Manco, the Peruvian Chief Part 10

I next tried to interrogate Nita, speaking in the Quichua language, supposing she did not understand Spanish; but with a smile she signed to me not to talk.

"Sleep, stranger, sleep," she said in a sweet musical voice in her native tongue; "it will strengthen you to undergo the toils which are in store for you. My husband has promised to tell you more to-morrow. I must quit you if you persist in talking."

Seeing that she was determined not to answer any of the questions I longed to ask, I felt that it would be ungrateful not to do as she desired me, and I once more resigned myself to sleep.

The next day I felt better and stronger, and my wounds were healing rapidly; but Manco did not return, and Nita told me that he was engaged in mustering and arming his followers. She would, however, give me no other information. I felt very sad and solitary, notwithstanding her kindness; for, whenever I could collect my thoughts, I could not help fearing that some misfortune had befallen those I best loved on earth.

Fortunately I slept or dozed away the greater part of the day, and this, I suspect, contributed to the rapidity of my recovery, aided by my good const.i.tution and the pure air I breathed. At night Nita sent an old woman to sit by me, who was relieved by a young lad of my own age. I expected to gain some information from the latter, for he looked very intelligent; but when I spoke to him he shook his head, and I afterwards discovered that the poor fellow was deaf and dumb. There were several huts near mine, one of which I found was occupied by Nita and her husband.

Three days pa.s.sed away, and at last, to my great joy, Manco came back.

He seemed in high spirits when he spoke of the prospects of his people.

He told me that the Indians throughout the whole of the mountain districts of Peru were up in arms, and that whenever they had encountered the Spaniards the latter had been defeated; though he confessed, with regret, that many atrocities had been committed by the enraged natives, and that the white inhabitants of whole villages and districts, including women and children, had been cruelly ma.s.sacred, as had also the negroes and those with any white blood in their veins.

I may as well here pause in my personal narrative to give a short account of the cause of the disastrous revolt of the Indians of Peru, from which so many thousand lives were sacrificed. I have already spoken of the systematic cruelty practised by the Spaniards from their first occupation of the country, and of the dreadful effects of the _mita_ (as the parcelling out of the people among the conquerors as slaves was called, under the pretence of enabling them to learn trades and to become domestic servants, as also to make them work in the mines); but another injustice was the immediate cause of the outbreak.

This was the _repartimiento_. It was a law originally made by the Spanish Government, authorising the _corregidores_ to distribute among the natives goods imported from Europe at fixed prices, and which they were compelled to purchase whether they required them or not.

Consequently, all sorts of things damaged and useless were sent out from Spain to Peru, where they were certain of realising a profit to be obtained nowhere else. Among them might be found silk stockings, satins, and velvets--razors for men who never shaved, and spectacles for those whose eyesight was excellent. I remember especially a consignment of spectacles arriving to a merchant at Lima. He could nowhere dispose of them, till he bethought himself of applying to a _corregidor_ of a neighbouring district, who was his friend, to help him. The latter threw no difficulty in the way.

"Your goods shall be sold immediately, my friend," he replied; and forthwith he issued an order that no Indian should appear at church or at festivals unless adorned with a pair of spectacles, intimating the place where they were to be sold. The poor people had to come and buy the spectacles, and to pay a very high price for them into the bargain.

The Spanish Government, when they framed the law, had doubtless no idea that it would be thus abused; their intention being to civilise the people by the introduction of European clothing and luxuries, and in that manner to create a good market for the product of the industry of the mother country. It is one of the many examples of the folly of attempting to force the interests of commerce by unjust laws. For a time a few merchants sold their goods; but the ultimate result, independent of the bloodshed which it caused, was that the Indians took a dislike to Spanish manufactures, and the Peruvian market was ultimately lost for ever to Spain.

The _repartimiento_ had lately been put in force by the _corregidores_ with even more than the usual injustice. The _corregidores_ were, I must explain, Spanish munic.i.p.al officers, who had very great authority in the districts they governed; and as they were the receivers of all taxes, tributes, and customs, they were able to ensure it with unsparing rapacity, which they did not fail to do in most instances.

At length, after years of suffering, the Indian population were thoroughly aroused, and determined to throw off the hated yoke of the tyrants. Condorcanqui placed himself at their head; and before the Spaniards were aware of the storm which was gathering, he had collected a large but undisciplined army. He had two sons, called Andres and Mariano, and a brother named Diogo, all of whom a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Tupac Amaru, which means in the Quichua language, _the highly endowed_.

Several others of his relations also a.s.sumed the same t.i.tle, and took command of the patriots' forces in other parts of the country. The Spaniards, despising the Indians, and regardless of any warnings they might have received, were completely taken by surprise, and defeated in all directions. The villages in whole districts were totally destroyed, and several large towns were besieged, many of which were captured and the inhabitants put to the sword.

Of their first victory I had been a witness. Condorcanqui had been _cacique_ of the province of Tungasuca, the _corregidor_ of which was among the most exacting and rapacious of his cla.s.s. For a long time the Indian chief had brooded over the sufferings of his countrymen, till he resolved to avenge them. He confided his plans to a few other _caciques_ only, and to his own relatives. They prepared the people by means of faithful emissaries throughout the country; and arms and munitions of war were collected with the greatest secrecy and expedition. At an appointed day the signal of revolt was given; and the _corregidores_ in many of the provinces, whom they looked upon as their princ.i.p.al oppressors, were seized and executed.

The _corregidor_ of Tungasuca had been entertaining a party of friends and some travellers at his house. The feast was over; they had taken their _siesta_; and other guests had a.s.sembled to pa.s.s the evening with music and dancing. His wife and daughters were there, and several ladies young and lovely. The gay guitar was sounding in the hall, and happy hearts and light feet were keeping time to the music. The _corregidor_ was standing apart from the rest in earnest conversation with a stranger.

"This is my farewell a.s.sembly," he observed. "I have now, thank Providence, ama.s.sed a fortune sufficient for my wants; and in a few weeks' time I shall sail for my beloved Spain. This country is a good one for making money, but for nothing else."

"It is a fine country, though; and history tells us was once a perfect paradise," remarked the stranger.

"A paradise it might have been when the fields were better cultivated and more mines were worked; but the people have chosen to die off, and those who remain are idle and lazy, and will not work," answered the _corregidor_, with a scornful laugh.

"They have lately taken to care very little for religion either,"

observed Padre Diogo, the family chaplain, who now joined the speakers.

"When we go among them with the saints to collect offerings, our boxes come back not a quarter full."

Just then a servant, pale with terror, rushed up to his master.

"What is the matter?" asked the _corregidor_. "Speak, fool, speak!" for the man could only utter some unintelligible sounds.

"The Indians! the Indians!" cried the man, at length finding his voice.

"The house is surrounded by thousands of them!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "The slaves would not dare--"

Just then an unearthly cry rent the air. The music ceased, and the strangers hurried to go--the ladies clasping their partners' arms, and the children clinging to their mothers. Some of the men went to the windows. What the servant had reported was too true. On each side were seen, by the beams of the pale moon, dense ma.s.ses of armed savages, forming an impenetrable barrier round the house; while others kept arriving from every direction.

"What means all this?" exclaimed the _corregidor_. "I will go out and order the slaves to disperse."

"O stay, stay!" cried his wife, clinging to him with an air of despair, which showed her too true forebodings of evil. "They are exasperated against you, and may do you harm. Let Padre Diogo go; he has influence with the people, and may persuade them to depart."

The _corregidor_ was easily persuaded to follow his wife's counsel, for his conscience told him that the Indians had just cause to hate him.

One of the strangers suggested that efforts should instantly be made to barricade the house, and prepare for defending it, should the Indians be a.s.sembled with any hostile intention. The _corregidor_ was about to give orders to that effect, when another loud unearthly shriek paralysed the nerves of all the inmates.

"Oh, go, Senor Padre, go! save my husband and children!" cried the terrified wife.

"Save us! save us!" cried the guests, now fully aware of the horrible danger that threatened them.

Thus urged, Padre Diogo prepared, with many misgivings, to go forth and appeal to the people. He looked round with a sad countenance on those he had lately seen so full of life and gaiety.

"May Heaven and the saints protect you, my children," he said solemnly.

Then taking in his hand a crucifix which hung in a little oratory near the hall, he opened the front door of the house and stepped out among the crowd. He held the sacred symbol of his faith aloft in his hand.

It served as his safeguard. No one attempted to injure him; but before he could utter a word, he was surrounded and hurried away from the house. No one would listen to his prayers and entreaties.

"Mercy, mercy, for the unfortunates in yonder mansion!" he cried.

"Mercy, mercy, Senor Padre! did they ever show mercy to us?" exclaimed a voice from the crowd.

He looked back; the Indians were pouring into the house. Loud agonised shrieks of women and children reached his ears. A few shots were heard, followed by the triumphant shouts of the Indians. Flames were seen bursting forth from the house. They burned up bright and clear in the night air. By their light he observed a man dragged along among a crowd of Indians. They stopped and appeared to be busily at work. In a short time a gibbet was erected near the burning building.

"You are required to shrive a dying man, Senor Padre," said an Indian who approached him.

He was led towards the engine of death. There, beneath it, he found, pale with terror, and trembling in every limb, the _corregidor_, his patron.

"They tell me, my son, that I am to perform the last offices of religion for the dying," said Padre Diogo.

"For me, Padre, for me!" exclaimed the _corregidor_ in a voice of agony.

"Alas! it is cruel mockery. They have murdered my wife and children, my guests and servants--all, all are dead! and now they will murder me."

"I will plead for you; I will try to save your life," said the padre.

"But they cannot have been so cruel--they cannot have murdered those innocents!"

"Alas! I speak true. Before my eyes they slew all I love on earth, and they only preserved me to make me endure longer suffering," said the wretched man.

"You are delaying to perform your duty," cried a voice from among the crowd of Indians.

"Mercy, mercy, for him, my children!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the padre.

"He showed us none," answered a hundred voices in return. "Proceed, proceed, or he must die without shrift."

The padre felt there was no hope; but he attempted to make another appeal. He was answered in the same strain.

"My son, you must prepare your soul for another world," he whispered into the ear of the _corregidor_.