The Irish standard., 1896-02-01

Thus died Maya Lady Of tho Heart,
tae last Of the ancient royal blood OF
the. Indian princes, myself alone ex-
oepted, a very sweet and beautiful
woman, though at times headstrong
and capriclous.
Now while Maya lay dying we learned
that some Indians still lived on the
mainland, men and women who had
| been sent there to tend the crops, for
we saw a canoe lowering round what
once had been the Island Of the Heart.
It was manned by three Indians, and
was advancing toward us, and we sig
/ nailed to them to paddle round to the
steps of the pyramid. They did, and,
| taking with us all the food and such
few articles of value as were to be
found in the watch house, the four Of
!, us embarked, though not without diff
Guilty, for the current ran 80 strong
round the crnmbling angles of the pyra-
- mid that it was hard to bring the canoe
: up to the stairs.
/ From the Indians we learned that
those on shore were so overwhelmed
with horror at the catastrophe which
had fallen upon their holy city that
they did not dare to approach the place
where it had stood. But when last
night they saw the great fame Of
Maya's funeral pyre they knew that
/, men still lived on the pyramid, who, as
they thought, were signaling to them
| for help, and ventured out to save them.
! They asked us how it came about that
! the waters had overwhelmed the city
which had stood among them safely
i from the. beginning of time. We re-
piled that we did not know, and the
| priests with us, now that they had es-
capped with their lives, seemed too PROS
trated to tell our deliverers that we
! had been imprisoned in the hollow of
the pyramid, even if they knew that
| this was SO.
On reaching the shore we found lit
tie gathering of awe-stricken Indians,
| perhaps there may have been one hum
dred and fifty OF them, the sole sur
vivors of the People of the Heart.
| Open-mouthed and almost without
comment, they listened to the terrible
tale of the sudden and utter destruc-
ton Of the city.
| Then we turned our faces to the
mountains, and on the second day
crossed them safely, for Maya had told
had passed blindfolded. Thus at length,
having looked our last upon the blue
waters of the Holy lake, sparkling in
the sunshine above the palaces of the
| city and the bones of its inha bitants,
| did we leave that accursed Country Of
| the Heart, where SO much evil had be-
! fallen us.
| 1t was a terrible journey, and once
we both Of ls fell i'll with fever, from
| which thought that we should not re-
cover, but recover we did by the help of
some wandering Indians who nursed
us, ard at length reached this place,
from which we had fed for our lives
J nearly two years before:
Then the hacienda was deserted, for
it had the reputation of being haunted,
| though some of the Indian dependents,
or rather slaves, of that great villain,
! Don Pedro Moreno, still worked patches
| OF the land.
Well, the senior took fancy to stay
| in the place, for it was here that he
had first seen his wife; aud so we sold
| that girdle Of emeralds which Maya
took from the chest Of ornaments and
gave to me when we were imprisoned
in the hall of the pyramid (1oy the way,
| do not lose the clasp, for it is the only
remaining relic of the People of the
| HEARTY, and with the proceeds bought
at cheap rate from the government of
| the day, who had entered into possess
| sion of them, this house and the wide
! lands around it, that have cultivated
ever since. 49,
! For now my ambitions were finished.
had played my first card and it had
failed. me, and, albeit with a sorrowful
| mind, l abandoned my hope for the re-
generation of the Indians, which l had
| no longer the means or the vigor to at
| tempt. Also 1 was no longer lord Of
| the Heart, for it was lost yonder be-
meath the waters of the holy lake and
with it went much of my power.
| For five years the senior and lived
here together, but think that during
all this time he was dying. He, who
| used to be so strong in body and merry
| in mind, never regained his health or
spirits from that hour when Maya died
| upon the pyramid. and though he sell
dom spoke of her I know that she was
| always present in his thoughts.
Twice in the spring seasons he suf-
fered from calent,1ras, as we call tho
fever of the country, which left him
sallow in face and shrunken in body,
and when the spring came round for
the third time, I begged him to go to
Mexico for change, returning to the
hacienda in the summer. In vain, he
would not do it; indeed do not think
he cared whether he lived or died. So
the end of it was that the calentura
took him again, and die he did in my
arms, happily as a child that falls
asleep. r.
Now my days are accomplished also,
and 90 to iOiu him. - O.