I WAS still puzzling my brain as to how I could manage matters when the newly-crowned king arrived with the old sorcerer. They repeated all that Itza had told me, with even more minute details, and complimented me upon my rapid recovery and my appearance. That Azcopil could have gone through so much without a sign of physical exhaustion and, with a few hours sleep, could have gone through with the ceremonies and duties of the day, amazed me more than anything else. But he had not been under the mental strain I had suffered, and he had the wiry, tireless almost incredible endurance of the Indian. Of course I congratulated him upon his coronation and voiced my approval of the new rules he had promulgated. Old Nohul Voh smiled and chuckled. “He but followed out thy desires, O, Itzimin Chac,” he declared. “Did not my son tell us of the one God of his faith? Did he not give the rituals of his own faith upon the temple, though the people thought he spoke in the secret tongue of the cult, and I alone--with perhaps the maiden Itza--know it was not so? And did not my lord overthrow the power of Kinich Ahau and destroy the Kinchi Haman with his thunder tube, and defy the Sun God even within the sanctity of his own temple? “The wise man, O, Itzimin, observes and gives thought; the fool stubs his toe against the rock. Does not the farmer nurture the sweetest melon? Does not he remove the thorn vine that tears his flesh? Does the woodsman stand in the path of the falling tree and command it to fall aside? Does not one know that when the sun shines the rain will cease? And can one man, O my son, serve two masters? Nay, Itzimin Chac. Always in the world is one thing stronger or better than another. Always there is the good and the bad. Always there is the right and the wrong. Always one must bow to someone more powerful. And though the wrong may endure for a time, though the bad may be so twisted as to seem good, always in the end that which is good, that which is right, that which is strong, shall endure. Much have you told me of your people--much that seems beyond belief did I not know by the prophecies that it was so. Safely you have come through the dangers that barred the way to Mictolan, though you are not of the race of Kitche Maya. And you have triumphed over the Kinchi Haman, and through you, King Azcopil is ruler over Mictolan. Only in one way could you have done all this, my son; only by the help of that one God you worship. And so Nohul Voh, who is wise and has lived through many Katuns, and Azcopil, my king, who knows your heart, know that your God is the greatest god and that to us He is known as Kukulcan.”