 Heart of the World by H. Ryder Haggard. Chapter 25 Farewell Now a ceased and sat down, and so great was the astonishment, or rather the awe, of the council. At the tale that she had told, that for a while none of them spoke. At length Demas rose and said, Maya, Lady of the heart, and you strangers, you have heard the awful charge that has brought against you. What do you say an answer to it? We say that it is true, answered Maya calmly. We were forced to choose between the loss of our lives, and the doing of this deed, and we chose to live. It was Matai who hatched the fraud, and executed the forgery, and now it seems that we must suffer for his sin, as well as for our own. One word more. Ignatio here did not enter into this plot willingly, but was forced into it by my husband and myself, and chiefly by myself. Demas made no answer, but at a sign the two priests who guarded the altar, with drawn swords, came forward and drove us into the passage that led from the sanctuary to the Hall of the Dead, where they shut us in between the double doors, leaving us in darkness. Here, as all was finished, I knelt down to offer my last prayers to heaven, while Maya wept in her husband's arm, taking farewell of him and of her child, which wailed upon her breast. Truly, he said, you were wise wife when you urged us not to enter this country of the heart. Still, what is done cannot be undone, and having been happy together for a little space. Let us die together as bravely as we may, hoping that still together we may awake presently in some new world of peace. While he spoke, the door was open, and the priests with drawn swords led us back into the sanctuary. As Maya crossed the threshold, first of the three of us, she was met by Tikal, who with a sudden movement, but without roughness, took the child from her arms. Now we saw what was prepared for us, for the stone in front of the altar had been lifted, and at our feet yawned the black shaft from which ascended the sound of waters. They placed us with our backs resting against the altar, but Tikal stood in front, and between him and us lay the mouth of the pit. Maya, daughter of Zebolbe, and Kachike, lady of the heart, white man's son of the sea, Ignatio the wanderer, and Matai the priest, whom, being dead in the body, we summon in the spirit, began Dimas in a cold and terrible voice. You, by your own confession, are proved guilty of the greatest crimes that can be dreamed of in the wicked brain of man, and executed by his impious hands. You have broken your solemn oaths, taken in the presence of heaven and your brethren. You have offered insult to the God we worship, and violated his sanctuary, and you have palmed off as their God-sent prince upon the people who trusted you, a bastard and a child of sin, for all these and other crimes which you have committed. Why we know not? It is not in our power to met out to you a just reward. That must be measured to you elsewhere when you have passed our judgment seat and your names are long forgotten upon the earth. This is the sentence of the counsel of the heart, that your name, Matai, be erased from the list of the officers of the heart, that your memory be proclaimed accursed, that your dwelling place be burned with fire, and the sight of its strewn with salt, that your corpse be torn from its grave and laid upon the summit of the pyramid, tell the birds of the air devour it, and that your soul be handed over to the tormentors of the lower world to deal with according to their pleasure forever and I. This is the sentence of the counsel of the heart upon you, Maya, daughter of Zimbabwe, the Kachike, lady of the heart, white man, son of the sea, and Ignatio, the wanderer, that your names be erased from the roll of the brethren of the heart and proclaimed accursed in the streets of the city, that you be gagged, bound, hand and foot, and chained, living to the walls of the sanctuary, and there left before the altar of the God which you have violated, till death from thirst and hunger shall overtake you, that your corpses be laid upon the pyramid as the prey to the birds of the air, and that your souls be handed over to the tormentors of the underworld to deal with according to their pleasure forever and for I. It is spoken. Let the sentence of the counsel be done, but first, since this bastard babe is too young to sin and suffer punishment, let him be handed into the keeping of the God that the God may deal with him according to his pleasure, as the words past his lips, and before we fully understood them, days as we were with the terror of our awful doom, to call step forward and even now I shudder when I write of it, holding the poor infant which at this instant began to wail again as though with pain or fear over the mouth of the pit suddenly he let it fall into the depths beneath. The shriek of the agonized mother ran round the walls of the holy place, and before it had died away the senior had leaped forward, leaped like a puma across the gulf of the open well and gripped to call by the throat and waist. He gripped him and rage giving him strength. He lifted him high above his head and hurled him down the dreadful place whither the child had gone before. With a hoarse scream, Tikal vanished, and for a moment there was silence. It was broken by the voice of Maya crying aloud in accents of madness and despair. Not all the waters of the holy lake shall wash away our sin, yet may they serve to avenge us upon you, O you murderers of a helpless child. As she spoke, followed by the senior and myself, who I think alone of all the company guessed her dreadful purpose, Maya ran round the altar, and with both her hands grasped the symbol of the heart which lay upon it. Forbear! cried the voice of Demus, but she did not heed him. Before he or any else could reach her, dragging at it with desperate strength, she tore the ancient symbol from its bed, and with a loud and mocking laugh had cast it down upon the marble floor where it shattered into fragments. For one second all was still. Then from the altar there came a sudden twang, as of harp strings breaking that was followed instantly by another and more awful sound, the sound of the roar of many waters. Fly! fly! cried a voice. The floods are loosed, and destruction is upon us and upon the people of the heart. Now the council rushed one and all towards the door of the sanctuary, but I, Ignatio, by the grace of heaven remembered the other door, the secret door through which we had entered that the priest had left a jar. This way I cried in Spanish to the senior, and seizing Maya by the arm, I dragged her with me into the passage. When all three of us were through, I turned to close the door, and as I did so I saw an awful sight. Out of the mouth of the pit, before the altar sprang a vast column of water, which struck the roof of the sanctuary with such fearful force that already the massive marble blocks began to rain down upon the crowd of fugitives who struggled and in vain to open the door and escape into the hall of the dead. One other thing I saw, it was the corpse of Tikal vomited from the depth into which the senior had hurled him, a shapeless mass ascending and descending with the column of water as alternately it struck and rebounded from the roof. Then before the flood could reach it, I closed the door, and possessing myself of the bunch of keys that still hung in the lock, we fled up the passages and stairs till we came to the hall where we had been imprisoned. Here, however, we dared not stay for already strange gurgling sounds struck upon our ears, and we felt the mighty fabric of the pyramid shake and quiver beneath the blows of the imprisoned waters as they burst their way upward and outward. In the seizing lamps we ran to the copper gates at the head of the hall and not without trouble found the key that opened them. We had no time to spare for as we left it, the water rushed in at the further end of the chamber, a solid wave that in some few seconds filled it to the depth of six or eight feet. On we fled before the advancing flood, and while it was for us that our course lay upwards, for otherwise we must have been drowned as we searched for the keys to open the different gates and doors. But now fortune which for so long had been our foe befriended us, and the end of it was that we reached the summit of the pyramid just as the dawn began to break. The dawn was breaking, and seldom perhaps has the light of day revealed a more wonderful or terrible sight to the eyes of man. Outside the gates of the courtyard of the pyramid were gathered a great multitude of people waiting to be admitted to celebrate the feast that on this day of the year was to be held according to the custom upon the summit of the pyramid. Indeed they should have already been assembled there, but it was the rule that the gates could not be opened until the council had left the sanctuary, and this night the council was late. As we looked at them a cry of fear and wonder rose from the multitude, and this was the cause of it. Along that street which ran from the landing place to the great square rushed a vast foam-topped wall of water twenty feet or more in depth by a hundred broad. Now we learned the truth. The symbol on the altar, I know not how, was connected with the secret and subterranean sluice gates which for many generations had protected the city of the heart from flood. When it was torn from its bed these sluice gates fell and the waters rushing in sought their natural level which at this season of the year was higher than the house tops of the city. On the summit of the pyramid were two priests who tended the sacred fire and made ready for the service to be celebrated. Seeing us emerge from the watch house they ran towards us wringing their hands and asking what dreadful thing had come to pass. I replied that we did not know, but that seeing the water gather in our prison we had fled from it. How we had fled they never stopped to ask but ran down the stairway of the pyramid only to return again presently for before they reached its base their escape was cut off. Meanwhile the terror thickened and the doom began. Everywhere the water spread and gathered replenished from the inexhaustible reservoir of the vast lake whole streets went down before them to vanish suddenly beneath their foaming face while from the crowd below rose one continuous shriek of agony. Maya heard it and casting herself face downwards upon the surface of the pyramid that she might not see her handiwork. She thrust her fingers into her ears to stop them while the senior and I watched fascinated. Now the flood struck the people some thousands of them who were gathered on the rising ground gates of the enclosure of the temple and lo in an instant they were gone born away as withered leaves are born before a gale ere a man might count ten the most of the population of the city of the heart had perished. For a little while some of the more massive houses stood only to vanish one by one in silence as it seemed for now the roar of the advancing waters mastered all other sounds before the sun was well up it was finished and of that ancient and beautiful city heart of the world there remain nothing to be seen except the tops of trees and the upper parts of the pyramids of worship rising above the level of the lake the golden city was no more. It was gone and with it all its hoarded treasures its learning and its ancient faith and that which for many generations had been held to be a myth had now become a myth indeed. One short hour had suffice to sweep out the existence the ripe fruit of the labor of centuries and with it the dwindling remnant of the last pure race of Indians who followed the customs and the creeds of my forefathers doubtless their day was done and the power above us had decreed their fall still so vast and sudden a ruin was a thing awful to behold or even to think upon. What I wondered would the founders of this great city and the fashioners of its solemn pyramids and sanctuary have thought and felt could they have foreseen the manner of its end? Would they have set the holy symbol so cunningly upon the altar that the strength of a maddened woman by tearing it away could bury altar temple town and all who live therein forever beneath the surface of the lake? This they did to protect their homes and feigns against the foe so that if need were they could prefer destruction to dishonor but they did not foresee indeed they never dreamed that this foe might be of their own race and that the hand of one of her children would bring disaster utter and irredeemable upon the proud head of their holy stronghold the city heart of the world. Now foot by foot the waters found their level filling up the cup in which the town had stood and the bright sunlight shone upon their placid surface as they rippled round the sides of the pyramid and over the flat roofs of the submerged houses. Here and there floated a mass of wreckage and here and there a human corpse over which already the water eagles began to gather. That was all. Presently Maya rose to her knees and looked out from beneath the hollow of her hand for the light was dazzling there upon the white summit of the pyramid then she flung her arms above her head and uttered a great and bitter cry. Behold my handy work she cried the harvest of my sin oh my father that dream which you sent to haunt my sleep was dreadful but it did not touch the truth oh my father the people whom you would have saved are dead lost is the city that you loved and it is I who have destroyed them oh my father my father your curse has found me out indeed and I am accursed some such words as these she spoke then began to laugh and turning to the senior she said where is the child husband? he could not answer her but she took no note of it only she bent her arms rocking them and crooning as though the infant lay upon her breast then came first to him and next to me saying look is he not a pretty boy? am I not happy to be the mother of such a boy? I made pretence to look but the sight of her pitiful face and of the empty arms as she swayed them was so dreadful that I was forced to turn away and hide my tears for now I saw the truth weariness sorrow and shock had turned her brain she was mad we led her to the watch house where there was shelter and the priests who had returned gave us food so soon as we could make them understand that we needed it for they too were almost mad here her last illness seized the lady maya it began with a hardening of the breast which changed presently to fever two days and nights with breaking hearts we nursed her there upon the pyramid striving not to listen to her sick ravings and piteous talk about the child and at dawn upon the third day she died before she died her senses returned to her and she spoke to her husband beautiful and tender words which seemed almost too holy to set down alas she ended as my heart foretold me I have brought you nothing but evil and now the time has come for me to go away from you Ignacia was right and we were wrong or rather I was wrong we should have died together a year ago if that was needful sooner than to commit the sin we worked in the sanctuary for then at least our hands would have been clean nor would the blood of the people have rested on my head yet believe me husband that when I did the deed of death I was mad for I had seen our child murdered before my eyes and I heard a voice within me bidding me to be avenged well it is done and I have suffered for it and perhaps shall suffer more yet I think that I was but the hand or the instrument of faith predestined to bring destruction upon a race already doomed and on a faith outworn that faith I no longer believe in for you have taught me another worship therefore I do not fear the vengeance of the God of my people may my other sins find forgiveness if they are sins for it was love of you that led me to them husband I trust that you may escape from this ill omend place and live on for many years and happiness but most of all I trust that you will reach at last you may find us waiting for you the child and I together farewell to you this is a sad parting and my life has been short and sorrowful yet I am glad to have lived it since it brought me to your arms and however little I may have deserved it but I think that you loved me truly and will love my memory even when I am dead to you also Ignacio farewell you have been a true friend to me though I brought you no luck and at times I was jealous of you think kindly of me if you can as in the old days before we met comfort my husband with your friendship though had it not been for me you might have attained your ends then once more she turned to the senior and in a gasping and broken voice prayed of him not to forget her or her child I heard him answer that this she need not fear as his happiness died with her and even if he should escape he thought that they would not be parted for very long nor could any other woman take her place within his heart she blessed him and thanked him caressing his face with her dying hands and unable to bear more of such a sight I left them together an hour later the senior came from the watch house and though he did not speak one glance at him was enough to tell me that all was over so died Maya the heart the last of the ancient royal blood of the Indian princes myself alone accepted a very sweet and beautiful woman though at times headstrong, passionate and capricious now while Maya lay dying we learned that some Indians still lived on the mainland men and women who had been sent there to tend the crops we saw canoe hovering round what once had been the island of the heart the two priests who were with us on the pyramid tried to signal to it to come to our rescue but either those in the boat did not see us or they were terror-stricken and feared to approach the pyramid still we kept the body all that day hoping that help might reach us so that we could take it ashore for burial however when none came we made another plan on the roof of the watch house the sacred fire still burned for the two priests had tended it more from custom I think than for any other reason hither we brought some of the gilded stools that were used by the nobles of the heart on days of festival and all the fuel that had been stored to replenish the fire building the hole into a funeral pyre around and above the brasure then as it caught we carried out the body of Maya wrapped in her white robes and laid it upon the pyre and left it presently the great pile was a light and burning so fiercely that it lit up the whole summit of the pyramid and the darkness which surrounded it all that night we watched it while the two priests lamented their breasts after their fashion till at length it flared itself away and the holy fire that had burned for more than a thousand years died down and was extinguished it seemed very fitting that the final office of this ancient and consecrated flame should be to consume the body of the last of the royal race who had tended it for so many generations towards dawn a wind sprang up with drizzling rain and when we approached the place at daybreak it was to find it cold and blackened no spark remained alight and no ash or fragment could be seen of her who was once the beautiful and gracious lady of the heart now we set ourselves sadly enough to find a means of escape to the mainland which indeed it was time to do for the waters working in the center were sapping the foundations of the great pyramid portions of which had already fallen away our plan was to form a raft by lashing together some benches that were at hand and on it to float or paddle ourselves to the shore this however we were spared the pains of doing our task was half completed we saw a large canoe manned by three Indians advancing tortoise and signaled to them to paddle round to the steps of the pyramid they did so and taking with us all the food and such few articles of value as were to be found in the watch house the four of us embarked though not without difficulty for the current ran so strongly around the crumbling of the pyramid that it was hard to bring the canoe up to the stairs from the Indians we learned that those on shore were so overwhelmed with horror at the catastrophe which had fallen upon their holy city that they did not dare to approach the place where it had stood but when on the previous night they saw the great flame of Maya's funeral pyre they knew that men still walked upon the pyramid who as they thought were signalling to them for help and ventured out to save them they asked us how it came about that the waters had overwhelmed the city which had stood among them safely from the beginning of time we replied that we did not know and the priests with us now that they had escaped with their lives seemed too prostrated to tell our deliverers that there wasn't in the hollow of the pyramid even if they knew that this was so on reaching the shore we found a little gathering of Austrian Indians perhaps there may have been 150 of them the sole survivors of the people of the heart unless indeed a few still lived on the high land of those portions of the island of the heart that as yet had not been submerged in the open mouth and almost without comment they listened to the terrible tale of the sudden and utter destruction of their city when it was done one among them suggested that the white man should be killed as without doubt he had brought misfortune and vengeance of heaven upon their race but this proposal seemed to find no favour with the rest of them indeed had they known the part which we played in the disaster even if they would have found the spirit to make an end of us on the other hand they gave us what food and clothing we required and even weapons such as machetes bows and arrows and blow pipes and left us to go our way often I have wondered what became of them and if any of their number or of their children still survive so we turned our faces to the mountains and on the second day we lost them safely for Maya had told us the secret of the passage through the rocks which under her guidance we had passed it blindfolded thus at length having looked our last upon the blue waters of the holy lake sparkling in the sunshine above the palaces of the city and the bones of its inhabitants did we leave that accursed country of the heart where so much loss of evil had befallen us End of Chapter 25 Heart of the World by H. Ryder Haggard This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Envoy my friend now I Ignatio have finished writing that story of how I came to visit the golden city of the Indians which so many have believed to be fabulous and that today exists no more it is a strange story and I trust that it may interest you to read it when I am dead and buried perhaps you would like to know the details of our homeward journey but in truth I have neither the strength nor the patience to set them down it was a terrible journey and once we both of us fell ill with fever from which I thought that we should not recover but recover we did by the help of some wandering Indians who nursed us and at length reached this place from which we had fled for our lives nearly two years before we found the hacienda deserted for it had the reputation of being haunted though some of the Indian dependence or rather slaves of that great villain Don Pedro Moreno still worked patches of the land well the senior took a fancy to stay in the place where it was here we first seen his wife so we sold that girdle of emeralds which Maya took from the chest of ornaments and gave to me when we were in prison for the first time in the Hall of the Pyramid do not lose the class friend for it is the only remaining relic of the people of the heart and with the proceeds we bought at a cheap rate from the government of the day who had entered into possession of them this house and the wide lands rounded that I have cultivated ever since for my friend now my ambitions were finished I had played my last card and it had failed me and albeit with a sorrowful mind I abandoned my hopes for the regeneration of the Indians which I had no longer the means or the health and vigor to attempt also I was no more lord of the heart for with its counterpart it was lost in the sanctuary yonder beneath the waters of the holy lake and with the ancient symbol went much of my power for five years the senior and I lived here together I think that during all this time he was dying he used to be so strong in body and Mary in mind never regained his health or spirits from that hour when Maya passed upon the pyramid and though he seldom spoke of her I know that night and day she was always present in his thoughts twice in the spring seasons he suffered from Calenturus as we call the fever of the country which left him and face and shrunken in body when the spring came around for the third time I begged him to go to Mexico for change returning to the Hacienda in the summer in vain he would not do it indeed I do not think that he cared whether he lived or died so it was that the Calentura took him again and died he did in my arms happily as a child that falls asleep now my days are accomplished also and having failed in all things and known much sorrow and disappointment I go to join him my friend farewell perhaps you will think of me from time to time and though you are a heretic send up a prayer to heaven for the welfare of the soul of the old Indian Ignatio the end heart of the world by H. Ryder Haggard read by Paul Hansen