Mr. Fortescue by William Westall

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Meanwhile we were making good progress, sometimes paddling, sometimes
poling (where the channel was narrow) and toward evening when, as I
reckoned, we had travelled about sixty miles, we shot suddenly into a
charming little lake with sylvan banks and a sandy beach.

Gondocori made fast the canoe to a tree, and we stepped ashore.

We are on the summit of a spur which stands out like a bastion from the
imposing mass of the Cordillera, through the very heart of which runs the
mysterious waterway we have just traversed. Two thousand feet or more
below is a broad plain, bounded on the west by a range of gaunt and
treeless hills ribbed with contorted rocks, which stretch north and south
farther than the eye can reach. The plain is cultivated and inhabited.
There are huts, fields, orchards, and streams, and about a league from the
foot of the bastion is a large village.

"Pachatupec?" I asked.

"_Si, senor_, that is Pachatupec, a very fair land, as you see, and yonder
is Pachacamac, where dwells our queen," said Gondocori, pointing to the
village; and then he fell into a brown study, as if he was not quite sure
what to do next.

The sight of his home did not seem to rejoice the cacique as much as might
be supposed. The approaching interview with Mamcuna was obviously weighing
heavily on his soul, and, to tell the truth, I rather shared his
apprehensions. A savage queen with a sharp temper who occasionally roasted
people alive was not to be trifled with. But as delay was not likely to
help us, and I detest suspense, and, moreover, felt very hungry, I
suggested that we had better go on to Pachacamac forthwith.

"Perhaps we had. Yes, let us get it over," he said, with a sigh.

After descending the bastion by a steep zigzag we turned into a pleasant
foot-path, shaded by trees, and as we neared our destination we met (among
other people) two tall Indians, whose condor-skull helmets denoted their
lordly rank. On recognizing Gondocori (who had lost his helmet in the
snow-storm and looked otherwise much dilapidated) their surprise was
literally unspeakable. They first stared and then gesticulated. When at
length they found their tongues they overwhelmed him with questions, eying
Gahra and me the while as if we were wild animals. After a short
conversation, of which, being in their own language, I could only guess
the purport, the two caciques turned back and accompanied us to the
village. Save that there was no sign of a church, it differed little from
many other villages which I had met with in my travels. There were huts,
mere roofs on stilts, cottages of wattle and dab, and flat-roofed houses
built of sun-dried bricks. Streets, there were none, the buildings being
all over the place, as if they dropped from the sky or sprung up
hap-hazard from the ground.

About midway in the village one of the caciques left us to inform the
queen of our arrival and to ask her pleasure as to my reception. The other
cacique asked us into his house, and offered us refreshments. Of what the
dishes set before us were composed I had only the vaguest idea, but hunger
is not fastidious and we ate with a will.

We had hardly finished when cacique number one, entering in breathless
haste, announced that Queen Mumcuna desired to see us immediately,
whereupon I suggested to Gondocori the expediency of donning more courtly
attire, if there was any to be got.

"What, keep the queen waiting!" he exclaimed, aghast. "She would go mad.
Impossible! We must go as we are."

Not wanting her majesty to go mad, I made no further demur, and we went.

The palace was a large adobe building within a walled inclosure, guarded
by a company of braves with long spears. We were ushered into the royal
presence without either ceremony or delay. The queen was sitting in a
hammock with her feet resting on the ground. She wore a bright-colored,
loosely-fitting bodice, a skirt to match, and sandals. Her long black hair
was arranged in tails, of which there were seven on each side of her face.
She was short and stout, and perhaps thirty years old, and though in early
youth she might have been well favored, her countenance now bore the
impress of evil passions, and the sodden look of it, as also the
blood-streaks in her eyes, showed that her drink was not always water. At
the same time, it was a powerful face, indicative of a strong character
and a resolute will. Her complexion was bright cinnamon, and the three or
four women by whom she was attended were costumed like herself.

On entering the room the three caciques went on their knees, and after a
moment's hesitation Gahra followed their example. I thought it quite
enough to make my best bow. Mamcuna then motioned us to draw nearer, and
when we were within easy speaking distance she said something to Gondocori
that sounded like a question or a command, on which he made a long and, as
I judged from the vigor of his gesture and the earnestness of his manner,
an eloquent speech. I watched her closely and was glad to see that though
she frowned once or twice during its delivery, she did not seem very
angry. I also observed that she looked at me much more than at the
cacique, which I took to be a favorable sign. The speech was followed by a
lively dialogue between Mamcuna and the cacique, after which the latter
turned to me and said, as coolly as if he were asking me to be seated:

"The queen commands you to strip."

"Commands me to strip! What do you mean?"

"What I say; you have to strip--undress, take off your clothes."

"You are joking."

"Joking! I should like to see the man who would dare to take such a
liberty in the audience-chamber of our Great Mother. Pray don't make words
about it, senor. Take off your clothes without any more bother, or she
will be getting angry."

"Let her get angry. I shall do nothing of the sort--No, don't say that;
say that English gentlemen--I mean pale-face medicine-men from over the
seas, never undress in the presence of ladies; their religion forbids it."

Gondocori was about to remonstrate again when the queen interposed and
insisted on knowing what I said. When she heard that I refused to obey her
behest she turned purple with rage, and looked as if she would annihilate
me. Then her mood, or her mind, changing, she laughed loudly, at the same
time pointing to the door and making an observation to the cacique.

Having meanwhile reflected that I was not in an English drawing-room, that
this wretched woman could have me stripped whether I would or no, and that
refusal to comply with her wishes might cost me my life, I asked Gondocori
why the queen wanted me to undress.

"She wants to see whether your body is as hairy as your face (I had not
shaved since I left Naperima), and your face as fair as your body."

"Will it satisfy her if I meet her half-way--strip to the waist? You can
say that I never did as much for any woman before, and that I would not do
it for the queen of my own country, whatever might be the consequence."

The cacique interpreted my proposal, and Mamcuna smiled assent. "The queen
says, 'let it be as you say;' and she charges me to tell you that she is
very much pleased to know that you will do for her what you would not do
for any other woman."

On that I took off my upper garments and Mamcuna, rising from her hammock,
examined me as closely as a military surgeon examines a freshly caught
recruit. She felt the muscles of my arms, thumped my chest, took note of
the width of my back, punched my ribs, and finally pulled a few hairs out
of my beard. Then, smiling approval, she retired to her chinchura.

"You may put on your clothes; the inspection is over," said Gondocori. "I
am glad it has passed off so well. I was rather afraid, though, when she
began to pinch you."

"Afraid of what?"

"Well, the queen is rather curious about skin and color and that, and does
curious things sometimes. She once had a strip of skin cut out of a
mestiza maiden's back, to see whether it was the same color on both sides.
But she seems to have taken quite a liking for you; says you are the
prettiest man she ever saw; and if you cure her of her illness I have no
doubt she will give you a condor's skull helmet and make you a cacique."

"I am greatly obliged to her Majesty, I am sure, and very thankful she did
not take a fancy to cut a piece out of my back. As for curing her, I must
first of all know what is the matter."

"Shall I ask her to describe her symptoms?"

"If you please." In reply to the questions which I put, through Gondocori,
the queen said that she suffered from headache, nausea, and sleeplessness,
and that, whereas only a few years ago she was lithe, active, and gay, she
was now heavy, indolent, and melancholy, adding that she had suffered much
at the hands of the late court medicine-man, who did not understand her
case at all, and that to punish him for his ignorance and presumption she
made him swallow a jarful of his own physic, from the effects of which he
shortly afterward expired in great agony. The place was now vacant, and if
I succeeded in restoring her to health she would make me his successor and
always have me near her person.

I cannot say that I regarded this prospect as particularly encouraging;
nevertheless, I tried to look pleased and told Gondocori to assure the
queen of my gratitude and devotion and ask her to show me her tongue. He
put this request with evident reluctance, and Mamcuna made an angry reply.

"I knew how it would be," said the cacique. "You have put her in a rage.
She thinks you want to insult her, and absolutely refuses to make herself
hideous by sticking out her tongue."

"She will of course do as she pleases. But unless she shows me her tongue
I cannot cure her. I shall not even try. Tell her so."

To tell the truth I had really no great desire to look at the woman's
tongue, but having made the request I meant to stand to my guns.

After some further parley she yielded, first of all making the three
caciques and Gahra look the other way. The appearance of her tongue
confirmed the theory I had already formed that she was suffering from
dyspepsia, brought on by overeating and a too free indulgence in the wine
of the country (a sort of cider) and indolent habits.

I said that if she would follow my instructions I had no doubt that I
could not only cure her but make her as lithe and active as ever she was.
Remembering, however, that as even the highly civilized people object to
be made whole without physic and fuss, and that the queen would certainly
not be satisfied with a simple recommendation to take less food and more
exercise, I observed that before I could say anything further I must
gather plants, make decoctions, and consult the stars, and that my black
colleague should prepare a charm which would greatly increase the potency
of my remedies and the chances of her recovery.

Mamcuna answered that I talked like a medicine-man who understood his
business and her case, that she would strictly obey my orders, and so soon
as she felt better give me a condor's skull helmet. Meanwhile, I was to
take up my quarters in her own house, and she ordered the caciques to send
me forthwith three suits of clothes, my own, as she rightly remarked, not
being suitable for a man of my position.

"Now, did not I tell you?" said Gondocori, as we left the room. "Oh, we
are going on swimmingly; and it is all my doing. I do believe that if I
had not protested that you were the greatest medicine-man in the world,
and had come expressly to cure her, she would have had you roasted or
ripped up by the man-killer or turned adrift in the desert, or something
equally diabolical. Your fate is in your own hands now. If you fail to
make good your promises, it will be out of my power to help you. You heard
how she treated your predecessor."

CHAPTER XXIII.

YOU ARE THE MAN.

Early next morning I sent Gahra secretly up to the lake on the bastion for
a jar of chalybeate water, which, after being colored with red earth and
flavored with wild garlic, was nauseous enough to satisfy the most
exacting of physic swallowers. Then the negro sacrificed a cock in the
royal presence, and performed an incantation in the most approved African
fashion, and we made the creature's claws and comb into an amulet, which I
requested the queen to hang round her neck.

This done, I gave my instructions, assuring her that if she failed in any
particular to observe them my efforts would be vain, and her cure
impossible. She was to drink nothing but water and physic (of the latter
very little), eat animal food only once a day, and that sparingly, and
walk two hours every morning; and finding that she could ride on horseback
(like a man), though she had lately abandoned the exercise, I told her to
ride two hours every evening. I also laid down other rules, purposely
making them onerous and hard to be observed, partly because I knew that a
strict regimen was necessary for her recovery, partly to leave myself a
loop-hole, in the event of her not recovering, for I felt pretty sure that
she would not do all that I had bidden her, and if she came short in any
one thing I should have an excuse ready to my hand.

But to my surprise she did not come short. For Mamcuna to give up her
cider and her flesh pots, and, flabby and fat as she was, to walk and ride
four hours every day, must have been very hard, yet she conformed to
regulations with rare resolution and self-denial. As a natural consequence
she soon began to mend, at first slowly and almost imperceptibly,
afterward rapidly and visibly, as much to my satisfaction as hers; for if
my treatment had failed, I could not have said that the fault was hers.

Meanwhile I was picking up information about her people, and acquiring a
knowledge of their language, and as I was continually hearing it spoken I
was soon able to make myself understood.

The Pachatupecs, though heathens and savages, were more civilized than any
of the so-called _Indios civilizados_ with whom I had come in contact.
They were clean as to their persons, bathing frequently, and not filthy in
their dwellings; they raised crops, reared cattle, and wore clothing,
which for the caciques consisted of a tunic of quilted cotton, breeches
loose at the knees, and sandals. The latter virtue may, however, have been
due to the climate, for though the days were warm the nights were chilly,
and the winters at times rather severe, the country being at a
considerable height above the level of the sea. On the other hand, the
Pachatupecs were truculent, gluttonous, and not very temperate; they
practised polygamy, and all the hard work devolved on the women, whose
husbands often brutally ill-used them. It was contrary to etiquette to ask
a man questions about his wives, and if you went to a cacique's house you
were expected either to ignore their presence or treat them as slaves, as
indeed they were, and the condition of captive Christian girls was even
worse than that of the native women.

Considering the light esteem in which women were held I was surprised that
the Pachatupecs consented to be ruled by one of the sex. But Gondocori
told me that Mamcuna came of a long line of princes who were supposed to
be descended from the Incas, and when her father died, leaving no male
issue, a majority of the caciques chose her as his successor, in part out
of reverence for the race, in part out of jealousy of each other, and
because they thought she would let them do pretty much as they liked. So
far from that, however, she made them do as she liked, and when some of
the caciques raised a rebellion she took the field in person, beat them in
a pitched battle, and put all the leaders and many of their followers to
death. Since that time there had been no serious attempt to dispute her
authority, which, so far as I could gather, she used, on the whole, to
good purpose. Though cruel and vindictive, she was also shrewd and
resolute, and semi-civilized races are not ruled with rose-water. She
could only maintain order by making herself feared, and even civilized
governments often act on the principle that the end justifies the means.

Mamcuna had never married because, as she said, there was no man in the
country fit to mate with a daughter of the Incas; but as Gondocori and
some others thought, the man did not exist with whom she would consent to
share her power.

The Pachatupec braves were fine horsemen and expert with the lasso and the
spear and very fine archers. They were bold mountaineers, too, and
occasionally made long forays as far as the pampas, where, I presume, they
had brought the progenitors of the _nandus_, of which there were a
considerable number in the country, both wild and tame. The latter were
sometimes ridden, but rather as a feat than a pleasure. The largest flock
belonged to the queen.

By the time I had so far mastered the language as to be able to converse
without much difficulty, the queen had fully regained her health. This
result--which was of course entirely due to temperate living and regular
exercise--she ascribed to my skill, and I was in high favor. She made me a
cacique and court medicine-man; I had quarters in her house, and horses
and servants were always at my disposal. Had her Majesty's gratitude gone
no further than this I should have had nothing to complain of; but she
never let me alone, and I had no peace. I was continually being summoned
to her presence; she kept me talking for hours at a time, and never went
out for a ride or a walk without making me bear her company. Her
attentions became so marked, in fact, that I began to have an awful fear
that she had fallen in love with me. As to this she did not leave me long
in doubt.

One day when I had been entertaining her with an account of my travels,
she startled me by inquiring, _a propos_ to nothing in particular, if I
knew why she had not married.

"Because you are a daughter of the Incas, and there is no man in
Pachatupec of equal rank with yourself."

"Once there was not, but now there is."

I breathed again; she surely could not mean me.

"There is now--there has been some time," she continued, after a short
pause. "Know you who he is?"

I said that I had not the slightest idea.

"Yourself, senor; you are the man."

"Impossible, Mamcuna! I am of very inferior rank, indeed--a common
soldier, a mere nobody."

"You are too modest, senor; you do yourself an injustice. A man with so
white a skin, a beard so long, and eyes so beautiful must be of royal
lineage, and fit to mate even with the daughter of the Incas."

"You are quite mistaken, Mamcuna; I am utterly unworthy of so great an
honor."

"You are not, I tell you. Please don't contradict me, senor" (she always
called me 'senor'); "it makes me angry. You are the man whom I delight to
honor and desire to wed; what would you have more?"

"Nothing--I would not have so much. You are too good; but it would be
wrong. I really cannot let you throw yourself away on a nameless
foreigner. Besides what would your caciques say?"

"If any man dare say a word against you I will have his tongue torn out by
the roots."

"But suppose I am married already--that I have left a wife in my own
country?" I urged in desperation.

"That would not matter in the least. She is not likely to come hither, and
I will take care that I am your only wife in this country."

"Your condescension quite overwhelms me. But all this is so sudden; you
must really give me a little time--"

"A little time! why? You perhaps think I am not sincere, that I do not
mean what I say, that I may change my mind. Have no fear on that score.
There shall be no delay. The preparations for our wedding shall be begun
at once, and ten days hence, dear senor, you will be my husband."

What could I say? I had, of course, no intention of marrying her--I would
as lief have married a leopardess. But had I given her a peremptory
negative she might have had me laid by the heels without more ado, or
worse. So I bowed my head and held my tongue, resolving at the same time
that, before the expiration of the ten days' respite, I would get out of
the country or perish in the attempt. Whereupon Mamcuna, taking my silence
for consent, showed great delight, patted me on the back, caressed my
beard, fondled my hands, and called me her lord. Fortunately, kissing was
not an institution in Pachatupec.

One good result of our betrothal, if I may so call it, was that the
preparations for the wedding took up so much of Mamcuna's time that she
had none left for me, and I had leisure and opportunity to contrive a plan
of escape, if I could, for, as I quickly discovered, the difficulties in
the way were almost if not altogether insurmountable. I could neither go
back to the eastern Cordillera by the road I had come, nor, without
guides, find any other pass, either farther north or farther south.
Westward was a range of barren hills bounded by a sandy desert, destitute
of life or the means of supporting life, and stretching to the desolate
Pacific coast, whence, even if I could reach it, I should have no means of
getting away.

There was, moreover, nobody to whom I could appeal for counsel or help.
Gondocori thought me the most fortunate of men, and was quite incapable of
understanding my scruples. Gahra, albeit willing to go with me, knew no
more of the country than I did, and there was not a man in it who could
have been induced even by a bribe either to act as my guide or otherwise
connive at my escape; and I had no inducement to offer.

Nevertheless, the opportunity I was looking for came, as opportunities
often do come, spontaneously and unexpectedly, yet in shape so
questionable that it was open to doubt whether, if I accepted it, my
second condition would not be worse than my first.

CHAPTER XXIV.

IN THE TOILS.

Five days after I had been wooed by the irresistible Mamcuna, and as I was
beginning to fear that I should have to marry her first and run away
afterward, I chanced to be riding in the neighborhood of the village, when
a woman darted out of the thicket and, standing before my horse, held up
her arms imploringly. I had never spoken to her, but I knew her as the
white wife of one of the caciques.

"Save me, senor!" she exclaimed, "for the love of heaven and in the name
of our common Christianity, I implore you to save me!"

"From what?"

"From my wretched life, from despair, degradation, and death." And then
she told me that, while travelling in the mountains with her husband, a
certain Senor de la Vega, and several friends, they were set upon by a
band of Pachatupecs who, after killing all the male members of the party,
carried her off and brought her to Pachacamac, where she had been
compelled to become one of the wives of the cacique Chimu, and that
between his brutality and the jealousy of the other women, her life, apart
from its ignominy, was so utterly wretched that, unless she could escape,
she must either go mad or be driven to commit suicide.

"I should be only too glad to rescue you if I could. I want to escape
myself; but how? I see no way."

"It is not so difficult as you think, senor; if we can get horses and a
few hours' start, I will act as guide and lead you to a civilized
settlement, where we shall be safe from pursuit. I know the country well."

"Are you quite sure you can do this, senora? It will be a hazardous
enterprise, remember."

"Quite sure."

"And you are prepared to incur the risk?"

"I will run any risk rather than stay where I am."

"Very well, I will see what can be done. Meet me here to-morrow at this
hour. And now, we had better separate; if we are seen together it will be
bad for both of us. _Hasta manana_."

And then she went her way and I went mine.

I had said truly "a hazardous enterprise." Hazardous and difficult in any
circumstances, the hazard and the difficulty would be greatly increased by
the presence of a woman; and the fact of a cacique's wife being one of the
companions of my flight would add to the inveteracy of the pursuit. I
greatly doubted, moreover, whether Senora de la Vega knew the country as
well as she asserted. She was so sick of her wretched condition that she
would say or do anything to get away from it--and no wonder. But was I
justified in letting her run the risk? The punishment of a woman who
deserted her husband was death by burning; were Senora de la Vega caught,
this punishment would be undoubtedly inflicted; were it even suspected
that she had met me or any other man, secretly, Chimu would almost
certainly kill her. Pachatupec husbands had the power of life and death
over their wives, and they were as jealous and as cruel as Moors. Yet
death was better than the life she was compelled to lead, and as she was
fully cognizant of the risk it seemed my duty to do all that I could to
facilitate her escape.

Then another thought occurred to me. Could this be a trap, a "put up job,"
as the phrase goes. Though the _caciques_ had not dared to make any open
protest against Mamcuna's matrimonial project, I knew that they were
bitterly opposed to it, and nothing, I felt sure, would please them better
than to kindle the queen's jealousy by making it appear that I was engaged
in an intrigue with one of Chimu's wives.

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