SURE-HOUSE

XXXIV. A MARTYRDOM

XXXV. THE TREASURE-CHAMBER

XXXVI. THE VENGEANCE OF THE GODS

XXXVII. THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT

XXXVIII. KING CHALTZANTZIN'S TREASURE

EPILOGUE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE DYING CACIQUE

THE LETTER FROM THE DEAD

PACKING IN THE CORRAL

THE FIGHT IN THE CANON

THE CAVE OF THE DEAD

AFLOAT ON THE LAKE

EL SABIO'S PREDICAMENT

MAKING THE PEACE-SIGN

THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY

THE STRIKING OF A MATCH

CHECKING YOUNG'S OUTBREAK

THE LEAP FROM ABOVE THE WATER-GATE

THE TLAHUICOS AND THEIR GUARDS

IN THE GATE-WAY OF THE CITADEL

THE LAST RALLY

EL SABIO'S DEFIANCE

FRAY ANTONIO'S APPEAL

YOUNG'S STRUGGLE WITH THE PRIEST CAPTAIN

IN THE LIBRARY BEFORE THE OPEN FIRE

_Who'd hear great marvels told--
Come listen now!
Who longs for hidden gold--
Come listen now!
Who joys in well-fought fights,
Who yearns for wondrous sights,
Who pants for strange delights--
Come listen now!_

_For here are marvels told
To listen to!
Here tales of hidden gold
To listen to!
Here gallant men wage fights,
Here pass most wondrous sights,
Here's that which ear delights
To listen to!_

THE AZTEC TREASURE-HOUSE

PROLOGUE.

"God sends nuts to them who have no teeth:" which ancient Spanish
proverb of contrariety comes strongly to mind as I set myself to this
writing.

By nature am I a studious, book-loving man, having a strong liking for
quiet and orderliness. Yet in me also is a strain that urges me, even
along ways which are both rough and dangerous, to get beyond
book-knowledge, and to examine for myself the abstractions of thought
and the concretions of men and things out of the consideration whereof
books are made. And I hold that it is because I have thus sought for
truth in its original sources, instead of resting content with what
passes for truth, being detached fragments of fact which other men have
found and have cut and polished to suit themselves, that I have gathered
to myself more of it, and in its rude yet perfect native crystals, than
has come into the possession of any other modern investigator. In making
which strong assertion I am not moved by idle vanity, but by a just and
reasonable conception of the intrinsic merit of my own achievement: as
will be universally admitted when I publish the great