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Updated: May 5, 2025
I recollected first the different disposition of the quipos for different purposes historical, sacred, narrative, et cetera. Then the particulars came to me, and immediately I recognized the formula of the quipos before the throne. They were arranged for adjudication for the rendering of a verdict. Harry and I were prisoners before the bar of the quipos!
I waited, expecting to see a bundle of quipos thrust through the opening, but they did not appear. Instead, five golden vessels were pushed across the ground until they were inside, clear of the stone; I could see the black, hairy hands and arms, which were immediately withdrawn.
The king had dropped his arm, and the Incas were again sitting as Nature had intended they should sit, instead of on their noses. And four attendants had approached the throne, bearing a frame of quipos. "So we are to have a fair trial," Harry observed. "With the king for judge." "And a hundred dead rats as evidence." "Right; they can't get even with us, anyway; there are only two of us.
To see you happy is enough happiness for me; I have proved this for the seven years past. The guarantee for this, Honorine, is to be seen in all the flowers made by you, carefully preserved, and watered by my tears. Like the quipos, the tally cords of the Peruvians, they are the record of our sorrows.
I had early made an examination of the urns which furnished our light. They were of gold and perfect in form, which convinced me that they had been brought by the fugitives from Huanuco, as, indeed, the quipos also, and several other articles we found, including our golden table service. The urns were filled with an oil which I was unable to recognize.
"Well, we were busy, and we've already seen the Cave of the Sun." "Still it was an error, and I think you will pay for it. There have been unusual preparations under way for many hours. The king has been in my apartment, and messengers and guards have been arriving constantly, each with his little bundle of quipos, as you call them." "Did you see the quipos?" "Yes."
All doubt was then removed from my mind concerning the identity of our captors and their king. For these bundles of knotted cords of different sizes and colors I recognized at once. They were the famous Inca quipos the material for their remarkable mnemonic system of communication and historical record. At last we were to receive a message from the Child of the Sun. But of what nature?
The sepulchral caves of the Guanches also contained earthenware, wooden vases, triangular seals of baked clay, and a great number of small discs of the same material, strung together like chaplets, which may have been used by this extinct race for the same purposes as the "quipos" of the Peruvians.
The hand of the Child of the Sun passed slowly up and down the frame of quipos, betraying a commendable reluctance. It touched the yellow cord and passed on; grasped the white and dropped it. "The old hypocrite!" exclaimed Harry in disgust. "Does he imagine he is playing with us?"
It wavered among the quipos as though uncertainly, then closed firmly on the black cord of death. A thought flashed through my mind with the speed of lightning. I raised my voice and sang out: "Desiree!" She hesitated; the hand which held the knife fell to her side and again her eyes sought mine. "What of Harry?" I called. "Take two the white for him, the black for me."
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