Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/229

Rh Below, a long way below her, is a prostrate and silent crowd. On the porphyry steps which stretch down to this crowd stand the three Guardians of the Temple. A step below them, Huascar, his arms crossed under his red poncho. Lower still, four prostrate Red Ponchos, who are the Guards of the Sacrifice. Their heads, completely hidden by the sacred bonnet and ear-caps, are bent so low that none can see their faces.

Surely there is somebody in that huge crowd who will free her! Maria-Teresa, filled with a wild hope, rises with the child in her arms, and cries for mercy. But the booming answer takes away all hope. "Muera la Coya! Muera la Coya! To death with the Queen!" They give her the title in Aïmara, but clamor for her death in Spanish, that she may understand.

The four mammaconas on her right, the four others on her left and the two who were to die with her surrounded the young girl, forced her back to her seat. But she still struggled, holding up the boy, and begging that he at least might be spared.

"He is the sacrifice of Pacahuamac," came the answer. And the mammaconas, taking up the echo, chanted: "The sacrifice of Pacahuamac! Before all things began, before the Sun and before the Moon, his sister, was the