uel work above us, and were
come to the palace gates. And here in a strange chamber sculptured with
grinning demons we found rest for a while.

On the morrow in the great hall of the palace was held a council of the
chiefs and head men of the Otomie clans, to the number of a hundred or
more. When all were gathered, dressed as an Aztec noble of the first
rank, I came out with Otomie, who wore royal robes and looked most
beautiful in them, and the council rose to greet us. Otomie bade them be
seated and addressed them thus:

'Hear me, you chiefs and captains of my mother's race, who am your
princess by right of blood, the last of your ancient rulers, and who am
moreover the daughter of Montezuma, Emperor of Anahuac, now dead to us
but living evermore in the Mansions of the Sun. First I present to you
this my husband, the lord Teule, to whom I was given in marriage when
he held the spirit of the god Tezcat, and whom, when he had passed the
altar of the god, being chosen by heaven to aid us in our war, I
wedded anew after the fashion of the earth, and by the will of my royal
brethren. Know, chiefs and captains, that this lord, my husband, is not
of our Indian blood, nor is he altogether of the blood of the Teules
with whom we are at war, but rather of that of the true children of
Quetzal, the dwellers in a far off northern sea who are foes to the
Teules. And as they are foes, so this my lord is their foe, and as
doubtless you have heard, of all the deeds of arms that were wrought
upon the night of the slaying of the Teules, none were greater than his,
and it was he who first discovered their retreat.

'Chiefs and captains of the great and ancient people of the Otomie, I
your princess have been sent to you by Cuitlahua, my king and yours,
together with my lord, to plead with you on a certain matter. Our king
has heard, and I also have heard with shame, that many of the warriors
of our blood have joined the Tlascalans, who were ever foes to the
Aztecs, in their unholy alliance with the Teules. Now for a while the
white men are beaten back, but they have touched the gold they covet,
and they will return again like bees to a half-drained flower. They
will return, yet of themselves they can do nothing against the glory of
Tenoctitlan. But how shall it go if with them come thousands and tens
of thousands of the Indian peoples? I know well that now in this time
of trouble, when kingdoms crumble, when the air is full of portents,