Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos
Page 22
A CITY BEGUN ON A RAFT.
The story of the founding of the City of Mexico is one of the mostextraordinary tales in history. It happened in 1325, at least, it begana long time before that, but was an accomplished fact about 600 yearsago.
In the first place, imagine an almost inaccessible mountain, crownedwith a valley at the height of 8,000 feet above the level of the sea.In the centre of this valley was an immense lake. When the Aztecsarrived, led by the priests of the God of War, they found it in thepossession of hostile tribes.
For that reason, and because the priests declared that in a certainpart of the lake where there stood an elevation of stones an eagle hadbeen seen devouring a serpent, they began the construction of the cityon this spot, immediately over the deepest waters of the lake. Therehad long existed a prophecy among the Aztecs that their wanderingswould end when they should have reached a place where the priests wouldbehold an eagle resting on a cactus plant, devouring a serpent.
Confident that they had found the spot ordained to be their abidinghome, they began to construct rafts of the trunks of trees, coveringthem with thick layers of earth, upon which they built rude hutsof more or less solidity. Groups of dwellings soon began to formthemselves in regular order, thus determining the primitive streets ofthe new city.
They also constructed boats and oars of different sizes useful inpeace and war, and while certain of their number occupied themselvesin defending their homes and brethren from the onslaughts of hostiletribes, others continued to improve and enlarge the new city. Graduallythe lake was filled up, and terraces arose, one after another, in theplace once occupied by the deep waters.
This was in itself a herculean labor, unsurpassed in ingenuity anddurability by any similar work of ancient or modern times. Upon thefirst of these terraces was constructed the Teocalli, or sacrificialtemple. It was begun in 1216 and not completed until 1325, a periodof 109 years, from which time may be dated the official foundation ofTenochtitlan, to-day the modern City of Mexico.
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MOTOR STORIES
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6--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On The High Gear.
7--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
8--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
9--Motor Matt's Air-Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
10--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
11--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
12--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Castaway in the Bahamas.
13--Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the Iron Chest.
14--Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the _Hawk_.
15--Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise of the _Grampus_.
16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters.
TIP TOP WEEKLY
The most popular publication for boys. The adventures of Frank and DickMerriwell can be had only in this weekly. =High art colored covers.Thirty-two pages.= Price, 5 cents.
675--Frank Merriwell Cut Off; or, The Result of the Great Spring Rise.
676--Frank Merriwell's Ranch Boss; or, Big Bruce and the Blossoms.
677--Dick Merriwell's Equal; or, The Fellow with the Flying Feet.
678--Dick Merriwell's Development; or, The All-around Wonder.
679--Dick Merriwell's Eye; or, The Secret of Good Batting.
680--Frank Merriwell's Zest; or, The Spirit of the School.
681--Frank Merriwell's Patience; or, The Making of a Pitcher.
682--Frank Merriwell's Pupil; or, The Boy with the Wizard Wing.
683--Frank Merriwell's Fighters; or, The Decisive Battle with Blackstone.
684--Dick Merriwell at the "Meet"; or, Honors Worth Winning.
685--Dick Merriwell's Protest; or, The Man Who Would Not Play Clean.
686--Dick Merriwell In The Marathon; or, The Sensation of the Great Run.
687--Dick Merriwell's Colors; or, All For the Blue.
688--Dick Merriwell, Driver; or, The Race for the Daremore Cup.
689--Dick Merriwell on the Deep; or, The Cruise of the _Yale_.
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638--A Mental Mystery; or, Nick Carter on a Difficult Trail.
639--The Sealed Envelope; or, Nick Carter's Search for a Lost Fortune.
640--The Message in Blue; or, Nick Carter's Clue to a Vast Conspiracy.
641--A Dream of Empire; or, Nick Carter and the Queen of Conspirators.
642--The Detective's Disappearance; or, Nick Carter is Saved by Adelina.
643--The Midnight Marauders; or, Nick Carter's Telephone Mystery.
644--The Child of the Jungle; or, Nick Carter's Ingenious Ruse.
645--Nick Carter's Satanic Enemy; or, The Case of an Easy Mark.
646--Three Times Stolen; or, Nick Carter's Strange Clue.
647--The Great Diamond Syndicate; or, Nick Carter's Cleverest Foes.
648--The House of the Yellow Door; or, Nick Carter in the Old French Quarter.
649--The Triangle Clue; or, Nick Carter's Greenwich Village Case.
650--The Hollingsworth Puzzle; or, Nick Carter Three Times Baffled.
651--The Affair of the Missing Bonds; or, Nick Carter in the Harness.
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MOTOR STORIES
Every boy who reads one of the splendid adventures of Motor Matt, whichare making their appearance in this weekly, is at once surprised anddelighted. Surprised at the generous quantity of reading matter that weare giving for five cents; delighted with the fascinating interest ofthe stories, second only to those published in the Tip Top Weekly.
Matt has positive mechanical genius, and while his adventures areunusual, they are, however, drawn so true to life that the reader canclearly see how it is possible for the ordinary boy to experience them.
_HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY AND THOSE TO BE PUBLISHED_:
1--Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.
2--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.
3--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.
4--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."
5--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.
6--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.
7--Motor Matt's Clue;
or, The Phantom Auto.
8--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
9--Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
10--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
11--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
12--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.
13--Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the Iron Chest.
14--Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the "Hawk."
15--Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise of the "Grampus."
16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters.
To be Published on June 14th.
17--Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos.
To be Published on June 21st.
18--Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon.
To be Published on June 28th.
19--Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn.
To be Published on July 5th.
20--Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys.
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At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receiptof the price.
STREET & SMITH, _Publishers_, NEW YORK
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=.
Added table of contents.
Some inconsistent hyphenation (i.e. "war-like" vs. "warlike") retainedfrom the original.
Page 14, changed "Ortera" to "Ortega" ("can't understand this Don RamonOrtega").
Page 16, corrected "action" to "actions" in "The boy's actions werepeculiar."
Page 26, changed "Ysabelle" to "Ysabel" ("Ysabel vanished into thetower").