“You must be mad,” said the madman Orellana, when he saw Dick lean over and call to Maria-Teresa, and when she answered, asked almost angrily: “How did you come to know my daughter?”
The roar of the angry crowd surged up to them, surrounded them, and drew nearer. It was with the greatest difficulty that Orellana shook Dick out of his strange torpor5, dragged him through the gap from which they had emerged, and finally to the labyrinth6 below the Temple. Apparently7 familiar with every twist and turning of the place, he led him through a mile of passages, their darkness relieved here and there by round, square or triangular8 patches of light sifting9 down between thousand-year-old stones from the world above. Occasionally he stopped to tell Dick what temple, what palace, they were passing under.
“Yaca-Huasi, which they also call the House of the Serpent, is over our heads now.”
“Perhaps they have taken her there!”
“No, no! That’s against all the rules. The Temple of Death is the next place.”
“Where are we going to? Where are you taking me?”
“To the Temple of Death, of course!”
Dick followed him without another word, but expressed his surprise when they emerged into the open country.
“Where is the Temple, then?” he asked.
“On the Island of Titicaca. You needn’t be afraid. We shall get there before them.”
They hired horses at a wayside inn and rode to Sicuani. Here they took a train which, turning onto a branch line at Juliaca, then ran to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. On the way, Orellana babbled10 ceaselessly about the country through which they were passing and the ceremony they were to witness.
No stranger has ever seen it. But he, Orellana, asked nobody’s permission, and since his daughter was to be wedded11 to the Sun, it was the least of things that he should be present at the marriage, and particularly as he had planned it all so carefully! It had taken him years to find the Temple of Death, but with patience all things could be done. There was not one dried-up river-Red underground, not a deserted12 goldmine which he did not know so well that he could find his way about it with his eyes shut. |
And what fortunes he had discovered under the earth; a fortune equal to all the fortunes on earth! It was obvious that the Incas must have got their gold somewhere. Well, he had discovered where! There was plenty of it left, plenty of it left!... One day, some clever young engineer would find out, and he would only have to stoop to be as rich as Croesus. (A bitter smile from the young engineer, whose thoughts were far from such things.)... But he, Orellana, did not give a fig13 for all the gold in creation.
He loved only his daughter, whom the Indians had taken to the Temple of Death, and it was only the Temple of Death which he had sought.
It had taken him years, but now everything was; ready and he was going to save her. He had waited long enough to kiss her again! Ten whole years!
So the old man wandered on, while Dick listened eagerly, striving to guess how much was truth, and how much madness.
“But how do they get from Cuzco to the Temple of Death?”
“Don’t you worry about that.... By the Corridors of Night, by the Corridors of the Mountains of Night, by the Corridors of the Lake of Night.... By the way, do you know anything about fishing?”
Dick did not have time to answer this extraordinary question, for the guard had come through to their carriage, and was inviting14 them to the luggage-van to see the samacuena danced. Everybody else seemed to be going there, and they accepted so as not to draw attention to themselves. They found the van peopled with Indians, dancing, playing the guitar, and drinking hard. At each step, the guard, to celebrate Garcia’s victories, fired a volley of cohetes, the mountains throwing back the echo of the explosions.
Then some of the Quichua soldiers in the train gave themselves up to the pleasures of the chase. Spying flocks of vicu?as in the hills, they went to the observation-car and tried their luck. One of them, something of a marksman, brought down a vicu?a, the train stopped with a grinding of brakes, and the guard himself went off to retrieve15 the bag.
Dick, wild with impatience16, would have liked to club the engine driver and take charge of the locomotive himself, but Orellana calmed him down.
“We’re sure to get there before them. You’ll see! Why, we shall even have time to do some fishing!”
Leaving their fellow-travelers to cut up the vicu?a, they returned to their carriage, where the stove had been lighted. It had become intensely cold, for they were now in the snow regions, more than fourteen thousand feet above sea-level. Soroche, or mountain fever, threw the young engineer, and after bleeding violently at the nose, he fell into a semi-comatose condition. He did not recover until Punho, when he again remembered the horrible nightmare through which he was living, and savagely17 demanded to be shown the way to the Temple of Death.
“We’re going there,” replied his strange guide, but first took him to the main square, where about a hundred Indian girls, wearing skirts of a dark material and the low-cut bodices of their race, squatted18 in orderly rows, selling fruits and vegetables dried in the cold.
“There are usually two hundred of them,” explained Orellana, “but the Red Ponchos19 have been this way and chosen the best-looking half for the ceremony. It’s the same thing every ten years.”
He made a few purchases with Dick’s money, and after adding a flask20 of pisco to his stores, led the way out of the city. At nightfall they reached a huge marsh21, alive with water-fowl. Next they crossed a heath, llamas and alpacas fleeing at their approach, and finally came to a dismal22 little bay on the shores of the lake.
Titicaca, in its mountain cradle, is the highest lake in the world. That night, its waters looked somber23 and heavy, almost dead. A storm, growling24 in the distance, soon swept down on them with a howl of rain, the waves dashing up the beach mountain-high, and the lightning touching25 the surrounding peaks with fire.
“Splendid, splendid,” muttered Orellana as the storm broke. “That means fine weather for to-morrow. In the meantime, we may as well have supper.”
He had led the young man under a giant monolith, hewn to the shape of a door. In a niche26 of it, Orellana managed to light a dung-cake fire, and here they ate a little and warmed themselves with generous pulls at the pisco flask. Dick at last fell asleep, while the old man covered him with a horse blanket and paternally27 watched over his slumbers28.
Just before dawn, Dick awoke to find Orellana reminiscent.
“This place has always brought me luck since I started to look for my daughter, but I cannot make out who to thank for it. Do you know who this god is?”
He pointed29 to the bas-reliefs which covered the stone. They represented a human being, the head adorned30 with allegorical rays, and each hand holding a different scepter. Around this being were symmetrically ranged other figures, some with human faces, others with the heads of condors31, all holding scepters, and all facing toward the center.
“There’s no doubt about it,” mused32 Orellana aloud. “This is nothing like the Incas’ work. It is much more sculptural, and much older. There must have been worlds on these shores before the advent33 of the Incas. They’re only savages34 who steal children.... Well, come on. We may as well go out in my boat and meet the sun.”
In a little creek35, half hidden by rushes, they found a cane36 pirogue, in which Orellana had soon hoisted37 a mast and a mat sail.
“Come on,” he said, “we’ll do some fishing. It’s all on the way to the Temple of Death.”
Dick followed him into the fragile craft, and they started for the islands. These came into sight late in the afternoon, a blue blur38 on the horizon. To Dick’s fevered imagination, they seemed like threatening shadows on the face of the waters, ghostly guardians39 of the Temple of Death.
Orellana refused to go any nearer that night, hauled down the sail, and threw overboard a heavy stone to anchor his boat. Then he handed Dick a fishing-rod. At his astonished look, the madman replied:
“People come to the islands to fish, because these waters are blessed by the gods and the catches are better than anywhere else. Can’t you do what everybody else does?”
He pointed across the waters to little lights flaring40 up at the bows of other pirogues, in which sat motionless fishermen.
“All those Indians are fishing,” he said. “You may as well join them. If you can’t, go to sleep, and don’t worry us. You’ll see something worth while when you wake up.”
Orellana woke Dick just before dawn. The last stars were paling in the heavens at the approach of their King. The deep waters of the lake showed uniformly gray, not a light and not a shadow upon them. Not a sound to break stillness, not a breath of wind in the air. Suddenly, in the Orient, the mountain peaks were touched with fire, a giant furnace sprang into being behind the torn curtain of the Cordilleras, and the sun painted scarlet41 splashes into the shadows of the sacred islands.
When they pass before the largest of them, which is Titicaca, the Indian fishermen in their fragile pirogues never fail to chant the A?mara Hymn42 of the Ancestors, for it was from this island, untold43 years ago, that sprang the founders44 of the Inca race in the persons of Manco Capac and Mama Cello45, husband and wife, brother and sister, both children of the Sun. Coming in sight of the island, the traveler perceives giant ruins find great masses of rock piled up in an inexplicable46 manner, so strange that science has not yet been able to give them a date. These are the baths, the palaces and temples of the first Incas.
Dick, staring landwards from the pirogue, hardly knew whether he was awake or dreaming. Was this a hallucination born of the terrors of the week, or did his eyes really reveal what other eyes had first adored centuries before, at the dawn of the Inca world? As the shadows of night drew away and the island stood out above the waters in all its terrestrial grandeur47, he did not merely see dead stones, lifeless temples, and deserted palaces; the Cyclopean whole was peopled by a vast throng48, motionless and silent, its myriad49 faces turned to the flaming Orient This immobility and silence were those of a dream; there were thousands there who seemed to live and breathe only in the expectation of some mysterious and sacred event.
The disc of the sun was still hidden behind the Andes, but all Nature heralded50 its approach; the flanks of the mountains were jeweled with a thousand dazzling stones, brooks51 and torrents52 were afire, and the broad bosom53 of the lake was a roseate mirror bearing the still reflections of palaces and temples. Virgins54, bearing, as of old, the most beautiful flowers of the season and the emblems55 of their religion, peopled the porticoes56. At the summits of towers, luminous57 with the dawn, priests waited for their god to show his face.
Suddenly, he appears... he rises... he blazes down on his empire, and is hailed by a great roar. “Hail, O Sun, King of the Heavens, father of men!” Earth trembles, waters shiver, the heavens even quiver at the call. “Hail, O Sun, father of the Inca!” Arms are stretched toward him, hands heavy with offerings implore58 his intercession, and every voice chants his glory. “Hear thy children! Hail, O Sun!”
Cries and songs of triumph are swelled59 by the clamor of barbaric instruments, and the tumult60 grows as the radiant disc climbs higher in the heavens, bathing the multitude in light.
Sun, behold61 thy Empire! After so many centuries, the faithful, the men who labor62 in valley and mountain, are still here, and still do thee obeisance63. The golden-armed virgins have poured libations from the sacred vases, and the hymns64 of the priests, after having risen to the heavens, now seem to plunge65 into the earth.
What is this miracle? The dream has vanished; vanished as do the light mists of morning before the first rays of the sun.
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1
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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7
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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8
triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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9
sifting
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| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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10
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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11
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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13
fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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15
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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16
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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18
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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19
ponchos
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| n.斗篷( poncho的名词复数 ) | |
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20
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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22
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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23
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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24
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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25
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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paternally
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| adv.父亲似地；父亲一般地 | |
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28
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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31
condors
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| n.神鹰( condor的名词复数 ) | |
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32
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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33
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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35
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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37
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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40
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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41
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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42
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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43
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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44
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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45
cello
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| n.大提琴 | |
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46
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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47
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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48
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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49
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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50
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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51
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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52
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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53
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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54
virgins
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| 处女，童男( virgin的名词复数 )； 童贞玛利亚（耶稣之母） | |
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55
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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56
porticoes
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| n.柱廊，（有圆柱的）门廊( portico的名词复数 ) | |
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57
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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58
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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59
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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60
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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61
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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62
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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63
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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64
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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65
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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