“Can a cacique be deposed?” asked Maya.
“Yes, lady, if he has broken the law, for was not your father to be deposed for this same reason? Also, Tikal holds his place, not by right of birth, but by treaty. You are the true heir to Zibalbay, Lady of the Heart.”
“It may be so,” she answered coldly, “but I have renounced my claim and I do not desire to go back upon my word.”
“If you have renounced it,” said Dimas, “there is one to whom it passes,”—and he pointed to the sleeping infant. “Yonder is the Child of Prophecy, hope of the people, and he it is whom we purpose to crown as our ruler, setting you and your husband up to act for him till he reaches his full age.”
“Nay,” said Maya, “for thus shall he become the mark of Tikal’s rage and be put to death,—openly or in secret, as it may chance.”
“Not so, lady, for in that hour when he is proclaimed, Tikal will be taken into safe keeping, where he shall abide for so long as his life lasts.”
“And when is this to be,” asked the señor.
“To-morrow, at noon, upon the pyramid, that the child may be solemnly anointed three days hence in the Sanctuary, on the night of the Rising of Waters.”
“It is foolish to crown a babe, and neither I nor my husband seek this greatness,” said Maya. “If Tikal is to be deposed because of his crimes, let one of the great lords be set in his place until the child is old enough to rule.”
“Although you and your husband are to command us in the future,” answered Dimas, sternly, “till then you must obey, Lady, for the voice of the Council is supreme, and it carries out the will of its founder and invisible president, the Heart of Heaven. The Council has determined that the heaven-sent child, of whom you are the earthly parents, must take his own.”