led by a queer, hard name. Carrai! I don't
remember it."

"Quetzalcoatl?"

"Caval! that's the word. Pues, senores; he is a fire-god, and fond of
human flesh; prefers it roasted, so they say. That's the use we'll be
put to. They'll roast us to please him, and at the same time to satisfy
themselves. Dos pajaros al un golpe!" (Two birds with one stone.)

That this was to be our fate was no longer probable, but certain; and we
slept upon the knowledge of it the best way we could.

In the morning we observed dressing and painting among the Indians.
After that began dancing, the dance of the mamanchic.

This ceremony took place upon the prairie, at some distance out in front
of the temple.

As it was about commencing, we were taken from our spread positions and
dragged up near it, in order that we might witness the "glory of the
nation."

We were still tied, however, but allowed to sit upright. This was some
relief, and we enjoyed the change of posture much more than the
spectacle.

I could not describe the dance even if I had watched it, which I did
not. As Sanchez had said, it was carried on only by the women of the
tribe. Processions of young girls, gaily and fantastically attired, and
carrying garlands of flowers, circled and leaped through a variety of
figures. There was a raised platform, upon which a warrior and maiden
represented Montezuma and his queen, and around these the girls danced
and chanted. The ceremony ended by the dancers kneeling in front, in a
grand semicircle. I saw that the occupants of the throne were Dacoma
and Adele. I fancied that the girl looked sad.

"Poor Seguin!" thought I: "there is none to protect her now. Even the
false father, the medicine chief, might have been her friend. He, too,
is out of the way, and--"

But I did not occupy much time with thoughts of her; there was a far
more painful apprehension than that. My mind, as well as my eyes, had
dwelt upon the temple during the ceremony. We could see it from the
spot where we had been thrown down; but it was too distant for me to
distinguish the faces of the white females that were clustered along its
terraces. She no doubt was among them, but I was unable to make her
out. Perhaps it was better I was not near enough. I thought so at the
time.

I saw Indian men among the captives; and I had observed Dacoma, previous
to the commencement of the dance, proudly standing before them in all
the paraphernalia of