ALTHOUGH Nohul Voh had kept no consecutive records of the phenomenon he had mentioned, the appearance of the flames from the temple at various times--no doubt he had found they interfered with his observations and had cursed them roundly at the time--and with a little calculation he was able to fix their dates beyond any question. For a number of years, as nearly as we could judge, the appearances and disappearances of the Bridge of Light had been almost uniform. The temple flames would appear, would flare steadily for forty days (two Mayan months) and would subside for thirty-two days. Then came a record where for six months or 120 days they had burned steadily. “I remember the time now,” declared Nohul Voh. “See, the date is 2 Ahau 13 Tzec 2 Ahau. We took it for a sign that the bearer of the Book of Kukulcan was on his way; but I gazed into the Books of the Past and Future and saw him not.” “Two Ahau, 13 Tzec 2 Ahau!” I made a swift mental calculation. Good Lord! That was somewhere between A. D. 220 and 240! Impossible! Over sixteen hundred years ago! The old fellow was romancing; he could not--no living man could have been alive then. But he was speaking again. “And then,” he went on, studying his tablets, “for twenty Tuns (years) no light burned above the temple, and I, who know the secret writings of the prophecy, knew that the messenger of Kukulcan would never come unto Mictolan, for the appointed time had passed.” “Great Scott!” I thought to myself, “the old fellow actually believes he was alive then.” For, up to that time I had never really taken his tale of extreme age seriously. Rather I regarded it as a sort of allegorical statement, a way of implying that he did not know his own age, that his clan or profession had always existed among the Mayas. “And yet once more, the Bridge appeared,” he continued. “And for long it spanned the chasm, and Maidens of Kinich Ahau were kept ever on guard to welcome the bearer of the symbols. But it came and went, always irregularly, though always the flames blazed from the temples upon the coming of the moon of the spring Tonalmatl. Nay, my son, not once has it failed to appear upon that date. Well I know, for that day to me is most important in my observations, and always upon that night the moon is dimmed and the night brightened by the flames from the temple. Well do I have cause to remember that, my son. And so, though you may feel that the Bridge of Light has gone forever, yet would I prepare myself and hold myself in readiness for its coming, for upon the eve of the Tonalmatl it will once more span the chasm to the Cave of the Bats.”