"Fine fêtes this year, señor. Last time, they had to hide themselves in the Corridors of Night, but to-day they are masters both above and below, and that dead king of theirs, Huayna Capac, will see daylight again. They'll take him all through the city, as they used to do. If you don't know that, you haven't been keeping your ears open.
"Where are your friends? I could have shown it to them as well. And I don't charge much; a few centavos keep me going for weeks. All the innkeepers know me, and send for Orellana when they have visitors. I know you all quite well. I saw you at Mollendo, then at Arequipa, and now here you are again outside the House of the Serpent. That's where they always go first. Yes, that's the way they brought Maria Cristina ten years ago. She was the prettiest girl in Lima, so they chose her for their god. I didn't know then, but this time they won't have their way quite so easily. When I saw the Interaymi come round again, I said to myself: 'Orellana, you must get ready for them.' And I'm ready for them, never fear!"
Thus they crossed the whole city. Dick, walking like a man in a dream, following to the next station in the martyrdom of his sweetheart, paid no heed to the wonderful ruins on all sides of him, the mighty buildings piled rock on rock by
