woman. Here Montezuma halted and looked at the
gates, then said:

'These gates opened four days since for Papantzin, my sister; how long,
I wonder, will pass before they open for me?'

As he spoke, the white shape upon the grass which I had seen and he had
not seen, stirred like an awakening sleeper. As the snow shape upon the
mountain had stirred, so this shape stirred; as it had arisen, so this
one arose; as it threw its arms upwards, so this one threw up her arms.
Now Montezuma saw and stood still trembling, and I trembled also.

Then the woman--for it was a woman--advanced slowly towards us, and
as she came we saw that she was draped in graveclothes. Presently she
lifted her head and the moonlight fell full upon her face. Now Montezuma
groaned aloud and I groaned, for we saw that the face was the thin pale
face of the princess Papantzin--Papantzin who had lain four days in the
grave. On she came toward us, gliding like one who walks in her sleep,
till she stopped before the bush in the shadow of which we stood. Now
Papantzin, or the ghost of Papantzin, looked at us with blind eyes, that
is with eyes that were open and yet did not seem to see.

'Are you there, Montezuma, my brother?' she said in the voice of
Papantzin; 'surely I feel your presence though I cannot see you.'

Now Montezuma stepped from the shadow and stood face to face with the
dead.

'Who are you?' he said, 'who wear the shape of one dead and are dressed
in the garments of the dead?'

'I am Papantzin,' she answered, 'and I am risen out of death to bring
you a message, Montezuma, my brother.'

'What message do you bring me?' he asked hoarsely.

'I bring you a message of doom, my brother. Your empire shall fall and
soon you shall be accompanied to death by tens of thousands of your
people. For four days I have lived among the dead, and there I have seen
your false gods which are devils. There also I have seen the priests
that served them, and many of those who worshipped them plunged into
torment unutterable. Because of the worship of these demon gods the
people of Anahuac is destined to destruction.'

'Have you no word of comfort for me, Papantzin, my sister?' he asked.

'None,' she answered. 'Perchance if you abandon the worship of the false
gods you may save your soul; your life you cannot save, nor the lives of
your people.'

Then she turned and passed away into the shadow of the trees; I heard
her graveclothes sweep upon the grass.