the
dwelling of some great dignitary. Close by the portal we were halted,
while the commander of our guard spoke through the grating to some one
inside. A moment later the grating was slowly raised, and we were
marched through the narrow entrance, and so along a short passage-way
into a long, narrow chamber that obviously was a guard-room; for spears
and javelins were ranged in orderly fashion upon racks, and swords and
shields and bows and quivers of arrows were hung upon the walls. Here we
were halted again; and while we stood silent together, wondering what
might be in store for us in this place, we heard the heavy grating
behind us close with a dull clang.

XXII.

THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION.

So dismal was this sound, and so many were the dismal possibilities that
it suggested, that as I heard it a cold chill went down into my heart;
and I was glad enough that we at once were led forth from the
guard-room, and that in consideration of matters of immediate moment my
mind was diverted from dwelling drearily upon a future that seemed full
of gloom.

For all the brilliant blaze of sunlight that brightened the large
court-yard into which we were conducted, there was about it curious
coldness and cheerlessness. As in the case of all the other houses which
we had observed, the stone-work of the walls and of the pavement was a
dull black; but here there were no flowers, nor bright-colored hangings
over the inner doors, nor brightness of any sort or kind. The carving of
the stone was extraordinarily rich, to be sure; but the bass-reliefs
which covered the walls were wholly of a gloomy sort--being for the most
part representations of the slaughter of men in sacrifice, and the
tearing of hearts out--so that the eight of them made me shiver,
notwithstanding the warmth of the sun. From the centre of the court-yard
abroad stair-way ascended to the plateau above on which the temple
stood; and this direct way of communicating with it led me to the
conclusion that the building was a dependency of the temple, and that
very likely the higher members of the priesthood were housed here.

However, little time was given for looking around us, for our guard
hurried us--El Sabio following close at Pablo's heels--across the
court-yard to a door-way at its farther side, before which hung in heavy
folds a curtain of some sort of thick black cloth. Across this entrance
the guard was drawn up in orderly ranks behind us; and then th