“Do you not fear our friends in the outer world, whose number is greater than the grains of sand in the desert? They will avenge our death. You and your people will be reduced to slavery and destroyed!” “Should other men from the outer world invade my kingdom they shall receive the same welcome that has been prepared for you. But they will not come. Your greed for gold is so great that you kept to yourselves the knowledge gained during your previous visit here; if others were informed of your secret they too would come to share the spoils; so you have told no one. I know that.” “Our promise to Huayna Capac has been kept, for we are men of honor. But a letter has been left behind. If we fail to return within a given time, that letter will be opened. Others will learn of our whereabouts, and how to get here, for we included a map and full directions for reaching the valley. Your existence will be known. Men in great numbers will enter your hiding-place armed with contrivances against which you will be powerless. They will annihilate you, carry away everything of value, and leave your cities masses of deserted ruins.” “You cannot frighten me. The Sun-God will protect his children. He demands vengeance upon you particularly because you profaned his temple; he never forgets. Perhaps you too have a god? Why not appeal to him? Of what use is any god if he will not help you?” At this sally Quizquiz and Villac Umu burst into loud laughter. Several in the crowd followed their example. “Yes,” the high priest seconded, “call upon your god. Tell him to show us what he can do; we shall see who is the more powerful, yours or our own.” “The sun is not a god at all, if you want to know the truth,” Stanley hotly proclaimed. “You might as well worship a stick or a stone for all the good it would do you. Therefore we could not have possibly offended that which does not exist.” “Blasphemer! When your backs are chained to the cold stones, when the snakes have struck and the poison from their fangs is burning in your veins, you will think of your words and wish you had left them unsaid,” Quizquiz hissed. “We have proof of the sun’s power. We are not blind. Each day as the florid tints of dawn light up the eastern sky we are reminded anew of his glory and greatness. Without his light and warmth the valley would be steeped in everlasting gloom, and life could not exist. What other evidence do we need? None! Now, perhaps you can give some proof of the----” “You ask for proof? All right, you shall have it, and of a most convincing nature. You shall see that the object of your adoration is as nothing in the hand that created it. Then you will believe--but it will be too late.” “Does the king wish him to speak more in this irreverent manner?” Villac Umu asked, seeming ill at ease. “May not he be struck dead and thus evade our plans of a just punishment?” “Let him continue, for his show of suffering gives me delight. The more he talks the greater his guilt.”