Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/70

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HERE AND THERE IN YUCATAN.

As the weather was cool one of the men gave her a red flannel shirt, which clothed her from head to foot. For a day or two she refused to eat, but afterwards seemed contented. She said all her people were the same size as herself; that they were then living near Meditation Fall, where they had a cornfield, though generally they dwelt three or four miles away in a deep valley.

When she had been in the camp about ten days, some of the men proposed to go and see her people. She manifested delight, and offered to guide them to the spot. Reaching the place where they first met her, she led them into the forest. Soon she motioned to them to stop and be silent. A hubbub of voices reached their ears; the girl whispered to them that she would go and announce their coming, otherwise her folks would be afraid, run off, and hide on hearing footsteps. Away she darted; and soon all was hushed as death.

The men waited patiently; their diminutive guide did not return. Convinced that she had very cunningly eluded them, they went forward, and in two minutes found themselves in a cornfield. There were embers in three or four places, and small piles of corn prepared for transportation. The ground had been much trodden, but there was no living