One by one the victims were led or borne to the sacrificial block, and if, perchance, they paused upon the area of the temple's summit, their anointed bodies, which were shielded only by a girdle about the loins, glistened in the sun's intense light—a mollifying spectacle for Aztec gods.
When the ceremony had progressed to that point when all the bloodthirstiness which such sights must surely beget in the savage mind had taken possession of the witnesses, a thought seemed to occur suddenly to Maxtla, who was a delighted spectator of the bloody carnival, and he exclaimed:
"Bring hither Itzalmo, the traitorous friend and counselor of Hualcoyotl, and prepare him for the sacrifice. Let him die for the appeasing of the gods."
The prison-keeper, who had charge of Itzalmo's dungeon, took the necessary assistance and proceeded to execute the order of the king.
When the dungeon to which Itzalmo had been consigned was reached by the prison-keeper and his assistants, the door was thrown open, and they entered to secure the prisoner, but a surprise awaited them which they were not anticipating—the cell was empty; Itzalmo was not there.
The prison-keeper was speechless with amazement at the discovery, and, on contemplating the consequences to himself of the prisoner's escape, became horrified at the thought of the fate which certainly awaited him. He returned to the presence of the king, fully realizing the awful strait in which the situation put him. Prostrating himself at Maxtla's feet, he cried out, in accents of despair:
"Woe is come to thy servant, O King, and he is undone; for Itzalmo, the prisoner, is gone! He has fled his prison cell."
Maxtla looked for a moment, in menacing silence, on the prostrate man before him, his face becoming, as he did so, livid with rage. When he spoke, his accents were inhuman—demoniacal.
"Miserable dotard!" he exclaimed. "Thy cowardly, cringing body is fit only for sacerdotal hands. A heart for a heart it shall be—not Itzalmo's, but thine, shall fall to-day, to assuage the offended gods. Take him hence to the block, and let his blood condone his offense." Thus did the keeper of Itzalmo's dungeon become, innocently, the victim of Maxtla's ferocity.
The sacrificial ceremony was at last concluded. The sanguinary rites, in compliance with the demands of the offended deities, had been formally observed, and Maxtla, according to the declarations of the oracles, was thereby restored to favor. The assembled multitude dispersed, self-satisfied with its part in the bloody festival, and quiet once more prevailed in Azcapozalco.