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“‘Will he believe that which you have seen with your eyes?’

“‘He will believe it, for he has trusted me from childhood.’

“‘Then look!’ said the man, and, opening his robe at the neck, he kneeled down in the light of the fire.

“There, lord, upon his breast hung that which has been hidden from our sight since the sons of Quetzal, the god, ruled in the land, the counterpart of the severed symbol which is upon your breast. That is all my story, lord.”

* * * * * * *

Now I, Ignatio, listened amazed, for the thing was marvellous.

“Did the man send me no further message?” I asked.

“None. He said that if you were a true keeper of the mystery you would come to learn his mission from himself, or bring him to you.”

“And did you tell him anything of me and of my history, Molas?”

“Nothing; I had no such command. On the morrow at dawn I left to bury my wife, if she were dead, or to nurse her if she still were sick, saying that so soon as might be I would travel to the city of Mexico to seek out the Keeper of the Heart and give him this tidings, and that within eight weeks or less I trusted to report how I had fared. The old man asked me if I had money, and without waiting to be answered he gave me two handfuls of lumps of moulded gold from a hide bag, whereof each lump was stamped with the symbol of the Heart.”