The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan

by L. Frank Baum

“Had we been deemed unworthy of their great god,” he explained in English, “they would have killed us at sundown to-night, murdering us in cold blood and tossing our carcasses to the beasts. Sacrificial offerings are reserved for special occasions and are often prepared for weeks in advance, being cherished and fattened that they may become the more acceptable to the god. Therefore this order means we shall gain time to plan an escape. That may not be impossible, my friends, after all; and, in any event, time has its value.”

Afterward the atkayma told us that had not the High Priest been in his dotage he assuredly would not have accepted our blacks for sacrifice. The Mexican might pass, perhaps, as his skin was not unlike the color of that of the Itzaex; but the Sun-god might not like black sacrifices. The event, however, proved that Chaka was wrong in this conclusion.

We were now treated with great respect by the priests, even the wild-eyed one being willing to “cherish” the victims. Having been formally dedicated to their god our persons were sacred and our comfort and welfare the objects of much solicitude. If one of us expressed a desire it was at once granted, and we were surrounded by every luxury the luxurious palace afforded. In effect we became autocrats, commanding the priests at will. One thing only was denied us—permission to leave the temple enclosure.

For four dreary days we lived this sybaritic life; they were dreary because we had little to do but to eat and sleep and take life easy. Of course we talked over our delicate position and sought to evolve some plan of escape, but without the precious outfit that had been taken from us we were practically helpless.

All the Vale of Tcha was under the supreme rule of the High Priestess of the Sun, an hereditary title that had been handed down from mother to daughter for thousands of years—how many thousands we as yet were unable to learn. The High Priestess was attended by fifty Virgins between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Having served to the latter age they were released, sent back to their homes and permitted to marry. The daughters of these original Virgins of the Sun were entitled to succeed their mothers, in time; if there were not enough of them choice was made of young girls from the noblest families of the nation.

Next in rank came the High Priest, who was supported by fifty priests. These last, however, held their positions for life, and their ranks were filled from time to time by the most intelligent and deserving of the young men of Tcha. But so arduous were the duties of the priesthood that there was no time to fuss over civil affairs and the administration of the laws; so a Tribunal was selected by the High Priestess, the members of which served during their natural lives, directing all the minor affairs of the nation.

The Tcha believed but in one god, the Sun, from whence they considered they derived all the good things of life. They were communists to an extent, although divided into castes. The manufacturers’ guild was the most important of all, after the priesthood and the nobility, the latter being a luxurious class consisting of relatives of the priestesses and their subsequent children, but who constituted the scientific and literary class as well. The manufacturers’ guild included goldsmiths, weavers, millers and bakers, and all those who produced goods or wares from raw material. Next came the agriculturists, then the miners, and finally the builders.

Every inhabitant of the Vale of Tcha belonged to one or another of them castes and was supposed to keep busy, a drone being despised by all. Everything produced went into the public warehouses and from there was distributed to each family according to its requirements.

On the afternoon of the fourth day of our imprisonment a message came to us that the High Priestess desired to see the “sacrificial devotees.” The priests at once bustled about and brought us fresh togas and our white duck suits, which we wore under the robes. We were washed and brushed like schoolboys and given endless advice as to our conduct in the presence of “the Divine and Supreme Ama”.

“Ama” meant in the Maya tongue “mother”. If the High Priestess had any other name we never heard it.