Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-03-25

swear to me by my gods or your own, or
whatever you hold dear, that you will
cleave to me till 1 am dead as I will
cleave to you" and taking his hand in
hers she looked up appealingly into his
face.
AT this moment Zibalbay, who was
walking in front, lost in his own
thoughts, CHANGED TO turn and see
them.
Come hi.her, daughter. and you,
white man" he said in n stern voice.
Listen, both of you. / am old. but my
sight and hearing are still keen, though
yonder in the wilderness took no heed
of much that i saw and heard. Here in
my own land IL Is otherwise. Learn,
white man, that the Lady of the Heart
is set far above you, and there / think
she will remain. Do you understand
my meaning?"
Perfectly" answered the senor
striving To control his anger. "but,
chief, IL is n pity that you did not see
well To tell me this before. Had IL not
been for what we and one dead were
able to do to save you, to-day your
bones would have been whitening in
the forest Why did you not tell me
there that I was no fit company for
your daughter?"
because you were sent by the gods
| TO do me service, and because there |
| nad Httu VI YOU, WIltc man, answered
| Zibalbay, quietly, las maybe / shall
have need of You again. Had it not
been for that chance we should have
parted company on the further side of
/ the mountain"
''In truth wish we had" exclaimed
| the senior.
| AS / walked on side by side with III
| balbay / spoke to him. saying: You
use sharp words toward him who is my
/ brother. chief. and therefore. tnyynrI
me-"
Il speak l must" he answered
coldly. Many troubles await me at
| the city. Did you not hear what that
knave said last night, that Tikal, my
nephew, whom / left in charge, rules
in my stead? Well. this girl of mine,
who is afiianced to him, and through
whom he hopes to govern in after years,
may be the only bait that will tempt
him from his place, for he looks upon
me as one dead, and it will not please
him to lay down the rod of power. How
should it please him, then and those
who follow him, to see a white stranger
holding that daughters hand and wills
! pering in her ear?
| made no answer, for at that mo-
ment we turned n corner and came face
| to face with the bearers of the litters
| whom Zibalbay had summoned to meet
/ us
There were forty of these men or
more; for the most part they were tall
and well shaped, with regular features
and, like Zibalbay and Maya, very fair
for Indians, but the look upon their
| faces was different from any that |
have seen among my people. 1t was
not stupid or brutal, or even empty,
rather did it suggest great WEAKNESS.
WEAKNESS was the master not of their
bodies, but Of their minds. and looking
at them | could understand what Zibai-
bay meant when he said that his race
was outworn.
Summoning the captain of the bear
ers Zibalbay talked to him while his
! companions ate food that they had
brought with them. and / noted that
| what he heard seemed to give him little
/ pleasure. Next he ordered us TO enter
| the filters.
We started forward down the noun
| tain, and in an hour we had left the re-
| gion of snow behind and entered the
! cedar forests.
| At length, as the evening began to
! fall, we entered the village of corn
| growers, half-ruincd place, of which
the houses were for the most part built
| of adobe or mud bricks and rooted
with concrete of white lime.
When Zibalbay descended from his
litter all those present FRUSTRATED them
selves and remained thus, till, followed
by some of the head men, he had passed
into a house, which was made ready for
his use, leaving us without.
Presently messenger came from III
balbay to summon us into the house,
where we found an ample meal pre-
| pared, consisting chiefly of fish from
the lake, baked wild fowl, and many
sorts of fruit. BY the time we had
finished eating and had drunk the
lN..1s. ,ls.t.
of hammered silver, the night had fallen
completely. | asked Zibalbay If we
should sleep there; to which he replied
shortly that we were about to start for
/ the city
Accordingly we set out by the light
| of the moon, and were guided to little
| harbor in the shore of the lake, where
large canoe, fitted with mast and
| sail and manned by ten Indians was
waiting for us. We embarked, and the
! breeze being off land, hoisted the sail
| and started toward the Island of the
/ Heart, which stood a distance of about
/ fifteen miles from the mainland
/ The breeze was light: but after the
! cold of the mountains, the air was so soft
and balmy and the scene so new and
strange. that 1 for one did not regret
our slow progress. Nobody spoke in
/ the boat, for all of us were lost in our
own reflections, and the Indians were
\ awed to silence by the presence of their
/ lord, who alone seemed impatient, since
/ from time to time he pulled his beard
I and muttered TO himself.
| Before us lay the tabled golden town
we had so longed To- see. Soon our feet
would pass its white walls and our eyes
/ behold its ancient civilization.
What waits us there?" whispered
/ the senior, and he looked at MAYA
She heard his words and shook her
\ head sadly. There was no hope i'm her
\ eyes, which were dimmed with tears
/ Then he turned 10 me as though for
I comfort, and the easy fires of enthusi-
asm burnt up within me and answered.
/ Fear not, the goal is won and we shall
| overcome all difficulty and danger. The
useless wealth OF yonder golden city
| shall be ours; and by its help. shall
wreak the stored up vengeance of ages
l upon the opprcssors of my race and
/ build up "a great Indian dominion
I stretching from sea 90 sea, whereof this
/ city shall be the heart" He heard and
smiled, answering:
/ 1T may be 40, for your sake I trust
7 that 1t will be so, but we seek different
/ ends, 1gnatio," and he looked again at
\ the lady Maya.
On we glided through the moonlight
/ and the silence, for from the town came
/ no sound save the cry of the watchmcn