THE INSURGENCE of
CHAN SANTA CRUZ
BOOK NINE:
BOOK of the JAGUAR PRIEST
CHAPTER
FORTY TWO
The mob assembled before the
cathedral, eager to put it to the torch. "Where is the Halach Uinic?" some asked.
Others cried "Gone!" "Pedro Yoac is
our jefe," still others declared. "Where is
Yoac?"
Pedro Yoac
bulled his way through the crowd to find Adam Chol
exhorting those who had not picked up a torch to do so. "Enough!" he
declared, and Adam Chol slipped away, his purpose
accomplished.
"This was our
church," Pedro told the mob, "stolen from us by the Mexicans, who
used it in a vile manner in the days of Santa Cruz del Bravo and, through
treachery, influenced our General to make it a house for spies. The church of
the Holy Cross is blameless, it is we who are
at fault. Carry the books and writing instruments outside, all of the
furnishings, and make a pile for the burning, but do no harm to the church. It
is to be made pure for the return of the Cross. Juan de la Cruz shall see how
we have prepared his home, and will provide us rain.
A great cheering arose, for Pedro Yoac, as the bonfire was started in the plaza. The Oficiales carried out the tools of education and fed them
to the flames.
"Where is the teacher?"
someone called out.
"Throw him upon the fire!"
"Sacrifice him!"
"No! The Chacs
would be insulted."
"Take him to prison,"
ordered Yoac, dispatching a sergeant and a cabo. The particulars of the blood-sacrifice were unknown
to him, but suspected. If Miguel Chankik wanted the
teacher, he would have him.
The soldados
returned with Moises Lum.
"He says that we had no authority to arrest the teacher, so we arrested
him. You are Halach Uinic
now, all the Oficiales and the village jefes stand with you. Here is your traitor."
"Is this how you take power for
yourself?" asked Moises Lum.
"You are a popular man now, but what shall you do when the General
returns? Are you prepared for war?"
Pedro Yoac
gritted his teeth and paced back and forth before the flames. "He was not
here in our wanting. Our land is dying with drought and he remains in Mexico.
Are we to wait... would you have him return to a city of skeletons? What would
you do?"
"Telegraph him," the Colonel
replied.
"We have already done that. And
there has been no answer."
"We only sent a message to
Merida. This time, we must go directly to Mexico. To the
President. The General is to be informed of what we are doing, and be
given the occasion to reply. There is a way to do this... from Peto to Campeche. The jefe of Sacalaca told me that there is a line to Mexico City."
Pedro Yoac
thought about this. "You may do it," he finally answered. "But,
if the Tatoob does not reply, I shall assume that he
is dead. Perhaps his boat has gone down... the sea is a treacherous thing. It
will take a few days for the rainmaker to be ready. Release him," he said
to the soldados. "Keep the other one." A
new thought occurred to him. "I will not allow the chance for treachery.
We will go to the telegraph together. We will send a message together... or not
at all."
And the message the Colonels sent Silvestro, care of President Venustiano
Carranza in Mexico, was this: "Your urgent attention requested. Drought
remains. Ceremonio chico useless, we proceed with great blue ceremony.
Please approve."
"Now," said Colonel Lum, "the Mexicans will have no cause for treachery,
for they do not know the meaning of the blue ceremony. This will go directly to
the President, who will inform General Kaak."
"And in the interim," said
Colonel Yoac, "I shall direct Miguel Chankik to begin his preparations. You will not hinder me
and you'll keep your liberty. Agreed?"
There was no more that Moises Lum could do. Only the Tatoob would stop the blue ceremony. But after, no matter
the outcome, he knew that he could not trust Pedro Yoac.
And if Silvestro did not return, he would have to
flee. He had relatives among the followers of Francisco May, to the north, and
Juan Bautista Vega, the jefe of Payo
Obispo.
Either success or failure of the blue
ceremony would seal his fate. And though he was only a Jefe
Militar, not a xaman, he
offered a small, pitiful prayer of his own for rain, directing it to be
carried, with the chalky white smoke of burning books, to Gloria.
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