lain--I was filled with
dread that hate so malignant as here was shown must surely find
expression in a direct attempt upon his life. Fortunately, there no
longer were any priests among us. Of these there had been a
considerable number in Huitzilan upon our first coming there, but
silently, one by one, they had disappeared--going, as we well knew, to
join themselves to the force which the Priest Captain was gathering
against the time when the issue between us would be settled by the
arbitration of arms. And those who went from our camp to his must have
carried with them news of the peril that menaced the ancient faith
through the new faith that Fray Antonio preached so zealously in such
burning words; for of his knowledge of what Fray Antonio was doing, and
of his dread of what might therefrom result, we presently had proof in a
way that filled our hearts with a very dismal fear.

All the while that this curious, and to me most interesting, conflict
between a primitive and a highly developed religion went on, the more
practical work went on also of establishing a new government and of
organizing an army whereby it might be maintained. So far as the setting
up of a government was concerned, the matter was comparatively easy; for
the majority of the Council had come out with us from Culhuacan, and
these had but to adapt to the requirements of the new situation the
governmental machinery that already was established and at their
command. And they were surprised pleasurably by finding how readily this
transformation was effected; for among the higher classes--from which
classes the officials of the government exclusively were drawn--the
feeling of hatred against the Priest Captain, begotten of his many acts
of cruelty and oppression, was so strong that the opportunity now
offered to turn against him was seized upon most gladly. In every town
throughout the valley the emissaries of the Council were warmly
welcomed; and presently the new government was established everywhere
save in the capital city and in certain villages upon the lake border
lying close beneath its walls.

The work of organizing an army, however, was a more difficult matter;
for very serious obstacles, both moral and material, had to be overcome
before we of the revolutionary faction could place an effective fighting
force in the field. Of what I may term regular troops, that is to say,
thoroughly drilled and disciplined soldiers, we could count upon but