Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-12-21
CHAPTER II.
RACK TO ATLANTIS.


to keep more in touch with events
that were passing at home in At
lantis. For many years past it had
been easy to see that the mariner
folk who did traffic across the seas
spoke with restraint, and that only
what news the empress pleased was
allowed to ooze out beyond her bor-
ders. But, as 1 say, 1 was fully &C.
cupied with my work in the colony,
and had no curiosity to pull away a
veil Intentionally placed. Besides, it
has always been against my prin-
ciples to put to the torture men
who had received orders for silence
from their superiors, merely that
they shall break these orders for my
private convenience.
However, the iron discipline of our
Priestly clan left me no choice of pro-
cedure. AS was customary, | had
been deprived of my Office at mo-
ment's notice. From that time on,
all papers and authority belonged to
my successor, and, although by cour-
tesy [ might be permitted to remain
as a guest in the pyramid that had
so recently been mine, to see an
other sunrise, it was clearly en-
joined that 1 must leave the terri
tory then at the topmost of my
speed and hasten to report in At
lantis.
Tatho, to give him credit, was anx-
ious to further my interests to the
utmost in his power. He was by my
side again before the dawn, putting
all his resources at my disposal.
I had little enough to ask him.
"a ship to take me home,'' [ said,
land l shall be your debtor"
The request seemed to surprise
him. "That you may certainly have
if you wish it. But my ships are foul
with the long passage, and are in
need of careen. If you take them,
you will make slow passage of it
to Atlantis. Why do you not take
your own navy? The ships are in
harbor now, for I saw them there
when we came in. Brave ships they
are, too"
s'But not mine. That navy belongs
to Yucatan."
''Well, Ducalion, you are Yucatan;
or, rather, you were yesterday, and
have been these 20 years."
[ saw what he meant, and the
idea did not please me. I answered
stif1y enough that the ships were
owned by private merchants, or be-
longed to the states, and I could not
claim so much as ten-slave galley.
Tatho shrugged his shoulders. 81
suppose you know your own policies
BEST" he said, though to me it seems
but risky for a man who has at
tanned to position like yours and
mine not to have provided himself
with a stout navy of his own. One
never knows when recall may be
sent, and through lack of these pre-
cautions a life's earnings may very
well be lost in dozen hours"
II have no fear for mine," 1 said,
coldly
"Of course not, because you know
me to be your friend. But had an
other man been appointed to this
viceroyalty, you might have been sad
ly shorn, Deucalion. 1t is not many
fellows who can resist snug hoard
ready and waiting in the very Golfers
they have come to line"
'My Lord Tatho," 1 said, sit is
clear to me that you and [ have
grown to be of different tastes. All
of the hoard that l have made for
myself in this colony, few men would
covet. l have the poor clothes you
see me in this moment, and a box of
drugs such as l have found useful to
slaves, two of them scribes and the
third a sturdy savage from Europe,
who cooks my victual and fills for me
the bath. For my maintenance dur
ing my years of service here 1 have
bled the state of a soldiers ration,
and nothing beyond; and if in my
name any man has mulcted crea-
ture in Yucatan of so much as an
ounce of bronze, l request you as a
last service to have that man hanged
for me as liar and thief"
Tatho looked at me curiously. 81
do not know whether [ admire you
more or whether 1 pity. 1 do not
know whether to be astonished or to
despise. We had heard of much of
your uprightness over yonder in At
lantis, of your sternness and your
justice, but l swear by the old gods
that no soul guessed you carried your
fancy so far as this. Why, man,
money is power. With money and the
resources money can buy, nothing
could stop a fellow like you; while
without it'you may be tripped up
and trodden down irrevocably at the
first puny reverse
.''The gods will choose my fate.''
POSSIBLY; but for mine, prefer to
nourish it myself. 1 tell you with
frankness that l have not come here
to follow in the pattern you have
made for viceroyalty. I shall gov
ern Yucatan wisely and well to the
best of my ability; but 1 shall govern
it also for the good of Tatho, the
viceroy. 1 have brought with me
here my navy of eight ships and a
personal bodyguard. There is my
wife, also, and her women and her
slaves. All these must be provided
for. And why indeed should it be
otherwise? If a people is to be gov
erned, it should be their privilege to
pay handsomely for their prince"
1--WE shall not agree on this. You
have the power now, and can employ
it as you choose. If 1 thought it
would be of any use, 1 should like to
supplicate you most humbly to deal
with lenience when you come to tax
these people who are under you.
They have grown very dear to me. :
81 have Disguised you with me, and
[ am srieved for it. But even to
retain your good opinion, Deucalion
which / value more than that of