Summary

Although the bulk of the story takes place in Lima, the coastal and capital city of Peru, the opening scene is in the high Andes, on the route to Cuzco, the former capital of the ancient civilization of the Incas. A suspension footbridge, constructed of organic materials called osier, inexplicably gave way. The bodies of those who fell into the gorge below were so severely damaged that identification was difficult before the interment service in the Cathedral of Lima.

That it would collapse, a bridge in which the whole population including the Viceroy and the Archbishop had total confidence, was a severe shock to everyone. A Franciscan priest, Brother Juniper, was close to the bridge and witnessed to the accident. This was to him a serendipitous occasion, for he had long worked to bring the study of theology into the realm of the exact sciences, a...