The Irish standard., 1896-01-18

frightened, said the senior. roughly,
giAneing round him as ha spoke; there
Is nothing to fear IN red stone cut
like m Hyc-
If you think SO, white man. an
swerea Mattili, in voice that shook a
little, strive as he would to command
it; S"1ift mp the holy thing and give me- Z
the writing that is beneath it. Stay,
first take this, and sot it in the symbol,
replacing the eye upon 1t" and he
handed him the forged tablet,
The senor cbeyed, nor did anything
happen when he lifted that dreadful
. looking jewel and changed the true for
the false.
'Read it," said Maya, as the tablet
was passed to Mattai; ''you have
knowledge of the ancient writings"
Perhaps it We're best left unread"
he said, doubtfnlly. *
May she answered; ''let us know
the worst Read it,
/, Then he read these strange words in
q slow ana solemn voice:
''The eye that has slept and is awak-
ened sees the heart and purpose of the
wicked / say that in the honr of the
desolation of my city not all the waters
of the Holy Lake shall wash away their
sin"
Now the faces of us who heard turned
gray in the lamplight, for, though the
gods of this people were false, we felt
that the voice Of a true prophet spoke
to us from that accusing tablet, and
that we had called down upon our
heads a. vengeance which we could not
, measure.
'Did not tell you that it were wiser
to leave the writing unread gasped
Mattai. letting the tablet fall from his
hand as though it were snake.
The clatter of it as it struck the mar
BILE floor seemed to wake us from our
evil dream, for the senor turned on him
and said, fiercely:
"What does it matter what the thing
says, rogue, seeing that you forged it
as you forged the other
''Ah! would that had" answered
Natal; '"but when doom overtalzes you
and all OF us, then shall you learn
whether or not l forged, this writ
ing" And he lifted it from the floor,
and hiding it in the folds of his robe,
added. ''Close the heart, white man,
and give back the severed jewel to those
who wear it. )"
The senior did so, replacing the silken
= cloth over the symbol SO that the altar
seemed to be as it had been.
''Now let us be going," said Natal,
''and rejoice that if yonder eye has seen
our wickedness, it is hidden from the
sight of men. Doubtless the vengeance
OF the gods is sure, but that OF men is
swift. -.
AS he spoke we turned to leave the
sanctuary, and of sudden Maya
screamed. and would have fallen had
not the senior caught her. Well might
she scream, for there in the narrow
niche of the door by which he had en-
tered. stood white figure that at first
/ took to be that Of some avenging
ghost.
Another instant and saw that in
deed it was ghost, the ghost of Zlbal-
bay, or rather his body come back from
the boundaries of death to spy upon
our sacrilege before it crossed them
forever.
While he had seemed to be senseless
upon the bed in the chamber, his senses
were awake. and oh, what must he have
suffered when he heard us plan our
fraud upon his sanctuary. Then when
we had left him his fury and despair
unfettered the limbs that had been
bound SO fast and gave him strength to
follow, though they could not unlock
his frozen tongue.
Oh, never shall forget the rage OF
his quivering face, or the agony and
horror of his tormented eyes as they
met ours.
He saw our fear, and with a, last effort
staggered forward toward his daughter,
his clenched hands held above his head.
Then foam, mingled with blood, burst
from his lips, and he sank down at her
feet dead.
Somehow we calmed and silenced
Maya; somehow we escaped from that
hateful sanctuary, and by slow degrees
brought her and the dead body OF her
father up the narrow stairs and pas
sages to the hall above, where we laid
the latter on it's bed. Then Natal left
us, and I remember no more till the
next morning, when the mobiles and
leeches came TO watch by the body OF
the cacique and embaln it in readiness
for the tomb.
The next two days went heavily for
the three of us. oppressed as we were
by the silent gloom OF our prison and
the memories of that dreadful night.
At length they carried away the
corpse of Ziba] bay to be wrapped in its
winding sheet of gold and set with it's
forefathers in the hall of the dead, and
though Maya wept, I, for my part, was
glad to see the last of him, and so /
think was the senior; whose spirit had
.. begun to fail him in the presence of SO
much remorse and grief.
That day--it was the day prev yious to
the night OF the rising OF the waters on
which we were to appear before the
Council of the Heart, i'll the sanctuary
Til1al came to visit us. To Maya he
bowed low, but on the senor and my
self he looked with an angry eye, with
the eve, indeed, of one who would have
killed us if he dared
First, he offered her his sympathy
upon the death of her father. For this
she returned her thanks, quoting, how
ever, with a fash of her old spirit, Il
certain proverb of her own people, Of
which the meaning is that the death OF
one man is the breath of another. II
s'My father was your foe. Tikal," she
added, land now that he is gone you
will be able to sleep and reign in peace
''Not altogether SO, lady," he an
swered, s'seeing that he had left behind
him % more dangerous rival to my
power, namely, yourself. I will not
I. hide from you. Maya, what you soon
must learn, that large portion Of the
people, and with them many of the no.
bles accusing me Of your fathers muir
der, clamer that | should be deposed
and that you should be set up in my
place as cacique Of the City Of the Heart.
''Some few days ago might have
stilled their outcry by commanding you
to he put to death. but now it is too
late, for since that time has fought for
you, and your death would doubtless
be followed by my own. When last we
r %os n