CHAPTER XI
WE ENTER THE CITY OF ITZA
We held no unnecessary converse with one another on the trail, not being anxious to appear as chatterboxes before these silent natives; but when we had camped for the night in another small clearing, which we reached at dusk, we gathered in a group and in English talked over the day’s adventures and our future prospects. Chaka came and sat with us after he had indulged in a somewhat lengthy interview with Gatcha the chief, and he looked rather solemn and thoughtful.
“My father was out hunting with a small party of twelve,” said he, “when the Mopanes, who had long been lying in ambush, seized and assassinated him. One warrior made escape and aroused the City, so Gatcha gathered his men and gave chase. Before he left Itza, however, the chief tells me that my Uncle Datchapa, believing me to be dead, as had my father, caused himself to be proclaimed atkayma. That is bad, my friends, for now Datchapa will not be glad to see me.”
“Is he as bad as that?” I asked.
“My Uncle Datchapa,” returned Chaka, slowly, “is an old man, and a wise man as well. He has renown as a warrior and a statesman, and my people respect him greatly. Also he is ambitious, and as a boy my mother warned me to avoid him, lest he seek my death that he might succeed my father as atkayma. Gatcha, who has no love for Datchapa, but fears him, tells me my father also watched his ambitious brother carefully, being afraid to trust him at the head of the army. Gatcha is not sure that my uncle did not secretly send for the Mopanes and then induce the Atkayma Tcheltzada to hunt with a handful of followers. If this is true—but I hope it is not true—then Datchapa will be much disappointed when I return.”
“Never mind,” said Paul, soothingly. “My brother Chaka is the royal one.”
“Also is Datchapa royal,” was the reply. “He is my father’s brother. But our laws forbid him to become atkayma as long as his brother’s son lives.”
“Then we must be careful,” I suggested.
“It is not for myself, Cap’n Sam, that I fear,” returned Chaka, “but for my white comrades. Datchapa, wicked and ambitious as he is, dare not oppose me openly. But he is Chief of the Council, which directs our laws, and he may show enmity to my white friends and try to arouse the people to destroy them.”
“In that case,” said Joe, “I advise you to clap your precious uncle into jail as soon as you arrive. It will be the safest plan.”