Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/248

234 god, having visited his people, had been freed, and continued his voyage through the heavens. The faithful followed him on earth, from east to west.

The sacred procession sprang into life, led by Huascar. First came a hundred servitors of the god, simply dressed, whose task it was to clear the way, chanting pæans of triumph. After them, a group of men in chequer-board tunics of red-and-white, whom the populace greeted with shouts of "The amautas! The amautas!" (the sages). Then others all in white, bearing hammers and maces of silver and copper, who were the apparitors of the royal palace; the guards and the Inca's body attendants, their azure robes blazing with precious metals; finally, the nobles, with heavy ear-rings marking their rank. The procession wound slowly down from Sacsay-Huaynam to the plain, and then the double throne, borne on the shoulders of the noblest among the Indians, appeared to the multitude. Thousands of throats greeted the dead king and his living companion; a roar of mingled enthusiasm for the descendant of Manco Capac, and hatred for the conquering race, translated by deafening shouts of "Muera la Coya! Muera laCoya!"

Maria-Teresa seemed to hear nothing; pale as marble and beautiful as a statue, she passed