“We pray your pardon, O king, good master. The fault was not ours. Since yesterday at noon we have not ate or drank or slept; neither have we been out of the great temple, except to embark and come here, which was with all possible speed.”
“It is well. Arise! What says the god?”
Every ear was strained to hear.
“We followed your orders in all things, O king. In the temple we found the teotuctli, and the pabas of the city, with many from Tezcuco and Cholula.”
“Saw you Mualox, of the old Cû of Quetzal’?”
“Mualox was not there.”
The king waved his hand.
“We presented ourselves to the teotuctli, and gave him your message; in proof of our authority, we showed him the signet, which we now return.”
The seal was taken in silence.
“In presence, then, of all the pabas, the sacrifices were begun. I counted the victims,—nine hundred in all. The afternoon and night, and to-day, to the time of our departure, the service lasted. The sound of prayer from the holy men was unintermitted and loud. I looked once to the palace of Axaya’, and saw the azoteas crowded with the strangers and their Tlascalans.”