The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan by L. Frank Baum

Allerton was soon himself again and assisted in rubbing the girl's hands to restore their circulation, while Chaka, who had saved her life with such admirable courage, stood passively by regarding the scene.

Presently Ama opened her eyes, and naturally the first thing they fell upon was Paul's anxious face. She smiled at him, sighed, and stirred uneasily as the recollection of the fearful experience through which she had passed slowly dawned upon her. Then she sat up and struggled to her feet, gazing with horror at her ruined city and the vista of the Itzaex country that showed through the riven mountain.

"Come! " she said, and without heeding her own people, who flocked about her, she extended one hand to Chaka, the other to Paul, and supported between them staggered away to examine the extent of the damage.

One would expect wild excitement in the valley now; but the Tcha were a queer race. Those who had been saved from injury by assembling at the theatre sat down where they were and gazed in mute despair at the ruins of the splendid city they had known and loved so well. Even the priests were completely demoralized and I saw our enemy Katalat, wrapped in his robe, standing silent and alone, his glassy eyes fixed on the ground at his feet, as if lost in thought.

After all there was little to blame in the demeanor of the Tcha. The race having existed in this favored spot for centuries upon centuries, the present inhabitants had had no thought of insecurity. So suddenly had the earthquakes and their attendant misfortunes come upon them that they were stunned for the time and incapable of action, or even logical thought.

Ama moaned and wept at every step of her progress through the city. There was hardly a building that had escaped damage; by far the majority were irretrievably demolished. The artisans' quarters had suffered most, as their buildings were not as strongly built as the others, and hundreds of dead were buried under the walls of their home.

The poor girl could not bear the sad sights for long. Even with our assistance, which we earnestly volunteered, little could be done in this hour of disaster to relieve the stricken ones; so presently Ama turned toward her own palace.

Here was more desolation, but parts of the vast building still remained intact and the rooms occupied by the High Priestess were yet habitable. Of the fifty attendant priestesses only about thirty had escaped death, the others having been swallowed up when the earth opened. The survivors were wailing dismally when we arrived, and there was no way to comfort them.

Ama withdrew to her rooms and shut herself up. We did not see her again for three days. Meantime we resumed our former quarters in the one-story wing of the priests' palace, which was about all there was left of that building. Katalat and his followers took possession of the prison, which being low and solid had escaped damage, and for a time we heard nothing of them, either.

I proposed to our party that we collect such stores of food as we would find and a few more rubies and make our way back through the Itzaex country to the ship. Paul said we could go if we wished, but for his part he intended to stay until Ama was out of her trouble. Chaka declared he would stay also. There was no use in arguing with them, for they both loved the girl; so of course we all stayed. No one can desert a comrade at such a time.

On the evening of the third day a Tcha who had been put to guard the rift in the mountain came running to say that a great horde of Itzaex warriors was marching toward us and had encamped for the night but three hours' distant from the city.

When this news reached Ama she sent for us at once, asking what could be done to protect her people.

"What are your future plans? " asked Paul, calmly. "Do you intend to rebuild the city?"

"To be sure," she replied. "Already I have consulted with the Tribunal, with the High Priest Katalat and with my principal nobles, and we have determined to erect a new city upon these ruins. But it will take many years to do this and my people have not yet recovered from the shock of their misfortunes."

"Now that the mountain side is split open and a path made into the valley," said Allerton, "all the world will be coming here, and you cannot prevent it. Here are the Itzaex now, bent on conquering the remnants of the Tcha and plundering you of your treasures. They are merely the forerunners of others to come."

She wrung her hands in abject despair.

"What shall I do? " she moaned. "Oh, what shall I do?"

"Fight! " said Chaka, suddenly. The Itzaex were his own people, too.

"We'll help to drive them away," declared Archie, enthusiastically.

Paul was thoughtful.