The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1896-05-20
copyrighted, 1904, by H Rider Haggard
CHApTER xxIy,-coNr1NuEn,


CHAPTER XXIV.-CoNTINUED
'Lords of the council, listen to q tale,
the strangest that you have heard, and
Judge between me and Tikal, my hus-
band, and Maya, my rival, and her
friends. Natal, my father, was known
to you all, seeing that at the time of
his death, and, indeed, since Tillal was
appointed cacique, he stood next to him
in place and power among the People
of the Heart, holding the offices in the
brotherhood which now are filled by
Dimas, and among them that of
keeper of the sanctuary.
.'Yet, lords, Natal, my father, was
no true man. Alas! that should have
to say it, seeing that it was more for
my sake that he sinned than for his
own, since he loved me and desired my
welfare above everything on earth. 1t
was this love of his that ruined him,
making him false to his god, to his
oaths, and to his country. Thus, in the
beginning, he knew that since was
child had set my heart on the Lord
Tikal, who was affianced to the Lady
Maya, and also that / was ambitious
and desired to be great.
Therefore it was that he deceived
Tilzal, pretending that it had been re-
vealed to him by Heaven that the Lady
Maya and her father were dead in the
wilderness. Therefore it was also that
when he had persuaded him that she
was lost to him forever, he pressed it
upon the Lord Tikal that he should
marry me in place of Maya, his
affianced, who was dead, promising him
in return that he would bring it about
that he should be anointed cacique OF
the People of the Heart.
'All these things and others he did,
though at that time knew nothing of
them and thought in my folly that
.Tikal married me because he loved me
and desired me as the companion of his
life and power.
s "Then Zibalbay returned on the
night of my marriage feast, and with
. him came Maya and the strangers, and
from that hour my husband began to
hate me, because was his wife in
place of Maya, whom he loved. More,
! as have learned since, he went to Zi-
balbay while he lay in prison and Of
fered to resign his place as cacique in
his favor for so long as he should live,
and no more to oppose schemes If he
WOu1u kANC L1lLA 1udJd lhdI1AuBC ulbCk
j had been put away either by death or
by divorce.
"This Zibalbay would have done, and
gladly, but, rs it CHANGED, Maya here
had set her heart upon the white man
during their journeyings together
through the wilderness, and refused to
be separated from him that she might
be palmed off in marriage upon Tikal.
Yet he might have won his way, for
their case was desperate, and the alter
native was death, had not Natal, my
father, found plan whereby they
could be saved and remain the wife of
the cacique.
This was the plan, lords: that
prophecy should be set in the symbol of
the Heart yonder such as would deceive
the Council of the Heart and bring it
about that Maya should be given in
marriage to the white man whom she
loved Lords, this was done. At the
dead of night they crept to the sanctu-
ary, and opening the HearJ, placed with
in it that tablet which you have seen,
the tablet that foreshadowed the birth
of deliverer. The rest you know"
ut is false" cried many voices.
"Such sacrilege is not possible"
"It is not false" answered Nahua,
"and l will prove to you that the sacri-
lege was possible. The Heart was
opened and the false prophecy forged
by my father was placed within it,
where it was found by you on the night
of the festival of the Rising of Waters,
this day last year. But when the holy
Heart was opened, behold! it was not
empty, forin it lay another prophecy,
\ IA true prophecy, which was removed
from it, that the lie which has deceived
liyou might be set in its place"
{} Where, then, is that writing?" asked
sDimas.
n Here" she answered, drawing the
tablet from her breast. "Listen-"and
she read:
1.-THE eye that has slept and is
awakened sees the heart and purpose
!. of the wicked. ! say that in the hour
\ iof the desolation of my city, not all the
waters of the Holy lake shall wash
liaYay their SIM"
''Tal1e it, lords, and see for your
selves" she continued, laying the tablet
ION the altar. "And now listen again
and learn how it CHANGED that this relic
came into my keeping. After he had
) wrought this great sin the curse of the
Inameless god fell upon my father, and,
\ las you know, he was smitten with a
sore disease Then it came about that
when he lay dying remorse took him,
and he wrote certain paper which he
icaused to be witnessed and given to me,
together with this tablet.
I lin my hand hold that paper, lords;
hear it and Judge for yourselves
| whether have spoken truth or false
l;hood--" and she read aloud the confess
sion of Natal that set out every detail
Iof our plot, and the manner Of its ex.
vecution.
'Now, lords" she added when the
ireading was finished and the signatures
fhad been examined, "you will under
Bstand how it happened that in my rage
at this tidings l strove to kill yonder
n infaut, who has been palmed off upon
you as the seed of the god, and l leave
lit you to deal with those who planned
the fraud"
CHAPTER XIV.
FAREWELL
Noh1,a oeasad and sat down. and SO