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i lU ? 111 j m a ii ?nil THS SUMTER WATCHMAN, Ks tab? shed April, IS 50. 44Be Just and Fear not-Let all?the Ends thou Aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God'sJand Truth's." THE TRUE SOUTHKON, Established Jane, 1366 Consolidated Aug. 2,1881. SUMTER, S. C., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1894. New Series-Vol. XIV. No. 13. Published Every Wednesday, --BY 3>3\ Gr. Osteen, SUMTER, S. C. TERMS : Two Dollars per aooom-in advance. .ADTEKTISKHE.IT: One Square first insertion.$1 00 Every subsequent insertion... 50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. AH communications which subserve private interests will be charged foras advertisements. Obituaries and tributes of respect will be charged for. COPYRIGHT, TB93, BY THC AUTHOR.' CHAPTER XXXTT. nra LAST SACRIFICE OF THE "WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE. Here in the courtyard of the teocalli, by the light of burning houses, for as they advanced the Spanish fired the town, we mustered our array to find that there were left to us in all some 400 fighting men, to? gether with a crowd of nearly 2,000 wom? en and many children. Now, although this teocalli \ras not quite so lofty as that of the great temple of Mexico, its sides are steeper and everywhere faced with dressed stone, and the open face upon its sumnrt was almost as great, measuring indeed more than a hundred paces every way. This area was paved with blocks of marble, and in its center stood the temple oft1 ) war god, where his statue still sat, al? though no worship had been offered to him for many years; the stone of sacrifice, the altar of fire and the storehouses of Ve priests. Moreover, in front of the temple, and between it and the stone of sacrifice, was a deep cemented hole the size of t large zoom, which once had been used asa place for the safe keeping of grain in times of fr*Tn<TK>_ This pit I had caused to be filled with water borne with great toil to toto top of the pyramid, and in the temple itself I stored a great quantity of food, so that we had no canco to fear present death from thirst cr famine. But now we wore faceto face with anew trouble. Largo ari was the summit of the pyramid, it would not give shelter to half our numbers, and ff we desired to defend it some of the multitude herded round its base must seek refuge elsewhere. Calling the leaders of the people together, I put the matter before them in a few words, leaving them to decide what must be done They in turn consulted among themselves, and at length gave me this answer: That it was agreed that all the wounded and aged there, together with most of the chil? dren, and with them any others who wish? ed to go, should leave tho teocalli that night, to find their way out of the city if they could, or if not to trust to the mercy of the Spaniards. I said that it was well, for death was on every aide, and it mattered little which way men turned to meet it. So they were sorted out, 1,500 or more of them, and at midnight the gates of the courtyard were thrown open, and they left. Oh, it was dreadful to see the farewells that took place in that hour! Here a daughter clung to the neck of her aged father, here hus? bands and wives bade each other a last farewell, here mothers kissed their little children, and on every aide rose up the sounds of bitter agony, the agony of those who parted forever. 1 buried my face in my hands, wondering, as I had often won? dered before, how a God whose name is Mercy can bear to look upon sights that break the hearts of sinful men to witness. Presently I raised my eyes and spoke to Otomie, who was at my side, asking her if she would not send our son away with the others, passing him off as the child of com? mon people, "Kay, husband," she an? swered, "it is better for him to die with us than to live as a slave of the Spaniards.0 At length it was over, and the gates had shut behind thc last of them. Soon we heard the distant chaUenge of the Spanish sentries as they perceived them, and the sounds of some shots, followed by cries. "Doubtless the Tlascalans are massa? cring them," I said. But it was not so. When a few had been killed, the leaders of the Spaniards found that they waged war upon an un? armed mob, made up for the most part of aged people, women and children, and their commander, Bemal Diaz, a merci? ful man if a rough one, ordered that the onslaught should cease. Indeed he did more, for when all the ablebodied men, to? gether with such children as were suffi? ciently strong to bear the fatigues of travel, had been sorted out to be sold as slaves he suffered the rest of that melancholy com? pany to depart whither they would. And so they went, though what became of them I do not know. That night we spent in the courtyard of the teocalli, but before it was light I caused the women and children who re? mained with us, perhaps some 000 in all, for very few of the former who were un? married, or, who, being married, were still young and comely, had chosen to de? sert our refuge, to ascend the pyramid, guessing that the Spaniards would attack us at dawn. I staid, however, with the 800 flghrt-ng men that were left to me, a hundred or more having thrown them? selves upon the mercy of the Spaniards, with the refugees, to await the Spanish onset under shelter of the walls of the courtyard. At dawn it began, and by mid? day, do what wo could to stay it, the wall was stormed, and leaving nearly a hun? dred dead and wounded behind me I was driven to the winding way that led to the summit of the pyramid. Here they as? saulted us again, but the road was steep and narrow, and their numbers gave them no great advantage on it, so that the end of it was that#we beat them back with loss, and there was no more fighting that day. The night which followed wc spent upon thc summit of thc pyramid, and for my part I was so weary that after I had eaten I never slept moro soundly. Next morning the struggle began anew, and this time with better success to thc Span? iards. Inch by inch, under cover of the heavy fire from their arquebuses and pieces, they forced us upward and back ward. All daylong the fight contin upon tho narrow road that wound fi stage to stage of thc pyramid. At lenj as the sun sank, a company of our f their advance guard, with shouts of tory, emerged upon the flat, summit rushed toward the temple in its cen All this while the women had been wai ing, but now one of them sprang up, < ing with a loud voice: ''Seize them. They are but few. " Then, with a fearful scream of rage, mob of .women cast themselves upon weary Spaniards and" ?lascal?nsrbe?? them down by the weight of their ni hers. Many of them were slain ind? but in the end the women conquered, ? and made their victims captive, fasten them with cords to the rings of cop that were ?et into the stones of the p? ment, to which in former days ti doomed to sacrifice had been secured w] their numbers were so great that priests feared lest they should escape, and the soldiers with me watched t sight, wondering; then I cried out: "What, men of the Otomie, shall it said that our women outdid us in co age?" and without further ado, follo\ by 100 or more of my companions, I ru ed desperately down the steep and nan path. At the first corner we met the main ray of Spaniards and their allies, com: np slowly, for now they were sure of \ tory, and so great was the shock of our > counter that many of them were h ur over the edge of the path, to roll down 1 steep sides of the pyramid. Seeing the f; of their comrades, those behind tb halted, then began to retreat. Presen the weight of our rush struck them al and they in turn pushed upon those belo till at length panic seized them, and wi a great crying the long line of men tl wound round and round the pyramid frc its base almost to its summit sought th' safety in flight. But some of them fou none, for the rush of those above, press! with ever increasing force upon tb friends below, drove many to their deal since here on the pyramid there was not ing to cling to, and if once aman lost 1 foothold on the path his fall was brok only when his body reached the court I neath. Thus in 15 short minutes all th the Spaniards had? won this day was lc again, for except the prisoners at its sm mit none of them remained alive upon t teocalM Indeed so great a terror to? them that, bearing with them their dei and wounded, they retreated under COY of tiie night to their camp without tl walls of the courtyard. Now, weary, but triumphant, we wen ed oar way back toward tho crest of ti pyramid, but as I turned the corner of ti second angle that was perhaps nearly ll feet above the level of the ground a thong) struck me, and I set those with meat task. Loosening the blocks of stone tb formed the edge of the roadway, we rolle them down the sides of the pyramid, ar I so labored on, removing layer upon layer < i stone and of the earth beneath till wheo the path had been was nothing but yawning gap 30 feet ormore in width. "Now," I said, surveying our hand work hythe light of the rising m coi "that Spaniard who would win our ne* must find wings to fry with." "Aye, Teule," answered one at my sid "but, say, what wings shall we find?" 4tTbe wings of death," I said grim] and went on my upward way. It was near midnight when I roache the temple, for the labor of leveling th road took many hours, and food had bee sent to us from above.. As I drew nigh was amazed to hear the sound of solem chanting, and still moro was I amaze when I saw that the doors of the temple c Hoitzel were open, and that the sacred fix which had not shone there for many year once more flared fiercely upon his altar, stood there listening. Did my ears trie] me, or did I hear the dreadful song c sacrifice? Nay, again its wild refrain ran, ont upon the silence: To The? we sacrifice! Save na, O HuitzeL, HuitseL, lard ?od! I rushed fbrwarG, ?ndTurning the angl* of tike temple I found myself face to fae with the past, for there, as in bygone years were the pabas clad in their black robes ! their long hair hanging about their shoul ! dexa, the dreadful knife of glass fixed ix their girdles. These to the right of tb ! stone of sacrifice were those destined to tb god, and there being Itv- toward it was th? first victim, a Tlascalan prisoner, hi* limbs held by men clad In the dress ol priests. Near him, arrayed in the searle4 robe of sacrifice, stood one of my own cap? tains, who I remembered had once served as a priest-of Tezcat before idolatry was forbidden in the City of Pines, and around were a wide circle of women that watched, and from whose lips swelled the awful chant. Now I understood it all. In their last despair, maddened by the loss of fathers, husbands and children, by their cruel fate, and standing face to face with certain death, the fire of the old faith had burned up in their savage hearts. There was the temple, there were the stone and imple? ments of sacrifice, and there to their hands were the victims taken in war. They would glut a last revenge, they would sac? rifice to their lathers' gods a? their fathers had done before them, and the victims should be taken from their own victorious foes. Aye, they must die, but at the least they must seek the mansions of the sun made holy by the blood of the accursed Teule. I have said that it was the women who sang this chant and glared so fiercely upon the victims, but I have not yet told all the horror of what I saw, for in the forefront of their circle, clad in white robes, the necklet of great emeralds, Guatemoc'sgift, flashing upon her breast, the plumes of royal green set in her hair, giving the time of the death chant with a little wand, stood Montezuma's daughter, Otomie, my wife. Never before had I seen her look so beautiful or so dreadful. It was not Oto? mie whom I saw, for where was the tender smile and where, the gentle eyes? Here be? fore me was a living vengeance wearing the shape of woman. In an instant I guessed the truth, though I did not know it all. Otomie, although ?she was not of it, had ever favored the Christian faith. Otomie, who for years had never spoken of these dreadful rites except with anger, whose every act wa?? love, and whoso every word was kindness, was still in her soul an idolatorand a sav? age. She had hidden this sido of her hea,t from me well through all these years; per chanco she herself had stmrcely known its secret, for but twice had I seen anything of the buried fierceness of her blood. The first time was when Marina had brought lier a certain roBe in woicn she mXgi? \ cape from the campof Cortes, and she 1 spoken to M^na of that robe, and j second when on the same day she played her part to the Tlascalan and j struck him down with her own hand i bent over me. All this and much more passed thrx my mind in that brief moment, v Otomie marked'the time of the d chant and tho pa bas dragged tue iii lan to his doom. The next I was at her side. " What passes herc?" I asked sternly Otomie looked on me with a cold \ der and with empty eyes, as though did not know me. "Go back, white man," she answe "It is not lawful for strangers to mi: in our rites." I stood bewildered, not knowing v to do, while the flame burned and chant went up before the effigy of Huil of the demon Huitzel awakened after m years of sleep. Again and yet again the solemn cl arose, Otomie beating time with her 1: rod of ebony, and again, yet again, the of triumph rose to the silent stars. Now I awoke from my dream, for as evil dream it seemed to me, and draw my sword I rushed toward the pries the altar to cut him down. But tho' the men stood still the women were quick for me. Before I could lift sword, before I could even speak a w< they had sprung upon mc, like the jagt of their own forests, and, like jagu; they hissed and growled ir to my ear: "Get you gone, Teule," they said, " we stretch you on the stone with y brethren. " And still hissing they pus me thence. I drew back and thought for awhile the shadow of the temple. My eye upon the long line of victims await their turn of sacrifice. They were thi and one of them still alive, and of th five were Spaniards. I noted that Spaniards were chained the last of all line. It seemed that the murderers wo keep them till the end of the feast; indi I discovered that they were to be one up at the rising of the sun. How coul save them, I wondered. My power \ gone The women could not be moi from their work of vengeance. They w mad with their sufferings. As well mi| a man try to snatch her prey from a pu robbed of her whelps as to turn th* from their purpose. With the men it v otherwise, however. Some of them m gl ed in the orgie indeed, but more ste aloof watching with a fearful joy the sp tacle In which they did not share. N< me was a mau, a. noble of the Otomie, something more than my own age. '. had always been my friend, and after : ho commanded the warriors of the tril I went to him and said, "Friend, for t sake of the honor of your people, help J to end this." "I cannot, Teule," he answered, "a beware how you meddle in the play, ) none will stand by you Now the worn h tve power, and you see they use it. Th are about to die, but before they die th will do as their fathers did, for their stn i is sore, and though they have been p j aside the old customs are not forgotten. ' "At the least, can we not save thc Teales? *' I answered. "Why should you wish to save t Teiiles? Will they save us some few da hence, when we are in their power?" ''Perhaps not," I said, "but if wo mu die let us die clean from this shame" "What, then, do you wish me to d Teule?" ** This: I would have you find some thr or four men who are not fallen into th madness, and with them aid me to loo the Teules, for we cannot save the other If this may be done, surely we can low them with ropes from that point where tl road is broken away down to the path b neath, and thus they may escape to the own people" "I will try," he answered, shruggir his shoulders, "not from any tenderne toward the accursed Seules, whom I cou] well bear to see stretched upon the ston* but because it is your wish, and for tl sake of the friendship between us." Then he went, and presently I saw sei eral men .place themselves, as though b chance, between the spot where the last c the line of Indian prisoners and the fin of the Spaniards were made fast, in sue fashion as to hide them from the sight c the maddened women engrossed as the were in their orgies. Now I crept up to the Spaniards. The were squatted upon the ground, bound b their hands and feet to the copper rings ii the pavement. There they sat siientl awaiting the dreadful doom, their face gray with terror, and their eyes starting from their sockets. "Hist !" I whispered in Spanish into th ear of the first, an old man whom I kn ev as one who had taken part in the war o Cortes. "Would you be saved?'' He looked up quickly and said in i hoarse voice: . "Who are you that talks of saving us Who can save us from these she devils?" i "I am a Teule, a man of white blooc and a Christian, and, alas that I must sa; it! the captain of this savage people. Wit!, the aid of some few men who are faithful to me, I purpose to cut your bonds, and afterward you shall see. Know, Spaniard, that I do this at great risk, for if we are caught it is a chance but that I myseli shall have to suffer those things from which I hope to rescue you ' ' "Be assured, Teule," answered the Spaniard, "that if we should get safe away we shall not forget this service Save our lives now, and the time may come when we shall pay you back with yours. But even if we are lensed, how can we cross the open space in this moonlight and escape the eyes of those furies?" "You must trust to chance for that, " I answered, and as I spoke fortune helped us strangely, for by now the Spaniards in their camp below had perceived what was going forward on the crest of the teocalli. A yell of horror arose from them, and in? stantly they opened fire upon us with their pieces and arquebuses, though, because of the shane of the pyramid and of their position beneath it, the storm of shot swept over us, doing little or no hurt; also a great company of them poured across tho courtyard, hoping to storm the temple, for they did not know that the road had been broken away. Now, though the rites of sacrifice never ceased, what with the roar of cannon, the shouts of rage and terror from tho Span? iards, the hiss of musket balls and the crackling of flames from houses which they had fired to give them moro light, and the sound of chanting, the turmoil and confusion grew so great as to render the carrying out of my purpose easier than I had hoped- By this time my friend, the captain ~"b? tho TJt?mle, "was"at my side, and with him several men whom he could trust. Stooping down, with a few swift blows of a knife I cut thc ropes which bound the Spaniards. Then we gathered ourselves into a knot, 12 of us or more., and in the center of the knot wo set thc five Spaniards. This done, I drew my sword and cried: "The Teules storm tho temple!" which was true, for already their long line was rushing up the winding path. "The Teales storm the temple! I go to stop them,"and straightway wc sped across the open space. None saw us, or, if they saw us, nono hindered us, for all the company were in? tent upon the,consummation of a fresh sacrifice. Moreover, the tumult was such, as I afterward discovered, tnat we were scarcely noticed. Two minutes passed, and our feet were set upon the winding way, and now I breathed again, for we were beyond tho sight of the women. On we rushed swiftly as the craatped limbs of the Spaniards would carry them till pres? ently we reached that angle in the path where the breach began. The attacking Spaniards had already come to the farther side of the gap, for though we could not see them we could hear their cries of rage and despair as they halted helplessly and understood that their comrades were be? yond their aid. "Now we are sped," said the Spaniard with whom I had spoken. "The road is gone, and it must be certain death to try the side of the pyramid." "Not so," I answered. "Some 50 feet below the path still runs, and one by one we will lower you to it with this rope. " Then we set to work. Making the cord fast beneath the arms of a soldier, we let him down gently till he came to the path and was received there by his comrades as a man returning from the dead. The last to be lowered was that Spaniard with whom I had spoken. "Farewell," he' said, "and may the blessing of God be on you for this acs of mercy, renegade though you are. Say, now, will you not come with me? I set my life and honor in pledge for your safe? ty. You tell me that you are still a Chris? tian man. Is that a place for Christians?" and he pointed upward. ."No, indeed," I answered, "but still I cannot come, for my wife and son are there, and I must return to die with them if need be. Ii you bear me any gratitude, strive in return to save their lives, since for my own I care but little. " "That I will," he said, and I let him down among his friends, whom he reached in safety. Now we returned to the temple, giving it ont that the Spaniards were in retreat, having failed to cross the breach in the roadway. Here before the temple the orgie still went on. But two Indians remained alive, and the priests of sacrifice grew weary. "Where are the Teules?" cried a voice, "Swift, strip them for the altar." But the Teules were gone, nor, search where they would, could they find them. "Their God has taken them beneath his wing," I said, speaking from the shadow and in a feigned voice. "Huitzel cannot prevail before tho God of the Teules." Then I slipped aside, so that none knew that it was I who had spoken, but the cry was caught up and echoed far and wide. "The God of the Christians has hidden them beneath his wing. Let us make merry with those whom he rejects," said the cry, and the last of the captives were dragged away. Now I thought that all was finished, but this was not so. I have spoken of the secret purpose which I had read in the sullen eyes Of the Indian women as they labored at the barricades, and I was about to see Its execution. Madness still burned in the hearts of these women. They had accomplished their sacrifice, but their fes? tival was still to come. They drew them? selves away to the farther side of the pyra? mid, and heedless of the shots which now and again pierced the breast of one of them-for here they were exposed to the Spanish fire-remained- awhile in prepara? tion. With them went the priests of sac? rifice, but now, as before, the rest of the men stood in sullen groups, watching what befell, but lifting no hand or voice to hinder its hellishness. One woman did not go with them, and that woman was Otomie, my wife. She stood by the stone of sacrifice, a piteous sight to see, for her frenzy, or rath? er her madness, had outworn itself, and she was as she had ever been. There stood Otomie, gazing with wide and horror stricken eyes now at the tokens of this un? holy rite and now at her own hands, as though she thought to see them red and shuddered at the thought. I drew near to her and touched her on the shoulder. She turned swiftly, gasping: "Husband, husband!" "It isl," I answered, "but call me hus? band no more." "Oh, what have I done?" she wailed and fell senseless in my arms. CHAPTER XXXIIL THE SURRENDER. Taking Otomie in my arms, I bore her to one of the storehouses attached to the temple. Here many children had been placed for safety, among them my own son. "What ails our mother, father?" said the boy. "And why did she shut me in herewith these children when it seems that there is fighting without?" "Your mother has fainted," I answer? ed, "and doubtless she placed you here to keep you safe. Now, do tend to her till I return." "I will do so," answered the boy, "but surely it would be better that I, who am almost a man, should be without, fighting the Spaniards at your side, rather than within, nursing sick women." "Doas I bid you, son," I said, "and I charge you not to leave this place until I come for you again. ' ' Now I passed out. of the storehouse, shutting thc door behind mc. A minute later I wished that I had staid where I was, since on the platform my eyes were greeted by a sight more dreadful than any that had gone before, for there, advanc? ing toward us, were the women, divided into four great companies, some of them bearing infants in their arms. They came singing and leaping, many of them naked to tho middle. Nor was this all, for in front of them ran the pabas and such of the women themselves as were persons in authority. These leaders, malo and female, ran and leaped and sang, calling upon thc names of their demon gods and celebrating tho wickedness of their forefathers, while after them poured the howling troops of women. To and fro they rushed, now making obeisance to the statue of Huitzel, now prostrating'themselves beforeTiisli??eouT sister, the goddess of death, who sat be? side him adorned with her carven neck? lace of men's skulls and hands, now bow? ing around the stone of sacrifice, and now thrusting their bare arms into the flames of the holy fire. For an hour or more they celebrated this ghastly carnival, of which even I, versed as I was in thc Indian cus? toms, could not fully understand the mean? ing, and then, as though some single im? pulse had possessed them, they withdrew to the center of the open space, and form? ing themselves into a double circle, with? in which stood the pabas, of a sudden they burst into a chant so wild and shrill that as I listened my blood curdled in my veins. Ever as they sang, step by step they drew backward, and with them went the leaders of each company, their eyes fixed upon the statues of their gods. Now they were but a segment pf a circle, for they did not advance toward the temple. Back? ward and outward they went, with a slow and solemn tramp. There was but one line of them now, for those in the second ring filled the gaps in the first as it wid? ened. Still they drew on till at length they stood on thc sheer edge of the platform. Then the priests and the women leaders took their place among them, and for a moment there was silence, until at a sig? nal one and all they bent backward. Standing thus, their long hair waving on the wind, the light of burning houses flar? ing upon their breasts and in their mad? dened eyes, they burst into the cry of: "Save us, Huitzel! Receive us, lord god, our home!" Thrice they cried it, each time more shrilly than before; then suddenly they were gone-the women of the Otomie were no more! With their own self slaughter they had consummated the last celebration of the rites of sacrifice that ever shall be held in the City of Pines. The devil gods were dead, and their worshipers with them. A low murmur ran round the lips of the men who watched; then one cried, and his voice rang strangely in the sudden silence, "May our wives, the women of the Oto The vx>rnen of the Otomie were no more! m?e, rest softly in the houses of the sun, for of a surety they teach us how to die. " "Aye," I answered, "but not thus. Lo, women do self murder! Our foes have swords for the hearts of men!" I turned to go, and before me stood Oto? mie. "What has befallen?" she said "Where are my sisters? Oh, surely I have dreamed an evil dream! I dreamed that the gods of my forefathers were strong once more, and that once more they drank the blood of men." ( * Your ill dream has a worse awakening, Otomie," I answered. "The gods of hell are still strong indeed in this accursed land, and they have taken your sisters into their keeping." "Is it so?" she said softly. <4Yet in my dream it seemed to me that this was their last strength ere they sink into death un? ending. Look yonder!" and she pointed toward the snowy crest of the volcan Xaca. I looked, but whether I saw the sight of which I am about to tell or whether it was but an imagining born of the horrors of that most hideous night in truth I cannot say. At the least I seemed to see this, and afterward there were some among the Spaniards who swore that they had wit? nessed it also. On Xaca's lofty summit now as always stood a pillar of fiery smoke, and, while I gazed, to my vision the smoke and the fire separated themselves. Out of the fire was fashioned a cross of flame that shone like lightning and stretched for many a rod across the heavens, its base resting on the mountain top. At its foot rolled the clouds of smoke, and now these, too, took forms vast and terrifying, such forms indeed as those that sat in stone within the temple behind me, but magnified a hundredfold. "See," said Otomie again, "thc cross of your God shines above the shapes of mine, the lost gods whom tonight I worshiped, though not of my own will." Then she turned and went. For some few moments I stood very much afraid, gazing upon the vision on Xaca's snow; then suddenly the rays of the rising sun smote it, and it was gone. Now, for three days more we held out against the Spaniards, for they could not come at us and their shot swept over our heads harmlessly. During these days I had no talk with Otomie, for we shrank from one another. Hour by hour she would sit in the storehouse of the temple a very picture of desolation. Twice I tried to speak with her, my heart being moved to pity by the dumb torment in her eyes, but she turned her head from me and made no answer. Soon it came to the knowledge of the Spaniards that we had enough food and water upon the teocali i to enable us to live there for amonth or more, and seeing that there was no hope of capturing the place by force of arms they called a parley with us. I went down to the breach in the road? way and spoke with their envoy, who stood upon the patb_ below._AJ; first the Highest of all in Leavening Pov j terms offered were That wc sn oma surren? der at discretion. To this I answered that I sooner than do so we would die where we i were. Their reply was that if we would j give over all who had any part in the hu I man sacrifice the rest of us might go free. To this I said that the sacri?cc had been carried out by women and some few men, and that all of these were dead by their own hands. They asked if Otomie was also dead. I told them no, but that I would never surrender unless they swore that neither she nor her son should be harmed, but rather that together with my? self they should be given a safe conduct to go whither wo willed. This was refused, but in the end won I the day, and a parch? ment was thrown up to me on the point of a lance. This parchment, which was signed by the Captain Bernai Diaz, set out that, in consideration of the part that I and some men of the Otomie had played in rescuing the Spanish captives from death by sacrifice, a pardon was granted [ to me, my wife and child and all upon the teocalli, with liberty to go whithersoever we would unharmed, our lands and wealth being, however, declared forfeit to the viceroy. With these terms I was well content; indeed I had never hoped to win any that world leave us our lives and liberty. And yoe for my part death had been almost as welcome, for now Otomie had built a wall between us that I could never climb, and I was bound to her, to a woman who. will? ingly or no, had stained her. hands with sacrifice. Well, my son was left to me, and with him I must be satisfied-at the least, he knew nothing of his mother's shame. Oh, I thought to myself, as I climbed the teocalli-oh, that I could but escape far from this accursed land and bear him with me to the English shores-aye, and Otomie also, for there she might for? get that once she had been a savage! Alas, it could scarcely be! Coming to the temple, I and those with me told the good tidings to our compan? ions, who received it silently. Men of a white race would have rejoiced thus to es? cape, for when death is near all other loss seems as nothing. But with these Indian people it is not sa since when fortune frowns upon them they do not cling to life. These men of the Otomie had lost their country, their wives, their wealth, their brethren and their homes. Therefore life, with freedom to wander whither they would, seemed no great thing to them So they met the boon that I had won from the mercy of our foes, as had matters gone otherwise they would have met the bane, in sullen silence. I came to Otomie, and to her I also told the news. UI had hoped to die where lam," she answered. "But so be it. Death is always to be found." Only my son rejoiced, because he knew that God had saved us all from death by sword or hunger. "Father," he said, "the Spaniards have given us life, but they take our country and drive us out of it. Where, then, shall wo go?" "I do not know, my son," I answered. "Father," the lad said again, "let us leave this land of A nah nae, where there is nothing but Spaniards and sorrow. Let us find a ship and sail across the seas to Eng? land, our own country. " The boy spoke my very thought, and my heart leaped at his words, though I had no plan to bring the matter about. I pondered a moment, looking at Otomie. "The thought is good, Teule," she said, answering my unspoken question. "For you and for your son there is no better, but for myself I will answer in the proverb of my people, 'The earth that bears us lies lightest on our bones.' " Then she turned, making ready to quit the storehouse of the temple, where we had been lodged during the siege, and no more was said about the matter. Before the sun set a weary throng of men, with some few women and children, were marching across thc courtyard that surrounded the pyramid, for a bridge of timbers taken from the temple had been made over thebreachjn the roadway that wound about ils side ? At the gates the Spaniards were wait? ing to receive us. We were sorted out. The men of small condition, together with the children, were taken from the ruined city by an escort and turned loose upon the mountains, while those of note were brought to the Spanish camp, to be ques? tioned there before they were set free, I, with my wife and son, was led to the pal? ace, our old home, there to learn the will of the Captain Diaz. It is but a little way to go, and yet there was something to be seen in the path, for as we walked I looked up, and before me, standing with folded arms and apart from all men, was De Garcia. I had scarcely thought of him for some days, so full had my mind been of other matters, but at the sight of his evil face I remem? bered that while this man lived sorrow and danger must be my bedfellows. He watched us pass, taking noto of alL Then he called to mc, who walked last: "Farewell, Cousin Wingfield. You have lived through this bout also and won a free pardon, you, your woman and your brat together. If the old warhorse who is set over us as a captain had listened tome, you should have burned at the stake, every one of you, but so it is. Farewell for awhile friend. I am away to Mexico to report these matters to the viceroy, who may have a word to say. " I made no answer, but asked of our con? ductor-that same Spaniard whom I had saved from the sacrifice-what the senor meant by his words. "This, Teule: That there has been a quarrel between our comrade Sarceda and our captain. The former would have grant? ed you no terms, or failing this would have decoyed you from your stronghold with false promises and then have put you to the sword as infidels with whom no oath is binding. But the captain would not have it so, for he said that faith must be kept even with the heathen, and we whom you had saved cried shame on him. And so words ran high, and in the end the Se? nor Sarceda, who is third in command among us, declared that he would be no party to this peacemaking, but would be gone to Mexico with his servants, there to rer.-Latest U. S. Gov't Report Baking 1 Powder ray PURE