Publisher's Synopsis
A tale that deals with the marvellous Incas of Peru; with the legend also that, long before the Spanish Conquerors entered on their mission of robbery and ruin, there in that undiscovered land lived and died a White God risen from the sea. This is set in 14th century Peru, when a former fisherman, who became a wealthy London goldsmith, but who fled after being framed for murder, became the legendary white god of the Incas, marries a princess (who was the Virgin of the Sun similar to a vestal virgin), and eventually dies in battle defending his kingdom (which he inherited from his father-in-law) against the Inca emperor. Apart from one or two battles, not particularly blood-thirsty, and not much of interest.The story starts with the (unnamed) editor of the book - an amateur antiquarian - visiting a fellow collector to purchase a clock on which he has set his heart. Mr Potts, the collector, is an elderly eccentric, who lives alone in provincial English town with a house full of crumbling antiques. The editor notices a late sixteenth century chest, in which he expresses an interest. Mr Potts tells him it is not for sale, until, after a short period of abstraction, he tells the editor that he has been told to let him have it - for £50. He explains to the initially skeptical editor that the shadow or ghost of a foreign-looking woman has told him to let the editor have the chest, and its contents.
