r
desire."

"It is not," I broke in.

"I believe you," he answered, bowing his head, "but will it not be the
desire of that fair-faced harlot who has betrayed our Lord the Sun?"

At this word I started and bit my lip.

"Ah! that stings you," he went on, "as the truth always stings, and it
is well. Understand, White Lord who were once my brother, that either
you must fight me to the death, or I declare war upon you and upon the
Chanca people, which war I will wage from month to month and from year
to year until you are all destroyed, as destroyed you shall be. But
should you fight and should the Sun give me the victory, then justice
will be accomplished and I will keep the peace that I have sworn with
the Chanca people. Further, should you conquer me, in the name of my
people I swear that there shall still be peace between them and the
Chancas, since I shall have atoned your sacrilege with my blood. Now
summon those lords of yours and I will summon mine, and set out the
matter to them."

So I turned and beckoned to my captains, and Kari beckoned to his. They
came, and in the hearing of all, very clearly and quietly as was his
fashion, he repeated every word that he had said to me, adding to
them others of like meaning. While he spoke I thought, not listening
over-much.

This thing was hateful to me, yet I was in a snare, since according to
the customs of all these peoples I could not refuse such a challenge and
remain unshamed. Moreover, it was to the advantage of the Chancas,
aye, and of the Quichuas also, that I should not refuse it seeing
that whether I lived or died, peace would then reign between them who
otherwise must both be destroyed by war. I remembered how once Quilla
had sacrificed herself to prevent such a war, though in the end that war
had come; and what Quilla had done, should I not do also? Weary though
I was I did not fear Kari, brave and swift as he might be, indeed I
thought that I could kill him and perhaps take his throne, since the
Quichuas worshipped me, who so often had led their armies to triumph,
almost as much as did the Chancas. But--I could not kill Kari. As soon
would I kill one born of my own mother. Was there then no escape?

The answer rose in my mind. There was an escape. I could suffer Kari to
kill me. Only if I did this, what of Quilla! After all that had come and
gone, must I lose Quilla thus, and must Quilla lose me? Surely she would
break her heart and die. My plight was d