Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/284

270 Huascar, taking evergreen branches from a golden vase held by two virgins, bound them in their hair as a sign that the virtues they had acquired must last for all time. Then, one by one, he called their names to the King, who, as each young man knelt before him, pierced his ears with a golden awl. They descended, their white robes smeared with blood, while Huascar, from another vase, took heavy ear-rings, with which he adorned them. Nothing in the young faces betrayed their suffering. Then all raised their hands and took the oath of bravery and of fealty to the Inca.

"That is well," said the King. "Let them now put on their sandals."

This part of the ceremony was performed by the quipucamyas, the most venerable among them strapping on the young men's feet the sandals of the Order of the Incas.

"That is well," repeated the King. "Let them be given their girdles." Again the old men passed down the ranks, buckling on the heavy war-belts.

"That is well," said the King for the third time. "And I say unto you before the dead King and the Coya who is to die, that they may repeat it to your ancestors, that our race is still the first of all living races, for you are the pure Children of the Sun, without earthly