Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/40

26 manner had displeased her, and that she had let him know it.

"That is another matter," said the Marquis. "But I am no more comfortable about it ... there is something in the air ... the Indians are not behaving normally.... The other day, in the Plaza Mayor, I heard extraordinary remarks being made by some half-breeds to a couple of Quichua chiefs."

"Yes, we did not meet a single Indian on the way from Callao, and I have not seen one in the city," said Dick. "Why is that, I wonder?"

"Because of the festival," interjected Aunt Agnes. "They have their secret meetings. They disappear into the mountains, or some warren of theirs—catacombs like the Early Christians. One day, the order comes from some corner of the Andes, and they vanish like shadows, to reappear a few days later like a swarm of locusts."

"My sister exaggerates a little," said the Marquis, smiling. "They are not so very dangerous, after all." "But you yourself are worried, Christobal. You have just said so."

"Only because there might be some rioting...."

"Have they got it in them?" asked Mr. Montgomery. "They seem so nerveless...."