“Is the Inca still here? Tell him to call; I have thought of several other things I should like to say to him.” But still no reply, so Stanley concluded that further attempts would be futile. When the two had eaten, the guards gathered up the empty bowls and departed. Ted looked through the opening in the tent; what he saw made him stare in wonder. There was great activity in the direction he could see. Tents in hundreds were being put up and groups of soldiers, led by gaily dressed officers, were marching back and forth. The surrounding country was assuming the aspect of a vast encampment. Stanley, too, came up to the opening. “Looks like preparations for a battle,” he said. “And it is all for our benefit, no doubt. I wonder what Quizquiz intends to do?” “We shall find out soon enough. I wonder where he is?” They tried to venture out of their tent, but the guards pounced upon them immediately and forced them back into the prison. Days passed slowly for the two confined within the narrow space of their shelter; but, fortunately, they were not again bound. Evidently their captor had no fear that they might escape--the place was too well guarded. The suspense was terrible. They knew only too well that all the preparations going on around them were directly connected with their fate; but what that fate was to be they could not even surmise. One day Ted noticed that Stanley was counting a number of knots that he had tied in a string. “Poor fellow,” he thought as he watched him sadly, “his mind is going, but I cannot blame him. It’s enough to drive any one mad. Sometimes I think I feel myself slipping, too”; the latter was uttered half aloud. “What are you mumbling about?” Stanley asked, looking up. “I guess I know; it is enough to drive anybody crazy.” “I was just thinking the same thing about you when I saw you playing with that string. What are you doing?” “What, this? Take a good look and see if you can’t guess.” After a while Ted was compelled to admit that he could not make out the meaning of the string. “Well,” Stanley informed him, “this is my calendar. I am keeping track of the days. Each morning I tie another knot. We left Cuzco on the 12th of the month; it is the 26th to-day.” “How the days pass, even if the hours drag! I would not have thought it is so long since we got into this. By now we have been given up for lost. I can only hope the colonel suspects what happened and starts an investigation. One of the sentinels must have been in the plot and may talk if he is cornered.” Further conversation was checked by the entrance of an officer of the guard attended by a score of soldiers. He looked at them haughtily and elevated his dagger to the waist-line, point outward. “Quizquiz, Inca, Child of the Sun, greatest king that ever came from heaven to rule the earth, commands that you appear before his sacred person. Prepare at once to face the mighty sovereign,” he announced in a loud voice.