San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-02-14

| FJrCSheIwas to walk with NDther children
in the. processiOn-she ever cast her eyef
| into the dark receSses of the room and
murmured petulantly, calling now and
| then:
| sob, grandmother, hurry! Eliza il
! waiting. shall be left outr'
After time slow and feeble footsteps
were heard within, and an old woman
| :appeared-an old woman bearing the
weight of years so heavily that she
scarce needed to bend an inch in emery
ing through the little opening. 1t was
| the child's grandmother, Intzu, the oldest
woman in the city, one of the weavers of
/ the cloth of which thesacred white robes
were made-a duty which devolved upon
| the most aged and most skilled of the
women. Her face was shriveled like all
old dried apple, SO fall of wrinkles that
not an eighth of an inch of skin was left
increased, yet her teeth we're as white
and regular as her grandchild's and her
eyes as bright and piercing.
| She came out into the glaring light
blinking her eyes and puckering the
| skin about them in ooncentric wrinkles
| in an endeavor to see the child among
the flowers, and seated herself with a
| contented chuckle beside her ON the sill.
."Ah-the sun is good. He warns old
Intzu's bones, though not as fondly as
he was wont to do in the old days. And
today is another feast-how quickly
| they come now! Times are changed.
Formerly they We're far apart, and we
| waited long for the sacrifice. Now they
tread each others hurrying heels"
"How many have you seen, grand
| MOTHER asked the child, creeping closer.
MANY, many, my child! Two katuns
have l lived through, and each katun is
| fifty-two years in length. And the gods
were kind! | was not chosen for the
sacrifice, Though l was married late in
life, for you must know that it's only
| the maidens who are taken, and none
is exempt but the blind or lame. Even
the wise and good Leila, your cousin,
| may be chosen when the fatal dice are
thrown again, when the feast of the
katun comes, two years hence. have
stood upon the housetOp and seen COM
panion of my youth given to the gods,
and then, years after, my daughters
stood with me and beheld the same
sight until it has grown an old tale to
me. Yet we have always made merry,
for who may mourn those who go to
dwell with the god? Some day, they
say, Quetzalcoatl, the fair god, yellow
haired like the sun, whose child he is,
will appear and claim the victim as his
bride, but We have waited in vain, my
Eliza, for many generations, and per-
haps he has forgotten US down in the
canyon. But we look for him, for when
he comes there will be no more sacri-
fees, no more famine, no more plaques"
"Oh, l hope he will Gomez" said Eliza,
taking her grandmothers hand.
after the sacrifice is finished" con-
tinued the old woman, 1.-THE people break
forth in songs of gladness and make
merry with shouts and feasting all that
day until the sun goes down, but the
god knows, and his servant Intzu knows.
the secret wailings and sorrow in the
houses of his people, who fear that the
next feast will take from some dwelling
the light thereof forever"
But QuetzalcOatl may come today
grandmother"
"Alas, my Eliza, fear not; the hope
of it long ago faded in my breast"
Il shall watch for him. said the child,
"and believe he has been waiting for
our Aimee to grow up. and he will come
| and take her."
gn;J -
sigh as the food of memories surged
over her mind; "but come, they are
nearly ready"
Then rising, she turned and called to
some one within:
LEILA, my own, we must go. Iklapel
stands prepared to give the signal, and
| everything is ready"
In a moment there appeared at the
door a girl whose tall figure formed a
| dazzling picture against the darkness of
the interior. Bending with stately grace
she came into the light clad in a cling
ing gown of pale blue cotton, which re-
vealed the superb outlines of her form
Her eyes were a deep blue, and her
| golden hair, tinged with suggestion of
auburn, and her white face upon which
| the blue veins showed in her excitement,
made her seem like a vision Of some
Norseman's daughter-a child OF some
snowland of the north. A lovely face,
with grave, serious eyes and mouth of
wondrous beauty, and yet SO strong and
earnest, and withal showing capacity
Cor loving-a passionate mouth, formed
for kisses and tender smiles.
She was very pale and her lips were
compressed with emotion, and there was
look of indignation and protest in her
| eves which showed tO MAINLY her