At this startling announcement there was a dead silence. "I congratulate you, Jack," said Cassim, gravely, after a momentary pause. "I hope you will ask us all to your wedding. But what has this story of politics, railways, and love to do with the harlequin opal?" "Everything. Listen. Don Hypolito is an ambitious man who wants to become Dictator of Cholacaca, and rule that Republic as Dr. Francia did Paraguay. Now, the easiest way in which he can obtain his desire is by marrying Dolores." "What! Is she the heiress of the Republic?" "No; but she is the lawful owner of the Chalchuih Tlatonac." "What, in heaven's name, is that?" "It means 'the shining precious stone,' in the Toltec tongue." "The deuce!" murmured Philip, in an amused tone; "we have got past the Aztecs." "I suppose this shining precious stone is the harlequin opal?" said Peter, inquiringly. "Precisely. This celebrated stone is hundreds of years old. Tradition says it was the property of Quetzalcoatl." "That's the Mexican god of the air," said Philip who knew all sorts of stray facts. "Yes. You've read that in Prescott." "No, I didn't. Bancroft is my authority. But how did it come into the possession of your Doña Dolores?" "Oh, she is a direct descendant of Montezuma." "An Aztec princess. Jack, you are making a royal match." "I'm afraid there is very little royalty about Dolores," replied Jack, laughing; "but, as regards this stone. Quetzalcoatl gave it to Huitzilopochtli." "Lord! what names." "When Cortez conquered Mexico, he found the stone adorning the statue of the war god in his famous teocalli in the city of the Aztecs. One of the Spanish adventurers stole it, and afterwards married a daughter of Montezuma. When she found out that he had the opal, she stole it from him, and went off down south, where she delivered it to some native priest in one of those Central American forests." "Where it remains still?" "By no means. This woman had a son by the Spaniard, a Mestizo, as they call this mixture of Indian and Spanish blood. He, I believe, claimed the stone as his property whereon the high priest of Huitzilopochtli proposed to sacrifice him. Not being a religious man, he disliked the idea, and ran away, taking the stone with him. He reached the coast, and married a native woman. There they set up a temple on their own account to the god of war, and round it, as time went on, grew a settlement, which was called after the opal 'Chalchuih Tlatonac.' Then the Spaniards came and conquered the town, which they rechristened Puebla de Nuestra Señora de la Concepcion; but the name didn't catch on, and it is now known by its old Indian name of Tlatonac. Of course there are a good many Spaniards there still; descendants of the Conquistadores; but the majority of the population are Indians." "And what became of the opal?"