THE BRIDE OF THE SUN
273
please him, that she was not worthy of the sepulcher of fire, and that her body must be thrown to the black vultures in the mountains.
On this day, the first pyre to blaze up was that of the long-dead Coya. She was waiting. Songs rang out in her honor, and a purple veil which Dick had not yet noticed fell to the ground. A black gap showed in the wall, and in it could be seen the shadowy figure of the thousand-year-old queen, stiff in her scented wrappings.
