"I wish I could," Cummings said with a sigh. "If it had been possible for us to have taken from the Silver City any records, or sculptured figures, or plates of a historical nature, I might have succeeded in solving that which the student can speak of only as a mystery. Before the Conquest it was known as Maya—that is to say, the territory now called Yucatan, and the Chan Santa Cruz yet speak the Maya language. It is only certain that for many centuries there was here an important feudal monarchy, which doubtless arose after the Toltec overthrow of the very ancient kingdom of Xibalba."
"Cortez was the first white man to come into this country," Neal said half questioningly.
"Not by any manner of means. In the year 1502 Ferdinand Columbus, driven by adverse currents out of his southerly course, sighted a group of islands off Honduras, and captured a huge canoe, which is described as having been as wide as a galley and eighty feet long, formed of the trunk of a single tree. In the middle was an awning of palm leaves, not unlike those of Venetian gondolas, under which were the women, children and goods. The canoe was propelled by twenty-five Indians who wore cotton coverlets and tunics without sleeves, dyed various colors and curiously worked. The women wrapped themselves in large mantles of similar material.
"The men wore long swords, with channels each side of the blade, edged with sharp flints that cut the body as well as steel. They had copper hatchets for chopping wood, belts of the same material, and crucibles in which to melt it. For provisions they carried roots and grain, a sort of wine made from maize, and great quantities of almonds. This is a fragment of the history of Yucatan, simply a suggestion of what can be found by study, and some day when you have nothing to do, ask Poyor to tell you of his people's traditions."
Cummings had succeeded in interesting the boys despite Neal's assertion that it would be impossible to think of anything but their own condition, and Teddy asked, hoping to hear more about the country:
"How large is Yucatan?"
"I question if even the officials know. It is set down as containing 76,560 square kilometres, with 302,315 inhabitants; but the last figures can be only guess-work, since regarding the unconquerable tribes of the interior, such as we are now trying to escape from, all is conjecture."
This concluded the conversation so far as Cummings was concerned, for Poyor had awakened and joined the party, and there was very much to be discussed with him relative to what move should be made, when a sufficient time had elapsed.
In order that the boys might understand all which was said, the two men spoke only in English, and when the consultation was brought to a close the former had a very clear idea of the condition of affairs.
"It is safe to venture out in search of food," Poyor said, when Cummings intimated by his silence that there was no further topic which he wished to discuss, "and I will go for a short time."