"The world is none the worse for that, I'm sure," returned the hermit, showing unmistakable enmity.

"It is surely not any better since Maxtla is king," answered the hunter, observing with interest the hermit's relaxing reserve.

"What would he--this Maxtla of Azcapozalco?" inquired Ix.

"It is known that he would destroy the Prince of Tezcuco, because of jealousy and hatred." A gleam of intelligence might have been seen to light up the anchorite's countenance on hearing these words, but it was not observed by the hunter, who continued: "The prince is a fugitive, hunted as a fox by the va.s.sals of the king."

The hermit was silent and thoughtful for a moment, and then asked:

"Whence come the signs which speak to Tezcot of an approaching conflict?"

"If Ix would read the signs himself, let him go into the valley where dwell the Tezcucans--the oppressed people of the fugitive prince. The deadly serpent lies motionless in our path, but should our foot perchance fall upon it, our destruction would follow swift and sure; though not more surely than retribution on the man who tramples human rights beneath his heel," replied the hunter, impressively.

"The words of my wise friend are full of meaning. They come to Ix like a message from the world. He will treasure them up and give them thought, for they are portentous. Things of which the wise hunter hath no knowledge press heavily upon Ix's mind. His heart is sad because of the wickedness of men," returned the hermit, in gloomy accents.

Tezcot was acquainted with some of the hermit's peculiar moods, and felt, from his manner, that a longer stay would be neither pleasant nor profitable; so, after a brief silence, he arose and said they would depart, inasmuch as their absence from home had been prolonged in order to make the hermitage a visit.

The hermit expressed his gratification for the visit, and said further:

"My friend has brought much food for thought, for which I am grateful.

Do not forget, O Tezcot, that you and yours are ever welcome in the home of the hermit. Tarry not away; for Ix would hear more of the signs of the hour and what they portend."

"When the signs speak more clearly I will come again, that Ix may have knowledge of their import," returned the hunter, turning to leave the hermit's cell.

They pa.s.sed into the main cavern, where a liberal division of the game was made, of which the hermit received a goodly portion. It was accepted with expressions of grat.i.tude; and, after the customary salutations, the visitors took their departure, leaving the recluse to his solitude and lonely cogitations, the nature of which could only be surmised.

The hunter went from the hermitage with conflicting thoughts. He had talked with the hermit many times, but had never before looked so far into his character. He was nearer the solution of the oft repeated, but still unanswered question, "Who is he?" than at any previous time; and yet his theories were vague and unsatisfactory. He determined to know more of the man of mystery, and resolved to see him frequently.

CHAPTER XVI.

The day was one of brightness and warmth on the mountain where we left Hualcoyotl and his attendant. The storm of the previous night had entirely disappeared before the refulgent rays of the morning sun.

Hours came and pa.s.sed, and the day was three-fourths gone; yet, fairly well protected in their new quarters, the prince and Oza slept on in an unbroken slumber, so worn were they from the almost superhuman efforts of the night before. The sleep of exhaustion was upon them, and the ordinary noises of the mountain wilds with which they were surrounded were without effect to disturb them. Now and then a bird would alight quite near and shie its bright eye at the sleepers, then hurry away.

Animals frisked unconcerned about them, and the pestiferous insect filled the air with its ceaseless and annoying hum; still the tired fugitives continued profoundly unconscious of it all.

Such was the situation of the sleepers about the middle of the afternoon, when a piercing scream, like the cry of a person in extreme distress or peril, only much louder and inexpressibly awful, awakened the slumberers to a sudden impression of impending danger. The prince quickly raised himself to a listening posture, and exclaimed:

"What means that cry?"

"Hist, master; look there! What is that?" spoke Oza, in an excited whisper, at the same time pointing to an object just above and in front of them.

The prince looked in the direction indicated by his attendant, and there, not twenty feet away, beheld, crouched on an overhanging limb, a ferocious looking beast, with eyes which shone like b.a.l.l.s of fire fixed menacingly upon them. The animal's lips were parted, showing its great ugly teeth, which caused a savage grin to overspread its fierce and threatening visage. Its tail, cat-like and menacing, was moving slowly to and fro; and, altogether, the monster's appearance was anything but rea.s.suring to contemplate. The situation was, indeed, alarming.

The position of the animal was such that, to get away, the prince and Oza would have been compelled to pa.s.s almost under it. To have done this would have been to invite an immediate attack, which they could not afford to do in their defenseless condition.

Hualcoyotl recalled having heard some time in his life that such animals would not attack a person whose eyes were kept fixed upon them.

The thought suggested the idea that the beast might be kept at bay in this manner until, tiring, it would leave of its own accord. The plan was immediately put into execution, and a peculiar contest began.

The fiercely grinning beast gave stare for stare, and never once turned its eyes away. For a full half hour, which seemed an age to the prince, the battle of the eyes went on, and still there was no letting up in the belligerent att.i.tude of his fierce looking adversary.

Thus matters stood when there came a sudden thud-like sound, followed by a terrible howl from the animal, which leaped from its position into the ravine, falling dead almost at the feet of the imprisoned fugitives.

The long, uninterrupted stare into the eyes of the snarling beast had proven to be a very trying ordeal to Hualcoyotl; and when it sprang so suddenly into the ravine as if to attack them, he was almost prostrated from the shock given his tensified sensibilities. He quickly recovered when he saw that deliverance, from an unknown and unexpected source, had come to them through the death of the animal. Directly a voice, apparently just above them, was heard to say:

"Menke, ye couldn't have missed that feller no how. Queer the brute 'lowed me to come so close; never moved till I sent the jav'lin right into his ugly carca.s.s. There he lies, sure enough, at the bottom o' the ravine, dead as a stone. Ol' feller, ye got yer everlastin', an' no mistake. h.e.l.lo! What's that?" was the exclamation which followed the discovery of the prince's quarters. "Looks as ef somebody'd gone to house-keepin'."

The foregoing talk was carried on by Menke, the hunter, who was introduced to the reader in the preceding chapter. It was in the nature of a soliloquy, in which, as we have before observed, the hunter frequently indulged.

In pursuing his hunt through the mountain forests he had chanced to pa.s.s near the place where the prince and Oza were sheltered, and seeing the animal with fixed attention, crept cautiously up and gave it a death thrust with the javelin. He was too deeply intent on securing the animal as a prize to notice the retreat of the fugitives until the moment his exclamation was uttered.

Hualcoyotl very naturally concluded, on hearing the voice, that there were at least two persons in the party. He also surmised, from the character of the language used, that they were denizens of the mountains.

"They are surely not soldiers," he thought, "and may prove to be friendly."

The hunter descended into the ravine for the purpose of securing his prize, hardly expecting to find any one under cover of the shelter he had just discovered. When he reached the bottom near where the animal was lying, his eyes fell upon the forms of the prince and Oza, who had remained quietly waiting developments. He quickly took in the situation and said, with an air of surprise:

"Wull, now, what kind of a nest d'ye call that, eh?"

"It might be a worse one, hunter," returned the prince, recognizing Menke's calling by his general appearance, at the same time coming out of his sheltered retreat. "We were endeavoring to get some sleep, after a very tiresome tramp over the mountain," he continued, "when the cry of this beast aroused us rather unceremoniously; and for the past half hour we have been trying to drive it from us by looking it steadily in the eyes. But it has been provokingly persistent, and might have worried us out in time, had you not opportunely come along and relieved us with your javelin."

"That 'counts for the brute payin' no 'tention to me; 'lowin' me to come right onto 'im, an' givin' me such a fine show for his skin,"

returned the hunter.

"Yes, its fixed attention made it a splendid target for your javelin.

But, friend, where are your companions?" the prince asked, seeing no one but the hunter.

"My companions," quoth Menke. "Don't understand ye, stranger."

"We certainly heard you talking with someone just before you came into the ravine," replied the prince.

"Wull, now, that's so; I was doin' some talkin', I reckon, but it was to myself. Ye see, stranger, when a feller's alone 'bout all the time, as I am, he gets real sociable with 'imself, an' falls into that way o'

doin'. No, there's no one 'long o' me, an' ef I did any conversin', it was entirely onesided," returned the hunter, in his peculiar manner of expression. "Ye've got a right snug place here," he continued, taking a look at the fugitives' shelter. "Goin' to stop a while, eh?"

"That will depend on circ.u.mstances," replied the prince. "Do you live near here?"

"Wull, no; it's some distance to my place. There are folks livin'

hereabout, but their way o' livin's kind o' tough. Ye'd better go round 'em, stranger. Some good people on the plateaus, though. Now, there's Tezcot--lives th' other side of yon mountain. He's a man ye can fasten to an' know ye're safe. He's a kind o' chief 'mong the mountain people.

Ef ye happen to run onto Tez, ye'll find 'im true as his arrer, an'

that's sayin' a heap."

"We'll try to remember your friend Tezcot, hunter, and should we meet him, will feel that we are fortunate."

"S'pose ye're on a huntin' excursion, eh?" said Menke, forgetting the strangers could not be supplied with arms, else the animal would hardly have held them prisoners.

"Well, not exactly. Our business is, to some extent, searching for roots and berries," replied the prince, expressing a sudden thought which suggested a way of misleading the hunter and avoiding immediate discovery.