Kelley's Illustrated Magazine from Attica, Kansas • 3

Kelley's Illustrated" Magazine. 3. Feb. 1895. 1 1 ing on tne interior court, and connecting by trapdoors with the rooms below.

There were innumerable trapdoors in the roofs, through which the ends of the ladders appeared, pointing in every direction, giving the city the comical aspect of a forest of leaning bean poles. Up the ladders children and even dogs ran with ease and agility. On the western end of the city the houses were only one story in height, imparting to the whole the appearance of an amphitheater cr a vast fortress. Within tiie court, toward the western end, stood the temple, the highest building of all, from the roof of which rose the smoke the perpetual fire. All about the outskirts, and also within the court, were pleasant gardens and fields cultivated to a high degree by irrigation.

In places on the cliffs the terraces had been converted into gardens, walled and faced with neat inasonry, and with raised edges to hold water upon the surface, to which the water pipes ran. Through the outer walls of the houses projected for a foot or two the cedar poles forming the floors, and in some instances they were carried out far enough to form balconies, upon which grew trailing plants with great scarlet flowers blazing in the spring sunlight in riotous rivalry of color with the burning cliffs. this great beehive dwelt two thousand souls, one family above another, the roof of one forming the floor and yard of the next above, the humblest dwelling in the highest tiers, for the nobles and wealthy citizens, as a matter of course, were averse to climbing and preferred to be near the ground, where opportunities for communion or display were greater. All this lay before the young priest as he stood and strove with his emotions, and such was the scene that greeted Gilbert's eyes in the depths below hhn when he awoke from slumber. (Continued in March.) or a once great; people, 1 returneu to uj duties, and since that day I have been the most zealous in guarding the traditional customs of our religion." "But, my father, we have the power, if we will, to prevent this horrid sacrifice today! Some plausible excuse can be offered to the credulous people, and an animal perhaps be substituted for the beautiful maiden." "It is too late, even were I willing," replied the aged priest.

"As is the custom when the feast of the Thirteenth Year approaches, all prodigies in nature, in the skies and on the earth, are eagerly regarded as omens of good or evil. The birth of the six horned calf has been accepted by the priests and the people as an evil sign, and the terrific storm of last night will have wrought their fears to a higher pitch. And now I. will reveal to 3ou a cause of secret uneasiness and great fear even to me. "Last night, as the storm raged with a fury I have not often seen, there came a blast that shook the temple, and there seemed to sweep over my head a something, 1 know not what, but 1 felt its touch as though long, slender threads brushed by me, and out of the cloud there came a loud voice in wailing: then it passed, but I heard the, voice, and others, too, must have heard its loud tones.

Think'not that I was dreaming, or that it was the vagar of a blind man's mind. It is the truth. Long have 1 preached signs and wonders, yet this is the first I have myself witnessed or believed in. ere I to attempt to prevent the sacrifice the envious priests themselves will turn upon us, and we will but add our own bodies to the offering. I know it and it is impossible." It had grown lighter while the two talked, and the housetops were already black with the forms of the people congregated thei-e to greet the rising sun.

All were silent, waiting till the luminary appeared over the edge of the cliffs. Its beams already blazed upon the northern wall of the canyon and brought out in strong relief the banded colors of the lime, sandstone and slate. The sky was all aflame, and a flood of poured over into the abj-ss, and the glowing, radiant orb appeared. The people raised a mighty shout, bowed their heads before the god in pra-er for a few moments and disappeared within their houses. The day had begun in Atzlan.

Kulcan stood beside the high priest, neither of them joining in the welcoming shouts nor the jrayers of the populace as the sun rose. The eyes of the younger 1na.11 were so blinded with tears that he saw nothing of the scene, while he endeavored to control his emotions. Before him stretched a canyon less than a mile in width at its widest part and narrowing to a few feet in places, the eye being lost in its sharp turns. Through it ran a stream about forty feet wide, with many shallow fords, making a curve about the city and sinking into dangerous quicksands at the western extremity. The walls of the canyon, two thou- sand feet high above the city and sinking to seven hundred feet at the western end, had been terraced by the floods into huge steps, upon which the ruined cliff houses stood, one' row above another.

Stairways and ladders were carved in the rooky walls, giving access to the heights above, although these were now only used by venturesome urchins. This city was built in a huge circle three thousand feet in diameter, forming, in fact, one continuous structure, with a large open court in the center full of fruit trees and garden plots. This gigantic tenement contained nearly a thousand rooms, having in its eastern extremity seven stories of apartments. It was built in a regular and beautifnl alternation of large and small square cut stones laid in white mortar, or, more strictly speaking, gypsum cement. There had been in earlier times no doors or windows upon the ground floor, and the entrance had been effected by ladders, hundreds cf which leaned against the walls and protruded from the roofs; but now a few large doorways opened into the fields outside the city.

The successive stories were set back, one behind the other, leaving the highest tier a single line of apartments, each story being reached by short ladders. The houses were three rooms deep, open do one to wiioiu I would leave tno cures and the hcucrs ct my office more willingly nor more Today, as you well know, 1 was to malre the holy sacrifice to tiu sun, the sacrifice of the Thirreentli Year, yet my strength fails me, and you, my son, shall perform the sacred rite. No one but myself for eighty-five years has shed the blood of the virgin sacrifice, and yet 'tis with a cheerful heart I lay the down. At noon put on the holy robe, and, as you alone "have been instructed, perform the rite that our people may be held together and their religion be The hand against Ildupel's bosom was trembling, and Kulcan's figure shook with the emotion he endeavored to For some moments he appeared unable to Then placing his hand upon the old man's shoulder he said: "My father, yon tell me to perform the rite that our people may be held together and their religion preserved. Why not say that the sun god may be merciful to us and preserve our people?" His voice had a bitter, sarcastic ring, and the old man replied "Oh, Kulcan, you will not learn the lesson I have striven so diligently to teach.

Know that the iieople are not as we are and cannot be lifted to the level of our knowledge. You, who have been initiated into the mysteries and dwelt in the higher atmosphere of lofty thought, do not realize the distance between their and our conception of religion. Among all the priests to yon alone have I dared to reveal my inward thoughts and true beliefs, but it was because I saw in you, as in the dead governor, your father, the spirit of philosophic reason, as well as the tact to bow to popular prejudice in religious matters. I have spoken to you as to my own soul. You know that 1 despise the images of the god and worship him, as I have taught you, without fires or feasts or sacrifices; but 3ou know that the people require these signs and symbols to keep them true to their obedience; that 'tis thus we rule them and not with reason or philosophy.

'Tis the tribute they pay to intellect the tribute they have paid for countless ages and must in some form' continue to pay." "But 'tis time," impulsively interrupted Kulcan, "that they were brought to see that these cruel, inhuman sacrifices should be abolished. Something, 1 know not what, tells me that we are beyond and above them now, and that the people themselves will welcome the change and rejoice that their children no longer may be thrown to the senseless image of the fierce, bloodthirsty sun god! Oh, father," he cried, shuddering, "can we not devise, before it is forever too late, some means to prevent this murder of Ainee?" "It is even now too late," answered the aged priest coidl-. "Can you not see with what feverish impatience the people await the light of this day? They know their children are safe now that the lot has fallen on the girl Ainee, and they thirst for the spectacle for which they have waited thirteen years. Today they believe Quetzalcoatl, with his dove upon his hand, will return, as on this day for ages they have looked for him. In vain will the' look; he will not return, but they must have their sacrifice, or their wrath will turn upon the priests, and we shall perish.

Upon it rests our very existence. Murmurs have alreadjr been heard against us we are called idlers and bread eaters of the poor. It is our only hope, and upon you it will rest today. Were it only a question of my life or your life alone, 1 would willingly die; but we cannot prevent the slaughter by our deaths. "Alas, my son" (the old man's voice softened and quivered), "time brings but the same tale.

Eighty long years ago too, loved a maiden as you, I know nay, start not love Ainee; 3-et she was chosen, and this withered hand plunged the sacred knife into her throat. Her eyes were on me as she fell upon my breast they are with me now! I killed her, and when the day was done 1 climbed the cliff and wandered out upon the desert plains which lie about the city in search of some other land. For days I roamed, returning for water and food, and then starting anew in other directions, as you, too, have done, in a spirit of discovery, and finding, as you have done, that we are alone in the world a city in a desert the remnants it The Forecasts for February and March Give us Cold Weather The Santa Fe Route Takes you, In the most Comfortable manner, To California, Siimmerlandl Particulars are given In the book To California and Back, dialled free on application to Geo. T. Nicholson, Chicago, 111.

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