hospitahty stopped short, 
 for it was ordered that each man should bring his own tobacco and matches. 
 To this assemblage Dick and Gerald were formally introduced. Parry 
 acting as master of the ceremonies. The official business over, there 
 ensued smoking, drinking, and the discussion of divers subjects in divers 
 tongues. No Indians were present, not even in the role of spies. Ap- 
 parently Mama OcUo was too sure of her methods to fear any plotting. 
 Whether it went on or not, she could afford to ignore it since it had never 
 taken tangible form. It was not likely to do so in the future. Her plans 
 were too weU laid for that. 
 
 " A dandy lot of boys 1 " was Dick's comment on the gathering as with 
 Hazel he took stock of the company. 
 
 The racial types were strongly contrasted, and their conversation not 
 unUke what might be expected from a European congress after a war. 
 One and aU they appeared to be able and clever men, if not the pick of 
 their various countries. Even in the uniform dress, blue cotton blouse and 
 breeches, with straw hats and sandals of hide, the eye could easily differen- 
 tiate the nationalities. Here, a Nihihst from Archangel, 'who knew more 
 about bombs surely than was for his nation's good, and so had drifted to 
 Yayacarui to create a new epoch of freedom tempered by dynamite ; there 
 an Italian chemist, suave and treacherous, who discoursed on experiments 
 yet unsuccessful for the prolonging of hfe by arresting the waste of tissue. 
 In one corner a German discussed a new projectile which was to be a hun- 
 dred times more far-reaching as a dealer of death than any at present 
 in use ; and an Oxford scholar, while expatiating upon the beauties of the 
 Quichua tongue, told them how Mama Ocllo intended that once the 
 Empire was established, it should be spoken from Panama to Patagonia. 
 The Yankee was confident of wonders from his flying machine — still in 
 embryo (perhaps because it was still in embryo), and a Hindoo jeweller 
 displayed a rare and newly-cut gem, and a fairy filigree necklace for the 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 117 
 
 neck of the Coya. Parry boasted of the powers of a gigantic dynamo 
 which he had in process of construction, and so on in turn, though by no 
 means waiting for their turn, these twenty good men extolled their in- 
 dividual achievements. It was evident to Hazel that Mama OcUo had a 
 positive genius for the collection of " cranks " — here were twenty of them 
 at all events, each an enthusiast of the most abandoned order. Although 
 they each fell naturally into use of their respective languages, they were all 
 equally fluent in either Quichua or English. The law, under which they 
 all worked, demanded this. Being a company of hobby-riders they 
 endured their imprisonment with less discontent than they would other- 
 wise have done. 
 
 " An international industrial congress," remarked Hazel, as he listened 
 to the rapid French speech of an excited little man. " But where is Don 
 Spaniard ? " 
 
 " Recall the events of three hundred years ago, and you'll pardon the 
 omission," retorted Parry. " The Incas hate the Dons like poison, and 
 small blame to them." 
 
 " That so ? H'm. When Mama OcUo regains Peru she will have 
 to set about arranging a massacre then ! " 
 
 " Or a general emigration. It will be a cold day for the Sefiors when that 
 she-devil gets the upper hand." 
 
 " You don't admire her, Parry ? " 
 
 " I do as a force — not as,, a woman. She has a heart of stone ; a will of 
 iron ; and as much wickedness as would fit out a moderately intelligent 
 Sunday School. Original sin ? Huh ! She's chock full of it ! " 
 
 " I never undervalued her capabilities in that direction," said Gerald, 
 dryly. " By the way, how old is she ? " 
 
 " Thirty-five years as time goes ; but in craft and wickedness she has 
 rounded her century long since." 
 
 " Dear me ! And is that how you speak of your queen ? — for she's 
 queen of Yayacarui, I presume ? " 
 
 " Well, she is, and she isn't. You see, while the Inca lives, he is sup- 
 posed by some pohtical fiction to reign. But he is old and muddle-headed, 
 and must soon die — the last of the mala line. He had only two children. 
 Mama OcUo and her younger brother, Paehacutic ; but the young man 
 died shortly after he married his sister. There were no children." 
 
 Gerald's amazement showed itself in his face. " Do you mean to tell 
 me that so civilised a woman as Mama OcUo kept up that horrible custom 
 and married her brother ? " 
 
 " She did. Their morality is a Ibt different from ours, you must re- 
 member. 'Sides, she had no choice by their law. Oh, she married him 
 sure enough ; but, as I say, there were no children, and as Paehacutic died 
 two years ago, things are a bit compUcated about the succession. Of the 
 true royal race only two remain. Mama OcUo and Inca Sutic-toco. The 
 old man's dying, and the Coya wiU be queen. All right so far ; but 
 how the deuce she intends to carry on the dynasty I don't know. Don't 
 suppose she does herself." 
 
 " Oh, she is fertile in expedients," said Hazel, grimly. " She'll scrape 
 through somehow. TeU me, is there any EngUsh equivalent for the name 
 Sutic-toco ? It's queer enough as these names go." 
 
 " Well, Sutic may be translated ' name ' and toco ' window.' It reaUy 
 means the window at Peccari-tampo out of which Manco Oapac cUmbed to 
 civilise Peru. The present Inca bore it in the hope that he would do 
 
ii8 THE MOTHER OF EMERAL DS. 
 
 a bit of civilising on his own ; as he's eighty-five and weak in the head, 
 there is not much chance of his setting the Apurimac on fire now." 
 
 Hazel looked thoughtful. " 'Seems I've arrived at a crisis," he said. 
 
 " Well, sir," Parry took a long look at him, " it wouldn't surprise me to 
 learn that you were timed to arrive. In my opinion you will have more 
 to do with the re-adjustment of state affairs than you know of," he paused 
 and smiled significantly, with his eyes still fixed on Gerald. " There's a 
 rumour hereabouts that a re-incarnated Manco Capac is about to show." 
 
 Gerald smiled. " I understand what you mean. Parry," he said, 
 quietly, " but beheve me, I am not disposed to play that game." 
 
 " Guess you'll have to, or — by George, sir, you don't know what she 
 is, this lady, when she takes a thing into her head. There are no half 
 measures about her." 
 
 " No. I once saw her shp a knife into a nigger at Lima. I gathered 
 from her general aspect then that she had no Uking for compromise." 
 
 " Ah ! " there was a volume of meaning in Parry's ejaculation. " Then 
 you know the kind of animal you have to deal with." 
 
 " Perfectly ! Shall we say a pantheress for choice ? The heather will 
 be on fire when we come to close quarters. Happy httle time I'm in for, 
 I expect." 
 
 Meanwhile Dick was very much at home amidst this rough and ready 
 company, which was of the quality most congenial to his not too-exacting 
 mind. After his own fashion he had mourned honestly for Cain, but 
 having done so — and that thoroughly — he was prepared now to relegate 
 that sorrow to its niche in his somewhat involved and heavy-laden past. 
 For the moment he was in high spirits and in the full tide of enjoyment. 
 The situation fitted him to a nicety. Midnight hours, good rowdy com- 
 pany, and an ample supply of the best procurable liquor, attained very 
 closely to Mr. Dick's idea of a terrestrial heaven. But because he was in 
 heaven, or in something approaching very closely to it, was no reason, by 
 Dick's logic, that he should behave like an angel. He had reached a 
 state highly contentious, not to say quarrelsome. 
 
 " By Gosh ! " thus spoke the chica. " D'y mean t'say twenty white 
 men can't tackle these damned niggers, an' lick the heads off 'em ? " 
 
 " My good sir," replied the Oxford man, with precision, " these niggers, 
 as you term them, are by no means the ordinary type of the coloured race. 
 They'are more akin to the Arab than the African. Intellectual, subtle, 
 far-seeing, they are more than a match for us ; in their hands we are so 
 many children. It is a contest of Ulysses with Polyphemus ! " 
 
 " Eh, my faith, it is just ! " put in the French doctor, a sallow creature 
 called Brossard. " Conceive to yourself, Monsieur, our chances of attain- 
 ing the fine day above-ground. These Incas are armed — well armed ; 
 they know the caves better than" we ; and twenty to one ! " he shrugged 
 his shoulders. " Eh, what would you ? It is impossible that thing, is 
 it not ? " 
 
 " Impossible be damned ! " thundered Dick, now well-nigh alight within. 
 " Can't you loot a gun or two, and get home on the winner that way ? " 
 
 The chemist, with much Florentine gesticulation, took him up. 
 " Signor, you speak not to the point ; but ignorantly. The little red man, 
 Cusi-cuy, holds the key of the magazine ; he and Mama Ocllo. We have 
 our guns and rifles, and even Maxim machines ; but bullets and powder, 
 shell and shot ? Dio mio ! These are beyond our reach." 
 
 " That's a fact, I guess,'' said America, gravely ; " and how to negotiate 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 119 
 
 that darned quebrada — that's another. No, sir ; can't be done, 
 nohow." 
 
 " Ah, that's where your flying machine should come in," remarked the 
 Oxonian, drily. 
 
 " Shoo I She can't skim yet. When she does, I don't say but what she 
 might negotiate that bit of atmosphere anyway." 
 
 The lean geologist, who came from Aberdeen, and attended to the earth- 
 quake department, shook his head with formidable solemnity. 
 
 " Ye blethering fules ! " he began, delicately, " there'll be nae fleein' fra 
 this pit o' Tophet, it's ma opeenion." He looked round the assembly to 
 see how they took it now. " We'll hae an awful blawing up o' this vol- 
 cany ; an' waes me for the hail o' ye then ! " 
 
 " So there's a chance of the apple-cart being upset that way is there ? 
 Three cheers for old Macgregor ! " roared Dick. 
 
 " Maclean's ma name, I'd hae ye obsarve. Chance, mon ! I tell ye 
 we're dwalling on the skin o' a bombshell joost filled wi' combustible 
 mateerial that may crack like a stuffed haggis ony minute ! '' 
 
 Everyone looked uneasily at the floor. " Ay, ye may look, ye siUy 
 gowks. We hold oor lives in oor honds. They puir misbegotten Incas 
 wha ca' themsels oor maisters think they wull rule the airth wi their siller 
 an' instruments o' battle ; deil's buckles as they are. But the Lawd wuU 
 stretch oot His richt hond an' make dust o' them." 
 
 " Pshutt ! " Brossard shrugged his meagre shoulders. " Monsieur Le 
 Bon Dieu has held his hand this long time. Bah ! I mock myself of this 
 trouble ! " 
 
 This was quite enough for the argumentative Scotsman. With many 
 illustrations and much weird and forcible language he strove to drive 
 home into the skull of the ii^ry Frenchman the inevitableness of the doom 
 he foretold. Technical terms rattled like hail around, and in a very few 
 minutes the discussion became general, not to say unparliamentary. Some 
 believed, others doubted, a few scoffed, many laughed ; but all knew that 
 Maclean was sohd in his facts, since he had not the imagination to invent 
 them. In the end the " ayes " seemed to have it. There would, agreed 
 the majority, come a " blow up " (to speak quite colloquially) sooner or 
 later. In these circumstances the best subject for discussion — indeed 
 for the present the only subject — was their chance of escape, and how they 
 could best achieve it. 
 
 As a new-comer. Hazel maintained a judicious silence, until his thoughtful 
 aspect attracting the attention of the less noisy, he was invited to deliver 
 his views. 
 
 " AU this is so new to me that I really don't feel confident to offer an 
 opinion," said Gerald, thus appealed to. " But in listening to your very 
 animated discussion, I have been struck with the idea that there are too 
 many cooks here ! " 
 
 There ensued an astonished silence. " Jlonsieur will have the goodness 
 to explain," said Brossard, stiffly. It was incumbent upon him, as a 
 Frenchman, to be the first to take ofience. 
 
 " Well ; put it another way if you like," continued Gerald, coolly. " You 
 need a leader ; an arbitrator who can sort out from among these many 
 schemes and ideas, those most practicable and likety to be successful. 
 When everyone leads no one leads. Better have a despot. I would 
 suggest Mr. Parry — a man who thinks twice and looks before he 
 leaps." 
 
120 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " That is a mere pleonasm, my dear sir," murmured the Oxford man. 
 Such a chance was too good to let slip. But nobody paid any attention 
 to him. The eyes of all were fixed on Parry. 
 
 " Not me," said the engineer, modestly ; " I can follow and execute. I'm 
 no good at leading. But what you say is true enough, Mr. Hazel. A 
 leader is necessary — very necessary, considering the gravity of the 
 situation." 
 
 " Assuredly, without doubt," spluttered Brossard, offering himself 
 with racial vain glory ; " I, even I, Achille Brossard, will lead. Where 
 is danger, there is France ! " 
 
 " Rot ! get away, out of it, froggy ! " shouted Dick, contemptuously. 
 " We want a man, not a thing ! Think my chief's goin' to work under 
 you ? No, damn you, not much ! " 
 
 " Monsieur forgets himself. I am the child of the great nation. France 
 does not serve ; she leads." He folded his arms with Napoleonic dignity, 
 and looked round the company. " Messieurs, in the name of the Republic 
 I take the post of danger 1 " 
 
 Dick — as Hazel saw with some anxiety — had found the cross drop in 
 his Uquor, and was, as the Irish say, spoiling for a row. Galled by such 
 hghtsome reference to his nation and himself, Brossard gesticulated wildly, 
 swore volubly, exhausting, it seemed, the whole gamut of Parisian ana- 
 thema. But Dick the wanderer was versed in many tongues, and repUed 
 with a variety which completely staggered the Frenchman. The atmo- 
 sphere was fast becoming charged, and Hazel, seeing what must inevitably 
 foUow, took Dick by the arm, and quietly led him aside. 
 
 " Don't be a fool, Dick," he said ; " leave me to deal with this lot." 
 
 " Well, what does that black piece of Paris dirt mean by " 
 
 " Pooh, French calmness, that's aU. You should be English enough to 
 
 overlook the snarling of a poodle. Apologise, and " 
 
 ;; " I'll be damned if I do." 
 
 " You'll be damned if you don't. How are we to get along here or get 
 out of here if we quarrel amongst ourselves ? United we stand ; divided 
 we fall ; you know the sort of thing, Dick — unity is strength, if you like 
 that better ; anything so long as you keep quiet and go slow. It won't 
 do to row here, you know." 
 
 But the disturber of the peace in a muUsh state of mind was not to 
 be cajoled or reasoned into an apology. He conceded so far as to hold 
 his tongue, and confined his attention to a fresh can of beer. Indicating 
 Dick's state with a shrug, Gerald glanced significantly at the doctor, 
 mutely asking him to suspend judgment. With the traditional polite- 
 ness of his nation the Frenchman bowed and resumed his seat. Harmony 
 being thus restored, Hazel continued. 
 
 " At present we can choose no leader," he said, " for, so far as I am con- 
 cerned, it is impossible to consent to any plan until I know my ground. 
 Although from Mr. Maclean's report an eruption seems certain, there is, 
 I understand, nothing to indicate that it will happen immediately — let us 
 hope not before we have formulated our plans and put them into execution. 
 The comer stone of this civilization appears to be Mama OcUo. On her 
 depends our retention or release. She has invited me to go to her — to 
 discuss certain proposals she intends to lay before me. How they will 
 affect you all I can hardly say. At present I have but the faintest notion 
 of what they may relate to. So, in the meantime, gentlemen, I must ask 
 you to allow me the opportunity of learning more about this place and 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 121 
 
 its government. As the latest comer I can speak with some authority 
 as to our chances of regaining civilization v^hen once outside ; but the rest, 
 for the present at all events, I must leave to you who have lived here so 
 long." 
 
 " There is another entrance," interrupted Parry, suddenly, " one that 
 leads into the hills. But where it is none of us know. The native popu- 
 lation have the secret ; but we have never been able to find it out." 
 
 " Then we must learn the whereabouts of that entrance at all costs," 
 said Gerald, " since it appears to be an absolute impossibility to escape 
 by the quebrada. But we can discuss this and other things when I have 
 learned more of Yayacarui and its ways. Whomsoever you may choose 
 for a leader I promise to obey faithfully. In a week or two we can begin 
 to shape our schemes. In the meantime, if you are willing, I should Uke 
 to hear from some of you how you came to this place." 
 
 There was some applause, much shouting, and a general desire all to 
 speak at once. It was very plain to Gerald how all plans of escape had 
 hitherto failed. Not one of those present appeared to possess the necessary 
 organizing capability ; and though all were highly-trained and intellectual 
 men, there was no leader among them, or he would have been forthcoming 
 long ago. Each mdn was, as he had said before, a " crank " polarised by 
 his particular hobby or gift. Assuredly they were not of the stuff of which 
 leaders were made. Hazel was not a vain man ; but he thought himself 
 competent to fill the post ; and indeed he silently stepped into the vacant 
 place by reducing the many voices to one. 
 
 " I should Uke to hear what Mr. Parry has to say, gentlemen." 
 
 The engineer raked his beard reflectively. " My story's as bald as a 
 police report," said he, in his heavy way. " I was doing badly in the old 
 country, when I saw an ' ad.' in the Times, saying that an engineer was 
 wanted at Cuzco. I sent in my testimonials and got the billet from an 
 agent, who didn't know what was at the back of it — so he said ; but I fancy 
 he was a har, that agent. 'Said there was a good deal of bridge-building 
 to be done, and all that sort o' thing. Well, gentlemen, I fetched Cuzco 
 in a few weeks ; and Mama OcUo showed up under the name of Senorita 
 de Herrera. Asked me to come inland and hght her haciendo house. I 
 went straight, not thinking anything was wrong. One night I was seized 
 and brought here. Then the lady was so good as to make clear my position. 
 She promised to send my wages to my family ; and it's true she has done 
 so ; and as far as that goes she's been square enough. So here I've camped 
 these fifteen years, an' making the best of a bad job, I've attended to my 
 work. I've no complaint to make so far, but I'd like to get home and see 
 the boys and girls." 
 
 " Huh ! " cried Dick, who had now passed from the contentious to the 
 more jovial stage of inebriation. " Guess I won't hang up m' hat long in 
 this shanty. Not much ! I'm on for lootin' the Mother of Emeralds, 
 an' lightin' out for Europe. What ho ! she bumps ! Wouldn't I paint 
 the place scarlet ? By Gum I " 
 
 The mention of the gem led several to explain that they had been 
 inveigled hither by its lure. Their stories, though beginning with no little 
 variety, wound up in the same monotonous catastrophe. Whether 
 attracted by the emerald ; invited to a false address to exercise their 
 various professions ; or drawn into the interior by reports of hidden 
 treasure ; one and all in due time had been blindfolded and carried to 
 Yayacarui. 
 
122 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 It would appear indeed that Mama Ocllo had agents all over the world, 
 picking up unconsidered talent for her own purposes. Once in Yayacarui 
 there was no exit, save by the door of the tomb. Since the founding of 
 the city in the days of Pizarro many had come ; but none had returned 
 to reveal the secret of this buried civilization. 
 
 " The cleverest," said Parry, " are embalmed as mummies and placed 
 in the temple, thus being honoured for having advanced the civilization 
 of the place. The rank and file are buried in caves, with the common 
 herd. John Prynne is amongst the mummies. An ancestor of his is 
 there, too ! " 
 
 " Sir Bevil ! " said Hazel. " Yes, I know he was an early visitor here. 
 It was his manuscript which led me into this trap. Well, gentlemen," 
 Gerald rose, " we're all in the same box, now the thing is how to get out of 
 it! " 
 
 " I think we shall do that now," said Parry, looking at Hazel. A 
 remark which seemed to show that at last the White Man's Club had 
 found a leader, and recognised it. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 " INCA SUTIC-TOCO.'' 
 
 From that time the new-comers attended the confabulations of the club 
 with scrupulous regularity : Dick, because he found its company con- 
 genial, Gerald on grounds connected more particularly with the future 
 well-being of its twenty members. For it had come to be tacitly ad- 
 mitted among them that Gerald Hazel was a man with a head on his 
 shoulders ; one to be followed and obeyed by reason of his craft and 
 courage. He assumed this position of leader without any kind of formal 
 initiation : and when Brossard contested his right to direct affairs, and 
 generally to sit in judgment, the Frenchman's nineteen comrades gave 
 him clearly to understand that he was in the minority, and therefore 
 wrong. Hazel, they declared, was the man for their money ; so they 
 swore by him, and at the envious Frenchman whose envy and uncharitable- 
 ness fell harmlessly. 
 
 For the most part, when his fellow white men were at their work. 
 Hazel walked around, absorbing details and information generally. He 
 talked with many strange people and heard many strange things. And 
 he attained to no small proficiency in the Quichua tongue. On some 
 occasions there were explorations with Dick to be made, but more often 
 than not that young gentleman prowled round on his own account, 
 asking questions and making discoveries in localities where his right to 
 be was very questionable. Laden with knowledge as to highways and 
 b5rways, Dick would return from his wanderings and report to his chief. 
 A comparison of notes led to the projection of maps, to be understood 
 assuredly by none save themselves. But the secret entrance still i^e- 
 mained secret. It defied them utterly. Nevertheless, in their search 
 for it they had become possessed of a vast deal of data which would 
 without a doubt prove invaluable to them at a later period. 
 
 All this time Gerald never caught so much as a glimpse of Mama Ocllo. 
 He was especially .anxious to see her, but she kept out of sight, as became 
 one of the most high gods : and, like them, she supervised his wander- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 123 
 
 ings unseen. Puca reappeared, this time in the double role of jester and 
 of spy. Hazel constantly ran up against him in odd corners and at odd 
 times. Such constant supervision worried him no little ; but since it 
 could not be contested openly, he said nothing about it, even to his 
 friend. For it is safe to say that had he done so, Dick would soon have 
 made short work of Puca's thick neck ; and so would have led to his own 
 undoing, if not to that of others. The only possible course was to 
 tolerate Puca, and to thwart him when it came to close quarters. 
 
 After a fortnight of this sort of thing, a message was brought to Hazel 
 from the Inca at the hands of Puca. It included an order that Gerald 
 was to tabulate his impressions for the , information of the sovereign. 
 This he obeyed very willingly, being only too anxious to see the royal 
 puppet whose strings Mama Ocllo pulled so ■ dexterously. He wondered 
 if the Coya would be present, and sought to know from Puca. 
 
 " Indeed, Viracocha, I know not," replied the dwarf. " The wind 
 blows, the wind goes, but who sees the wind ? " 
 
 " Yes, and you seem to have contracted something of the same order ; 
 since you speak and no one can understand what you say," replied 
 Gerald. " You needn't trouble to juggle for me." He knew it was useless 
 to expect anything in the shape of a straightforward reply from Puca. 
 But he could not understand the undisguised show of hostility which the 
 little man now evinced. Formerly, although cunning and untrustworthy, 
 he had been agreeable, at least, but since Gerald's arrival in the hidden 
 city, he had been at no pains to hide his enmity. And it seemed that 
 against Hazel, rather than Dick, was it chiefly directed. And later on, 
 when Hazel learned why this was so, what he learned puzzled him every 
 whit as much. 
 
 The front of the Inca's palace was a mere mask to a cave. Within, 
 the vast hollow was walled round, divided into courts and rooms, inter- 
 sected by corridors ; adorned with imposing staircases. On stepping 
 through the square of the doorway. Hazel found himself in a large hall, 
 where squat pillars in the Egyptian style girdled a circular space of ver- 
 milion pavement. Between the pillars the smooth walls were painted in 
 crude and glaring colours with scenes of festival and battle. An arched 
 roof glittered with electric stars, and a fountain spouted and foamed in 
 a central pool. Round this stood a number of guards, clothed in a green 
 uniform braided with gold, and wearing helmets of the same metal. They 
 bore long spears tipped with silver ; and — strange juxtaposition — carried 
 revolvers in their belts. Like statues of bronze they stood amid a solemn 
 low-voiced crowd of great nobles, dressed in flowing robes of vicuna 
 wool, dyed and woven with ornamental devices. In the lobes of their 
 ears were inserted discs of gold — the same fashion which led the Spaniards 
 of Pizarro to call their ancestors Orejones (great ears). On his back 
 each man bore a slight bundle in token of submission, without which 
 he could not enter into the presence of the supreme lord. Although he 
 could not but wonder that a nation pretending to so advanced a civilization 
 could tolerate these ancient follies, it was apparent to Hazel that these 
 Indians aped the dress and ceremonial of old Inca days. 
 
 Much in the way of anachronism. Mama Ocllo might have explained : 
 but at that moment she was not to be seen, either without, or within 
 the interior hall, whither Puca hurried the Enghshman. This hall was of 
 a much smaller size, though of similar architecture. Its prevailing hue 
 was a pale green, with lamps so shaded as to reflect the same tint. Hazel 
 
124 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 felt as though he were walking under seas in a translucent emerald twi- 
 light, brooding and soothing. Several aged men sat round on gilded 
 stools ; immovable, venerable, haughty. Sxich like must have been 
 the senators of Ancient Rome upon whom Brennus and his Gauls broke in. 
 These were the notables of the nation — the great lords of illegitimate 
 royal blood, whose duties brought them into immediate contact with the 
 true-born child of the Sun. They gazed solemnly at Gerald, but made 
 no attempt to rise or to greet him. Ushered by Puca he passed on to a 
 silver staircase, at the top of which appeared a narrow postern of the 
 same material, encrusted with rough turquoise stones. This the dwarf 
 pushed open and signified to him to enter ; while he himself remained 
 on the outside. 
 
 " I am to face the old man alone," thought Gerald, when the door 
 snapped behind him. " H'm. Is this etiquette, sheer cunning, or a 
 trap ? " 
 
 Immediately before him rose a gilded screen, beyond which soared 
 white clouds of smoke, thick and stupefying, and scented with many ' 
 spices.' There was the sound of music faint and far away : and Hazel 
 stepped i"ound the screen feeling sure that here was another of Mama 
 OcUo's theatrical surprises. If so, it proved remarkably effective, and 
 moved even the phlegmatic Briton to an ejaculation of astonishment. 
 The splendour of the scene which met his eye was as the splendour of the 
 New Jerusalem described by St. John the Divine. It dazzled, stunned, 
 bewildered him. Never, save perhaps in the Sun Temple at Cuzco itself, 
 had the eye of man rested on such an accumulation of treasure. 
 
 The chamber was of no great size, nor was it lofty ; but walls and ceiling 
 were plated with fine gold, and the flooring glittered a smooth expanse of 
 polished silver, reflecting like still water. The sole articles of furniture 
 in this sumptuous apartment were a throne such as Solomon might have 
 sat upon, and three or four gilded stools. A dais with three shallow steps, 
 gold-plated ; a voluminous cloth of gold canopy, woven with many 
 precious gems ; , a massive chair moulded in gold, wrought with figures 
 and sacred symbols ; and overhead, shedding seven hues on the yellow 
 metal, a glittering arc, radiant with jewels. The many Ughts in the 
 apartment were focussed on to this royal seat : and the whole glowed and 
 sparkled with the splendour of the sun at noon-day — a fit throne truly for 
 the potentate who called himself the child of the mighty orb. He sat 
 there amid the glory and brilliance with knees close together, the palms 
 of his hands turned upward, and his eyes fixed directly over Hazel's head 
 — a blear-eyed, wrinkled, failing creature, whose frail appearance made, a 
 mockery of the seat of pride ; a little wizen brown monkey-man, re- 
 minding Gerald forcibly of those terribly ancient creatures who should, 
 but would not, die, imagined by Swift in his tale of Laputa. The shrivelled 
 body was draped in a loose robe of yellow, interwoven with silver half- 
 moons and,' embroidered on the breast, sparkled a rainbow of coloured 
 gems. Plumes of green feathers adorned his head, and beneath, the crim- 
 son fringe " llautu "- dropped over his lined forehead. The splendour, 
 the colour, the hght, the shining of fine gold,, and the fiashing of jewels 
 served only to demonstrate the more, how poor a creature is man when 
 seared by the finger of Time. The incense smoked in the golden vases, 
 roUing fragrant clouds : but to Hazel, gazing on the lord of these treasures, 
 there seemed to be a chiU breath from the tomb sweeping through the 
 room. To him the atmosphere was heavy witli corruption. Death 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 125 
 
 sat on that splendid throne, mocking the earthly god. He shivered, and 
 closed his eyes. What a tragedy this picture, what infinite irony in the 
 setting ! 
 
 " The supreme Inca ! " breathed a voice in his ear. " The child of the 
 Sun ; the ruler of Tlahua-ntin-Suyu ! " 
 
 It was a relief to turn to the glowing beauty of Mama Ocllo. Unex- 
 pectedly she appeared at his elbow, arrayed in a pied robe of feathers, 
 red and white : coruscating with jewels. She exhibited vigour and 
 vitality as vigorously as the Inca exhibited decay. Here was the true 
 ruler of Yayacarui : the enemy to be conquered : the diplomatist to 
 be thwarted. Sutic-toco sat on his throne, a puppet, a figure-head, a 
 tradition — useless as an idol. Mama Ocllo, with her firm and wondrously 
 expressive countenance, her mascuhne sense of understanding, was, in 
 truth, the incarnate figure-head of the nation in embryo — -the nation 
 from whose clutches he would have to deliver himself and the twenty 
 who trusted in him. He glanced from her splendid vitahty to the motion- 
 less figure on the throne : but he said no word. Then the Coya spoke. 
 
 " Are you satisfied, Yiracocha ? " she demanded mockingly. " Are 
 these, the riches of golden Peru, such as you expected to see ? Is there 
 enough treasure here to satisfy your avarice — the insatiable avarice of the 
 white race ? " 
 
 " I have no lildng for baubles," said Hazel, with a shrug ; it was not 
 his poUcy to appear impressed. " These things may tickle the fancy of 
 children. I am no child." 
 
 " Yet you came hither for these very toys ; you braved death and danger 
 and many disasters for — what you see 1 " 
 
 " I came here for John Prynne, alive or dead. Do you think that, 
 like the Spaniards, I have a disease to be cured only by gold ? When 
 I leave here, beUeve me, madam, there will not go with me one little 
 jewel of all your wealth." 
 
 " Ah ! " mocked she, " when you leave here I " 
 
 The Inca, evidently tired of playing the role of jewelled dummy, re- 
 laxed his rigid attitude, dropped his head between his shoulders, and be- 
 came what he was — a very flabby old gentleman. But he was sufficiently 
 wide aw6.ke to take an intelligent interest in Gerald, whose free and easy 
 behaviour attracted him as being something out of the common. In that 
 gem-encrusted room the trim unadorned dress of the Enghshman stood 
 out in its severity ; and his behaviour was in keeping with it. Heedless 
 of the Byzantium-Uke ceremonial of the Inca court, he drew a gilded stool 
 towards him and sat down, at which Mama Ocllo frowned : but the Inca 
 onlj' laughed, being very human, and sick to death of etiquette. In the 
 end Mama Ocllo fell so far as to take a seat herself. She admired this 
 man and his utter fearlessness and disregard for all convention. And, after 
 all, there was no one but themselves to be shocked. Since her father 
 did not mind, it was unnecessary for her to waste time in reproof. So 
 she and Gerald sat facing the throne, where Sutic-toco, leaning wearily 
 back amid his golden cushions, asked certain questions, and gave vent 
 to certain remarks in the most excellent Enghsh. For reasons best 
 known to herself Mama Ocllo let hun do most of the talking. 
 
 " I welcome you to our city, Yiracocha 1 " said the Inca in a quavering 
 voice. " We have waited for you long — ah, very long 1 "- 
 
 " Indeed ! I do not quite see how you could have expected me very 
 long, seeing I only made up my mind quite recently to come here at all.- 
 
126 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 But now that I am here perhaps you will tell me what it is you want of 
 me ? " 
 
 The Coya was ill-pleased at his attitude, but the Inca laughed again 
 and stared at the speaker. "You are a bold man, Yiracocha ! Never 
 has a man spoken to me thus before. Wliat I want, you shall know in 
 due season. You have seen our city ? " 
 
 " I have. And I cannot deny that it is well worth a visit.'' 
 
 " A visit ! " Mama Ocllo laughed. " Yes, a very long visit.'' 
 
 " Perhaps," retorted Hazel. " But one with a conclusion, for all 
 that." 
 
 He looked at her, and she at him. Then the Inca spoke again. " You 
 have no doubt seen much that has amazed you," said Sutic-toco. " And 
 it may be that you wish to question me concerning our wonders." 
 
 " Well, no," drawled Hazel. " I have eyes to see and a brain to think, 
 so I am not really in need of much in the way of explanation. But," 
 he hesitated, " there are just a few questions — about yourself — for in- 
 stance, that I should like to put to you. Are you the real Inca article ; 
 one of the genuine old stock ? " 
 
 A faint smile curved the thin lips of Sutic-toco, but he did not appear 
 in the least degree ruffled. " Why should you doubt it, Viracocha ? " 
 
 " Well, I doubt most things, sire ; until I have proved them." He 
 glanced significantly at Mama Ocllo. " But if you would know I always 
 understood that the Inca race died out with Tupac Amaru in 1781 ! " 
 
 " He died and 80,000 of his people with him ; but the Inca race did not 
 perish then ; nor was he the true Inca. Under these mountains even at 
 that time, reigned the legal descendant of the royal house. I am de- 
 scended from that Inca Manco who defended himself in the valley of the 
 Vilcamayu against the dog Pizarro. When Con permitted the barbarous 
 white men to slay the patriot and enslave our race, his son came hither 
 with many nobles and common people, putting the barriers of nature 
 between himself and the devils from overseas. In these caves he founded 
 a refuge, and hither brought the Incarial treasures which had been col- 
 lected for the ransom of the traitor Atahualpa. The building of Yaya- 
 carui and the existence of the true Inca were made known throughout 
 Peru ; and on pain of death it was forbidden to all to reveal the secret. 
 The royal house has sat in darkness these many years ; but the sceptre 
 has come down from father to son without a break until it fell into my 
 unwoi-thy hands. Now," the Inca sighed and looked at his daughter, 
 " the line ends with me. A woman's hand must take up the fallen sceptre." 
 
 " And the woman will sway it nobly," said Hazel. " Do not mourn 
 that you have no son, Inca, for Mama Ocllo has the heart and will of a 
 man." 
 
 She flushed a rosy red at his praise ; and her eyes sparkled bright 
 as the diamonds in her dress. " You are right, Viracocha," she said with 
 energy, " and I thank you for the good omen of your words. I am a 
 woman, it is true, but I have the mind of a man. It is no sceptre my hand 
 shall grasp ; rather the sword ; and I swear by Con ! " she continued 
 with intense feeling, " that it shall not be sheathed until the land is free, 
 and the empire of Manco Capac is restored from Panama to the waves that 
 beat round the Horn." 
 
 " But Peru is free ! " said Hazel. " The Spaniards have been ex- 
 pelled.'' 
 
 " Dog has replaced dog ! " said Sutic-toco, catching somewhat of his 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 127 
 
 daughter's fire. " Peru ! I know nothing of Peru ! Tlahua-ntin-Suyu, 
 the land of the four provinces, is not free. Spanish houndsin a new guise 
 still sit on our throne, still kennel in our palaces. The white man rules : 
 the white man breeds in the land. But we will sweep these bastards into 
 the sea whence their fathers came ; and reign, red men over red. as in 
 the days when Cuzco was the seat of empire ! " 
 
 " You would put back the clock of time ! '-'■ 
 
 " Nay, Viracocha. I would restore the rule of our house, of our race. 
 Why should we be put out of our heritage ? Hath not Con given the 
 earth to all men ? Must we hide like conies in the rocks, and lose our 
 right to gaze upon our father the sun ? No, by the host of heaven, no 1 
 I will bring back the golden age and give the land to those who received it 
 from Con." 
 
 " By means of war, I suppose. You would slay thousands for your 
 own ends ? '' 
 
 " Strong diseases require strong remedies, Viracocha ; and the harvests 
 will grow the richer for the rain of blood. The sowing, the growing, 
 has been long ; but the time of reaping is at hand." 
 
 The princess made a gesture of dissent, but held her peace. Ap- 
 parently she did not agree with the latter part of her father's speech ; 
 yet deemed it politic not to contradict. Sutic-toco, roused out of his 
 lethargy, continued to speak with a vigour surprising in one of his age. 
 
 " Here we have those who know the science of the white race. They 
 have taught and we have learned, until now the pupils are able to surpass 
 their masters. In a short time we shall go forth to war, and those of our 
 race above ground, who pine in slavery, shall strike a blow for freedom, 
 and the empire of their fathers. Then ! " the Inca rose with a royal 
 air, " shall we return to Cuzco — to the holy city — the navel of the world, 
 and again rule the land, giving to all men justice and peace. What say 
 you, Viracocha ? "■ 
 
 " It is a splendid — dream ! " 
 
 " Dream ! " Mama Ocllo's temper flashed out, and she sprang to 
 her feet with a superstitious gesture to avert the evil omen of his words. 
 She would have given vent to the rage within her had not her father at 
 that moment collapsed in his golden seat, weeping senile tears. The 
 optimism of an unnatural and unwonted energy died out in him, and 
 the pessimism of old age re-asserted itself. 
 
 " I fear it may be so ! " he wailed, beating his breast. " The holy Sun 
 shines not upon us here, and how can we be blessed without our father's 
 smile ? In these depths Supay rules our fate ; and it may be that his 
 avenging fires will break forth to overwhelm our mighty works. We may 
 prepare the weapons of war, but who will instruct a fallen people in their 
 use ? Who will put hope into those hearts broken with despair, or make 
 strong the hands which chains have bound ? The time was ; the time is ; 
 the time is past." He slipped down from his golden seat, and grovelled 
 on the ground. " Here let me rest, the father of sadness, the ruler of a 
 ruined race. The doom of centuries may not be changed. The people 
 of the sun are no longer a people ; the walls of their strong cities are broken 
 down ; and the jaguar crouches on the cold hearth-stones in ruined 
 palaces. Con speaks, and who can gainsay his words ? We are dust 
 in the dust. You speak my thought, Viracocha ; the thought which has 
 shadowed my life and made desolate my old days. It is a dream ! Aye, 
 truly it is a dream, and we but dreamers in the watches of a night which 
 
128 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 will never pass. Go ! For I am sick at heart. Sorrow lies heavy upon 
 me, and mj- old eyes weep tears of blood. Go ! Go ! What has youth to 
 do with age ? Failure ! Failure ! sorrow, and again failure ! I have 
 spoken ! " 
 
 In a paroxysm of grief he cast his mantle over his grey head, and 
 crouched weeping, moaning, and crying out against the unjust gods. 
 Hazel, with folded arms, looked sadly at this last representative of a royal 
 race. Mama Ocllo looked also ; but her eyes were hard with scorn ; her 
 hands were clenched with scarcely restrained rage. Such abasement 
 and despair were beyond the understanding of her pride. She neither wept 
 nor knelt. She defied the gods dry-eyed. For a minute she stood thus 
 immovable ; then she lifted some silken hangings and revealed a passage. 
 In response to an imperious gesture, Gerald followed her. The hangings 
 dropped, and he found himself in a warm darkness. Mama Ocllo grasped 
 his hand, and drew him along swiftly ; whither he knew not. 
 
 In the dust, alone with his melancholy thoughts, wailed Sutic-toco — 
 the faint-hearted, would-be regenerator of his race. The spirit of prophecy 
 had come upon him, and with unwilling lips he had spoken the doom of the 
 Sun-children. Yayacarui 1 the acquired wisdom of the white man ; 
 the arms and jewels and treasures of old time ; weapons of war and eager 
 armies ; these were as nothing against the fiat of Con. The nation was, 
 the nation was not, the nation would not be. And who can read the 
 riddle of the Most High ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 " THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS." 
 
 On through" the darkness, never pausing, never speaking, Mama Ocllo led 
 her captive. Through a labyrinth of passages to right, to left, on and 
 on — miles it seemed to Hazel. Without the least show of resistance he 
 left himself in her hands completely. Then the air became cooler and 
 a trifle less dense, and he knew they were approaching the open. At 
 the top of a flight of shallow steps, she halted. Still she spoke no word. 
 Guiding his hand on to some round concave object she held it there and 
 pressed it down hard. Then her voice, imperious and decisive, rang out 
 with amazing volume. There was a reverberation — an echo. They must 
 be in some vast building. It flashed across Hazel that they were in the 
 Temple. 
 
 " Swear I " cried the woman, harshly. " Swear to tell no one of Sutic- 
 toco's wealaiess of which you have been witness \ "- 
 
 " I swear," answered Gerald with difficulty able to conceal his mirth. 
 It seemed to him all very ludicrous and much ado about nothing. 
 
 " Swear to reveal neither his words nor his abasement 1 " 
 
 " I swear I "- 
 
 " Not 6ven to Uchu 1 " 
 
 " Since you wish it^ not even to Uchu ! " 
 
 " So be it. Remove your hand, and look upon that you have sworn by."- 
 
 Gerald, having an idea of what was coming, did as she bade him. 
 Suddenly a green ray sparkling as deep sea water in sunlight, shot through 
 the darkness. Another and another followed until the gloom scintillated 
 with threads of greenish fire. There was no need to enquire into this 
 
THE MOTHER OF EME RALDS. 129 
 
 phenomenon. That fiery object, large as an ostrich egg, tender-hued 
 as the grass in spring-time, could be none other than the palladium of 
 Yayacarui, the most famous and sacred of all gems. It glowed with the 
 lustre and vitality of a wild's cat's eye seen from the camp-fire. 
 " You have sworn by the Mother of Emeralds to keep silence ! " 
 For the moment Gerald was inclined to laugh outright. This big 
 jewel, its native splendour enhanced by a cunningly-concealed electric 
 spark, was nothing to him, an oath taken upon it was no whit more bind- 
 ing than an oath upon anything else. But he did not say so. What- 
 ever he might feel, she was in deadly earnest, and he was content to humour 
 her in her present mood, and await developments. 
 
 These came in rapid succession. The darkness rolled up like a curtain, 
 and in a moment the whole place was illuminated. Then he saw, what he 
 had half expected to see, the Temple of the Sun. The blaze of light was 
 blinding and he placed both hands over his dazzled eyes. 
 
 " Yes, Yiracocha," said the voice of the woman. " This is indeed the 
 shrine of our great Father, the Sun : and you have sworn silence by the 
 sacred emerald which sits ever on the altar.' Look you'; now, , how we 
 honour the servant of the Invisible 1 '' 
 
 Gerald, standing beside the high altar of rose-hued granite, beheld 
 an immense circular space with a domed roof, supported by innumerable 
 columns of precious marbles. The pavement of malachite was diapered 
 with mosaic flowers of rainbow hues ; and across its green expanse 
 meandered a brook wrought in beaten sUver. Seen from above, it appeared 
 as one blossoming mead watered by the winding stream — a marvel of 
 invention and artistic workmanship. In the concave ceiling of dark 
 blue enamel glittered electric stars arranged in groups as the constellations 
 of the southern heavens. Between the many pUlars hung yellow silk 
 draperies, woven with threads of silver and gold, so that every breath 
 of air shook out sparkles of light. At the back of the high altar the 
 icon of the Sun was veiled by a curtain of pale blue, starry with diamonds. 
 Opposite to this, at the far end of the temple, and behind an altar of black 
 basalt, spread a vast silver plate on which was graven the face of a 
 beautiful woman, surrounded by rays of pearls. It was the shrine of 
 QuUla, the moon goddess, the sister of the Sun Ynti. Around the 
 walls stood altars to Coyllur, the host of heaven ; to Chasac, the planet 
 Venus ; to Yllapa, the thunder and Ughtning, and to Ceuicha j the rainbow. 
 Massive doors, plated with gold, formed the entrance to this splendid 
 pagan church ; but these were closed. In censers of silver smoked gums 
 and spices which perfumed the air, and veiled the jewelled shrines with 
 clouds of odorous smoke. 
 
 But amidst this gorgeous splendour were also horrors of no common 
 order. The flowery pavement lay in a kind of hollow, encircled by three 
 tiers, upon which were ranged the companies of the dead. More mummies 
 than Gerald could count sat in gilded chairs, decked in gorgeous robes, 
 stiff with gold and gems. The skins preserved almost their natural tints. 
 For eyes, were moonstones, pale and cloudy-white. And before these 
 royal dead stood golden vases, holding sacrificial first-fruits. Incense 
 burned around. With rigid figures and arms crossed on the breast, these 
 poor remnants of humanity sat grimly waiting the sounding of Gabriel's 
 trumpet. Yet there was something humorous about them, too ; and 
 Gerald could hardly repress an outburst of laughter as it struck him. 
 They called to his mind nothing so much as Mrs. Jarley's wax-works. 
 
130 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 "These are the treasures collected by those I " said Mama OcUo, 
 pointing to the grinning company of the dead. " The wealth of the Incas, 
 which the Spanish dogs could not gain. Kings and queens and princes 
 keep watch over the riches we saved from the invaders. Do you not think, 
 Viracocha," she waved her hand, " that with this treasure we can conquer 
 the earth ? " 
 
 Hazel looked at her with a cynical smile. " Since there is little on this 
 planet which cannot be bought and sold, Mama Ocllo, you should be 
 able to acquire much — even the nations of the earth. But you will never 
 conquer them, never 1 These buried milUons will be more potent to buy 
 back Peru than your arms will be in regaining it by force." 
 
 The woman's face grew stormy. " What talk is this ? Have you 
 not seen our wonderful city ? " 
 
 " I have. I have also heard its wonderful talk. Even Parry seems 
 to be magnetised by the place. And perhaps that is not so strange, for 
 the city is marvellous in its way. As a vast treasure-house it is powerful ; 
 
 but as a base from which to send forth conquering armies " Hazel 
 
 shook his head; 
 
 " But we have all the most formidable weapons of modern warfare 1 " 
 
 " That is just the point. You have the most modern weapons, and 
 —other nations have them too ; nations trained in arms, with thousands 
 of professional soldiers. To be victorious over them, you should possess 
 
 the weapons of the future ; otherwise " he shrugged, paused, and 
 
 continued. '" The present Government of Peru is not very strong, I 
 grant ; and with determined men using your war stores, you might — 
 yes, you might bring about the re-construction of the empire. But the 
 Government, however weak, have one card to play which is not in your 
 pack I " 
 
 " What is that ? " asked Mama Ocllo, drawing near. 
 
 " A fleet i A small one, certainly ; but a fleet nevertheless ! "- 
 
 " Bah 1 What of it ? " 
 
 " There should be no necessity for you to ask such a question. Look 
 at the length of the Peruvian sea-board, and consider the impossibility 
 of defending it without a well-equipped navy, You may regain and hold 
 Cuzco because the Andes form a barrier between Cuzco and the sea. But 
 once your enemies — driven from the land, take to the water and harass 
 your coasts, what then ? You will be in a state of constant warfare. Mama 
 Ocllo, and without the chance of reprisal I " 
 
 " First the land and then the sea I " she repUed coolly. " When we 
 have regained Cuzco and the lands which lie between the Cordilleras, is 
 time enough to think of the rest. Then we, too, can build ships — or better 
 still, buy them from the Clyde dockyards. Money would not be lacking. 
 Then again, Mr. Hazel, the exiled Government would have no base of 
 operation I " 
 
 " Oh, I think so. If their ships command the sea-board, your enemies 
 can hold Lima, and the other coast towns.'' 
 
 " Not if we harass them from the mountains. Besides, holding the 
 interior, we would hold the corn supplies. We could starve them 
 out." 
 
 " Oh dear no : they could obtain their supplies by ship. And your 
 hands might not be free. You don't think the other Spanish RepubUcs 
 are going to stand quietly by and see their sister crushed, knowing that 
 their turn will come next ? Chili, for instance- — Chili is a very powerful 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 131 
 
 state, and the neighbour of Peru. She can march her armies in amongst 
 you very quickly. Would Chili be content to see the rising of a new 
 Indian empire ? I think not ; to say nothing of Ecuador, Bolivia, or Brazil-. 
 Believe. me, madam, you would be attacked on all sides, and wouldbe much 
 put to, to hold your own, let alone take the aggressive."- 
 
 " You forget we should be much better armed." . i 
 
 " H'm. Would you be better armed .' These Republics with their 
 little wars are very much up-to-date. And — have you the men to' fight ? "' 
 
 "Thousands of men. The whole native population overhead is sworn 
 to free the land." 
 
 Hazel shook his head. " The natives are not trained soldiers.'' ' 
 
 " They are patriots who will fight to the death ! "~ 
 
 " No doubt. But a disorderly crowd can do little against drilled men. 
 The thicker the wheat, the quicker it is mown. That proverb fits your 
 untrained masses. "- 
 
 For some moments Mama OcUo was silent, considering the matter from 
 Gerald's point of view. When she did speak, what she said was apparently 
 irrelevant. "Do you know why my people learn the English tongue ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " No. And I am curious about that, I confess." 
 
 Mama Ocllo sat down on the steps^ and, resting her chin on her hand, 
 looked at him steadily. " I want England to be the friend of my newly 
 formed Empire. Of all nations yours is the most Uberal minded, the most 
 willing to aid the cause of fallen races. When we regain Cuzco, a task 
 which you yourself at least admit to be possible of accomplishment, I shall 
 send an embassy to ask England to right our wrongs. It shall be an 
 embassy from Queen to Queen. If my aim were to revive a barbaric 
 state, I could not expect help. But it is admitted, even by the most 
 critical, that the government of my forefathers was enligh-tened, mild 
 and just — the constitution most adapted to the well-being of the red 
 race. In the days of the Incas there was httle crime ; the laws were 
 humane and there was no poverty ; on the contrary, a wonderful industry 
 and organisation. It is my desire to re-vive that state of things. And 
 I feel certain that England, the wise, the just, the free, will aid me in 
 the good work. Peru for the Peruvians — ^that is my aim. But for the 
 Indian Peruvians ; not for those Spanish bastards who now misgovern 
 at Lima, and oppress the true owners of the country. , And if England 
 consents, Viracocha, her fleet -will des-troy that of Peru, which you seem 
 to think is so much to be feared. Ourselves we can repel the invasion of 
 the surrounding states, and in a few years we shall have peace, in which 
 to build up and consoUdate our Empire. "- 
 
 " You forget there is such a thing as the Monroe doctrine,'' said Hazel, 
 smiling. " If England interfered in the New World, even -with the best 
 intentions, she would have to reckon with the United States. As her 
 desire is to bind them to her, and thus preserve the peace of the world, 
 she could not be expected to jeopardise that by becoming your ally." 
 
 " Very good ; then I should ask the aid of the States ; and my order 
 for the teaching amongst my people of the Anglo-Saxon' tongue would 
 still have been wise. The eldest daughter of Britannia is as free and 
 liberal as is her mother, and she would help me, I am sure."- 
 
 " Well, there is something in what you say,'' replied Gerald, as she 
 rose and descended the steps. " To revive so noble a ci-vihsation as -that 
 of the Incas would meet with the approval of most nations ; for, after 
 
132 THE MOTHER OF EM ERALDS. 
 
 all, you would be only regaining the heritage of the red man, wrongfully 
 taken from him. At all events, I wish you every success. Mama Ocllo." 
 
 She turned towards him with an impulsive movement of pleasure, and 
 was about to speak. But on second thoughts she checked herself, and 
 walked on in silence. They left the Temple by a side door, and came out 
 on to the terrace by the grand stair-case. Pensively Mama Ocllo looked 
 down on the swarming city, where the tide of people ebbed and flowed 
 in the streets. The nether world was cheerful to-day, and the hum of 
 many voices rose to where they stood. Musing on the wonders of the 
 place, Hazel forgot for a time his companion, and her dreams. He was 
 recalled by the princess throwing out her arm. 
 
 " For all these people I have to think," she said. " They are the limbs, 
 the body. I am the brain. You have mentioned many obstacles to the 
 success of my schemes, Viracocha ; but the greatest obstacle you have 
 not mentioned." 
 
 " Not in so many words," answered Gerald ; ''but I am aware of it, 
 nevertheless. Is it not that you lack a leader amongst your race ? "■ 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Viracocha," said she bitterly. " You have divined our 
 weakness. My people are faithful and patriotic ; they even possess that 
 supreme courage which is born of despair. But political genius they have 
 not. I alone possess it. Centuries of oppression have crushed the 
 capabilities for leading out of them. They are so accustomed to their 
 tyrants thinking for them that, like children, they cannot think for 
 themselves." 
 
 " Mere disuse of the faculty, perhaps ! When they are a nation once 
 again it may revive amongst them."- 
 
 " It may, as you say, when they are a nation. But they need it in 
 order to become one. It is now we need a leader. I can find none. 
 Believe me, Viracocha, in this vast place there is not one soul bold enough 
 to measure itself against me — against a woman I I could pardon even 
 rebellion if it brought forth a man."- 
 
 " They say the hour produces the man," said Hazel, sententiously. 
 
 " There are exceptions to that as to every rule,"- she answered. " At 
 the present moment in the dying Latin nations, in Frace, Italy, Spain, 
 the man is wanted, but none can be found. The French with their wars 
 and revolutions and petty jealousies have destroyed utterly the organis- 
 ing administrative genius of their nation. In Spain, the bigotry of Rome, 
 and the Inquisition have done the same. And in Italy, where city hates 
 city, and the whole house is divided against itself, the necessary genius has 
 been frittered away. Germany, England, America — they produce the 
 thinkers of the age, because they have given full scope to thought, and 
 have drawn their leaders from all classes, irrespective of rank. Amongst 
 my own people it is the ages of cruelty and slavery that have obliterated 
 the genius I require. So was the genius of Greece crushed by Turkey : 
 so is Russia now stifling the genius of the Slav. I want a man — a man ! "■ 
 cried Mama Ocllo, clenching her fists. " But not here shall I find one 
 such as I need." She stopped and looked steadily at him. " It is for 
 that reason that I had you brought to this place, Viracocha I " 
 
 " I am no genius," stammered Gerald, a trifle taken aback by the direct- 
 ness of her avowal. 
 
 " You are ignorant of your own power — you have genius — political 
 genius : the genius necessary for a leader of men. You have but to use 
 it. In your private station you have had no opportunities ; hence your 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 133 
 
 disbelief in yourself. Well " she stared at him fixedly, " I will give 
 
 you opportunities in plenty. With me you shall assist at the birth of 
 an Empire ! " 
 
 " But I am not of the red race. I am not of royal Inca blood. The 
 people would not accept me even if I were capable of doing what you 
 say, which I very much doubt." 
 
 Mama OcUo smiled now. ■" I can arrange all that," she said, " these 
 obstacles you speak of are already overcome, or will be when I put my 
 plans into execution. You will be the successor of Sutic-toco. You will 
 be the sovereign, and my husband ; and the people above ground and 
 below will accept you with joy. No ! "• She raised her hand. " Do 
 not speak ; but think over what I have said. This is no trivial matter to 
 be decided in a breath. My future, your life, hang on your acceptance 
 or refusal. Refusal !" she drew a long deep breath. " No, I do not think 
 you wUl refuse. Consider, consider. This is the supreme hour of your 
 life I '-'- 
 
 Gathering up her robes she moved away in the direction of the Palace, 
 and looked back over her shoulder with a smile upon her face — a smile 
 softer and more womanly than he had ever seen there before. " The 
 Queen commands your aid," she said in low tones, " but the woman asks for 
 it." 
 
 Confused, agitated, moved in no small degree by her smile and the 
 seductiveness of her whole attitude, Gerald hardly knew how best to 
 answer her. Then he found there was no need to ; for before he was 
 aware of it she had ascended the steps and was looking back at him and 
 waving her hand. She disappeared within the door. 
 
 He remained where he was, and in a very few moments was himself 
 again. His thoughts had flown over-seas — ^to the girl in far-distant 
 England, who had sent him hither. He murmured her name softly to 
 himself. It was as a talisman against the enchantress and her wiles — ■ 
 proof against the proffer of a dozen Empires I 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " JOHN PRYNNE, DECEASED."- 
 
 This was but one of many conversations between Gerald and Mama OcUo. 
 The ice once broken — and it must be confessed that on her part it had 
 been very thoroughly broken—they met daily, she showing herself ever 
 ready for the discussion of matters more or less closely connected with 
 Yayacarui and its glories, both present and future. They exchanged 
 opinions, expounded dreams of reform, suggested improvements, municipal 
 and governmental, and tacitly agreed, for the time being, at least, to leave 
 in abeyance matters more purely personal. To her very definite proposal 
 the princess did not again refer, and Hazel, for obvious reasons, was not 
 inclined to allude to it. Yet it was the crux of the whole situation ; and 
 as such, ever present in the minds of both ; and it seemed that failing such 
 union all their projects were more than Ukely to prove futile. On his 
 part Gerald's mind was fully made up. He was determined not to become 
 this woman's puppet. He might allow her to think that he would, for 
 the moment, but in the end a definite refusal would have to come. His 
 
 5t 
 
134 THE MOTHER OF EMER ALDS. 
 
 energies now were directed to warding oS the denouement until such time 
 as he could do so with safety. Meanwhile he became interested in her 
 schemes, and rendered her really valuable assistance, all of which she took 
 for a favourable sign, and rejoiced accordingly. So did he outwit her for 
 the moment, in spite of her shrewdness and ever suspicious nature. 
 
 Dick was by no means pleased at the turn things had taken. His 
 admiration for CJerald had by this time assumed proportions akin to hero- 
 worship. He chose to consider him his personal property, and resented 
 Mama OcUo's demands on his company and time. In vain did Hazel argue 
 against this childish pique ; but Dick was not to be brought round by any 
 amount of persuasion. He raged and sulked ; took to wandering about 
 alone, and — what was worse — to drinking again. He drank, not for the 
 love of drinking, but because heredity, it seemed, had decreed that he 
 should always leave a bottle empty. After each debauch he made good 
 resolutions ; which he proceedfed to break as quickly as they had been 
 made. All that Gerald could do was totally unavailing. Dick glibly 
 confessed his shame, and returned to revel in it with a sense of com- 
 punction, which wore o£f after the third glass. 
 
 By this time he had recognised the impossibility of keeping Molly to the 
 promise extracted from her. Indeed, in his own mind, he had already 
 made her over to the care of Hazel. But he did not tell him so. Such a 
 renunciation, it seemed to Dick, should be made on a proper occasion, 
 and with becoming dramatic effect. There was, of course, absolutely no 
 reason for secrecy in the matter, unless it were to be found in that spirit 
 of obstinacy which he had inherited from his mother, and was so character- 
 istic of him. Gerald was good to him, and the surrender of Molly was to 
 be Gerald's reward. But it must be given at a fitting moment. So Dick, 
 hugging his secret, continued to drink, and Hazel fruitlessly to exhort, and 
 Mama Ocllo studiously to ignore the scapegrace Dick as much as she af- 
 fected the company of Gerald. A word from her would have put a very 
 conclusive check on Master Dick's bibulations, since she had only to cut 
 off supplies ; but she refused to speak that word, and scoffed at Gerald 
 for desiring it to be spoken. 
 
 " Let the brute drink himself to death," she said. " He is of no use 
 to you or me that I can see." 
 
 " Use ? — perhaps not. But he is Dick, and a good fellow if he could 
 only be true to himself." 
 
 " He is true to himself ! "• she insisted. " He is a born drunkard, and 
 is fulfilUng his destiny."- 
 
 " My dear lady, does not the civilization of the Inca count the loss of 
 the human soul ? '•'- 
 
 " Every soul must work out its own redemption. If that man's life 
 were your life it would be different, but one human being cannot act 
 Providence to another. '- 
 
 " Yet you would act Providence to me," smiled Hazel. " You would 
 lead me into a path of your own tracing. "- 
 
 " I point out the path. It remains for you to walk in it.'- 
 
 " At the risk of your taking your revenge on me if I do not, eh ? Oh, 
 I am beginning to know you very well. Princess ! "■ 
 
 Mama Ocllo laughed. " A man can't go very far wrong if he allows 
 a woman to guide him. As to your friend, I say again, let him die. I 
 have no use for him."- 
 
 " Even so, he shall not die if I can help it 1 " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 135 
 
 " Pshaw ! If you take up other people's burdens you will soon have 
 more than enough on your shoulders." 
 
 " Perhaps. The South American portion of it will be considerable, I 
 am aware. However, don't let us argue. Princess. "- 
 ." You are pleased to be sentimental." 
 
 " Because I want to save a poor devil from going under ? — call it so if 
 you will. No one is likely ever to accuse you of such an amiable weakness. 
 Princess. You are a female Napoleon in your way, as reckless, as hard, and 
 as cruel 1 " 
 
 " Politically reckless, hard, and cruel perhaps,'' corrected she, " but I 
 can be soft to those who do not stand in my way — you do not know how 
 soft 1 "■ 
 
 • " No, I don't. My imagination has its limitations. Softness from you 
 is, I confess, outside of them. If. I may say so, those who do not stand in 
 your way, do not exist for you — at most you ignore them." 
 
 " Perhaps." With that the conversation dropped, and Hazel was 
 left to his own devices. 
 
 The heartlessness of Mama Ocllo disgusted him. She would have strewn 
 her path with dead to gain a single one of her many aims, and granting 
 that this was the fault of her genius, it was none the less repulsive — in a 
 woman. Still there was some show of excuse for her. Artistic genius can , 
 afford to be soft, since such a weakness does not materially afiect its 
 creations ; but political genius must be as hard and brilliant as a diamond, 
 else its goal may never be won. Csesar and Napoleon were both cruel, 
 not by nature so much as by reason of the force which impelled them, and 
 controlled their every action. They could not be judged as ordinary 
 men. So he supposed it was with Mama Ocllo. She was not an ordinary 
 woman. She had in her a portion of that evil fire which burns up and 
 destroys the softer affections. Conscience she had none — no capability 
 of remorse ; but like Nature, went on destroying and creating, irrespective 
 wholly of suffering or delight. Parry, he thought, had put it very neatly 
 when he had called Mama Ocllo a " force." She was a force — a blind 
 force — not a woman. 
 
 As the weeks went on, Gerald divided his attention pretty equally 
 between Mama Ocllo and searching for the secret entrance. But this 
 latter was hard to come at — so hard that he almost gave up the task in 
 despair. But in his own way he was every whit as obstinate as Dick ; and 
 he poked and peered into every cranny, hoping against hope, and deter- 
 mined, though it took him years, to find the exit. He was a good deal at 
 the White Man's Club, making plans and testing the temper of every single 
 individual who hoped to take part in the escape. The emerging from this 
 burrow was not the hardest part of the affair ; for there remained the 
 journey to Todos, as the nearest place in touch with the civilized world. 
 Down the Andes, across the waterless desert, through the dense jungles 
 of the forest — the whole way was packed with wild Indians and wilder 
 beasts, against which means of defence must be adequate. Rifles they 
 could procure, reyolvers too ; haversacks, clothes, tents, bedding, all the 
 paraphernalia of travel were forthcoming in plenty. But it was the lack 
 of powder and shot, of cartridge and dynamite, which bothered Gerald. 
 These also were stored in Yayacarui, but were kept rigorously under lock 
 and key in a distant cavern, behind doors, iron-bound. Mama OcUo 
 had one key at her girdle ; the other was in the keeping of Puca. The 
 magazine was never opened save in the presence of the Coya and a large 
 
136 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 force of armed men — too large a force for the whites to tackle with any 
 hope of success. This was the nut that Hazel and his followers had to 
 crack, and a pretty hard one they found it. Since force was useless there 
 remained only strategy. But every scheme seemed futile. Gerald failed 
 to devise any means of looting the ammunition without it coming to the 
 knowledge of Mama OcUo. Pending accident therefore, which might 
 perchance deliver it into his hands, he gave up the problem for the time 
 being, as insoluble. 
 
 And so time went on without their coming any nearer to the fulfilment 
 of their hopes. 
 
 " We can only keep our eyes open and play a waiting game," said 
 Gerald. " Sooner or later, we shall gain our ends," and endorsing this 
 decision the white men went about their various tasks with such equanimity 
 and patience as they possessed. But with success so near and yet so far. 
 Hazel found it hard work sometimes to curb the impatience of a few of 
 them. 
 
 Mama Ocllo took Gerald into many strange places — places utterly 
 unknown to the general populace. She showed him the reservoir, whence 
 flowed the stream which masked the quebrada gate-way, and cut off exit 
 in that direction. She introduced him into a vast cave filled with skeletons 
 of the plebs. By some horrible process the bones of these were dyed 
 bright crimson and resembled nothing in nature. Row upon row of these 
 ghastly objects filled the cavern ; and the sight of their red skulls in the 
 electric glare was a little too much even for Hazel's nerves. The scene 
 reminded him of the Danse Macabre as depicted by some of the mediaeval 
 masters. It was long ere he lost the uncanny feeling of it. 
 
 " Ugh 1 " he said, unable to repress a shiver, " what an abominable 
 desecration of the dead ! What ghastly scheme is this ? " 
 
 " I ,can hardly tell you," she repUed. " The custom was one of our 
 forefathers' and we abide by it. Perhaps, like the Mussulman's lock of 
 hair, it has some symboUcal connection with the afterdeath." 
 
 " You believe then there is an afterdeath ? " 
 
 " The priests say so," she replied, with a shrug. " But who knows ? 
 This is the tomb of the common people," she continued. " There is 
 another cave filled with the noble dead. In the Temple, as you know, we 
 place the mummies of royalty, and those of the strangers who have for- 
 warded our aims. So do we honour the brave, the learned, and the 
 kingly." 
 
 " John Prynne is in the Temple ? " 
 
 " His mummy is. I will show you all that remains of John Prynne.' 
 But what do you know of him ? " 
 
 " I know that he was the descendant of Sir Bevil Prynne, who came '' 
 
 " Quite so. I read all about him in the manuscript that was taken 
 from your drunken friend. Bevil Prynne also is in the Temple. He cured 
 our people of many diseases." 
 
 " And John Prynne ? Was he a benefactor too ? " 
 
 " Yes ; John Prynne was an inventor — a very clever man. He was 
 trying to perfect an air-ship when he died. Ah I " she drew a long breath, 
 " if that secret could only be discovered 1 The owner of it will rule the 
 world. I would rule the world if it were mine. Some day it will be 
 discovered. We have an inventor here now "- 
 
 " The Yankee chap ? " 
 ■| " Yes ; but he does not seem to make much progress. I am afraid the 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 137 
 
 discovery will not be made by him. I send everywhere for those who 
 imagine they can invent an air-ship. Many have come here ; but not 
 one has been successful. See, here is the Temple ! " 
 
 She broke off abruptly as they entered the glorious fane, and glanced 
 round at the grim company of dead. Gerald was immediately attracted 
 by the great emerald sparkling on the altar, and the veil behind it — the 
 veil that concealed the great Deity of the Incas. That the icon should be 
 so concealed puzzled him. He turned to her for explanation. In answer 
 she pointed overhead. 
 
 " These rocks shut out the true sun from our gaze,'' said she, but whether 
 in earnest or not Gerald could not tell. " Our father is angered with his 
 children, and has sent them to dwell in darkness, far from his smile. 
 Therefore we veil his image, and shall do so until such time as the plate 
 of gold with its graven face is set up in the holy temple of Cuzco. Alas," 
 she sighed, " we must build a new Yntippampa in the sacred city, for the 
 Spanish dogs destroyed the house of the god. Yes, Yiracocha, we hide 
 the sun's image. Yet on high festivals the veil is withdrawn so that the 
 people may not forget their father."- 
 
 Gerald looked at her curiously. " Tell me. Mama OcUo, how much of 
 all this do you believe ? In your eyes is the sun a god ? " 
 
 She shook her head. " The sun is God's servant,"- she said. " Even 
 the common people know that. Our race was never an idolatrous race. 
 I believe in what my fathers beUeved, Yiracocha. They worshipped 
 Con-ilia- ticci-uira-cocha, the spirit of eternal life, who rules by light through 
 his servants the sun and moon. I adore no idols. These shrines and 
 the images behind them are symbolic merely of invisible forces with which 
 God controls and sustains the world. The sun and moon, thunder and 
 lightning, the host of Heaven, as we call the stars — we venerate these as 
 the manifestations of the Godhead. Con himself has our undivided 
 worship. But the common people may worship these truly as idols. I 
 do not know." 
 
 She paused and looked round the vast space glowing with gold and 
 silver and jewels. " After all, who knows the unknown ? "• she continued 
 gravely. " Do you ; do I ? No 1 Nor shall we ever know. These 
 symbols are necessary to the common herd who must have their religion 
 brought home to them by outward and visible signs. But you and I, 
 yiracocha ; are we wiser than they ? I think not. A child is as learned 
 about God as the wisest man, nay, more learned, since the child comes 
 latest from God. God exists I We are sure of that, but we cannot prove 
 it. All the religious systems in the world have been built up by man out 
 of man's thoughts. Each man has fashioned a god to his lusts — has 
 invented a hereafter according to his liking. I believe in none of them. 
 God 1 When you utter that name you say all." 
 
 " Those are agnostic principles, surely ? You believe in nothing ? '-'- 
 She turned to him with a subtle smile. " Even then I must believe that 
 I do not believe. No I I am no agnostic. I believe in a Supreme Being, 
 call him Jehovah, Foh, God, Jove, Allah — what you will ; but I cannot 
 explain my beUef, nor can you, nor can anyone ; as Uttle,'-' she added, 
 ■svith a bitter smile, " as I can explain why the Supreme permitted a happy 
 nation, bloodless and industrious, to be so swept away by a horde of cruel 
 fiends. The Aztecs I Yes, they sinned ; they offered human sacrifices 
 in their blindness ; the worst of civilizations was better than their best. 
 But our race ? — we reaped a whirlwind which was none of our sowing. 
 
138 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 Nor I nor you can understand why such a thing was permitted. There is 
 a God," she spread out her arms, " the rest is — silence ! " 
 
 " A somewhat hopeless creed 1 " 
 
 " The only creed for those who would search out the unsearchable. 
 Tell me a better one 1 The ever-wise Greeks set up an altar to the un- 
 known god ; and so anticipated our century. Ah, well ; God reigns 
 somewhere. We are in^His hands — little children in His hands ; and the 
 hereafter— — ■" with an abrupt pause she looked at the ghttering circle, 
 " they are wiser than we are, Yiracocha. We also shall be wise when the 
 wisdom shall be powerless to affect this life. But enough of theology, 
 which at the best is only weaving ropes of sand. You would see the 
 mummies of those whose works I carry on ? Here they are, the Incas and 
 their sister wives. This one led his people to these caves ; that one lighted 
 them first with oil ; and his neighbour illuminated the darkness with gas. 
 He who introduced the electric light yet lives.'' 
 
 " Your father, Sutic-toco ? "■ 
 
 She bowed her head. " It is the glory of his reign. The glory of tnine 
 and yours will be that we shall give the people sunlight. But that is yet 
 on the knees of the gods. Here is Sir Bevil Prynne, who was lured to 
 Yayacarui centuries ago by the fame of the great emerald." 
 
 The mummy was that of a man in the prim.e of life, strong-limbed, and 
 beyond the common stature. Gerald gazed long at the grave, black- 
 bearded face, with its broad brow and firm chin. This was the man who 
 had fought for ill-fated Charles at Edgehill and Naseby ; who had escaped 
 Puritan swords to die amidst Pagans in the heart of the earth. A strange 
 fate for one of Rupert's cavaliers. 
 
 " And this is John Prynne," said Mama OcUo, " the man you seek — 
 or rather what remains of him."- 
 
 In vain Hazel tried to find some resemblance to Molly in the desiccated 
 face of this white-bearded ancient. So this was John Prynne, this morsel 
 of dried humanity ! The man he had come to seek, whom he would never 
 be able to take back I Dead indeed — but not with his bleached bones 
 lying on Andean hills, as Titu, the liar, had said. With those of kings and 
 princes his body was preserved, sepulchred in that magnificent tomb 
 wherein were gathered the millions he had craved, the jewel he had coveted . 
 And as in irony the face with its moon-stone eyes was turned towards the 
 altar whereon the emerald shot its threads of green fire. There then was 
 what remained of John Prynne — -here the end of Hazel's quest I 
 
 " This is the man you came to seek," repeated Mama OcUo. 
 
 " This is the man," assented Gerald, still looking at the mummy. 
 " And now that I know he is really dead, the object df my journey is 
 achieved. '- 
 
 " Very good. And what follows ? ", 
 
 " I crave your leave to return. Mama Ocllo.'* 
 
 " And so lose me the labour of my life, Yiracocha ! '■ 
 
 " Mama Ocllo 1 " For a momertt he hesitated, turning over what was 
 in his mind. Then he proceeded. " I will be plain with you. In many 
 ways I admire and applaud your schemes ; but they are so outside my 
 life, so beyond my aspirations and capabilities, that I do not see how I 
 can assist you to carry them out. I have ties in my own country which 
 hold me. You are oiE a difierent race to me — your Ufe is planned on 
 different lines. There is a gulf between us which nothing can bridge over.- 
 If I were free, things might be difierent ; but I am not free. No man can 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 139 
 
 evade racial responsibilities, or with any success take up the burden of the 
 alien. I came here for a specific purpose. That purpose is now fulfilled, 
 and I would return to my own people. It is true that I have learned your 
 secret ; but it is safe with me for ever. Let me go. Mama Ocllo. You 
 wiU find a helpmate wiser far than me. I am not worthy to be your 
 husband or the king of your people. Your attempt to make me both can 
 end only in disaster. I respect you 1 I admire you 1 But I cannot love 
 you. Your hfe and mine may not mingle. We have met, but we must 
 part. Wish me good-bye, and God speed 1 "• 
 
 She did not reply. She looked at him with a smile of utter derision on 
 her face. Neither colour nor expression betrayed the tumult which raged 
 in her brea.st. She was trying to think what the woman at the bottom 
 of it all was hke. Was she more beautiful than herself — younger, more 
 accomplished, stronger? No — not stronger; that she vowed. She 
 continued to smile. 
 
 "We can speak of these things in my house, Yiracocha,'' she said at 
 length. " Come I '' 
 
 Hazel mistrusted that calm reply. To his thinking it preluded a storm. 
 But he need not have been afraid. Mama Ocllo had not sufficient womanly 
 weakness to permit of her sacrificing her aims for the sake of indulging 
 her temper. Before she left the Temple she had formulated a plan, 
 whereby to force Gerald to do her bidding in spite of himself. 
 
 He followed her to the Palace, and into a small room. There she left him 
 alone on what was obviously an invented plea. He wondered what she 
 was after ; he would require aU his wits about him to be even with her, 
 he knew that. He sat; down contentedly to wait. By that simple action 
 he delivered himself into her hands. 
 
 The room was strange in appearance, even for that strange place; 
 Every inch of it, walls, ceiUng, flooring, was covered with scales of mother- 
 of-pearl ; and the whole ghstened faintly in the subdued light of shaded 
 lamps. A pile of grey silk cushions on the floor, a few grey-painted stools 
 were all the furniture it contained. Windows there were none, and when 
 Mama Ocllo closed the door, it fitted in so neatly as to be indiscernible. 
 After the glare and gilding and splendour of the other apartments Hazel 
 had seen, this cloudy, grey, vaporous-looking room was at least restful to 
 the eye. He felt as though he were enveloped in mist on some high Scotch 
 moor ; and threw himself on the cushions with a sigh of weariness. But 
 the air was not so cool as it would have been on a moor. He hardly 
 noticed that at first. But after a while a warm and odorous breath was 
 wafted past his nostrils. He became aware of a distinct scent — a scent 
 that made his head dizzy ; but the sensation was not altogether unpleasant. 
 There were several minute holes in the flooring through which the subtle 
 vapour seemed to be breathed. It grew warmer and more fragrant, with 
 the perfume of tuberoses, sickly, heavy, sensuous. Suddenly its gentle 
 caress changed to violence, and it caught Hazel by the throat. With a 
 strangled, choking feeUng he got on his feet. He began to suspect that 
 sometiiing was wrong. He staggered towards the door. He had almost 
 reached it when a whiff more powerful than before took away his senses. 
 He sank on his knees, fighting desperately against the faintness which he 
 now recognised as due to some devilry of Mama Ocllo. Thicker and 
 thicker grew the scented atmosphere, and gasping for breath, he reeled 
 over, and fell fuU length and quite unconscious on the floor. He lay as 
 dead, white and still as marble, in that grey twilight room; 
 
140 THE MOTHER OF E MERALDS. 
 
 " You would crave my leave to go," murmured Mama OcUo, twenty- 
 minutes later, as she knelt beside his unconscious form. " Ah, no, my 
 love ! No, no ; my sweet ! That leave shall never be yours, for you would 
 take my heart with you over-seas ! " There was the tenderest light in 
 her eyes now as she bent to kiss the unresponsive lips: 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 " DICK PAYS A VISIT." 
 
 As a direct result of Mama OcUo's action, there was trouble in the White 
 Man's Club that evening. With the choicest oaths in his vocabulary, Dick 
 imparted to the members the intelligence of his chief's disappearance : 
 and there ensued much wonderment as to its cause. Not a few of the 
 natives were somewhat roughly button-holed by the irate white men, and 
 were,, of course, altogether discredited when they protested — in all good 
 faith — -that they knew nothing of Viracocha's whereabouts. Dick as- 
 sembled a search-party, and Parry kept the lights ablaze long after the 
 termination of the of&cial day, that every cavern and passage might be 
 explored. But all this came to nothing. At ten o'clock the twenty of 
 them re-assembled in Parry's room with the knowledge that their chief 
 was still missing. For all that came to light, Gerald might have dropped 
 into one of the innumerable fissures, or have been swallowed up by the 
 sacred river. And those who held by him as their sole hope of success 
 were in despair ; and the single one who did not, rejoiced silently. Need- 
 less to say, Brossard was the happy man on this occasion. 
 
 Finally suspense was ended by Mama Ocllo, who got wind of the situ- 
 ation, and sent down Puca to readjust it. The little red man informed 
 his breathless audience that Viracocha was in good health and spirits : 
 but for political reasons would be invisible during the next fourteen 
 days. Then Puca took himself ofE, not liking the looks of those around 
 him ; and an astonished pause was broken by Dick thumping the table 
 to attract attention. 
 
 " It's that damned slut ! " declared Amherst, who had about as much 
 aboard as he could carry. " She's got the chief stowed away in a corner 
 of sorts. Puca's been cavortin' round here and takin' in more than is 
 good for him.'' 
 
 " About our plans ? " queried Parry. 
 
 " You bet I He's foxed the information, and handed it on to Mama 
 Ocllo. She knows the lot of us ain't worth a cent without our chief ; 
 so she just ups and yanks him off, to stop our canoodlings. Huh ! Puca 
 thinks I can't see through him I That's just where the little beast slips 
 up. 'Guess I'll wring his neck afore long ; and, by thunder, I'll annex 
 the magazine key same time." 
 
 There was a silence of dismay while the company digested this announce- 
 ment. 
 
 Then said the Oxford man. " Mama Ocllo may keep Hazel apart from 
 us if she has learned anything of our schemes. But I do not think she 
 will hurt him in any way." 
 
 " Oh, I guess not. She's a sight too fond of him : but she'll hurt 
 us. Chain him|up till she's got her plans in working order ; an' we'll 
 be left out in the cold I " he groaned. " Who's to lead now ? '- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 141 
 
 " Messieurs, I assume the position — I, a son of France 1 " 
 
 There was a chorus of dissent, and Brossard sat down furious at the 
 snub which galled his vain nature to the quick. He did not forget it, as 
 will be seen hereafter. While he sulked, the others talked of electing 
 another chief. But the babel of voices was reduced to one, when Parry 
 gave his opinion. 
 
 " We must get Hazel back," he said decisively. " He is the only man 
 who can do what we want 1 " 
 
 " Right oh ! " sang out Dick, setting down an empty beer jug with a 
 bang. " And this child don't serve under no other boss. No, sirs ! " 
 He jumped up. " I'm off to find out that she-devil's game. Whatever 
 it is, I'll give her fifty in a hundred and lick her head off." 
 
 " Where are you making for, Dick ? " cried Parry, as the rascal started 
 for the door. 
 
 " Mama OcUo, 'course. 'Goin' to have it out with her ; and bring back 
 m' chief in double quick time." 
 
 " You fool, she'll only lock you up I You're as drunk as an owl." 
 
 " Not me. I've just hoisted in enough to make me tackle that she- 
 boss. So-long boys I I'm on the war-path." And, in spite of many 
 hands outstretched to hold him, Dick swung clear and out of the room. 
 The other men remained behind in a state bordering upon panic. They 
 did not know into what straits Dick's rashness might lead them : and, 
 hke Macbeth's feast, the meeting broke up in the most " admired dis- 
 order." 
 
 But Dick was more level-headed than they guessed. He was just 
 sufficiently primed to deal boldly with Mama OcUo : that is, to defy her 
 and teU her a few home truths, choicely embeUished, no doubt, but likely 
 to hit the mark none the less on that account. Towards women Dick 
 could be brutal, especially when in Uquor. Sober, he would have hesi- 
 tated to beard the lioness in her den ; but half seas over, he thought 
 himself a match for her, and competent to get at the truth. 
 
 The Providence which watches over drunken men stood on guard at 
 this moment, else he would not have got ofE so cheaply as he did. As 
 it was, his audacity carried him safely through a very difficult situation. 
 
 " She's not goin' to snaffle m' chief this trip ! " said Dick to himself, 
 as he swung on towards the palace. " If he's jailed, I'm to be jailed 
 too ; but I guess I'm goin' to stick to him like wax — closer than a brother, 
 damn me ! " 
 
 Strange to say. Mama Ocllo received this imperative visitor. She 
 detested him with her whole heart ; and but for Hazel's influence would 
 speedily have got rid of him without any fuss at all. As a rule she took 
 no more notice of him than if he had been a fly. The sole redeeming 
 feature about him in her eyes was his fidelity to Hazel ; and she had 
 some idea, therefore, of what she might expect from him now. She was 
 in nowise astonished at his visit ; indeed, she was rather pleased than 
 otherwise, having, as a matter of fact, use for him at that moment. 
 
 Her instinct led her to suspect that Gerald wjis in love with some 
 girl in the home-country. Otherwise, she argued, he would not be so 
 anxious to get away. A few questions to Puca elicited the information 
 that Dick and Gerald sometimes talked of a certain Molly Prynne ; and 
 Mama Ocllo, connecting this name with that of the man Hazel had avow- 
 edly come to seek, began to see daylight. Puca could tell her no more ; 
 but it was probable Dick might, Therefore, she rejoiced -vyhen she heard 
 
142 . THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 that he danced on her door-step, and rejoiced still more at the intelligence 
 that he was in liquor. The scamp was garrulous in his cups ; and his 
 garrulity, guided by skilful questioning on her part, should serve her well 
 now. He was a sponge to be squeezed dry ; and the Princess prepared 
 herself to squeeze it. 
 
 Into that cloudy mother-of-pearl chamber Dick was conducted. He 
 found Mama Ocllo recUning, Eastern fashion, on a pile of cushions. She 
 wore a loose white robe ; but no jewels, as became the sober twilight 
 atmosphere. A weary soul — such as Mama Ocllo's often was — could 
 well be soothed in that misty colourless room, so silent and restful — rthe 
 very shrine of the sleep-god. 
 
 When Dick swaggered in with the courage oozing out of his finger- 
 tips, she laid aside a book she had been reading, and looked him calmly 
 up and down : but spoke no word until the door was closed. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Amherst ! " she said at length, " and what can I do for you ? 
 Nothing wrong with the chica, I hope ? " 
 
 " Hang the chica I " growled Dick, ill-pleased with this raillery. 
 
 " As you please. I understand that you are well up in the subject of 
 beer. It does not interest me in the least. Have you to complain about 
 the quality or the supply ? In either case I fear I must refer you to Apu."- 
 
 " I've come about m' chief." 
 
 " You mean Mr. Hazel ? Well, I can give you ten minutes. Please 
 sit down on yonder stool. No ! Don't bring it closer. I can see you 
 very well." 
 
 A faint smile curved her lips as she saw the cooling effect of her re- 
 ception. Dick would have faced a battery in his present state of dare- 
 devilry : but, somehow, he felt abashed before this mild-spoken woman. 
 Had she raged, he would have been equal to the occasion ; since he could 
 hold his own with anybody in the matter of strong language. But Mama 
 Ocllo talked so engagingly that all he could do was to sit on his stool like 
 a naughty child, the drink and the courage dying out of him. 
 
 " Where's m' chief ? " he demanded. 
 
 " In the palace of Sutic-toco." This was a Ue, though Dick did not know 
 it. " He will remain there for a fortnight — in perfect safety, Mr. Am- 
 herst, I assure you." 
 
 " What the^ — -I mean, why is he to stick there all that time ? " 
 
 " Ah ! Now you want to know too much." 
 
 " Perhaps I do," said Dick, doggedly. " But I don't leave this place 
 until I do know." 
 
 " Won't you ? Really, such fidelity should have its reward. Well, 
 I will tell you : Mr. Hazel is engaged in pohtical business with which 
 you have nothing' to do — and which you would not understand. In a 
 fortnight or so, you wUl see him again safe and sound. Does that please 
 you, Mr. Amherst ? " 
 
 •" No, it doesn't. I want to see m' chief now — ^this very instant I "■ 
 
 " Really I Now, I am afraid you are asking too much." 
 
 The sneering answer gave Dick back his courage with a rush. He 
 jumped up, dashed his cap on the ground, and let his temper fly. " Now, 
 look you here, you — you — ^woman I " he suppressed a stronger term. 
 '' I know you're up to some infernal trick : an' I'm not goin' to have it 
 played on m' chief. Just you let me see him, or — or " 
 
 " Or what, Mr. Amherst ? " 
 
 " I'll — I'll raise Cain ; see if I don't I '-'• 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 143 
 
 " Isn't that rather vague ? There are so many ways of raising Cain, as 
 you call it. Be more explicit." 
 
 " As 'spUcifas you like. I'll wring your neck 1 " and Dick made a step 
 forward. 
 
 Mama OcUo changed neither expression nor position. But Dick found 
 himself looking down the barrel of a neat pistol. " I am considered a 
 clean shot, Mr. Amherst," said she. 
 
 " Shoot away. Don't care a damn I " 
 
 '' I see you don't."- She laughed and tossed aside the weapon. " But 
 you care considerably about the gentleman you call your chief. I have 
 
 really no use for that pistol. If you laid a finger on me — ^well "- 
 
 with a shrug, " you can risk the experiment, if you care to face my 
 people." 
 
 Dick, looking foolish, balanced himself Uke a stork on one leg. He 
 guessed at what she hinted ; and, although indifferent about his own 
 safety, was in deadly fear lest Hazel should cbme to harm. Further- 
 more as his hostess held the whip, and knew how to use it, he recognised 
 the futihty of bluffing. " 'Guegs you've gone one better than me," he 
 remarked quietly, and resumed his stool with a lamb-like air. 
 
 " I see you are open to persuasion,'' said Mama Ocllo coolly. " Now 
 that you are more sober, perhaps you will talk more sensibly. My reason 
 for secluding Mr. — — ■" 
 
 " Oh, I'm on to your blamed reason right enough," interrupted Dick, 
 sniffing. " You know we want to light out of this rancho, and so you 
 annex the only man who can run the circus." 
 
 " That speech does credit to your imagination. Your plots for escape 
 do not trouble me in the least. Here you are, and here you will stay — 
 every one of you, in spite of your ingenious schemes. I really don't see 
 why you want to leave. The beer here is quite as good as you will get 
 an5rwhere ; and you ha-ven't got to pay for it 1 " 
 
 " Oh, go on — go on I That's just like a woman — won't let a man enjoy 
 himself without rubbing it into him. Huh ! Women and their chin- 
 music ! As to my Ughting out, don't care a cent whether I do or do not. 
 But m' chief wants to go, and where he goes, I follow.'' 
 
 " Why does Mr. Hazel want to go ? "■ 
 
 '' That's his business, I guess. He's goin' for sure, an' you won't 
 keep him, Mama Ocllo. Oh, you ain't the only female in the world I " 
 
 The calmness of this fiery woman under these insults might have 
 warned Dick of his danger : but he was in a reckless mood, and took 
 an ell for every inch she gave him. Beyond the sudden clenching of one 
 hand, and a quick indrawn breath, there was no sign of disturbance on 
 her part. Quite ignorant of the restraint she was putting on herself, 
 Dick pursued his browbeating, by irrelevantly introducing Puca's name 
 into the discussion. 
 
 " There's that little cuss of yours. He's got his knife into Hazel, an' 
 is watching his chance to scratch. What's that for, anyhow ? "■ 
 
 " Puca is jealous of Mr. Hazel's attentions to me." 
 
 Dick sniggered offensively. " 'Guess he needn't be ; they don't mean 
 anything^ — not by a long chalk." 
 
 " How gracefully you put things, Mr. Amherst I And why not ? '-'■ 
 
 " Better ask Hazel."- 
 
 Years of training enabled Mama Ocllo to control her temper. She saw 
 that Dick was insolently drunk ; but not drunk enough to make him in- 
 
144 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 discreet. He hinted at what she wished to know, but without further 
 inspiration would not explain. Humiliated in hgr own mind by the 
 necessity of using this degraded creature, Mama OcUo clapped her hands. 
 Dick, thinking he was about to be ordered to instant execution, jumped 
 up to make a fight for it. But when a pretty girl entered to receive in- 
 structions about Pica wine he sat down again with an agreeable smile. 
 
 " 'Guess you're adoing the thing in style. Oh, I never did see much 
 harm in you. Mama Ocllo." 
 
 " Thank you. Your opinion is worth having." 
 ' " Huh I Don't chuck borak at me 1 " 
 
 " If you would only speak English," said Mama Ocllo impatiently, 
 " we could understand one another better. So you want to leave us ? " 
 
 " You bet ! It don't suit this child to be holed like a darned badger, 
 though 'pon m' soul I don't know if it's worth diggin' m' way out. Above 
 ground or under it poor Dick Amherst's done for ! " Here the scamp 
 became gloomy and extremely sorry for himself. " I'm a bad lot ; that's 
 what I am, an' don't you forget it. Always in the mud — always. Hazel 
 straightens me out at times and picks me up ; but I only drop back again. 
 A dung-hill beast — that's me- — a dung-hUl beast 1 "- 
 
 " Oh come, come, Mr. Amherst ; you're a little depressed. Here, 
 take this glass of wine, and you'll soon feel better." 
 
 He Ufted the wine to his Ups, and looked at her. Then he tossed the 
 liquor down and re-filled the glass. Suddenly he seemed to become sus- 
 picious. 
 
 " 'Guess you're standin' drinks to get somethin' out of me," he said, 
 " but I can carry m' liquor and hold m' tongue as well as any, I can ! " 
 
 " How clear your conscience must be, Mr. Amherst, when a simple 
 act of hospitality makes you so suspicious. What can you possibly 
 know that would be of value to me ? Indeed, you are so little use that I 
 am thinking of getting rid of you." 
 
 " Oh, if it comes to that " 
 
 " I never go to extreme measures unless they are necessary. You 
 needn't fear for your life," replied the Princess, coldly, " my idea is to 
 send you away from Yayacarui, lest you should demoralise it. There is 
 a tribe beyond the Andes with which I can place you. These Indians will 
 hold you captive, but treat you well, so long as you behave yourself. 
 Yes, I really think that will be best," she finished placidly. 
 
 " You don't get me to budge without m' chief," said Dick in a sulky 
 tone. 
 
 '-' That we shall see. Besides, Mr. Hazel does not want to go 1 '' 
 
 -' That's a lie 1 '•'- retorted Dick, politely. " He wants to get back to 
 Molly." 
 
 " Molly ? MoUy ? And who, pray, is Molly ? — I know no Molly." 
 There was a tremor in the voice of Mama Ocllo, which she could not 
 altogether suppress. 
 
 " Dare say you don't," growled Dick, helping himself to more wine — 
 Mama OcUo had pushed over the bottle to him. " Molly's worth a dozen 
 of your sort. She don't get round shootin' niggers. I'll get even with you 
 for sendin' Cain to Kingdom Come ; see if I don't.'' 
 
 " So Molly is the name of a woman," said Mama Ocllo, taking no notice 
 of the insolent threat. " And Mr. Hazel is — is — engaged to marry her ! " 
 
 " Huh I That's just where you slip up. Molly's engaged to me I " 
 and Dick turned a rapidly glazing eye on the Coya. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 145 
 
 She clasped and unclasped her hands, hardly able to restrain her agita- 
 tion. This was better news than she had hoped to hear. " In that case 
 she will marry you 1 " she panted eagerly. 
 
 " Marry me I Look at me ! I'm a decent beast to marry a girl, ain't 
 I ? Oh yes ; m' wife would have a holy time along o' me. No 1 " 
 Dick wagged his head solemnly, " I did think of sittin' up square, an' 
 runnin' in doiible harness with Molly Prynne ; but I can't leave the 
 bottle. I'm a drunken hound — yes, I am^only fit for manure I " 
 
 " Is Molly Prynne any relation to the John Prynne who was here ? " 
 
 " A daughter of sorts. That's why Hazel came to look the old man up. 
 If he brings back the corpse Molly becomes Mrs. Hazel." 
 
 Mama OcUo rose with a flushed face. " She will never become Mrs. 
 Hazel — never 1 The body of John Prynne will remain where it is. Hazel 
 — ah, why do I call him so ? — Viracocha wiU remain also. He wUl become 
 one of us." 
 
 " And marry you I " said Dick, with a drunken laugh. -' Huh 1 'Guess 
 I see him doing it ! Well, I should smile." 
 
 " Would you smile to see him marry the girl you are engaged to ? " 
 cried Mama OcUo, furiously. 
 
 " Why, bless you, I'm to be best man at the weddin'. Hazel's a good 
 sort ; an' I'm a pig. I'll hand Molly over to him ! " 
 
 " Are you a man ? " 
 
 " No, I'm a beast, I tell you ! " Dick finished another glass, " a 
 dog ; but I'm faithful as one." He rose threateningly. " Don't you try 
 harm m' chief or this dog will bite. Hazel's good sort — marry Moll — 
 ho ! ho ! You'll get lef — what larks ! — get lef — — •" 
 
 " Beast that you are ; hold your tongue, or I'll have it torn out ! "- 
 White with rage she furiously clapped her hands, while Dick half fell 
 down and laughed derisively. Then he heard Mama Ocllo's voice raised 
 in anger, and suddenly several men seemed to make a rush at him ; and 
 — he could not explain how — ^he found himself on the terrace outside the 
 palace. 
 
 Annoyed by the inexplicable transference, and deprived of his wine, 
 Dick began to remonstrate loudly. Finding no one took any notice of 
 him, he relapsed into tears. After a time his weeping gave way to snoring, 
 and on the hard stones he spent the long night, oblivious utterly of all 
 things. It was not the first time that he had occupied such a couch. 
 
 Meanwhile Mama OcUo raged up and down the room, trying to turn to 
 account what she had gathered from Dick. She did not know very well 
 how to manage with so drunken an instrument. But she was resolved 
 that Dick should never surrender Molly to Hazel — that he should be free 
 for her to win. And win him she would ; though, for the moment, she 
 knew not how. But in the end she would succeed in this as she had already 
 succeeded in so much. She passed on mentally to another detail of her 
 plot for the subjugation of Gerald — a detail more easy of manipulation. 
 
 " It must be done," she murmured, " and speedily I " after which 
 mysterious soliloquy she went to visit her prisoner. 
 
146 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 " THE FESTIVAL." 
 
 Henceforth Dick sat tight and made no attempt to interfere with the 
 administration. He explained the position to the White Man's Club, 
 and the Club accepted the situation as one beyond their power to amend. 
 No one believed in the of&cial version of Hazel's disappearance ; but 
 any excuse was good enough for them, who were not bound to receive 
 one at all. As a despot Mama OcUo conceived that she had the right to 
 do as she pleased, and, white subjects or red, none had the power to with- 
 stand her. Dick, who was in the secret of the Coya's passion, judged that 
 its object would surely be treated well, and probably released before long. 
 But he was not inclined to appear over and above optimistic to his com- 
 rades. Still, he was in some degree reassuring. 
 
 " We'll string out patience for a fortnight," he said, when pressed, 
 " and then that virgin's bound to play her ace. She can't keep the 
 chief in quod for ever. Huh ! Wonder what her game is ! " 
 
 And this he learned just when Mama OcUo chose he should learn it ; 
 not before. She wa3 too clear-headed a young woman to vacillate. Nor 
 was she given to procrastination. She knew just what she wanted to 
 do and she did it. And Dick was forced to admit to himself that for a 
 young woman, she was remarkable ; even talented. But, nevertheless, 
 he had a secret conviction that when it came to a trial of individual 
 capacity, Hazel would prove himself the better of the two and beat her 
 at her own game. For even Dick was sufficiently astute to see that she 
 was hopelessly in love with his chief, and to know that a woman in love is 
 handicapped. He felt sure that Hazel, in the end, would get the upper- 
 most in some way — he did not know how — and that he would return in 
 triumph to release the score of white slaves from their intolerable imprison- 
 ment. Pending this, he drowned his grief in drink ; and hved in a state 
 of semi-stupor for the whole fourteen days. On the fifteenth came about 
 a ceremonial at the Temple of the Sun, and he pulled himself together 
 so far that he might take a hand in it. It was then that Mama Ocllo 
 developed her policy. 
 
 For weeks there had been much excitement about this festival. Ru- 
 mours connected with the legends of the past and the expectations of the 
 future had run like wild-fire through the place. The city hummed like 
 a swarm of bees ; and the Indians abandoned their routine to gather in 
 chattering knots. What the root of the matter was, none of the white 
 men could learn ; for the reticence of the natives baffled the most per- 
 sistent enquiries. That the excitement had to do with some miracle 
 which would be worked at this festival, was aU the information on the 
 subject that Dick could obtain. Meanwhile the population throughout 
 the caves congregated at Yayacarui ; and the city was crowded with red 
 men wrought up to fever heat. Strange to say, they were aU of them 
 pleased to be particularly civil to the whites. 
 
 " Gosh I They've got their bloomin' night-gowns on," said Dick, thus 
 profanely designating the white robes of the worshippers. " Seems 
 there's a big pow-wow of sorts comin' off. Huh I What a row I " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS . 147 
 
 He made this observation, posted on the terrace over against the Temple 
 looking down on the square and the streets, which were packed with 
 humanity. Gongs roared, drums thundered and trumpets shrieked. 
 There was the babble of a myriad voices. From the Inca's palace Dick 
 saw a litter emerge, It was carried down the steps, through the throng, 
 who fell on their knees as the sovereign passed onward to the Temple. 
 
 Thinldng he might as well see as much as he could of the " show," 
 he ran along the terrace to the far side, where the high priest in green 
 and white robes awaited Sutic-toco. Rich carpets were unroUed and the 
 Inca descended, leaning on the arm of Mama Dcllo. Her air was triumph- 
 ant, as though she had brought a piece of strategy to a successful con- 
 clusion ; and she looked more beautiful than ever. She 'caught sight 
 of Dick and shot a glance of contempt in his direction — it made him 
 wince, thick-skinned though he was. To all appearances she had gained 
 her ends ; and curious to know what these might be, he elbowed his way 
 through the crowd and into the Temple. 
 
 Here were the rulers of Yayacarui enthroned on a gorgeous dais erected 
 opposite the high altar. The notables of the Government surrounded 
 them, and the whole assembly, clothed in white, gUttered with jewels. 
 In the bright Ught the place looked Uke a bed of tuhps tossed by the 
 wind, and the liica and his daughter blazed sunhke on their thrones. 
 Temple and terraces, streets and square, were crowded with worshippers. 
 But in front of the altar whereon lay the emerald, there was a clear space. 
 Here stood the high priest, a white-bearded ancient, in flowing robes, 
 and with him a retinue of attendants, with musical instruments, censers, 
 banners, and golden vases of fruit. When all were seated, the ceremony 
 began. It was strange enough to impress even the unimaginative mind 
 of Dick. 
 
 The priest waved his hand, and the noise within and without died 
 rapidly away. In all that vast multitude not a sound could be heard, 
 save the heavy breathing of humanity stricken with religious awe: On 
 a second signal the electric lights faded out ; and everjrwhere darkness 
 was supreme. With the dying of the Ught there was a quick gasp, the 
 shuffling of many feet, then again the silence of the grave. Dick shud- 
 dered, for in that heavy gloom he seemed to feel the whole weight of the 
 mountains pressing on him alone. Without doubt every individual 
 there felt the same sensation. The impression produced was one of abso- 
 lute terror. 
 
 " Oh, Sun ! Oh, servant of Con I " intoned the high priest through 
 the gloom. " We are those who sit in darkness, bereft of light and joy. 
 As it is now so it was in the beginning, before thou didst spread thy light 
 over the abyss. Supay is darkness and evil to thy children. Yntip is 
 light and bringeth blessing to aU who adore. Shine, oh Sun, servant of 
 the Unknown One, and let us not die for want of thy beams." 
 
 A shrill-voiced choir began to chant a slow majestic hymn. The har- 
 monies rolled mysteriously through the darkness. There was something 
 magnetic in the song — a wail of sorrow in its minor cadences. A tremor 
 shook the multitude, for the emerald woke on the altar, and its sparks of 
 green fire shot out in radiant clusters. Then the great gem commenced 
 to glow with brilhancy well-nigh intolerable, and lambent flashes seemed 
 to flicker on the pale faces of the priests. The chant ceased ; the high 
 priest cried out and threw himself prone. 
 
 " The emerald wakes in the darkness ; its colour is that of the fields in 
 
148 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS^ 
 
 springtime. It is thy promise, oh Sun, servant of Con, that thou wilt pour 
 out thy life-giving rays." 
 
 Dick distinctly heard a sliding sound at the back of the altar ; and as 
 by preconcerted signal, a pencil of electric light — ^the substitute in these 
 Cimmerian regions for sunbeams — stole through an opening over the central 
 door, and smote on the curtain above the .altar. As in a flash it dis- 
 appeared, and a human countenance moulded in gold, surrounded with 
 rays, leaped into hght. Benign and beautiful the sun-god looked down on 
 his worshippers ; and in the radiance which grew stronger and stronger 
 the metal ghttered with wondrous splendour. A burst of jubilant music 
 hailed the unveiling of the god's image. The extinguished lamps flashed 
 out once again in all their glory ; and the hymn to the rising of the sun, 
 taken up by the multitude, rolled an immense volume of sound through 
 the cavernous spaces. The emerald was removed from the altar ; a fire 
 was lighted and incense cast thereon, so that a white smoke hid the face 
 of the idol. Fruits and flowers, rare gums, and tropical spices were oSered 
 by the high priest, and the Inca advancing to the golden shrine poured a 
 Ubation of chica before his god. The crowd, within and without, roared 
 joyously. The Temple was thick with the fumes of the white smoke of 
 the sacrifice ; and the choir, to the beating of drums, and the strident 
 clamour of trumpets, proclaimed the ofiering. Dick's head reeled with 
 the noise, and the scents, and the glittering of the jewels. He would 
 have pushed his way out ; but something more strange even than anjrthing 
 he had yet seen, stopped him. 
 
 At a given signal the clamour ceased, and Inca Sutic-toco advanced to 
 the altar. Mama OcUo stiU sat on the throne, but her face was absolutely 
 devoid of expression. It was difiicult to believe that a woman of her in- 
 telUgence could have faith in such mummery. 
 
 " Oh, Con-illa-ticci-uira-cocha, spirit of the abyss," prayed the Inca, 
 " creator of eternal light. Of old thou didst send the child of thy servant 
 the Sun, to make us worthy to be thy worshippers. He came and we 
 were glad in the splendour of his countenance ; but he departed to the 
 mansions of his father the Sun, thy servant, oh Con I But it was said of 
 old that when thy children were sick and down-trodden, he would return 
 to lift from our necks the yoke of evil. Those who came overseas in the 
 days of Huascar wrought us iU, oh Con, and we are but a remnant who 
 survive to proclaim thy god-head. Under the earth, banished from the 
 hght of our father the Sun, thy servant, we work in darkness to regain our 
 inheritance. Fulfil the promise of old. Invisible One. Send again Manco 
 Capac, the blessed one ; for thou canst enshrine his spirit in the flesh 
 of man to work our dehverance. Thou hast accepted our sacrifice ; 
 bring forth the redeeming one to lead us again to the holy city. Let the 
 sign be manifest, oh Con, that we may know him ! " 
 
 Again silence, and the Inca flung himself on his face with outstretched 
 arms. Beside him stood the high priest, silent, and with closed eyes, his 
 hand, palms uppermost, out-held in an attitude of worship. AH eyes 
 were fixed upon him with rehgious awe, expectant of some revelation 
 of the god's will. Suddenly the man became violently agitated. Then 
 he turned stiff and motionless. He spoke in a kind of hoarse whisper, 
 and every word was accepted as from the unseen deity 
 
 " Incarnate ! the English stranger ! enclothed in that flesh." His 
 voice leapt an octave and came forth in a shriek. " Manco Capac ; the 
 old in the new. He comes, he comes 1 " The priest fell senseless. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 149 
 
 A tremor of awe passed through the crowd, and at that moment two 
 men appeared from behind the shrine, leading Gerald Hazel. Dick uttered 
 an oath, which did not fail to reach the ears of Mama OcUo. She cast an 
 angry glance at him. 
 
 Clothed in a long white gown, embroidered with figures of the sun 
 worked in golden thread, his face perfectly expressionless, and his eyes 
 open, Hazel moved like a man in a dream. The Indians beholding in 
 him an incarnate god, groveUed terror-stricken on the floor. Dick alone 
 remained erect. Even Mama OcUo had fallen on her knees. 
 
 " Con I Oh, Invisible One ! The Sign, the Sign ! " 
 
 A murmur came from the prostrate multitude. " Con ! Oh, In- 
 visible One ! The Sign, the Sign ! " 
 
 One of his supporters bared Hazel's chest, and there all beheld the 
 rayed sun, tattooed in deep blue. From the crowd went up a cry of 
 wonderment ; and the choir broke forth into their jubilant hymn. Dick 
 was astounded. He could not speak. He was shaking with excitement. 
 Then Hazel spoke. 
 
 The music stopped, and the crowd, hiding their faces after that glimpse 
 of deity, listened with positive terror. Gerald's voice rang out, and the 
 words he uttered were so strange that Dick could hardly believe his 
 ears. 
 
 " I am Manco Capac. I am the child of the Sun. My father, Yntip, 
 has sent me once more to earth, to accomplish his will. In the guise of a 
 fair-haired stranger I come as I came of old. Rejoice, rejoice ! The night 
 of your desolation has passed away, and now breaks the sun of joy — of 
 victory. Rise, my children, I am here ! " 
 
 The crowd rose as one man, and the place shook with their jubilant 
 cries. Inca Sutic-toco kissed the feet of the new god. Mama Ocllo stood 
 up. There was a wild light in her eye, and a flush on her cheek. Dick 
 saw that her gaze was intently fastened upon Gerald. It appeared to 
 draw him, for with unwilling feet, as it seemed, he made a few steps for- 
 ward. Those in his path threw themselves flat, and he trod over their 
 bodies, through a lane of awe-struck faces. Advancing to Mama Ocllo, 
 he held out his hand and spoke slowly. 
 
 " From of old thou wast mine. I am thy brother and thy husband. 
 In the dim past we wrought with evil things and conquered. To-day 
 we must again go forth to conquer and to rule. Come, my sister, my 
 queen ! " 
 
 Mama OcUo gave her hand, with a well-assumed expression of religious 
 fear, and the two returned towards the altar. She lifted the crimson 
 fringe of royalty from the brow of the kneeling Inca, and placed it on 
 Hazel's head. He turned for a moment, and faced the people with a royal 
 mien. Then once again darkness rushed down on the Temple. 
 
 When after an interval the lights again shone forth. Mama Ocllo and the 
 so-called Manco Capac had disappeared. It was a most effective piece 
 of work, and did credit to the inventive and administrative powers of the 
 princess and the priests, who were the only persons undeceived by it. 
 
 As for Dick, he was no wiser than the rest. He left the Temple with 
 the crowd, and seating himself on the terrace, watched them descend 
 with joyous shouts into the city. Calling on the new Manco Ca^ac they gave 
 themselves up to feasting and revelry and celebration of all kinds. Tables 
 were spread in the great square, and the people sat down to eat and drink. 
 Some danced, others played on musical instruments of strange shape. 
 
I50 THE MOTHER OF E MERALDS. 
 
 and a few — the more religiously inclined — knelt with adoring eyes fastened 
 on the Temple, wherein so great an event had occurred. 
 
 The god had manifested himself. He had come to rule again over 
 them, to make them a nation, to give them once more the peace and 
 perfect happiness of the Incarial times. That was the burden of their 
 song and prayer. Ended was the age of Iron ; the Golden Age had 
 commenced. The bitter tears of many centuries gave place to smiles. 
 
 Their great forefather had descended to lead them, as he had done of 
 yore, to the holy city of Cuzco. The gods were with them. 
 
 " Oh Con, Oh Quilla, Oh Yntip ! " such was the refrain of their cries. 
 The name of Manco flew from lip to lip with eulogy and ejaculations of 
 heartfelt dehght. The whole city gave itself up to frenzied enjoyment, 
 and centuries of misery were blotted out from the minds of the rejoicing 
 people. It was the rebirth of the Children of the Sun — of the nation of 
 TIahua-ntin-Suyu. 
 
 Dick sat and marvelled. The whole thing was beyond him. He 
 could not conceive by what miracle Mama OcUo had compeUfed his chief 
 to play so unworthy a part. 
 
 " Well, I'm damned 1 " he said ; and he meant it rather more than 
 usual. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 " dick's renunciation." 
 
 Despite his not inconsiderable amount of practical experience of the sex, 
 Dick's understanding of the feminine temperament was incomplete. More 
 than that, it was founded on a basis of itself whoUy misleading. To him 
 woman was the female of man— than which surely no definition was ever 
 more fallacious. And Mama OcUo was now proving to him its fallacy. 
 Her proceedings up to this present — and more particularly at this present — 
 baffled him utterly. He could not, for the life of him, understand her. 
 How had she managed to coerce so strong-willed a man as Gerald ? It was 
 inexplicable. But when he entered the civilised cave he called home, and 
 found Hazel lying on the sofa, clothed in his usual dress, and apparently 
 in his right mind, the thing became positively uncanny. In a state of 
 misery at Gerald's unworthy performance, he had lingered in the square 
 for some hours, eating and drinking, hoping thereby to drown his sorrow ; 
 but, strange to say, without the usual result. This he could account for 
 only by the supposition that his nerves were " all wrong." At any rate, 
 the Amherst who discovered Gerald was as sober as an owl and quite as 
 melancholy. Surely this was the doppelganger of his friend ! 
 
 He remained at the door, not quite sure if he beheld flesh and blood. 
 His unusual sobriety, coupled with what he was beginning to think must 
 be an apparition, struck terror into Dick's sinful soul. He stared and 
 stared, and finally relapsing into his invariable phrase which was indicative 
 of all things. 
 
 " Well, I'm damned ! " he said. He sat down to recover his wits, which 
 had gone wool-gathering with the uncommon strain put upon them. 
 
 Gerald, who had not noticed him, turned his head languidly. " Hullo, 
 Dick, is that you ! I'm glad to see you again after the last twenty-four 
 hours." 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 151 
 
 " Twenty-four hours ! " Dick gasped again. " Why, Great Scott, I 
 haven't seen you for a fortnight ! " 
 
 " Dick ! You've been drinking again." Gerald sat up and looked 
 angrily at his friend. " I left you yesterday to go to the Temple with 
 Mama OcUo. She drugged me, and kept me for a night, and " 
 
 Dick interrupted him by striding across the room, and seizing liis arm. 
 
 " Oh ! " He sat down on the edge of the sofa. " You are flesh and 
 blood then ? " 
 
 " What the devil else did you expect me- to be ? Dick ! Dick ! — ■ — ■ " 
 
 " Upon my soul, it's not drink," burst out Dick. " I'm as sober as a 
 judge ; but — I'm not very sure if you are ! " 
 
 " Not sure if J am ? Why, man " 
 
 " Well, I'm damned," said Dick, and ran his hand distractedly through 
 his unkempt locks. " It's the drug." 
 
 " It's nothing of the kind ! What the deuce are you driving at ? " 
 
 In a state of bewilderment they stared at one another. Dick was the 
 first to speak. " Hazel, old man," he said in a caressing voice, " tell me 
 what you have been doing since you've been away." 
 
 " Doing ? — you confounded idiot ! Why, didn't I tell yovi that I went 
 to Mama Ocllo's palace, and that she drugged me ? — laid nie out flat with 
 some beastly smelling stuff. When I came to a bit, my head was splitting. 
 Then she managed to bring me under her influence in some hypnotic way 
 — made passes and all that sort of thing ; and I went off into a dead sleep." 
 
 " Why the devU did you let her ? " 
 
 " I couldn't help it. My head was splitting, I tell you, and I was not 
 myself ; I had no power against her. The drugging was too much for me, 
 I suppose. Anyway, I was like a child in her hands. I must have 
 been unconscious for some hours — at least she told me so ; but I woke up 
 in this room an hour ago, and wondered where you had got to. What 
 the dickens are you talking about ? — a fortnight ? Why, it was only last 
 night I saw you. Drunk again, my good Dicky, drunk again." 
 
 For answer Dick went off into something not far removed from, hysterics; 
 His anxiety about Hazel for the past two weeks had worn him out, and the 
 drink, and the sudden discovery that his friend was in total ignorance of 
 the part he had played at the Temple, had been rather too much for his 
 nerves. Hazel jumped up in a hurry and got out his brandy flask. By 
 its aid Dick managed to pull himself together. 
 
 " Fact is, old man, I have been drinkin'," he said, with admirably acted 
 penitence. " I think if you don't mind I'll turn in and sleep it off. You 
 see I was anxious when you didn't return for twenty-four hours, and so 
 went ofi on a bender." 
 
 " Oh, well," said Gerald, languidly, " as it was on my account, I suppose 
 I must forgive you. But I really wish, Dicky, that you would keep your 
 anxiety for me within bounds — you know what I mean, eh ? " 
 
 Dick did not reply. Apparently shame-faced he took himself off, to 
 look up Parry, and see if he had any light to throw upon these latest devil- 
 ries of Mama OcUo. But the engineer was every whit as astounded as was 
 Dick himself : and not any more inclined to spare Mama OcUo. Indeed, 
 for a quarter of an hour or more, these two let loose a flow of expletive 
 and comminatory metaphor devoid of anything approaching redundancy, 
 and forming a very respectable display of what two determined meniCould 
 do in the way of anathema. 
 
 " Yet, whatever we may say against her, she is a wonderful woman," 
 I 
 
152 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. ^ 
 
 admitted Parry at last, " of all men though, I should least have expected 
 Hazel to be taken in so easily." 
 
 " He wasn't taken in easily," cried Dick, ever jealous for his friend. 
 
 " Anyway, he allowed himself to be hypnotised." 
 
 " Well, an' I guess if you were half crazy with drugging you'd 'low the 
 same racket. The cunning devil ! First she muddled the chief's head and 
 then began this hypnotic foolin'. If Hazel had had his wits about him 
 d'ye think he'd have 'lowed it ? " 
 
 " Oh, well," Parry raked his beard, " we're all infants in the hands of 
 that woman. But you don't mean to tell me Mr. Hazel doesn't realise 
 that he's been unconscious for fourteen days ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it. I'm goin' to post him up in the whole show though, 
 to-morrow. It's a rum start," added Dick, in a meditative fashion. 
 " How the devil did she manage to keep him under all that time ? " 
 
 " Well, I suppose that once in her power, she could keep him so for any 
 length of time for that matter. Anyway, she did it— and did it neatly, 
 too, as she does most things. I don't suppose he's feeling particularly 
 well after it, either, is he ? " 
 
 " Muddled him a bit : that's all. I hope a good night's rest will pull 
 him straight. Good-night." 
 
 Then Dick hurried off to Hazel's bedside, where he spent the rest of the 
 night watching him, very much in the same possessive and protective 
 spirit as a mother watches a chUd. And as he sat there, he made up his 
 mind to his great act of renunciation. MoUy should be Hazel's. He 
 would give up aU claim to her in favour of his friend and chief. He would 
 teU him, too, of his resolve. Now that he had nearly lost his friend, he 
 knew how dear he was to him. He would break down the last barrier — ■ 
 MoUy should no longer stand between them. " Shoo ! " he said to him- 
 self, " if it comes to that, he's worth half a hundred Molly-girls." 
 
 After a natural sleep — the first he had enjoyed for long past — Hazel 
 woke late in fuU possession of his wits. The first sight that met his eye, 
 was the faithful Dick stretched out on the floor beside him, sleeping heavUy. 
 He seemed perfectly worn out. How he came to be there, Gerald knew not. 
 But of his great fidelity he did know, and he was touched by it. Hazel 
 did not disturb him. He laid a rug gently over him and went ofi to dress. 
 He had not been gone long when Dick, who had awoke in a fright, came 
 hurrying after him. 
 
 " Oh, you're there, are you ? " he said, with a look of relief. " What 
 an almighty fright you gave me. I dreamt you'd got loose again." 
 
 " Oh, I'm here right enough, though upon my soul I'm beginning to 
 wonder whether it is me. Look here, Dick, how did I come by this ? 
 Who's been playing the fool with me ? " 
 
 He bared his chest and showed him the blue tattoo. 
 
 " Oh, so you've dropped on it, have you ? " said Amherst. 
 
 " Yes ; it's not the sort of thing that's very easy to miss when a chap's 
 in his tub. But how do you come to know about it ? You do know about 
 it, I swear. Now then, Dick, out with it. I'm in no mood for fooling." 
 
 " Know of it ? By gum, the whole of Yayacarui knows of it ! Perhaps 
 you don't know that you're a god of sorts ? " 
 
 Hazel stared. " A god ? What the deuce are you talking about ? " 
 
 " Well, I guess the whole community can enlighten you there again," 
 said Dick, leisurely proceeding with his breakfast. " Mama OcUo's 
 been playing low down on you, old man." 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 153 
 
 Hazel looked uneasy. " Not publicly ? " 
 Publicly, you bet. She exhibited you as a manufactured god to the 
 whole crew. Couldn't make out how she engineered the job. 'Spose the 
 hypnotic biz did it. Gosh, you were ' fresh ' to let her have you that 
 way." 
 
 For a moment or so Hazel looked helplessly at his friend. Then he 
 began to put two and two together. It was evident that she had con- 
 trived to use him very much for her own ends, whatever they might be. 
 She had hypnotised him, and he had been a mere puppet in her hands, the 
 abject slave of her will. 
 
 " How long have I been away, Dick ? " he asked. 
 
 " A fortnight, no less." 
 
 " A fortnight ? Great heavens, man, you don't mean to say that I 
 have been away a fortnight ? I couldn't have been unconscious all that 
 time ! " 
 
 " Well, that of course I can't say ; but you can ask the boys, and I 
 guess they'll tell you the same." 
 
 " What did the woman make me do, Dick — you say it was in public ? " 
 
 " You were rigged up as a god, an' what's more, you said you were one ; 
 the incarnation of Manco Capac, or some such Johnny. There was a 
 rippin' shindy on at the Temple yesterday, and you were right in the thick 
 of it. You let 'em know, too, that you were goin' to marry Mama Ocllo." 
 
 " Dick ! You're — here, give me a drink, I feel dizzy." 
 
 " Hold up, chief." 
 
 Hazel had turned deathly white. Dick applied the brandy strenuously. 
 There was not much that brandy could not do, to his thinking. The colour 
 returned to Hazel's face and he pulled himself together. 
 
 " Dicky," he said, quickly. " We've got to get out of this, and that 
 slippy. That damned woman's one too many for either you or me. 
 She " 
 
 " Not she," interrupted Dick. " Give her rope enough an' she'll hang 
 herself for sure one of these days. She's been playing low down on you 
 just lately — but you'U come out on top in the long run, take my word for 
 it. That sly sort generally ends up by sUttin' its own pipe." 
 
 " Maybe — as a matter of fact I think you're right. I was a fool though — 
 by Gad, what a complete fool — to run inta her noose like that. She laid 
 me out properly in that loathsome mother-o'-pearl room of hers. Great 
 Scott, when I think of her having wiped out my wits for me as she might 
 wipe the writing from a slate, and of her having projected into me her own 
 diabolical personality, it makes me just long to be even with her ! We 
 will be even with her, Dick. Yes, and what's more, we'll use her own 
 weapons against her. Now listen to me. She spoke through my lips all 
 the rhodomontade of which you have told me. Very well ; she made me 
 a god to these people. I am, you say, the incarnation of Manco Capac. 
 Then Manco Capac I must remain, for ever, in their minds. As Manco 
 Capac I am infallible — almighty, unassailable. Don't you see, man, the 
 power that gives me ? I am omnipotent." 
 
 " With the ruck, yes : but you must remember that Mama Ocllo and 
 the priests, and the Inca and aU that crowd know jolly well what 
 a swindle the whole show is ; and if it comes to fightin' they'll not be 
 above showing up their own swindle to save their skins." 
 
 " Can't, my dear boy — not with any chance of success. Once you set a 
 force like that in motion, I defy you to control it. It amounts to fanati- 
 
154 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 cism. The people are with me- henceforth, come what may. My plan 
 wUl be to lead, them out on a career of wholesale conquest, and thus to 
 fulfil the prophecy." , 
 
 " That's right enough ; but, anyway, don't show your hand yet awhile, 
 chief. Let's get together what we want in the way of powder and shot 
 first." 
 
 " Certainly ; we'U do nothing hastily." Hazel passed his hand across 
 his brow. " As a matter of fact," he went on, " we'll do nothing at all, 
 yet awhile. I don't feel a bit myself. I've been shaken up more than a 
 trifle. We'll think out a careful plan of action, Dick. Meanwhile, you 
 get along and see Parry and a few of the others, and come along here to- 
 night and we'U talk it over. But do it we will, Dick, you can take my word 
 for that." 
 
 " You bet, chief ; and then for England, home, and beauty." Dick 
 cleared his throat. His voice was husky. " Say, Hazel," he began, 
 " we've kept pretty quiet on one subject all through, you and I. I want 
 yOu to let me say a word about her now. By this time you know the sort 
 o' chap I am, I reckon. You'll agree, anyway, that I never painted m'self 
 any colour but a damned dirty black. "- 
 
 " Now, what the deuce are you driving at, Dick ? "■ He knew he might 
 expect something out of the ordinary when Dick commenced thus in self- 
 abasement. He had not done it at all lately. 
 
 " I want to tell you straight. Hazel, old chap, what I mean. You 
 know the yam 'bout David and Jonathan and that lot, I don't know who's 
 which, but I know it's that way I feel for you. I'd do anything for you. 
 Hazel. If I'd had a brother, I couldn't have done for him what I could for 
 you. So far I've not had the chance o' doin' much except stickin' to you, 
 which I reckon I've done pretty close. But there's one thing I want you 
 to let me do, and we'll talk of it now, if you've no objection. I want you 
 to take Molly, Hazel." 
 
 The other man looked at him ; but he did not speak. Dick continued : 
 " It was my mother insisted that I should marry her. I knew jolly 
 well I was not good enough for her. But I was beast enough to trick her 
 into promising to marry me. It was the money, not Molly, I was after." 
 " That I don't believe, Dick." 
 
 " Gospel truth, I swear," he replied, with a quaver in his voice. " I 
 might have had an idea she'd reform me. I had. But I played jolly low 
 down on her. It was a caddish thing to do. And then when I got to 
 Lima, I loafed round and chucked away her coin, when I should have been 
 hunting out her governor as I'd promised. My character at Lima's a bit 
 blacker than it is anywhere else. I never carried out my part of the 
 bargain ; and I don't see why she should carry out hers. Now you have 
 carried through yours, and that damned well, and you deserve to have 
 her. Hazel. I want you to understand that I'm out of it altogether. 
 Let's get out of this hole now, as you say, and Ught out for the old country, 
 and you marry Molly with my blessing, old chap, and I'll be best man. 
 That'll be the most dignified billet I've ever had, I reckon. Come now, 
 chief, that's settled ; give us your hand on it." 
 
 Hazel took his hand and grasped it warmly. He did not know quite 
 what to say. Dick's words had gone right home, and had touched his 
 deepest feeUngs. He had not been mistaken in him. 
 
 " Dick,"- he said, " you and I can never be but the closest friends. You 
 have more than kept your word to me. But I don't know that you have 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 155 
 
 the Tight to do what you are doing. I won't deny that Molly Prynne is 
 more to me than any woman in the world ; and I think you will believe 
 me when I tell you that I never said one word to her after I knew she was 
 engaged to you." 
 
 " You needn't tell me that, chief. But don't baulk me of my wish 
 now ; you've given your hand on it. Say it's settled." 
 
 " All right, my dear fellow ; unless you change your mind, it's settled.'' 
 
 " Good. Now I feel better." 
 
 Dick threw himself on the sofa, filled his pipe, and Ut it. " Gosh, what 
 a stew the old lady'll be in 1 "■ he said. 
 
 " Your mother ? Are you very fond of her, Dick ? " 
 
 " Fond of her ? Well, I reckon you know what she is, and you know 
 what I am. I'll leave you to fog out the answer to that question ! '-' 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " BY THE SACRED RIVER."' 
 
 '' Wexl, Puca, what is it ? " ' ' 
 
 The dwarf bowed with deep respect — -respect which had developed 
 only since the apotheosis of Gerald, now some three or more days old. 
 But there was in his cunning eyes a glint of mockery of which the deity 
 could not entirely approve. Towards one acknowledged the re-incarnated 
 father of a race there should be no room for anything save awe in the 
 minds of underlings. And even if Puca knew that the of&cial ceremony of 
 deification had been performed for poUtical reasons, he had no right to 
 give any inkling of his knowledge. Hazel had never had any sort of liking 
 for the red imp. He liked him less than ever now as he made his genu- 
 flexions before him. And as if quick to discern his master's feelings, 
 Puca hastened to expunge all that was qualifying of his obeisance, lest 
 Manco Capac should beat him ; a ceremony at which half the population 
 would gladly assist, did they think their hero was being treated with 
 disrespect ever so slight. 
 
 "Lord I " said Puca, cringing, "the Coya awaits you by the sacred 
 river."- 
 
 " Oh I " Gerald did not accept the invitation at once. He had not 
 seen Mama Ocllo since the rites of his incarnation, and he was not sorry. 
 He was in nowise anxious to meet her again. 
 
 The sacred river was far below, in the least civilized part of Yaya- 
 carui — a part much too lonely to have any attraction for him after what 
 had passed. For aught he knew Mama Ocllo might be desirous of trying 
 now how he would respond to aqueous methods, in which case it might 
 be that he would have to quit this sphere with his duty unfulfilled. On 
 reflection, however, he came to the conclusion that his death would be in 
 no way to the Coya's advantage ; so he motioned to Puca to lead him to 
 the appointed spot. He would at least have the opportunity of putting 
 his views before her. He wished without delay to make it very clear to 
 her that he had no intention of becoming her husband and every in- 
 tention of leaving the city at the next opportunity. As it was to be 
 war to the knife it was only fair she should know. Considering the posi- 
 tion in which he stood, this, although chivalrous, was obviously unwise ; 
 
156 THE MOT HER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 but his antagonist was a woman, and Hazel was never able to forget 
 that fact. 
 
 Yet for all his high-flown notions Gerald was very nearly falling away 
 from them when he found himself alone with Puca in a Uft. For Puca had 
 upon his httle person the key of the powder magazine. As Hazel caught 
 sight of the gold chain which held it he was sorely tempted to effect a 
 change of ownership then and there. But a conviction that this would 
 but lead to a speedy changing of the lock by Mama OcUo kept him from 
 so far forgetting himself. He resolved to leave that part of the affair to 
 Dick. 
 
 Wholly unaware of the dire fate that threatened him, Puca preserved 
 an impenetrable silence as the lift dropped to the lower level. As soon as 
 it touched bottom he stepped out into a low narrow gallery, and led the 
 way to the river, the murmur of which could be distinctly heard from where 
 they were. In a few minutes they emerged on to a craggy platform which 
 projected over the torrent. VMany feet below, the black-looking water 
 swept along, swift and treacherous. The lamps which starred the high 
 roofs showed on all sides the tie-ribs of earth, rugged, gigantic, sombre ; 
 and glinted on the sweeping waters. As Hazel stared at this river of 
 hell — it might have been that very Styx by which the gods swore — he felt 
 a light touch on his shoulder. He turned to find Mama OcUo by his side. 
 Puca had discreetly disg,ppeared, and they were alone. The Coya was 
 wrapped from head to foot in some white fleecy material. She looked 
 ghostlike in the weird light. " Two souls," thought Hazel, " waiting for 
 Charon to ferry them across the stream of the dead." 
 
 Mama OcUo laughed. " Don't be afraid, Manco Capac,"- she said, 
 mockingly, "it is beyond my power to kill a god I '-'- 
 
 " That might be in ordinary circumstances. But you see, I am one 
 of your own manufacture, and liable therefore to destruction should my 
 behaviour as such not chance to please you." 
 
 The woman was silent for a moment. " You speak more truly than 
 you know,"- she said, drily. " Your life does indeed depend upon your 
 playing the part of Manco Capac as I design it to be played.'' 
 
 " Should you not instruct me then ? '* said Hazel, with a shrug. 
 
 " Your own heart should instruct you," retorted Mama Ocllo, bitterly. 
 " It is no easy task and certainly no pleasure to deal with one who won't 
 see — none so bUnd, as your saying is. But come now and sit down.'' 
 She led the way to a slab of rock, and Hazel took his place by her side. 
 " We have much to talk about," with a httle laugh she looked into his 
 face. " I presume at least you have some questions to ask me ? -' 
 
 " No,"- he said, indiSerently, " I cannot say I am devoured by curiosity. 
 I know a good deal. It seems proved conclusively that having taken 
 me at a disadvantage you made a very thorough puppet of me. I may 
 say no one has ever done so much before. "- 
 
 " No ? Well, at all events you seem to grasp the salient features of 
 the situation. Yes, it is true ; you were my puppet, £is you are pleased 
 to put it, on that occasion. And as Manco Capac — ^for such, of course, 
 you are now to my people— you are little less my puppet for that 
 matter. '-- 
 
 " Indeed I And if I don't quite fall in with your little plans ? " 
 
 " You have no choice. I hold you here.'' She stretched out a very 
 pretty hand, opening and shutting it significantly. -'- 1 have brought 
 you here that I may fully explain to you my plans. '• 
 
THE MOTHER OF E MERALDS. 157 
 
 " That is very charming of you, Princess. You are ever charming. 
 But could we not have had our little talk in your own apartments ? '■'■ 
 
 " No. The river yonder will be of service to me on this occasion." 
 
 " My dear lady," said Gerald, ostensibly bored, " I am going to be 
 so ungallant as to point out to you your one very great defect ; you are 
 too fond of the theatrical. You are really addicted to it. Now how 
 can the river yonder possibly serve you as regards me ? " 
 
 " That you shall see in good time, Mr. Hazel. I have said it and so 
 it will be. Meanwhile if you think to anger me with your cynicism, 
 you are mistaken. It might have its effect with some women ; not with 
 me. They might lose their temper with you. I have too much at stake 
 to do any such thing."- 
 
 As she spoke her cheek flushed and her eyes sparlded. It was as much 
 as ever she could do to restrain herself. She knew quite well that his 
 attitude was studiously insolent ; but she was unaccustomed wholly to 
 insolence studied or otherwise ; and she was not a little restive under it. 
 
 "Not your life alone, but the Uves of others are at stake," she resumed, 
 seeing that Hazel preserved a judicious silence, " so listen, please, to what 
 I have to say. I have told you my aims of re-establishing the Inca 
 dynasty. Unfortunately on the very verge of fulfilment it so happens 
 that I am the sole representative of the royal race. Unhappily for me, 
 my brother, who was my husband, died — you need not be shocked at the 
 bond, it is quite moral to one trained as I have been in the observances of 
 our royal house. I am not sorry he died. He was a fool. I am the man 
 and woman of our family in one. But I wish to re-establish a dynasty ; 
 and to do so it is necessary that I should have a husband. I have chosen 
 you ! " 
 
 " Thank you,'' said Hazel, ironically. " I am indeed flattered. As 
 you say, choice I have none 1 " 
 
 " No, you have none ; this is a state afiair. I am no love-sick girl, but 
 a queen. Had I loved you — as you are puppy enough to think 
 possible '•'- 
 
 " Pardon me, but could one think about love in connection with you. 
 Princess ? BeUeve me, I think nothing about it."- 
 
 Mama OcUo bit her lip, but there was no trembling of her voice as she 
 continued. "That is just as well. We shall understand one another all 
 the better. I need hardly say that a woman does not expose the man 
 she loves to the perils of the forest and the desert, to say nothing of 
 savage tribes such as you encountered. I did all that to try you. In 
 Lima I saw that you were clever enough to occupy the position of my hus- 
 band, or shall I say my partner ; but I was not sure of your courage, there- 
 fore I resolved to test it in the way you know of. You came through the 
 ordeal successfully, so I pursued my design. As I was well aware that you 
 would never consent to masquerade as a god to please me, I contrived 
 my plans so that you should do so against your will — or at aU events, 
 unconsciously. For that reason it was necessary tp destroy your will, 
 which I. did by means of the fumes of a certain drug which was set burning 
 when I left you alone in that hermetically sealed chamber. "- 
 
 '- 1 noticed there were no windows or ventUators,'-'- said Hazel, to him- 
 self. 
 
 " You awoke confused and helpless as a child. Then I hypnotised 
 you. With your will against mine I might have failed, for your will is 
 strong ; but on you, reduced almost to the condition of an automaton. 
 
158 
 
 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 I focussed my will and so got you uijider my control. The tattooing, 
 the impressing on your brain of the part I wished you to play 
 — you know all about that. Well," she rose and flung out her hands, 
 " my plans have succeeded. You are Manco Capac, re-incarnate, and 
 the people accept you as such. I can now marry you without fear, as 
 they believe you are the father of the Inca race. In a few weeks the 
 ceremony will take place ; you will become my husband, and a king. 
 I offer you a brilliant destiny ! You will raise a fallen nation, you will 
 occupy a tlirone ; and you will have me to reign by your side," she 
 paused and flushed, " and I will be to you a true wife," she said, faintly, 
 
 " that is if you "- breaking off she turned away pettishly. " Oh, 
 
 have I to do with a fool, Mr. Hazel ? " 
 
 In spite of all her ambition her feelings became too much for her. 
 His indiSerent look and irresponsive eyes exasperated her into betraying 
 what she had vowed did not exist. Gerald's sensation was one of pro- 
 found sorrow for her. She was really very beautiful. Many a man would 
 have been a slave to her beauty. He must seem a horrible prig to her, 
 he thought. And her nature was fine, too. He hated his position ; for 
 her passion for him waS so evident that it was impossible to bhnd himself 
 to it. What could he do ? He could not speak of Molly to her. If only 
 she had managed to maintain an attitude of antagonism ! There she 
 was by his side, waiting for some word of response. He must make some 
 kind of answer to her. 
 
 " I am sorry it is not possible for me to fall in with your plans, senora," 
 he said, quieliy. " For one thing I cannot remain in Yayacarui. I wish 
 to leave it." 
 
 " You shall leave it," she cried, eagerly, " as a king ! as the new Inca 1 " 
 
 Hazel shook his head. " The position overwhelms me, sefiora ; if I 
 were not a prisoner " 
 
 '' Prisoner ? You are no prisoner 1 '' She came near him, and her 
 
 breath was on his cheek. " Unless " With an abrupt gesture she 
 
 turned away. " Oh, cannot I make you understand ? " 
 
 " I understand very well. But private feelings unfortunately are not 
 private soldiers, to be commanded at will. If you trusted me — ■ — " 
 
 " I would trust you with all, if you would only say what I wish you 
 to say," she burst out. " I will show you the other entrance to the city, 
 the one which leads to the hills ; I will give you the key of the magazine, 
 it you like — the magazine upon which the safety of my city depends. 
 See," with a rapid movement she snatched the key from her neck, and 
 thrust it into his hands. " There is a sign of my trust." 
 
 For a moment a great temptation came over Hazel. It required all 
 his power of will to struggle against it. He held in his hand the key 
 of the magazine. If he feigned a passion for this woman, she would leave 
 it in his possession, and he would be able to arm his men, to fight his way 
 out of the city, and thus beat her with her own weapons. But he thrust 
 the thought from him. Freedom m^ust be gained by some other way 
 than that. His voice was hoarse and his brow moist, as he returned the 
 key to her. 
 
 ■' No ; no I I — I — cannot promise. Don't tempt me I " He walked 
 to the other end of the shelf striving to control himself. Mama OcUo 
 remained where she was. She had a faint idea of the struggle which was 
 raging within him. She became possessed of a cold fury. 
 
 " What do you mean ? "• she asked, in a harsh voice 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 159 
 
 " I mean that I must be plain with you." Gerald returned to face 
 her. " I intend to leave this accursed city, and that in spite of all your 
 efforts to prevent me. If I chose, I could keep that key, and arm my fellow 
 countrymen. But that is not how we Englishmen are taught to fight. 
 I will be honest in every way. But if you will not let me go peaceably, 
 then fight I must." 
 
 " Fight ! Fight me f " A derisive smile curled her Ups. " You 
 might as well try to fight against the high heaven. I hold you and I 
 shall keep you. Ah ! " She clasped his arm and spoke in a voice of rare 
 tenderness. " Can you not see that I am a woman, as well as a queen ? 
 Why should you wish to leave me — m.e who love you as no other woman 
 wUl ever love you ? Yes, I confess it ; I glory in it, though I am false 
 to myself in sa3dng it — false to my aims, to my plans, to my whole life. 
 They can all go for you, Gerald." She flung her arms around him. 
 " Nothing is anjrthing without you. Gerald, say one word to me. Speak 
 to me. Can you not love me ? " Her voice had dropped to a whisper. 
 She was shaking in the throes of her passion. 
 
 " I — I — I am not free to — to " 
 
 " Ah, it is that English girl. I know, I know ; don't think of her ; 
 she is not here. I am here ; we are here, alone — -we two in our own world. 
 Am I less beautiful, less fond ? Oh, Gerald, my heart ; do not turn 
 from me." 
 
 " I am not worthy of your love — I " Gerald was losing his head. 
 
 Involuntarily he responded to her clasp. 
 
 " You are ; you are. I love you. I could not love a man unworthy 
 of me. I see you a great king. I give you a throne ; I give you my heart. 
 I give myself to you, Gerald. I am yours, yours, yours — yours for al- 
 ways." 
 
 She drew back and threw open her arms. " Come. Am I not beautiful ? 
 Am I not a queen — your queen, Gerald ? Inca I Come ! " 
 
 In the light she seemed to glow with vitality and beauty. Her eyes 
 were like stars ; her mouth a rose ; her cheeks a royal red. 
 
 Gerald fought desperately with a sense of helplessness which assailed 
 him. Almost inaudibly one name sprang to his lips. " MoUy^ — — " 
 
 Then the light died out of Mama Ocllo's eyes, for she had heard it. 
 Dead they became — dead as those of a snake. The sound of that name 
 petrified her. The colour faded from her face. She became white to 
 the lips. She was Medusa ; as terrible, as deadly. Hazel faced her in 
 silence. Suddenly she threw up her arms and cried oiit. Three priests 
 in white robes came from behind the rocks, and with them Puca. 
 
 " Throw him in," said Mama OcUo, pointing to the river. 
 
 Waking quickly to a sense of peril, Gerald sprang back, as the two men 
 flung themselves forward. With all his strength he strove to resist, as 
 they tried to drag him to the verge of the shelf. Mama OcUo, with a 
 terrible smUe on her face, stood quietly by ; and Puca, with the hiss of 
 a snake, clutched his leg. His strength was faUing, and he began to give 
 himself up for lost. But his fate was in the hands of a power higher than 
 that of Mama Ocllo. As he was dragged slowly but surely to the abyss, 
 a kind of muflled roar, a giant sound echoed through the cavern. The 
 earth heaved like a wave. The woman shrieked ; and his opponents 
 let him go. But Puca like a venomous reptile still clung to his leg. 
 Gerald, though near the edge oi the shelf, let him cling. His eyes were 
 fixed with horror on a point up the tunnel. Mama Ocllo too was looking 
 
i6o THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 there ; and as she looked, again she shrieked. For there came rushing 
 down a great wave, foamless and black ; shining like ebony in the light. 
 Smoothly, swiftly, with deadly forceful speed, it came on, towering to 
 the roof. Yelling loudly, the priests fled, followed by the woman. They 
 disappeared into the narrow arch of the passage. Puca, now alive to 
 his danger, turned and ran. Hazel followed ; but the great wave was 
 upon them. They were whirled aloft as by giant hands. And the earth 
 heaved and bellowed like a sick beast. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " STRATEGY AGAINST FORCE." 
 
 Whirling hke a top, Hazel grasped wildly for the proverbial straw. The 
 water lifted itself silently and dashed him against a projecting crag that 
 stood out mid-stream. Half stunned he gripped this, and the earth- 
 quake wave — for it was one single gigantic wave— passed onward and past 
 him. He found himself shaken and sore, but in fuU possession of his- 
 senses. Across his feet lay something heavy ; a body, as it proved to the 
 feel, and when he had wiped the water from his eyes, he ascertained that 
 it was Puca. 
 
 Luckily the earthquake had not interfered With the electric circuit, and 
 the lamps showed him all that was to be seen. The vast volume of water 
 borne onward had drained the immediate channel of the river dry ; but 
 Hazel knew that where water had been, water would in all probability 
 be again, and he hastened to get out of the tunnel before a second wave 
 should come upon the heels of the first. He caught up the dwarf — who 
 was senseless from a wound on the skull — and rushed into the higher 
 gallery. He had no love for Puca ; but a master-thought had germinated 
 in his brain. 
 
 As he gained the arch, a second flood fiUed the tunnel to the roof, and 
 expended its superfluous waters through the arch. It was strong enough 
 to Uft Hazel bodily into the gallery. Then the water drained ofiE, and he 
 was left gsisping by Puca's body. 
 
 Mama OcUo and the priests had disappeared at the first alarm, and were 
 no doubt by this time in safety. 
 
 A hasty examination proved that the dwarf was only stunned. His 
 thick head had saved him from a worse fate. Gerald secured the magazine 
 key which Puca carried for safety at the end of a heavy gold chain twisted 
 round his neck, and turned away, leaving him to recover as he best could. 
 The longer he remained insensible and ignorant of his loss, the easier it 
 would be for a dozen or so of men to loot the magazine of the much-needed 
 ammunition. Mama OcUp's last action assured him that he had now 
 to deal with the implacable hatred of a woman scorned ; and he doubted 
 if even the necessity of completing her schemes would avail him now. 
 It therefore behoved him to secure his own safety, and that of the men 
 who trusted in him, as speedily as possible. With this sole aim in view and 
 with the key in his possession, he started for the lift. 
 
 Hardly had he reached the gallery it occupied, when he heard a well- 
 known voice cursing volubly. A few moments later he was face to face with 
 Dick and Parry. With a shout Dick hailed him. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERAIDS. i6i 
 
 " Thank God, old man 1 I thought you were dead ; oh, thank God." 
 He hugged Hazel Uke a bear, while Parry, scarcely less moved, shook 
 hands. 
 
 " I've had a narrow squeak, Dicky. TeU me quick, does Mama OcUo 
 think I am dead ? " 
 
 " She does," said Parry. " Dick and I heard you were down below, 
 and so we came on to look for you. We met Mama OcUo, and she told 
 us you had been swept away down stream. There's been no end of a 
 heave up all round." 
 
 " Damn her ! " cried Dick fiercely. 
 
 " Well, she'U learn I haven't," said Hazel cheerily. " See here, man 1 " 
 he held out the key. " I've managed'to nab that from Puca." 
 
 " Gosh I Has the little devil passed in his checks ? " 
 
 " No such luck. I left him down the gallery stunned. Let him lie 
 there till we complete our plans. Parry, when are the lights out ? " 
 
 "In an hour," rephed the engineer, looking at his watch. " But I 
 can shut 'em off now, and say it's the earthquake. Dane is in charge." 
 
 " Get 'em out at once. I want you to smuggle me to my rooms. It's 
 just as well that Mama OcUo should think I've gone under. I'm going 
 to best that lady." 
 
 " What's her game ? -' 
 
 " Homicide ! Because I won't faU in with her views. The earth- 
 quake nearly carried out her amiable intentions for her. Don't curse, 
 Dicky : it's loss of time. Let's take the lift now and get to our diggings. 
 Parry ! " 
 
 " I'll put the Ughts down now, and you can get home under cover of 
 darkness. There's a telephone down here. Go on. I'U foUow." 
 
 Parry vanished with a chuckle, and the other two made for the lift, 
 in which they were soon soaring to the city level. Midway the lamp 
 faded, a signal that the entire city and surroundings had reverted to 
 primeval gloom. 
 
 " Huh I Parry's a smart man I " 
 
 " So 1 We'U need all our smartness, Dick. Mama OcUo's declared 
 war I " 
 
 Amherst grunted in the darkness, and they stepped out into the open. 
 A rapid walk brought them to the terraces ; where they felt their way 
 in the gloom by running their hands along the balustrades. Many In- 
 dians, kneeUng, lying, huddled in groups, were spread in a disorderly 
 multitude. Down in the city itself the groans and shrieks were loud. 
 The extinguishing of the lights, ascribed to, the earthquake, had de- 
 moralised the population. To make matters worse, there came a slight 
 tremor of the ground, sufficiently noticeable to set the people running, 
 though flight was ever so impossible. 
 
 In the confusion the two men passed unnoticed, and gained their rooms 
 without recognition. Having achieved this much. Hazel congratulated 
 himself on scoring the first move in the game between himself and Mama 
 OcUo. He had hardly got his wind when Parry arrived. 
 
 " The natives are in a sinful state of excitement," said the engineer, 
 lighting some candles he had brought with him, for the room was in com- 
 plete darkness. " This earthquake has put the fear of God into them. 
 I am not very happy myself." 
 
 His uneasiness was reflected in the faces of the others. 
 
 " No," assented Gerald, " it is decidedly unpleasant Uving over a mine 
 
 6 
 
i62 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 which may be exploded at any moment. We must get out of this place 
 as soon as possible. There is much to be done to-night." 
 
 " As how, chief ? " 
 
 " We must loot the magazine and arrange things so that when Puca goes 
 to look — for when he finds the key is gone he will look — ^he will not be 
 able to see what we have done. Can you rouse up ten men, Parry ? " 
 
 " The whole twenty are waiting developments in my shanty." 
 
 " Good. We'll stir them up in half an hour. 'Say, Parry, do you know 
 of any cave with a steep approach and an exit in case of retreat ? " 
 
 " There's one above the workshops about a quarter of a mile from here — 
 unlighted, and so far as I know, unexplored." 
 
 " Huh ! Good business," said Dick. " Their shooters won't be able 
 to pick us off in the dark. But retreat ? — where the nation are we goin' 
 to retreat to, chief ? " 
 
 " H'm. That must be considered. There's a secret way of sorts 
 through which they carry down grub from the hills. 'Fancy I'll have to 
 make use of my godship to locate it. 'Mightn't be a bad plan to slip off 
 that way and save fighting after all." 
 
 Dick's face fell. He had the Irish love for a row and things looked 
 promising. " Don't think it 'ud be fair to shp off that way," he argued, 
 " what's the use of annexing gun-food if we don't make use of it ? " 
 
 " Oh, you'll get all the fighting you need, my son," said Parry grimly. 
 " We won't be out of the wood when we're in the open by a long chalk. 
 There's likely to be a scrimmage when Mama OcUo finds we've cleared. 
 The whole country wiU be in arms." 
 
 " Then I guess we'll have our back to the wall," observed Dick, re- 
 flectively. " She'U harden her heart Uke Pharaoh and send out her 
 armies. My aunt, all the wigs will be oh the green then ! But this plan 
 of yours, chief ? " 
 
 " No need to explain just now, Dicky. First thing to do is to stock 
 that cave Parry speaks of." Gerald rose and. shook himself. " Where 
 is it ? " 
 
 " Back of the Temple, several hundred feet higher. We can nip along 
 the upper galleries. Magazine's handy ! " 
 
 " Well, we've got the puU over Mama OcUo this time ; so let's take 
 advantage of it. 'Must show myself to-morrow and play the god." 
 
 Dick wanted explanations, but received none. Indeed, there was no 
 time, for the offi.cial night of Yayacarui had commenced long since, and 
 those of the population who could sleep were trying to get what they could 
 snatch of it. As the engineer of the city. Parry was in a position to 
 manipulate the whole electric plant — ^lifts, engines, and such like, without 
 question. At this time the upper levels in which the magazine and the 
 cave of refuge were located would be entirely deserted, and with seven 
 hours before them they would have time to carry out their plans. 
 
 " Is the magazine guarded ? " asked Hazel, as Parry started to rouse his 
 subordinates. 
 
 " No, Mama Ocllo thinks there's no danger as long as she and Puca 
 hold the keys." 
 
 Dick chuckled, and looked lovingly at the key which Hazel dangled 
 in his hand. After making an appointrrient. Parry slipped out, and Dick 
 followed his chief to the rendezvous. They got away from the terraces 
 into the immediate galleries, and skirted the town, so as to come out at 
 the back of the Temple. Here there was a lift, as Dick knew well. In- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 163 
 
 structed as he had been by Parry, he had the topography of the caves at 
 his finger ends. He had often thought how useful it might prove in 
 emergency. As he and Gerald ascended now, they found to their surprise 
 that the magazine gallery was lit up. As it afterwards transpired, Parry had 
 telephoned Dane to disconnect" the main currents and spend his dynamos 
 on the suburban. 
 
 Then the engineer himseK arrived with the whole twenty conspirators, 
 who in dumb show expressed their joy at the sight of Hazel. Gerald 
 then opened the magazine and, as they filed in, he left them to collect 
 the needful under Dick's supervision, while he clambered up with Parry 
 to the cave of refuge. Here a hand lamp enabled them to explore ; and 
 Parry, who carried it, spent the Mght lavishly in every comer. 
 
 " Good enough," said Gerald, approvingly. " We can shove a Maxim 
 into the entrance, and- keep the invaders back. How about the guns. 
 Parry ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's aU right. They're not locked up, you know. To-morrow 
 night I'll enUst the boys to run 'em up here. One machine, and a score of 
 Mausers, with revolver each. That'll about fiU the biU. Then food ! " 
 
 " Yes, we must provision against a siege. It'll be harder getting grub 
 and drink than fire-irons." 
 
 " We'll have to shift 'em up in small quantities. Dare say we can give 
 ourselves a week to provision the garrison." 
 
 " We jolly well can't," said the chief. " Mama Ocllo's sure to find out 
 that I'm stiU in the flesh, and then there wiU be trouble. No 1 You 
 must collect sufiicient in a couple of days." 
 
 " But, see here," urged the engineer, " we can't hold out for ever in 
 the cave. There's the exit to be sure ; but that only leads into other 
 caves. We'll get lost for a certainty if we are driven back into them." 
 
 " I don't propose to do anything of the sort," said Hazel drily. " I'm 
 goine to find that second entrance." 
 
 " How ? " 
 
 " You leave that to me. Parry. All you and the rest have to do is to 
 provision and fortify the cave. You're under sealed orders, remember." 
 
 Parry nodded and did not waste further words. He had every con- 
 fidence in Gerald ; and the way in which the escape was being planned 
 commanded his respect. Besides, Parry, as the second engineer of an 
 Orient Uner, had been well accustomed to discipline. Indeed, aU the 
 white men, with one exception, recognised that in such a case as the 
 present it was essential. The French doctor alone was refractory. He 
 embodied in himself the eternal hatred which Francs bears towards 
 England ; and he would have nuIUfied Gerald's plans, if only to bring him 
 into contempt, even at the risk of losing his own chance of escape. But 
 the other white men knew him and watched him closely. And the little 
 doctor reahsed that he ran a very fair chance of being murdered should 
 the attempt fail through his agency ; and therefore he was circumspect 
 both in'speech and in action. But he was troublesome nevertheless. 
 
 " You're savin' up for a lickin'," Dick told him in his uncompromising 
 way, " and I'U choke the life out of you if you don't obey m' chief I " 
 " Monsieur, I have also brains." 
 
 " Then use 'em, an' shut your jaw, damn you I " Whereat the French- 
 man, deploring the coarseness of this son of Albion, but respecting his 
 superior strength, confined himself to shrugging and vowing dire ven- 
 geance. 
 
 6* 
 
i64 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 All that night they worked without ceasing. Dick, in comiaand, strung 
 them out single file from magazine door to cave mouth, and the packages 
 of ammunition passed from hand to hand. The hollow they proposed 
 to occupy for the siege was above the magazine, but not immediately 
 over it. Shaped like a bottle with a narrow neck, it was the first of a 
 series of caverns which stretched into a perfect labyrinth of hollows with 
 connecting passages. An approach of rugged ground slanted some 
 twenty feet to a lower tunnel ; and this, trending some distance, gave 
 by steps on to the gallery of the magazine. For six hours the men, 
 stripped to the waist, worked like navvies ; and Dick in the magazine 
 itself so manipulated affairs by re-arranging the stores, that only a close 
 examination could have detected the removal of a portion of them. 
 
 By five o'clock they had a goodly quantity of ammunition stowed away 
 in their fort. Then Hazel thought it was time to knock off. He ordered 
 the men to separate and descend singly to their homes, intimating that 
 he would remain above. Only by thus secluding himself could he keef) 
 the secret of his resurrection from Mama Ocllo ; and, until he learned the 
 whereabouts of the second entrance, it was absolutely necessary that it 
 should be so kept, unless their attempt was to fail. 
 
 " Lemme stay too," urged Dick, unwilHng to leave his chief. 
 
 " No, Dicky, I want to make use of you below. Find out what Mama 
 Ocllo is doing ; and get news of Puca. You can report in six hours. 
 I'll turn in for that time. I'm dead tired." 
 
 " Here's some brandy," Dick offered a well-filled flask. " I brought 
 it with me in case. Next time I'll yank along some grub." 
 
 " Right 1 And don't get fresh, Dicky. My hfe may depend upon it." 
 
 They shook hands ■ warmly. If anything could keep Dick sober, it 
 would be the trust imposed upon him. Hazel was satisfied that his orders 
 would be obeyed. Finally he told Parry to keep an eye on the doctor, 
 of whom he was suspicious ; and then he despatched them. 
 
 In a few minutes the lights were out, and Hazel, in complete dark- 
 ness, went contentedly to sleep on the bare floor of the cavern. As 
 the looting had not been interrupted, it would appear that so far their 
 scheme was safe from discovery. 
 
 But Gerald slept with one eye open. He knew Mama Ocllo too well to 
 do otherwise. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 " DICK IMPROVES THE OCCASION." 
 
 Next morning there was consternation in Yayacarui. The pool and 
 fountain in the great square had vanished, and in their place now gaped 
 a fathomless hole, emitting columns of steam. And from this the in- 
 habitants did not fail to realise what might be the fate of their troglodytic 
 city. They were in a frenzy of terror, and clamoured round the palace 
 of their rulers. 
 
 Inca Sutic-toco was all unable to deal with the situation, and the burden 
 feU on the shoulders of his daughter. And her frame of mind was far from 
 enviable. The loss of Hazel and of Puca ; the physical dangers which 
 threatened ; the lamentations of her people crying to be led to the 'light 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 165 
 
 of day, and the confusion of all her schemes were proving too much even 
 for Mama Ocllo. 
 
 When day began with the re-Ughting of the lamps, she sat in council 
 with her advisers and endeavoured to cope with the position. But they 
 were of little use to her, and she was thrown back upon her own resources. 
 Then it was that she rose to the occasion and exhibited the promptitude, 
 the courage, the foresight of a born ruler. She saw that time must be 
 gained at any cost. 
 
 " The wrath of the gods is upon us ! " she cried, making an appeal 
 to that superstition from which even the most educated of the Indians 
 were not free, " and we must propitiate them with sacrifice and prayer 
 lest they destroy us wholly. Manco Capac has departed in anger ; we 
 must implore hirh. to return. Then will all be well. After mid-day let 
 us invoke the Sun and humble' ourselves ; so that Supay may withhold 
 his devouring fires. The High Priest wUl announce this to the people ; 
 and he will announce also that Manco Capac wUl return to lead them 
 to the light of day." 
 
 This device for the pacification of the multitude seemed good to those 
 in authority ; and the High Priest in his robes of ofS.ce duly made pro- 
 clamation that sacrifice would be offered in the Sun-temple, whereby 
 Manco Capac would be induced to return and save the children of the Sun. 
 
 The announcement, confidently made with all the imposing ritual 
 of the Inca worship, did much to stiU the clamour of the terror-stricken 
 crowd. Re-assured for the moment, they sought their homes that they 
 might make ready for the ceremony. 
 
 Having thus succeeded in preventing a riot. Mama Ocllo sent for Mac- 
 lean, and questioned him concerning a possible eruption of the extinct 
 volcano, supposed to lie below the city. The Scotsman looked grave and 
 admitted that the seismic disturbance was ominous, particularly when 
 taken in conjunction with the fact that the lava of the burning mountain 
 in the Andes had ceased to flow. However, with characteristic caution, 
 he declined to commit himself to an opinion until he had examined the 
 chasm in the square and the river tunnel ; so Mama Ocllo sent him away 
 to search the city foundations and report at once. Commands were 
 likewise conveyed to the outside pueblo instructing for search to be made 
 for the bodies of Gerald and Puca. Mama Ocllo herself prepared to 
 descend to the tunnel. 
 
 As she rose, Puca appeared. The little man was haggard, and blood- 
 stained. He could hardly stand from weakness and fatigue. Mama 
 Ocllo hailed his resurrection as that of a god. It flashed across her mind 
 that, as he had escaped, Gerald also might have done so. 
 
 " Cusi-cuy," she cried, " tell me, is he dead ? '' 
 
 " I know not, Coya ; but I think he lives." 
 
 " Why do you think so ? " 
 
 " Because, Coya, the key of the magazine is no longer with me. Coya ! " 
 the dwarf's face became convulsed with rage, " I believe Viracocha has 
 taken it ! " 
 
 " You probably lost it in the water." 
 
 " No, Coya, no ! The chain could not have become untwisted from 
 my neck. I was struck here," he laid his hand on the bandage round 
 his head. " I lay stunned for many hours, and I woke in the gallery 
 beside the river tunnel. The flood must have swept both Viracocha 
 and myself in there. He left me to die." 
 
 6t 
 
i66 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 These were glad tidings to the ears of Mama Ocllo, to know that Hazel 
 lived. But her suspicions were all alert when she heard of the loss of 
 the key. 
 
 " Did you examine the magazine ? " she demanded, hastily. 
 
 " I went there, Coya, as soon as I could drag myself along. It was day 
 when I arrived, and the door was fast locked. Come you and open it 
 
 to see if anything has been taken. If Viracocha lives and has the key " 
 
 Puca's silence was more than eloquent. 
 
 " I will go at once, Puca ! Stay you here and eat ; you wiU need all 
 your strength soon." 
 
 So eager was the dwarf for revenge that he would have dragged himself 
 up to the magazine or have had himself carried there ; but he had lost 
 a quantity of blood and he fainted now at the Coya's feet. She gave 
 orders for his comfort ; and with a sniaU guard hastened up to the 
 magazine. To her surprise and anger, the gallery was in darkness. She 
 sent at once for Parry ; and met him fuU of suspicion. The engineer 
 took his reprimand with aU due respect, and replied with a carefully 
 prepared excuse. 
 
 " Our machinery's built to stand a good deal, ma'am ; but I guess no 
 engine that was ever put together would keep its bearings square in a 
 shake-up like we've just had." He had unshipped and tangled up a 
 dynamo very cleverly. " I couldn't keep the gallery aUght, but I hope 
 to have everything right in a couple of days." 
 
 By the light of the acetylene lamps which Parry had brought along. 
 Mama Ocllo looked at him suspiciously. Outside his own particular 
 business, she had but a poor opinion of his intellect. Consequently 
 she credited him with no power of invention. And ^s Parry was suf&ciently 
 astute further to disarm her by an invitation to visit the engine-room, 
 she accepted his story in good faith. Then she sent for more lamps, and 
 did her best to examine the ground. Parry looked on stolidly. He 
 knew that all traces of the looting had been carefully obliterated, and 
 that they ran no risk of discovery in that direction. Had the lamps 
 been all going, it was just possible that a trail to the upper cave might 
 have been discovered, but then they were not alight, nor would be until 
 such time as Gerald should choose to give the order. 
 
 And so Mama Ocllo departed, fully convinced that so far no one had 
 forced the magazine, the more so since an examination of the ammunition 
 revealed nothing to arouse suspicion. 
 
 Gerald, overhead, smiled to himself in the darkness when he heard all 
 about the Coya's wrath and Parry's excuses. So far all was well. Never- 
 theless it did not fail to strike him that had Puca been present, the search 
 might have been of somewhat wider scope, and have included an examina- 
 tion of the surrounding caves. Clearly Providence was working in their 
 favour. Then Parry came to report progress in the engine cave, and 
 to make arrangements for further work that night. 
 
 The Coya did not return immediately to the palace. A report arrived 
 from the pueblo that no bodies had been found ; on receiving which she 
 went down to the river tunnel to see if Gerald were in truth alive. On 
 her heels followed Dick in hot haste, ready to play his part with gusto, 
 since it included the production of the missing key. He caught up with 
 Mama OcUo in the river tunnel. 
 
 " Where's m' chief ? " he demanded, with feigned anger. " You've 
 nabbed him again. Don't say you haven't ! " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 167 
 
 Mama Ocllo, in no very good, temper, wheeled round. " See here, 
 my friend," she said, in a low voice, " I do not happen to be quite so 
 amiable as I was the other night ; don't you run any risks or you may not 
 get off so easUy." 
 
 "Shoo ! I want Hazel." 
 
 " I want him myself. Is he not in your lodgings ? " 
 
 " No, he isn't ; you know that well enough. Some of your gang have 
 been cavortin' round this momin'. Where is he ; that's what I want 
 to know. You told me and Parry some yarn last night about his being 
 swept down stream." Dick stared at the smooth deadly current. " I 
 don't see ! " 
 
 " Look about then. Mr. Hazel and myself were caught here by an 
 earthquake wave last night. I am safe, so is Puca ; but Mr. " 
 
 " Oh, Puca's safe, is he ? And what was Puca doin' down these parts ? " 
 
 The princess threw such a deadly look on the speaker that he deemed 
 it judicious to pull in a bit. With well-feigned zeal he began to hunt for 
 Hazel in the most unlikely places ; and shouted until the cavern rang. 
 Mama OcUo relented at this exhibition of good intention. 
 
 " Hullo ! " cried Amherst, who was standing by the crag against which 
 Hazel and Puca had been dashed. " Here's a chain." 
 
 The Coya hurried forward to receive it. Dick had wrenched the links 
 apart very artistically, and it had all the appearance of having been 
 torn from Puca's neck. " I see how it is," said Mama OcUo, looking up 
 stream and down, " the wave dashed him here, and the chain caught on 
 the rock and was torn off when he dropped." 
 
 " I s'pose so," said Dick, innocently. " That old chain's got a key 
 too ! " 
 
 " Yes, a key you would no doubt like to possess, Mr. Amherst — the key 
 of the magazine ! " 
 
 Dick scowled like a transpontine villain, and cursed under his breath, 
 so that the princess could hear and rejoice. She did both ; little guessing 
 than an elaborate comedy had been prepared, to account for the loss of 
 the key. However, she was too ill at ease about Hazel to say very much, 
 and Dick having gained his end, subsided into discreet silence. 
 
 As they had been ordered to do, the Indians set to work to explore 
 the tunnel in search of Hazel. But all their efforts were unfruitful, and 
 they were obliged to return empty handed. Observing that Mama 
 Ocllo's hopes were growing fainter, Dick piled on the agony with an ad- 
 mixture of oaths and tears which should have done justice to any occasion. 
 But he soon found his supply of tears lamentably deficient, so that he 
 was obliged to fall back upon his other commodity of commiseration 
 which had never yet been known to fail him. In her own less obtrusive 
 way Mama OcUo was mourning sincerely for her lost " god " ; and it was 
 with sorrowful countenance and joyless spirit that she made' her way 
 back to her palace and Puca. 
 
 " Here are your key and chain, Cusi-cuy," she said to the little red 
 man. " He must be diad. There is no trace of him. And it was 
 I who sent him to his death ! " 
 
 She turned aside to conceal her emotion. Puca meanwhile examined 
 the chain, and found it rudely broken. He was obUged to conclude that 
 it had been torn from his neck, through having caught on the rock. Taken 
 in conjunction with his mistress's report, that all was satisfactory at the 
 magazine, he began to think he had been mistaken in his suspicions. 
 
i68 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 It only remained to rejoice that the Englishman was no more, and to 
 make solemn vow that his friend and fellow should share his fate as 
 speedily as might be. But towards the consummation of this desire 
 Fate did not assist the wily Puca. On the contrary it decreed that he 
 should be struck down with fever arising from the wound he had received, 
 and so put out of action altogether for the time being. 
 
 Meanwhile Mama OcUo, the Inca, and the terrified populace were 
 gathered together in the Temple, where the most desperate sacrifices and 
 heart-rending supplications were being offered to the great Sun god. 
 For the evils that threatened Yayacarui were such as could not be over- 
 come by the hand of man. Mighty Mother Nature was against them 
 and they were sore afraid. So the llama bled on the altar and the priests 
 threw dust and ashes on their heads, and the people wailed and beat their 
 breasts. And with secret inward scorn Mama OcUo watched it all. She 
 was above the superstitions of her race, and her thoughts were far away 
 with the Scotsman whom she had sent on an errand of survey. She 
 was wondering too what she should do were the caves to become un- 
 inhabitable. The treasures stored therein — the great treasures of the 
 great Inca race — must be preserved at all costs. But given a new and 
 suitable place of refuge for them, it would be a Herculean task to transport 
 them thither. For it was borne in upon Mama Ocllo that the time was 
 short, and she was therefore all the more impatient with the present 
 ceremonies. Yet she must bear with them for they were a very part of 
 the being of her people. Through them alone could they be prevailed 
 upon. Her expression was clearly indicative of her state of mind. She 
 stood beside her father, who looked more than ever frail and aged. 
 
 At length the ceremonies were ended and she led him tenderly towards 
 the door of the Temple. The people were consoled and comforted. They 
 had offered their sacrifice to the great Unknown and he would not turn 
 a deaf ear to them in their tribulation. The priests went forth and the 
 great door of the building closed. 
 
 Then from behind one of the royal mummies ever so softly stole Dick. 
 For Dick had had an idea when Mama Ocllo had left him, and hither 
 he had come at its dictate. 
 
 It was lonesome now in the huge edifice ; and very dark. The place 
 reeked with incense and perfume. Producing a sm^all acetylene lamp with 
 which he had provided himself, Dick lit it and brought its rays to bear on 
 the circle of mummies. They looked more than horrible in its ghostly 
 light. He glanced round at each of the doors to satisfy himself that they 
 were securely closed, and proceeded to climb the high altar. For the 
 purposes of the sacrifice the Mother of Emeralds had been removed to 
 a niche under the icon of the Sun. He placed his lamp on the altar, and 
 reached down the gem. Its pellucidity was marvellous. Like a piece 
 of sohdified sea water it glistened in his hands. It was worth a king's 
 ransom, he knew. 
 
 " Gum ! I'd like to snafiSe it," he said, eyeing it covetously, " but I 
 guess it 'ud be ' Kingdom Come ' pretty slick if these niggers found it 
 about. Then we'll see what we can do with it. I must hide it safely. 
 That'll send the whole go-bang lot of 'em crazy." 
 
 From which it wiU be seen that Dick was here on no vulgar robbery in- 
 tent. His sole wish for the moment was to scare the natives still further 
 into the belief that the gods had deserted them ; once get them thoroughly 
 demoralised, and everything would be simple. He proceeded to hunt 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 169 
 
 round for a secure hiding-place. The mummies ! With a chuckle he 
 walked round the circle of kings and queens and princes, and stopped 
 short before the mummy of Molly's father. 
 
 " You came for the emerald," murmured Dick, laying bare the chest, 
 " and I'm blest if you're not goin' to get it, even though it" is a bit late. 
 Don't like the job, but it's got to be done." He whipped out his knife 
 and cut a gash in the parchment-like skin. A resinous odour filled the 
 air. Dick cut deeper, apologising for himself the while. At last he had 
 made a cavity sufficiently large to take the gem. Carefully he tucked it 
 in, and smoothed the skin over it. He had but continued the one in- 
 cision, so that when he pulled the edges of this together, it showed Uttle 
 sign of what had been done. Then he re-arranged the dress and the plate 
 of gold which dangled from a chain round the neck. Finally, having 
 completed his gruesome task, he stepped back to behold his handiwork. 
 It appeared to him perfectly satisfactory. Certainly no casual glance 
 would detect that the thing had been tampered with. 
 
 " They'll never think of looking inside that old buffer, I'll swear," 
 he said to himself, approvingly. "Now, I guess there'll be trouble in 
 the land, oh my soul ! I'd best light out, I reckon ! " 
 
 Like a born strategist he had not omitted to make good provision for 
 his retreat. There was a door at the back of the altar, used by the 
 priests to introduce animals for the sacrifice. Through this he made 
 his exit. He met with no one, for the priests were all sleeping after the 
 arduous duties of 'the day. Moreover the Temple was held to be so 
 safe from robberj', by superstition alone, that no watch was considered 
 needful. Emerging into a dark and narrow passage, Dick closed the 
 postern door behind him, and extinguishing his lamp, groped his way along. 
 He came to an open space. It was pitch dark, but he knew the locaUty 
 perfectly. A bee line through this brought him into a lighted gallery. 
 Thence he had no difficulty in gaining a main one ; and so he worked 
 round to the populated parts of the city. He felt he could with justice 
 congratulate himself on having achieved a very pretty piece of work, 
 the result of which he awaited with a lively interest and supreme content. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 " DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.'* 
 
 That night Dick smoked his pipe with Gerald as if he had earned it. 
 There was a smug smile of self-satisfaction on his face as he related to his 
 chief what he had done. Hazel was both delighted and astonished. 
 
 " We shall have precious little trouble with them now," he said. 
 " They don't know about it yet ? " 
 
 " No ; I guess not. The Temple's been shut up ever since, and 'twon't 
 be opened till to-morrow. Then the fun'U begin. They'll hunt the place 
 through, I reckon, but they'll never think of looking in John Prynne's 
 mummy for their beastly bauble." 
 
 " No ; so far as that goes, I admit your plan's excellent, brilliant 
 in fact, old man. But I confess I wish you coidd have chosen a somewhat 
 less uncanny spot for your hiding-place. After all, you know, according 
 to our notions, it's straining things a bit far to rip up the dead that 
 way.'' 
 
170 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " Shucks I An Englishman's always ready to help his fellows in a 
 mess, dead or alive. Doesa't do to be squeamish, chief : things are a bit 
 too des|)erate for that. Any way, I reckon it'll settle the business." 
 
 " Yes, I think it will, Dick ; that's to say, if things aren't settled for 
 us more unpleasantly. Maclean's just been up to see me and report. 
 So far as he can tell by the light of his knowledge and experience, there's 
 going to be trouble with this spirited volcano."- 
 
 " Holy Moses ! Don't say the darned place is going to blow up ! " 
 " It's by no means unlikely. Maclean's been in the deeps, under the 
 city ; and what he saw there, was not re-assuring. The ground is cracking 
 in all directions, and the earth is blowing off steam for all she's worth. 
 The whole show may be skied any day. I'll be glad when we're out of 
 this, Dicky 1 "- 
 
 " Same here, chief. I've no wish to participate. What's to be done ? "■ 
 " Nothing more can be done than we're doing. We'll store the guns to- 
 night and sit tight till I find that exit. By the way, Dick, I want you to 
 lend a hand in another little comedy I'm going to play." 
 " It is an order," said Dick, gravely. " Well ? " 
 
 " To-morrow you must bring me a white robe similar to that I wore at 
 the Temple service. Also as many balls of string — red for choice — as 
 you can lay hands on. In the afternoon, when Mama OcUo's out of 
 the way, chase as many Indians as you can collect into the gallery out 
 there." 
 
 " That's as easy as pie. But what's it all about ? " 
 " Capac has cleared out. I intend to appear and instruct them to lead 
 me to the secret entrance that I may worship my father, the Sun ; 
 
 and " 
 
 " And I'll follow trailing the string behind as a clue," finished Dick. 
 " My aunt, that's a good idea I Mama OcUo will be mad." 
 
 " H'm, I'm afraid she'll be anything but mad to learn I'm aUve, more's 
 the pity. But I'm turning her own weapons against her. She made me 
 a god ; well I a god I'll be and, what's more, I'll get any good that is to 
 be got out of my godship. My plan may not come off, but there's always a 
 pretty good chance when one appeals to the superstitions of these Indians. 
 Here come the boys. You needn't say anything to them just yet, Dick." 
 One by one, so as not to attract attention, the conspirators arrived at 
 the rendezvous. In half an hour the whole twenty were collected. As- 
 sured that the city was asleep, and that nothing was suspected, Gerald 
 took command, and apportioned out the work for the night. Parry 
 marched a gang to the armoury^ — ^they went barefooted, stealthily as 
 cats in the dark — and the remainder of the men, under Dick, commenced 
 fortifying the cave, by piling up rocks at the entrance. A goodly store 
 of provisions had by this time been collected. Of ammunition they were 
 already in possession of a fair quantity, and would, if necessary, have 
 ample wherewith to make a fight for it. The engineer and his men re- 
 turned with the sections of a machine-gun, and pieced it together in a 
 commanding position on the rise where it could sweep the approach. 
 Then the rifles were carried to the cave ; and each man, for his own 
 special defence, was supplied with a brace of revolvers. A second journey 
 resulted in the production of haversacks, bayonets, ammunition belts, 
 swords, khaki uniforms, and a supply of boots. In short, when night 
 drew to day. Hazel found himself the leader of a force, well armed, well 
 provisioned, and bent on fighting to the bitter end. An old army ser- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 1 71 
 
 geant who had been kidnapped to train the natives, drilled the force, 
 which was fully equipped and in complete meirching order. 
 
 Most of the men were good shots ; and through constant work, as 
 tough as was needful for the campaign. 
 
 " Men ! -' said Hazel, addressing them, " we are now in a position to 
 fight our way hence to civilization. To-morrow I hope to discover the 
 secret entrance to this city. It may be that we shall be able to get away 
 by night — that is if our plans are not discovered. Once in the open we 
 must be prepared to fight our way through a hostile country : for we may 
 be sure that Mama OcUo wiU raise the tribes around. If all goes well, 
 I hope to escape without fighting. Therefore, I ask you to be both silent 
 and circumspect in your behaviour to-morrow, and to meet here singly 
 to-morrow night. Should any knowledge of our intentions come to the 
 ears of the authorities, collect in this cave at once, and we will fight. 
 Better death than slavery. You can go now ; but disperse to your homes 
 one by one, so that suspicion may not be aroused.'-' And so the night's 
 work ended. 
 
 Shortly after dawn Yayacarui was in commotion. For rumour had 
 spread swiftly from mouth to mouth that the Mother of Emeralds had van- 
 ished even as Manco Capac had done. The city was bereft of tutelary 
 god and palladium ;^and there remained no protection against the power 
 of Supay, into whose hands the children of the Sun had been delivered 
 utterly. Amazed, hopeless, deserted by the Supreme, the people sat in 
 frozen silence, expectant of the worst. They neither wailed nor made 
 protest against the injustice of the gods. The end of all things was at 
 hand for them. The nation would be blotted out. Dumb with misery 
 they sat in the city ways bemoaning their plight. And ever and anon, 
 the mutterings of the earthquake ran growling underground. Destiny 
 was upon them, and they could not hope to escape. 
 
 Incautiously informed by an excited priest of this fresh trouble, the 
 Inca had passed away in an excess of grief. His emotion had wrought 
 upon him so that the breaking of a blood vessel abruptly ended his life. 
 As Mama OcUo looked upon his dead form she was filled with terror at 
 so many omens of ill. She was instructed in all modern knowledge ; she 
 had a fine brain and liberal views : yet there was in her that latent feeling 
 of superstition common to her race. And now it manifested itself. The 
 hand-writing was on the wall ; the days of her kingdom were numbered ; 
 and try as she might to gibe at the hints of downfall, her whole being lay 
 under a spell of terror. Like that righteous Mycerinus, to whom the gods 
 gave evil for good, she asked of the Supreme why this thing had come 
 upon her and her people. In the past a nation industrious, pious, blood- 
 less, had been swept away by the brutality of a so-called more advanced 
 civilization ; and now the doom was upon those who sought to restore 
 it. Mama OcUo believed in a Supreme Being. But why, oh why, should 
 He destroy the just ? To that question there came to her no answer. 
 The god of Things-as-they-are triumphed over the pepple who toiled for 
 a state of Things-as-they-ought-to-be. Beyond that it was not given 
 to her to know. 
 
 But the thing, however terrible, had to be faced. Hazel and the Inca 
 were dead ; the emerald had disappeared ; her plans were brought to 
 naught, and fire threatened to overwhelm the refuge of her people. Yet 
 she shook ofE the lethargy induced by these woes ; and grappled the 
 situation with judgment swift and true. Giving orders that the death of 
 
172 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 the Inca should not be made known, she appeared on the terrace in her 
 regal robes, surrounded by her pale-faced elders, and harangued the 
 multitude. 
 
 " Why sit ye there awaiting the anger of the gods ? "■ she cried, and 
 her voice was hard with scorn, " truly they have no love for cowards. 
 The command of Con, the counsel of his servant the Sun, comes not to 
 the common people, but to the rulers of the state. In the silence of 
 the night I lay down, and a dream from the Invisible came unto me. In 
 shining light appeared our father the Sun, and his brow was dark. He 
 bade me announce that the wrath of Con is heavy upon us, inasmuch as 
 we have delayed in restoring his worship at the Holy City of Cuzco. 
 Therefore that the time may swiftly approach, he drives us out of the refuge 
 by the fires of Supay. It shall no more be a resting-place for our race ; but 
 we will go up to Cuzco and drive thence the Spanish dogs. Know ye 
 that Manco Capac, even ne who shall lead you to conquest, came in the 
 night and took with him the Sacred Emerald. He will appear again, 
 and shall go before you with the gem to light your way to the city of the 
 Sun. It is a sign ! So, ye people, sit no more weeping, but gird up your 
 loins, and go forth to conquest — ^to the light of day. Gather your goods 
 for departure ; arm yourselves with weapons, and make ready for Manco 
 Capac to lead you to the upper world. He will bear the Emerald to 
 the Holy Place, and set it on the altar of the Sun in Cuzco. No sorrow 
 this, but joy. Rise ; be strong, for the time of victory is at hand ! " 
 
 This put a new complexion on the face of things. Once persuaded 
 that Manco Capac possessed the Mother of Emeralds, the people's feelings 
 quickly changed from sorrow to great joy, from despair to hope. As one 
 man they rose ; and the caverns rang with their joyousness. Each 
 hurried to his dwelling to make ready for the advent of the new Moses. 
 
 Having thus inspired them with renewed confidence, Mama Ocllo 
 retreated to her palace to consider how best she could make a show of 
 fulfilling her promises. She reaUsed that it would be no easy matter. 
 
 That same afternoon Hazel prepared for his masquerade. A white 
 robe was smuggled up by Dick, and Gerald stripping himself, put it on, 
 leaving bare his breast that he might display the symbol of the Sun. 
 Below, rumours were rife that Manco Capac was about to appear, and 
 Dick carefully reported them to his chief. 
 
 " Good business, Dick," said Hazel, delighted that events had shaped 
 themselves so. " They will be the less astonished to see me and the m.ore 
 controllable on that account. Got the string all right ? ''- 
 
 " Miles of it, more or less," replied Dick with a grin, " I'll slouch after 
 you, and mark the trail.'' 
 
 '■' Whatever you do don't let them see you, or you'll do for the whole 
 thing." 
 
 '' I'm awake, old man. Guess there won't be much trouble about that. 
 Gosh I you look just like a ghost — a first rate church-yard er."- 
 
 Hazel laughed. " I feel a bit of an ass, to tell you the truth. But 
 come on ; send up the rabble, Dick."- 
 
 Dick vanished. In the engine cave he interviewed Parry, who had con- 
 trived to find work for a dozen or so of the natives in the magazine gallery 
 where the wires required re-stretching. Then Dick ascertained that Mama 
 OcUo was closeted with her council, busy with the discussion of measures 
 to meet the situation. At ease on this point he regained the cave by 
 devious ways. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 173 
 
 Thus it was that a score of Indians at work, suddenly beheld the vision 
 of a tall man clothed in a white robe. That it was Manco Capac they 
 could see by the light of their lamps. Promptly they fell on their knees, 
 never doubting but that they were in the presence of their re-incarnated 
 heio. The lamps dropped with a clatter, and the vision spoke to them in 
 the darkness. While they were thus held in conversation, Dick knotted 
 his twine to a spike of rock. 
 
 " Children of the Sun," said Manco Capac mildly, " I have heard of 
 your woes and of the doings of Supay. Therefore I am come to help 
 you and to lead you to the Holy City of Cuzco, which I founded afore- 
 time. But I seek a sign from the Sun, my father, and it is not meet that 
 I should do so alone. Go then, and precede me to the upper world, where 
 I can speak face to face with the Shining One. Go ; I follow ! " 
 
 He spoke in English, which did not seem strange to the people ; for 
 tradition held that the original Manco Capac had been an Englishman. 
 He waited its result with some amount of anxiety, for it was always on 
 the cards that mistrust might exist in the breasts of some, and might beget 
 refusal. But, already prepared by the speech of Mama Ocllo, they did 
 not hesitate a moment in fulfilling the will of him whom they believed 
 to be their deity. In awestruck silence they rose, and marched silently 
 forward. They knew the entrance well, for it was a secret only to the 
 white men. 
 
 Rejoicing in his good fortune, Gerald followed them through the gloom 
 and out into the lighted gallery leading toward the engine cave. Dick, close 
 at his heels, unrolled the twine close to the rocky sides of the tunnel. In 
 the glare of the lamps some of them looked back and shuddered as they 
 saw the symbol on the breast of the god. There was no room for doubt 
 in the face of that direct manifestation of deity. They hurried along at 
 top speed. The other natives, working or wandering in the passages, 
 recognised their divinity and joined in. 
 
 The way to the entrance was devious beyond description, and Hazel, 
 for all his careful observation, lost his bearings. He was glad to know 
 that Dick, with the clue of Ariadne, was tailing behind him. Otherwise 
 all his trouble must have gone for naught. 
 
 He reckoned that it was a quarter of a mile or thereabouts from the cave 
 of refuge to the far side of the city. There was just the chance that Mama 
 Ocllo might cut in between the fugitives and liberty when she found 
 out his plan. That she would be informed of it within the hour. Hazel 
 laiew well. He deliberated in his mind as to whether it would be possible 
 to collect his men and rush the entrance before the Coya could arrange to 
 intercept them. The steps which they had now reached were wide, and 
 worn away by the feet of generations. The Indians ascended them 
 into an upper passage ending in massive gates, covered in sheet iron. 
 These gates were opened by the sentry guard, every man of which quaked 
 with fear when the eyes of the god fell upon him. But even on 
 passing through they were not yet in the open. An irregular cave 
 stretched for some distance, and through this Hazel followed his guides, 
 Dick having exhausted his string at the foot of the stairs, and, unwilling 
 to be seen by the guardians of the gate, remained behind in concealment. 
 His heart hammered at his ribs as he heard whispers aU around him, and 
 the padding of the naked feet. Discovery there meant death. He loosened 
 a revolver — one of those looted from the magazine — and waited. 
 
 Meanwhile Gerald, at the heels of the Indians, emerged from the cave. 
 
174 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 He stepped on to a broad platform which ended in a tremendous cliff, 
 whence a narrow path led upward to the hiUs. At the back rose the 
 precipitous sides of the mountain, and far away below lay the beautiful 
 undulating lands, surrounded by the snowy peaks. The cave's mouth 
 looked westward, and the sun was already hovering on the tops of the 
 distant mountains. The glory of sky and sun, and the freshness of the 
 air, the wide-spreading landscape bathed in the purple twilight, came 
 with a suddenness all bewildering to Hazel. A lump rose in his throat, 
 and he flung out his arms unconsciously, as if in adoration of the great 
 orb. At once the Indians dropped on their faces. They understood their 
 god to be worshipping his celestial father. 
 
 Informed now of all he wished to know, Gerald's great anxiety was to 
 get back before Mama OcUo could learn of his resurrection. Casting a 
 majestic glance on the prostrate throng, he raised his voice : " Sing ye 
 the song of the Shining One ! '-'• he commanded. 
 
 With one accord the people scrambled to their laiees and with hands 
 crossed on their breasts, broke out into the noble chant. Gerald, his 
 arms still outstretched towards the sun, remained thus for some moments. 
 Then he moved slowly back to the cave. At the entrance he turned. 
 
 " Wait ye here until I come again."- 
 
 Once within the gates, he walked swiftly down the steps. Here, 
 attracted by the rumour of his appearance, he found more Indians col- 
 lected. But they only grovelled at the sight of him. At that instant 
 the hght was extinguished, and Hazel felt the friendly grip of Dick. 
 
 " Follow me close,'' he whispered, " I've got the string aU right.''- 
 
 On swiftly through the darkness Dick led the way, the twine sUpping 
 swiftly through his hands. The gloom still continued. They could 
 hear the voices of many men, who seemed to know that their god was 
 passing by. Gradually they died away, as they approached what Dick 
 guessed was the magazine gallery. When the cord came to an end, Dick 
 shook Gerald by the hand. 
 
 " By Jove,"- he said, " that was a close shave. Lucky I found that 
 switch at the foot of the stairs and turned out the light.'' 
 
 Hp,zel cut him short. " See Parry, Dick, and tell him to bring the men 
 up to the cave at once." 
 
 " Gosh, you do mean to fight, then ? " 
 
 '- We must. The rumours of my appearance and of my having found 
 the secret entrance will soon reach Mama OcUo, if, indeed, they haven't 
 already done so. Think it weU out, Dick, while I go and change. Now 
 then, cut along." 
 
 Mounting to the cave, Gerald rapidly reassumed his khaki suit. 
 
 " The die has been cast," he muttered, '- it's a case of fighting now for 
 our lives I " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 175 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE TUG OF WAR. 
 
 " It is true, Mademoiselle. I swear it is true I Monsieur Hazel is alive. 
 He has stolen arms and ammunition from the magazine, and it is arranged 
 that we are all to fight. He sits now in the cave yonder waiting what shall 
 come. Holy Blue, it is true, I tell you ! " 
 
 So spoke the little French Doctor to Mama OcUo. A furious jealousy 
 of Gerald, coupled with racial hatred, and an overweening vanity, had 
 proved too much for his equilibrium. To turn traitor now was to avenge 
 a heap of insults to himself and to his nation. 
 
 So at the moment when Hazel, in his capacity of deUverer, was prose- 
 cuting his plans, Brossard sat in the mother-o'-pearl apartment of Mama 
 OcUo detailing them to her. For apart altogether from the gratification 
 of his revengeful feelings friend Brossard was not without his ambitions, 
 and the dual positions of supreme Inca and husband to a very charming 
 young lady came within the scope of them. 
 
 " He lives ? " Mama OcUo covered her face with her hands. She could 
 not repress her emotion. Nor could Puca, though his feelings were of a 
 vastly different order. His enormous fund of vitality had served him 
 in good stead, and had enabled him to make a quick recovery from his 
 wounds. His hatred of Gerald had increased with his enforced physical 
 inactivity. It was with a howl of rage that he heard the Doctor's state- 
 ment. 
 
 " We must kill him — kill him and his men. Accursed be Viracocha. 
 Accursed be the white men ! " 
 
 " Eh, Monsieur, but there are exceptions ; is it not so ? " put in 
 Brossard, a trifle uneasily. " That I may aid you and Mademoiselle I 
 have left this brutal Englishman." 
 
 " You shaU have your reward," said Mama OcUo, with a wan smile, 
 which might mean an5rthing. Dehberate treachery such as this man had 
 shown himself capable of was to her a loathsome thing. The fact that 
 it tended to her advantage did not weigh with her. 
 
 Puca saw her smile, and ffelt uneasy. He drew her to one side. 
 
 " Coya," he whispered, " there is no time to be lost. Leave me to deal 
 with the Englishman. Go you and take possession of the magazine, 
 and " 
 
 He was interrupted. The door opened, and the High Priest entered. 
 As he did so a great shouting could be heard. 
 
 " What is the matter now ? " asked Mama OcUo, prepared to hear of 
 some fresh blow. 
 
 " The god has appeared again," replied the High Priest, " Yes, Coya, 
 even Manco Capac. In the magazine gaUery he came upon the workers, 
 and they led him to the Ught of day, that he might worship his father the 
 Sun ! " 
 
 " The entrance ! " cried Puca. " He has found it. Quick, Coya. 
 Take men, armed, and guard the gates, or the white men will escape us 1 " 
 
176 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " The people believe him to be the god," urged the priest. " They will 
 not take up arms against him." 
 
 " But thou knowest well he is of our making," retorted Mama Ocllo. 
 " Go you hence and proclaim it around, that this is not Manco Capac, but 
 some devil of Supay's breed who has assumed his shape. I will lead the 
 men forth to prevent their flight. Go, go. If the white men escape Yaya- 
 carui is lost ! " 
 
 Without a word the priest departed. Mama Ocllo passed into another 
 room to give her orders. 
 
 Left alone with the Doctor, Puca bade him repeat his story. Brossard 
 compUed very willingly, dilating upon the cleverness of Gerald in having 
 stolen the key and looted the magazine, because he knew well that thus 
 would he inflame still further the animosity of the dwarf. They recognised, 
 both of them, that they were vipers from a common egg ; and they were 
 wilUng to work in unison for the downfall of the man they hated. 
 
 But Puca went even further. He not only intended to make use of the 
 Doctor, but to wipe him out when he had done with him. He counted on 
 Brossard's inordinate vanity to aid him. 
 
 " And what do you expect for this ? " asked Puca, when the Frenchman 
 had related the whole story. 
 
 Brossard smirked, thinking he was to be given a free hand in choosing 
 his reward. " It is this. Monsieur," said he. " I know well enough that 
 you manufactured a god and an Inca out of this English pig. Good, very 
 good ; but for that he has betrayed you. He is your enemy, now and 
 for ever. But I, even I, Achille Brossard, will become Manco Capac and 
 Inca. I will marry the charming Mademoiselle, and lead you to victory." 
 He rose and flung out his arms. " See you. Monsieur Puca, you behold in 
 me a true son of France — of France the great and glorious. Make me all 
 you would have made this English cabbage, and I rule the world for you. 
 None shall stand against me. Is it not so ? " 
 
 Puca contemplated the excited httle face grimly, and made answer • 
 " So be it. But there is much to be done first." 
 
 " I will do all — all. Command me. Monsieur," rephed Brossard 
 eagerly, thinking he was within an ace of reahsing his ambition. 
 
 " First, then, you must slay Viracocha," said the dwarf slowly, fixing 
 his eye on' the man. The Doctor's jaw fell. In the exercise of his pro- 
 fession slaughter was no new thing to him ; but that was authorised by 
 science. But to attack physically a strong and wary man such as this 
 Hazel : " Ah, Monsieur," he said, " that is most difficult." 
 
 " Difficult it may be," rephed the Indian ; " but to gain much you must 
 risk much. Go thou with the Coya, who leaves us to confront these daring 
 ones. Take this revolver, and when she holds him in conversation- " 
 
 " Good, good. I will do it. Achille Brossard is a brave man. And 
 when he is dead ? " 
 
 " Then, all shall be as you wish. Come." Puca moved toward the 
 door. There was a grim smile on his face, for he thought he saw his way 
 clearly now. First Viracocha, then Ucha, finally the Frenchman — that 
 would be the order of demise. And then, although he was not of the royal 
 Inca blood, he felt that many things might be possible. 
 
 Meanwhile Parry had collected the white men together in the cave. 
 They were now changing their native dress for khaki uniforms, and pre- 
 paring themselves generally for action. Gerald had neglected nothing in 
 the way of preparation for the journey back to civilization. He called: 
 
THE MOTHER OF EME RALDS. 177 
 
 over the roll, and found that all were present with the exception of Bros- 
 sard and Dick. But at that moment DickTushed in. 
 
 " Been scouting," he cried ; " aU the fat's in the fire. Mama Ocllo's 
 tumbled to the whole business. Saw that scallywag of a Frenchman 
 beside her on the terrace. He's rounded on us ! " 
 
 A growl which boded no good for Brossard should he be caught, ran 
 through the ranks. Gerald and Parry cursed the Doctor freely, and 
 Dick continued his report. " The High Priest's been teUin' the mob that 
 the Manco Capac whom they led to the entrance is a son of Supay — 
 false god ! " 
 
 " Jove ! That puts an end to my godship. We'U have to fight. We 
 must start at once, boys ! " 
 
 " Hadn't we better wait a bit ? " asked Parry, uneasily. 
 
 " What for ? — to be starved out ? No. I've changed the plan of 
 campaign. We must make for the entrance while the way is clear." 
 
 " Guess it isn't," cried Dick, as a roar broke on their ears. " Huh I 
 They're in the galleries already. I've filled the keyhole of the magazine 
 lock with gravel, and they'll have to bust the door off its hinges." 
 
 " Bring the machine gun along, Parry. Dick ! Form up, men. 
 Sharp ! " 
 
 As his orders were being executed, the roaring of the mob became more 
 distinct, and the white men unanimously swore at Brossard, whose tell- 
 tale tongue had brought up the natives to cut them off from the entrance. 
 With Gerald and Dick leading, they formed fours, marching at the quick 
 step ; and Parry, with a couple of men, drew the Maxim at the rear. 
 It was Gerald's poUcy to get into a lighted gaUery forthwith, that his 
 men might not be at a disadvantage in firing. Indeed he hoped to get 
 almost to the entrance before being intercepted. But Mama OcUo had 
 been warned in time ; and with the traitor by her side appeared at the 
 head of a large body of men as the fugitives wheeled into the main gaUery. 
 Gerald had the Maxim drawn to the front, establishing a line facing rear- 
 wards, lest there should be an attack from that quarter ; and waited the 
 approach of the enemy. They came forward more deHberately than 
 might have been expected. On seeing the white men they halted and 
 sent up a yeU of rage. That their white slaves should thus turn on them 
 drove the red men to desperation. Nor was their wrath assuaged by the 
 sight of Gerald — ^the false Manco Capac — ^the son of Supay. There was 
 a space of barely twenty paces between the forces. Gerald and Dick 
 advanced, knowing that with Mama OcUo in front no shooting could take 
 place. On her side the Goya came forward, and Brossard, white and 
 shaking, sneaked by her side. 
 
 " You hound ! " sung out Dick. " Wait till I have the handling of 
 you ! " and a roar of rage sounded from both parties. 
 
 Mama OcUo in a semi-military dress, with a brace of pistols in her belt, 
 halted a few paces away, and spoke in a would-be concihatory tone. Her 
 nerve was shaken at the sight of him whom she had looked upon as dead, 
 and it took all her strength of will to keep the woman subservient to the 
 queen. 
 
 " What would you do, Viracocha ? " she demanded haughtily. 
 
 " I would go forth, I and my people," replied Gerald cooUy. " You 
 have held us in bondage and we would be free." 
 
 " Since when have my servants become thy people ? " 
 
 " Since the time I found them here as slaves. I told you I would free 
 
178 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 them and myself, and I will keep my word. Stand aside and let us 
 pass I " 
 
 " You shaU never pjiss," cried the Coya fiercely. " Stand you back, 
 Viracocha, or your blood be on your head." 
 
 " Guess we're ready for that," cried Dick, swinging a revolver. '' Ho 1 
 Ho ! if it comes to fightin' " 
 
 " Be silent, dog 1 Viracocha, lay down your arms, and I promise to 
 overlook this foUy." 
 
 " No, Madam. These men trust me. They shall not be deceived by me." 
 
 " You deceived me," she said bitterly. 
 
 " That is not true, I always told you my intentions. The time has 
 come, and^ — — " 
 
 The sound of a shot cut short her sentence, but it did not fetch its mark. 
 Dick had seen Brossard raise his revolver ; and had just time to fling 
 himself before Gerald. The bullet struck him in the chest, and with a 
 gasp he fell into the arms of the man he had saved. In another second 
 Brossard was Ijring dead at the feet of Mama Ocllo, and she was returning 
 a still-smoking pistol to her belt. She had seen Gerald's danger, Dick's 
 sacrifice ; and she had acted promptly, but not sufiiciently so as to pre- 
 vent trouble. On seeing Dick fall the white men rushed forward, and 
 were met by a voUey from the natives. Gerald dropped on Dick and 
 lay over him to shield his body. Mama Ocllo stood for a moment in the 
 midst of the mS16e. Then she was swallowed up by the surging mass of 
 her own people. That was the last seen of her. Then the fight became 
 general. 
 
 The foremost line of whites flung themselves forward, firing low, and 
 the Indians fell back, though they returned shot for shot. Gerald, left 
 in the rear, bore Dick's body to a niche in the gallery, and drawing his 
 sword, dashed forward to put himself at the head of his men. He did not 
 know if Dick was dead or alive ; and he had no time to make sure. The 
 close atmosphere of the tunnel was white with smoke ; rent vi^ith the cries 
 of the combatants, and the cracking of rifles. Inch by inch the whites 
 drove back the natives by their superior shooting. The tide of battle 
 rolled on to an open space, where the httle body were at a disadvantage 
 against the overwhelraing force of the reds. These rushed in from all the 
 galleries converging into the central cavern. Gerald kept back such 
 men as would have thrown themselves forward ; and yeUed to Parry for 
 the Maxim. Maclean and the engineer wheeled it forward to the 
 mouth of the gaUery ; and in a few moments it was spitting death and 
 destruction against the close-packed ranks of the enemy. The reds fell 
 fast as the continuous rattle of the gun cut lanes through their midst ; 
 but these seemed to fiU up as quickly as they were made. The ground 
 was like shambles, heaped with corpses. But it was going badly with 
 the red men, and they retreated slowly, demorahsed by the steady fire. 
 
 " Give 'em the bayonet, boys I " Gerald sprang ahead waving his 
 sword ; and with a cheer the men followed to close quarters. The Oxford 
 don dropped by Hazel's side ; and Maclean was tangled with a dozen 
 wiry fellows striving to drag him to the ground. A shrill yell sounded from 
 the gaUery they had left, and immediately it vomited a new host to take 
 the little force in the rear. On all sides the whites were surrounded and 
 outnumbered. Back to back they fought desperately, trampling the dead 
 and dying under foot ; hewing, thrusting, slashing. But the odds were 
 too great in spite of the most desperate bravery. From every passage 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 179 
 
 more men poured in and pitched themselves into the fray with fanatical 
 courage. The lamps glared down on a strugghng pandemonium of howhng, 
 shrieking humanity. On the bodies of the dead and dying the whites stood 
 as on a mound, keeping back the tide of foes which threatened to over- 
 whelm. Man after man dropped, until four only were left, among them 
 Parry and Hazel. 
 
 " It's Kingdom Come, sir," shouted the engineer. 
 " We've made a fight for it, anyhow," gasped Gerald, cutting and 
 thrusting to right and left. 
 
 For the last time the four, back to back, beat down the foe. Like a 
 wave receding to gather itseK anew their assailants recoiled a few paces. 
 Then they came on with a rush which was impossible to withstand. Parry 
 was down, strugghng desperately. A gigantic native gripped Gerald 
 round the waist and sought to throw him. The two rolled in the slippery 
 blood wrestling furiously. The Indians had triumphed and they raised a 
 shrill cry of joy. But it was answered by the voice of Supay. 
 
 With a heave and a roar the earth spoke. The walls of the cavern 
 rocked and spht asunder. At that terrific sound the puny noise of the 
 battle ceased, and the conquerors fled in all directions. Some were crushed 
 to pieces by the falUng rocks ; those that escaped made for the gaUery 
 leading to the entrance. The volcano beUowed anew, and spurts of steam 
 and jets of scalding water burst from the surrounding cracks. The floor 
 of the cavern gaped, swallowing up dead and Uving. The clamour and 
 rumbUng, the voice of the deeps made hell of the place. Then all was com- 
 plete darkness. 
 
 " Parry ! Maclean I Cochrane ! " Gerald disengaged himself from a 
 pile of dead, and shouted aloud. Only one voice answered him. It was 
 that of Parry. He crawled towards his chief by light of the fitful illumi- 
 nation which played round the waUs. 
 
 " You are aUve ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and you — are you hurt ? " 
 
 " Nothing to speak of. Let us make for the entrance." 
 
 " Can't find poor Dick's clue." 
 
 " We can follow the Indians ; they're rushing for it ; hear the yells ! 
 This is the end of Yayacarui for sure, and of us too if we don't get out jolly 
 quick." 
 
 " You go. Parry ; I'm going back for Dick. He's alive." 
 
 " Man, you can't get through that ? " 
 
 " I must. He was moaning when I left him. He saved me ; I must 
 save him." 
 
 " Madness ; he's dead by this time. God of mercy, look 1 " 
 
 The side of the gaUery giving on to the central cavern gaped, and a 
 portion fell outward on the city. Flames came roaring up. " It's a lake 
 of fire down there," gasped Parry, blanching with fear. " Come, Hazel I " 
 
 But Gerald was already clambering over the dead towards the silent 
 machine-gun. 
 
 " Dick ! Dick I " 
 
 " I'U come, too, by God I " swore Parry, following. " You fool 1 Wait, 
 Hazel. I have a lamp." 
 
 In that inferno of smoke and flame he hghted the acetylene lamp he 
 carried at his belt. Gerald snatched it from him. 
 
 " Go back. Parry, go back. Escape — the entrance 1 " 
 
 "^No, by God; I'U stay with you." 
 
i8o THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 They were in the gallery, and the lamp, shooting a long beam ahead, 
 showed that the ground was yet whole there. Gerald in front, Parry a 
 short way behind, they made what speed they could through the 
 sulphurous atmosphere. Again the earth bellowed like a sentient thing. 
 Tons of rock crashed around the two men, blocking the gallery and 
 dividing them for ever. 
 
 " Parry ! " called Hazel. But there was no reply save the crumbling 
 of earth. Then there came a cry which made his heart leap. Faint it 
 was amid the clamour of destruction, but trumpet-toned to the eager 
 ears of friendship. 
 
 " Old man, old man ; I knew you wouldn't leave me to die alone." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 " THE END OF YAYACARUI." 
 
 Amid the chaos Gerald knelt holding the hand of his dying friend. The 
 earth still continued to shake, and there was complete darkness. The 
 livid lamplight revealed Dick's features, haggard, drawn, ghastly with 
 the imprint of death: Leaning his weary head on Gerald's knee, he 
 looked up with the fond gaze of a faithful dog. Falling rock, roaring, 
 spurting flame, the distant wailing of blinded, burnt humanity, the con- 
 tinuous grinding as of steel on steel — it all was as naught to Dick now. 
 Nor indeed did Hazel heed it, any more than he heeded the certain know- 
 ledge that his retreat was cut off, His whole mind was bent upon sooth- 
 ing the last moments of the man who had saved his life. " Greater love 
 hath no man " The text came to his mind, as he knelt. 
 
 " Dick, my poor old chap. How can I thank " 
 
 " Shoo," said Dick, feebly. " That's all right ; you're worth a dozen 
 of a wrong 'un like me. Say good-bye, Hazel, and cut." 
 
 " Damned if I do. Dick, are you badly hurt, ? " 
 
 " Shot through the wind-bags, I guess, from the feeling I've got there." 
 He gasped, and a trickle of blood dyed his khaki. " It's all U. P., chief." 
 
 " Let me have a shot at getting you out of this." 
 
 " No ; go — die here — hold m' hand, old chap." 
 
 " I swear I won't leave you, Dick. Besides the gallery's blocked." 
 
 " Never mind, you'U get clear. Know you will. Don't forget me, 
 Hazel. ' Now I lay me down ' — Gosh ! haven't said that — since — little 
 chap — Gerald ! " 
 
 " What is it, dear old man ? " 
 
 " Inside m' tunic — letter — Molly " He groaned. 
 
 Hazel slipped in his hand and took from his inside pocket an envelope 
 directed to IMlolly. It was stained with blood. A lump bulged in his 
 throat at the sight of it. 
 
 " Give— Molly " 
 
 " Yes, Dicky, I will — if I get clear." 
 
 Hazel listened to the crashing smashing noises of the earth gods, and 
 thought how little chance there was of that. 
 
 " You'll get away all right, I know- — Gerald — 'member me." 
 
 " Always, old chap." 
 
 " Never mind — glad I helped — ^MoUy and you — happy. My mother 
 — poor soul — damned bad son — must pay — ^pay for all — — " 
 
T HE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. i8i 
 
 His head fell back. Gerald thinking the end had come bent his ear 
 to the pale lips. " Dick, can you understand ? " 
 
 " Understand " The words came faint and low, but he opened his 
 
 eyes. There was over them the glaze of death. 
 
 " I swear, Dick, I wUl never forget you, and the way you gave your 
 life for mine. If I escape and marry MoUy^ — -if God blesses us with chil- 
 dren, one shall bear your name. Dick, Dick, my dear fellow " 
 
 Gerald clasped the limp body to his breast. The dying man sighed 
 contentedly. 
 
 " Hold tight, Gera — ^poor old Cain — meet Cain — pray — pray." 
 
 Hazel whispered a prayer. His eyes were 4ry ; he was long past 
 tears. 
 
 As the " amen " dropped from his lips, Dick began to babble. 
 " Father — art — Heaven — kind to poor Dick — closer than a brother — 
 
 dulce domum — -old school " His voice faltered and died away. 
 
 " Molly — couldn't help it — the mater — -forgive — kiss — the mater " 
 
 and his eyes closed. • 
 
 Gerald touched his forehead lightly for his mother's sake. There was 
 a sigh, a tremor of the limbs, and Hazel's arms held lifeless clay. He raised 
 his eyes to the blackness, now threaded with many-coloured fires. 
 
 " Poor old chap — he's gone." 
 
 There was a tremendous concussion in the gallery, and the earth gaped 
 almost at Gerald's feet. He struggled up with his friend's body in his 
 arms, and ran back towards the magazine. The ground was riving and 
 cracking in aU directions. Laying the body reverently in a niche, he 
 closed the eyes, crossed the hands on the still breast, and again kissed the 
 forehead. " Good-bye, Dick, dear old fellow." 
 
 With a whistling sound steam was jetting from a tliousand crevices. 
 It drove Gerald back from his dead. A crack zig-zagged to the door of 
 the magazine ; and dreading the explosion which he knew must ensue, 
 he fled blindly along the ways, with the instinct of an animal uncon- 
 sciously running from danger. As he ran, whither he knew not, tons 
 of falling rock suddenly closed up the pat^ behind him only to be as sud- 
 denly rent asunder with a terrific report. 
 
 " The magazine ! " gasped Gerald, and lunged forward. 
 
 His good genius brought him up short, near the lift, which descended 
 to the back of the Sun Temple. The rope still stretched taut to the 
 chamber at the bottom of the shaft, and down this he sUd, the wire 
 running like fire through his hands, skinning them raw. At the bottom 
 he shot ofi the roof of the lift into the lower gallery. It was thick with 
 sulphurous smoke, whirling and curUng. Into this he plunged, and half 
 blinded wheeled out on to the terrace before the temple. Facing him was 
 a lake of seething fire. The city of Yayacarui was swallowed up in an 
 ocean of boUing lava. The flames soared to the roof of the cavern, and 
 therefrom fell blocks of granite, splash into the molten sea 
 
 The palace of the Inca, the home of Mama Ocllo, both were in ruins, 
 and red, yellow, and blue flames, tongues of orange and scarlet fire flickered 
 snake-hke through the massive stones. Torrents of boiling water spouted 
 down, hissing savagely as they came into contact with the incandescent 
 sea. The dead lay disorderly on the terraces ; the iiving knelt, and stood, 
 and grovelled, silent with fear, motionless even as the dead. Some offered 
 vain prayers to Heaven — to a heaven they could not see ; and a few, 
 mad with fear, flung themselves into the glowing hell. 
 
i82 THE MOTHER OF EMERALD S. 
 
 The earth swayed Hke a cradle, heaved Hke a disturbed sea. Exulting 
 thunders crashed full-voiced under the vault ; waves of molten matter ■ 
 leaped and spattered the terraces with wild-fire spume. Gerald ad- 
 vanced. A spurt of molten metal drove him back. He retreated ; and 
 an abyss yawned at his feet. On all sides danger ; on every side death. 
 He leaped sideways to avoid a wave of fire, and finally sprang across a 
 chasm and tools a temporary refuge in the Temple. Here the fire was 
 not ; but the great doors were down, and the interior was like day from the 
 lurid glow of the lava sea. 
 
 On all sides, the dying and the dead — at the altars, before the shrines, 
 grasping the image of the Sun, clutching the silver crescent of the moon. 
 Around in grim contrast sat the mummies in their gilded seats — iadif- 
 ferent, ghastly. In the centre was a bier, upon which lay the form of 
 Inca Sutic-toco, dressed regally, and crowned and covered with jewels. 
 Across it lay a woman in a white dress, with outstretched arms and 
 clasped hands. 
 
 " Mama OcUo ! " 
 
 She sprang to her feet, wUd-eyed, colourless, her beauty distorted with 
 terror. For one moment she stood, rigid as a corpse ; the next she 
 stumbled towards him, clutching spasmodically at the air. 
 
 " Viracocha, ah, dear God ! " 
 
 Those around raised a shrill wail, shaking their fists at the false deity 
 who had brought this doom upon them. But none strove to harm him. 
 They resumed their aimless prayers, their mutterings, their blasphemies. 
 No longer a queen, but very much a woman, Mama OcUo clung to 
 Gerald's breast and sobbed bitterly. But under all her dread and anguish 
 there ran an undercurrent of joy. 
 
 " You do love me — not "that girl ? You came back for me ? Ah, dear 
 one ! " 
 
 His face was wet with her tears. Out of sheer pity he had not the 
 heart to undeceive her. He was lost ; she was lost. He felt that, 
 could she have known, Molly would have pardoned and condoned what 
 he did. Mama Ocllo was almost happy. 
 
 " You are mine — -all mine," she whispered, her breath on his cheek. 
 " Death has brought me to you, you to me ; lovely death ; only he can 
 part us now. My arms shall hold you for ever- — yes, for ever. Con has 
 taken from me my Empire ; h^ has destroyed my people ; gold, silver 
 and jewels, all have returned to the depths whence they came. But I 
 have you, my heart, and all else may go — so long as I have you. Kiss me 
 before we die." 
 
 He kissed her. " Come ; there may be a chance for us even yet," he 
 said. 
 
 " No ; no ; there is no chance. And I would not have you save me. 
 You would go back to her. Let this be our bridal chamber. Here I hold 
 you for ever." 
 
 " Puca — where is he ? " 
 
 " Gone, gone. He fled among the first. I could not leave my people. 
 Whither should I go ? I who am their queen ! I have lost the world for 
 
 love, my soul. Kiss me, kiss me again " She broke ofi with a shriek 
 
 and hid her face in his breast. 
 
 A meteor of fire shot through the doorway. Like a thunderbolt it, 
 struck the image of the Sun, and wrenching the sheet of gold from its - 
 setting hurled it crumpled and twisted into the depths. As the wor- 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 183 
 
 shippers wailed and scattered the great building oscillated. Part of the 
 roof fell with a crash, crushing many. Gerald carried the woman out of 
 the way of the falling debris, and took shelter behind a mummy. Then 
 fell a rain of cinders on the figures cowering round the altar. Maimed 
 and seared, they yelled piteously. Then the fagade toward the terrace 
 rocked and fell outward, and a whirl of dust and smoke and flickering 
 fire came up. Some of the mummies toppled over and lay stiffly amongst 
 the writhing figures on the floor. Then they beheld a vision of Hell 
 through the smoke, rent asunder by mighty winds. Mama OcUo shrank 
 back with a cry. 
 
 " Not that death ; oh, God ! Gerald ! Gerald ! " 
 
 He wrapped one arm around her shuddering form, and clung to the 
 mummy, as though seeking aid from the dead. It happened to be the 
 mummy of John Prynne. 
 
 " Be brave, be brave ; God is over all," he cried. 
 
 " Hark ; hark ! See ! the floor ! the ground ! " 
 
 The pavement yawned — parted in the centre. A mighty crack ran 
 zig-zag from right to left ; and the fumes of Tophet rose from the fathom- 
 less depths. Then it forced itself upon Gerald with awful persistency, 
 that the Temple was built over the sacred river. Still clinging to the 
 mummy of John Prynne he dragged back both it and the woman. But 
 the earth rose behind them like a tidal wave, and they were hurled into 
 the abyss. 
 
 In close embrace the three turned over and over, clashing and striking 
 against each other — the living and the dead. In an instant they plunged 
 into the sacred river. The waters were stUl cold, and for that Gerald 
 rejoiced for one half second ere they closed over his head. He was dizzy, 
 blinded, battered and bruised ; but he stiU had his senses about him. He 
 rose to the surface, and kept himself and the woman afloat by clinging to 
 the mummy. The racing current bore them away down stream at express 
 speed. Mama OcUo was unconscious ; but it was possible, if he could 
 only retain his hold of her, that having escaped so much they might even 
 now escape all. He prayed God they might reach the vent by the pueblo. 
 
 After what seemed to him many hours, they were driven by a side 
 current into a kind of backwater, where they struck against a rock. The 
 rock rose ruggedly out of the water, but on the surface it was comparatively 
 flat. Weak though he was, he managed to drag Mama OcUo on to it. 
 Against the crag the mummy rocked and bobbed like a canoe. Shivering 
 with cold Gerald sat, ever hugging the body of the woman. She still 
 lived. She had been stunned in falling through the Temple floor, but her 
 heart beat feebly and her breath came faintly. In the gloom, profound 
 and almost tangible, he could not see her face. He had a flask of brandy 
 in his pocket — prepared against flight — (how long ago did that all 
 seem now !) and with this he moistened her lips. He wetted her nostrils 
 too with the powerful spirit, and at last she moaned and stirred. A 
 draught poured down her throat restored her scattered senses and she 
 awoke to the horrors of their situation with a long sigh. 
 
 " Viracocha ! Gerald ! " 
 
 " I am here. Do you not feel my arms around you ? " 
 
 " Dear arms ! " Her voice died away with exhaustion ; but a second 
 draught of the spirit brought her round again. " Gerald, where are 
 we ?" 
 
 " In the sacred river. You remember, we fell through the floor of 
 
i84 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 the Temple. I managed to drag you on to this rock. We are safe so 
 far." 
 
 " Safe ! " She laughed mirthlessly ; then she moaned again. " Oh, 
 my head ! my head ! " 
 
 " Are you hurt ? " He passed his hand through her streaming hair. 
 There was a deep cut on the side of the head. He had nothing wherewith 
 to bandage it — 'save his handkerchief. He was afraid she must soon 
 sink from sheer exhaustion. There was but little brandy left in his 
 flask ; but although his throat seemed as if it would close up with dry- 
 ness he would not touch it. With the utmost tenderness he bound up 
 her head with his handkerchief. She sighed again, and kissed his hand. 
 
 " Gerald, my Gerald ; how good you are. This is the end — the end." 
 
 " I hope against hope I" 
 
 " We die together. God is good. You are all mine — all ! " 
 
 In the distance they could stUl hear the suUen murmur of the eruption ; 
 but they were now out of immediate danger from it. On that barren rock, 
 in the cold darlaiess, with the river racing past, tliey sat clasped in each 
 other's arms. For the woman, love was enough ; but the man's heart 
 ached within him. Burnt, wounded, battered, starving, and weak — 
 all these things were as nothing to the mental pain he suffered. 
 
 Half delirious, yet wholly happy. Mama OcUo babbled all the while 
 in his arms. He was hers for ever ; his arms would hold her to the last ; 
 she would die in his embrace. All her woes were more than compensated 
 for by that. It was as if God had relented, to give her one last hour of 
 supreme joy. 
 
 Gerald could keep no count of the flight of time. It seemed to him 
 days since they had reached the rock. And although she never complained, 
 he knew the woman in his arms must suffer terribly. The pangs of thirst 
 and hunger would not much longer be denied. For himself, already he 
 was conscious of a horrible gnawing sensation at his stomach, and he 
 tightened his belt. All his brandy he gave to the woman. Her endurance 
 amazed him. Weak as she was from loss of blood and want of food, she 
 clung to him and to life with eyery show of cheerfulness. He was for 
 launching themselves once more on the stream and trusting to its carry- 
 ing them to daylight. But she was not willing. 
 
 " Let us die here in peace," she said. " You are not afraid ? " 
 
 " No ; I am not afraid. But it would perhaps be easier to drown 
 than to starve." 
 
 " Anything, everything is easy with you beside me. But if we are 
 saved she would get you again ; you would go back to her ! No ; no ; 
 let us die together, here alone." 
 
 So hour by hour, day by day, the inevitable death drew nearer. They 
 sat bearing their privations as they best could, with the mummy ever at 
 their feet. Gerald did not know that it was the mummy of John Prynne 
 he had so clung to as a life preserver, and that therefore the Mother of 
 Emeralds was within reach of his hand. What was the Mother of 
 Emeralds to him now, if he had known ? 
 
 The woman persistently refused to leave the rock. There they both 
 should die. Death together, would she have, a thousand times rather 
 than life apart. In death he was hers — in life another's. He could feel 
 her body growing colder and heavier in his arms. She became light-headed 
 and wandering. She inveighed against the Supreme for having destroyed 
 her work, and that of her forefathers. Then she would weep and laugh 
 
THE MO THER OF EMERALDS. 185 
 
 hysterically, thanking her God that Gerald was by her side. Then it 
 seemed to strike her that he would fain leave her. 
 
 " You hate me, Viracocha, because I keep you here to die. You want 
 to go back to her. Go, go ; you do not love me. She is your life. I am 
 nothhig to you — less than nothing." 
 
 She turned on him once and tried to stab him lest some chance should 
 save his life and so restore him to the other woman. He took the dagger 
 gently from her feeble hands and flung it mid-stream. As she heard the 
 sullen splash of it, she kissed his hand, imploring pardon. " But indeed 
 it is born of my great love for you. You are not angry ? I worship 
 you ; you are my god, my cruel, cruel god. Gerald ! Gerald— I go. 
 Follow, Gerald." 
 
 She died peacefully. By that time he was so weak that he could 
 hardly hold her in his arms. As in a dream, her voice came to him — 
 sounded in his ears faint and low as though ever so far distant. She 
 tried to clasp his neck, but could not. 
 
 " I die, I cannot live. Darhng, I must leave you. Say for the last time 
 you love me." 
 
 " I love you," said Gerald, weakly. 
 
 " Now, I go happy ; you will join me soon. Oh, the darkness, the 
 terrible darkness ! And I, a daughter of the Sun ! M5' people, my king- 
 dom ; gone, gone ! Holy One, Con, God of the Abyss, take me to your 
 home. Gerald ! Not that woman ! You are mine, mine. Ah, my be- 
 loved, my " 
 
 Her voice died away in drowsy murmurs, and she scarce gave a sign of 
 life. With the las^ dregs of brandy he moistened her lips ; but it did not 
 revive her. She was just able to press his hand faintly. Then a long 
 drawn sigh, and it was over with her. The beautiful, imperious, loving 
 woman was dead. 
 
 Her lifeless body stiU in his arms, he fell into a stupor. He knew not 
 how long he remained so, but when he came to himself he was so feeble he 
 could scarcely move. In stretching out his hand to get some water he 
 over-balanced, and rolled on to the mummy. Together once again the 
 living and the dead fell into the river. Half unconsciously he clung on to 
 it. A swirl of the current wafted it gently along until the full stream 
 caught it fiercely. Down they went swiftly and more swiftly as the cur- 
 rent gained power. Gerald heard a dull roaring ; lights flashed before his 
 eyes. Then he became wholly unconscious. And in the gloom, on the 
 hard bare rock under the ribs of the earth, the last daughter of the Incas 
 lay dead, and royally sepulchred in the heart of the everlasting hills. 
 Her fate was fixed ; but Hazel swept away on the unknown tide ! What 
 would be his doom ? And these things the gods wrought in the darkness. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 " THB JUSTICE OF THE GODS." 
 
 Three months later the Huascar Hotel at Lima was the richer by two 
 guests from over-seas. One a genial Irish priest ; the other, as pretty 
 an English girl as you could wish to meet. Molly, and Molly alone had 
 done it ; and that for her own peace of mind. Without news of Gerald 
 for many months, and knowing from his last Cuzco letter that he was 
 
i86 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 starting inland, she had fretted herself into a state of physical illness over 
 the probable dangers that he might have encountered. 
 
 All Father Tom's explanations, and arguments, and comfortings went 
 for nothing. MoUy wanted to know what her lover was doing, and insisted 
 upon travelling to Lima — and beyond it if necessary — to find out. Thus 
 it came about that they sojourned at the City of Kings. 
 
 Mrs. Amherst was not of the party. She characterised the whole pro- 
 ceeding as " mad," and not even her solicitude for Dick availed to drag 
 her from the comforts of her own country. And so Mrs. Amherst was 
 established at Bath, be it said, on a most handsome allowance, and Molly 
 and her uncle enjoyed their trip only the more, as they well knew, for 
 her absence. Great as was her anxiety for the man who had come into 
 her life so closely only to drop completely out of it, Molly kept wonderfully 
 cheerful. The novelties of the journey were manifold, and furthermore 
 Providence had arranged that the travellers should meet with a surprise 
 almost as soon as they set foot in Peru. 
 
 Father Tom, with racial haste, lost no time in commencing search for 
 Hazel. He saw the British consul ; he wrote to Cuzco ; and caused en- 
 quiries to be made amongst the Indians in both capitals. But nothing 
 could be heard of Gerald or of Dick save that they had gone up the 
 Apurimac and had not returned — some added were not expected to 
 return. Then Fate sent along a tah, bearded, and bronzed man in a 
 shabby khaki suit, very much the worse for wear, who introduced himself 
 as one Parry. He had heard of their enquiries, he said, through the 
 consul. Hazel, he told them, was lying ill in a small native fonda on the 
 outskirts of Lima. Whereat Molly cried and laughed in the same breath ; 
 and demanded to be led instantly to the small native fonda. 
 
 -" You'll find him changed, miss," Parry said cautiously, as Molly 
 hurriedly put on hat and cloak ; " it's been a case of touch and go.'' 
 
 The girl's trembling fingers ceased fo busy themselves, and she turned 
 white. She could not speak. Father Tom made the enquiry. 
 ■' He's not dyin', you'U be after sayin'-, Mr. Parry ? " 
 " Well, he's not exactly dying,'-' rephed the engineer, raking his beard. 
 " But he won't be himself for many a long day. You see, we've been 
 through a tidy lot. It was only by Almighty Providence that we es- 
 caped ! '-' 
 
 '- 111 — my Gerald — oh, take me at once I " 
 
 '- An' Dick ? " cried O'Dwyer anxiously, " what of the boy ? Am- 
 herst's his name, an' a mighty trouble he has been to the mother who 
 bore him.'' 
 
 Parry removed the hat he had assumed. '- He made a good end, 
 sir." 
 
 " Oh, poor Dick ! " wept Molly. '- Dead ? " 
 Parry's face answered them. 
 
 " Holy Mary, have him in charge ! Blessed Peter, plead for the poor 
 sinner I " said the priest. He looked up to heaven, crossed himself, and 
 
 muttered a prayer. " Ah, the lonely mother' '-' 
 
 " She had a noble son.'' Parry glanced at Molly. " It was for another 
 he laid down his life." 
 
 '- Gerald I " cried the girl, " for Gerald. Dear Dick — kind Dick ! 
 To die for Ger — Ger — Gerald ! Oh, uncle, uncle 1 " 
 
 '-'- Whist now I " said the priest, to hide his emotion. " Can ye give me 
 the poor boy's story, Mr. Parry ? " 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 187 
 
 •" Gerald is waiting, uncle.'' 
 
 " Molly, darlin', let us know all before we see him ; else you'll be askin' 
 him too much. A sick man has no strength to talk, poor soul." 
 
 " Oh, as to that," said Parry, sitting down again, " Mr. Hazel has got 
 over his fever, and is perfectly himself, though, of course, he's not over 
 strong yet. But in a short while, no doubt, he'll be able to tell you the 
 whole story from the time of his arrival in the buried city." 
 
 " Look at that, now 1 Do ye mane the place exists ? " 
 
 " It did exist," repUed the engineer, " but a volcano settled it some 
 months ago. I was held captive there for fifteen years. ' The Arabian 
 Nights '- is a fool to the story I can tell you."- 
 
 And Parry, in his slow, unromantic way, related his own history, 
 Gerald's history, and the history of poor Dick Amherst. Careful not to 
 wound the susceptibilities of Molly, he suppressed all mention of Mama 
 OcUo's love for Hazel ; but in every other respect his account of the life 
 and catastrophe at Yayacarui was accurate and detailed. He told them 
 how he himself had escaped, and how Gerald came to be in Lima. 
 
 " When the falling rocks parted me from Mr. Hazel," he said, " I 
 thought he was done for, and made oS to save myself. I followed a 
 crowd of Indians through the smoke and fire. They were seeking the 
 secret entrance ; and although many of the galleries were blocked with 
 debris, managed to fetch it. I was at their heels and got into the open 
 air with them. Then another and a greater earthquake shook down tons 
 of rock at the gates ; and shut up for ever tliose who had not escaped. 
 I was the only white man left alive ; but the Indians were too dazed and 
 terror-struck to take notice of me. With them I found my way down 
 the mountains to the pueblo at the mouth of the sacred river ; and stayed 
 there for a few days, considering how I could best get back to civilization.- 
 I never expected to see Mr. Hazel again, but one morning the Indians 
 told rrie that a white man's body had been shot out of the river vent. I 
 hastened to the spot, and found Mr. Hazel clutching on to a mummy, 
 which had, no doubt, floated him down the current. How he got into the 
 sacred river, I learned later. As it was, I had him carried ashore, mummy 
 and all. Some of the Indians wanted to kiU him as a false god ; but 
 others were afraid that more misfortunes might happen to them if he 
 were slain. In the end they put us in a canoe, gave us food, and sent 
 us down the river. I forgot to say that I revived Mr. Hazel, but he fell 
 ill of fever and several times nearly died. We brought the mummy along 
 with us, and for many days drifted down to the Ucayali. At Santos 
 Todos I lay up for a time, as Mr. Hazel was — as I thought — dying ; but 
 with the aid of a Jesuit missionary I managed to pull him round. The 
 priest sent us by river and land to Lima, in charge of a convoy of natives, 
 who looked after us well. Mr. Hazel was carried in a litter, and gradually 
 regained strength in the pure mountain air. On arriving here we had 
 very little money, as much had be^n lost ; so we put up at this native 
 ranche, and intended to stay there untU Mr. Hazel was well enough to 
 go to England. But, of course, now that you have arrived, it will be all 
 right." 
 
 " Oh, thank God— thank God he is ahve 1 " 
 
 " Do you know what kept him alive, Miss Prynne ? Well, it was the 
 thought of you, and the task you had set him. He went out to seek 
 your father ; and he found him I '' 
 
 " Alive do you mane ? " cried Father Tom, with a roar. 
 
i88 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 " No. Mr. Prynne died some years ago," said Parry sadly. " I was 
 vsrith him when he died. We brought back his body." 
 
 " The mummy ! "■ cried Molly, aghast. 
 
 " Yes, his mummy — wonderfully preserved. Looks like life. It's 
 at our digs. Miss Prynne. And now you know the whole story." 
 
 " Poor Dick,"- murmured Molly, who had wept freely when Parry 
 told of that heroic end. " His death indeed redeemed his follies. "- 
 
 ■" God be good to him. Molly, he was a brave man. Ah, m' dear, 
 the blessed saints will have a care of his golden soul. It's masses by the 
 dozen I'll have said for that same. Blessed Mary, it's one myself I'll 
 celebrate." 
 
 A general move was made to the door ; for Molly was too anxious to 
 see Gerald to be further restrained. Her father's death seemed to afiect her 
 but little. She could hardly be expected to cherish any very clear 
 memory of one who had left home when she was a little child, and was 
 scarcely more than a lay figure in her imagination. That he should be 
 dead, that his body should have been returned to civilization, were 
 matters rather of wonderment than for poignant regret. She was con- 
 cerned more with the thought of poor Dick's noble sacrifice. Again and 
 again on the way to Hazel's sick-bed she made Parry repeat the story, and 
 each time she wept afresh. The prodigal's heroic death atoned for all 
 that had gone before, and henceforward Molly treasured his memory 
 tenderly in her heart. Nor was Father O'Dwyer less affected. He bade 
 Molly take note that none should judge a man, even the worst, until his 
 life was rounded off by death. Thus were Dick's short-comings interred 
 with his bones ; and those who knew him best, who had condemned 
 him most, had no thoughts of him but were kindly and reverent. 
 
 " The boy knew what friendship should be, God bless him I "- said 
 Father Tom, ' ' an' he did for Hazel what Hazel would have done for him. 
 Alter ipse amicus ! " That was Dick's threnody and epitaph. He 
 would have desired no better." 
 
 It was a new and strange lover whom Molly found stretched on a narrow 
 bed in the bare cool room of the fonda. His face was yellow, lean, haggard 
 beyond telling, and a rough beard mcisked his chin. With sunken eyes 
 and listless hands he lay shorn of his vigorous manhood, and of the graces 
 of his youth. Foolish Molly could not restrain her impatience to see that 
 dear face once more, and when she entered the room he was wholly un- 
 prepared. One amazed look and he fainted. When he was brought 
 round he could not speak. He wept and held her hand in his, and thanked 
 God that he had lived to look again into those sweet eyes. She kissed 
 him with many tears and many prayers, and Father Tom blew his nose 
 frequently to disguise his emotion. He sat on one side of the bed ; Molly 
 on the other. It was too much altogether for the bluff engineer, who 
 withdrew. 
 
 " But it's no time for talk at all, at all," said the good father. " We'll 
 jist look at ye, an' consider the mercies of the Blessed Mary, whose care 
 you have been. Ah, now, don't be openin' your mouth, my dear. The 
 good man has told us of your troubles and the poor boy's death.'' 
 
 " God bless him I " murmured Gerald, the tears still in his eyes. 
 
 " He will — oh. He will, Gerald. By saving you, my darling, he saved 
 Himself.'' 
 
 The visitors stayed only half an hour, for Parry came to turn them 
 out. His patient, he said, was not in a condition to stand excitement. 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 189 
 
 But Molly went away with Dick's letter in her hand ; and cried bitterly 
 over the hurried scrawl. It contained an earnest farewell, an earnest desire 
 that she should marry Gerald, and that " poor Dick " should not be for- 
 gotten. Molly showed that tear-stained , blood-stained letter to no one. She 
 kept it as her most sacred possession. Mrs. Amherst never saw it. It 
 was a thing apart ; a holy relic ; the testament of a noble soul. Dick 
 had lived a scamp, and died a martyr — and greater than a mart5rr, since 
 he had given up his life not for his own weal, but for the love of his 
 brother man. Ever from that day was the hero remembered in Molly's 
 prayers. 
 
 The weeks went by and Gerald grew stronger. The sight of Molly 
 was the best of medicine, and restored him to health as nothing else could 
 have done. His cheeks rounded and flushed with colour, as his heart- 
 beat waxed in strength ; the old brightness returned to his eyes ; and 
 his frame regained its former symmetry and vigour. With characteristic 
 independence he would not allow himself to be removed from his lowly 
 inn until he was ready to depart for England. But Molly and Father 
 Tom paid daily visits, bringing all that was necessary in the way of com- 
 fort and cure. Parry was, in truth, a trifle jealous of the invasion ; but 
 tolerated it for MoUy's sake. Her tender nursing and the genial presence 
 of O'Dwyer did much towards assisting recovery. As he grew in strength 
 he told them a story so stirring that Molly shuddered and wept at the 
 trials her lover had undergone. But her eye brightened as she heard of 
 his indomitable pluck and perseverance detailed by the engineer to spare 
 the hero's blushes. 
 
 About the disposal of John Prynne's remains there was much argu- 
 ment. Father Tom wished them brought to Hagbourne and laid in the 
 famUy vault ; but Molly, horrified at the travesty of life presented by the 
 stuffed and painted mummy, was anxious that it should be put under- 
 ground with all despatch. In the end O'Dwyer came round also to this 
 opinion ; so one morning the poor fragment of Molly's father was buried 
 with all Christian solemnities. O'Dwyer recited the prayers of the elder 
 Church over the grave, and had masses said for the soul of the dead. Nor 
 did the good priest forget Dick. He was the celebrant on more than one 
 occasion ; and interceded with the saints for that noble if erring man. 
 It mattered little to the kind-hearted father that both Prynneand Am- 
 herst died in the Protestant faith. He gave no hint of that to his brother 
 priests, but said his prayers for the dead and trusted that Peter would 
 overlook their not being of his peculiar flock. 
 
 Then it was that Gerald displayed the Mother of Emeralds to Molly, 
 and related how Dick had hidden it in the bosom of the dead, wherein 
 it had travelled safely to Lima. She had all a woman's innate love for 
 jewels, and cried out for pleasure at the sight of the magnificent gem, 
 worth a king's ransom, and worthy of any woman's beauty. But although 
 Gerald gave her the stone, he deemed it ill-omened, and hated to see it 
 in her hand. 
 
 One day when they were alone, he told her the truth about the princess ; 
 and how she had died in the belief that she had his love. Molly flushed 
 and paled as she listened. She did not altogether like it and was honest 
 enough to say so. But Gerald pleaded the situation ; and the loneliness 
 of the woman he had deceived into dying happily. 
 
 '-' She lost all, darling I " he said, " father, empire, people, home, life 
 itself. Ah, Molly, dearest, you do not grudge the poor woman that one 
 
igo THE MOTHER O F EMERALDS. 
 
 hour of happiness ? If she sinned greatly, she suffered greatly; and I 
 could not do less than help her to die in peace." 
 
 " So long as you did not really and truly '' 
 
 " My own, there is none — has never been any one in the world for me, 
 but you. What I did I did in sheer humanity — that she might pass away 
 peacefully and content. You are not angry ? " 
 
 " No. — o," rephed Molly, doubtfully, " poor woman, I should not grudge 
 her a crumb out of my plenty. Was she very beautiful ? " 
 
 Hazel smiled. " Not in my eyes," said he promptly, " but common 
 opinion held her to be beautiful. Her misfortunes were equal to her 
 beauty. She lies dead and unburied in the heart of the mountains. I 
 don't know if she could have a more royal tomb." 
 " You kissed her ? " 
 
 " I kissed her as she died. When she was in the bloom of health and 
 in the plenitude of her power, I refused her love ; but in those last 
 moments. — Molly, what would your generous heart have had me do ? " 
 
 Molly pouted and refused to meet his eyes. It was hard that this 
 savage princess should have had any part in her Gerald. But in the end 
 the girl's kind heart triumphed, and with tears she threw herself into her 
 lover's arms. 
 
 " You were right, darUng ; you were right. I. — I — I would not have 
 had it otherwise." 
 
 " Ah, now I recognise the Molly who loves me ! Don't cry, dearest."- 
 " I anx a horrid selfish girl," sobbed Molly. " But I'll never be mean 
 enough to be jealous of that poor creature. Oh Gerald, Gerald ! " 
 
 " There — there I All that is ended, Molly, my heart. We arc 
 together for the rest of our lives, and you can afford to forgive the dead." 
 
 Then Parry came in with the news that he had seen Puca lurking about 
 the Indian quarter of Lima. Gerald was doubtful. 
 
 " I know Mama OcUo said that he escaped," he said, " but in the weak 
 state he was, I don't see how he could have got so far as this place. Are 
 you sure you were not mistaken. Parry ? " 
 
 " Quite," insisted the engineer. " It was Puca I saw. It is not easy 
 to mistake Puca. He ran away as soon as he cast eyes on me. I know 
 he got away from Yayacarui, for the Indians said so. No doubt he has 
 come here to do you some mischief." 
 
 " How's that ? We are not in Yayacarui now." 
 
 " Don't know, chief. Puca's a spiteful httle devil ; and always hated 
 you ; he wouldn't mind slipping a knife into you." 
 
 " Oh, I'U be on the high seas soon, and he won't have the chance." 
 But Parry still shook his head, knowing the malignity of the dwarf 
 too well. He had not lived fifteen years in Yayacarui for nothing ; and 
 Puca, cunning, spiteful, angered at Gerald's safety, was not to be des- 
 pised. In future Parry kept a close watch on his patient. At times 
 he saw the dwarf, who always evaded him. Fearing danger. Parry urged 
 Father Tom to push on the preparations for departure. Not until Gerald 
 was out of Lima would his mind be at rest. 
 
 And what happened proved that the engineer had not under-rated 
 the malevolence of the creature. One afternoon Gerald was taking a 
 siesta. Parry snoozed in an arm-chair on the far side of the bed. Molly 
 had just left, and the Mother of Emeralds, with which she had been 
 pla5T.ng, lay on the table at Hazel's elbow. In the hot noon-day the win- 
 dow was open, protected only by a mosquito curtain. The heat was 
 
THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 191 
 
 stifling, and Parry could not sleep soundly. His ligM slumber was broken 
 by the sound of a cautious footstep. Opening his e^es lazily, he saw 
 Puca slip in through the window, carrying a bare knife. He alighted 
 softly on the floor with naked feet, and moved with the sinuous grace of 
 a cat towards the bed. Parry held his breath, knowing that the dwarf 
 could not see him in the shadow. As the creature was about to fling 
 himself forward, he saw him halt with manifest surprise. The green 
 gleam of the emerald sparkling in the pencil of a sunbeam caught his eye. 
 Amazed at sight of the palladium of Yayacarui in so unexpected a place, 
 he was held motionless for an instant. That momentary paralysis afforded 
 Parry the opportunity he wanted. In a second he had vaulted across the 
 bed and seized Puca by the throat. The dwarf screeched and spat Uke 
 a wild cat. Gerald woke in alarm, trembhng in every nerve ; and saw 
 Parry rolling over with something which snapped and snarled. Too 
 weak to assist he could only look on helplessly. But at once he recognised 
 Parry's adversary. 
 
 " You devil ! " cried the engineer, breathlessly, " commit murder, 
 would you ? I'll kiU you 1 Ah, you can sting, you wasp ! "- 
 
 Puca stabbed him in the arm. The momentary pain relaxed the 
 engineer's grip ; and Puca slipped like an eel from under him. Then 
 with a bound the dwarf was on Gerald, who evaded the down stroke of 
 the knife by rolling to the far side of the bed. Up again in a second. 
 Parry plucked back Puca and flung him across the room. Shrieking out 
 Spanish maledictions, Puca rebounded from the wall like an India rubber 
 ball, and knocked over the table on which lay the gem. It fell, and he 
 seized the glittering stone with a cry of delight. 
 
 " You live, but you lose the Mother of Emeralds, cursed one ! '■'- 
 
 He pitched the knife skilfully at Gterald, but Parry intercepted it. 
 
 " May Supay burn you, and sit on your heart. Devil, brute "- 
 
 His voice became inarticulate with rage, and he dodged Parry like a 
 Jack-in-the-box. Lowering his head he rushed at the engineer, struck 
 him like a battering-ram, and threw him on the floor. Then with a 
 triumphant yell he sprang through the window. When Parry recovered 
 his breath, Puca was gone. 
 
 Furious with rage_ the engineer pursued him ; but the creature had 
 vanished, nevermore to be seen by those who had sojourned with him 
 in the buried city. Gone too was the Mother of Emeralds, and with it 
 its ill fortune. 
 
 After a futile scamper Parry returned to Gerald, and found him un- 
 conscious on the floor. Much alarmed he sent a boy for Molly, Father 
 Tom, and the Doctor. They arrived just as Gerald was reviving ; and 
 Parry, with much wealth of detail, related what had happened. 
 
 Molly at once insisted that Gerald was not safe in the fonda, and within 
 the hour he was bestowed in the Huascar Hotel under her immediate 
 care. 
 
 Parry hunted everywhere for Puca and the gem, but without success. 
 Pressed with questions the faces of the Indians became blank as a sheet 
 of paper ; and they declared their ignorance of the little man's where- 
 abouts. Puca was gone — far from the ken of the white man ; and with him 
 the sacred jewel. What he did with it, whither he bore it, neither Parry 
 nor Hazel could learn. Indeed they had not much time in which to make 
 enqviiries, for within the week the whole party were on board a P. N. C. 
 liner steaming for Panama. 
 
192 THE MOTHER OF EMERALDS. 
 
 The land of miracle, of marvel, of adventure, was a memory of the past. 
 
 In a deck chair reclined Gerald, comfortably wrapt up against the keen 
 sea wind ; beside him sat Molly and the ever-genial Father Tom. The 
 white peaks of the Andes glowed with many colours in the sunset, and 
 the eyes of all were fixed on the great hills. 
 
 " Ah, well," said O'Dwyer, " it's good-bye to Peru, and all your glory. 
 Ye go barer than when ye came. Hazel." 
 
 Molly sighed. She could not help regretting the loss of the gem. 
 
 " No, Father, I go richer than I came. If I have lost the Mother of 
 Emeralds, I have gained a wife whose worth is above rubies." 
 
 " And whose eyes are like diamonds,"- suggested Parry, taking to compli- 
 ments in his old age. 
 
 " I shall blush as red as the sunset if you talk so," cried Molly, suiting 
 the action to the word. " Oh, Gerald, to think I sent you into such 
 dangers ! I can never make enough of you." 
 
 The night shut down on the sea ; and the great vessel ploughed her 
 way through the black ocean, carrying them to home and happiness. 
 The coasts of Golden Peru faded — melted in sea-mist, grey and chill. Far 
 away a mighty peak rose against the clear shining of the stars, and caught 
 the radiance of the rising moon. It was Chimborazo. 
 
 " The tomb of Mama Ocllo ! " said Gerald. 
 
 -' And of poor Dick," whispered Molly. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey.