“Escape from the wrath,” replied Mualox.
“And what is required of me?”
“To stay here, and, with me, serve his altar.”
“Is the king also to be saved?”
“Surely; he is already a servant of the god’s.”
Under his gown the ’tzin’s heart beat quicker, for the question and answer were close upon the fear newly come to him, as I have said; yet, to leave the point unguarded in the paba’s mind, he asked,—
“And the people: if I become what you ask, will they be saved?”
“No. They have forgotten Quetzal’ utterly.”
“When the king became your fellow-servant, father, made he no terms for his dependants, for the nation, for his family?”
“None.”