oyal family; but the elective council,
composed of the nobles and of the kings of the other two great
confederate monarchies, selected the member of that family whom
they considered best qualified to rule.

Roger was greatly impressed with these accounts of the government
of this strange country. It appeared to him that art and learning
were there held of much higher account than they were in England;
and it seemed more strange to him than ever, that a people so
enlightened could be guilty of such wholesale human sacrifices as
those of which he had heard, and had indeed seen proof; still more
that they could absolutely feast upon the flesh of these victims of
their cruel superstitions.

Descending into the valley the party avoided, as before, the
numerous cities in the plain. The Tezcucans told him that they did
so simply because they were anxious to arrive as soon as possible
at the capital; but as Roger learned from them that the sway of
Montezuma was paramount in this part of the valley, he thought it
probable that they feared the Aztecs might take him from their
hands, and send him direct to the emperor.

After a long march across a richly cultivated country, they
approached the town of Tezcuco just as evening was closing in. A
messenger had gone on ahead, to announce the exact hour at which
they would arrive; and a party of soldiers were stationed a short
distance outside the town, to escort them through the city to the
royal palace. They formed up on either side of the party when they
arrived and, without a pause, the caravan kept on its way.

Roger had been astonished at the magnificence of the houses of the
wealthy, scattered for a long distance round the city, and at the
extraordinary beauty of the gardens with their shady groves, their
bright flowers, their fish ponds and fountains; but the splendor of
the buildings of the capital surpassed anything he had before
beheld. Not even in Genoa or Cadiz were there such stately
buildings, while those of London were insignificant in comparison.
The crowd in the streets were quiet and orderly and, although they
looked with curiosity and interest on the white stranger, of whose
coming they had heard, evinced none of the enthusiasm with which he
had been greeted at Tepeaca. This was natural enough. The
inhabitants of a capital, being accustomed to splendid fetes and
festivals, are less easily moved than those of a small provincial
town by any unaccustomed events, a