formance was
neglected. We rode directly to the town-house, entered and asked for the
_presidente_. He was slow in appearing and long before he arrived scores
of people were crowding around the doors and windows to see us and know
our business. When he arrived, we greeted him in a most friendly way and
told him that we had come for the skulls. He looked aghast. "The skulls,
what skulls, sir?" "The skulls the _prefecto_ ordered you to dig for
us." By this time, the crowd outside, which had increased with every
minute, showed uneasiness. The _presidente_ declared he knew nothing of
any skulls. After we had explained the matter more fully, he assured us
that no messenger had come from the _prefecto_; this, which at first we
thought to be a lie, was no doubt true. He was plainly scared. He begged
us to be careful lest the people, who were ignorant, should overhear us.
He told us that a year before Don Carlos (Lumholtz) had been there; that
he, too, had wanted skulls, and that the town officials had given him
permission to dig some from the graveyard; that this caused so much
excitement and so many threats that the permission had to be revoked. He
feared the people had already heard our wishes and were even then in an
ugly mood--a thing which seemed likely from an inspection of the faces
in the doorway and windows. He said, however, that Don Carlos afterward
secured some skulls from an ancient burial-place not distant from the
village, and, if we pleased to wait in Cheran through the morrow, as it
was now too late, five in the evening, to do aught, he would gladly show
us the burial place of the ancients, where no doubt abundant skulls
could be secured. Not yet certain that the man was telling truth, we
spoke to him severely, saying that we should report him to the governor
for not having obeyed the order of the _prefecto_. At the same time we
demanded an official document signed by himself as _presidente_, and by
the _secretario_, and duly sealed, stating that no messenger had come
to him from the _prefecto_. To our surprise this document was promptly
furnished, good evidence that the _prefecto_ had played us false, only
pretending to despatch the messenger whom we had seen started.

With profuse apologies and expressions of regret from the officials, we
left Cheran, hurrying on to Nehuatzen for the night. Our chief reason
for doing so was that everyone who knew of our intention to visit Cheran
had shaken their heads, remark