Destiny fulfil
itself. If I dared to give counsel it was only because he who watches
the battle with a general's eye sees more of it than he who fights."

Then he bowed in his stately fashion and left me, and it was long ere he
spoke to me again of this matter of Quilla and our love for one another.

When he was gone my anger against him passed, since I saw that he was
warning me of more than he dared to say, not for himself, but because
he loved me. Moreover, I was afraid, for I felt that I was moving in the
web of a great plot that I did not understand, of which Quilla and those
cold-eyed lordlings of her company and the chief whose guest I had
been, and Kari himself, and many others as yet unknown to me, spun the
invisible threads. One day these might choke me. Well, if they did, what
then? Only I feared for Quilla--greatly I feared for Quilla.

On the day following my talk with Kari at length we reached the great
city of the Chancas, which, after them, was called Chanca--at least I
always knew it by that name. From the dawn we had been passing through
rich valleys where dwelt thousands of these Chancas who, I could see,
were a mighty people that bore themselves proudly and like soldiers.
In multitudes they gathered themselves together upon either side of the
road, chiefly to catch a sight of me, the white god who had risen from
the ocean, but also to greet their princess, the lady Quilla.

Indeed, now I learned for the first time how high a princess she was,
since when her litter passed, these folk prostrated themselves, kissing
the air and the dust. Moreover, as soon as she came among them Quilla's
bearing changed, for her carriage grew more haughty and her words
fewer. Now she seldom spoke save to issue a command, not even to myself,
although I noted that she studied me with her eyes when she thought that
I was not observing her.

During our midday halt I looked up and saw that an army was approaching
us, five thousand men or more, and asked Kari its meaning.

"These," he answered, "are some of the troops of Huaracha, King of the
Chancas, whom he sends out to greet his daughter and only child, also
his guest, the White God."

"Some of the troops! Has he more, then?"

"Aye, Master, ten times as many, as I think. This is a great people;
almost as great as that of the Incas who live at Cuzco. Come now into
the tent and put on your armour, that you may be ready to meet them."

I did so, and, stepping forth cl