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In progressing up the nobler river we had observed smoke pillars rising ahead of us, their columns
broken into long and short puffs, and were told by our friends that word was going on ahead that we
were coming, from village to village.
Along the lesser tributary, we noticed that the centers of population were undefended by fortified
enclosures, and concluded that we had arrived at a point where danger from barbarians was improbable.
Now we decided that we were wrong, for we saw a long mound wall stretching along a narrow ridge at
the junction of a small river with that which we were following alongshore.
As we first caught sight of it, we were struck with its resemblance to a serpent, the image being greater
than any serpent that ever crawled, for it extended fully a quarter-mile. If the far-flung loops of its
undulations, which formed fort-like enclosures, had been straightened, it would have been much longer.
The body itself is thirty feet across, though only the height of a tall man above the ground level. In its
enclosures, all the people, in the unprotected communities up and down the little rivers, could find shelter
in case of invasion. The tail was near one stream, its head near another, and upon its back were built log
houses, connected by palisades, in order to form a continuous wall at all points not less than twenty feet
high. At the three gates were fortified outworks, almost impregnable.
As we marched along the outside of this imposing fortress, we saw every available spot, upon roof or
palisade, filled with people. They watched us, but there was no word of welcome, nor did they follow
along the wall, but remained where they were until we were out of sight. This chill greeting seemed
ominous.
The feeling was not lessened when, at Hayonwatha s command, the Tlapallicos took up a position to the
right and left of each of us. In a column of threes we approached the gateway at the Serpent s jaws.
These were widely spread, and beyond the outworks we could see another mound, oval in shape,
crowned with a roof or pavilion of logs, and noticed that another pair of jaws at its opposite end opened
to surround this oval completely, though the head of the other snake was bodiless as the river, which
flowed nearby, interfered with any extension of the earthworks.
Not knowing whether we were prisoners or honored guests, we fifty Romans approached the gates,
wide flung and waiting. One hundred feet from the entrance, our long column halted. The company
trumpeter sounded his shell trumpet, and with measured stride a procession came forward to meet us.
Company upon company of fighting-men, they met us and split to left and right, impassively taking their
places. We were surrounded!
That foreboding of mine grew stronger, and I quietly passed the word down my line to be ready for
trouble. I heard behind me the snick of steel in sheath, the thrum of bows being strung taut, the rattle of
arrows, and felt easier.
We might be doomed, but we would die bravely, I thought.
Slaves bore a litter through the gate, and we saw reclining upon it a grossly obese man, middle-aged and
cruel of countenance.
Physically he was a giant, for when standing he was nearly eight feet in height, and at one time he had
been the champion of his race. The solid copper antlers upon his head made him look much taller, though
creeping age and vices had blurred the originally fine lines of the face and body. As a scepter, he carried
a finely worked spear, the copper head of which weighed more than a woodcutter s ax.
His robe, we were later told, was woven of human hair!
Spear butts thudded in salute. Hayonwatha murmured,  Kukulcan! All the red men bowed low in servile
salutation.
Then Hayonwatha touched Myrdhinn s arm and led him forward to the litter, where he sank to his knees
and bowed his forehead to the ground. Myrdhinn proudly stepped back, and the monarch s face
purpled.
Instantly, slaves leaped upon Myrdhinn, tore the robes off him and hurled him to the ground. I turned to
my men, felt a tremendous blow, and, reeling, saw my comrades falling from blows from left and right,
heard the armed men rushing, closing in, leaping upon us!
With that picture before my eyes, the war-cries of friend and foe ringing loud, I felt the warm blood
running down my back beneath my armor and the grit of dirt in my mouth. This is Death! I thought. In
my mind I cursed the false friend who had pretended to be my blood brother in order to trap us more
completely. I knew myself trodden upon, but felt no pain from kick or blow, just a sensation of earth
opened beneath me, and myself falling into the abyss.
11
The Snake and the 8gg
The next I remember, I lay in utter darkness. Beneath me was a puddle of cold water. I tried to roll out
of it and heard groans. I was conscious enough to know that the groans were my own, and then I must
have swooned again, for without any apparent interval of time it was light and I could see. But it was not
the light of day, nor the good sweet air of upper earth.
Like moles we lay, I and my men. They huddled dispiritedly by themselves while other groups of
prisoners, copper-colored folk, kept also to themselves, though casting curious glances at us. Stark
naked, all of us, shivering with cold hi the dank air, winter close at hand. I wondered as I lay there if this
was the mode of execution we were to expect.
Distant noises, and my aching eyes focused properly upon a glare of torches, which shone through a grille
of stout oak bars laid transversely across the entrance to this large underground chamber. Then, as these [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]