, we were borne forward through the passes of great
mountains, upon a wonderful road so finely made that never had I seen
its like in England. At times we crossed rivers, but over these were
thrown bridges of stone. Or mayhap we came to swamps, yet there the road
still ran, built upon deep foundations in the mud. Never did it turn
aside; always it went on, conquering every hindrance, for this was one
of the Inca's roads that pierced Tavantinsuyu from end to end. We came
to many towns, for this land was thickly populated, and for the most
part slept in one of them each night. But always my fame had gone before
me, and the _Curacas_, or chiefs of the towns, waited upon me with
offerings as though I were indeed divine.

For the first five days of that journey I saw little of Quilla, but at
length one night we were forced to camp at a kind of rest-house upon the
top of a high mountain pass, where it was very cold, for the deep snow
lay all about. At this place, as here were no _Curacas_ to trouble me, I
went out alone when Kari was elsewhere, and climbed a certain peak which
was not far from the rest-house, that thence I might see the sunset and
think in quiet.

Very glorious was the scene from that high point. All round me stood
the cold crests of snow-clad mountains towering to the very skies, while
between them lay deep valleys where rivers ran like veins of silver. So
immense was the landscape that it seemed to have no end, and so grand
that it crushed the spirit, while above arched the perfect sky in whose
rich blue the gorgeous lights of evening began to gather as the great
sun sank behind the snowy peaks.

Far up in the heavens floated one wide-winged bird, the eagle of the
mountains, which is larger than any other fowl that I have ever seen,
and the red light playing on it turned it to a thing of fire. I watched
that bird and wished that I too had pinions which could bear me far away
to the sea and over it.

And yet did I wish to go who had no home left on all the earth and no
kind heart that would welcome me? Awhile ago I should have answered,
"Yes, anywhere out of this loneliness," but now I was not so sure. Here
at least Kari was my friend if a jealous one, though of late, as I could
see, he was thinking of other things than friendship--dark plottings and
high ambitions of which as yet he said little to me.

Then there was that strange and beautiful woman, Quilla, to whom my
heart went out and not only becau