an-devil with the sword?' she answered. 'Peace,
Teule, and follow me.'

Now she led me on, and the Spaniards let us by unharmed, ay, and even
spoke words of pity as we passed, for they knew that we were victims
snatched from sacrifice. Indeed, when a certain brute, a Tlascalan
Indian, rushed at us, purposing to slay us with a club, one of the
Spaniards ran him through the shoulder so that he fell wounded to the
pavement.

So we went on, and at the edge of the pyramid we glanced back and saw
that de Garcia had broken from those who held him, or perhaps he found
his tongue and had explained the truth to them. At the least he was
bounding from the altar of sacrifice nearly fifty yards away, and coming
towards us with uplifted sword. Then fear gave us strength, and we fled
like the wind. Along the steep path we rushed side by side, leaping down
the steps and over the hundreds of dead and dying, only pausing now and
again to save ourselves from being smitten into space by the bodies
of the priests whom the Spaniards were hurling from the crest of the
teocalli. Once looking up, I caught sight of de Garcia pursuing far
above us, but after that we saw him no more; doubtless he wearied of the
chase, or feared to fall into the hands of such of the Aztec warriors as
still clustered round the foot of the pyramid.

We had lived through many dangers that day, the princess Otomie and I,
but one more awaited us before ever we found shelter for awhile. After
we had reached the foot of the pyramid and turned to mingle with the
terrified rabble that surged and flowed through the courtyard of the
temple, bearing away the dead and wounded as the sea at flood reclaims
its waste and wreckage, a noise like thunder caught my ear. I looked
up, for the sound came from above, and saw a huge mass bounding down the
steep side of the pyramid. Even then I knew it again; it was the idol of
the god Tezcat that the Spaniards had torn from its shrine, and like
an avenging demon it rushed straight on to me. Already it was upon us,
there was no retreat from instant death, we had but escaped sacrifice
to the spirit of the god to be crushed to powder beneath the bulk of
his marble emblem. On he came while on high the Spaniards shouted in
triumph. His base had struck the stone side of the pyramid fifty feet
above us, now he whirled round and round in the air to strike again
within three paces of where we stood. I felt the solid mountain
shake beneath the bl