By her hand he meant the quipos to speak.
We had a friend in court, but she was dumb, and I must give her
voice. There was no time to be lost; I stepped to the edge of the
column and spoke in a voice loud enough to carry across the
cavern--which was not difficult in the universal silence.
"He means that you are to judge us by the quipos. The meaning is
this--yellow, slavery, white, mercy; purple, reward; black,
death. The lengths of the cords and the number of knots indicate
the degree of punishment or reward. Attached to the frame you
will find a knife. With that detach the cord of judgment and lay
it at the feet of the king."
Again silence; and not one of the vast throng, nor the king
himself, appeared to pay the slightest attention to my voice. The
king continued his gestures to Desiree.
She rose and walked to the frame of quipos and took in her hand
the knife which she found there suspended by a cord. There she
hesitated, with the knife poised in the air, while her eyes
sought mine--and found them.
I felt a tug at my arm, but I had no time for Harry then. I was
looking at Desiree, and what I saw caused a cold shudder to
flutter through my body.
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