me prayer of him. He answered them
with a nod of the head and they retreated from his presence, making
obeisance and stepping backward till they mingled with the crowd. Then
the emperor spoke a word to one of the counsellors, who bowed and came
slowly down the hall looking to the right and to the left. Presently his
eye fell upon Guatemoc, and, indeed, he was easy to see, for he stood a
head taller than any there.

'Hail, prince,' he said. 'The royal Montezuma desires to speak with you,
and with the Teule, your companion.'

'Do as I do, Teule,' said Guatemoc, and led the way up the chamber,
till we reached the place where the wooden screen had been, which, as we
passed it, was drawn behind us, shutting us off from the hall.

Here we stood a while, with folded hands and downcast eyes, till a
signal was made to us to advance.

'Your report, nephew,' said Montezuma in a low voice of command.

'I went to the city of Tobasco, O glorious Montezuma. I found the Teule
and brought him hither. Also I caused the high priest to be sacrificed
according to the royal command, and now I hand back the imperial
signet,' and he gave the ring to a counsellor.

'Why did you delay so long upon the road, nephew?'

'Because of the chances of the journey; while saving my life, royal
Montezuma, the Teule my prisoner was bitten by a puma. Its skin is
brought to you as an offering.'

Now Montezuma looked at me for the first time, then opened a picture
scroll that one of the counsellors handed to him, and read in it,
glancing at me from time to time.

'The description is good,' he said at length, 'in all save one thing--it
does not say that this prisoner is the handsomest man in Anahuac. Say,
Teule, why have your countrymen landed on my dominions and slain my
people?'

'I know nothing of it, O king,' I answered as well as I might with the
help of Guatemoc, 'and they are not my countrymen.'

'The report says that you confess to having the blood of these Teules in
your veins, and that you came to these shores, or near them, in one of
their great canoes.'

'That is so, O king, yet I am not of their people, and I came to the
shore floating on a barrel.'

'I hold that you lie,' answered Montezuma frowning, 'for the sharks and
crocodiles would devour one who swam thus.' Then he added anxiously,
'Say, are you of the descendants of Quetzal?'

'I do not know, O king. I am of a white race, and our forefather was
named Adam.'

'Perchance t