Yahn as he recoiled from the
thought. "But listen you!--maybe I dream--but listen!--maybe the witch
maid is a human thing with the heart of magic like Tahn-te,--maybe I
can find them together for you in the sacred place of the stars in
Pu-ye. Maybe the spirit of Tahn-te has been traded into her keeping,
and with the double strength of evil she will destroy the earth in
this place. The stars say so;--a great evil is coming! The medicine
men see it in the sacred vessels of water and in the clear stone of
the ancient prophets--they say so! You are a brave heart--you can save
these people and win the gold secret from the council. If you want
Yahn Tsyn-deh for love you will do this thing!"

[Illustration: SHE LED HIM UP THE ANCIENT STAIRWAY _Page 295_]

Gonzalvo stared at her incredulous, she was crediting him with a power
that would place him high in the Castilian camp--if he could win! And
more--she was to give him her own intense, glowing, restless self!

"I also hate Tahn-te,--that is why!" she said frankly, "and I love
only men who are brave above all other men. Your fire sticks of
thunder must not be heard on the heights of Pu-ye, but when Tahn-te
and the witch meet there in the night, your arrows must send them
together to the Afterworld--not one alone--but _together_! When the
men of Te-hua find the dead witch (for the men of Te-gat-ha and the
Navahu can witness that it is the one!) and when they find the lion
robe of Tahn-te on her body,--and other gifts of Tahn-te--and find
them dead the one beside the other, then the man who has made this
happen will be a great man! Even the men of Te-gat-ha will come with
gifts, and the men of Te-hua will give you honor, and will open the
trail for you to the sun symbol. There will be no Tahn-te to put evil
magic on them for doing so! When he is found dead with the witch maid
they will see clearly that his magic was evil magic, and they will
have breath that is deep and free again. Also I--Yahn Tsyn-deh--will
walk beside you where you choose."

Low and rapid was her speech there in the shadow of the adobe
wall--and so fair was the dream she made clear for him, that he felt
himself grow dazed with the glory of it--yet he was a strong man!

If it was true that Tahn-te and the witch nested together in the ruins
of Pu-ye, he knew well that the day of the young Ruler was ended in
Povi-whah, or in any Te-hua council where it was known. But the
strange mental or spiritual power of