Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-03-16

around the alter. Four chiefs stood at
the corners and held aloft n red cord,
under which all who had purified them
selves by fasting and dreaming were
permitted 10 enter. Before Ixoan- leox
they burned little balls Of incense. each
casting his bah into the braziers of gold,
while the people prayed silently, kneal-
ing, for good and bounteous crops.
Then they moved onward to the altar
of Am, the sacred stone, the emblem Of
life, some holding it to be but the ancient
symbol of the sun god himself II was
simply an upright conical stone stand
ing upon a pedestal; before it. in a great
fire, they sacrificed sheep and rabbits.
also wounding themselves and droppinv
their blood into number of braziers SGT
about the altar. Women, kissing this
stone Of Am, invoked the blessings csf
maternity with loud pieadings. Farther
on stood the dread image Of Chalcu--
the very sight of which afrightod not
only the children, but old men as we'll
hideous figure, with q huge serpent
coiled about his form, out of whose
mouth came a pale blush flame continu-
| ally. rs though he hungered for blood.
Before him the people prostrate them
selves, while even among the younger
| priests blanched faces showed here and
there. To Chalcu they burned many
little spotted dogs, and consigned tho
corpse which the kabilO carried to the
Gevouring flames.
Kulcan addressed the PROSTATE multi
tude with devout gravity and earnest
! lnicn, advising them as to what thoy
should do to avert evil, and announced
10 them the solemn feast of 'Katun," or
! the tifty-sccond year which would &C.
cur two years hence. telling them to
! prepare their daughters for the fatal
! lottery.
Then opening a folded parchment he
read to them the omens for the future
year, announcing the findings Of those
whose daty il was to study the stars and
other signs. He prayed aloud TO Chalcu
10 be merciful, to tempt no man beyond
his strength, to bring no evil to the city,
but to be satisfied with the sacrifice Of
| his servants.
1t was evident that each word was
echoed by the grooming fear stricken
multitude to whom, as we shall see, the
serpent emblem meant moro than nero
idea, and represented real and Horrible
memory Of a terrific event
1t was high noon, the rays OF the sun
falling from Immediately overhead upon
the city so that the great dialpost cast
but an inch or Two OF purple shadow.
The dread event Of the day was about
to occur and the people pressed one an
other closer in their desire to obtain a
nearer view. Very many slipped from
the ranks and mounted to the highest
housetors IN order TO witness every de-
tail Of the awful scene.
Iklapel, standing inotioniess on the
temple, felt that the procession was
nearing him. y strange commngiuS
Of fear and hope moved him, for the
memory Of the voice in the storm WIS
fresh in his mind. and he felt that the
hour had come for the manifestation or
Intervention which he expected. The
head of the procession lad already nearly
reached the temple summit He heard
the measured tread OF feet Us they
mounted the graded caus way, and know
that in another moment Eulcau with
his charge would stand BESIDE him.
Had Iflapel's vision been what ii was
Of old. and had his ewes been directed
upward toward the froWnlng cliffs, he
would have been startled to see q idco
pecriug down upon the wondrous scene
IA face i'll which establishment and
qualification We're mingled. flr the own-
er Of it saw white faces in the multitude
below him and felt himself safe. 10
would have seen body belonging to
the face emerge and descend the clun-
bling, ladderlike pathway, rifle a2I bird
il hand. III eager anticipation of a well
come which meant food AMI drink 10 .
hungry and thirsty man. But Iklapel
saw nothing nor did one eye turn in all
that host of gazing faces upward toward
the real suu-to the golden emblem Of
which they sacrificed.
Each face was turned toward the tenn
pie in a fixed expectancy, eager to catch
every action of the priests and the VIC
tim. Many were there who had seen
but one such sight, when childreu chill
dren We're there 10 see 1t for she first
time-were TO be held up so that they
might see and hold it in their minds ;
aged and middle aged, who had seen it
before. some OF them many times-all
waited the last dread act in the tragedy.
The litter continuing Aimee was at
last placed before the altar and to the
surprise Of all the girl stepped from it
calmly and with hrmress Her face
bore no trace of the intoxicating aitsi,
its effects having passed away in the
trying hours of the morning. Borne up,
even until the last terrible moment, by
firm conviction that Kuican, her
avowed lover would devise some means
to save her, she faced the four dread fig
ures of the death priests and suffered
them to bind her shapely arms behind
her without movement or Il Shudder.
But when Iklapcl stepped forward as
the weird chant Of the K&bilo began and
handed kulcan the sacriticial knife sho
started, and her eyes were filled with a
fearless appeal. Even yet her faith in
his wisdom and his love did not desert
1,,,r -har, I've ttar a l,l 80. }