The Bride of the Sun

listened, then turn

s I am much mistaken, they

et after them! Wher

telephone and the railway.” And once again he took

all one.... Those men belong to Huascar’s band,

y station. “Yes, indeed. They are all in it.... The Red Ponchos.... The Priests of the Sun.” Dick stopped dead. Natividad’s last words a

As he ran, he shouted to his companion:—“But we

are not enough troops in Callao to send a squadron in pursuit.... Every s

telephone

an, as they did ten years ago,”

to Chorillos

a train in ten

we could have found out where they were going. Thirty of them, are ther

Well, it’s beginning again.” Dick, intent on reaching the railway station, did not hear him. He could o

see a motor waiting on it, we stop the train. If we overhaul the Red Ponchos alone, we go on to Chorillo

elephone his instructions to the Chorillos police. No motor c

Lima train steamed into the station, and they saw the

aught sight of Dick, and ran toward him. “Why are yo

le Francis’ long shanks took him wandering aimlessly round the little group. The guard b

f the blow to the Marquis partly succeeded. Then he explained what he knew while Don Christobal, raging in his corner, swore to kil

ly distracted with fear. Going to his club for the first time in a week, he had there found an anonymous letter warning him to watch over his daughter day and night throughout the Interaymi. This letter, a twin of the one received at Cajamarca, had been waiting some days. It particularl

ing! In a country where people used telephones and traveled by rail! It was too horrible, too incred

rtain facts. In a sense, too, he was triumphant. A conscientious official, he had once almost ruined his administrative career by certain reports on Quichua

go far with their precious burden. All the defiles of the sierra were held by Veintemilla’s troops. They would always give assistance

ew tumble-down cabins and bamboo cottages, but soon there was only the nakedness of a huge sandy plain before them. Dick, the Marquis and Natividad, grouped at the windows, searched the night, while Uncle Francis took litt

ividad almost tore out the emergency cord, and the train, with a grinding of brakes, slowed down and then stopped. They tu

m. The young engineer drew a revolver as he reached the motor, ready to shoot down the first man he saw. But there was nobod

e courtyard were in ruins; all were manifestly deserted. On his right, the bodega,

they followed the young man in silence. As they entered the first room of the house, a heavy, pungent perfume greeted their nostrils. Dick, leading the way,

t at the same time, were as suddenly silent again. Bo

loor. All could now distinctly hear a low, prolonged moan. Dick, slipping on the stairs i