We followed them slowly, halting just without the circle of buildings to wait for Ama. I thought she would come in the golden electric chariot she used on state occasions, but because of the rocks and debris that cluttered the way she was obliged to walk.
The High Priestess and her escort made an impressive appearance, nevertheless. First came six young girls swinging censers; then Ama alone. Following her were the Virgins of the Sun in their snow-white gowns.
At her signal we went ahead and were approaching near to the theatre when the final calamity overtook this devoted land.
The clear sky had nothing to do with the third earthquake. It came unheralded, without an instant’s warning. A sound as of a heavy sea dashing against breakers was followed by so mighty a crash that every living creature in the Vale of Tcha reeled and fell headlong.
It was all over, then. A mere instant had wrecked the beautiful city and buried hundreds in its ruins. More than that, as we rose dazed and trembling to our feet we saw that the south end of the huge mountain had split in twain, and through the rift we could look far out upon the plains toward the Great Lake and the City of Itza.
But now another horror confronted us. The ground of the valley had likewise split into big cracks, one of them almost at our feet. The censer girls had disappeared; the Virgins had likewise been swallowed up or had rushed back to firmer land. But there, upon a tiny island formed by two irregular chasms, stood Ama, erect and motionless, while the bit of ground that supported her slight and beautiful form swayed visibly to and fro, as if hesitating which way to plunge its fair burden into the black gulf below.
I saw a flash and felt a rush of air past me as Chaka made a great leap and alighted at the girl’s feet. For a moment I thought they were both about to be engulfed, but he steadied her with one hand as he knelt beside her, while with the other he fumbled with the valve of the themlyne case. He had cast aside his tunic before he made that wonderful leap, and as we stood spellbound, watching him with throbbing hearts, we could see the gas-jacket slowly swell as the powerful gas was generated and rushed into it.
It seemed a desperate chance to take; there was scarcely any foundation to support the swaying bit of ground, which was crumbling away before our very eyes. A few seconds now would end it all, and we stared helplessly, with a sickening dread of the impending tragedy.
Chaka straightened up, gained his feet and passed an arm around Ama’s waist. She appeared not to notice him; her face was white and set, her eyes turned steadily ahead to the spot where Paul stood with clasped hands, praying as he had never before prayed in all his life.
Chaka and Ama swayed with the little island, which toppled and fell with a roar into the abyss. Slowly—slowly but surely—they two sank after it, the girl clasped tightly in the atkayma’s arms, and disappeared from our view.