ravest warriors and of the flower of their rank, and
as yet, at any rate, they did not look forward to the future. From
house to house and street to street ran troops of young men and maidens
garlanded with flowers, crying, 'The Teules are gone, rejoice with
us; the Teules are fled!' and woe to them who were not merry, ay, even
though their houses were desolate with death. Also the statues of the
gods were set up again on the great pyramid and their temples rebuilt,
the holy crucifix that the Spaniards had placed there being served as
the idols Huitzel and Tezcat had been served, and tumbled down the sides
of the teocalli, and that after sacrifice of some Spanish prisoners had
been offered in its presence. It was Guatemoc himself who told me
of this sacrilege, but not with any exultation, for I had taught him
something of our faith, and though he was too sturdy a heathen to change
his creed, in secret he believed that the God of the Christians was
a true and mighty God. Moreover, though he was obliged to countenance
them, because of the power of the priests, like Otomie, Guatemoc never
loved the horrid rites of human sacrifice.

Now when I heard this tale my anger overcame my reason, and I spoke
fiercely, saying:

'I am sworn to your cause, Guatemoc, my brother, and I am married to
your blood, but I tell you that from this hour it is an accursed cause;
because of your bloodstained idols and your priests, it is accursed.
That God whom you have desecrated, and those who serve Him shall come
back in power, and He shall sit where your idols sat and none shall stir
Him for ever.'

Thus I spoke, and my words were true, though I do not know what put them
into my heart, since I spoke at random in my wrath. For to-day Christ's
Church stands upon the site of the place of sacrifice in Mexico, a sign
and a token of His triumph over devils, and there it shall stand while
the world endures.

'You speak rashly, my brother,' Guatemoc answered, proudly enough,
though I saw him quail at the evil omen of my words. 'I say you speak
rashly, and were you overheard there are those, notwithstanding the rank
we have given you, the honour which you have won in war and council, and
that you have passed the stone of sacrifice, who might force you to look
again upon the faces of the beings you blaspheme. What worse thing has
been done to your Christian God than has been done again and again to
our gods by your white kindred? But let us talk no