t of
sweet marmalade; and a great abundance of oranges, mangoes, bananas, and
other fruits common to the hot lands of Mexico; all of which fruits
were much more delicate in flavor than Mexican fruits usually are; the
result, as we found later, of the great care bestowed upon their
culture. Only water was served with the meal, but at the end of it a
small jar of some sort of potent liquor was brought, very cool, and with
an excellent spicy taste, that Tizoc warned us must be taken but
sparingly; and truly he was right, as I found from the warm and mellow
feeling of benevolent friendliness that but half a cup of it infused
into me. Tizoc himself did not follow very rigidly the advice that he
had given us; and to this fact, probably, was due the exceeding
frankness with which he subsequently spoke with us concerning grave
matters, of which he surely would have been reticent had he been in a
less genial mood.

"Just ask th' Colonel if he minds my smokin' a pipe, won't you,
Professor?" Young said, when our meal was ended; and as I myself wanted
to smoke, and as I was sure that Rayburn did also, I made the request
general. Tizoc, to my surprise--for I believed smoking to be common to
all the indigenous races--evidently did not at all understand my
meaning; but perceiving that I asked to have some favor granted, he
courteously gave the permission that I desired. As we filled our pipes
he watched us curiously; but when we drew out our matches and struck
fire by what seemed to him but the turn of our hands, he started to his
feet and manifested a strange excitement, in which there seemed to be
less of alarm than of awe. His voice shook, and his whole person
trembled, as he asked, "Are ye the children of Chac-Mool, the God of
Fire, and therefore the chosen servants of Huitzilopochtli the
Terrible, that ye thus can do what among us is done only by our Priest
Captain Itzacoatl?"

[Illustration: THE STRIKING OF A MATCH]

Both Fray Antonio and I heard with delight this utterance, that in a
moment settled the long-disputed question as to whether or not Chac-Mool
was an idol, and settled it, also, in favor of the ingenious hypothesis
presented by the learned Senor Chavero. The moment was not a favorable
one, however, for pursuing the matter in its archaeological bearings, for
all of our tact and skill just then were required to restore Tizoc to
calmness. As well as this was possible in the language common to us--we
suddenly realize