fair dancing girls and minstrels armed with their accursed flutes, on
which they blew in season and out of it, dancing as they blew. In vain
did I command them to be silent, telling them that it was written of old
that there is a time to play and dance and a time to cease from dancing,
for in this alone they would not obey me. Never could I be at peace
because of them then or thereafter, and not till now did I learn how
great a treasure is solitude.

Still we were allowed to walk together under the trees, and though the
clamour of music pursued us wherever we went, we were soon deep in talk.
Then it was that I learned how dreadful was the fate which overshadowed
me.

'Know, O Teule,' said Otomie, for she would call me by the old name when
there were none to hear; 'this is the custom of our land, that every
year a young captive should be chosen to be the earthly image of the
god Tezcat, who created the world. Only two things are necessary to this
captive, namely, that his blood should be noble, and that his person
should be beautiful and without flaw or blemish. The day that you
came hither, Teule, chanced to be the day of choosing a new captive to
personate the god, and you have been chosen because you are both noble
and more beautiful than any man in Anahuac, and also because being
of the people of the Teules, the children of Quetzal of whom so many
rumours have reached us, and whose coming my father Montezuma dreads
more than anything in the world, it was thought by the priests that you
may avert their anger from us, and the anger of the gods.'

Now Otomie paused as one who has something to say that she can scarcely
find words to fit, but I, remembering only what had been said, swelled
inwardly with the sense of my own greatness, and because this lovely
princess had declared that I was the most beautiful man in Anahuac,
I who though I was well-looking enough, had never before been called
'beautiful' by man, woman, or child. But in this case as in many
another, pride went before a fall.

'It must be spoken, Teule,' Otomie continued. 'Alas! that it should be I
who am fated to tell you. For a year you will rule as a god in this city
of Tenoctitlan, and except for certain ceremonies that you must undergo,
and certain arts which you must learn, none will trouble you. Your
slightest wish will be a law, and when you smile on any, it shall be an
omen of good to them and they will bless you; even my father Montezuma
will