ow
the full meaning of the great catastrophe whereof we had seen the
outworking, both in the destruction wrought by it and the way of its
accomplishment, but of which we had divined no more concerning its cause
than that in some way it must have resulted from a slowly worked-out
vengeance prompted by a most malignant hate.

XXVI.

THE GATHERING FOR WAR.

Although the whole of the discussion of their plan of revolt was carried
on by the Council with so calm a gravity, there was enough of energy and
of quick movement when their deliberations came to an end; and we
augured well of the result because they thus had delayed their action
until their plan for making it effective had been fully matured. The
whole of that first day in Huitzilan, and much of the following night
also, was given to arranging clearly what must be done in order to set
up a temporary government and to get an army together; and how well this
preliminary work was accomplished was shown by the precision and
celerity with which the plans then made were executed during the
immediately ensuing days.

During this period we had ample time to look around us; and, being now
upon a most friendly footing with the strange people among whom we thus
strangely found ourselves, we were heartily aided--so far as this was
possible because of the exigencies of that stirring time--in
investigating the manner of their lives. The material then was obtained
for my chapter on the "House Life and Domestic Customs of the Aztecs";
and the knowledge which Rayburn gathered (also embodied in his own
paper, that attracted so much attention when read before the American
Institute of Mining Engineers) he has permitted me to use in my chapter
on "Mining and Metal-working among the Aztecs"; which two chapters are
among the most note worthy _Pre-Columbian Conditions on the Continent of
North America_. Rayburn, indeed, was lost in wonder as he came to
understand how far scientific investigation had been carried among this
isolated people, and how well they had learned to apply their scientific
knowledge to their practical affairs. In many matters, to be sure, they
fell far behind the remainder of the civilized world; but a large part
of the useful knowledge that has been gained by study under civilized
conditions elsewhere we found here also as the fruit of independent
discovery. In many cases the discovery was identical in every respect
with our own. Thus, their process (the