; I had let her think that I loved
her--as I now perceived, a great mistake. Courageous herself, she could
appreciate courage in others, and had I boldly and unequivocally refused
her offer and given my reasons, I did not believe she would have dealt
hardly with me.

As it was Mamcuna might well say that, having deliberately deceived her, I
deserved the utmost punishment which it was in her power to inflict. At
the same time, I was not without hope that when she heard my defence she
would spare my life.

By the time we reached the queen's house my escort had swollen into a
crowd, and one of the caciques went in to inform Mamcuna what had befallen
and ask for her instructions.

In a few minutes he brought word that the queen would see me and the
people who had taken part in my capture forthwith. We found her sitting in
her _chinchura_, in the room where she and I first met. Bather to my
surprise she was calm and collected; yet there was a convulsive twitching
of her lips and an angry glitter in her eyes that boded ill for my hopes
of pardon.

"Is it true, this they tell me, senor--that you have been helping Chimu's
wife to escape, and killed Chimu?" she asked.

"It is true."

"So you prefer this wretched pale-face woman to me?"

"No, Mamcuna."

"Why, then, did you help her to escape and kill her husband? Don't trifle
with me."

"Because I pitied her."

"Why?"

"Chimu treated her ill, and she was very wretched. She wanted to go back
to her own country, and she has little children at home."

"What was her wretchedness to you? Did you not know that you were
incurring my displeasure and risking your own life?"

"I did. But a Christian caballero holds it his duty to protect the weak
and deliver the oppressed, even at the risk of his own life."

Mamcuna looked puzzled. The sentiment was too fine for her comprehension.

"You talk foolishness, senor. No man would run into danger for a woman
whom he did not desire to make his own."

"I had no desire to make Senora de la Vega my wife. I would have done the
same for any other woman."

"For any other woman! Would you risk your life for me, senor?"

"Surely, Mamcuna, if you were in sorrow or distress and I could do you any
good thereby."

"It is well, senor; your voice has the ring of truth," said the queen,
softly, and with a gratified smile, "and inasmuch as you went not away
with Chimu's pale-faced wife, but let her depart with the negro--"

"The senor w