“What then?”
“Call on the teotuctli. The gods can be made speak whatever your policy demands.”
“Does my son blaspheme?” said Montezuma, angrily.
“Nay, I but spoke of what has happened. Long rule the good god of our fathers!”
Yet the monarch was not satisfied. Never before had discourse been addressed to him in strain so bold.
“They see all things, even our hearts,” he said, turning coldly away. “Farewell. A courier will come for you when your presence is wanted in the city.”
And so they separated, conscious that no healing had been brought to their broken friendship. As the canoe moved off, the ’tzin knelt, but the king looked not that way again.
CHAPTER III
LOVE ON THE LAKE
“What can they mean? Here have they been loitering since morning, as if the lake, like the tianguez, were a place for idlers. As I love the gods, if I knew them, they should be punished!”