stigated, and the
fact has been conclusively established that my Lord is he whom we want.
The jewel which my Lord even now wears about his neck proves it.
Further than that--"

"The jewel that I am wearing about my neck--this thing?" exclaimed
Harry, drawing it forth. "Why, man, I fished this up from the bottom of
Lake Chinchaycocha, and am simply wearing it because it appeared
valuable and I did not wish to lose it."

"Even so, Lord," answered Tiahuana soothingly, and with even increased
reverence, if that were possible. "The circumstance that my Lord drew
the collar of the great Manco Capac from the depths of Chinchaycocha is
but an added proof--if such were needed--that my Lord is he whom we have
believed him to be, and that no mistake has been made."

"But, my good man, I tell you that a mistake _has_ been made--a very
stupid mistake--which I must insist that you rectify at once," exclaimed
Escombe, who was beginning to grow a trifle exasperated at what he
inwardly termed the fellow's stupid persistence. "Look here," he
continued, "I don't in the least know whom you suppose me to be, but I
will tell you who I am. My name is Escombe--Henry Escombe. I am an
Englishman, and I only came to Peru--"

"My Lord," interposed Tiahuana with deep humility, yet with a certain
inflection of firmness in his voice, "all that you would say is
perfectly well known to us your servants; it has been told to us by the
man Arima. But nothing can alter the fact that my Lord is the man
referred to in the prophecy pronounced by the great High Priest
Titucocha on the awful night when the Inca Atahuallpa was strangled by
the Spaniards in the great square of Caxamalca. From that moment the
ancient Peruvian people have looked for the coming of my lord to free
them from the yoke of the foreign oppressor, to give them back their
country, and to restore them to the proud position which they occupied
ere the coming of the cruel Spaniard; and now that my lord has deigned
to appear we should be foolish indeed to permit anything--anything,
Lord--to stand in the way of the realisation of our long-deferred
hopes."

Harry began to realise that the misunderstanding was more serious than
he had at first thought. It must be put right without any further
delay. But he could not sit there in that ridiculous palankeen affair
and argue with a man who stood with his head thrust between the
curtains; he must get up and dress. Moreover, he was raven