am convinced,
comes from your heart," said Harry, raising the soldier to his feet.
"But, Umu, I wish to regard you henceforth not as my `slave', but as a
faithful and devoted friend. Servants who will unhesitatingly do my
will I shall doubtless be able to command in plenty; but sincere friends
are less easily won, especially by a monarch, and a wise, faithful,
devoted friend who will help and advise me in the difficult task that
lies before me will be of greater value than many slaves. I shall
always remember with especial pleasure that my first official act was to
save an innocent life, and that the life of your daughter, whom heaven
long spare to be a joy and comfort to you. Go in peace, Umu, and serve
me faithfully."

"I will, Lord; I swear it by the great Pachacamac Himself!" answered
Umu, raising his right hand as though to register his oath. Then,
turning, he went forth from the palace the proudest, and probably the
happiest, man in the Valley of the Sun that day.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

THE INCA'S TREASURE CHAMBERS.

The fatigue and excitement of the momentous day were by this time
beginning to tell upon Escombe. If he could have followed his own
inclination he would certainly have called for a light meal, and, having
partaken of it, retired forthwith to rest; but he was already beginning
to learn the lesson that even an absolute monarch has sometimes to put
aside his own inclinations and do that which is politic rather than that
which is most pleasing in his own eyes. Here was this banquet, for
instance. He would much rather not have been present at it; but it was
an official affair, and to absent himself from it would simply be to
inflict a gratuitous slight upon every guest present, and sow a seed of
unpopularity that might quite possibly, like the fabled dragon's teeth,
spring up into a harvest of armed men to hurl him from his throne. With
a sigh of resignation, therefore, he summoned Arima, and, resigning
himself into that functionary's hands, submitted to be conducted to the
bath, and afterwards attired in the festal garments prepared for the
occasion. The bath of warm, delicately perfumed water he found to be so
wonderfully refreshing that upon emerging from it all sensation of
fatigue had vanished; and by the time that he was completely arrayed for
the banquet he felt perfectly prepared to do both himself and the
occasion full justice.

He was only just ready in the nick of time, for as Ar