The Aztec Treasure-House | Page 6

Rafael well could finish the explanation of my wishes, Fray Antonio
had comprehended what I desired, and had promised to give me his aid.
"The señor already has a book-knowledge of our native tongues. That is
well. The speaking knowledge will come easily. He shall have the boy
Pablo for his servant. A good boy is Pablo. With him he can talk in the
Nahua dialect--which is the most important, for it is sprung most
directly from the ancient stock. And I will arrange that the señor shall
live for a time in the mountains--it will be a hard life, I fear--at Santa
María and at San Andrés, in which villages he can gain a
mouth-mastery of both Otomí and Tarascan. A little time must be given
to all this--some months, no doubt. But the señor, who already has
studied through ten years, will understand the needfulness of this short
discipline. To a true student study in itself is a delight--still more that

study which makes the realization of a long-cherished purpose possible.
The señor, I know, reads Spanish, since so perfectly he speaks it"--this
with a gracious movement of the hands and a courteous inclination of
the body that enhanced the value of the compliment--"but does the
señor read with ease our ancient Spanish script?"
"I have never attempted it," I answered. "But as I can read easily the
old printed Spanish, I suppose," I added, a little airily, "that I shall have
no great difficulty in reading the old script also."
Fray Antonio smiled a little as he glanced at Don Rafael, who smiled
also, and as he turned out his hands, answered: "Perhaps. But it is not
quite the same as print, as the señor will know when he tries. But it
makes no difference; for what is most interesting in our archives I shall
be glad--and so also will be Don Rafael--to aid him in reading.
"You must know, señor," he went on, dropping his formal mode of
address as his interest in the subject augmented, and as his feeling
towards me grew warmer, "that many precious documents are here
preserved. So early as the year 1536 this western region was erected
into a Custodia, distinct from the Province of the Santo Evangelio of
Mexico; and from that time onward letters and reports relating to the
work done by the missionaries of our order among the heathen have
been here received. In truth, I doubt not that many historic treasures are
hidden here. In modern times, during the last hundred years or more,
but little thought has been given to the care of these old papers--which
are so precious to such as Don Rafael and yourself because of their
antiquarian value, and which are still more precious to me because they
tell of the sowing among the heathen of the seed of God's own Word. It
is probable that they have not been at all examined into since our
learned brothers Pablo de Beaumont and Alonzo de la Rea were busy
with the writing of their chronicles of this Province--and the labors of
these brothers ended more than two hundred and fifty years ago. In the
little time that I myself can give to such matters I already have found
many manuscripts which cast new and curious light upon the strange
people who dwelt here in Mexico before the Spaniards came. Some of
these I will send for your examination, for they will prepare you for the

work you have in contemplation by giving you useful knowledge of
primitive modes of life and tones of faith and phases of thought. And
while you are in the mountains, at Santa María and San Andrés, I will
make further searches in our archives, and what I find you shall see
upon your return.
"With your permission, señores, I must now go about my work. Don
Rafael knows that I am much too ready to forget my work in talk of
ancient matters. It is a weakness with me--this love for the study of
antiquity--that I struggle against, but that seems rather to increase upon
me than to be overcome. This afternoon, señor, I will send a few of the
ancient manuscripts to you. And so--until we meet again."

II.
THE CACIQUE'S SECRET.
Fray Antonio punctually fulfilled his promise in regard to the
manuscripts, and I had but to glance at them in order to understand the
smile that he had interchanged with Don Rafael when I so airily had
expressed my confidence in my ability to read them. To say that I more
easily could read Hebrew is not to the purpose, for I can read Hebrew
very well; but it is precisely to the purpose to say that I could not read
them at all! What with the