ed
my meal than there appeared heralds who summoned me to the presence of
the king Huaracha.

I went, borne in a litter, although an arrow from my black bow would
have flown from door to door. At the portal of the palace, which was
like others I had seen, only finer, I was met by soldiers and gaily
dressed servants and led across a courtyard within, which I could see
was prepared for some ceremony, to a small chamber on the further side.
Here, when my eyes grew accustomed to the half-darkness, I perceived a
man of some sixty years of age, and behind him two soldiers. At once I
noted that everything about this man was plain and simple; the chamber,
which was little more than four whitewashed walls with a floor of stone,
the stool he sat on, even his apparel. Here were no gold or silver or
broidered cloths, or gems, or other rich and costly things such as these
people love, but rather those that are suited to a soldier. A soldier he
looked indeed, being burly and broad and scarred upon his homely face,
in which gleamed eyes that were steady and piercing.

As I entered, the king Huaracha, for it was he, rose from his stool and
bowed to me, and I bowed back to him. Then he motioned to one of the
soldiers to give me another stool, upon which I sat myself, and speaking
in a strong, low voice, using that tongue which Kari had taught me,
said:

"Greeting, White-God-from-the-Sea, or golden-bearded man named the lord
Hurachi, I know not which, of whom I have heard so much and whom I am
glad to behold in my poor city. Say, can you understand my talk?"

Thus he spoke, searching me with his eyes, though all the while I
perceived that they rested rather on my armour and the great sword,
Wave-Flame, than on my face.

I gave him back his greeting and answered that I understood the tongue
he used though not so very well, whereon he began to speak about the
armour and the sword, which puzzled him who had never seen steel.

"Make me some like them," he said, "and I will give you ten times their
weight in gold, which, after all, is of no use since with it one cannot
kill enemies."

"In my country with it one can corrupt them," I answered, "or buy them
to be friends."

"So you have a country," he interrupted shrewdly. "I thought that the
gods had none."

"Even the gods live somewhere," I replied.

He laughed, and turning to the two soldiers, who also were staring at my
mail and sword, bade them go. When the heavy door had shut