"Hualcoyotl would find us though we were hidden in the fastness of the farthest mountain. No, Laughing-eyes, there is hope only in marriage, and the kindness of the court which shall try us; otherwise it must be separation or death," he replied, despondingly. "Then, let us wed. I will be your bride, though it be unto death," she said, creeping closer to him. "If you so decide, thus it shall be, my brave Laughing-eyes. We will wed, and, if need be, die together." "I vow to you, O Cacami, that naught but death shall part us, and, since thus to you I give my pledge, I pray you bind it with the seal of troth," she said, trustingly, putting up her carmine-tinted lips to receive the kiss which was to seal the sacred compact. Their lips met, and two souls were united unto death by one prolonged, loving embrace, from which they drew calmness--the calmness which is found in the strength of a plighted faith, made enduring by the kiss, which, to them, was a seal, indissoluble except by death. CHAPTER XXXVIII. An alliance between the Mexican and Tezcucan kings, for the purpose of engaging in a crusade against the Tepanec monarch, was duly effected, and the usual preliminaries--a declaration of war, etc.--were gone through with, preparatory to the opening of hostilities. Maxtla had reconstructed his imperial army, and his faith in its ability to cope with the combined armies of his adversaries led him to meet the demands made upon him with reckless defiance. He reckoned on having all the advantages of a defensive warfare on his side in which his opponents would be compelled to meet him on ground of his own choosing--a situation which would put him in a position of vantage not to be contemned. Hualcoyotl, meanwhile, made many kindly advances with a view to reconciling Itlza to their contemplated union. She received his attentions with due respect, and at the same time tried to be affable, but there was that in her conduct which was not natural--a lack of spontaneity of manner, so marked in her former naive, unaffected bearing. The prince saw that he was not succeeding to any appreciable degree, and decided to let matters rest as they were, for the present, hoping that time, and a proper consideration of the advantages held out to her in a marriage with him, would work a favorable change in her inexplicable attitude, thus avoiding a resort to compulsory measures. Having decided on this course, he turned his attention wholly to state affairs, and the necessary preparations for leading his army to the field against his old enemy.