# # #

Some unusual event certainly had occurred in the city. The great plaza
in front of the palace was thronged with a countless multitude of men
and women, all clamoring for a sacrifice! a sacrifice!

Whilst wondering what could be the cause of this commotion, I was
suddenly summoned before the Princess in the audience-chamber, so often
alluded to before.

My surprise was great when, upon presenting myself before her, I beheld,
pinioned to a heavy log of mahogany, a young man, evidently of European
descent.

The Princess requested me to interpret for her to the stranger, and the
following colloquy took place. The conversation was in the French
language.

Q. "Who are you, and why do you invade my dominions?"

A. "My name is Armand de L'Oreille. I am a Frenchman by birth. I was
sent out by Lamartine, in 1848, as attache to the expedition of M. de
Bourbourg, whose duties were to explore the forests in the neighborhood
of Palenque, to collate the language of the Central-American Indians, to
copy the inscriptions on the monuments, and, if possible, to reach the
LIVING CITY mentioned by Waldeck, Dupaix, and the American traveler
Stephens."

Q. "But why are you alone? Where is the party to which you belonged?"

A. "Most of them returned to Palenque, after wandering in the wilderness
a few days. Five only determined to proceed; of that number I am the
only survivor."

Here the interview closed.

The council and the queen were not long in determining the fate of M. de
L'Oreille. It was unanimously resolved that he should surrender his life
as a forfeit to his temerity.

The next morning, at sunrise, was fixed for his death. He was to be
sacrificed upon the altar, on the summit of the great Teocallis--an
offering to _Quetzalcohuatl_, the first great prince of the Aztecs. I at
once determined to save the life of the stranger, if I could do so, even
at the hazard of my own. But fate ordained it otherwise. I retired
earlier than usual, and lay silent and moody, revolving on the best
means to accomplish my end.

Midnight at length arrived; I crept stealthily from my bed, and opened
the door of my chamber, as lightly as sleep creeps over the eyelids of
children. But----

[Here the MS. is so blotted, and saturated with saltwater, as to be
illegible for several pages. The next legible sentences are as
follows.--ED.]

Here, for the first time, the woods looked familiar to me. Proceeding a
few steps, I