Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-08-27

wilderness? And did you not, to
| satisfy your own ambitions. force me
on to take your daughter to wife. ay,
and Is not this marriage between the
| Lady of the Heart and the white man a
| plot of yours, devised for the further
| ing of your ends?"
| Now, while all stood astonished, of
| sudden Nahua, who hitherto had lis
| tened in stony silence, rose and said:
| My lord Tika1 fOrgetS that common
| courtesy should protect even an unwel-
| come wife from public insult" Then
| she turned and left the hall by the door
which was behind her.
Now murmur of pity for the lady
| and indignation against the man ran
through the company, and as it died
| away Tika1 said:
Evil viii come of this nights work
| and in it will have no hand. Do what
you will and abide the issue,'' and be-
fore any could speak in answer he also
had left the-hall followed by his guards
For awhile there was silence, then
folk began to talk confusedly, and
some of the members of the Brother
hood Of the Heart, rising from their
chairs. took hurried counsel together.
AT length they reseated themselves,
and, holding up his hand to secure
quiet. Natal spoke thus:
Forgive me-" he said, addressing the
audience, eff my words seem few and
rough. but it is hard for me to be calm
in the face of the open insult which has
been put upon my daughter and myself
before you all. will not stoop to aa-
swer the charges that the lord Til1al
has brought against me in his rage.
Surely, some evil power must have af-
Hicted him with madness, that, forget
ting his honor as man and his duty as
a prince and priest, he should dare to
utter such calumnieS against the god
we worship, the white man whom the
cd hoe oh 70 no 4, md f<,< f,f1
Lady Maya. and myself, the keeper OF
the sanctuary. There were many
among you who held me foolish when,
after much prayer and thought, to fur
ther what believed to be the true in
terests of the whole people, I gave my
voice in favor of the lifting up of Tilxal
to fill the place and honor of cacique
in room of our late prince, Zibalbay,
whom we thought dead with his dasgh-
ter in the wilderness. Tonight 1 see
that they were right, and that I was
foolish indeed.
But enough of regrets and bitter
talk that make i'll music at a marriage
feast. Tikal, the head of our hierarchy,
has gone, but other priests are left, nor
is his will the will of the Council or of
the People of the Heart, for whom the
Council speaks. Their will it is that
this marriage should go forward. and
Dinas, my brother, as the oldest
y
it.
Now the company shouted in APP
plauSe, for they were set upon this
strange union of a white man with their
lady, if only because it was new thing
and touched their imagination, and
even those of them who were of his party
were wroth with Til1a1 on account of
his i'll behavior and the cruel affront that
he had offered to his new-made wife.
So soon as the tumult had died away
the old priest, Dimas, rose, and taking
the hands of Maya and the senior. he
joined them and said very touching
and beautiful prayer over them, bless
ing them and entreating the spirit,
Heart of Heaven. and other gods to give
them increase and to make them happy
in each others love.
Lastly, he laid white sillken cloth |
which had been prepared upon their
heads as they knelt before him. and,
loosing the emerald girdle about the |
waist of the bride. took her right hand |
and placed it upon the arm of the |
senior, then he bound the gird1e round |
wrist and arm. buckled it, and in a few |
be man and wife in the face of Heaven
and earth till death undid them.
Now the cloth was lifted and the Cir |
die loosed, and standing upon their feet |
the new wed pair kissed each other be-
fore the people. A shout of joy went |
up bIldO S1OOfA tiiC DduS1So IOO1 dAO
one by one, in order of their rank, the
guests pressed forward to wish joy to
the bride and bridegroom, most of them
bringing some costly and beautiful
gift, which they gave into the charge of
the waiting ladies. Last of all came
the old priest, Dimas, and said:
Sweet bride, the gift that [ am COM
manded by the council to make to you.
though of little value in itself, is yet
one of the most precious to be found
within the walls of this ancient city,
being nothing less than the holy sym
boil of the all-seeing Eye of the Heart
of Heaven. which through you men be-
hold to-day for the first time for many
generations.
"Wear it always, lady, and remember
that, though this jewel has no sight,
yet that eye of which it is a token from
hour to hour reads your most secret
soul and purpose. Make your thoughts,
then. as faiNas your body, and let your
breast harbor neither guile nor evil, for
of all these things in a day to come you
must surely give account"
AS he spoke he drew from the case
that hid it nothing less than that awful
eye which we had seen within the hol
low Of the heart when with unhallowed
hands we robbed it, substituting the
false for the true. Now it had been set
in a band of gold and hung to a golden
chain which he placed about her neck,