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As a maiden fair and white, and as a dwarf black and hideous, have they come, and Aca is the name of the maiden, and Jal is the name of the dwarf." He ceased, and his voice died away in the echoes of the great place. Once again there was silence, broken only by the seething sound of waters and the indefinable murmur of an unseen throng beneath.
Ye shall look upon him whom long ago ye set to guard the secret awful place, and he shall crawl beneath your feet. As ye ruled our fathers so ye shall rule us, according to the customs which ye laid down for ever. Glory be to you, O Aca, and to you, O Jal! immortal kings for evermore!"
Then again the spokesman of the elders rose and said: "We have heard your words, O Aca, and they are words of little comfort, for to sacrifice is the custom of the land, and hitherto no evil has befallen us because of that ancient custom.
When we were all accounted for in the porch, Don Ricardo began to shout, "Criados, criados, ven aca pendejos, ven aca!" the call was for some time unattended to; at length, two tall, good looking, decently dressed negroes made their appearance, and took charge of our bestias and carriage; but all this time there was no appearance by any living creature belonging to the family.
The magnificence that greeted us seemed a vision a glorious and dazzling hallucination more like the gilded brilliance of some enchanted palace than the interior of a Mexican gentleman's habitation. As we stood gazing with irresistible wonderment, Don Cosme opened a side-door, and called aloud, "Ninas, ninas, ven aca!"
"And when you was feeding your chickens she cried out, 'Hola, what a queer woman is yonder! Children have funny things in their heads. But it is for you to tell her you come to fetch her away!" And the señora called out, "Lolita, ven aca!" The girl looked up startled. "Que hay?" she asked, coming toward them apprehensively.
"Listen; this is the law of my people, or this was their law when I left them forty years ago: That every stranger who passes through their gates should be offered as a sacrifice to Aca the mother if the time of his coming should be in summer, and to Jal the son if the time of his coming be in winter, for the Mist-dwellers do not love strangers.
Do his bidding and mine, or die, you disobedient servant." This was the end of it. Nam was beaten; for the first time in his life he must own a master, and that master the gods whom he had himself discovered and proclaimed. "So be it," he said suddenly. "The old order passes, and the new order comes. So be it! Let your will be done, O Aca and O Jal.
"The road leads only to the dungeons of the temple; if we got so far we should be caught there, and everything would be discovered, including this trick," and he pointed to the robes of Aca, which he wore. "That is true," said Otter. "Come, then, let us go and sit upon the thrones and wait till they fetch us."
The goddess Aca, who this day was hurled into the pool of the Snake, has returned to earth as a woman, and is about to become my wife," here the captains started "nay, brethren, ask no questions; these things are so, it is enough. Now, priest, play your part." After that, for a while all seemed a dream to Juanna, a dream of which she was never able to recover any exact memory.
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