“Now for it,” said the señor, rising and shaking himself like a dog that leaves the water. “I wonder how many of us will be left alive when this sun sets.”
As he spoke one of the men reached the foot of the stairway holding a great hound in a leash. For a moment the dog sniffed the stones, then, lifting his head, he bayed aloud, whereat the band shouted, for they knew that they had trapped us. Still for a while they did not advance, but, gathering themselves in a knot, they consulted together earnestly. We looked at each other in despair, for truly our case was desperate. Fly we could not, and we had no arms wherewith to fight, therefore it seemed certain that within some few minutes we must lose our lives at the hands of these murderers, if indeed they chose to kill us outright in mercy. The señor hid his face in his hands for awhile, then he looked up and said,
“Can we bargain with them, Ignatio?”
“Impossible,” I answered, “what have we to give that they cannot take?”
“Then there is nothing for it except to die as bravely as we may,” he answered. “This is the end of our search for the Golden City. The quest has not been a lucky one, Ignatio.”
Now the old Indian, Zibalbay, who was crouched upon the ground beside us, spoke for the first time, saying,
“Friends, why do you not fly? Doubtless you can find a path down the further side of the pyramid, and in the forest you may hide from these men.”
“How can we fly,” answered the señor, “when you have no strength to walk a step?”
“I am old and ready to die,” he answered; “leave me here, and be sure that when the time comes I shall know how to slip through the grasp of these villains. My daughter, go you with them. You have the holy symbol, and should you escape and prove this stranger to be the man whom we seek, lead him to our home that things may befall as they are fated.”
“Peace, my father,” said Maya, throwing her arms about his neck, “together we will live or perish. These señors may go if it pleases them, but here I stay with you.”