“I am Gautama,” said a voice.
When Yermah looked up, a man old as Akaza, stood making the hierophant sign of blessing over him.
“Rise and receive from me word from thy beloved teacher.
“Fear me not.
“These hands have guided thy puny baby footsteps, and now thou must lend thy strength to me. We have some days yet before thou art at rest.”
The survivors were near the ancient site of Tenochtitlan,[[24]] then a dreary waste of water, with its first city ingulfed, but to have rebirth again and again until the present time.
Gautama was accompanied by two of the Brotherhood and some tamanes, amply provided with food and fresh raiment, which they gave to the travelers.
“Thou art the last admitted, and art the youngest initiate,” said Gautama to Yermah, later. “But thine is a special mission. When once in Cholula, I shall tell thee all. Thou art anxiously awaited.”
The augmented company went into camp for the rest of the day but they resumed travel shortly after sunrise, the next morning.
The holy city of Cholula[[25]] did not exist in those days.