about it.

"If it should come to a hand-to-hand fight," he said, "I would
rather rely on my ax. Besides, the bow, now it is unstrung, makes
an excellent quarterstaff, a weapon with which I have practiced a
great deal. With a spear your people would know quite as much as I
should; but I fancy that, with a quarterstaff, I should astonish
them. It has the advantage, too, that it disables without killing;
and as your soldiers would only be doing their duty in arresting
me, I should be sorry to do them more harm than I could help.

"There were a great many men on the road below there, today."

"A great many, my lord; and no doubt the garrisons of the two towns
we shall have to pass tonight will be all out, and on the watch.
This is the most dangerous part of the journey. The mountains are
rugged, and there are only certain passes by which we can travel,
and they are sure to be watched narrowly. They will guess that we
shall travel by night."

"I suppose it will not be possible to make a detour, either to the
south or north?"

The Aztec shook his head.

"To the north lie terrible mountains, of whose passes I know
nothing. Our provisions are exhausted, and we must, in future,
depend upon maize and other things we can pick by the way. Were we
to go there, we should find nothing.

"To the south lies Tlascala, whose people are independent of
Montezuma. They are fierce and warlike, and would seize and offer
you to the gods, without pity."

"Still, they would not be on the lookout for us; and we might,
therefore, pass through their country without being seen."

"We might do so, my lord," Bathalda agreed.

"At any rate," Roger said, "it seems to me that there would be more
chance, in that direction, than in going straight forward. From
what you say, it seems well-nigh impossible for us to get through
the passes ahead of us, without being captured."

Accordingly, when night fell they struck off to the south. The
journey was a very toilsome one, for they were now crossing the
spurs of the hills, running far down into the plateau. As before,
they had to halt when the moon set, but continued their way at
daybreak.

"There is a road down in the valley there," Roger said, after three
hours' more walking.

Bathalda stood looking down, for some time.

"I know it, now," he said. "It is the last road north of Tlascala,
and runs from Huejotlipan to Yxtacamaxtitlan. We are already east
of Tlascala, and about fifteen miles f