The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-07

mo, white man; it ends many days
journey away to the west, but he VINO
would travel round it must wade
through a great swamp. Also the
mountains may be crossed to the east
by journeying for three days through
SHOWS and down precipices but so far
as l have learned only one man lived
to cross them, a wandering Indian,
who found his way to the banks of the
Holy Waters in the days of my grand
father. Now stay here while | search. :"
Are you glad to see the gateway of
your home, Maya% asked the senior.
NO. she answered, almost fiercely,
"for here in the wilderness 1 have been
happy, but there sorrow awaits me and
you. Oh! if indeed | am dear to you,
let us turn even now and fly together
back to the lands where your people
live" and she clasped his hand and
looked earnestly into his eyes.
What" he answered, land leave
journey by themselves"
You are more to me than my father,
James,"
But. Maya, having come so far I
wish to see the sacred city,
CAS- you WILL" she said, letting fall
his hand. ''See, my father has found
the place and calls us
We walked on for about hundred
PAGES, treading our path through
piles of powders that lay at the foot
of the precipice. till we came to where
Zibalbay stood leaning against the wall
of rock in which we could see no break
or opening.
Although I trust you, and as I be-
lieve, Heaven has brought us together
for its own purposes said the old
man, yet must follow the ancient
custom and obey the oath, to suffer
no stranger to see the entrance to the
mountain gate. Come fither, daugh-
ter and blindfold these foreigners.
She obeyed and as she tied the hand
kerchief about the senor'S face | heard
her whisper, Fear not, I will be your
eyes
Then we were taken by the hand and
led this way and that till we were con-
fused. After we had walked some
PAGES we were halted and left while,
as we judged from the sounds, our
guides moved something heavy. Next
we were conducted down a steep in
cline through passage so narrow and
low that our shoulders rubbed the sides
or 1t, and in parts we were obliged to
bend our heads. At length, after TAX
ing many sharp turns, the passage
grew wider and the path smooth and
level.
Loose the bandages,'' said the voice
Of Zibalbay.
Maya did SO, and when our eyes were
accustomed to the light, we looked
round us curiously to find that we
stood at the bottom of a deep cleft or
volcanic rift in the rock made not by
the hand of man, but by that of nature
working with her tools of fire and
water. This cleft, along which ran a
ROAD SO solidly built and drained that,
save here and there where snowdrifts
blocked it, it was still easily passable
after centuries of disuse did not meas
-ure more than forty PAGES from wall to
wall. On either side of it lowered sheer
black cliffs honeycombed with door
ways that, could only have been reach
ed by ladders
What are these?" I asked of Zibal-
bay, "burying places?'
NO." he answered, dwelling houses.
They were there, so say the records.
before our forefathers founded the City
OF the Heart, and in them dwelt cave
men. barbarians, who fed on little and
-did7not feelzthefcold. It7was by follow
ing some of these cavennen- through
that passage which we have passed
that the founder of the ancient city
try and great lake that lie beyond it,
where the rock jewellers, whom our
forefathers killed out, used to live in
the winter season. Once, when I was
young, with some companions I entered
these caves. by means of ropes and lad
ders, and found many strange things
there, such as stone axes and rude
ornaments of gold, relics of the bar
barians. But let us press on. or night
will overtake US in the pass
By degrees the great cleft that had
Wldened as we walked began to narrow
again, till it appeared to end in a. sec
ond wall of rock. Passing round a
boulder that lay at the foot of this
wall, Zibalbay led tne way into a tun-
mel behind it
DO not fear the darkness" he said:
the passage is short and there are no
pitfalls''
So we followed the sound of his foot
steps through the gloom till presently
a spot of light appeared before us. and
IN another minute, we stood on the FIR
Their side of the mountain. though we
could see nothing of the place, because
of the falling shadows.
Without pausing, Zibalbay pushed on
down the hill. and suddenly turning to
the right stopped before the door Of a
house built of hewn stone
Enter" he said, land welcome to the
country Of the People of the Heart -
AS the door was thrown open. light
from the fire within streamed through
1t, and a mans voice was heard ask
ing, Who is there?"
Without answering, Zibalbay walked
INTO the room. 1t was low. yaulted
apartment and at a table placed before
the great fire, which burned upon the
nedItn, sat a man and woman eating.
is this the way that you watch for NV
return?" he asked in a stern voice
haste now and make food ready for
u.s. for we are starved with cold and
hunger" -A
The man, who had risen, stood hesi-
tatlng, but the woman, whose position
enabled her to see the face of tha
speaker, caught him by the arm. saw
ing:
!, Down to your knees, husband. It is
the cacique come back"
Pardon, cried the man, taking the
hint, but to be frank, o lord, it has
been SO dinned into my ears down in
the city yonder that neither you nor the
Lazy OF the. Heart would ever return
again that / thought you must he
ghosts. Yes, and so they will think in
the city, where have heard that TIkal
rules in your place"
Peace" said Zibalbay, frowning
heavily. 1--WE left robes here. did we
not? Go lay them out in the sleenine
chambers, and with them others for
these my guests, while the women make
food ready
The man bowed with outstretched
arms till the backs of his hands touched
the ground. Then taking an earthen
lamp from a side table, he lit it and
vanished behind a curtain, an example
which the woman followed after she
had rapidly cleared the table of the
dishes that stood upon it and thrown
some billets of wood upon the fire.
When they were gone, we gathered
round the hearth to bask in the luxury
of its warmth.