PRINCE RICARDO. 223

 

Inca, and he refuses to give her up. One
daughter of his, he says, has been sacrificed to
the sacred birds, the Cunturs: the birds were
found slain on the hill-top, no man knows how;
but the maiden vanished.

“Why, it must have been Jaqueline. I
-killed the birds,’ said Ricardo, in Pantou-
flian.
‘Silence, not a word!” said the king,
sternly.

“And what makes you bear arms against the
Inca ?” he asked the old man.

“‘ We would slay him and her,” answered the
priest; ‘‘for, when the shadow shrinks to the
foot of the stone, the sun will shine straight
down into the hollow hill of the Earthquaker,
and he will waken and destroy Manoa and the
Temples of the Sun.”

‘“¢ Then wherefore would you slay them, when
you must all perish?”

‘The people, oh Pachacamac, would have
revenge before they die.”

“Oh, folly of men!” said the king, solemnly ;
then he cried: ‘‘Lead me to the Inca; this
day you shall not perish. Is it not predicted
in the Cord of the Venerable Knots that I
shall slay this monster ?”

““Hasten, oh Pachacamac, for the shadow
shortens! ’’ said the priest.

“‘ Lead me to the Inca,”’ answered Prigio.

At this the people arose with a great shout,