The official signified that the audience was over, and that Roger was to retire. As he had been instructed by Cacama he withdrew, keeping his face to the emperor. He was conducted to a different apartment. Here a table was laid, and he was served by attendants of the court; who, however, made no reply to any questions he asked them, and had evidently received orders to hold no verbal communication with him. Chapter 10: News From The Coast. It was with a feeling of pleasure and relief that, after some hours, Roger saw the hangings drawn aside, and Cacama enter. "Come, my friend, the council is over, and you may return with me." Cacama was evidently anxious to be off at once, and Roger followed him without a question. One of the pages of the palace led the way through a long series of passages, and at last Roger found himself outside the palace, where a door opened into a canal. Here Cacama's boat was lying. The young king and Roger took their seats, and the canoe dashed off at once. "It has been a hard fight in the council," Cacama said. "No two men were of the same opinion. Even the priests were divided among themselves; and Montezuma was as undecided, at the end, as he was at the beginning; so that the decision is postponed. Then the question arose, were you to be treated as a guest or as a prisoner? And this I settled by saying that I would take you back with me to Tezcuco, and produce you whenever required. So in order to avoid excitement among the people, I sent word for the boat to be brought round to that quiet entrance to the palace, by which means we avoided passing through the streets, altogether. "At one time it seemed to me that the decision would go against you, on the ground that, had you been a supernatural being, you would have had new arts to teach the people. Fortunately, I had brought with me the pictures you made for my wife and sister, and these I showed them. I pointed out that they were altogether different from the work of our own scribes; that these drew stiff images that looked like representations, not of men and animals, but of wooden creatures, while in your drawings it seemed as if the men and animals were moving across the paper; and that, were you to teach our scribes thus to portray objects, it would make a profound alteration in Mexican art. "This made a great impression upon them. Many of the nobles belonging to the Council of Education were present, and Montezuma himself is fond of art. All were greatly struck with your paintings, and these certainly went a long way towards strengthening my party. When we get back, you shall do some pictures of things such as they see here, and are accustomed to. Perhaps you could do even better, still, if you were to try." "I could make much more finished pictures," Roger said. "These were only sketched off in haste, and with such colors as came to hand; but if I had pigments, and could mix the colors as I wanted them, I could produce very much better effect."