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"They do seeile said wistfully They were sitting on the beach watching: one of the younger dragons was digging out a new terrace into the hillside with a party of a dozen young ravel of many shapes and dirt in layers to fill the space as he carried over loads of each When the dragon had finished depositing the final layer, he settled to earth and a couple of the young wo on the side clie silver hoops, which they had been polishing all the s
"I had much rather have Granby than a dozen other people, even if they were splendid about polishing jewels," Iskierka said, "but they do seem to have heaps of treasure here; and I should not mind for Granby to have children"
Tely that he would mind, if Laurence were to be very occupied with them
"We shan’t stay here, of course," Iskierka continued "That would be great nonsense when there is a whole war going on in Europe, which we can go back to; but we ht as well trade her some of the sailors for women That seems to me very sensible: I do not see e haven’t in with"
"Well, I do not, either; Roland is particularly clever, and can be trusted with anything, even jewels," Temeraire said "But it is the sailors’ duty to reht the war; and we may not trade them because they are not our property"
"I don’t see why not," Iskierka said, "if they want to stay; which they do, because I heard Granby telling Laurence that it would be a job to keep fro calf-eyes at them, and silver cups on the dinner table"
"But in that case the women very likely should not like to come," Temeraire said "In any case, I do not think Curicuillor should like us to carry them away, either It is not much to say, she will trade them to us if we stay here, where she can see the the up the scheme easily "I suppose I ait until we are ho women for my crew, and to have children for Granby"
"You would not like to be always having children, would you, Laurence?" Te
"I beg your pardon?" Laurence said, and when Temeraire had explained Iskierka’s plan was quick to assure him that he had no such desire "I would hope," he added, "that shewith this design; if there were any grounds for such hope"
The , and Temeraire flew from their encampment in search of Curicuillor to make their farewells: she was back in her courtyard half-asleep, with a group of woht red and yellohich Temeraire could not help but look over with an appreciative eye: not silk, but it looked nearly as fine
"It was too e," Curicuillor said regretfully, when Temeraire explained they did not mean to stay "But still, you have been very kind, and behavedand from an uncivilized country I will send Churki with you, to introduce you at the court
"And Choque-Ocllo has given you a khipu, although even so I cannot say if they will let your men see the Sapa Inca," she added "Men and wootten the dreadful way Atahualpa was murdered My own old and silver were delivered in ransom for hireat courtyard of Cajamarca and put a cord around his neck, and before anyone understood as happening, he was strangled Pahuac atching all along He threw his closed, afterwards, for letting it happen; after he had killed them all, of course"
Teing once, at the Channel: the traitor Choiseul, who had nearly abducted Captain Harcourt and passed secrets to Napoleon; and it had been carried out in front of his beast Praecursoris, also But at least he had done soiven heaps of treasure, and then been murdered out of hand
"I do not see how Pahuac could have expected any such thing to happen: no-one could," he said "Those men must have been quiteof the sort"
"Yes, but it is not every dragon who has the responsibility of protecting the Sapa Inca," Curicuillor said "Pahuac ought to have considered their being mad, and intervened sooner: but he was too afraid That was not long after the pestilences first caive over everything only to protect Atahualpa
"To be fair," she added, "those ons with them, so plainly even in your own country they were not worthy of being taken into any dragon’s ayllu: low peasants, or even thieves or murderers, I suppose"
"Well, ," Temeraire said "They are afraid of us; and also there are too h of us, I think In Britain there are ten million people, Laurence says: there was a census, in the year one"
She had been lying at her ease, until then, her eyes half-lidded and drowsy even while she spoke; but at this she raised up her head quite wide-awake; and even the women hard at work interrupted their own conversations to stare "Ten million men," Curicuillor repeated "Ten e country?" When they had worked out the relative sizes as best they could from Temeraire’s memory, she sat back on her haunches "Ten million, and in so small a place: there are scarcely three million in all Pusantinsuyo, these days"
She bent her head low and was silent for several e flattened to her neck Then she said to Temeraire, "You may tell them that, when you have come to Cusco: I am sure it will make them more likely to let you speak with the Sapa Inca Ten million men! If only we had so ain, despite the unquestioned generosity of Curicuillor’s hospitality; he could not think her influence on Teood, in further encouraging the; and apart from this consideration a stay of any duration would surely have resulted in the rapid diht three ons were at last loaded for departure, Laurence was forced to ignore that another two had ’s best efforts, or there would have been no departure: in the ti them, others would have run