ry was to
figure in a sort of litter borne aloft on the shoulders of eight men.
This litter consisted of a platform covered with a magnificent carpet
woven in a pattern composed of many rich colours, and supported by two
pairs of shafts made of some tough, springy wood, the end of each shaft
being attached to a kind of yoke which rested upon the shoulders of two
of the bearers. Upon the platform, which was carried shoulder-high, was
mounted a throne, the woodwork of which was entirely enclosed in gold
plates, richly wrought and thickly studded with emeralds; and, seated on
this throne and surrounded by an escort of some five hundred foot
soldiers gorgeously attired and armed with bows, spears, and maces with
heavy spiked heads, the young Inca presently found himself being borne
at a rapid trot through another wide and handsome street, which, judging
from the character of the buildings bordering it, evidently formed the
aristocratic quarter of the town. This street, like those which he had
already passed through, was lined on both sides by gaily attired people
of both sexes and all ages, who rent the air with their enthusiastic
acclamations as the cortege swept past them, the only difference being
that the majority at least of these folk were, like himself, hurrying in
the direction of the temple.

It was with a somewhat abstracted air that Harry acknowledged the
salutations of these people, for, truth to tell, his mind and his
conscience were being rather severely exercised upon the subject of the
function in which he was about to take part. The one great outstanding
fact in relation to it was that it was a pagan rite; and he felt that,
regarded from an abstract point of view, it was distinctly wrong for
him, a professed Christian, to countenance or abet idolatry in any form.
Yet he had not been all those months in Peru without having acquired a
certain elementary knowledge of the early history of the country, much
of which, by the way, had been gained through his conversations with
Arima long before that individual had so much as dreamed of the
brilliant destiny that awaited his pleasant-mannered young English
master. Thus, for instance, he knew that the Peruvian Indians
recognised the existence of a Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of
the Universe, whom they sometimes named Pachacamac, and at others
Viracocha; and he also knew that the attributes of this Being were
believed to be of so superlatively divine a c