It was then that I chanced one morning to be sitting in the gardens, my lute in hand, and having my attendant nobles and tutors gathered at a respectful distance behind me.

From where I sat I could see the entrance to the court in which the emperor met his council daily, and I noted that when the princes had gone the priests began to come, and after them a number of very lovely girls attended by women of middle age.

Presently Guatemoc the prince, who now smiled but rarely, came up to me smiling, and asked me if I knew what was doing yonder.
I replied that I knew nothing and cared less, but I supposed that Montezuma was gathering a peculiar treasure to send to his masters the Spaniards.
'Beware how you speak, Teule,' answered the prince haughtily.

'Your words may be true, and yet did I not love you, you should rue them even though you hold the spirit of Tezcat.

Alas!' he added, stamping on the ground, 'alas! that my uncle's madness should make it possible that such words can be spoken.