Indeed all who beheld seemed frozen with horror.  One great sigh went up and then there was silence, since no such deed as this was known in the annals of that empire.  For a moment the aged Upanqui stood upon his feet, the blood pouring down his white beard and jewelled robe.  Then he turned a little and said in a clear and gentle voice: 

“Kari, you will be Inca sooner than I thought.  Receive me, O God my Father, and pardon this murderer who, I think, can be no true son of mine.”

Then he fell forward on his face and when we lifted him he was dead.

Still the silence hung; it was as though the tongues of men were smitten with dumbness.  At length Kari stepped forward and cried: 

“The Inca is dead, but I, the Inca, live on to avenge him.  I declare war upon Urco the murderer and all who cling to Urco!”

Now the spell was lifted, and from those dim hordes there went up a yell of hatred against Urco the butcher and parricide, while men rushed to and fro searching for him.  In vain! for he had escaped in the darkness.

On the following day, with more ceremonies, though many of these were omitted because of the terror and trouble of the times, Kari was crowned Inca, exchanging the yellow for the crimson Fringe and taking the throne name of Upanqui after his father.  In Cuzco there was none to say him nay for the whole city was horror-struck because of the sacrilege that had been committed.  Also those who clung to Urco had fled away with him to a town named Huarina on the borders of the great lake called Titicaca, where was an island with marvellous temples full of gold, which town lay at a distance from Cuzco.

Then the civil war began and raged for three whole months, though of all that happened in that time because of the labour of it, I set down little, who would get forward with my story.

In this war I played a great part.  The fear of Kari was that the Chancas, seeing the Inca realm thus rent in two, would once more attack Cuzco.  This it became my business to prevent.  As the ambassador of Kari I visited the camp of Huaracha, bearing offers of peace which gave to him more than he could ever hope to win by strength of arms.  I found the old warrior-king still sick and wasted because of the hurt from Urco’s club, though now he could walk upon crutches, and set out the case.  He answered that he had no wish to fight against Kari who had offered him such honourable terms, especially when he was waging war against Urco whom he, Huaracha, hated, because he had striven to poison his daughter and dealt him a blow which he was sure would end in his death.  Therefore he was ready to make a firm peace with the new Inca, if in addition to what he offered he would surrender to him Quilla who was his heiress and would be Queen of the Chancas after him.

With these words I went back to Kari, only to find that on this matter he was hard as a rock of the mountains.  In vain did I plead with him, and in vain did the high-priest, Larico, by subtle hints and arguments, strive to gentle his mind.