CHAPTER XIX. LEO WEDS, AFTER ALL.

When the new queen had reigned for a year, she one day took it in her head to modify one of the principal laws of Hez.

It was to change the time of the maidens waiting for their husbands from two years to six months.

As this was more of a common-sense view of the matter, her people unanimously agreed to it, with the exception of Roderique de Amilo.

He was for keeping the ancient laws of the country the same.

But one against so many did not amount to much, so the law went into force.

Elated by the favor with which her new law was received, the queen, whose name, by the way, was Nalie, concluded to make another change, and a big one, at that.

Hitherto none of the males born in Hez had been allowed to marry under any consideration.

Consequently the race was fast dying out, as very few men from the outside world came to the strange country, and when they did, it was merely by accident.

When her majesty issued this edict, she announced that her reason for doing so was to keep the race in existence forever.

This, too, met with the approval of the Hezzians.

The day soon arrived which the queen had fixed when all those who desired to enter a state of matrimony could do so, and nearly all the unmarried ones took advantage of it.

The building in which dwelt the supposed founder of the Hez race, Roderique de Amilo, who was to perform the ceremony, was a circular one, and contained but two rooms. The rest of the space was taken up by a broad hall, which opened at either end of the house.

There were no seats of any kind in the hall, and, consequently, all had to stand up.

When Leo, whom the queen had chosen for her future husband, and Nalie arrived, De Amilo had just commenced to marry some of the Hezzians to the maidens they had chosen.

The ceremony was about the same as the Spanish one of to-day, only it was somewhat shorter.

The couples were married as fast as the acting priest could rattle off the words of the ceremony, and sent away happy.

At length it came Prof. Easy’s turn, and with his face wreathed in smiles, he stepped up to the scratch with his blushing, young bride leaning upon his arm.

As soon as the knot was tied, they marched off to the little house that had been assigned to them.

Next came Martin Haypole, and then Lucky.

When these had been disposed of, there was but one couple left, and that was Leo and the queen.

A few had remained to see their ruler married, but the majority had gone away to their usual avocations.

As Leo and his fair companion stepped to the front, there was a disturbance at one end of the hall, and a figure rushed in.

Leo turned hastily around, and a cry of astonishment left his lips.

It was Azurma, the girl whom he thought dead, who had rushed in.

She stood in front of Queen Nalie with uplifted hands, but not a word escaped her lips.

Everybody in the building recognized her, and a wild yell of terror went up.

Down upon their faces went all save Leo, who was thunderstruck, but not frightened in the least.

Azurma glided to him, and, placing her hand upon his shoulder, said:

“Come, my Leo; I will take you to your cousin Dick, who yet lives.”

Hardly knowing what he did, the boy followed her from the building.

No one barred their progress, and in a couple of minutes they had entered one of the numerous passages, and were lost to view.

Leo followed Azurma through the passage without saying a word.

He was very much mystified at the girl’s sudden appearance.

Over a year before she had been condemned to death, and he had seen her with his own eyes go shooting into the turbulent stream that flowed through the Devil’s Kingdom.

He remembered Azurma’s last words, as he followed her along, and he began to think that not only the Land of Hez was one of mystery, but the ones who lived in it mysterious, also.

The girl clung to his arm and did not offer to speak until they had reached a point fully a mile from the village governed by Queen Nalie.

Azurma related her miraculous escape, and told how she reached the land of the Naztecs, how Reginald Lacy and his dog had found Dick and Queen Olive in the cave, and wound up by saying that both she and Queen Olive had been created princesses in the Naztec nation, and that Dick had been the king’s adviser for the past seven months.

She also informed him that Philander Owens was a resident of the city, and that he and Reginald Lacy had buried the hatchet, and were now fast friends.

They had married sisters, she said, and lived in the same house.

All this was startling news to Leo, and he longed for the moment when he could meet Dick and embrace him.

Azurma, who knew the way perfectly, led him to the grounds near the foot of the falls, by way of the rocky descent near the Devil’s Kingdom.

In a little over an hour from the time the two left Hez they reached the mouth of the long, lighted chamber leading to the strange underground city.

Before they were halfway through this they met Reginald Lacy and Jupiter, the dog.

The meeting between Leo and Lacy was a very pleasant one, and the faithful dog, who recognized the young fellow at once, pranced playfully about his feet.

“Come,” said Lacy, leading the way--“come and see what you think of our city.”

They reached the end of the wide passage and descended into the cave below.

Leo was not a little astonished at what he saw, and when he reached the center of the little place he could not suppress a cry of admiration.

The meeting between the cousins was a joyous, not to say affecting, one.

Leo had supposed Dick to be dead, and Dick had worried considerably as to how Leo was getting on in Hez.

Leo’s surprise was complete when Olive--as we will hereafter call the ex-queen of Hez--came forth, carrying an infant son about a month old in her arms.

“This is my wife and son, Leo,” said Dick. “The youngster is named after you. What do you think of him?”

“What do I think of him? I congratulate you, old fellow! Why, it don’t seem possible that you are a man of family. And your wife! Well, she hasn’t lost any of her good looks. I tell you, wonders will never cease. I am the only single man left in our party of swamp explorers now.”

“Is that so?” asked Dick. “I thought that none of them could marry until two years had elapsed.”

“The new queen changed the law. The professor, Haypole and Lucky were married to-day; and if Azurma had not showed up just as she did, I, too, would have been a benedict.”

“Who was to have been the bride?” asked Olive.

“Your sister--Queen Nalie.”

“Ah! Was it an act of your own free will and accord?”

“No, hardly;” and Leo explained the whole circumstance from beginning to end.

“How is the new queen liked by the people of Hez?”

“Very well, I guess.”

“Do you know one thing?”--and Dick’s wife called Leo aside. “I have agreed to leave this underground world with my husband, if we can find a way to get out, and go, with him to the land of his own people. He is making arrangements to lead a number of the men of this place to Hez and capture it. That once done, he says, he can easily find some means of getting to the outside world.”

“That’s true, old fellow, chimed in Dick.

“I now have eighty good fighting men at my command, and I think we shall be able to down the Hezzians, even if they do outnumber us.”

“You can count on me to do my part, I assure you,” said Leo.

The Naztecs seemed to be pleased at another addition to their number.

Dick, Lacy and Owens had taught them many things they had been entirely ignorant of; and as they were an intelligent race, they were constantly on the lookout to learn something new.

Leo now appeared to be more contented than he had at any time since he came to the land of mystery.

He soon got used to the mode of living in the country of the Naztecs, and, like his predecessors, soon acquired their language.

There was only one thing that bothered him, save his desire to get to his native heath once more, and that was the undying love Azurma bore him.

He liked the girl well enough; but, unlike Dick, he did not allow himself to become “gone” on any of the beauties of the strange land.

But duty told him that he ought to marry the girl, for she was growing thinner every day, and all on account of him.

He concluded to wed her, and make the best of it, and one day, about three weeks after his advent into the Naztec country, Leo and Azurma were made man and wife according to the established rules of the country.

There never was a happier bride in the whole world than Azurma; and from that time until the day of her death Leo never regretted marrying her.