Under the Andes

by Rex Stout

  Chapter XI.

  A ROYAL VISITOR.

  If it had not been for the manifest danger, I could have laughed aloudat what I read in the eyes of the king. Was it not supremelyridiculous for Desiree Le Mire, who had been sought after by the greatand the wealthy and the powerful of all Europe, to be regarded withdesire by that ugly dwarf? And it was there, unmistakably.

  I sang out a sharp warning, but it was unnecessary; Desiree had alreadycaught sight of the royal visitor. She pushed Harry from her bodily.He sprang to his feet in angry surprise; then, enlightened by theconfusion in her face, turned quickly and swore as he, too, saw theintruder.

  How critical the situation was I did not know, despite Desiree'sassertions. His eyes were human and easily read; they held jealousy;and when power is jealous there is danger.

  But Desiree proved herself equal to the occasion. She remained seatedon the granite couch for a long minute without moving; confusion lefther eyes as she gazed at us apparently with the utmost composure; but Iwho knew her could see that her brain was working with the rapidity oflightning. Then her glance passed to the figure at the doorway, andwith a gesture commanding and truly royal in its simplicity, she heldher hand forth, palm down, to the Inca king.

  Like an obedient trained monkey he trotted across the interveningspace, grasped her soft white hand in his monstrous paw, and touchedhis lips to her fingers.

  That was all, but it spoke volumes to one who could divine the springsof action. I remember that at the time there shot through my mind astory I had heard concerning Desiree in Paris. The Duke of Bellarmine,then her protector, had one evening entered her splendid apartment onthe Rue Jonteur--furnished, of course, by himself--and had found hisdivinity entertaining one Jules Chavot, a young and beautiful poet.Whereupon he had launched forth into the most bitter reproaches andscornful denunciations.

  "Monsieur," Desiree had said, with the look of a queen outraged, whenhe had finished, "you are annoying. Little Chavot amuses me. You areaware that I never refuse myself anything which I consider necessary tomy amusement, and just now I find you very dull."

  And the noble duke, conquered by that glance of fire and those terriblewords, had retired with humble apologies, after receiving a graciouspermission to call on the following day!

  In short, Desiree was irresistible; the subjection of the Inca king wasbut another of her triumphs, and not the most remarkable.

  And then I looked at Harry, and was aware of a new danger. He wasglaring at the Inca with eyes which told their own story of the firewithin, and which were waiting only for suspicion to become certainty.I called to him:

  "Harry! Hold fast!"

  He glanced at me, gave a short laugh, and nodded.

  Then came Desiree's voice, in a low tone of warning:

  "On your knees!"

  Her meaning was clear; it was to us she spoke. The king had turnedfrom her and was regarding us steadily with eyes so nearly closed thattheir meaning was impenetrable. Harry and I glanced at each other andremained standing. Then Desiree's voice again:

  "Harry! If you love me!"

  It was the appeal to a child; but love is young. Immediately Harrydropped to his knees, facing the king; and I followed him, wondering atmyself. To this day I do not know what the compelling force was thatpulled me down. Was it another instance of the power of Desiree?

  For perhaps a minute we remained motionless on our knees while the kingstood gazing at us, it seemed to me with an air of doubt. Then slowly,and with a gait that smacked of majesty despite his ungainly appearanceand diminutive stature, he stalked across to the doorway anddisappeared in the corridor without.

  Harry and I looked at each other, kneeling like two heathen idols, andburst into unrestrained laughter. But with it was mixed a portion ofanger, and I turned to Desiree.

  "In the name of Heaven, was that necessary?"

  "You do it very prettily," said she, with a smile.

  "That is well, but I don't care to repeat it. Harry, for the sake ofmy dignity, employ a little discretion. And what do you suppose thebeggar will do about it?"

  "Nothing," said Desiree, shrugging her shoulders. "Only he must bepacified. I must go. I wonder if you know you are lodged in the royalapartments? His majesty's room--he has but one--is in the corridor tothe left of this.

  "Mine is on the right--and he is probably stamping the place to piecesat this moment." She left the granite couch and advanced half way tothe door. "Au revoir, messieurs. Till later--I shall come to see you."

  The next moment she was gone.

  Harry and I, left alone, had enough to think and talk about, but therewas ten minutes of silence before we spoke. I sat on one of the stoneseats, wondering what the result would be--if any--of the king's visitand his discovery.

  Harry paced up and down the length of the apartment with lowered head.Presently he spoke abruptly:

  "Paul, I want to know exactly what you think of our chances for gettingout of this."

  "Why--" I hesitated. "Harry, I don't know."

  "But you've thought about it, and you know something about thesethings. What do you think?"

  "Well, I think they are slim."

  "What are they?"

  "Nothing less than miracles. There are just two. First--and I'vespoken of this before--we might find an underground stream that wouldcarry us to the western slope."

  "That is impossible--at least, for Desiree. And the second?"

  "Nature herself. She plays queer tricks in the Andes. She might turnthe mountain upside down, in which case we would find ourselves on top.Seriously, the formation here is such that almost anything is possible.Upheavals of vast masses of rock are of ordinary occurrence. A passagemight be opened in that way to one of the lower peaks.

  "We are surrounded by layers of limestone, granite, and quartzite,which are of marked difference both in the quality of hardness and intheir ability to withstand the attacks of time. When one finds itselfunable to support the other, something happens."

  "But it might not happen for a hundred years."

  "Or never," I agreed.

  Again silence. Harry stood gazing at one of the flaming urns, buriedin thought--easy to guess of what nature. I did not think fit todisturb him, till presently he spoke again.

  "What do you suppose that ugly devil will do about--what he saw inhere?"

  I smiled. "Nothing."

  "But if he should? We are helpless."

  "Trust Desiree. It's true that she can't even talk to him, but she'llmanage him somehow. You saw what happened just now."

  "But the creature is no better than a dumb brute. He is capable ofanything. I tell you, we ought to get her away from here."

  "To starve?"

  "And we're none too safe ourselves. As for starving, we could carryenough of their darned fish to last a year. And one thing is sure: wewon't get back to New York lying round here waiting for something toturn up--even a mountain."

  "What do you want to do?"

  "Clear out. Get Desiree away from that ugly brute. If we only had ourknives!"

  "Where would we go?"

  In that question was the whole matter. To escape with Desiree waspossible--but then what? We knew by experience what it meant to wanderhopelessly about in the darkness of those desolate caverns, withoutfood, and depending on Providence for water. Neither of us cared torepeat that trial, especially with the added difficulty of a woman tocare for. But what to do?

  We decided to wait for the future, and in the mean time lay in a supplyof provisions, and, if possible, devise some sort of weapons.

  It is worth remarking here that the Incas, so far as we had seen, usedno weapons whatever. This was most probably the result of their totalisolation and consequent freedom from foreign hostility.

  In the matter of food we were soon to receive an agreeable surprise.It was about an hour after Desiree had left us that the royalsteward--I give him the title on my own responsibility--arrived, withpot
s and pans on a huge tray.

  In the first place, the pots and pans were of solid gold. Harry staredin amazement as they were placed in brilliant array on one of the stonetables; and when we essayed to lift the empty tray from another tableon which it had been placed we understood why the steward had found itnecessary to bring four assistants along as cup-bearers.

  There was a king's ransom on that table, in sober truth, for therecould be no doubt but that this was part of the gold which had beencarried from Huanuco when it had been demanded by Pizarro as paymentfor the life of Atahualpa.

  But better even than the service was that which it contained. It maynot have been such as would enhance the reputation of a French chef,but to us then it seemed that the culinary art could go no farther.

  There was a large platter; Harry lifted its cover in an ecstasy ofhope; but the next instant his face fell ludicrously.

  "Our old friend, Mr. Dried Fish," he announced sadly, and gave it up.

  Then I tried my luck, and with better success.

  First I uncovered a dish of stew, steaming hot! To be sure, it wasfish, but it was hot. Then a curious, brittle kind of bread; I call itthat, though on trial it appeared to be made from the roe of some kindof fish. Also there was some excellent fish-soup, also hot, and quitedelicious.

  Four hundred years of development had taught the royal chefs to preparefish in so many different ways that we almost failed to recognize themas of the same family.

  "Couldn't be better," said Harry, helping himself liberally to thestew. "We can eat this, and cache the dried stuff. We'll have enoughfor an army in a week."

  "As for me, I saw before me the raw material for our weapons. When wehad emptied the golden platter that held our bread," I secreted itunder the cover of the granite couch. When the serving-men called toremove the dishes they apparently did not notice its absence. So far,success.

  Some hours later Desiree paid us a second call. She appeared to be inthe gayest of spirits, and I eyed her curiously from a seat in thecorner as she and Harry sat side by side, chatting for all the world asthough they had been in her own Paris drawing-room.

  Was it possible that she was really satisfied, as she had said? Whatimaginable food could these black dwarfs find to appease her tremendousvanity? Or was she merely living the motto of the French philosopher?

  Harry was demanding that he be allowed to visit her apartment; this sherefused, saying that if he were found there by the king nothing couldavert a catastrophe. Harry's brow grew black; I could see his effortto choke back his anger. Then Desiree led him away from the topic, andsoon they were both again laughing merrily.

  Some forty-eight hours passed; in that perpetual blackness there was nosuch thing as day. We saw no one save Desiree and the serving men.Once a messenger appeared carrying a bundle of quipos; I was able todecipher their meaning sufficiently to understand that we were invitedto some religious ceremony in the great cavern. But I thought itinjudicious to allow a meeting between Harry and the king, and returneda polite refusal.

  It may be of interest to some to know the method, which was extremelysimple, as in ordinary communications the quipos are easy to read. Iremoved two knots from the white cord--the sign of affirmative--andplaced two additional ones on the black cord--the sign of negative.Then on the yellow cord--the sign of the Child of the Sun andsubmission to him--I tied two more knots to show that our refusal meantno lack of respect to their deity.

  Which, by the way, was not a little curious.

  Here were the descendants of the subjects of Manco-Capac, himself a sonof the orb of day, still holding to their worship of the sun, thoughthey had not seen its light for four centuries. Deserted by their god,they did not abandon him; an example from which the followers ofanother and more "civilized" religion might learn something of thepotency of faith.

  But to the story.

  As I say, I was anxious to avoid a meeting between Harry and the king,and subsequent events proved my wisdom. Harry was acting in a mannerquite amazing; it was impossible for me to mention the king even injest without him flying into a violent temper.

  As I look back now I am not surprised; for our harrowing experiencesand the hopelessness of our situation and the wilfulness of Desireewere enough, Heaven knows, to jerk his nerves; but at the time Iregarded his actions as those of a thoughtless fool, and told him so,thinking to divert his anger to myself. He took no notice of me.

  We were left entirely to ourselves. At regular intervals our food wasbrought to us, and within a week we had accumulated a large supply ofthe dried fish against necessity, besides my collection of six goldenplatters, of which more later.

  Once in about twenty-four hours two Incas, who appeared to be ourpersonal attendants--for we were actually able to recognize them afterhalf a dozen visits--arrived to perform the offices of chambermaid andvalet. The floor of the apartment was scrubbed, the urns refilled withoil, and the skin cover of the granite couch was changed. It seemedthat another belief--in cleanliness--had refused to be dislodged fromthe Inca breast.

  When I managed, by dint of violent and expressive gestures, to conveyto our valet the idea that we desired a bath, he led us down thecorridor some two hundred feet to a stream of cool running water. Wetook advantage of the opportunity to scrub our clothing, which wassadly in need of the operation.

  I had early made an examination of the urns which furnished our light.They were of gold and perfect in form, which convinced me that they hadbeen brought by the fugitives from Huanuco, as, indeed, the quiposalso, and several other articles we found, including our golden tableservice.

  The urns were filled with an oil which I was unable to recognize.There was no wick, but round the rim or lip of each was set a broadring carved of stone, which made the opening at the top only about twoinches in diameter. Through this the flame arose to a height of abouttwo feet.

  Of smoke there was none, or very little, a circumstance which wasinexplicable, as there seemed to be no possibility of the generation ofgas within so small space. But the oil itself was strange to me, andits properties may be charged to nature.

  As I say, I had collected six of the golden platters, one at a time.Together they weighed about twenty pounds--for they were small andrather thin--which was near the amount required for my purpose. Iexplained the thing to Harry, and we set to work.

  We first procured a vessel of granite from the attendant on somepretext or other--this for melting the gold. Then we pried a slab oflimestone from a corner of one of the seats; luckily for us it was verysoft, having been selected by the Incas for the purpose of inserting inits face the crystal prisms. Then we procured a dozen or more of theprisms themselves, and, using them as chisels, and small blocks ofgranite as hammers, set to work at the block of limestone.

  It was slow work, but we finally succeeded in hollowing out a groove inits surface about eighteen inches long and two inches deep. That wasour mold.

  Then to melt the golden platters. We took four of the urns, placingthem in a group on the floor, and just at the tip of the flames placedthe granite vessel, supported by four blocks of stone which we priedloose from one of the seats. In the vessel we placed the goldenplatters.

  But we found, after several hours, that we did not have sufficientheat--or rather that the vessel was too thick to transmit it. Andagain we set to work with our improvised chisels and hammers, to shaveoff its sides and bottom. That was more difficult and required manyhours for completion.

  Finally, with the profane portion of our vocabularies completelyexhausted and rendered meaningless by repetition, and with bruised andbleeding hands, we again arranged our furnace and sat down to wait. Wehad waited until the dishes from our dinner had been removed, and wewere fairly certain to be alone for several hours.

  Finally the gold was melted, stubbornly but surely. We took the thickhide cover from the couch and, one on each side, lifted the vessel ofliquid metal and filled our mold. In an hour it was hardened into abar the shape of
a half-cylinder. We removed it and poured in theremainder of the gold.

  It would appear that the gain was hardly worth the pains, and I admitit. But at the least I had kept Harry occupied with something besideshis amatory troubles, and at the best we had two heavy, easily handledbars of metal that would prove most effective weapons against foes whohad none whatever.

  We had just removed the traces of our work as completely as possibleand secreted the clubs of yellow metal in a corner of the apartmentwhen the sound of pattering footsteps came from the corridor.

  Harry gave me a quick glance; I moved between him and the door. But itwas Desiree.

  She entered the room hurriedly and crossed to the farther side, thenturned to face the door. Her cheeks were glowing brightly, her eyesflashed fire, and her breast heaved with unwonted agitation. Beforeeither she or I had time to speak Harry had sprung to her side andgrasped her arm.

  "What has he done now?" he demanded in a tone scarcely audible in itsintensity.

  "I--don't--know," said Desiree without removing her eyes from the door."Let me go, Harry; let me sit down. Paul! Ah! I was afraid."

  "For us?" I asked.

  "Yes--partly. The brute! But then, he is human, and that is his way.And you--I was right--you should have gone to the Cave of the Sun whenhe required your presence."

  "But it was merely an invitation. Cannot one refuse an invitation?" Iprotested.

  "But, my dear Paul, the creature is royal--his invitations arecommands."

  "Well, we were busy, and we've already seen the Cave of the Sun."

  "Still it was an error, and I think you will pay for it. There havebeen unusual preparations under way for many hours. The king has beenin my apartment, and messengers and guards have been arrivingconstantly, each with his little bundle of quipos, as you call them."

  "Did you see the quipos?"

  "Yes."

  "Did any of them contain a red cord, suspended alone, with a singleknot at either end?"

  "Yes, all of them," said Desiree without an instant's hesitation.

  "That means Harry and me," I observed. "But the message! Can youremember any of them?"

  She tried, but without success. Which will not surprise any one whohas ever seen the collection at the museum at Lima.

  Then Harry broke in:

  "Something else has happened, Desiree. No bunch of cords tied in sillyknots ever made you look as you did just now. What was it?"

  "Nothing--nothing, Harry."

  "I say yes! And I want to know! And if it's what I think it is we'regoing to clear out of here now!"

  "As though we could!"

  "We can! We have enough provisions to last for weeks. And see here,"he ran to the corner where he had hidden the golden clubs and returnedwith them in his hands, "with these we could make our way through themall. Tell me!"

  There was a strange smile on Desiree's lips.

  "And so you would fight for me, Harry?" she said half-wistfully,half--I know not what. Then she continued in a tone low but quitedistinct: "Well, it is too late. I am the king's."

  She lied--I saw it in her eyes. Perhaps she meant to save Harry fromhis folly, to quiet him by the knowledge that he need not fight forwhat was no longer his own; but she was mistaken in her man.

  Harry did not stop to read her eyes--he heard her words. He took twoslow steps backward, then stood quite still, while his face grew deadlywhite and his eyes were fastened on hers with a look that made me turnmy own away. His soul looked out from them--how he loved thewoman--and I could not bear it!

  Nor, after a moment, could Desiree. She took a step forward, extendingher arms to him and cried out:

  "Harry! No! It was a lie, Harry! Don't--don't!"

  And they gazed at each other, and I at Desiree, and thus we wereunaware that a fourth person had entered the room, until he had crossedits full length and stood before me. It was the Inca king.

  I took no time for thought, but jumped straight for Harry and threw myarms round him, dragging him back half-way across the room. Takencompletely by surprise, he did not struggle. I noticed that he stillheld in his hands the bars of gold he had shown to Desiree.

  The king regarded us for a second with a scowl, then turned to her.

  She stood erect, with flashing eyes. The king approached; she held outher hand to him with an indescribable gesture of dignity.

  For a moment he looked at her, then his lips curled in an ugly snarl,and, dashing her hand aside, he leaped forward in swift fury andgrasped her white throat with his fingers.

  There was a strangled scream from Desiree, a frantic cry fromHarry--and the next instant he had torn himself free from my arms,dropping the bars of gold at my feet.

  A single bound and he was across the room; a single blow with his fistand the king of the Incas dropped senseless to the floor.