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diff --git a/old/1848.txt b/old/1848.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f2f2fe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1848.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14715 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Montezuma's Daughter, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Montezuma's Daughter + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: May 13, 2006 [EBook #1848] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson and Anonymous Volunteers + + + + + +MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + +NOTE + +The more unpronounceable of the Aztec names are shortened in many +instances out of consideration for the patience of the reader; thus +'Popocatapetl' becomes 'Popo,' 'Huitzelcoatl' becomes 'Huitzel,' &c. +The prayer in Chapter xxvi. is freely rendered from Jourdanet's French +translation of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun's History of New Spain, +written shortly after the conquest of Mexico (Book VI, chap. v.), to +which monumental work and to Prescott's admirable history the author of +this romance is much indebted. The portents described as heralding the +fall of the Aztec Empire, and many of the incidents and events written +of in this story, such as the annual personation of the god Tezcatlipoca +by a captive distinguished for his personal beauty, and destined to +sacrifice, are in the main historical. The noble speech of the Emperor +Guatemoc to the Prince of Tacuba uttered while they both were suffering +beneath the hands of the Spaniards is also authentic. + + + +DEDICATION + +My dear Jebb, + +Strange as were the adventures and escapes of Thomas Wingfield, once of +this parish, whereof these pages tell, your own can almost equal them +in these latter days, and, since a fellow feeling makes us kind, you at +least they may move to a sigh of sympathy. Among many a distant land +you know that in which he loved and fought, following vengeance and his +fate, and by your side I saw its relics and its peoples, its volcans +and its valleys. You know even where lies the treasure which, three +centuries and more ago, he helped to bury, the countless treasure that +an evil fortune held us back from seeking. Now the Indians have taken +back their secret, and though many may search, none will lift the graven +stone that seals it, nor shall the light of day shine again upon the +golden head of Montezuma. So be it! The wealth which Cortes wept over, +and his Spaniards sinned and died for, is for ever hidden yonder by +the shores of the bitter lake whose waters gave up to you that ancient +horror, the veritable and sleepless god of Sacrifice, of whom I would +not rob you--and, for my part, I do not regret the loss. + +What cannot be lost, what to me seem of more worth than the dead hero +Guatemoc's gems and jars of gold, are the memories of true friendship +shown to us far away beneath the shadow of the Slumbering Woman,* and it +is in gratitude for these that I ask permission to set your name within +a book which were it not for you would never have been written. + +I am, my dear Jebb, + +Always sincerely yours, + +H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + + * The volcano Izticcihuatl in Mexico. + + +DITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK, October 5, 1892. + +To J. Gladwyn Jebb, Esq. + + + +NOTE + +Worn out prematurely by a life of hardship and extraordinary adventure, +Mr. Jebb passed away on March 18, 1893, taking with him the respect and +affection of all who had the honour of his friendship. The author has +learned with pleasure that the reading of this tale in proof and the +fact of its dedication to himself afforded him some amusement and +satisfaction in the intervals of his sufferings. + +H. R. H. + +March 22, 1893. + + + +CONTENTS + +I WHY THOMAS WINGFIELD TELLS HIS TALE + +II. OF THE PARENTAGE OF THOMAS WINGFIELD + +III. THE COMING OF THE SPANIARD + +IV. THOMAS TELLS HIS LOVE + +V. THOMAS SWEARS AN OATH + +VI. GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART + +VII. ANDRES DE FONSECA + +VIII. THE SECOND MEETING + +IX. THOMAS BECOMES RICH + +X. THE PASSING OF ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA + +XI. THE LOSS OF THE CARAK + +XII. THOMAS COMES TO SHORE + +XIII. THE STONE OF SACRIFICE + +XIV. THE SAVING OF GUATEMOC + +XV. THE COURT OF MONTEZUMA + +XVI. THOMAS BECOMES A GOD + +XVII. THE ARISING OF PAPANTZIN + +XVIII. THE NAMING OF THE BRIDES + +XIX. THE FOUR GODDESSES + +XX. OTOMIE'S COUNSEL + +XXI. THE KISS OF LOVE + +XXII. THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS + +XXIII. THOMAS IS MARRIED + +XXIV. THE NIGHT OF FEAR + +XXV. THE BURYING OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE + +XXVI. THE CROWNING OF GUATEMOC + +XXVII. THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN + +XXVIII. THOMAS IS DOOMED + +XXIX. DE GARCIA SPEAKS HIS MIND + +XXX. THE ESCAPE + +XXXI. OTOMIE PLEADS WITH HER PEOPLE + +XXXII. THE END OF GUATEMOC + +XXXIII. ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA IS AVENGED + +XXXIV. THE SIEGE OF THE CITY OF PINES + +XXXV. THE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE + +XXXVI. THE SURRENDER + +XXXVII. VENGEANCE + +XXXVIII. OTOMIE'S FAREWELL + +XXXIX. THOMAS COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD + +XL. AMEN + + + + +MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHY THOMAS WINGFIELD TELLS HIS TALE + + +Now glory be to God who has given us the victory! It is true, the +strength of Spain is shattered, her ships are sunk or fled, the sea has +swallowed her soldiers and her sailors by hundreds and by thousands, and +England breathes again. They came to conquer, to bring us to the torture +and the stake--to do to us free Englishmen as Cortes did by the Indians +of Anahuac. Our manhood to the slave bench, our daughters to dishonour, +our souls to the loving-kindness of the priest, our wealth to the +Emperor and the Pope! God has answered them with his winds, Drake has +answered them with his guns. They are gone, and with them the glory of +Spain. + +I, Thomas Wingfield, heard the news to-day on this very Thursday in the +Bungay market-place, whither I went to gossip and to sell the apples +which these dreadful gales have left me, as they hang upon my trees. + +Before there had been rumours of this and of that, but here in Bungay +was a man named Young, of the Youngs of Yarmouth, who had served in one +of the Yarmouth ships in the fight at Gravelines, aye and sailed north +after the Spaniards till they were lost in the Scottish seas. + +Little things lead to great, men say, but here great things lead to +little, for because of these tidings it comes about that I, Thomas +Wingfield, of the Lodge and the parish of Ditchingham in the county of +Norfolk, being now of a great age and having only a short time to live, +turn to pen and ink. Ten years ago, namely, in the year 1578, it pleased +her Majesty, our gracious Queen Elizabeth, who at that date visited this +county, that I should be brought before her at Norwich. There and then, +saying that the fame of it had reached her, she commanded me to give +her some particulars of the story of my life, or rather of those twenty +years, more or less, which I spent among the Indians at that time when +Cortes conquered their country of Anahuac, which is now known as Mexico. +But almost before I could begin my tale, it was time for her to start +for Cossey to hunt the deer, and she said it was her wish that I should +write the story down that she might read it, and moreover that if it +were but half as wonderful as it promised to be, I should end my days +as Sir Thomas Wingfield. To this I answered her Majesty that pen and ink +were tools I had no skill in, yet I would bear her command in mind. +Then I made bold to give her a great emerald that once had hung upon the +breast of Montezuma's daughter, and of many a princess before her, and +at the sight of it her eyes glistened brightly as the gem, for this +Queen of ours loves such costly playthings. Indeed, had I so desired, +I think that I might then and there have struck a bargain, and set the +stone against a title; but I, who for many years had been the prince of +a great tribe, had no wish to be a knight. So I kissed the royal hand, +and so tightly did it grip the gem within that the knuckle joints shone +white, and I went my ways, coming back home to this my house by the +Waveney on that same day. + +Now the Queen's wish that I should set down the story of my life +remained in my mind, and for long I have desired to do it before life +and story end together. The labour, indeed, is great to one unused to +such tasks; but why should I fear labour who am so near to the holiday +of death? I have seen things that no other Englishman has seen, which +are worthy to be recorded; my life has been most strange, many a time it +has pleased God to preserve it when all seemed lost, and this perchance +He has done that the lesson of it might become known to others. For +there is a lesson in it and in the things that I have seen, and it is +that no wrong can ever bring about a right, that wrong will breed wrong +at last, and be it in man or people, will fall upon the brain that +thought it and the hand that wrought it. + +Look now at the fate of Cortes--that great man whom I have known clothed +with power like a god. Nearly forty years ago, so I have heard, he died +poor and disgraced in Spain; he, the conqueror--yes, and I have learned +also that his son Don Martin has been put to the torture in that city +which the father won with so great cruelties for Spain. Malinche, she +whom the Spaniards named Marina, the chief and best beloved of all the +women of this same Cortes, foretold it to him in her anguish when after +all that had been, after she had so many times preserved him and his +soldiers to look upon the sun, at the last he deserted her, giving her +in marriage to Don Juan Xaramillo. Look again at the fate of Marina +herself. Because she loved this man Cortes, or Malinche, as the Indians +named him after her, she brought evil on her native land; for without +her aid Tenoctitlan, or Mexico, as they call it now, had never bowed +beneath the yoke of Spain--yes, she forgot her honour in her passion. +And what was her reward, what right came to her of her wrongdoing? This +was her reward at last: to be given away in marriage to another and +a lesser man when her beauty waned, as a worn-out beast is sold to a +poorer master. + +Consider also the fate of those great peoples of the land of Anahuac. +They did evil that good might come. They sacrificed the lives of +thousands to their false gods, that their wealth might increase, and +peace and prosperity be theirs throughout the generations. And now the +true God has answered them. For wealth He has given them desolation, for +peace the sword of the Spaniard, for prosperity the rack and the +torment and the day of slavery. For this it was that they did sacrifice, +offering their own children on the altars of Huitzel and of Tezcat. + +And the Spaniards themselves, who in the name of mercy have wrought +cruelties greater than any that were done by the benighted Aztecs, who +in the name of Christ daily violate His law to the uttermost extreme, +say shall they prosper, shall their evil-doing bring them welfare? I am +old and cannot live to see the question answered, though even now it +is in the way of answering. Yet I know that their wickedness shall +fall upon their own heads, and I seem to see them, the proudest of the +peoples of the earth, bereft of fame and wealth and honour, a starveling +remnant happy in nothing save their past. What Drake began at Gravelines +God will finish in many another place and time, till at last Spain is of +no more account and lies as low as the empire of Montezuma lies to-day. + +Thus it is in these great instances of which all the world may know, and +thus it is even in the life of so humble a man as I, Thomas Wingfield. +Heaven indeed has been merciful to me, giving me time to repent my sins; +yet my sins have been visited on my head, on me who took His prerogative +of vengeance from the hand of the Most High. It is just, and because it +is so I wish to set out the matter of my life's history that others may +learn from it. For many years this has been in my mind, as I have said, +though to speak truth it was her Majesty the Queen who first set the +seed. But only on this day, when I have heard for certain of the fate of +the Armada, does it begin to grow, and who can say if ever it will come +to flower? For this tidings has stirred me strangely, bringing back my +youth and the deeds of love and war and wild adventure which I have been +mingled in, fighting for my own hand and for Guatemoc and the people of +the Otomie against these same Spaniards, as they have not been brought +back for many years. Indeed, it seems to me, and this is no rare thing +with the aged, as though there in the far past my true life lay, and all +the rest were nothing but a dream. + +From the window of the room wherein I write I can see the peaceful +valley of the Waveney. Beyond its stream are the common lands golden +with gorse, the ruined castle, and the red roofs of Bungay town gathered +about the tower of St. Mary's Church. Yonder far away are the king's +forests of Stowe and the fields of Flixton Abbey; to the right the steep +bank is green with the Earsham oaks, to the left the fast marsh lands +spotted with cattle stretch on to Beccles and Lowestoft, while behind me +my gardens and orchards rise in terraces up the turfy hill that in old +days was known as the Earl's Vineyard. All these are about me, and yet +in this hour they are as though they were not. For the valley of the +Waveney I see the vale of Tenoctitlan, for the slopes of Stowe the snowy +shapes of the volcans Popo and Iztac, for the spire of Earsham and the +towers of Ditchingham, of Bungay, and of Beccles, the soaring pyramids +of sacrifice gleaming with the sacred fires, and for the cattle in the +meadows the horsemen of Cortes sweeping to war. + +It comes back to me; that was life, the rest is but a dream. Once more +I feel young, and, should I be spared so long, I will set down the story +of my youth before I am laid in yonder churchyard and lost in the world +of dreams. Long ago I had begun it, but it was only on last Christmas +Day that my dear wife died, and while she lived I knew that this task +was better left undone. Indeed, to be frank, it was thus with my wife: +She loved me, I believe, as few men have the fortune to be loved, and +there is much in my past that jarred upon this love of hers, moving her +to a jealousy of the dead that was not the less deep because it was so +gentle and so closely coupled with forgiveness. For she had a secret +sorrow that ate her heart away, although she never spoke of it. But one +child was born to us, and this child died in infancy, nor for all her +prayers did it please God to give her another, and indeed remembering +the words of Otomie I did not expect that it would be so. Now she knew +well that yonder across the seas I had children whom I loved by another +wife, and though they were long dead, must always love unalterably, and +this thought wrung her heart. That I had been the husband of another +woman she could forgive, but that this woman should have borne me +children whose memory was still so dear, she could not forget if she +forgave it, she who was childless. Why it was so, being but a man, I +cannot say; for who can know all the mystery of a loving woman's heart? +But so it was. Once, indeed, we quarrelled on the matter; it was our +only quarrel. + +It chanced that when we had been married but two years, and our babe was +some few days buried in the churchyard of this parish of Ditchingham, +I dreamed a very vivid dream as I slept one night at my wife's side. +I dreamed that my dead children, the four of them, for the tallest lad +bore in his arms my firstborn, that infant who died in the great siege, +came to me as they had often come when I ruled the people of the Otomie +in the City of Pines, and talked with me, giving me flowers and kissing +my hands. I looked upon their strength and beauty, and was proud at +heart, and, in my dream, it seemed as though some great sorrow had been +lifted from my mind; as though these dear ones had been lost and now +were found again. Ah! what misery is there like to this misery of +dreams, that can thus give us back our dead in mockery, and then +departing, leave us with a keener woe? + +Well, I dreamed on, talking with my children in my sleep and naming them +by their beloved names, till at length I woke to look on emptiness, and +knowing all my sorrow I sobbed aloud. Now it was early morning, and the +light of the August sun streamed through the window, but I, deeming +that my wife slept, still lay in the shadow of my dream as it were, and +groaned, murmuring the names of those whom I might never see again. +It chanced, however, that she was awake, and had overheard those words +which I spoke with the dead, while I was yet asleep and after; and +though some of this talk was in the tongue of the Otomie, the most was +English, and knowing the names of my children she guessed the purport +of it all. Suddenly she sprang from the bed and stood over me, and there +was such anger in her eyes as I had never seen before nor have seen +since, nor did it last long then, for presently indeed it was quenched +in tears. + +'What is it, wife?' I asked astonished. + +'It is hard,' she answered, 'that I must bear to listen to such talk +from your lips, husband. Was it not enough that, when all men thought +you dead, I wore my youth away faithful to your memory? though how +faithful you were to mine you know best. Did I ever reproach you because +you had forgotten me, and wedded a savage woman in a distant land?' + +'Never, dear wife, nor had I forgotten you as you know well; but what +I wonder at is that you should grow jealous now when all cause is done +with.' + +'Cannot we be jealous of the dead? With the living we may cope, but who +can fight against the love which death has completed, sealing it for +ever and making it immortal! Still, THAT I forgive you, for against this +woman I can hold my own, seeing that you were mine before you became +hers, and are mine after it. But with the children it is otherwise. They +are hers and yours alone. I have no part nor lot in them, and whether +they be dead or living I know well you love them always, and will love +them beyond the grave if you may find them there. Already I grow old, +who waited twenty years and more before I was your wife, and I shall +give you no other children. One I gave you, and God took it back lest +I should be too happy; yet its name was not on your lips with those +strange names. My dead babe is little to you, husband!' + +Here she choked, bursting into tears; nor did I think it well to answer +her that there was this difference in the matter, that whereas, with +the exception of one infant, those sons whom I had lost were almost +adolescent, the babe she bore lived but sixty days. + +Now when the Queen first put it in my mind to write down the history of +my life, I remembered this outbreak of my beloved wife; and seeing that +I could write no true tale and leave out of it the story of her who was +also my wife, Montezuma's daughter, Otomie, Princess of the Otomie, and +of the children that she gave me, I let the matter lie. For I knew well, +that though we spoke very rarely on the subject during all the many +years we passed together, still it was always in Lily's mind; nor did +her jealousy, being of the finer sort, abate at all with age, but rather +gathered with the gathering days. That I should execute the task without +the knowledge of my wife would not have been possible, for till the very +last she watched over my every act, and, as I verily believe, divined +the most of my thoughts. + + +And so we grew old together, peacefully, and side by side, speaking +seldom of that great gap in my life when we were lost to each other and +of all that then befell. At length the end came. My wife died suddenly +in her sleep in the eighty-seventh year of her age. I buried her on the +south side of the church here, with sorrow indeed, but not with sorrow +inconsolable, for I know that I must soon rejoin her, and those others +whom I have loved. + +There in that wide heaven are my mother and my sister and my sons; +there are great Guatemoc my friend, last of the emperors, and many other +companions in war who have preceded me to peace; there, too, though she +doubted of it, is Otomie the beautiful and proud. In the heaven which +I trust to reach, all the sins of my youth and the errors of my age +notwithstanding, it is told us there is no marrying and giving in +marriage; and this is well, for I do not know how my wives, Montezuma's +daughter and the sweet English gentlewoman, would agree together were it +otherwise. + +And now to my task. + + + +CHAPTER II + +OF THE PARENTAGE OF THOMAS WINGFIELD + + +I, Thomas Wingfield, was born here at Ditchingham, and in this very room +where I write to-day. The house of my birth was built or added to early +in the reign of the seventh Henry, but long before his time some kind of +tenement stood here, which was lived in by the keeper of the vineyards, +and known as Gardener's Lodge. Whether it chanced that the climate was +more kindly in old times, or the skill of those who tended the fields +was greater, I do not know, but this at the least is true, that the +hillside beneath which the house nestles, and which once was the bank +of an arm of the sea or of a great broad, was a vineyard in Earl Bigod's +days. Long since it has ceased to grow grapes, though the name of the +'Earl's Vineyard' still clings to all that slope of land which lies +between this house and a certain health-giving spring that bubbles from +the bank the half of a mile away, in the waters of which sick folks come +to bathe even from Norwich and Lowestoft. But sheltered as it is from +the east winds, to this hour the place has the advantage that gardens +planted here are earlier by fourteen days than any others in the country +side, and that a man may sit in them coatless in the bitter month of +May, when on the top of the hill, not two hundred paces hence, he must +shiver in a jacket of otterskins. + +The Lodge, for so it has always been named, in its beginnings having +been but a farmhouse, faces to the south-west, and is built so low that +it might well be thought that the damp from the river Waveney, which +runs through the marshes close by, would rise in it. But this is not so, +for though in autumn the roke, as here in Norfolk we name ground fog, +hangs about the house at nightfall, and in seasons of great flood the +water has been known to pour into the stables at the back of it, yet +being built on sand and gravel there is no healthier habitation in the +parish. For the rest the building is of stud-work and red brick, quaint +and mellow looking, with many corners and gables that in summer are half +hidden in roses and other creeping plants, and with its outlook on +the marshes and the common where the lights vary continually with the +seasons and even with the hours of the day, on the red roofs of Bungay +town, and on the wooded bank that stretches round the Earsham lands; +though there are many larger, to my mind there is none pleasanter in +these parts. Here in this house I was born, and here doubtless I shall +die, and having spoken of it at some length, as we are wont to do of +spots which long custom has endeared to us, I will go on to tell of my +parentage. + +First, then, I would set out with a certain pride--for who of us does +not love an ancient name when we happen to be born to it?--that I am +sprung from the family of the Wingfields of Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, +that lies some two hours on horseback from this place. Long ago the +heiress of the Wingfields married a De la Pole, a family famous in our +history, the last of whom, Edmund, Earl of Suffolk, lost his head for +treason when I was young, and the castle passed to the De la Poles +with her. But some offshoots of the old Wingfield stock lingered in the +neighbourhood, perchance there was a bar sinister on their coat of arms, +I know not and do not care to know; at the least my fathers and I are +of this blood. My grandfather was a shrewd man, more of a yeoman than +a squire, though his birth was gentle. He it was who bought this place +with the lands round it, and gathered up some fortune, mostly by careful +marrying and living, for though he had but one son he was twice married, +and also by trading in cattle. + +Now my grandfather was godly-minded even to superstition, and strange as +it may seem, having only one son, nothing would satisfy him but that the +boy should be made a priest. But my father had little leaning towards +the priesthood and life in a monastery, though at all seasons my +grandfather strove to reason it into him, sometimes with words and +examples, at others with his thick cudgel of holly, that still hangs +over the ingle in the smaller sitting-room. The end of it was that the +lad was sent to the priory here in Bungay, where his conduct was of such +nature that within a year the prior prayed his parents to take him back +and set him in some way of secular life. Not only, so said the prior, +did my father cause scandal by his actions, breaking out of the priory +at night and visiting drinking houses and other places; but, such was +the sum of his wickedness, he did not scruple to question and make +mock of the very doctrines of the Church, alleging even that there +was nothing sacred in the image of the Virgin Mary which stood in the +chancel, and shut its eyes in prayer before all the congregation when +the priest elevated the Host. 'Therefore,' said the prior, 'I pray you +take back your son, and let him find some other road to the stake than +that which runs through the gates of Bungay Priory.' + +Now at this story my grandfather was so enraged that he almost fell into +a fit; then recovering, he bethought him of his cudgel of holly, and +would have used it. But my father, who was now nineteen years of age and +very stout and strong, twisted it from his hand and flung it full fifty +yards, saying that no man should touch him more were he a hundred times +his father. Then he walked away, leaving the prior and my grandfather +staring at each other. + +Now to shorten a long tale, the end of the matter was this. It was +believed both by my grandfather and the prior that the true cause of my +father's contumacy was a passion which he had conceived for a girl of +humble birth, a miller's fair daughter who dwelt at Waingford Mills. +Perhaps there was truth in this belief, or perhaps there was none. What +does it matter, seeing that the maid married a butcher at Beccles and +died years since at the good age of ninety and five? But true or false, +my grandfather believed the tale, and knowing well that absence is the +surest cure for love, he entered into a plan with the prior that my +father should be sent to a monastery at Seville in Spain, of which +the prior's brother was abbot, and there learn to forget the miller's +daughter and all other worldly things. + +When this was told to my father he fell into it readily enough, being +a young man of spirit and having a great desire to see the world, +otherwise, however, than through the gratings of a monastery window. So +the end of it was that he went to foreign parts in the care of a party +of Spanish monks, who had journeyed here to Norfolk on a pilgrimage to +the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham. + +It is said that my grandfather wept when he parted with his son, feeling +that he should see him no more; yet so strong was his religion, or +rather his superstition, that he did not hesitate to send him away, +though for no reason save that he would mortify his own love and flesh, +offering his son for a sacrifice as Abraham would have offered Isaac. +But though my father appeared to consent to the sacrifice, as did Isaac, +yet his mind was not altogether set on altars and faggots; in short, as +he himself told me in after years, his plans were already laid. + +Thus it chanced that when he had sailed from Yarmouth a year and six +months, there came a letter from the abbot of the monastery in Seville +to his brother, the prior of St. Mary's at Bungay, saying that my father +had fled from the monastery, leaving no trace of where he had gone. My +grandfather was grieved at this tidings, but said little about it. + +Two more years passed away, and there came other news, namely, that my +father had been captured, that he had been handed over to the power +of the Holy Office, as the accursed Inquisition was then named, and +tortured to death at Seville. When my grandfather heard this he wept, +and bemoaned himself that his folly in forcing one into the Church who +had no liking for that path, had brought about the shameful end of his +only son. After that date also he broke his friendship with the prior of +St. Mary's at Bungay, and ceased his offerings to the priory. Still he +did not believe that my father was dead in truth, since on the last day +of his own life, that ended two years later, he spoke of him as a living +man, and left messages to him as to the management of the lands which +now were his. + +And in the end it became clear that this belief was not ill-founded, for +one day three years after the old man's death, there landed at the port +of Yarmouth none other than my father, who had been absent some eight +years in all. Nor did he come alone, for with him he brought a wife, +a young and very lovely lady, who afterwards was my mother. She was a +Spaniard of noble family, having been born at Seville, and her maiden +name was Donna Luisa de Garcia. + + +Now of all that befell my father during his eight years of wandering I +cannot speak certainly, for he was very silent on the matter, though I +may have need to touch on some of his adventures. But I know it is true +that he fell under the power of the Holy Office, for once when as a +little lad I bathed with him in the Elbow Pool, where the river Waveney +bends some three hundred yards above this house, I saw that his breast +and arms were scored with long white scars, and asked him what had +caused them. I remember well how his face changed as I spoke, from +kindliness to the hue of blackest hate, and how he answered speaking to +himself rather than to me. + +'Devils,' he said, 'devils set on their work by the chief of all devils +that live upon the earth and shall reign in hell. Hark you, my son +Thomas, there is a country called Spain where your mother was born, and +there these devils abide who torture men and women, aye, and burn them +living in the name of Christ. I was betrayed into their hands by him +whom I name the chief of the devils, though he is younger than I am by +three years, and their pincers and hot irons left these marks upon me. +Aye, and they would have burnt me alive also, only I escaped, thanks to +your mother--but such tales are not for a little lad's hearing; and see +you never speak of them, Thomas, for the Holy Office has a long arm. You +are half a Spaniard, Thomas, your skin and eyes tell their own tale, but +whatever skin and eyes may tell, let your heart give them the lie. Keep +your heart English, Thomas; let no foreign devilments enter there. Hate +all Spaniards except your mother, and be watchful lest her blood should +master mine within you.' + +I was a child then, and scarcely understood his words or what he meant +by them. Afterwards I learned to understand them but too well. As for my +father's counsel, that I should conquer my Spanish blood, would that I +could always have followed it, for I know that from this blood springs +the most of such evil as is in me. Hence come my fixedness of purpose or +rather obstinacy, and my powers of unchristian hatred that are not small +towards those who have wronged me. Well, I have done what I might to +overcome these and other faults, but strive as we may, that which is +bred in the bone will out in the flesh, as I have seen in many signal +instances. + +There were three of us children, Geoffrey my elder brother, myself, and +my sister Mary, who was one year my junior, the sweetest child and the +most beautiful that I have ever known. We were very happy children, and +our beauty was the pride of our father and mother, and the envy of other +parents. I was the darkest of the three, dark indeed to swarthiness, but +in Mary the Spanish blood showed only in her rich eyes of velvet hue, +and in the glow upon her cheek that was like the blush on a ripe +fruit. My mother used to call me her little Spaniard, because of my +swarthiness, that is when my father was not near, for such names angered +him. She never learned to speak English very well, but he would suffer +her to talk in no other tongue before him. Still, when he was not there +she spoke in Spanish, of which language, however, I alone of the family +became a master--and that more because of certain volumes of old Spanish +romances which she had by her, than for any other reason. From my +earliest childhood I was fond of such tales, and it was by bribing me +with the promise that I should read them that she persuaded me to learn +Spanish. For my mother's heart still yearned towards her old sunny home, +and often she would talk of it with us children, more especially in the +winter season, which she hated as I do. Once I asked her if she wished +to go back to Spain. She shivered and answered no, for there dwelt +one who was her enemy and would kill her; also her heart was with us +children and our father. I wondered if this man who sought to kill my +mother was the same as he of whom my father had spoken as 'the chief of +the devils,' but I only answered that no man could wish to kill one so +good and beautiful. + +'Ah! my boy,' she said, 'it is just because I am, or rather have been, +beautiful that he hates me. Others would have wedded me besides your +dear father, Thomas.' And her face grew troubled as though with fear. + + +Now when I was eighteen and a half years old, on a certain evening +in the month of May it happened that a friend of my father's, Squire +Bozard, late of the Hall in this parish, called at the Lodge on his road +from Yarmouth, and in the course of his talk let it fall that a Spanish +ship was at anchor in the Roads, laden with merchandise. My father +pricked up his ears at this, and asked who her captain might be. Squire +Bozard answered that he did not know his name, but that he had seen +him in the market-place, a tall and stately man, richly dressed, with a +handsome face and a scar upon his temple. + +At this news my mother turned pale beneath her olive skin, and muttered +in Spanish: + +'Holy Mother! grant that it be not he.' + +My father also looked frightened, and questioned the squire closely as +to the man's appearance, but without learning anything more. Then he +bade him adieu with little ceremony, and taking horse rode away for +Yarmouth. + +That night my mother never slept, but sat all through it in her nursing +chair, brooding over I know not what. As I left her when I went to my +bed, so I found her when I came from it at dawn. I can remember well +pushing the door ajar to see her face glimmering white in the twilight +of the May morning, as she sat, her large eyes fixed upon the lattice. + +'You have risen early, mother,' I said. + +'I have never lain down, Thomas,' she answered. + +'Why not? What do you fear?' + +'I fear the past and the future, my son. Would that your father were +back.' + +About ten o'clock of that morning, as I was making ready to walk into +Bungay to the house of that physician under whom I was learning the +art of healing, my father rode up. My mother, who was watching at the +lattice, ran out to meet him. + +Springing from his horse he embraced her, saying, 'Be of good cheer, +sweet, it cannot be he. This man has another name.' + +'But did you see him?' she asked. + +'No, he was out at his ship for the night, and I hurried home to tell +you, knowing your fears.' + +'It were surer if you had seen him, husband. He may well have taken +another name.' + +'I never thought of that, sweet,' my father answered; 'but have no +fear. Should it be he, and should he dare to set foot in the parish of +Ditchingham, there are those who will know how to deal with him. But I +am sure that it is not he.' + +'Thanks be to Jesu then!' she said, and they began talking in a low +voice. + +Now, seeing that I was not wanted, I took my cudgel and started down +the bridle-path towards the common footbridge, when suddenly my mother +called me back. + +'Kiss me before you go, Thomas,' she said. 'You must wonder what all +this may mean. One day your father will tell you. It has to do with a +shadow which has hung over my life for many years, but that is, I trust, +gone for ever.' + +'If it be a man who flings it, he had best keep out of reach of this,' I +said, laughing, and shaking my thick stick. + +'It is a man,' she answered, 'but one to be dealt with otherwise than by +blows, Thomas, should you ever chance to meet him.' + +'May be, mother, but might is the best argument at the last, for the +most cunning have a life to lose.' + +'You are too ready to use your strength, son,' she said, smiling and +kissing me. 'Remember the old Spanish proverb: "He strikes hardest who +strikes last."' + +'And remember the other proverb, mother: "Strike before thou art +stricken,"' I answered, and went. + +When I had gone some ten paces something prompted me to look back, I +know not what. My mother was standing by the open door, her stately +shape framed as it were in the flowers of a white creeping shrub that +grew upon the wall of the old house. As was her custom, she wore a +mantilla of white lace upon her head, the ends of which were wound +beneath her chin, and the arrangement of it was such that at this +distance for one moment it put me in mind of the wrappings which are +placed about the dead. I started at the thought and looked at her face. +She was watching me with sad and earnest eyes that seemed to be filled +with the spirit of farewell. + + +I never saw her again till she was dead. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE COMING OF THE SPANIARD + + +And now I must go back and speak of my own matters. As I have told, it +was my father's wish that I should be a physician, and since I came +back from my schooling at Norwich, that was when I had entered on my +sixteenth year, I had studied medicine under the doctor who practised +his art in the neighbourhood of Bungay. He was a very learned man and an +honest, Grimstone by name, and as I had some liking for the business I +made good progress under him. Indeed I had learned almost all that he +could teach me, and my father purposed to send me to London, there to +push on my studies, so soon as I should attain my twentieth year, that +is within some five months of the date of the coming of the Spaniard. + +But it was not fated that I should go to London. + +Medicine was not the only thing that I studied in those days, however. +Squire Bozard of Ditchingham, the same who told my father of the coming +of the Spanish ship, had two living children, a son and a daughter, +though his wife had borne him many more who died in infancy. The +daughter was named Lily and of my own age, having been born three weeks +after me in the same year. Now the Bozards are gone from these parts, +for my great-niece, the granddaughter and sole heiress of this son, has +married and has issue of another name. But this is by the way. + +From our earliest days we children, Bozards and Wingfields, lived almost +as brothers and sisters, for day by day we met and played together in +the snow or in the flowers. Thus it would be hard for me to say when I +began to love Lily or when she began to love me; but I know that when +first I went to school at Norwich I grieved more at losing sight of her +than because I must part from my mother and the rest. In all our games +she was ever my partner, and I would search the country round for days +to find such flowers as she chanced to love. When I came back from +school it was the same, though by degrees Lily grew shyer, and I also +grew suddenly shy, perceiving that from a child she had become a woman. +Still we met often, and though neither said anything of it, it was sweet +to us to meet. + +Thus things went on till this day of my mother's death. But before I +go further I must tell that Squire Bozard looked with no favour on the +friendship between his daughter and myself--and this, not because he +disliked me, but rather because he would have seen Lily wedded to my +elder brother Geoffrey, my father's heir, and not to a younger son. So +hard did he grow about the matter at last that we two might scarcely +meet except by seeming accident, whereas my brother was ever welcome +at the Hall. And on this account some bitterness arose between us two +brothers, as is apt to be the case when a woman comes between friends +however close. For it must be known that my brother Geoffrey also loved +Lily, as all men would have loved her, and with a better right perhaps +than I had--for he was my elder by three years and born to possessions. +It may seem indeed that I was somewhat hasty to fall into this state, +seeing that at the time of which I write I was not yet of age; but young +blood is nimble, and moreover mine was half Spanish, and made a man of +me when many a pure-bred Englishman is still nothing but a boy. For the +blood and the sun that ripens it have much to do with such matters, as +I have seen often enough among the Indian peoples of Anahuac, who at the +age of fifteen will take to themselves a bride of twelve. At the least +it is certain that when I was eighteen years of age I was old enough +to fall in love after such fashion that I never fell out of it again +altogether, although the history of my life may seem to give me the lie +when I say so. But I take it that a man may love several women and yet +love one of them the best of all, being true in the spirit to the law +which he breaks in the letter. + +Now when I had attained nineteen years I was a man full grown, and +writing as I do in extreme old age, I may say it without false shame, a +very handsome youth to boot. I was not over tall, indeed, measuring but +five feet nine inches and a half in height, but my limbs were well made, +and I was both deep and broad in the chest. In colour I was, and my +white hair notwithstanding, am still extraordinarily dark hued, my eyes +also were large and dark, and my hair, which was wavy, was coal black. +In my deportment I was reserved and grave to sadness, in speech I was +slow and temperate, and more apt at listening than in talking. I weighed +matters well before I made up my mind upon them, but being made up, +nothing could turn me from that mind short of death itself, whether it +were set on good or evil, on folly or wisdom. In those days also I had +little religion, since, partly because of my father's secret teaching +and partly through the workings of my own reason, I had learned to doubt +the doctrines of the Church as they used to be set out. Youth is prone +to reason by large leaps as it were, and to hold that all things are +false because some are proved false; and thus at times in those days I +thought that there was no God, because the priest said that the image of +the Virgin at Bungay wept and did other things which I knew that it did +not do. Now I know well that there is a God, for my own story proves it +to my heart. In truth, what man can look back across a long life and say +that there is no God, when he can see the shadow of His hand lying deep +upon his tale of years? + +On this sad day of which I write I knew that Lily, whom I loved, +would be walking alone beneath the great pollard oaks in the park of +Ditchingham Hall. Here, in Grubswell as the spot is called, grew, and +indeed still grow, certain hawthorn trees that are the earliest to blow +of any in these parts, and when we had met at the church door on the +Sunday, Lily said that there would be bloom upon them by the Wednesday, +and on that afternoon she should go to cut it. It may well be that she +spoke thus with design, for love will breed cunning in the heart of the +most guileless and truthful maid. Moreover, I noticed that though she +said it before her father and the rest of us, yet she waited to speak +till my brother Geoffrey was out of hearing, for she did not wish to +go maying with him, and also that as she spoke she shot a glance of her +grey eyes at me. Then and there I vowed to myself that I also would +be gathering hawthorn bloom in this same place and on that Wednesday +afternoon, yes, even if I must play truant and leave all the sick of +Bungay to Nature's nursing. Moreover, I was determined on one thing, +that if I could find Lily alone I would delay no longer, but tell her +all that was in my heart; no great secret indeed, for though no word +of love had ever passed between us as yet, each knew the other's hidden +thoughts. Not that I was in the way to become affianced to a maid, who +had my path to cut in the world, but I feared that if I delayed to make +sure of her affection my brother would be before me with her father, +and Lily might yield to that to which she would not yield if once we had +plighted troth. + +Now it chanced that on this afternoon I was hard put to it to escape to +my tryst, for my master, the physician, was ailing, and sent me to visit +the sick for him, carrying them their medicines. At the last, however, +between four and five o'clock, I fled, asking no leave. Taking the +Norwich road I ran for a mile and more till I had passed the Manor House +and the church turn, and drew near to Ditchingham Park. Then I dropped +my pace to a walk, for I did not wish to come before Lily heated and +disordered, but rather looking my best, to which end I had put on my +Sunday garments. Now as I went down the little hill in the road that +runs past the park, I saw a man on horseback who looked first at the +bridle-path, that at this spot turns off to the right, then back across +the common lands towards the Vineyard Hills and the Waveney, and then +along the road as though he did not know which way to turn. I was quick +to notice things--though at this moment my mind was not at its swiftest, +being set on other matters, and chiefly as to how I should tell my tale +to Lily--and I saw at once that this man was not of our country. + +He was very tall and noble-looking, dressed in rich garments of velvet +adorned by a gold chain that hung about his neck, and as I judged about +forty years of age. But it was his face which chiefly caught my eye, for +at that moment there was something terrible about it. It was long, +thin, and deeply carved; the eyes were large, and gleamed like gold in +sunlight; the mouth was small and well shaped, but it wore a devilish +and cruel sneer; the forehead lofty, indicating a man of mind, and +marked with a slight scar. For the rest the cavalier was dark and +southern-looking, his curling hair, like my own, was black, and he wore +a peaked chestnut-coloured beard. + + +By the time that I had finished these observations my feet had brought +me almost to the stranger's side, and for the first time he caught sight +of me. Instantly his face changed, the sneer left it, and it became +kindly and pleasant looking. Lifting his bonnet with much courtesy he +stammered something in broken English, of which all that I could catch +was the word Yarmouth; then perceiving that I did not understand him, he +cursed the English tongue and all those who spoke it, aloud and in good +Castilian. + +'If the senor will graciously express his wish in Spanish,' I said, +speaking in that language, 'it may be in my power to help him.' + +'What! you speak Spanish, young sir,' he said, starting, 'and yet you +are not a Spaniard, though by your face you well might be. Caramba! but +it is strange!' and he eyed me curiously. + +'It may be strange, sir,' I answered, 'but I am in haste. Be pleased to +ask your question and let me go.' + +'Ah!' he said, 'perhaps I can guess the reason of your hurry. I saw +a white robe down by the streamlet yonder,' and he nodded towards the +park. 'Take the advice of an older man, young sir, and be careful. Make +what sport you will with such, but never believe them and never marry +them--lest you should live to desire to kill them!' + +Here I made as though I would pass on, but he spoke again. + +'Pardon my words, they were well meant, and perhaps you may come to +learn their truth. I will detain you no more. Will you graciously direct +me on my road to Yarmouth, for I am not sure of it, having ridden by +another way, and your English country is so full of trees that a man +cannot see a mile?' + +I walked a dozen paces down the bridle-path that joined the road at +this place, and pointed out the way that he should go, past Ditchingham +church. As I did so I noticed that while I spoke the stranger was +watching my face keenly and, as it seemed to me, with an inward fear +which he strove to master and could not. When I had finished again he +raised his bonnet and thanked me, saying, + +'Will you be so gracious as to tell me your name, young Sir?' + +'What is my name to you?' I answered roughly, for I disliked this man. +'You have not told me yours.' + +'No, indeed, I am travelling incognito. Perhaps I also have met a lady +in these parts,' and he smiled strangely. 'I only wished to know the +name of one who had done me a courtesy, but who it seems is not so +courteous as I deemed.' And he shook his horse's reins. + +'I am not ashamed of my name,' I said. 'It has been an honest one so +far, and if you wish to know it, it is Thomas Wingfield.' + +'I thought it,' he cried, and as he spoke his face grew like the face +of a fiend. Then before I could find time even to wonder, he had sprung +from his horse and stood within three paces of me. + +'A lucky day! Now we will see what truth there is in prophecies,' he +said, drawing his silver-mounted sword. 'A name for a name; Juan de +Garcia gives you greeting, Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now, strange as it may seem, it was at this moment only that there +flashed across my mind the thought of all that I had heard about the +Spanish stranger, the report of whose coming to Yarmouth had stirred my +father and mother so deeply. At any other time I should have remembered +it soon enough, but on this day I was so set upon my tryst with Lily +and what I should say to her, that nothing else could hold a place in my +thoughts. + +'This must be the man,' I said to myself, and then I said no more, +for he was on me, sword up. I saw the keen point flash towards me, and +sprang to one side having a desire to fly, as, being unarmed except for +my stick, I might have done without shame. But spring as I would I could +not avoid the thrust altogether. It was aimed at my heart and it pierced +the sleeve of my left arm, passing through the flesh--no more. Yet at +the pain of that cut all thought of flight left me, and instead of it +a cold anger filled me, causing me to wish to kill this man who had +attacked me thus and unprovoked. In my hand was my stout oaken staff +which I had cut myself on the banks of Hollow Hill, and if I would +fight I must make such play with this as I might. It seems a poor weapon +indeed to match against a Toledo blade in the hands of one who could +handle it well, and yet there are virtues in a cudgel, for when a man +sees himself threatened with it, he is likely to forget that he holds +in his hand a more deadly weapon, and to take to the guarding of his own +head in place of running his adversary through the body. + +And that was what chanced in this case, though how it came about exactly +I cannot tell. The Spaniard was a fine swordsman, and had I been armed +as he was would doubtless have overmatched me, who at that age had no +practice in the art, which was almost unknown in England. But when he +saw the big stick flourished over him he forgot his own advantage, and +raised his arm to ward away the blow. Down it came upon the back of his +hand, and lo! his sword fell from it to the grass. But I did not spare +him because of that, for my blood was up. The next stroke took him on +the lips, knocking out a tooth and sending him backwards. Then I caught +him by the leg and beat him most unmercifully, not upon the head indeed, +for now that I was victor I did not wish to kill one whom I thought a +madman as I would that I had done, but on every other part of him. + +Indeed I thrashed him till my arms were weary and then I fell to kicking +him, and all the while he writhed like a wounded snake and cursed +horribly, though he never cried out or asked for mercy. At last I ceased +and looked at him, and he was no pretty sight to see--indeed, what with +his cuts and bruises and the mire of the roadway, it would have been +hard to know him for the gallant cavalier whom I had met not five +minutes before. But uglier than all his hurts was the look in his wicked +eyes as he lay there on his back in the pathway and glared up at me. + +'Now, friend Spaniard,' I said, 'you have learned a lesson; and what is +there to hinder me from treating you as you would have dealt with me +who had never harmed you?' and I took up his sword and held it to his +throat. + +'Strike home, you accursed whelp!' he answered in a broken voice; 'it is +better to die than to live to remember such shame as this.' + +'No,' I said, 'I am no foreign murderer to kill a defenceless man. You +shall away to the justice to answer for yourself. The hangman has a rope +for such as you.' + +'Then you must drag me thither,' he groaned, and shut his eyes as though +with faintness, and doubtless he was somewhat faint. + +Now as I pondered on what should be done with the villain, it chanced +that I looked up through a gap in the fence, and there, among the +Grubswell Oaks three hundred yards or more away, I caught sight of the +flutter of a white robe that I knew well, and it seemed to me that the +wearer of that robe was moving towards the bridge of the 'watering' as +though she were weary of waiting for one who did not come. + +Then I thought to myself that if I stayed to drag this man to the +village stocks or some other safe place, there would be an end of +meeting with my love that day, and I did not know when I might find +another chance. Now I would not have missed that hour's talk with Lily +to bring a score of murderous-minded foreigners to their deserts, and, +moreover, this one had earned good payment for his behaviour. Surely +thought I, he might wait a while till I had done my love-making, and +if he would not wait I could find a means to make him do so. Not twenty +paces from us the horse stood cropping the grass. I went to him and +undid his bridle rein, and with it fastened the Spaniard to a small +wayside tree as best I was able. + +'Now, here you stay,' I said, 'till I am ready to fetch you;' and I +turned to go. + +But as I went a great doubt took me, and once more I remembered my +mother's fear, and how my father had ridden in haste to Yarmouth +on business about a Spaniard. Now to-day a Spaniard had wandered to +Ditchingham, and when he learned my name had fallen upon me madly trying +to kill me. Was not this the man whom my mother feared, and was it right +that I should leave him thus that I might go maying with my dear? I knew +in my breast that it was not right, but I was so set upon my desire and +so strongly did my heartstrings pull me towards her whose white robe +now fluttered on the slope of the Park Hill, that I never heeded the +warning. + +Well had it been for me if I had done so, and well for some who were yet +unborn. Then they had never known death, nor I the land of exile, the +taste of slavery, and the altar of sacrifice. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THOMAS TELLS HIS LOVE + + +Having made the Spaniard as fast as I could, his arms being bound to the +tree behind him, and taking his sword with me, I began to run hard after +Lily and caught her not too soon, for in one more minute she would have +turned along the road that runs to the watering and over the bridge by +the Park Hill path to the Hall. + +Hearing my footsteps, she faced about to greet me, or rather as though +to see who it was that followed her. There she stood in the evening +light, a bough of hawthorn bloom in her hand, and my heart beat yet +more wildly at the sight of her. Never had she seemed fairer than as she +stood thus in her white robe, a look of amaze upon her face and in +her grey eyes, that was half real half feigned, and with the sunlight +shifting on her auburn hair that showed beneath her little bonnet. Lily +was no round-checked country maid with few beauties save those of health +and youth, but a tall and shapely lady who had ripened early to her full +grace and sweetness, and so it came about that though we were almost of +an age, yet in her presence I felt always as though I were the younger. +Thus in my love for her was mingled some touch of reverence. + +'Oh! it is you, Thomas,' she said, blushing as she spoke. 'I thought you +were not--I mean that I am going home as it grows late. But say, why do +you run so fast, and what has happened to you, Thomas, that your arm is +bloody and you carry a sword in your hand?' + +'I have no breath to speak yet,' I answered. 'Come back to the hawthorns +and I will tell you.' + +'No, I must be wending homewards. I have been among the trees for more +than an hour, and there is little bloom upon them.' + +'I could not come before, Lily. I was kept, and in a strange manner. +Also I saw bloom as I ran.' + +'Indeed, I never thought that you would come, Thomas,' she answered, +looking down, 'who have other things to do than to go out maying like a +girl. But I wish to hear your story, if it is short, and I will walk a +little way with you.' + +So we turned and walked side by side towards the great pollard oaks, +and by the time that we reached them, I had told her the tale of the +Spaniard, and how he strove to kill me, and how I had beaten him with my +staff. Now Lily listened eagerly enough, and sighed with fear when she +learned how close I had been to death. + +'But you are wounded, Thomas,' she broke in; 'see, the blood runs fast +from your arm. Is the thrust deep?' + +'I have not looked to see. I have had no time to look.' + +'Take off your coat, Thomas, that I may dress the wound. Nay, I will +have it so.' + +So I drew off the garment, not without pain, and rolled up the shirt +beneath, and there was the hurt, a clean thrust through the fleshy part +of the lower arm. Lily washed it with water from the brook, and bound it +with her kerchief, murmuring words of pity all the while. To say truth, +I would have suffered a worse harm gladly, if only I could find her to +tend it. Indeed, her gentle care broke down the fence of my doubts and +gave me a courage that otherwise might have failed me in her presence. +At first, indeed, I could find no words, but as she bound my wound, +I bent down and kissed her ministering hand. She flushed red as the +evening sky, the flood of crimson losing itself at last beneath her +auburn hair, but it burned deepest upon the white hand which I had +kissed. + +'Why did you do that, Thomas?' she said, in a low voice. + +Then I spoke. 'I did it because I love you, Lily, and do not know how to +begin the telling of my love. I love you, dear, and have always loved as +I always shall love you.' + +'Are you so sure of that, Thomas?' she said, again. + +'There is nothing else in the world of which I am so sure, Lily. What I +wish to be as sure of is that you love me as I love you.' + +For a moment she stood quiet, her head sunk almost to her breast, then +she lifted it and her eyes shone as I had never seen them shine before. + +'Can you doubt it, Thomas?' she said. + +And now I took her in my arms and kissed her on the lips, and the memory +of that kiss has gone with me through my long life, and is with me yet, +when, old and withered, I stand upon the borders of the grave. It was +the greatest joy that has been given to me in all my days. Too soon, +alas! it was done, that first pure kiss of youthful love--and I spoke +again somewhat aimlessly. + +'It seems then that you do love me who love you so well.' + +'If you doubted it before, can you doubt it NOW?' she answered very +softly. 'But listen, Thomas. It is well that we should love each other, +for we were born to it, and have no help in the matter, even if we +wished to find it. Still, though love be sweet and holy, it is not all, +for there is duty to be thought of, and what will my father say to this, +Thomas?' + +'I do not know, Lily, and yet I can guess. I am sure, sweet, that he +wishes you to take my brother Geoffrey, and leave me on one side.' + +'Then his wishes are not mine, Thomas. Also, though duty be strong, it +is not strong enough to force a woman to a marriage for which she has no +liking. Yet it may prove strong enough to keep a woman from a marriage +for which her heart pleads--perhaps, also, it should have been strong +enough to hold me back from the telling of my love.' + +'No, Lily, the love itself is much, and though it should bring no fruit, +still it is something to have won it for ever and a day.' + +'You are very young to talk thus, Thomas. I am also young, I know, but +we women ripen quicker. Perhaps all this is but a boy's fancy, to pass +with boyhood.' + +'It will never pass, Lily. They say that our first loves are the +longest, and that which is sown in youth will flourish in our age. +Listen, Lily; I have my place to make in the world, and it may take a +time in the making, and I ask one promise of you, though perhaps it is a +selfish thing to seek. I ask of you that you will be faithful to me, and +come fair weather or foul, will wed no other man till you know me dead.' + +'It is something to promise, Thomas, for with time come changes. Still I +am so sure of myself that I promise--nay I swear it. Of you I cannot +be sure, but things are so with us women that we must risk all upon a +throw, and if we lose, good-bye to happiness.' + +Then we talked on, and I cannot remember what we said, though these +words that I have written down remain in my mind, partly because of +their own weight, and in part because of all that came about in the +after years. + +And at last I knew that I must go, though we were sad enough at parting. +So I took her in my arms and kissed her so closely that some blood from +my wound ran down her white attire. But as we embraced I chanced to look +up, and saw a sight that frightened me enough. For there, not five paces +from us, stood Squire Bozard, Lily's father, watching all, and his face +wore no smile. + +He had been riding by a bridle-path to the watering ford, and seeing a +couple trespassing beneath the oaks, dismounted from his horse to hunt +them away. Not till he was quite near did he know whom he came to hunt, +and then he stood still in astonishment. Lily and I drew slowly apart +and looked at him. He was a short stout man, with a red face and stern +grey eyes, that seemed to be starting from his head with anger. For a +while he could not speak, but when he began at length the words came +fast enough. All that he said I forget, but the upshot of it was that he +desired to know what my business was with his daughter. I waited till +he was out of breath, then answered him that Lily and I loved each other +well, and were plighting our troth. + +'Is this so, daughter?' he asked. + +'It is so, my father,' she answered boldly. + +Then he broke out swearing. 'You light minx,' he said, 'you shall be +whipped and kept cool on bread and water in your chamber. And for you, +my half-bred Spanish cockerel, know once and for all that this maid +is for your betters. How dare you come wooing my daughter, you empty +pill-box, who have not two silver pennies to rattle in your pouch! Go +win fortune and a name before you dare to look up to such as she.' + +'That is my desire, and I will do it, sir,' I answered. + +'So, you apothecary's drudge, you will win name and place, will you! +Well, long before that deed is done the maid shall be safely wedded to +one who has them and who is not unknown to you. Daughter, say now that +you have finished with him.' + +'I cannot say that, father,' she replied, plucking at her robe. 'If it +is not your will that I should marry Thomas here, my duty is plain and +I may not wed him. But I am my own and no duty can make me marry where I +will not. While Thomas lives I am sworn to him and to no other man.' + +'At the least you have courage, hussey,' said her father. 'But listen +now, either you will marry where and when I wish, or tramp it for your +bread. Ungrateful girl, did I breed you to flaunt me to my face? Now for +you, pill-box. I will teach you to come kissing honest men's daughters +without their leave,' and with a curse he rushed at me, stick aloft, to +thrash me. + +Then for the second time that day my quick blood boiled in me, and +snatching up the Spaniard's sword that lay upon the grass beside me, +I held it at the point, for the game was changed, and I who had fought +with cudgel against sword, must now fight with sword against cudgel. And +had it not been that Lily with a quick cry of fear struck my arm from +beneath, causing the point of the sword to pass over his shoulder, +I believe truly that I should then and there have pierced her father +through, and ended my days early with a noose about my neck. + +'Are you mad?' she cried. 'And do you think to win me by slaying my +father? Throw down that sword, Thomas.' + +'As for winning you, it seems that there is small chance of it;' I +answered hotly, 'but I tell you this, not for the sake of all the maids +upon the earth will I stand to be beaten with a stick like a scullion.' + +'And there I do not blame you, lad,' said her father, more kindly. 'I +see that you also have courage which may serve you in good stead, and it +was unworthy of me to call you "pill-box" in my anger. Still, as I have +said, the girl is not for you, so be gone and forget her as best you +may, and if you value your life, never let me find you two kissing +again. And know that to-morrow I will have a word with your father on +this matter.' + +'I will go since I must go,' I answered, 'but, sir, I still hope to +live to call your daughter wife. Lily, farewell till these storms are +overpast.' + +'Farewell, Thomas,' she said weeping. 'Forget me not and I will never +forget my oath to you.' + +Then taking Lily by the arm her father led her away. + +I also went away--sad, but not altogether ill-pleased. For now I knew +that if I had won the father's anger, I had also won the daughter's +unalterable love, and love lasts longer than wrath, and here or +hereafter will win its way at length. When I had gone a little distance +I remembered the Spaniard, who had been clean forgotten by me in all +this love and war, and I turned to seek him and drag him to the stocks, +the which I should have done with joy, and been glad to find some one +on whom to wreak my wrongs. But when I came to the spot where I had left +him, I found that fate had befriended him by the hand of a fool, for +there was no Spaniard but only the village idiot, Billy Minns by name, +who stood staring first at the tree to which the foreigner had been made +fast, and then at a piece of silver in his hand. + +'Where is the man who was tied here, Billy?' I asked. + +'I know not, Master Thomas,' he answered in his Norfolk talk which I +will not set down. 'Half-way to wheresoever he was going I should say, +measured by the pace at which he left when once I had set him upon his +horse.' + +'You set him on his horse, fool? How long was that ago?' + +'How long! Well, it might be one hour, and it might be two. I'm no +reckoner of time, that keeps its own score like an innkeeper, without +my help. Lawks! how he did gallop off, working those long spurs he wore +right into the ribs of the horse. And little wonder, poor man, and he +daft, not being able to speak, but only to bleat sheeplike, and fallen +upon by robbers on the king's roads, and in broad daylight. But Billy +cut him loose and caught his horse and set him on it, and got this piece +for his good charity. Lawks! but he was glad to be gone. How he did +gallop!' + +'Now you are a bigger fool even than I thought you, Billy Minns,' I said +in anger. 'That man would have murdered me, I overcame him and made him +fast, and you have let him go.' + +'He would have murdered you, Master, and you made him fast! Then why did +you not stop to keep him till I came along, and we would have haled him +to the stocks? That would have been sport and all. You call me fool--but +if you found a man covered with blood and hurts tied to a tree, and he +daft and not able to speak, had you not cut him loose? Well, he's gone, +and this alone is left of him,' and he spun the piece into the air. + +Now, seeing that there was reason in Billy's talk, for the fault was +mine, I turned away without more words, not straight homewards, for I +wished to think alone awhile on all that had come about between me and +Lily and her father, but down the way which runs across the lane to the +crest of the Vineyard Hills. These hills are clothed with underwood, +in which large oaks grow to within some two hundred yards of this house +where I write, and this underwood is pierced by paths that my mother +laid out, for she loved to walk here. One of these paths runs along the +bottom of the hill by the edge of the pleasant river Waveney, and the +other a hundred feet or more above and near the crest of the slope, or +to speak more plainly, there is but one path shaped like the letter O, +placed thus [symbol of O laying on its side omitted], the curved ends of +the letter marking how the path turns upon the hill-side. + +Now I struck the path at the end that is furthest from this house, and +followed that half of it which runs down by the river bank, having the +water on one side of it and the brushwood upon the other. Along this +lower path I wandered, my eyes fixed upon the ground, thinking deeply +as I went, now of the joy of Lily's love, and now of the sorrow of +our parting and of her father's wrath. As I went, thus wrapped in +meditation, I saw something white lying upon the grass, and pushed it +aside with the point of the Spaniard's sword, not heeding it. Still, its +shape and fashioning remained in my mind, and when I had left it some +three hundred paces behind me, and was drawing near to the house, the +sight of it came back to me as it lay soft and white upon the grass, +and I knew that it was familiar to my eyes. From the thing, whatever it +might be, my mind passed to the Spaniard's sword with which I had tossed +it aside, and from the sword to the man himself. What had been his +business in this parish?--an ill one surely--and why had he looked as +though he feared me and fallen upon me when he learned my name? + +I stood still, looking downward, and my eyes fell upon footprints +stamped in the wet sand of the path. One of them was my mother's. I +could have sworn to it among a thousand, for no other woman in these +parts had so delicate a foot. Close to it, as though following after, +was another that at first I thought must also have been made by a woman, +it was so narrow. But presently I saw that this could scarcely be, +because of its length, and moreover, that the boot which left it was +like none that I knew, being cut very high at the instep and very +pointed at the toe. Then, of a sudden, it came upon me that the Spanish +stranger wore such boots, for I had noted them while I talked with +him, and that his feet were following those of my mother, for they had +trodden on her track, and in some places, his alone had stamped their +impress on the sand blotting out her footprints. Then, too, I knew what +the white rag was that I had thrown aside. It was my mother's mantilla +which I knew, and yet did not know, because I always saw it set +daintily upon her head. In a moment it had come home to me, and with +the knowledge a keen and sickening dread. Why had this man followed my +mother, and why did her mantilla lie thus upon the ground? + +I turned and sped like a deer back to where I had seen the lace. All the +way the footprints went before me. Now I was there. Yes, the wrapping +was hers, and it had been rent as though by a rude hand; but where was +she? + +With a beating heart once more I bent to read the writing of the +footsteps. Here they were mixed one with another, as though the two had +stood close together, moving now this way and now that in struggle. I +looked up the path, but there were none. Then I cast round about like +a beagle, first along the river side, then up the bank. Here they were +again, and made by feet that flew and feet that followed. Up the bank +they went fifty yards and more, now lost where the turf was sound, now +seen in sand or loam, till they led to the bole of a big oak, and were +once more mixed together, for here the pursuer had come up with the +pursued. + +Despairingly as one who dreams, for now I guessed all and grew mad with +fear, I looked this way and that, till at length I found more footsteps, +those of the Spaniard. These were deep marked, as of a man who carried +some heavy burden. I followed them; first they went down the hill +towards the river, then turned aside to a spot where the brushwood was +thick. In the deepest of the clump the boughs, now bursting into leaf, +were bent downwards as though to hide something beneath. I wrenched them +aside, and there, gleaming whitely in the gathering twilight was the +dead face of my mother. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THOMAS SWEARS AN OATH + + +For a while I stood amazed with horror, staring down at the dead face of +my beloved mother. Then I stooped to lift her and saw that she had been +stabbed, and through the breast, stabbed with the sword which I carried +in my hand. + +Now I understood. This was the work of that Spanish stranger whom I +had met as he hurried from the place of murder, who, because of the +wickedness of his heart or for some secret reason, had striven to slay +me also when he learned that I was my mother's son. And I had held this +devil in my power, and that I might meet my May, I had suffered him to +escape my vengeance, who, had I known the truth, would have dealt with +him as the priests of Anahuac deal with the victims of their gods. I +understood and shed tears of pity, rage, and shame. Then I turned and +fled homewards like one mad. + +At the doorway I met my father and my brother Geoffrey riding up from +Bungay market, and there was that written on my face which caused them +to ask as with one voice: + +'What evil thing has happened?' + +Thrice I looked at my father before I could speak, for I feared lest the +blow should kill him. But speak I must at last, though I chose that it +should be to Geoffrey my brother. 'Our mother lies murdered yonder on +the Vineyard Hill. A Spanish man has done the deed, Juan de Garcia by +name.' When my father heard these words his face became livid as though +with pain of the heart, his jaw fell and a low moan issued from his open +mouth. Presently he rested his hand upon the pommel of the saddle, and +lifting his ghastly face he said: + +'Where is this Spaniard? Have you killed him?' + +'No, father. He chanced upon me in Grubswell, and when he learned my +name he would have murdered me. But I played quarter staff with him and +beat him to a pulp, taking his sword.' + +'Ay, and then?' + +'And then I let him go, knowing nothing of the deed he had already +wrought upon our mother. Afterwards I will tell you all.' + +'You let him go, son! You let Juan de Garcia go! Then, Thomas, may the +curse of God rest upon you till you find him and finish that which you +began to-day.' + +'Spare to curse me, father, who am accursed by my own conscience. Turn +your horses rather and ride for Yarmouth, for there his ship lies and +thither he has gone with two hours' start. Perhaps you may still trap +him before he sets sail.' + +Without another word my father and brother wheeled their horses round +and departed at full gallop into the gloom of the gathering night. + +They rode so fiercely that, their horses being good, they came to the +gates of Yarmouth in little more than an hour and a half, and that is +fast riding. But the bird was flown. They tracked him to the quay and +found that he had shipped a while before in a boat which was in waiting +for him, and passed to his vessel that lay in the Roads at anchor but +with the most of her canvas set. Instantly she sailed, and now was lost +in the night. Then my father caused notice to be given that he would pay +reward of two hundred pieces in gold to any ship that should capture the +Spaniard, and two started on the quest, but they did not find her that +before morning was far on her way across the sea. + +So soon as they had galloped away I called together the grooms and other +serving men and told them what had chanced. Then we went with lanterns, +for by now it was dark, and came to the thick brushwood where lay the +body of my mother. I drew near the first, for the men were afraid, and +so indeed was I, though why I should fear her lying dead who living had +loved me tenderly, I do not know. Yet I know this, that when I came to +the spot and saw two eyes glowering at me and heard the crash of bushes +as something broke them, I could almost have fallen with fear, although +I knew well that it was but a fox or wandering hound haunting the place +of death. + +Still I went on, calling the others to follow, and the end of it was +that we laid my mother's body upon a door which had been lifted from +its hinges, and bore her home for the last time. And to me that path is +still a haunted place. It is seventy years and more since my mother died +by the hand of Juan de Garcia her cousin, yet old as I am and hardened +to such sad scenes, I do not love to walk that path alone at night. + +Doubtless it was fancy which plays us strange tricks, still but a year +ago, having gone to set a springe for a woodcock, I chanced to pass by +yonder big oak upon a November eve, and I could have sworn that I saw +it all again. I saw myself a lad, my wounded arm still bound with Lily's +kerchief, climbing slowly down the hill-side, while behind me, groaning +beneath their burden, were the forms of the four serving men. I heard +the murmur of the river and the wind that seventy years ago whispered +in the reeds. I saw the clouded sky flawed here and there with blue, +and the broken light that gleamed on the white burden stretched upon the +door, and the red stain at its breast. Ay, I heard myself talk as I +went forward with the lantern, bidding the men pass to the right of some +steep and rotten ground, and it was strange to me to listen to my own +voice as it had been in youth. Well, well, it was but a dream, yet such +slaves are we to the fears of fancy, that because of the dead, I, who am +almost of their number, do not love to pass that path at night. + +At length we came home with our burden, and the women took it weeping +and set about their task with it. And now I must not only fight my own +sorrows but must strive to soothe those of my sister Mary, who as I +feared would go mad with grief and horror. At last she sobbed herself +into a torpor, and I went and questioned the men who sat round the +fire in the kitchen, for none sought their beds that night. From them I +learned that an hour or more before I met the Spaniard, a richly-dressed +stranger had been seen walking along the church-path, and that he had +tied his horse among some gorse and brambles on the top of the hill, +where he stood as though in doubt, till my mother came out, when he +descended and followed her. Also I learned that one of the men at work +in the garden, which is not more than three hundred paces from where +the deed was done, heard cries, but had taken no note of them, thinking +forsooth that it was but the play of some lover from Bungay and his +lass chasing each other through the woods, as to this hour it is their +fashion to do. Truly it seemed to me that day as though this parish of +Ditchingham were the very nursery of fools, of whom I was the first and +biggest, and indeed this same thought has struck me since concerning +other matters. + +At length the morning came, and with it my father and brother, who +returned from Yarmouth on hired horses, for their own were spent. In the +afternoon also news followed them that the ships which had put to sea +on the track of the Spaniard had been driven back by bad weather, having +seen nothing of him. + +Now I told all the story of my dealings with the murderer of my mother, +keeping nothing back, and I must bear my father's bitter anger because +knowing that my mother was in dread of a Spaniard, I had suffered my +reason to be led astray by my desire to win speech with my love. Nor did +I meet with any comfort from my brother Geoffrey, who was fierce against +me because he learned that I had not pleaded in vain with the maid whom +he desired for himself. But he said nothing of this reason. Also that no +drop might be lacking in my cup, Squire Bozard, who came with many other +neighbours to view the corpse and offer sympathy with my father in his +loss, told him at the same time that he took it ill that I should woo +his daughter against his wish, and that if I continued in this course it +would strain their ancient friendship. Thus I was hit on every side; by +sorrow for my mother whom I had loved tenderly, by longing for my dear +whom I might not see, by self-reproach because I had let the Spaniard +go when I held him fast, and by the anger of my father and my brother. +Indeed those days were so dark and bitter, for I was at the age when +shame and sorrow sting their sharpest, that I wished that I were dead +beside my mother. One comfort reached me indeed, a message from Lily +sent by a servant girl whom she trusted, giving me her dear love and +bidding me to be of good cheer. + +At length came the day of burial, and my mother, wrapped in fair white +robes, was laid to her rest in the chancel of the church at Ditchingham, +where my father has long been set beside her, hard by the brass effigies +that mark the burying place of Lily's forefather, his wife, and many +of their children. This funeral was the saddest of sights, for the +bitterness of my father's grief broke from him in sobs and my sister +Mary swooned away in my arms. Indeed there were few dry eyes in all that +church, for my mother, notwithstanding her foreign birth, was much loved +because of her gentle ways and the goodness of her heart. But it came to +an end, and the noble Spanish lady and English wife was left to her long +sleep in the ancient church, where she shall rest on when her tragic +story and her very name are forgotten among men. Indeed this is likely +to be soon, for I am the last of the Wingfields alive in these parts, +though my sister Mary has left descendants of another name to whom my +lands and fortune go except for certain gifts to the poor of Bungay and +of Ditchingham. + +When it was over I went back home. My father was sitting in the front +room well nigh beside himself with grief, and by him was my brother. +Presently he began to assail me with bitter words because I had let the +murderer go when God gave him into my hand. + +'You forget, father,' sneered Geoffrey, 'Thomas woos a maid, and it was +more to him to hold her in his arms than to keep his mother's murderer +safely. But by this it seems he has killed two birds with one stone, he +has suffered the Spanish devil to escape when he knew that our mother +feared the coming of a Spaniard, and he has made enmity between us and +Squire Bozard, our good neighbour, who strangely enough does not favour +his wooing.' + +'It is so,' said my father. 'Thomas, your mother's blood is on your +hands.' + +I listened and could bear this goading injustice no longer. + +'It is false,' I said, 'I say it even to my father. The man had killed +my mother before I met him riding back to seek his ship at Yarmouth +and having lost his way; how then is her blood upon my hands? As for my +wooing of Lily Bozard, that is my matter, brother, and not yours, though +perhaps you wish that it was yours and not mine. Why, father, did you +not tell me what you feared of this Spaniard? I heard some loose talk +only and gave little thought to it, my mind being full of other things. +And now I will say something. You called down God's curse upon me, +father, till such time as I should find this murderer and finish what I +had begun. So be it! Let God's curse rest upon me till I do find him. I +am young, but I am quick and strong, and so soon as may be I start for +Spain to hunt him there till I shall run him down or know him to be +dead. If you will give me money to help me on my quest, so be it--if not +I go without. I swear before God and by my mother's spirit that I will +neither rest nor stay till with the very sword that slew her, I have +avenged her blood upon her murderer or know him dead, and if I suffer +myself to be led astray from the purpose of this oath by aught that is, +then may a worse end than hers overtake me, may my soul be rejected in +heaven, and my name be shameful for ever upon the earth!' + +Thus I swore in my rage and anguish, holding up my hand to heaven that I +called upon to witness the oath. + +My father looked at me keenly. 'If that is your mind, son Thomas, you +shall not lack for money. I would go myself, for blood must be wiped out +with blood, but I am too broken in my health; also I am known in Spain +and the Holy Office would claim me there. Go, and my blessing go with +you. It is right that you should go, for it is through your folly that +our enemy has escaped us.' + +'Yes, it is right that he should go,' said Geoffrey. + +'You say that because you wish to be rid of me, Geoffrey,' I answered +hotly, 'and you would be rid of me because you desire to take my place +at the side of a certain maid. Follow your nature and do as you will, +but if you would outwit an absent man no good shall come to you of it.' + +'The girl is to him who can win her,' he said. + +'The girl's heart is won already, Geoffrey. You may buy her from her +father but you can never win her heart, and without a heart she will be +but a poor prize.' + +'Peace! now is no time for such talk of love and maids,' said my father, +'and listen. This is the tale of the Spanish murderer and your mother. +I have said nothing of it heretofore, but now it must out. When I was a +lad it happened that I also went to Spain because my father willed it. I +went to a monastery at Seville, but I had no liking for monks and their +ways, and I broke out from the monastery. For a year or more I made my +living as I best might, for I feared to return to England as a runaway. +Still I made a living and not a bad one, now in this way and now in +that, but though I am ashamed to say it, mostly by gaming, at which I +had great luck. One night I met this man Juan de Garcia--for in his hate +he gave you his true name when he would have stabbed you--at play. Even +then he had an evil fame, though he was scarcely more than a lad, but he +was handsome in person, set high in birth, and of a pleasing manner. It +chanced that he won of me at the dice, and being in a good humour, he +took me to visit at the house of his aunt, his uncle's widow, a lady of +Seville. This aunt had one child, a daughter, and that daughter was your +mother. Now your mother, Luisa de Garcia, was affianced to her cousin +Juan de Garcia, not with her own will indeed, for the contract had been +signed when she was only eight years old. Still it was binding, more +binding indeed than in this country, being a marriage in all except +in fact. But those women who are thus bound for the most part bear no +wife's love in their hearts, and so it was with your mother. Indeed she +both hated and feared her cousin Juan, though I think that he loved +her more than anything on earth, and by one pretext and another she +contrived to bring him to an agreement that no marriage should be +celebrated till she was full twenty years of age. But the colder she +was to him, the more was he inflamed with desire to win her and also +her possessions, which were not small, for like all Spaniards he was +passionate, and like most gamesters and men of evil life, much in want +of money. + +'Now to be brief, from the first moment that your mother and I set eyes +on each other we loved one another, and it was our one desire to meet +as often as might be; and in this we had no great difficulty, for her +mother also feared and hated Juan de Garcia, her nephew by marriage, and +would have seen her daughter clear of him if possible. The end of it was +that I told my love, and a plot was made between us that we should fly +to England. But all this had not escaped the ears of Juan, who had spies +in the household, and was jealous and revengeful as only a Spaniard can +be. First he tried to be rid of me by challenging me to a duel, but we +were parted before we could draw swords. Then he hired bravos to murder +me as I walked the streets at night, but I wore a chain shirt beneath my +doublet and their daggers broke upon it, and in place of being slain I +slew one of them. Twice baffled, de Garcia was not defeated. Fight and +murder had failed, but another and surer means remained. I know not how, +but he had won some clue to the history of my life, and of how I +had broken out from the monastery. It was left to him, therefore, to +denounce me to the Holy Office as a renegade and an infidel, and this he +did one night; it was the night before the day when we should have taken +ship. I was sitting with your mother and her mother in their house at +Seville, when six cowled men entered and seized me without a word. When +I prayed to know their purpose they gave no other answer than to hold +a crucifix before my eyes. Then I knew why I was taken, and the women +ceased clinging to me and fell back sobbing. Secretly and silently I was +hurried away to the dungeons of the Holy Office, but of all that befell +me there I will not stop to tell. + +'Twice I was racked, once I was seared with hot irons, thrice I was +flogged with wire whips, and all this while I was fed on food such as we +should scarcely offer to a dog here in England. At length my offence of +having escaped from a monastery and sundry blasphemies, so-called, being +proved against me, I was condemned to death by fire. + +'Then at last, when after a long year of torment and of horror, I had +abandoned hope and resigned myself to die, help came. On the eve of the +day upon which I was to be consumed by flame, the chief of my tormentors +entered the dungeon where I lay on straw, and embracing me bade me be +of good cheer, for the church had taken pity on my youth and given me +my freedom. At first I laughed wildly, for I thought that this was but +another torment, and not till I was freed of my fetters, clothed in +decent garments, and set at midnight without the prison gates, would I +believe that so good a thing had befallen me through the hand of God. +I stood weak and wondering outside the gates, not knowing where to fly, +and as I stood a woman glided up to me wrapped in a dark cloak, who +whispered "Come." That woman was your mother. She had learned of my fate +from the boasting of de Garcia and set herself to save me. Thrice her +plans failed, but at length through the help of some cunning agent, gold +won what was denied to justice and to mercy, and my life and liberty +were bought with a very great sum. + +'That same night we were married and fled for Cadiz, your mother and I, +but not her mother, who was bedridden with a sickness. For my sake your +beloved mother abandoned her people, what remained to her of her fortune +after paying the price of my life, and her country, so strong is the +love of woman. All had been made ready, for at Cadiz lay an English +ship, the "Mary" of Bristol, in which passage was taken for us. But the +"Mary" was delayed in port by a contrary wind which blew so strongly +that notwithstanding his desire to save us, her master dared not take +the sea. Two days and a night we lay in the harbour, fearing all things +not without cause, and yet most happy in each other's love. Now those +who had charge of me in the dungeon had given out that I had escaped by +the help of my master the Devil, and I was searched for throughout the +country side. De Garcia also, finding that his cousin and affianced wife +was missing, guessed that we two were not far apart. It was his cunning, +sharpened by jealousy and hate, that dogged us down step by step till at +length he found us. + +'On the morning of the third day, the gale having abated, the anchor of +the "Mary" was got home and she swung out into the tideway. As she came +round and while the seamen were making ready to hoist the sails, a +boat carrying some twenty soldiers, and followed by two others, shot +alongside and summoned the captain to heave to, that his ship might be +boarded and searched under warrant from the Holy Office. It chanced that +I was on deck at the time, and suddenly, as I prepared to hide myself +below, a man, in whom I knew de Garcia himself, stood up and called out +that I was the escaped heretic whom they sought. Fearing lest his ship +should be boarded and he himself thrown into prison with the rest of his +crew, the captain would then have surrendered me. But I, desperate +with fear, tore my clothes from my body and showed the cruel scars that +marked it. + +'"You are Englishmen," I cried to the sailors, "and will you deliver me +to these foreign devils, who am of your blood? Look at their handiwork," +and I pointed to the half-healed scars left by the red-hot pincers; "if +you give me up, you send me back to more of this torment and to death +by burning. Pity my wife if you will not pity me, or if you will pity +neither, then lend me a sword that by death I may save myself from +torture." + +'Then one of the seamen, a Southwold man who had known my father, called +out: "By God! I for one will stand by you, Thomas Wingfield. If they +want you and your sweet lady they must kill me first," and seizing a bow +from the rack he drew it out of its case and strung it, and setting an +arrow on the string he pointed it at the Spaniards in the boat. + +'Then the others broke into shouts of: + +'"If you want any man from among us, come aboard and take him, you +torturing devils," and the like. + +'Seeing where the heart of the crew lay, the captain found courage in +his turn. He made no answer to the Spaniards, but bade half of the men +hoist the sails with all speed, and the rest make ready to keep off the +soldiers should they seek to board us. + +'By now the other two boats had come up and fastened on to us with their +hooks. One man climbed into the chains and thence to the deck, and I +knew him for a priest of the Holy Office, one of those who had stood by +while I was tormented. Then I grew mad at the thought of all that I had +suffered, while that devil watched, bidding them lay on for the love of +God. Snatching the bow from the hand of the Southwold seaman, I drew the +arrow to its head and loosed. It did not miss its mark, for like you, +Thomas, I was skilled with the bow, and he dived back into the sea with +an English yard shaft in his heart. + +'After that they tried to board us no more, though they shot at us with +arrows, wounding one man. The captain called to us to lay down our bows +and take cover behind the bulwarks, for by now the sails began to draw. +Then de Garcia stood up in the boat and cursed me and my wife. + +'"I will find you yet," he screamed, with many Spanish oaths and foul +words. "If I must wait for twenty years I will be avenged upon you and +all you love. Be assured of this, Luisa de Garcia, hide where you will, +I shall find you, and when we meet, you shall come with me for so long +as I will keep you or that shall be the hour of your death." + +'Then we sailed away for England, and the boats fell astern. + + +'My sons, this is the story of my youth, and of how I came to wed your +mother whom I have buried to-day. Juan de Garcia has kept his word.' + +'Yet it seems strange,' said my brother, 'that after all these years he +should have murdered her thus, whom you say he loved. Surely even the +evilest of men had shrunk from such a deed!' + +'There is little that is strange about it,' answered my father. 'How +can we know what words were spoken between them before he stabbed her? +Doubtless he told of some of them when he cried to Thomas that now they +would see what truth there was in prophecies. What did de Garcia swear +years since?--that she should come with him or he would kill her. Your +mother was still beautiful, Geoffrey, and he may have given her choice +between flight and death. Seek to know no more, son'--and suddenly my +father hid his face in his hands and broke into sobs that were dreadful +to hear. + +'Would that you had told us this tale before, father,' I said so soon +as I could speak. 'Then there would have lived a devil the less in the +world to-day, and I should have been spared a long journey.' + + +Little did I know how long that journey would be! + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART + + +Within twelve days of the burial of my mother and the telling of the +story of his marriage to her by my father, I was ready to start upon my +search. As it chanced a vessel was about to sail from Yarmouth to Cadiz. +She was named the 'Adventuress,' of one hundred tons burden, and carried +wool and other goods outwards, purposing to return with a cargo of wine +and yew staves for bows. In this vessel my father bought me a passage. +Moreover, he gave me fifty pounds in gold, which was as much as I would +risk upon my person, and obtained letters from the Yarmouth firm of +merchants to their agents in Cadiz, in which they were advised to +advance me such sums as I might need up to a total of one hundred and +fifty English pounds, and further to assist me in any way that was +possible. + +Now the ship 'Adventuress' was to sail on the third day of June. +Already it was the first of that month, and that evening I must ride to +Yarmouth, whither my baggage had gone already. Except one my farewells +were made, and yet that was the one I most wished to make. Since the day +when we had sworn our troth I had gained no sight of Lily except once +at my mother's burial, and then we had not spoken. Now it seemed that I +must go without any parting word, for her father had sent me notice that +if I came near the Hall his serving men had orders to thrust me from the +door, and this was a shame that I would not risk. Yet it was hard that I +must go upon so long a journey, whence it well might chance I should not +return, and bid her no goodbye. In my grief and perplexity I spoke to my +father, telling him how the matter stood and asking his help. + +'I go hence,' I said, 'to avenge our common loss, and if need be to give +my life for the honour of our name. Aid me then in this.' + +'My neighbour Bozard means his daughter for your brother Geoffrey, and +not for you, Thomas,' he answered; 'and a man may do what he wills with +his own. Still I will help you if I can, at the least he cannot drive me +from his door. Bid them bring horses, and we will ride to the Hall.' + +Within the half of an hour we were there, and my father asked for speech +with its master. The serving man looked at me askance, remembering his +orders, still he ushered us into the justice room where the Squire sat +drinking ale. + +'Good morrow to you, neighbour,' said the Squire; 'you are welcome here, +but you bring one with you who is not welcome, though he be your son.' + +'I bring him for the last time, friend Bozard. Listen to his request, +then grant it or refuse it as you will; but if you refuse it, it will +not bind us closer. The lad rides to-night to take ship for Spain to +seek that man who murdered his mother. He goes of his own free will +because after the doing of the deed it was he who unwittingly suffered +the murderer to escape, and it is well that he should go.' + +'He is a young hound to run such a quarry to earth, and in a strange +country,' said the Squire. 'Still I like his spirit and wish him well. +What would he of me?' + +'Leave to bid farewell to your daughter. I know that his suit does not +please you and cannot wonder at it, and for my own part I think it too +early for him to set his fancy in the way of marriage. But if he would +see the maid it can do no harm, for such harm as there is has been done +already. Now for your answer.' + +Squire Bozard thought a while, then said: + +'The lad is a brave lad though he shall be no son-in-law of mine. He +is going far, and mayhap will return no more, and I do not wish that +he should think unkindly of me when I am dead. Go without, Thomas +Wingfield, and stand under yonder beech--Lily shall join you there and +you may speak with her for the half of an hour--no more. See to it that +you keep within sight of the window. Nay, no thanks; go before I change +my mind.' + +So I went and waited under the beech with a beating heart, and presently +Lily glided up to me, a more welcome sight to my eyes than any angel out +of heaven. And, indeed, I doubt if an angel could have been more fair +than she, or more good and gentle. + +'Oh! Thomas,' she whispered, when I had greeted her, 'is this true that +you sail oversea to seek the Spaniard?' + +'I sail to seek the Spaniard, and to find him and to kill him when he +is found. It was to come to you, Lily, that I let him go, now I must let +you go to come to him. Nay, do not weep, I have sworn to do it, and were +I to break my oath I should be dishonoured.' + +'And because of this oath of yours I must be widowed, Thomas, before I +am a wife? You go and I shall never see you more.' + +'Who can say, my sweet? My father went over seas and came back safe, +having passed through many perils.' + +'Yes, he came back and--not alone. You are young, Thomas, and in far +countries there are ladies great and fair, and how shall I hold my own +in your heart against them, I being so far away?' + +'I swear to you, Lily--' + +'Nay, Thomas, swear no oaths lest you should add to your sins by +breaking them. Yet, love, forget me not, who shall forget you never. +Perhaps--oh! it wrings my heart to say it--this is our last meeting on +the earth. If so, then we must hope to meet in heaven. At the least +be sure of this, while I live I will be true to you, and father or +no father, I will die before I break my troth. I am young to speak so +largely, but it shall be as I say. Oh! this parting is more cruel than +death. Would that we were asleep and forgotten among men. Yet it is best +that you should go, for if you stayed what could we be to each other +while my father lives, and may he live long!' + +'Sleep and forgetfulness will come soon enough, Lily; none must await +them for very long. Meanwhile we have our lives to live. Let us pray +that we may live them to each other. I go to seek fortune as well as +foes, and I will win it for your sake that we may marry.' + +She shook her head sadly. 'It were too much happiness, Thomas. Men and +women may seldom wed their true loves, or if they do, it is but to lose +them. At the least we love, and let us be thankful that we have learned +what love can be, for having loved here, perchance at the worst we may +love otherwhere when there are none to say us nay.' + +Then we talked on awhile, babbling broken words of love and hope and +sorrow, as young folks so placed are wont to do, till at length Lily +looked up with a sad sweet smile and said: + +'It is time to go, sweetheart. My father beckons me from the lattice. +All is finished.' + +'Let us go then,' I answered huskily, and drew her behind the trunk of +the old beech. And there I caught her in my arms and kissed her again +and yet again, nor was she ashamed to kiss me back. + +After this I remember little of what happened, except that as we rode +away I saw her beloved face, wan and wistful, watching me departing out +of her life. For twenty years that sad and beautiful face haunted me, +and it haunts me yet athwart life and death. Other women have loved me +and I have known other partings, some of them more terrible, but the +memory of this woman as she was then, and of her farewell look, overruns +them all. Whenever I gaze down the past I see this picture framed in it +and I know that it is one which cannot fade. Are there any sorrows like +these sorrows of our youth? Can any bitterness equal the bitterness of +such good-byes? I know but one of which I was fated to taste in after +years, and that shall be told of in its place. It is a common jest to +mock at early love, but if it be real, if it be something more than the +mere arising of the passions, early love is late love also; it is love +for ever, the best and worst event which can befall a man or woman. I +say it who am old and who have done with everything, and it is true. + +One thing I have forgotten. As we kissed and clung in our despair +behind the bole of the great beech, Lily drew a ring from her finger +and pressed it into my hand saying, 'Look on this each morning when you +wake, and think of me.' It had been her mother's, and to-day it still +is set upon my withered hand, gleaming in the winter sunlight as I trace +these words. Through the long years of wild adventure, through all the +time of after peace, in love and war, in the shine of the camp fire, +in the glare of the sacrificial flame, in the light of lonely stars +illumining the lonely wilderness, that ring has shone upon my hand, +reminding me always of her who gave it, and on this hand it shall go +down into the grave. It is a plain circlet of thick gold, somewhat worn +now, a posy-ring, and on its inner surface is cut this quaint couplet: + + +Heart to heart, Though far apart. + + +A fitting motto for us indeed, and one that has its meaning to this +hour. + + +That same day of our farewell I rode with my father to Yarmouth. My +brother Geoffrey did not come with us, but we parted with kindly words, +and of this I am glad, for we never saw each other again. No more was +said between us as to Lily Bozard and our wooing of her, though I knew +well enough that so soon as my back was turned he would try to take my +place at her side, as indeed happened. I forgive it to him; in truth I +cannot blame him much, for what man is there that would not have desired +to wed Lily who knew her? Once we were dear friends, Geoffrey and I, but +when we ripened towards manhood, our love of Lily came between us, and +we grew more and more apart. It is a common case enough. Well, as it +chanced he failed, so why should I think unkindly of him? Let me rather +remember the affection of our childhood and forget the rest. God rest +his soul. + +Mary, my sister, who after Lily Bozard was now the fairest maiden in the +country side, wept much at my going. There was but a year between us, +and we loved each other dearly, for no such shadow of jealousy had +fallen on our affection. I comforted her as well as I was able, and +telling her all that had passed between me and Lily, I prayed her to +stand my friend and Lily's, should it ever be in her power to do so. +This Mary promised to do readily enough, and though she did not give the +reason, I could see that she thought it possible that she might be able +to help us. As I have said, Lily had a brother, a young man of some +promise, who at this time was away at college, and he and my sister Mary +had a strong fancy for each other, that might or might not ripen into +something closer. So we kissed and bade farewell with tears. + +And after that my father and I rode away. But when we had passed down +Pirnhow Street, and mounted the little hill beyond Waingford Mills to +the left of Bungay town, I halted my horse, and looked back upon the +pleasant valley of the Waveney where I was born, and my heart grew full +to bursting. Had I known all that must befall me, before my eyes beheld +that scene again, I think indeed that it would have burst. But God, who +in his wisdom has laid many a burden upon the backs of men, has saved +them from this; for had we foreknowledge of the future, I think that of +our own will but few of us would live to see it. So I cast one long last +look towards the distant mass of oaks that marked the spot where Lily +lived, and rode on. + +On the following day I embarked on board the 'Adventuress' and we +sailed. Before I left, my father's heart softened much towards me, for +he remembered that I was my mother's best beloved, and feared also lest +we should meet no more. So much did it soften indeed, that at the last +hour he changed his mind and wished to hold me back from going. But +having put my hand to the plough and suffered all the bitterness +of farewell, I would not return to be mocked by my brother and my +neighbours. 'You speak too late, father,' I said. 'You desired me to go +to work this vengeance and stirred me to it with many bitter words, and +now I would go if I knew that I must die within a week, for such oaths +cannot be lightly broken, and till mine is fulfilled the curse rests on +me.' + +'So be it, son,' he answered with a sigh. 'Your mother's cruel death +maddened me and I said what I may live to be sorry for, though at the +best I shall not live long, for my heart is broken. Perhaps I should +have remembered that vengeance is in the hand of the Lord, who wreaks +it at His own time and without our help. Do not think unkindly of me, my +boy, if we should chance to meet no more, for I love you, and it was but +the deeper love that I bore to your mother which made me deal harshly +with you.' + +'I know it, father, and bear no grudge. But if you think that you owe me +anything, pay it by holding back my brother from working wrong to me and +Lily Bozard while I am absent.' + +'I will do my best, son, though were it not that you and she have grown +so dear to each other, the match would have pleased me well. But as I +have said, I shall not be long here to watch your welfare in this or any +other matter, and when I am gone things must follow their own fate. Do +not forget your God or your home wherever you chance to wander, Thomas: +keep yourself from brawling, beware of women that are the snare of +youth, and set a watch upon your tongue and your temper which is not of +the best. Moreover, wherever you may be do not speak ill of the religion +of the land, or make a mock of it by your way of life, lest you should +learn how cruel men can be when they think that it is pleasing to their +gods, as I have learnt already.' + +I said that I would bear his counsel in mind, and indeed it saved me +from many a sorrow. Then he embraced me and called on the Almighty to +take me in His care, and we parted. + +I never saw him more, for though he was but middle-aged, within a year +of my going my father died suddenly of a distemper of the heart in the +nave of Ditchingham church, as he stood there, near the rood screen, +musing by my mother's grave one Sunday after mass, and my brother took +his lands and place. God rest him also! He was a true-hearted man, but +more wrapped up in his love for my mother than it is well for any man +to be who would look at life largely and do right by all. For such love, +though natural to women, is apt to turn to something that partakes of +selfishness, and to cause him who bears it to think all else of small +account. His children were nothing to my father when compared to my +mother, and he would have been content to lose them every one if thereby +he might have purchased back her life. But after all it was a noble +infirmity, for he thought little of himself and had gone through much to +win her. + + +Of my voyage to Cadiz, to which port I had learned that de Garcia's ship +was bound, there is little to be told. We met with contrary winds in +the Bay of Biscay and were driven into the harbour of Lisbon, where we +refitted. But at last we came safely to Cadiz, having been forty days at +sea. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ANDRES DE FONSECA + + +Now I shall dwell but briefly on all the adventures which befell me +during the year or so that I remained in Spain, for were I to set out +everything at length, this history would have no end, or at least mine +would find me before I came to it. + +Many travellers have told of the glories of Seville, to which +ancient Moorish city I journeyed with all speed, sailing there up the +Guadalquiver, and I have to tell of lands from which no other wanderer +has returned to England, and must press on to them. To be short then; +foreseeing that it might be necessary for me to stop some time in +Seville, and being desirous to escape notice and to be at the smallest +expense possible, I bethought me that it would be well if I could find +means of continuing my studies of medicine, and to this end I obtained +certain introductions from the firm of merchants to whose care I had +been recommended, addressed to doctors of medicine in Seville. These +letters at my request were made out not in my own name but in that +of 'Diego d'Aila,' for I did not wish it to be known that I was an +Englishman. Nor, indeed, was this likely, except my speech should betray +me, for, as I have said, in appearance I was very Spanish, and the +hindrance of the language was one that lessened every day, since having +already learned it from my mother, and taking every opportunity to read +and speak it, within six months I could talk Castilian except for some +slight accent, like a native of the land. Also I have a gift for the +acquiring of languages. + + +When I was come to Seville, and had placed my baggage in an inn, not one +of the most frequented, I set out to deliver a letter of recommendation +to a famous physician of the town whose name I have long forgotten. This +physician had a fine house in the street of Las Palmas, a great avenue +planted with graceful trees, that has other little streets running into +it. Down one of these I came from my inn, a quiet narrow place having +houses with patios or courtyards on either side of it. As I walked +down this street I noticed a man sitting in the shade on a stool in the +doorway of his patio. He was small and withered, with keen black eyes +and a wonderful air of wisdom, and he watched me as I went by. Now the +house of the famous physician whom I sought was so placed that the man +sitting at this doorway could command it with his eyes and take note +of all who went in and came out. When I had found the house I returned +again into the quiet street and walked to and fro there for a while, +thinking of what tale I should tell to the physician, and all the time +the little man watched me with his keen eyes. At last I had made up my +story and went to the house, only to find that the physician was from +home. Having inquired when I might find him I left, and once more took +to the narrow street, walking slowly till I came to where the little man +sat. As I passed him, his broad hat with which he was fanning himself +slipped to the ground before my feet. I stooped down, lifted it from the +pavement, and restored it to him. + +'A thousand thanks, young sir,' he said in a full and gentle voice. 'You +are courteous for a foreigner.' + +'How do you know me to be a foreigner, senor?' I asked, surprised out of +my caution. + +'If I had not guessed it before, I should know it now,' he answered, +smiling gravely. 'Your Castilian tells its own tale.' + +I bowed, and was about to pass on, when he addressed me again. + +'What is your hurry, young sir? Step in and take a cup of wine with me; +it is good.' + +I was about to say him nay, when it came into my mind that I had nothing +to do, and that perhaps I might learn something from this gossip. + +'The day is hot, senor, and I accept.' + +He spoke no more, but rising, led me into a courtyard paved with marble +in the centre of which was a basin of water, having vines trained around +it. Here were chairs and a little table placed in the shade of the +vines. When he had closed the door of the patio and we were seated, +he rang a silver bell that stood upon the table, and a girl, young and +fair, appeared from the house, dressed in a quaint Spanish dress. + +'Bring wine,' said my host. + +The wine was brought, white wine of Oporto such as I had never tasted +before. + +'Your health, senor?' And my host stopped, his glass in his hand, and +looked at me inquiringly. + +'Diego d'Aila,' I answered. + +'Humph,' he said. 'A Spanish name, or perhaps an imitation Spanish name, +for I do not know it, and I have a good head for names.' + +'That is my name, to take or to leave, senor?'--And I looked at him in +turn. + +'Andres de Fonseca,' he replied bowing, 'a physician of this city, well +known enough, especially among the fair. Well, Senor Diego, I take your +name, for names are nothing, and at times it is convenient to change +them, which is nobody's business except their owners'. I see that you +are a stranger in this city--no need to look surprised, senor, one who +is familiar with a town does not gaze and stare and ask the path of +passers-by, nor does a native of Seville walk on the sunny side of the +street in summer. And now, if you will not think me impertinent, I will +ask you what can be the business of so healthy a young man with my rival +yonder?' And he nodded towards the house of the famous physician. + +'A man's business, like his name, is his own affair, senor,' I answered, +setting my host down in my mind as one of those who disgrace our art by +plying openly for patients that they may capture their fees. 'Still, I +will tell you. I am also a physician, though not yet fully qualified, +and I seek a place where I may help some doctor of repute in his daily +practice, and thus gain experience and my living with it.' + +'Ah is it so? Well, senor, then you will look in vain yonder,' and +again he nodded towards the physician's house. 'Such as he will take no +apprentice without the fee be large indeed; it is not the custom of this +city.' + +'Then I must seek a livelihood elsewhere, or otherwise.' + +'I did not say so. Now, senor, let us see what you know of medicine, and +what is more important, of human nature, for of the first none of us can +ever know much, but he who knows the latter will be a leader of men--or +of women--who lead the men.' + +And without more ado he put me many questions, each of them so shrewd +and going so directly to the heart of the matter in hand, that I +marvelled at his sagacity. Some of these questions were medical, dealing +chiefly with the ailments of women, others were general and dealt more +with their characters. At length he finished. + +'You will do, senor,' he said; 'you are a young man of parts and +promise, though, as was to be expected from one of your years, you lack +experience. There is stuff in you, senor, and you have a heart, which +is a good thing, for the blunders of a man with a heart often carry him +further than the cunning of the cynic; also you have a will and know how +to direct it.' + +I bowed, and did my best to hold back my satisfaction at his words from +showing in my face. + +'Still,' he went on, 'all this would not cause me to submit to you the +offer that I am about to make, for many a prettier fellow than yourself +is after all unlucky, or a fool at the bottom, or bad tempered and +destined to the dogs, as for aught I know you may be also. But I take +my chance of that because you suit me in another way. Perhaps you may +scarcely know it yourself, but you have beauty, senor, beauty of a very +rare and singular type, which half the ladies of Seville will praise +when they come to know you.' + +'I am much flattered,' I said, 'but might I ask what all these +compliments may mean? To be brief, what is your offer?' + +'To be brief then, it is this. I am in need of an assistant who must +possess all the qualities that I see in you, but most of all one which +I can only guess you to possess--discretion. That assistant would not +be ill-paid; this house would be at his disposal, and he would have +opportunities of learning the world such as are given to few. What say +you?' + +'I say this, senor, that I should wish to know more of the business in +which I am expected to assist. Your offers sound too liberal, and I fear +that I must earn your bounty by the doing of work that honest men might +shrink from.' + +'A fair argument, but, as it happens, not quite a correct one. Listen: +you have been told that yonder physician, to whose house you went but +now, and these'--here he repeated four or five names--'are the greatest +of their tribe in Seville. It is not so. I am the greatest and the +richest, and I do more business than any two of them. Do you know +what my earnings have been this day alone? I will tell you; just over +twenty-five gold pesos,* more than all the rest of the profession have +taken together, I will wager. You want to know how I earn so much; you +want to know also, why, if I have earned so much, I am not content to +rest from my labours. Good, I will tell you. I earn it by ministering to +the vanities of women and sheltering them from the results of their own +folly. Has a lady a sore heart, she comes to me for comfort and advice. +Has she pimples on her face, she flies to me to cure them. Has she a +secret love affair, it is I who hide her indiscretion; I consult the +future for her, I help her to atone the past, I doctor her for imaginary +ailments, and often enough I cure her of real ones. Half the secrets of +Seville are in my hands; did I choose to speak I could set a score of +noble houses to broil and bloodshed. But I do not speak, I am paid to +keep silent; and when I am not paid, still I keep silent for my credit's +sake. Hundreds of women think me their saviour, I know them for my +dupes. But mark you, I do not push this game too far. A love philtre--of +coloured water--I may give at a price, but not a poisoned rose. These +they must seek elsewhere. For the rest, in my way I am honest. I take +the world as it comes, that is all, and, as women will be fools, I +profit by their folly and have grown rich upon it. + + * About sixty-three pounds sterling. + +'Yes, I have grown rich, and yet I cannot stop. I love the money that is +power; but more than all, I love the way of life. Talk of romances and +adventure! What romance or adventure is half so wonderful as those that +come daily to my notice? And I play a part in every one of them, and +none the less a leading part because I do not shout and strut upon the +boards.' + +'If all this is so, why do you seek the help of an unknown lad, a +stranger of whom you know nothing?' I asked bluntly. + +'Truly, you lack experience,' the old man answered with a laugh. 'Do you +then suppose that I should choose one who was NOT a stranger--one who +might have ties within this city with which I was unacquainted. And as +for knowing nothing of you, young man, do you think that I have followed +this strange trade of mine for forty years without learning to judge at +sight? Perhaps I know you better than you know yourself. By the way, the +fact that you are deeply enamoured of that maid whom you have left in +England is a recommendation to me, for whatever follies you may commit, +you will scarcely embarrass me and yourself by suffering your affections +to be seriously entangled. Ah! have I astonished you?' + +'How do you know?' I began--then ceased. + +'How do I know? Why, easily enough. Those boots you wear were made in +England. I have seen many such when I travelled there; your accent also +though faint is English, and twice you have spoken English words when +your Castilian failed you. Then for the maid, is not that a betrothal +ring upon your hand? And when I spoke to you of the ladies of this +country, my talk did not interest you overmuch as at your age it had +done were you heart-whole. Surely also the lady is fair and tall? Ah! +I thought so. I have noticed that men and women love their opposite in +colour, no invariable rule indeed, but good for a guess.' + +'You are very clever, senor.' + +'No, not clever, but trained, as you will be when you have been a year +in my hands, though perchance you do not intend to stop so long in +Seville. Perhaps you came here with an object, and wish to pass the time +profitably till it is fulfilled. A good guess again, I think. Well, so +be it, I will risk that; object and attainment are often far apart. Do +you take my offer?' + +'I incline to do so.' + +'Then you will take it. Now I have something more to say before we come +to terms. I do not want you to play the part of an apothecary's drudge. +You will figure before the world as my nephew, come from abroad to learn +my trade. You will help me in it indeed, but that is not all your duty. +Your part will be to mix in the life of Seville, and to watch those whom +I bid you watch, to drop a word here and a hint there, and in a hundred +ways that I shall show you to draw grist to my mill--and to your own. +You must be brilliant and witty, or sad and learned, as I wish; you must +make the most of your person and your talents, for these go far with my +customers. To the hidalgo you must talk of arms, to the lady, of love; +but you must never commit yourself beyond redemption. And above all, +young man'--and here his manner changed and his face grew stern and +almost fierce--'you must never violate my confidence or the confidence +of my clients. On this point I will be quite open within you, and I +pray you for your own sake to believe what I say, however much you may +mistrust the rest. If you break faith with me, YOU DIE. You die, not by +my hand, but you die. That is my price; take it or leave it. Should you +leave it and go hence to tell what you have heard this day, even then +misfortune may overtake you suddenly. Do you understand?' + +'I understand. For my own sake I will respect your confidence.' + +'Young sir, I like you better than ever. Had you said that you would +respect it because it was a confidence, I should have mistrusted you, +for doubtless you feel that secrets communicated so readily have +no claim to be held sacred. Nor have they, but when their violation +involves the sad and accidental end of the violator, it is another +matter. Well now, do you accept?' + +'I accept.' + +'Good. Your baggage I suppose is at the inn. I will send porters to +discharge your score and bring it here. No need for you to go, nephew, +let us stop and drink another glass of wine; the sooner we grow intimate +the better, nephew.' + + +It was thus that first I became acquainted with Senor Andres de Fonseca, +my benefactor, the strangest man whom I have ever known. Doubtless any +person reading this history would think that I, the narrator, was sowing +a plentiful crop of troubles for myself in having to deal with him, +setting him down as a rogue of the deepest, such as sometimes, for their +own wicked purposes, decoy young men to crime and ruin. But it was not +so, and this is the strangest part of the strange story. All that Andres +de Fonseca told me was true to the very letter. + +He was a gentleman of great talent who had been rendered a little mad +by misfortunes in his early life. As a physician I have never met his +master, if indeed he has one in these times, and as a man versed in the +world and more especially in the world of women, I have known none to +compare with him. He had travelled far, and seen much, and he forgot +nothing. In part he was a quack, but his quackery always had a meaning +in it. He fleeced the foolish, indeed, and even juggled with astronomy, +making money out of their superstition; but on the other hand he did +many a kind act without reward. He would make a rich lady pay ten gold +pesos for the dyeing of her hair, but often he would nurse some poor +girl through her trouble and ask no charge; yes, and find her honest +employment after it. He who knew all the secrets of Seville never made +money out of them by threat of exposure, as he said because it would +not pay to do so, but really because though he affected to be a selfish +knave, at bottom his heart was honest. + +For my own part I found life with him both easy and happy, so far as +mine could be quite happy. Soon I learned my role and played it well. It +was given out that I was the nephew of the rich old physician Fonseca, +whom he was training to take his place; and this, together with my +own appearance and manners, ensured me a welcome in the best houses of +Seville. Here I took that share of our business which my master could +not take, for now he never mixed among the fashion of the city. Money I +was supplied with in abundance so that I could ruffle it with the +best, but soon it became known that I looked to business as well as to +pleasure. Often and often during some gay ball or carnival, a lady would +glide up to me and ask beneath her breath if Don Andres de Fonseca would +consent to see her privately on a matter of some importance, and I would +fix an hour then and there. Had it not been for me such patients would +have been lost to us, since, for the most part, their timidity had kept +them away. + +In the same fashion when the festival was ended and I prepared to wend +homewards, now and again a gallant would slip his arm in mine and ask +my master's help in some affair of love or honour, or even of the purse. +Then I would lead him straight to the old Moorish house where Don Andres +sat writing in his velvet robe like some spider in his web, for the most +of our business was done at night; and straight-way the matter would +be attended to, to my master's profit and the satisfaction of all. By +degrees it became known that though I was so young yet I had discretion, +and that nothing which went in at my ears came out of my lips; that I +neither brawled nor drank nor gambled to any length, and that though I +was friendly with many fair ladies, there were none who were entitled to +know my secrets. Also it became known that I had some skill in my art of +healing, and it was said among the ladies of Seville that there lived no +man in that city so deft at clearing the skin of blemishes or changing +the colour of the hair as old Fonseca's nephew, and as any one may know +this reputation alone was worth a fortune. Thus it came about that I was +more and more consulted on my own account. In short, things went so well +with us that in the first six months of my service I added by one third +to the receipts of my master's practice, large as they had been before, +besides lightening his labours not a little. + +It was a strange life, and of the things that I saw and learned, could +they be written, I might make a tale indeed, but they have no part in +this history. For it was as though the smiles and silence with which men +and women hide their thoughts were done away, and their hearts spoke to +us in the accents of truth. Now some fair young maid or wife would come +to us with confessions of wickedness that would be thought impossible, +did not her story prove itself; the secret murder perchance of a spouse, +or a lover, or a rival; now some aged dame who would win a husband in +his teens, now some wealthy low-born man or woman, who desired to buy an +alliance with one lacking money, but of noble blood. Such I did not care +to help indeed, but to the love-sick or the love-deluded I listened with +a ready ear, for I had a fellow-feeling with them. Indeed so deep and +earnest was my sympathy that more than once I found the unhappy fair +ready to transfer their affections to my unworthy self, and in fact once +things came about so that, had I willed it, I could have married one of +the loveliest and wealthiest noble ladies of Seville. + +But I would none of it, who thought of my English Lily by day and night. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SECOND MEETING + + +It may be thought that while I was employed thus I had forgotten the +object of my coming to Spain, namely to avenge my mother's murder on the +person of Juan de Garcia. But this was not so. So soon as I was settled +in the house of Andres de Fonseca I set myself to make inquiries as to +de Garcia's whereabouts with all possible diligence, but without result. + +Indeed, when I came to consider the matter coolly it seemed that I had +but a slender chance of finding him in this city. He had, indeed, given +it out in Yarmouth that he was bound for Seville, but no ship bearing +the same name as his had put in at Cadiz or sailed up the Guadalquivir, +nor was it likely, having committed murder in England, that he would +speak the truth as to his destination. Still I searched on. The house +where my mother and grandmother had lived was burned down, and as their +mode of life had been retired, after more than twenty years of change +few even remembered their existence. Indeed I only discovered one, an +old woman whom I found living in extreme poverty, and who once had been +my grandmother's servant and knew my mother well, although she was not +in the house at the time of her flight to England. From this woman I +gathered some information, though, needless to say, I did not tell her +that I was the grandson of her old mistress. + +It seemed that after my mother fled to England with my father, de Garcia +persecuted my grandmother and his aunt with lawsuits and by other means, +till at last she was reduced to beggary, in which condition the villain +left her to die. So poor was she indeed, that she was buried in a public +grave. After that the old woman, my informant, said she had heard that +de Garcia had committed some crime and been forced to flee the country. +What the crime was she could not remember, but it had happened about +fifteen years ago. + +All this I learned when I had been about three months in Seville, and +though it was of interest it did not advance me in my search. + +Some four or five nights afterwards, as I entered my employer's house +I met a young woman coming out of the doorway of the patio; she was +thickly veiled and my notice was drawn to her by her tall and beautiful +figure and because she was weeping so violently that her body shook +with her sobs. I was already well accustomed to such sights, for many +of those who sought my master's counsel had good cause to weep, and I +passed her without remark. But when I was come into the room where he +received his patients, I mentioned that I had met such a person and +asked if it was any one whom I knew. + +'Ah! nephew,' said Fonseca, who always called me thus by now, and indeed +began to treat me with as much affection as though I were really of +his blood, 'a sad case, but you do not know her and she is no paying +patient. A poor girl of noble birth who had entered religion and taken +her vows, when a gallant appears, meets her secretly in the convent +garden, promises to marry her if she will fly with him, indeed does go +through some mummery of marriage with her--so she says--and the rest +of it. Now he has deserted her and she is in trouble, and what is more, +should the priests catch her, likely to learn what it feels like to die +by inches in a convent wall. She came to me for counsel and brought some +silver ornaments as the fee. Here they are.' + +'You took them!' + +'Yes, I took them--I always take a fee, but I gave her back their weight +in gold. What is more, I told her where she might hide from the priests +till the hunt is done with. What I did not like to tell her is that her +lover is the greatest villain who ever trod the streets of Seville. +What was the good? She will see little more of him. Hist! here comes +the duchess--an astrological case this. Where are the horoscope and the +wand, yes, and the crystal ball? There, shade the lamps, give me the +book, and vanish.' + +I obeyed, and presently met the great lady, a stout woman attended by +a duenna, gliding fearfully through the darkened archways to learn the +answer of the stars and pay many good pesos for it, and the sight of her +made me laugh so much that I forgot quickly about the other lady and her +woes. + + +And now I must tell how I met my cousin and my enemy de Garcia for the +second time. Two days after my meeting with the veiled lady it chanced +that I was wandering towards midnight through a lonely part of the old +city little frequented by passers-by. It was scarcely safe to be thus +alone in such a place and hour, but the business with which I had been +charged by my master was one that must be carried out unattended. Also I +had no enemies whom I knew of, and was armed with the very sword that I +had taken from de Garcia in the lane at Ditchingham, the sword that had +slain my mother, and which I bore in the hope that it might serve to +avenge her. In the use of this weapon I had grown expert enough by now, +for every morning I took lessons in the art of fence. + +My business being done I was walking slowly homeward, and as I went I +fell to thinking of the strangeness of my present life and of how far it +differed from my boyhood in the valley of the Waveney, and of many other +things. And then I thought of Lily and wondered how her days passed, and +if my brother Geoffrey persecuted her to marry him, and whether or no +she would resist his importunities and her father's. And so as I walked +musing I came to a water-gate that opened on to the Guadalquivir, and +leaning upon the coping of a low wall I rested there idly to consider +the beauty of the night. In truth it was a lovely night, for across all +these years I remember it. Let those who have seen it say if they know +any prospect more beautiful than the sight of the August moon shining on +the broad waters of the Guadalquivir and the clustering habitations of +the ancient city. + +Now as I leaned upon the wall and looked, I saw a man pass up the steps +beside me and go on into the shadow of the street. I took no note of him +till presently I heard a murmur of distant voices, and turning my head I +discovered that the man was in conversation with a woman whom he had met +at the head of the path that ran down to the water-gate. Doubtless it +was a lovers' meeting, and since such sights are of interest to all, and +more especially to the young, I watched the pair. Soon I learned that +there was little of tenderness in this tryst, at least on the part of +the gallant, who drew continually backwards toward me as though he would +seek the boat by which doubtless he had come, and I marvelled at this, +for the moonlight shone upon the woman's face, and even at that distance +I could see that it was very fair. The man's face I could not see +however, since his back was towards me for the most part, moreover he +wore a large sombrero that shaded it. Now they came nearer to me, the +man always drawing backward and the woman always following, till at +length they were within earshot. The woman was pleading with the man. + +'Surely you will not desert me,' she said, 'after marrying me and +all that you have sworn; you will not have the heart to desert me. I +abandoned everything for you. I am in great danger. I--' and here her +voice fell so that I could not catch her words. + +Then he spoke. 'Fairest, now as always I adore you. But we must part +awhile. You owe me much, Isabella. I have rescued you from the grave, +I have taught you what it is to live and love. Doubtless with your +advantages and charms, your great charms, you will profit by the lesson. +Money I cannot give you, for I have none to spare, but I have endowed +you with experience that is more valuable by far. This is our farewell +for awhile and I am brokenhearted. Yet + +"'Neath fairer skies Shine other eyes," + +and I--' and again he spoke so low that I could not catch his words. + +As he talked on, all my body began to tremble. The scene was moving +indeed, but it was not that which stirred me so deeply, it was the man's +voice and bearing that reminded me--no, it could scarcely be! + +'Oh! you will not be so cruel,' said the lady, 'to leave me, your wife, +thus alone and in such sore trouble and danger. Take me with you, Juan, +I beseech you!' and she caught him by the arm and clung to him. + +He shook her from him somewhat roughly, and as he did so his wide hat +fell to the ground so that the moonlight shone upon his face. By Heaven! +it was he--Juan de Garcia and no other! I could not be mistaken. There +was the deeply carved, cruel face, the high forehead with the scar on +it, the thin sneering mouth, the peaked beard and curling hair. Chance +had given him into my hand, and I would kill him or he should kill me. + +I took three paces and stood before him, drawing my sword as I came. + +'What, my dove, have you a bully at hand?' he said stepping back +astonished. 'Your business, senor? Are you here to champion beauty in +distress?' + +'I am here, Juan de Garcia, to avenge a murdered woman. Do you remember +a certain river bank away in England, where you chanced to meet a lady +you had known, and to leave her dead? Or if you have forgotten, perhaps +at least you will remember this, which I carry that it may kill you,' +and I flashed the sword that had been his before his eyes. + +'Mother of God! It is the English boy who--' and he stopped. + +'It is Thomas Wingfield who beat and bound you, and who now purposes to +finish what he began yonder as he has sworn. Draw, or, Juan de Garcia, I +will stab you where you stand.' + +De Garcia heard this speech, that to-day seems to me to smack of the +theatre, though it was spoken in grimmest earnest, and his face grew +like the face of a trapped wolf. Yet I saw that he had no mind to fight, +not because of cowardice, for to do him justice he was no coward, but +because of superstition. He feared to fight with me since, as I learned +afterwards, he believed that he would meet his end at my hand, and it +was for this reason chiefly that he strove to kill me when first we met. + +'The duello has its laws, senor,' he said courteously. 'It is not usual +to fight thus unseconded and in the presence of a woman. If you believe +that you have any grievance against me--though I know not of what you +rave, or the name by which you call me--I will meet you where and when +you will.' And all the while he looked over his shoulder seeking some +way of escape. + +'You will meet me now,' I answered. 'Draw or I strike!' + +Then he drew, and we fell to it desperately enough, till the sparks +flew, indeed, and the rattle of steel upon steel rang down the quiet +street. At first he had somewhat the better of me, for my hate made me +wild in my play, but soon I settled to the work and grew cooler. I meant +to kill him--more, I knew that I should kill him if none came between +us. He was still a better swordsman than I, who, till I fought with him +in the lane at Ditchingham, had never even seen one of these Spanish +rapiers, but I had the youth and the right on my side, as also I had an +eye like a hawk's and a wrist of steel. + +Slowly I pressed him back, and ever my play grew closer and better and +his became wilder. Now I had touched him twice, once in the face, and I +held him with his back against the wall of the way that led down to the +water-gate, and it had come to this, that he scarcely strove to thrust +at me at all, but stood on his defence waiting till I should tire. Then, +when victory was in my hand disaster overtook me, for the woman, who had +been watching bewildered, saw that her faithless lover was in danger of +death and straightway seized me from behind, at the same time sending +up shriek after shriek for help. I shook her from me quickly enough, +but not before de Garcia, seeing his advantage, had dealt me a coward's +thrust that took me in the right shoulder and half crippled me, so that +in my turn I must stand on my defence if I would keep my life in me. +Meanwhile the shrieks had been heard, and of a sudden the watch came +running round the corner whistling for help. De Garcia saw them, and +disengaging suddenly, turned and ran for the water-gate, the lady also +vanishing, whither I do not know. + +Now the watch was on me, and their leader came at me to seize me, +holding a lantern in his hand. I struck it with the handle of the sword, +so that it fell upon the roadway, where it blazed up like a bonfire. +Then I turned also and fled, for I did not wish to be dragged before +the magistrates of the city as a brawler, and in my desire to escape I +forgot that de Garcia was escaping also. Away I went and three of the +watch after me, but they were stout and scant of breath, and by the +time that I had run three furlongs I distanced them. I halted to get my +breath and remembered that I had lost de Garcia and did not know when I +should find him again. At first I was minded to return and seek him, but +reflection told me that by now it would be useless, also that the end +of it might be that I should fall into the hands of the watch, who would +know me by my wound, which began to pain me. So I went homeward cursing +my fortune, and the woman who had clasped me from behind just as I was +about to send the death-thrust home, and also my lack of skill which had +delayed that thrust so long. Twice I might have made it and twice I had +waited, being overcautious and over-anxious to be sure, and now I had +lost my chance, and might bide many a day before it came again. + +How should I find him in this great city? Doubtless, though I had not +thought of it, de Garcia passed under some feigned name as he had done +at Yarmouth. It was bitter indeed to have been so near to vengeance and +to have missed it. + +By now I was at home and bethought me that I should do well to go to +Fonseca, my master, and ask his help. Hitherto I had said nothing of +this matter to him, for I have always loved to keep my own counsel, and +as yet I had not spoken of my past even to him. Going to the room where +he was accustomed to receive patients, I found he had retired to rest, +leaving orders that I was not to awake him this night as he was weary. +So I bound up my hurt after a fashion and sought my bed also, very +ill-satisfied with my fortune. + +On the morrow I went to my master's chamber where he still lay abed, +having been seized by a sudden weakness that was the beginning of +the illness which ended in his death. As I mixed a draught for him he +noticed that my shoulder was hurt and asked me what had happened. This +gave me my opportunity, which I was not slow to take. + +'Have you patience to listen to a story?' I said, 'for I would seek your +help.' + +'Ah!' he answered, 'it is the old case, the physician cannot heal +himself. Speak on, nephew.' + +Then I sat down by the bed and told him all, keeping nothing back. I +told him the history of my mother and my father's courtship, of my own +childhood, of the murder of my mother by de Garcia, and of the oath +that I had sworn to be avenged upon him. Lastly I told him of what had +happened upon the previous night and how my enemy had evaded me. All the +while that I was speaking Fonseca, wrapped in a rich Moorish robe, sat +up in the bed holding his knees beneath his chin, and watching my face +with his keen eyes. But he spoke no word and made no sign till I had +finished the tale. + +'You are strangely foolish, nephew,' he said at length. 'For the most +part youth fails through rashness, but you err by over-caution. By +over-caution in your fence you lost your chance last night, and so by +over-caution in hiding this tale from me you have lost a far greater +opportunity. What, have you not seen me give counsel in many such +matters, and have you ever known me to betray the confidence even of the +veriest stranger? Why then did you fear for yours?' + +'I do not know,' I answered, 'but I thought that first I would search +for myself.' + +'Pride goeth before a fall, nephew. Now listen: had I known this history +a month ago, by now de Garcia had perished miserably, and not by your +hand, but by that of the law. I have been acquainted with the man from +his childhood, and know enough to hang him twice over did I choose to +speak. More, I knew your mother, boy, and now I see that it was the +likeness in your face to hers that haunted me, for from the first it was +familiar. It was I also who bribed the keepers of the Holy Office to let +your father loose, though, as it chanced, I never saw him, and arranged +his flight. Since then, I have had de Garcia through my hands some four +or five times, now under this name and now under that. Once even he came +to me as a client, but the villainy that he would have worked was too +black for me to touch. This man is the wickedest whom I have known in +Seville, and that is saying much, also he is the cleverest and the most +revengeful. He lives by vice for vice, and there are many deaths upon +his hands. But he has never prospered in his evil-doing, and to-day +he is but an adventurer without a name, who lives by blackmail, and by +ruining women that he may rob them at his leisure. Give me those books +from the strong box yonder, and I will tell you of this de Garcia.' + +I did as he bade me, bringing the heavy parchment volumes, each bound in +vellum and written in cipher. + +'These are my records,' he said, 'though none can read them except +myself. Now for the index. Ah! here it is. Give me volume three, and +open it at page two hundred and one.' + +I obeyed, laying the book on the bed before him, and he began to read +the crabbed marks as easily as though they were good black-letter. + +'De Garcia--Juan. Height, appearance, family, false names, and so on. +This is it--history. Now listen.' + +Then came some two pages of closely written matter, expressed in secret +signs that Fonseca translated as he read. It was brief enough, but such +a record as it contained I have never heard before nor since. Here, set +out against this one man's name, was well nigh every wickedness of which +a human being could be capable, carried through by him to gratify his +appetites and revengeful hate, and to provide himself with gold. + +In that black list were two murders: one of a rival by the knife, and +one of a mistress by poison. And there were other things even worse, too +shameful, indeed, to be written. + +'Doubtless there is more that has not come beneath my notice,' said +Fonseca coolly, 'but these things I know for truth, and one of the +murders could be proved against him were he captured. Stay, give me ink, +I must add to the record.' + +And he wrote in his cipher: 'In May, 1517, the said de Garcia sailed to +England on a trading voyage, and there, in the parish of Ditchingham, in +the county of Norfolk, he murdered Luisa Wingfield, spoken of above as +Luisa de Garcia, his cousin, to whom he was once betrothed. In September +of the same year, or previously, under cover of a false marriage, he +decoyed and deserted one Donna Isabella of the noble family of Siguenza, +a nun in a religious house in this city.' + +'What!' I exclaimed, 'is the girl who came to seek your help two nights +since the same that de Garcia deserted?' + +'The very same, nephew. It was she whom you heard pleading with him last +night. Had I known two days ago what I know to-day, by now this villain +had been safe in prison. But perhaps it is not yet too late. I am +ill, but I will rise and see to it. Leave it to me, nephew. Go, nurse +yourself, and leave it to me; if anything may be done I can do it. Stay, +bid a messenger be ready. This evening I shall know whatever there is to +be known.' + +That night Fonseca sent for me again. + +'I have made inquiries,' he said. 'I have even warned the officers +of justice for the first time for many years, and they are hunting de +Garcia as bloodhounds hunt a slave. But nothing can be heard of him. He +has vanished and left no trace. To-night I write to Cadiz, for he may +have fled there down the river. One thing I have discovered, however. +The Senora Isabella was caught by the watch, and being recognised as +having escaped from a convent, she was handed over to the executories of +the Holy Office, that her case may be investigated, or in other words, +should her fault be proved, to death.' + +'Can she be rescued?' + +'Impossible. Had she followed my counsel she would never have been +taken.' + +'Can she be communicated with?' + +'No. Twenty years ago it might have been managed, now the Office is +stricter and purer. Gold has no power there. We shall never see or hear +of her again, unless, indeed, it is at the hour of her death, when, +should she choose to speak with me, the indulgence may possibly be +granted to her, though I doubt it. But it is not likely that she will +wish to do so. Should she succeed in hiding her disgrace, she may +escape; but it is not probable. Do not look so sad, nephew, religion +must have its sacrifices. Perchance it is better for her to die thus +than to live for many years dead in life. She can die but once. May her +blood lie heavy on de Garcia's head!' + +'Amen!' I answered. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THOMAS BECOMES RICH + + +For many months we heard no more of de Garcia or of Isabella de +Siguenza. Both had vanished leaving no sign, and we searched for them in +vain. As for me I fell back into my former way of life of assistant to +Fonseca, posing before the world as his nephew. But it came about that +from the night of my duel with the murderer, my master's health declined +steadily through the action of a wasting disease of the liver which +baffled all skill, so that within eight months of that time he lay +almost bedridden and at the point of death. His mind indeed remained +quite clear, and on occasions he would even receive those who came to +consult him, reclining on a chair and wrapped in his embroidered robe. +But the hand of death lay on him, and he knew that it was so. As the +weeks went by he grew more and more attached to me, till at length, had +I been his son, he could not have treated me with a greater affection, +while for my part I did what lay in my power to lessen his sufferings, +for he would let no other physician near him. + +At length when he had grown very feeble he expressed a desire to see a +notary. The man he named was sent for and remained closeted with him for +an hour or more, when he left for a while to return with several of +his clerks, who accompanied him to my master's room, from which I was +excluded. Presently they all went away, bearing some parchments with +them. + +That evening Fonseca sent for me. I found him very weak, but cheerful +and full of talk. + +'Come here, nephew,' he said, 'I have had a busy day. I have been busy +all my life through, and it would not be well to grow idle at the last. +Do you know what I have been doing this day?' + +I shook my head. + +'I will tell you. I have been making my will--there is something to +leave; not so very much, but still something.' + +'Do not talk of wills,' I said; 'I trust that you may live for many +years.' + +He laughed. 'You must think badly of my case, nephew, when you think +that I can be deceived thus. I am about to die as you know well, and I +do not fear death. My life has been prosperous but not happy, for it was +blighted in its spring--no matter how. The story is an old one and not +worth telling; moreover, whichever way it had read, it had all been one +now in the hour of death. We must travel our journey each of us; what +does it matter if the road has been good or bad when we have reached the +goal? For my part religion neither comforts nor frightens me now at the +last. I will stand or fall upon the record of my life. I have done evil +in it and I have done good; the evil I have done because nature and +temptation have been too strong for me at times, the good also because +my heart prompted me to it. Well, it is finished, and after all death +cannot be so terrible, seeing that every human being is born to undergo +it, together with all living things. Whatever else is false, I hold this +to be true, that God exists and is more merciful than those who preach +Him would have us to believe.' And he ceased exhausted. + +Often since then I have thought of his words, and I still think of them +now that my own hour is so near. As will be seen Fonseca was a fatalist, +a belief which I do not altogether share, holding as I do that within +certain limits we are allowed to shape our own characters and destinies. +But his last sayings I believe to be true. God is merciful, and +death is not terrible either in its act or in its consequence. + +Presently Fonseca spoke again. 'Why do you lead me to talk of such +things? They weary me and I have little time. I was telling of my will. +Nephew, listen. Except certain sums that I have given to be spent in +charities--not in masses, mind you--I have left you all I possess.' + +'You have left it to ME!' I said astonished. + +'Yes, nephew, to you. Why not? I have no relations living and I have +learned to love you, I who thought that I could never care again for any +man or woman or child. I am grateful to you, who have proved to me that +my heart is not dead, take what I give you as a mark of my gratitude.' + +Now I began to stammer my thanks, but he stopped me. 'The sum that you +will inherit, nephew, amounts in all to about five thousand gold pesos, +or perhaps twelve thousand of your English pounds, enough for a young +man to begin life on, even with a wife. Indeed there in England it may +well be held a great fortune, and I think that your betrothed's father +will make no more objection to you as a son-in-law. Also there is this +house and all that it contains; the library and the silver are valuable, +and you will do well to keep them. All is left to you with the fullest +formality, so that no question can arise as to your right to take it; +indeed, foreseeing my end, I have of late called in my moneys, and for +the most part the gold lies in strong boxes in the secret cupboard in +the wall yonder that you know of. It would have been more had I known +you some years ago, for then, thinking that I grew too rich who was +without an heir, I gave away as much as what remains in acts of mercy +and in providing refuge for the homeless and the suffering. Thomas +Wingfield, for the most part this money has come to me as the fruit +of human folly and human wretchedness, frailty and sin. Use it for +the purposes of wisdom and the advancing of right and liberty. May it +prosper you, and remind you of me, your old master, the Spanish quack, +till at last you pass it on to your children or the poor. And now one +word more. If your conscience will let you, abandon the pursuit of de +Garcia. Take your fortune and go with it to England; wed that maid whom +you desire, and follow after happiness in whatever way seems best to +you. Who are you that you should meet out vengeance on this knave de +Garcia? Let him be, and he will avenge himself upon himself. Otherwise +you may undergo much toil and danger, and in the end lose love, and +life, and fortune at a blow.' + +'But I have sworn to kill him,' I answered, 'and how can I break so +solemn an oath? How could I sit at home in peace beneath the burden of +such shame?' + +'I do not know; it is not for me to judge. You must do as you wish, but +in the doing of it, it may happen that you will fall into greater shames +than this. You have fought the man and he has escaped you. Let him go if +you are wise. Now bend down and kiss me, and bid me farewell. I do not +desire that you should see me die, and my death is near. I cannot tell +if we shall meet again when in your turn you have lain as I lie now, or +if we shape our course for different stars. If so, farewell for ever.' + +Then I leant down and kissed him on the forehead, and as I did so I +wept, for not till this hour did I learn how truly I had come to love +him, so truly that it seemed to me as though my father lay there dying. + +'Weep not,' he said, 'for all our life is but a parting. Once I had a +son like you, and ours was the bitterest of farewells. Now I go to seek +for him again who could not come back to me, so weep not because I die. +Good-bye, Thomas Wingfield. May God prosper and protect you! Now go!' + +So I went weeping, and that night, before the dawn, all was over with +Andres de Fonseca. They told me that he was conscious to the end and +died murmuring the name of that son of whom he spoke in his last words +to me. + +What was the history of this son, or of Fonseca himself, I never +learned, for like an Indian he hid his trail as step by step he wandered +down the path of life. He never spoke of his past, and in all the books +and documents that he left behind him there is no allusion to it. Once, +some years ago, I read through the cipher volumes of records that I have +spoken of, and of which he gave me the key before he died. They stand +before me on the shelf as I write, and in them are many histories of +shame, sorrow, and evil, of faith deluded and innocence betrayed, of +the cruelty of priests, of avarice triumphant over love, and of love +triumphant over death--enough, indeed, to furnish half a hundred of +true romances. But among these chronicles of a generation now past and +forgotten, there is no mention of Fonseca's own name and no hint of his +own story. It is lost for ever, and perhaps this is well. So died my +benefactor and best friend. + +When he was made ready for burial I went in to see him and he looked +calm and beautiful in his death sleep. Then it was that she who had +arrayed him for the grave handed to me two portraits most delicately +painted on ivory and set in gold, which had been found about his neck. +I have them yet. One is of the head of a lady with a sweet and wistful +countenance, and the other the face of a dead youth also beautiful, but +very sad. Doubtless they were mother and son, but I know no more about +them. + +On the morrow I buried Andres de Fonseca, but with no pomp, for he had +said that he wished as little money as possible spent upon his dead +body, and returned to the house to meet the notaries. Then the seals +were broken and the parchments read and I was put in full possession of +the dead man's wealth, and having deducted such sums as were payable for +dues, legacies, and fees, the notaries left me bowing humbly, for was I +not rich? Yes, I was rich, wealth had come to me without effort, and +I had reason to desire it, yet this was the saddest night that I had +passed since I set foot in Spain, for my mind was filled with doubts and +sorrow, and moreover my loneliness got a hold of me. But sad as it might +be, it was destined to seem yet more sorrowful before the morning. For +as I sat making pretence to eat, a servant came to me saying that a +woman waited in the outer room who had asked to see his late master. +Guessing that this was some client who had not heard of Fonseca's death +I was about to order that she should be dismissed, then bethought me +that I might be of service to her or at the least forget some of my own +trouble in listening to hers. So I bade him bring her in. Presently she +came, a tall woman wrapped in a dark cloak that hid her face. I bowed +and motioned to her to be seated, when suddenly she started and spoke. + +'I asked to see Don Andres de Fonseca,' she said in a low quick voice. +'You are not he, senor.' + +'Andres de Fonseca was buried to-day,' I answered. 'I was his assistant +in his business and am his heir. If I can serve you in any way I am at +your disposal.' + +'You are young--very young,' she murmured confusedly, 'and the matter is +terrible and urgent. How can I trust you?' + +'It is for you to judge, senora.' + +She thought a while, then drew off her cloak, displaying the robes of a +nun. + +'Listen,' she said. 'I must do many a penance for this night's work, and +very hardly have I won leave to come hither upon an errand of mercy. Now +I cannot go back empty-handed, so I must trust you. But first swear by +thine blessed Mother of God that you will not betray me.' + +'I give you my word,' I answered; 'if that is not enough, let us end +this talk.' + +'Do not be angry with me,' she pleaded; 'I have not left my convent +walls for many years and I am distraught with grief. I seek a poison of +the deadliest. I will pay well for it.' + +'I am not the tool of murderers,' I answered. 'For what purpose do you +wish the poison?' + +'Oh! I must tell you--yet how can I? In our convent there dies to-night +a woman young and fair, almost a girl indeed, who has broken the vows +she took. She dies to-night with her babe--thus, oh God, thus! by being +built alive into the foundations of the house she has disgraced. It is +the judgment that has been passed upon her, judgment without forgiveness +or reprieve. I am the abbess of this convent--ask not its name or +mine--and I love this sinner as though she were my daughter. I have +obtained this much of mercy for her because of my faithful services +to the church and by secret influence, that when I give her the cup of +water before the work is done, I may mix poison with it and touch the +lips of the babe with poison, so that their end is swift. I may do this +and yet have no sin upon my soul. I have my pardon under seal. Help me +then to be an innocent murderess, and to save this sinner from her last +agonies on earth.' + +I cannot set down the feelings with which I listened to this tale +of horror, for words could not carry them. I stood aghast seeking an +answer, and a dreadful thought entered my mind. + +'Is this woman named Isabella de Siguenza?' I asked. + +'That name was hers in the world,' she answered, 'though how you know it +I cannot guess.' + +'We know many things in this house, mother. Say now, can this Isabella +be saved by money or by interest?' + +'It is impossible; her sentence has been confirmed by the Tribunal of +Mercy. She must die and within two hours. Will you not give the poison?' + +'I cannot give it unless I know its purpose, mother. This may be a +barren tale, and the medicine might be used in such a fashion that I +should fall beneath the law. At one price only can I give it, and it is +that I am there to see it used.' + +She thought a while and answered: 'It may be done, for as it chances the +wording of my absolution will cover it. But you must come cowled as a +priest, that those who carry out the sentence may know nothing. Still +others will know and I warn you that should you speak of the matter you +yourself will meet with misfortune. The Church avenges itself on those +who betray its secrets, senor.' + +'As one day its secrets will avenge themselves upon the Church,' I +answered bitterly. 'And now let me seek a fitting drug--one that is +swift, yet not too swift, lest your hounds should see themselves baffled +of the prey before all their devilry is done. Here is something that +will do the work,' and I held up a phial that I drew from a case of such +medicines. 'Come, veil yourself, mother, and let us be gone upon this +"errand of mercy."' + +She obeyed, and presently we left the house and walked away swiftly +through the crowded streets till we came to the ancient part of the city +along the river's edge. Here the woman led me to a wharf where a boat +was in waiting for her. We entered it, and were rowed for a mile or more +up the stream till the boat halted at a landing-place beneath a high +wall. Leaving it, we came to a door in the wall on which my companion +knocked thrice. Presently a shutter in the woodwork was drawn, and a +white face peeped through the grating and spoke. My companion answered +in a low voice, and after some delay the door was opened, and I found +myself in a large walled garden planted with orange trees. Then the +abbess spoke to me. + +'I have led you to our house,' she said. 'If you know where you are, and +what its name may be, for your own sake I pray you forget it when you +leave these doors.' + +I made no answer, but looked round the dim and dewy garden. + +Here it was doubtless that de Garcia had met that unfortunate who must +die this night. A walk of a hundred paces brought us to another door in +the wall of a long low building of Moorish style. Here the knocking and +the questioning were repeated at more length. Then the door was opened, +and I found myself in a passage, ill lighted, long and narrow, in the +depths of which I could see the figures of nuns flitting to and fro like +bats in a tomb. The abbess walked down the passage till she came to a +door on the right which she opened. It led into a cell, and here she +left me in the dark. For ten minutes or more I stayed there, a prey to +thoughts that I had rather forget. At length the door opened again, and +she came in, followed by a tall priest whose face I could not see, for +he was dressed in the white robe and hood of the Dominicans that left +nothing visible except his eyes. + +'Greeting, my son,' he said, when he had scanned me for a while. 'The +abbess mother has told me of your errand. You are full young for such a +task.' + +'Were I old I should not love it better, father. You know the case. I +am asked to provide a deadly drug for a certain merciful purpose. I have +provided that drug, but I must be there to see that it is put to proper +use.' + +'You are very cautious, my son. The Church is no murderess. This woman +must die because her sin is flagrant, and of late such wickedness +has become common. Therefore, after much thought and prayer, and many +searchings to find a means of mercy, she is condemned to death by those +whose names are too high to be spoken. I, alas, am here to see the +sentence carried out with a certain mitigation which has been allowed by +the mercy of her chief judge. It seems that your presence is needful to +this act of love, therefore I suffer it. The mother abbess has warned +you that evil dogs the feet of those who reveal the secrets of the +Church. For your own sake I pray you to lay that warning to heart.' + +'I am no babbler, father, so the caution is not needed. One word more. +This visit should be well feed, the medicine is costly.' + +'Fear not, physician,' the monk answered with a note of scorn in his +voice; 'name your sum, it shall be paid to you.' + +'I ask no money, father. Indeed I would pay much to be far away +to-night. I ask only that I may be allowed to speak with this girl +before she dies.' + +'What!' he said, starting, 'surely you are not that wicked man? If so, +you are bold indeed to risk the sharing of her fate.' + +'No, father, I am not that man. I never saw Isabella de Siguenza except +once, and I have never spoken to her. I am not the man who tricked her +but I know him; he is named Juan de Garcia.' + +'Ah!' he said quickly, 'she would never tell his real name, even under +threat of torture. Poor erring soul, she could be faithful in her +unfaith. Of what would you speak to her?' + +'I wish to ask her whither this man has gone. He is my enemy, and I +would follow him as I have already followed him far. He has done worse +by me and mine than by this poor girl even. Grant my request, father, +that I may be able to work my vengeance on him, and with mine the +Church's also.' + +'"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord; "I will repay." Yet it may be, +son, that the Lord will choose you as the instrument of his wrath. +An opportunity shall be given you to speak with her. Now put on this +dress'--and he handed me a white Dominican hood and robe--'and follow +me.' + +'First,' I said, 'let me give this medicine to the abbess, for I will +have no hand in its administering. Take it, mother, and when the time +comes, pour the contents of the phial into a cup of water. Then, having +touched the mouth and tongue of the babe with the fluid, give it to the +mother to drink and be sure that she does drink it. Before the bricks +are built up about them both will sleep sound, never to wake again.' + +'I will do it,' murmured the abbess; 'having absolution I will be bold, +and do it for love and mercy's sake!' + +'Your heart is too soft, sister. Justice is mercy,' said the monk with a +sigh. 'Alas for the frailty of the flesh that wars against the spirit!' + +Then I clothed myself in the ghastly looking dress, and they took lamps +and motioned to me to follow them. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PASSING OF ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA + + +Silently we went down the long passage, and as we went I saw the eyes of +the dwellers in this living tomb watch us pass through the gratings of +their cell doors. Little wonder that the woman about to die had striven +to escape from such a home back to the world of life and love! Yet for +that crime she must perish. Surely God will remember the doings of such +men as these priests, and the nation that fosters them. And, in deed, He +does remember, for where is the splendour of Spain to-day, and where are +the cruel rites she gloried in? Here in England their fetters are broken +for ever, and in striving to bind them fast upon us free Englishmen she +is broken also--never to be whole again. + +At the far end of the passage we found a stair down which we passed. At +its foot was an iron-bound door that the monk unlocked and locked +again upon the further side. Then came another passage hollowed in the +thickness of the wall, and a second door, and we were in the place of +death. + +It was a vault low and damp, and the waters of the river washed its +outer wall, for I could hear their murmuring in the silence. Perhaps the +place may have measured ten paces in length by eight broad. For the rest +its roof was supported by massive columns, and on one side there was a +second door that led to a prison cell. At the further end of this gloomy +den, that was dimly lighted by torches and lamps, two men with hooded +heads, and draped in coarse black gowns, were at work, silently mixing +lime that sent up a hot steam upon the stagnant air. By their sides were +squares of dressed stone ranged neatly against the end of the vault, and +before them was a niche cut in the thickness of the wall itself, shaped +like a large coffin set upon its smaller end. In front of this niche was +placed a massive chair of chestnut wood. I noticed also that two other +such coffin-shaped niches had been cut in this same wall, and filled +in with similar blocks of whitish stone. On the face of each was a date +graved in deep letters. One had been sealed up some thirty years before, +and one hard upon a hundred. + +These two men were the only occupants of the vault when we entered it, +but presently a sound of soft and solemn singing stole down the second +passage. Then the door was opened, the mason monks ceased labouring at +the heap of lime, and the sound of singing grew louder so that I could +catch the refrain. It was that of a Latin hymn for the dying. Next +through the open door came the choir, eight veiled nuns walking two +by two, and ranging themselves on either side of the vault they ceased +their singing. After them followed the doomed woman, guarded by two more +nuns, and last of all a priest bearing a crucifix. This man wore a black +robe, and his thin half-frenzied face was uncovered. All these and other +things I noticed and remembered, yet at the time it seemed to me that I +saw nothing except the figure of the victim. I knew her again, although +I had seen her but once in the moonlight. She was changed indeed, her +lovely face was fuller and the great tormented eyes shone like stars +against its waxen pallor, relieved by the carmine of her lips alone. +Still it was the same face that some eight months before I had seen +lifted in entreaty to her false lover. Now her tall shape was wrapped +about with grave clothes over which her black hair streamed, and in +her arms she bore a sleeping babe that from time to time she pressed +convulsively to her breast. + +On the threshold of her tomb Isabella de Siguenza paused and looked +round wildly as though for help, scanning each of the silent watchers to +find a friend among them. Then her eye fell upon the niche and the heap +of smoking lime and the men who guarded it, and she shuddered and would +have fallen had not those who attended her led her to the chair and +placed her in it--a living corpse. + +Now the dreadful rites began. The Dominican father stood before her and +recited her offence, and the sentence that had been passed upon her, +which doomed her, 'to be left alone with God and the child of your sin, +that He may deal with you as He sees fit.'* To all of this she seemed to +pay no heed, nor to the exhortation that followed. At length he ceased +with a sigh, and turning to me said: + +'Draw near to this sinner, brother, and speak with her before it is too +late.' + + * Lest such cruelty should seem impossible and + unprecedented, the writer may mention that in the museum of + the city of Mexico, he has seen the desiccated body of a + young woman, which was found immured in the walls of a + religious building. With it is the body of an infant. + Although the exact cause of her execution remains a matter + of conjecture, there can be no doubt as to the manner of her + death, for in addition to other evidences, the marks of the + rope with which her limbs were bound in life are still + distinctly visible. Such in those days were the mercies of + religion! + +Then he bade all present gather themselves at the far end of the vault +that our talk might not be overheard, and they did so without wonder, +thinking doubtless that I was a monk sent to confess the doomed woman. + +So I drew near with a beating heart, and bending over her I spoke in her +ear. + +'Listen to me, Isabella de Siguenza!' I said; and as I uttered the name +she started wildly. 'Where is that de Garcia who deceived and deserted +you?' + +'How have you learnt his true name?' she answered. 'Not even torture +would have wrung it from me as you know.' + +'I am no monk and I know nothing. I am that man who fought with de +Garcia on the night when you were taken, and who would have killed him +had you not seized me.' + +'At the least I saved him, that is my comfort now.' + +'Isabella de Siguenza,' I said, 'I am your friend, the best you ever had +and the last, as you shall learn presently. Tell me where this man is, +for there is that between us which must be settled.' + +'If you are my friend, weary me no more. I do not know where he is. +Months ago he went whither you will scarcely follow, to the furthest +Indies; but you will never find him there.' + +'It may still be that I shall, and if it should so chance, say have you +any message for this man?' + +'None--yes, this. Tell him how we died, his child and his wife--tell him +that I did my best to hide his name from the priests lest some like fate +should befall him.' + +'Is that all?' + +'Yes. No, it is not all. Tell him that I passed away loving and +forgiving.' + +'My time is short,' I said; 'awake and listen!' for having spoken thus +she seemed to be sinking into a lethargy. 'I was the assistant of that +Andres de Fonseca whose counsel you put aside to your ruin, and I have +given a certain drug to the abbess yonder. When she offers you the cup +of water, see that you drink and deep, you and the child. If so none +shall ever die more happily. Do you understand?' + +'Yes--yes,' she gasped, 'and may blessings rest upon you for the gift. +Now I am no more afraid--for I have long desired to die--it was the way +I feared.' + +'Then farewell, and God be with you, unhappy woman.' + +'Farewell,' she answered softly, 'but call me not unhappy who am about +to die thus easily with that I love.' And she glanced at the sleeping +babe. + +Then I drew back and stood with bent head, speaking no word. Now the +Dominican motioned to all to take the places where they had stood before +and asked her: + +'Erring sister, have you aught to say before you are silent for ever?' + +'Yes,' she answered in a clear, sweet voice, that never even quavered, +so bold had she become since she learned that her death would be swift +and easy. 'Yes, I have this to say, that I go to my end with a clean +heart, for if I have sinned it is against custom and not against God. +I broke the vows indeed, but I was forced to take those vows, and, +therefore, they did not bind. I was a woman born for light and love, +and yet I was thrust into the darkness of this cloister, there to wither +dead in life. And so I broke the vows, and I am glad that I have +broken them, though it has brought me to this. If I was deceived and +my marriage is no marriage before the law as they tell me now, I knew +nothing of it, therefore to me it is still valid and holy and on my soul +there rests no stain. At the least I have lived, and for some few hours +I have been wife and mother, and it is as well to die swiftly in this +cell that your mercy has prepared, as more slowly in those above. And +now for you--I tell you that your wickedness shall find you out, you who +dare to say to God's children--"Ye shall not love," and to work murder +on them because they will not listen. It shall find you out I say, and +not only you but the Church you serve. Both priest and Church shall be +broken together and shall be a scorn in the mouths of men to come.' + +'She is distraught,' said the Dominican as a sigh of fear and wonder +went round the vault, 'and blasphemes in her madness. Forget her words. +Shrive her, brother, swiftly ere she adds to them.' + +Then the black-robed, keen-eyed priest came to her, and holding the +cross before her face, began to mutter I know not what. But she rose +from the chair and thrust the crucifix aside. + +'Peace!' she said, 'I will not be shriven by such as you. I take my sins +to God and not to you--you who do murder in the name of Christ.' + +The fanatic heard and a fury took him. + +'Then go unshriven down to hell, you--' and he named her by ill names +and struck her in the face with the ivory crucifix. + +The Dominican bade him cease his revilings angrily enough, but Isabella +de Siguenza wiped her bruised brow and laughed aloud a dreadful laugh to +hear. + +'Now I see that you are a coward also,' she said. 'Priest, this is my +last prayer, that you also may perish at the hands of fanatics, and more +terribly than I die to-night.' + +Then they hurried her into the place prepared for her and she spoke +again: + +'Give me to drink, for we thirst, my babe and I!' + +Now I saw the abbess enter that passage whence the victim had been led. +Presently she came back bearing a cup of water in her hand and with it a +loaf of bread, and I knew by her mien that my draught was in the water. +But of what befell afterwards I cannot say certainly, for I prayed +the Dominican to open the door by which we had entered the vault, and +passing through it I stood dazed with horror at some distance. A +while went by, I do not know how long, till at length I saw the abbess +standing before me, a lantern in her hand, and she was sobbing bitterly. + +'All is done,' she said. 'Nay, have no fear, the draught worked well. +Before ever a stone was laid mother and child slept sound. Alas for her +soul who died unrepentant and unshriven!' + +'Alas for the souls of all who have shared in this night's work,' I +answered. 'Now, mother, let me hence, and may we never meet again!' + +Then she led me back to the cell, where I tore off that accursed monk's +robe, and thence to the door in the garden wall and to the boat which +still waited on the river, and I rejoiced to feel the sweet air upon my +face as one rejoices who awakes from some foul dream. But I won little +sleep that night, nor indeed for some days to come. For whenever I +closed my eyes there rose before me the vision of that beauteous woman +as I saw her last by the murky torchlight, wrapped in grave clothes and +standing in the coffin-shaped niche, proud and defiant to the end, her +child clasped to her with one arm while the other was outstretched to +take the draught of death. Few have seen such a sight, for the Holy +Office and its helpers do not seek witnesses to their dark deeds, and +none would wish to see it twice. If I have described it ill, it is not +that I have forgotten, but because even now, after the lapse of some +seventy years, I can scarcely bear to write of it or to set out its +horrors fully. But of all that was wonderful about it perhaps the most +wonderful was that even to the last this unfortunate lady should still +have clung to her love for the villain who, having deceived her by a +false marriage, deserted her, leaving her to such a doom. To what end +can so holy a gift as this great love of hers have been bestowed on such +a man? None can say, but so it was. Yet now that I think of it, there is +one thing even stranger than her faithfulness. + +It will be remembered that when the fanatic priest struck her she prayed +that he also might die at such hands and more terribly than she must do. +So it came about. In after years that very man, Father Pedro by name, +was sent to convert the heathen of Anahuac, among whom, because of his +cruelty, he was known as the 'Christian Devil.' But it chanced that +venturing too far among a clan of the Otomie before they were finally +subdued, he fell into the hands of some priests of the war god Huitzel, +and by them was sacrificed after their dreadful fashion. I saw him as he +went to his death, and without telling that I had been present when +it was uttered, I called to his mind the dying curse of Isabella de +Siguenza. Then for a moment his courage gave way, for seeing in me +nothing but an Indian chief, he believed that the devil had put the +words into my lips to torment him, causing me to speak of what I knew +nothing. But enough of this now; if it is necessary I will tell of it in +its proper place. At least, whether it was by chance, or because she had +a gift of vision in her last hours, or that Providence was avenged on +him after this fashion, so it came about, and I do not sorrow for it, +though the death of this priest brought much misfortune on me. + +This then was the end of Isabella de Siguenza who was murdered by +priests because she had dared to break their rule. + + +So soon as I could clear my mind somewhat of all that I had seen and +heard in that dreadful vault, I began to consider the circumstances in +which I found myself. In the first place I was now a rich man, and if it +pleased me to go back to Norfolk with my wealth, as Fonseca had pointed +out, my prospects were fair indeed. But the oath that I had taken hung +like lead about my neck. I had sworn to be avenged upon de Garcia, and +I had prayed that the curse of heaven might rest upon me till I was so +avenged, but in England living in peace and plenty I could scarcely come +by vengeance. Moreover, now I knew where he was, or at least in what +portion of the world I might seek him, and there where white men are few +he could not hide from me as in Spain. This tidings I had gained from +the doomed lady, and I have told her story at some length because it +was through it and her that I came to journey to Hispaniola, as it was +because of the sacrifice of her tormentor, Father Pedro, by the priests +of the Otomie that I am here in England this day, since had it not been +for that sacrifice the Spaniards would never have stormed the City of +Pines, where, alive or dead, I should doubtless have been to this hour; +for thus do seeming accidents build up the fates of men. Had those words +never passed Isabella's lips, doubtless in time I should have wearied +of a useless search and sailed for home and happiness. But having heard +them it seemed to me, to my undoing, that this would be to play the +part of a sorry coward. Moreover, strange as it may look, now I felt +as though I had two wrongs to avenge, that of my mother and that of +Isabella de Siguenza. Indeed none could have seen that young and lovely +lady die thus terribly and not desire to wreak her death on him who had +betrayed and deserted her. + +So the end of it was that being of a stubborn temper, I determined to do +violence to my own desires and the dying counsels of my benefactor, and +to follow de Garcia to the ends of the earth and there to kill him as I +had sworn to do. + +First, however, I inquired secretly and diligently as to the truth of +the statement that de Garcia had sailed for the Indies, and to be brief, +having the clue, I discovered that two days after the date of the duel I +had fought with him, a man answering to de Garcia's description, though +bearing a different name, had shipped from Seville in a carak bound for +the Canary Islands, which carak was there to await the arrival of the +fleet sailing for Hispaniola. Indeed from various circumstances I had +little doubt that the man was none other than de Garcia himself, which, +although I had not thought of it before, was not strange, seeing that +then as now the Indies were the refuge of half the desperadoes and +villains who could no longer live in Spain. Thither then I made up my +mind to follow him, consoling myself a little by the thought that at +least I should see new and wonderful countries, though how new and +wonderful they were I did not guess. + + +Now it remained for me to dispose of the wealth which had come to me +suddenly. While I was wondering how I could place it in safety till my +return, I heard by chance that the 'Adventuress' of Yarmouth, the same +ship in which I had come to Spain a year before, was again in the port +of Cadiz, and I bethought me that the best thing I could do with the +gold and other articles of value would be to ship them to England, there +to be held in trust for me. So having despatched a message to my friend +the captain of the 'Adventuress,' that I had freight of value for him, I +made my preparations to depart from Seville with such speed as I might, +and to this end I sold my benefactor's house, with many of the effects, +at a price much below their worth. The most of the books and plate, +together with some other articles, I kept, and packing them in cases, +I caused them to be transported down the river to Cadiz, to the care +of those same agents to whom I had received letters from the Yarmouth +merchants. + +This being done I followed thither myself, taking the bulk of my fortune +with me in gold, which I hid artfully in numerous packages. And so it +came to pass that after a stay of a year in Seville, I turned my back on +it for ever. My sojourn there had been fortunate, for I came to it +poor and left it a rich man, to say nothing of what I had gained in +experience, which was much. Yet I was glad to be gone, for here Juan de +Garcia had escaped me, here I had lost my best friend and seen Isabella +de Siguenza die. + + +I came to Cadiz in safety and without loss of any of my goods or gold, +and taking boat proceeded on board the 'Adventuress,' where I found her +captain, whose name was Bell, in good health and very glad to see me. +What pleased me more, however, was that he had three letters for me, one +from my father, one from my sister Mary, and one from my betrothed, Lily +Bozard, the only letter I ever received from her. The contents of these +writings were not altogether pleasing however, for I learned from them +that my father was in broken health and almost bedridden, and indeed, +though I did not know it for many years after, he died in Ditchingham +Church upon the very day that I received his letter. It was short and +sad, and in it he said that he sorrowed much that he had allowed me +to go upon my mission, since he should see me no more and could only +commend me to the care of the Almighty, and pray Him for my safe return. +As for Lily's letter, which, hearing that the 'Adventuress' was to sail +for Cadiz, she had found means to despatch secretly, though it was not +short it was sad also, and told me that so soon as my back was turned on +home, my brother Geoffrey had asked her in marriage from her father, and +that they pushed the matter strongly, so that her life was made a misery +to her, for my brother waylaid her everywhere, and her father did +not cease to revile her as an obstinate jade who would fling away her +fortune for the sake of a penniless wanderer. + +'But,' it went on, 'be assured, sweetheart, that unless they marry me by +force, as they have threatened to do, I will not budge from my promise. +And, Thomas, should I be wedded thus against my will, I shall not be +a wife for long, for though I am strong I believe that I shall die of +shame and sorrow. It is hard that I should be thus tormented, and for +one reason only, that you are not rich. Still I have good hope that +things may better themselves, for I see that my brother Wilfred is +much inclined towards your sister Mary, and though he also urges this +marriage on me to-day, she is a friend to both of us and may be in +the way to make terms with him before she accepts his suit.' Then the +writing ended with many tender words and prayers for my safe return. + +As for the letter from my sister Mary it was to the same purpose. As +yet, she said, she could do nothing for me with Lily Bozard, for my +brother Geoffrey was mad with love for her, my father was too ill +to meddle in the matter, and Squire Bozard was fiercely set upon the +marriage because of the lands that were at stake. Still, she hinted, +things might not always be so, as a time might come when she could speak +up for me and not in vain. + +Now all this news gave me much cause for thought. More indeed, it awoke +in me a longing for home which was so strong that it grew almost to a +sickness. Her loving words and the perfume that hung about the letter +of my betrothed brought Lily back to me in such sort that my heart ached +with a desire to be with her. Moreover I knew that I should be welcome +now, for my fortune was far greater than my brother's would ever be, +and parents do not show the door to suitors who bring more than twelve +thousand golden pieces in their baggage. Also I wished to see my father +again before he passed beyond my reach. But still between me and +my desire lay the shadow of de Garcia and my oath. I had brooded on +vengeance for so long that I felt even in the midst of this strong +temptation that I should have no pleasure in my life if I forsook my +quest. To be happy I must first kill de Garcia. Moreover I had come to +believe that did I so forsake it the curse which I had invoked would +surely fall upon me. + +Meanwhile I did this. Going to a notary I caused him to prepare a deed +which I translated into English. By this deed I vested all my fortune +except two hundred pesos that I kept for my own use, in three persons to +hold the same on my behalf till I came to claim it. Those three persons +were my old master, Doctor Grimstone of Bungay, whom I knew for the +honestest of men, my sister Mary Wingfield, and my betrothed, Lily +Bozard. I directed them by this deed, which for greater validity I +signed upon the ship and caused to be witnessed by Captain Bell and +two other Englishmen, to deal with the property according to their +discretion, investing not less than half of it in the purchase of lands +and putting the rest out to interest, which interest with the rent of +the lands was to be paid to the said Lily Bozard for her own use for so +long as she remained unmarried. + +Also with the deed I executed a will by which I devised the most of my +property to Lily Bozard should she be unmarried at the date of my death, +and the residue to my sister Mary. In the event of the marriage or death +of Lily, then the whole was to pass to Mary and her heirs. + +These two documents being signed and sealed, I delivered them, together +with all my treasure and other goods, into the keeping of Captain Bell, +charging him solemnly to hand them and my possessions to Dr. Grimstone +of Bungay, by whom he would be liberally rewarded. This he promised to +do, though not until he had urged me almost with tears to accompany them +myself. + +With the gold and the deeds I sent several letters; to my father, my +sister, my brother, Dr. Grimstone, Squire Bozard, and lastly to Lily +herself. In these letters I gave an account of my life and fortunes +since I had come to Spain, for I gathered that others which I had sent +had never reached England, and told them of my resolution to follow de +Garcia to the ends of the earth. + +'Others,' I wrote to Lily, 'may think me a madman thus to postpone, or +perchance to lose, a happiness which I desire above anything on earth, +but you who understand my heart will not blame me, however much you may +grieve for my decision. You will know that when once I have set my mind +upon an object, nothing except death itself can turn me from it, and +that in this matter I am bound by an oath which my conscience will +not suffer me to break. I could never be happy even at your side if I +abandoned my search now. First must come the toil and then the rest, +first the sorrow and then the joy. Do not fear for me, I feel that I +shall live to return again, and if I do not return, at least I am +able to provide for you in such fashion that you need never be married +against your will. While de Garcia lives I must follow him.' + +To my brother Geoffrey I wrote very shortly, telling him what I thought +of his conduct in persecuting an undefended maiden and striving to do +wrong to an absent brother. I have heard that my letter pleased him very +ill. + + +And here I may state that those letters and everything else that I +sent came safely to Yarmouth. There the gold and goods were taken to +Lowestoft and put aboard a wherry, and when he had discharged his ship, +Captain Bell sailed up the Waveney with them till he brought them to +Bungay Staithe and thence to the house of Dr. Grimstone in Nethergate +Street. Here were gathered my sister and brother, for my father was then +two months buried--and also Squire Bozard and his son and daughter, for +Captain Bell had advised them of his coming by messenger, and when all +the tale was told there was wonder and to spare. Still greater did it +grow when the chests were opened and the weight of bullion compared with +that set out in my letters, for there had never been so much gold at +once in Bungay within the memory of man. + +And now Lily wept, first for joy because of my good fortune, and then +for sorrow because I had not come with my treasure, and when he had seen +all and heard the deeds read by virtue of which Lily was a rich woman +whether I lived or died, the Squire her father swore aloud and said that +he had always thought well of me, and kissed his daughter, wishing her +joy of her luck. In short all were pleased except my brother, who left +the house without a word and straightway took to evil courses. For +now the cup was dashed from his lips, seeing that having come into my +father's lands, he had brought it about that Lily was to be married to +him by might if no other means would serve. For even now a man can force +his daughter into marriage while she is under age, and Squire Bozard +was not one to shrink from such a deed, holding as he did that a woman's +fancies were of no account. But on this day, so great is the power of +gold, there was no more talk of her marrying any man except myself, +indeed her father would have held her back from such a thing had she +shown a mind to it, seeing that then Lily would have lost the wealth +which I had settled on her. But all talked loudly of my madness because +I would not abandon the chase of my enemy but chose to follow him to +the far Indies, though Squire Bozard took comfort from the thought that +whether I lived or died the money was still his daughter's. Only Lily +spoke up for me, saying 'Thomas has sworn an oath and he does well to +keep it, for his honour is at stake. Now I go to wait until he comes to +me in this world or the next.' + + +But all this is out of place, for many a year passed away before I heard +of these doings. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LOSS OF THE CARAK + + +On the day after I had given my fortune and letters into the charge of +Captain Bell, I watched the 'Adventuress' drop slowly round the mole +of Cadiz, and so sad was I at heart, that I am not ashamed to confess +I wept. I would gladly have lost the wealth she carried if she had but +carried me. But my purpose was indomitable, and it must be some other +ship that would bear me home to the shores of England. + +As it chanced, a large Spanish carak named 'Las Cinque Llagas,' or 'The +Five Wounds,' was about to sail for Hispaniola, and having obtained a +licence to trade, I took passage in her under my assumed name of d'Aila, +passing myself off as a merchant. To further this deception I purchased +goods the value of one hundred and five pesos, and of such nature as I +was informed were most readily saleable in the Indies, which merchandise +I shipped with me. The vessel was full of Spanish adventurers, mostly +ruffians of varied career and strange history, but none the less +good companions enough when not in drink. By this time I could speak +Castilian so perfectly, and was so Spanish in appearance, that it was +not difficult for me to pass myself off as one of their nation and this +I did, inventing a feigned tale of my parentage, and of the reasons +that led me to tempt the seas. For the rest, now as ever I kept my own +counsel, and notwithstanding my reserve, for I would not mingle in their +orgies, I soon became well liked by my comrades, chiefly because of my +skill in ministering to their sicknesses. + +Of our voyage there is little to tell except of its sad end. At the +Canary Isles we stayed a month, and then sailed away for Hispaniola, +meeting with fine weather but light winds. When, as our captain +reckoned, we were within a week's sail of the port of San Domingo for +which we were bound, the weather changed, and presently gathered to a +furious tempest from the north that grew more terrible every hour. For +three days and nights our cumbrous vessel groaned and laboured beneath +the stress of the gale, that drove us on rapidly we knew not whither, +till at length it became clear that, unless the weather moderated, +we must founder. Our ship leaked at every seam, one of our masts was +carried away, and another broken in two, at a height of twenty feet from +the deck. But all these misfortunes were small compared to what was to +come, for on the fourth morning a great wave swept off our rudder, and +we drifted helpless before the waves. An hour later a green sea came +aboard of us, washing away the captain, so that we filled and settled +down to founder. + +Then began a most horrid scene. For several days both the crew and +passengers had been drinking heavily to allay their terror, and now that +they saw their end at hand, they rushed to and fro screaming, praying, +and blaspheming. Such of them as remained sober began to get out the two +boats, into which I and another man, a worthy priest, strove to place +the women and children, of whom we had several on board. But this was no +easy task, for the drunken sailors pushed them aside and tried to spring +into the boats, the first of which overturned, so that all were lost. +Just then the carak gave a lurch before she sank, and, seeing that +everything was over, I called to the priest to follow me, and springing +into the sea I swam for the second boat, which, laden with some +shrieking women, had drifted loose in the confusion. As it chanced I +reached it safely, being a strong swimmer, and was able to rescue the +priest before he sank. Then the vessel reared herself up on her stern +and floated thus for a minute or more, which gave us time to get out the +oars and row some fathoms further away from her. Scarcely had we done +so, when, with one wild and fearful scream from those on board of her, +she rushed down into the depths below, nearly taking us with her. For +a while we sat silent, for our horror overwhelmed us, but when the +whirlpool which she made had ceased to boil, we rowed back to where the +carak had been. Now all the sea was strewn with wreckage, but among it +we found only one child living that had clung to an oar. The rest, +some two hundred souls, had been sucked down with the ship and perished +miserably, or if there were any still living, we could not find them in +that weltering sea over which the darkness was falling. + +Indeed, it was well for our own safety that we failed in so doing, for +the little boat had ten souls on board in all, which was as many as she +could carry--the priest and I being the only men among them. I have said +that the darkness was falling, and as it chanced happily for us, so was +the sea, or assuredly we must have been swamped. All that we could +do was to keep the boat's head straight to the waves, and this we did +through the long night. It was a strange thing to see, or rather to +hear, that good man the priest my companion, confessing the women one +by one as he laboured at his oar, and when all were shriven sending up +prayers to God for the salvation of our souls, for of the safety of our +bodies we despaired. What I felt may well be imagined, but I forbear +to describe it, seeing that, bad as was my case, there were worse ones +before me of which I shall have to tell in their season. + +At length the night wore away, and the dawn broke upon the desolate sea. +Presently the sun came up, for which at first we were thankful, for we +were chilled to the bone, but soon its heat grew intolerable, since we +had neither food nor water in the boat, and already we were parched with +thirst. But now the wind had fallen to a steady breeze, and with the +help of the oars and a blanket, we contrived to fashion a sail that drew +us through the water at a good speed. But the ocean was vast, and we +did not know whither we were sailing, and every hour the agony of thirst +pressed us more closely. Towards mid-day a child died suddenly and was +thrown into the sea, and some three hours later the mother filled a +bailing bowl and drank deep of the bitter water. For a while it seemed +to assuage her thirst, then suddenly a madness took her, and springing +up she cast herself overboard and sank. Before the sun, glowing like a +red-hot ball, had sunk beneath the horizon, the priest and I were the +only ones in that company who could sit upright--the rest lay upon the +bottom of the boat heaped one on another like dying fish groaning in +their misery. Night fell at last and brought us some relief from our +sufferings, for the air grew cooler. But the rain we prayed for did +not fall, and so great was the heat that, when the sun rose again in a +cloudless sky, we knew, if no help reached us, that it must be the last +which we should see. + +An hour after dawn another child died, and as we were in the act of +casting the body into the sea, I looked up and saw a vessel far away, +that seemed to be sailing in such fashion that she would pass within two +miles of where we were. Returning thanks to God for this most blessed +sight, we took to the oars, for the wind was now so light that our +clumsy sail would no longer draw us through the water, and rowed feebly +so as to cut the path of the ship. When we had laboured for more than an +hour the wind fell altogether and the vessel lay becalmed at a distance +of about three miles. So the priest and I rowed on till I thought that +we must die in the boat, for the heat of the sun was like that of a +flame and there came no wind to temper it; by now, too, our lips were +cracked with thirst. Still we struggled on till the shadow of the ship's +masts fell athwart us and we saw her sailors watching us from the deck. +Now we were alongside and they let down a ladder of rope, speaking to us +in Spanish. + +How we reached the deck I cannot say, but I remember falling beneath +the shade of an awning and drinking cup after cup of the water that was +brought to me. At last even my thirst was satisfied, and for a while I +grew faint and dizzy, and had no stomach for the meat which was thrust +into my hand. Indeed, I think that I must have fainted, for when I came +to myself the sun was straight overhead, and it seemed to me that I had +dreamed I heard a familiar and hateful voice. At the time I was alone +beneath the awning, for the crew of the ship were gathered on the +foredeck clustering round what appeared to be the body of a man. By my +side was a large plate of victuals and a flask of spirits, and feeling +stronger I ate and drank of them heartily. I had scarcely finished my +meal when the men on the foredeck lifted the body of the man, which I +saw was black in colour, and cast it overboard. Then three of them, whom +from their port I took to be officers, came towards me and I rose to my +feet to meet them. + +'Senor,' said the tallest of them in a soft and gentle voice, 'suffer +me to offer you our felicitations on your wonderful--' and he stopped +suddenly. + +Did I still dream, or did I know the voice? Now for the first time I +could see the man's face--it was that of JUAN DE GARCIA! But if I knew +him he also knew me. + +'Caramba!' he said, 'whom have we here? Senor Thomas Wingfield I salute +you. Look, my comrades, you see this young man whom the sea has brought +to us. He is no Spaniard but an English spy. The last time that I saw +him was in the streets of Seville, and there he tried to murder me +because I threatened to reveal his trade to the authorities. Now he is +here, upon what errand he knows best.' + +'It is false,' I answered; 'I am no spy, and I am come to these seas for +one purpose only--to find you.' + +'Then you have succeeded well, too well for your own comfort, perhaps. +Say now, do you deny that you are Thomas Wingfield and an Englishman?' + +'I do not deny it. I--' + +'Your pardon. How comes it then that, as your companion the priest tells +me, you sailed in Las Cinque Llagas under the name of D'AILA?' + +'For my own reasons, Juan de Garcia.' + +'You are confused, senor. My name is Sarceda, as these gentlemen can +bear me witness. Once I knew a cavalier of the name of de Garcia, but he +is dead.' + +'You lie,' I answered; whereon one of De Garcia's companions struck me +across the mouth. + +'Gently, friend,' said de Garcia; 'do not defile your hand by striking +such rats as this, or if you must strike, use a stick. You have +heard that he confesses to passing under a false name and to being an +Englishman, and therefore one of our country's foes. To this I add +upon my word of honour that to my knowledge he is a spy and a would-be +murderer. Now, gentlemen, under the commission of his majesty's +representative, we are judges here, but since you may think that, having +been called a liar openly by this English dog, I might be minded to deal +unjustly with him, I prefer to leave the matter in your hands.' + +Now I tried to speak once more, but the Spaniard who had struck me, a +ferocious-looking villain, drew his sword and swore that he would run me +through if I dared to open my lips. So I thought it well to keep silent. + +'This Englishman would grace a yardarm very well,' he said. + +De Garcia, who had begun to hum a tune indifferently, smiled, looking +first at the yard and then at my neck, and the hate in his eyes seemed +to burn me. + +'I have a better thought than that,' said the third officer. 'If we hung +him questions might be asked, and at the least, it would be a waste of +good money. He is a finely built young man and would last some years in +the mines. Let him be sold with the rest of the cargo, or I will take +him myself at a valuation. I am in want of a few such on my estate.' + +At these words I saw de Garcia's face fall a little, for he wished to +be rid of me for ever. Still he did not think it politic to interfere +beyond saying with a slight yawn: + +'So far as I am concerned, take him, comrade, and free of cost. Only I +warn you, watch him well or you will find a stiletto in your back.' + +The officer laughed and said: 'Our friend will scarcely get a chance at +me, for I do not go a hundred paces underground, where he will find his +quarters. And now, Englishman, there is room for you below I think;' +and he called to a sailor bidding him bring the irons of the man who had +died. + +This was done, and after I had been searched and a small sum in gold +that I had upon my person taken from me--it was all that remained to me +of my possessions--fetters were placed upon my ankles and round my neck, +and I was dragged into the hold. Before I reached it I knew from +various signs what was the cargo of this ship. She was laden with slaves +captured in Fernandina, as the Spaniards name the island of Cuba, that +were to be sold in Hispaniola. Among these slaves I was now numbered. + + +How to tell the horrors of that hold I know not. The place was low, not +more than seven feet in height, and the slaves lay ironed in the bilge +water on the bottom of the vessel. They were crowded as thick as they +could lie, being chained to rings fixed in the sides of the ship. +Altogether there may have been two hundred of them, men, women and +children, or rather there had been two hundred when the ship sailed a +week before. Now some twenty were dead, which was a small number, since +the Spaniards reckon to lose from a third to half of their cargo in this +devilish traffic. When I entered the place a deadly sickness seized me, +weak as I was, brought on by the horrible sounds and smells, and the +sights that I saw in the flare of the lanterns which my conductors +carried, for the hold was shut off from light and air. But they dragged +me along and presently I found myself chained in the midst of a line +of black men and women, many feet resting in the bilge water. There the +Spaniards left me with a jeer, saying that this was too good a bed +for an Englishman to lie on. For a while I endured, then sleep or +insensibility came to my succour, and I sank into oblivion, and so I +must have remained for a day and a night. + +When I awoke it was to find the Spaniard to whom I had been sold or +given, standing near me with a lantern and directing the removal of the +fetters from a woman who was chained next to me. She was dead, and in +the light of the lantern I could see that she had been carried off by +some horrible disease that was new to me, but which I afterwards learned +to know by the name of the Black Vomit. Nor was she the only one, for I +counted twenty dead who were dragged out in succession, and I could +see that many more were sick. Also I saw that the Spaniards were not +a little frightened, for they could make nothing of this sickness, and +strove to lessen it by cleansing the hold and letting air into it by +the removal of some planks in the deck above. Had they not done this I +believe that every soul of us must have perished, and I set down my own +escape from the sickness to the fact that the largest opening in the +deck was made directly above my head, so that by standing up, which my +chains allowed me to do, I could breathe air that was almost pure. + +Having distributed water and meal cakes, the Spaniards went away. I +drank greedily of the water, but the cakes I could not eat, for they +were mouldy. The sights and sounds around me were so awful that I will +not try to write of them. + +And all the while we sweltered in the terrible heat, for the sun pierced +through the deck planking of the vessel, and I could feel by her lack of +motion that we were becalmed and drifting. I stood up, and by resting +my heels upon a rib of the ship and my back against her side, I found +myself in a position whence I could see the feet of the passers-by on +the deck above. + +Presently I saw that one of these wore a priest's robe, and guessing +that he must be my companion with whom I had escaped, I strove to +attract his notice, and at length succeeded. So soon as he knew who +it was beneath him, the priest lay down on the deck as though to rest +himself, and we spoke together. He told me, as I had guessed, that we +were becalmed and that a great sickness had taken hold of the ship, +already laying low a third of the crew, adding that it was a judgment +from heaven because of their cruelty and wickedness. + +To this I answered that the judgment was working on the captives as well +as on the captors, and asked him where was Sarceda, as they named de +Garcia. Then I learned that he had been taken sick that morning, and I +rejoiced at the news, for if I had hated him before, it may be judged +how deeply I hated him now. Presently the priest left me and returned +with water mixed with the juice of limes, that tasted to me like nectar +from the gods, and some good meat and fruit. These he gave me through +the hole in the planks, and I made shift to seize them in my manacled +hands and devoured them. After this he went away, to my great chagrin; +why, I did not discover till the following morning. + +That day passed and the long night passed, and when at length the +Spaniards visited the hold once more, there were forty bodies to be +dragged out of it, and many others were sick. After they had gone I +stood up, watching for my friend the priest, but he did not come then, +nor ever again. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THOMAS COMES TO SHORE + + +For an hour or more I stood thus craning my neck upwards to seek for +the priest. At length when I was about to sink back into the hold, for +I could stand no longer in that cramped posture, I saw a woman's dress +pass by the hole in the deck, and knew it for one that was worn by a +lady who had escaped with me in the boat. + +'Senora,' I whispered, 'for the love of God listen to me. It is I, +d'Aila, who am chained down here among the slaves.' + +She started, then as the priest had done, she sat herself down upon the +deck, and I told her of my dreadful plight, not knowing that she was +acquainted with it, and of the horrors below. + +'Alas! senor,' she answered, 'they can be little worse than those above. +A dreadful sickness is raging among the crew, six are already dead and +many more are raving in their last madness. I would that the sea had +swallowed us with the rest, for we have been rescued from it only to +fall into hell. Already my mother is dead and my little brother is +dying.' + +'Where is the priest?' I asked. + +'He died this morning and has just been cast into the sea. Before he +died he spoke of you, and prayed me to help you if I could. But his +words were wild and I thought that he might be distraught. And indeed +how can I help you?' + +'Perhaps you can find me food and drink,' I answered 'and for our +friend, God rest his soul. What of the Captain Sarceda? Is he also +dead?' + +'No, senor, he alone is recovering of all whom the scourge has smitten. +And now I must go to my brother, but first I will seek food for you.' + +She went and presently returned with meat and a flask of wine which she +had hidden beneath her dress, and I ate and blessed her. + +For two days she fed me thus, bringing me food at night. On the second +night she told me that her brother was dead and of all the crew only +fifteen men and one officer remained untouched by the sickness, and that +she herself grew ill. Also she said that the water was almost finished, +and there was little food left for the slaves. After this she came no +more, and I suppose that she died also. + +It was within twenty hours of her last visit that I left this accursed +ship. For a day none had come to feed or tend the slaves, and indeed +many needed no tending, for they were dead. Some still lived however, +though so far as I could see the most of them were smitten with the +plague. I myself had escaped the sickness, perhaps because of the +strength and natural healthiness of my body, which has always saved me +from fevers and diseases, fortified as it was by the good food that I +had obtained. But now I knew that I could not live long, indeed chained +in this dreadful charnel-house I prayed for death to release me from the +horrors of such existence. The day passed as before in sweltering heat, +unbroken by any air or motion, and night came at last, made hideous by +the barbarous ravings of the dying. But even there and then I slept and +dreamed that I was walking with my love in the vale of Waveney. + +Towards the morning I was awakened by a sound of clanking iron, and +opening my eyes, I saw that men were at work, by the light of lanterns, +knocking the fetters from the dead and the living together. As the +fetters were loosed a rope was put round the body of the slave, and dead +or quick, he was hauled through the hatchway. Presently a heavy splash +in the water without told the rest of the tale. Now I understood that +all the slaves were being thrown overboard because of the want of water, +and in the hope that it might avail to save from the pestilence those of +the Spaniards who still remained alive. + +I watched them at their work for a while till there were but two slaves +between me and the workers, of whom one was living and the other dead. +Then I bethought me that this would be my fate also, to be cast quick +into the sea, and took counsel with myself as to whether I should +declare that I was whole from the plague and pray them to spare me, or +whether I should suffer myself to be drowned. The desire for life was +strong, but perhaps it may serve to show how great were the torments +from which I was suffering, and how broken was my spirit by misfortunes +and the horrors around me, when I say that I determined to make no +further effort to live, but rather to accept death as a merciful +release. And, indeed, I knew that there was little likelihood of such +attempts being of avail, for I saw that the Spanish sailors were mad +with fear and had but one desire, to be rid of the slaves who consumed +the water, and as they believed, had bred the pestilence. So I said such +prayers as came into my head, and although with a great shivering of +fear, for the poor flesh shrinks from its end and the unknown beyond it, +however high may be the spirit, I prepared myself to die. + +Now, having dragged away my neighbour in misery, the living savage, the +men turned to me. They were naked to the middle, and worked furiously +to be done with their hateful task, sweating with the heat, and keeping +themselves from fainting by draughts of spirit. + +'This one is alive also and does not seem so sick,' said a man as he +struck the fetters from me. + +'Alive or dead, away with the dog!' answered another hoarsely, and I saw +that it was the same officer to whom I had been given as a slave. 'It +is that Englishman, and he it is who brought us ill luck. Cast the Jonah +overboard and let him try his evil eye upon the sharks.' + +'So be it,' answered the other man, and finished striking off my +fetters. 'Those who have come to a cup of water each a day, do not press +their guests to share it. They show them the door. Say your prayers, +Englishman, and may they do you more good than they have done for most +on this accursed ship. Here, this is the stuff to make drowning easy, +and there is more of it on board than of water,' and he handed me the +flask of spirit. I took it and drank deep, and it comforted me a little. +Then they put the rope round me and at a signal those on the deck above +began to haul till I swung loose beneath the hatchway. As I passed +that Spaniard to whom I had been given in slavery, and who but now had +counselled my casting away, I saw his face well in the light of the +lantern, and there were signs on it that a physician could read clearly. + +'Farewell,' I said to him, 'we may soon meet again. Fool, why do you +labour? Take your rest, for the plague is on you. In six hours you will +be dead!' + +His jaw dropped with terror at my words, and for a moment he stood +speechless. Then he uttered a fearful oath and aimed a blow at me with +the hammer he held, which would swiftly have put an end to my sufferings +had I not at that moment been lifted from his reach by those who pulled +above. + +In another second I had fallen on the deck as they slacked the rope. +Near me stood two black men whose office it was to cast us poor wretches +into the sea, and behind them, seated in a chair, his face haggard from +recent illness, sat de Garcia fanning himself with his sombrero, for the +night was very hot. + +He recognised me at once in the moonlight, which was brilliant, and +said, 'What! are you here and still alive, Cousin? You are tough indeed; +I thought that you must be dead or dying. Indeed had it not been for +this accursed plague, I would have seen to it myself. Well, it has come +right at last, and here is the only lucky thing in all this voyage, that +I shall have the pleasure of sending you to the sharks. It consoles +me for much, friend Wingfield. So you came across the seas to seek +vengeance on me? Well, I hope that your stay has been pleasant. The +accommodation was a little poor, but at least the welcome was hearty. +And now it is time to speed the parting guest. Good night, Thomas +Wingfield; if you should chance to meet your mother presently, tell her +from me that I was grieved to have to kill her, for she is the one being +whom I have loved. I did not come to murder her as you may have thought, +but she forced me to it to save myself, since had I not done so, I +should never have lived to return to Spain. She had too much of my own +blood to suffer me to escape, and it seems that it runs strong in your +veins also, else you would scarcely hold so fast by vengeance. Well, it +has not prospered you!' And he dropped back into the chair and fell to +fanning himself again with the broad hat. + +Even then, as I stood upon the eve of death, I felt my blood run hot +within me at the sting of his coarse taunts. Truly de Garcia's triumph +was complete. I had come to hunt him down, and what was the end of it? +He was about to hurl me to the sharks. Still I answered him with such +dignity as I could command. + +'You have me at some disadvantage,' I said. 'Now if there is any manhood +left in you, give me a sword and let us settle our quarrel once and for +all. You are weak from sickness I know, but what am I who have spent +certain days and nights in this hell of yours. We should be well +matched, de Garcia.' + +'Perhaps so, Cousin, but where is the need? To be frank, things have not +gone over well with me when we stood face to face before, and it is odd, +but do you know, I have been troubled with a foreboding that you would +be the end of me. That is one of the reasons why I sought a change +of air to these warmer regions. But see the folly of forebodings, my +friend. I am still alive, though I have been ill, and I mean to go on +living, but you are--forgive me for mentioning it--you are already dead. +Indeed those gentlemen,' and he pointed to the two black men who +were taking advantage of our talk to throw into the sea the slave +who followed me up the hatchway, 'are waiting to put a stop to our +conversation. Have you any message that I can deliver for you? If +so, out with it, for time is short and that hold must be cleared by +daybreak.' + +'I have no message to give you from myself, though I have a message for +you, de Garcia,' I answered. 'But before I tell it, let me say a word. +You seem to have won, wicked murderer as you are, but perhaps the game +is not yet played. Your fears may still come true. I am dead, but my +vengeance may yet live on, for I leave it to the Hand in which I should +have left it at first. You may live some years longer, but do you think +that you shall escape? One day you will die as surely as I must die +to-night, and what then, de Garcia?' + +'A truce, I pray you,' he said with a sneer. 'Surely you have not +been consecrated priest. You had a message, you said. Pray deliver it +quickly. Time presses, Cousin Wingfield. Who sends messages to an exile +like myself?' + +'Isabella de Siguenza, whom you cheated with a false marriage and +abandoned,' I said. + +He started from his chair and stood over me. + +'What of her?' he whispered fiercely. + +'Only this, the monks walled her up alive with her babe.' + +'Walled her up alive! Mother of God! how do you know that?' + +'I chanced to see it done, that is all. She prayed me to tell you of +her end and the child's, and that she died hiding your name, loving and +forgiving. This was all her message, but I will add to it. May she haunt +you for ever, she and my mother; may they haunt you through life and +death, through earth and hell.' + +He covered his face with his hands for a moment, then dropping them sank +back into the chair and called to the black sailors. + +'Away with this slave. Why are you so slow?' + +The men advanced upon me, but I was not minded to be handled by them if +I could help it, and I was minded to cause de Garcia to share my fate. +Suddenly I bounded at him, and gripping him round the middle, I dragged +him from his chair. Such was the strength that rage and despair gave to +me that I succeeded in swinging him up to the level of the bulwarks. But +there the matter ended, for at that moment the two black sailors sprang +upon us both, and tore him from my grip. Then seeing that all was lost, +for they were about to cut me down with their swords, I placed my hand +upon the bulwark and leaped into the sea. + +My reason told me that I should do well to drown as quickly as possible, +and I thought to myself that I would not try to swim, but would sink at +once. Yet love of life was too strong for me, and so soon as I touched +the water, I struck out and began to swim along the side of the ship, +keeping myself in her shadow, for I feared lest de Garcia should cause +me to be shot at with arrows and musket balls. Presently as I went I +heard him say with an oath: + +'He has gone, and for good this time, but my foreboding went near to +coming true after all. Bah! how the sight of that man frightens me.' + +Now I knew in my heart that I was doing a mad thing, for though if no +shark took me, I might float for six or eight hours in this warm water +yet I must sink at last, and what would my struggle have profited me? +Still I swam on slowly, and after the filth and stench of the slave +hold, the touch of the clean water and the breath of the pure air were +like food and wine to me, and I felt strength enter into me as I went. +By this time I was a hundred yards or more from the ship, and though +those on board could scarcely have seen me, I could still hear the +splash of the bodies, as the slaves were flung from her, and the +drowning cries of such among them as still lived. + +I lifted my head and looked round the waste of water, and seeing +something floating on it at a distance, I swam towards it, expecting +that every moment would be my last, because of the sharks which abound +in these seas. Soon I was near it, and to my joy I perceived that it was +a large barrel, which had been thrown from the ship, and was floating +upright in the water. I reached it, and pushing at it from below, +contrived to tilt it so that I caught its upper edge with my hand. Then +I saw that it was half full of meal cakes, and that it had been cast +away because the meal was stinking. It was the weight of these rotten +cakes acting as ballast, that caused the tub to float upright in the +water. Now I bethought me, that if I could get into this barrel I should +be safe from the sharks for a while, but how to do it I did not know. + +While I wondered, chancing to glance behind me, I saw the fin of a shark +standing above the water not twenty paces away, and advancing rapidly +towards me. Then terror seized me and gave me strength and the wit of +despair. Pulling down the edge of the barrel till the water began to +pour into it, I seized it on either side with my hands, and lifting my +weight upon them, I doubled my knees. To this hour I cannot tell how I +accomplished it, but the next second I was in the cask, with no other +hurt than a scraped shin. But though I had found a boat, the boat itself +was like to sink, for what with my weight and that of the rotten meal, +and of the water which had poured over the rim, the edge of the barrel +was not now an inch above the level of the sea, and I knew that did +another bucketful come aboard, it would no longer bear me. At that +moment also I saw the fin of the shark within four yards, and then felt +the barrel shake as the fish struck it with his nose. + +Now I began to bail furiously with my hands, and as I bailed, the edge +of the cask lifted itself above the water. When it had risen some +two inches, the shark, enraged at my escape, came to the surface, and +turning on its side, bit at the tub so that I heard its teeth grate +on the wood and iron bands, causing it to heel over and to spin round, +shipping more water as it heeled. Now I must bail afresh, and had the +fish renewed its onset, I should have been lost. But not finding wood +and iron to its taste, it went away for a while, although I saw its fin +from time to time for the space of some hours. I bailed with my hands +till I could lift the water no longer, then making shift to take off my +boot, I bailed with that. Soon the edge of the cask stood twelve inches +above the water, and I did not lighten it further, fearing lest it +should overturn. Now I had time to rest and to remember that all this +was of no avail, since I must die at last either by the sea or because +of thirst, and I lamented that my cowardice had only sufficed to prolong +my sufferings. + +Then I prayed to God to succour me, and never did I pray more heartily +than in that hour, and when I had finished praying some sort of peace +and hope fell upon me. I thought it marvellous that I should thus have +escaped thrice from great perils within the space of a few days, first +from the sinking carak, then from pestilence and starvation in the hold +of the slave-ship, and now, if only for a while, from the cruel jaws of +the sharks. It seemed to me that I had not been preserved from dangers +which proved fatal to so many, only that I might perish miserably at +last, and even in my despair I began to hope when hope was folly; though +whether this relief was sent to me from above, or whether it was simply +that being so much alive at the moment I could not believe that I should +soon be dead, is not for me to say. + +At the least my courage rose again, and I could even find heart to note +the beauty of the night. The sea was smooth as a pond, there was no +breath of wind, and now that the moon began to sink, thousands of stars +of a marvellous brightness, such as we do not see in England, gemmed the +heavens everywhere. At last these grew pale, and dawn began to flush the +east, and after it came the first rays of sunlight. But now I could not +see fifty yards around me, because of a dense mist that gathered on the +face of the quiet water, and hung there for an hour or more. When the +sun was well up and at length the mist cleared away, I perceived that I +had drifted far from the ship, of which I could only see the masts that +grew ever fainter till they vanished. Now the surface of the sea was +clear of fog except in one direction, where it hung in a thick bank of +vapour, though why it should rest there and nowhere else, I could not +understand. + +Then the sun grew hot, and my sufferings commenced, for except the +draught of spirits that had been given me in the hold of the slave-ship, +I had touched no drink for a day and a night. I will not tell them +all in particular detail, it is enough to say that those can scarcely +imagine them who have never stood for hour after hour in a barrel, +bare-headed and parched with thirst, while the fierce heat of a tropical +sun beat down on them from above, and was reflected upward from the +glassy surface of the water. In time, indeed, I grew faint and dizzy, +and could hardly save myself from falling into the sea, and at last I +sank into a sort of sleep or insensibility, from which I was awakened by +a sound of screaming birds and of falling water. I looked and saw to +my wonder and delight, that what I had taken to be a bank of mist was +really low-lying land, and that I was drifting rapidly with the tide +towards the bar of a large river. The sound of birds came from great +flocks of sea-gulls that were preying on the shoals of fish, which fed +at the meeting of the fresh and salt water. Presently, as I watched, a +gull seized a fish that could not have weighed less than three pounds, +and strove to lift it from the sea. Failing in this, it beat the fish on +the head with its beak till it died, and had begun to devour it, when I +drifted down upon the spot and made haste to seize the fish. In another +moment, dreadful as it may seem, I was devouring the food raw, and never +have I eaten with better appetite, or found more refreshment in a meal. + +When I had swallowed all that I was able, without drinking water, I put +the rest of the fish into the pocket of my coat, and turned my thoughts +to the breakers on the bar. Soon it was evident to me that I could not +pass them standing in my barrel, so I hastened to upset myself into the +water and to climb astride of it. Presently we were in the surf, and I +had much ado to cling on, but the tide bore me forward bravely, and in +half an hour more the breakers were past, and I was in the mouth of the +great river. Now fortune favoured me still further, for I found a piece +of wood floating on the stream which served me for a paddle, and by its +help I was enabled to steer my craft towards the shore, that as I went I +perceived to be clothed with thick reeds, in which tall and lovely trees +grew in groups, bearing clusters of large nuts in their crowns. Hither +to this shore I came without further accident, having spent some ten +hours in my tub, though it was but a chance that I did so, because of +the horrible reptiles called crocodiles, or, by some, alligators, with +which this river swarmed. But of them I knew nothing as yet. + +I reached land but just in time, for before I was ashore the tide +turned, and tide and current began to carry me out to sea again, whence +assuredly I had never come back. Indeed, for the last ten minutes, it +took all the strength that I had to force the barrel along towards the +bank. At length, however, I perceived that it floated in not more than +four feet of water, and sliding from it, I waded to the bank and cast +myself at length there to rest and thank God who thus far had preserved +me miraculously. But my thirst, which now returned upon me more fiercely +than ever, would not suffer me to lie thus for long, so I staggered to +my feet and walked along the bank of the river till I came to a pool of +rain water, which on the tasting, proved to be sweet and good. Then I +drank, weeping for joy at the taste of the water, drank till I could +drink no more, and let those who have stood in such a plight remember +what water was to them, for no words of mine can tell it. After I +had drunk and washed the brine from my face and body, I drew out the +remainder of my fish and ate it thankfully, and thus refreshed, cast +myself down to sleep in the shade of a bush bearing white flowers, for I +was utterly outworn. + +When I opened my eyes again it was night, and doubtless I should have +slept on through many hours more had it not been for a dreadful itch and +pain that took me in every part, till at length I sprang up and cursed +in my agony. At first I was at a loss to know what occasioned this +torment, till I perceived that the air was alive with gnat-like insects +which made a singing noise, and then settling on my flesh, sucked blood +and spat poison into the wound at one and the same time. These dreadful +insects the Spaniards name mosquitoes. Nor were they the only flies, for +hundreds of other creatures, no bigger than a pin's head, had fastened +on to me like bulldogs to a baited bear, boring their heads into the +flesh, where in the end they cause festers. They are named garrapatas +by the Spanish, and I take them to be the young of the tic. Others there +were, also, too numerous to mention, and of every shape and size, though +they had this in common, all bit and all were venomous. Before the +morning these plagues had driven me almost to madness, for in no way +could I obtain relief from them. Towards dawn I went and lay in the +water, thinking to lessen my sufferings, but before I had been there ten +minutes I saw a huge crocodile rise up from the mud beside me. I sprang +away to the bank horribly afraid, for never before had I beheld so +monstrous and evil-looking a brute, to fall again into the clutches of +the creatures, winged and crawling, that were waiting for me there by +myriads. + +But enough of these damnable insects! + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE STONE OF SACRIFICE + + +At length the morning broke and found me in a sorry plight, for my face +was swollen to the size of a pumpkin by the venom of the mosquitoes, and +the rest of my body was in little better case. Moreover I could not +keep myself still because of the itching, but must run and jump like a +madman. And where was I to run to through this huge swamp, in which I +could see no shelter or sign of man? I could not guess, so since I must +keep moving I followed the bank of the river, as I walked disturbing +many crocodiles and loathsome snakes. Now I knew that I could not live +long in such suffering, and determined to struggle forward till I fell +down insensible and death put an end to my torments. + +For an hour or more I went on thus till I came to a place that was clear +of bush and reeds. Across this I skipped and danced, striking with my +swollen hands at the gnats which buzzed about my head. Now the end was +not far off, for I was exhausted and near to falling, when suddenly +I came upon a party of men, brown in colour and clothed with white +garments, who had been fishing in the river. By them on the water were +several canoes in which were loads of merchandise, and they were now +engaged in eating. So soon as these men caught sight of me they uttered +exclamations in an unknown tongue and seizing weapons that lay by them, +bows and arrows and wooden clubs set on either side with spikes of +flinty glass, they made towards me as though to kill me. Now I lifted up +my hands praying for mercy, and seeing that I was unarmed and helpless +the men laid down their arms and addressed me. I shook my head to show +that I could not understand, and pointed first to the sea and then to +my swollen features. They nodded, and going to one of the canoes a man +brought from it a paste of a brown colour and aromatic smell. Then by +signs he directed me to remove such garments as remained on me, the +fashion of which seemed to puzzle them greatly. This being done, they +proceeded to anoint my body with the paste, the touch of which gave me +a most blessed relief from my intolerable itching and burning, and +moreover rendered my flesh distasteful to the insects, for after that +they plagued me little. + +When I was anointed they offered me food, fried fish and cakes of +meal, together with a most delicious hot drink covered with a brown and +foaming froth that I learned to know afterwards as chocolate. When I +had finished eating, having talked a while together in low tones, they +motioned me to enter one of the canoes, giving me mats to lie on. I +obeyed, and three other men came with me, for the canoe was large. One +of these, a very grave man with a gentle face and manner whom I took +to be the chief of the party, sat down opposite to me, the other two +placing themselves in the bow and stern of the boat which they drove +along by means of paddles. Then we started, followed by three other +canoes, and before we had gone a mile utter weariness overpowered me and +I fell asleep. + +I awoke much refreshed, having slept many hours, for now the sun was +setting, and was astonished to find the grave-looking man my companion +in the canoe, keeping watch over my sleep and warding the gnats from me +with a leafy branch. His kindness seemed to show that I was in no danger +of ill-treatment, and my fears on that point being set at rest, I began +to wonder as to what strange land I had come and who its people might +be. Soon, however, I gave over, having nothing to build on, and observed +the scenery instead. Now we were paddling up a smaller river than the +one on the banks of which I had been cast away, and were no longer in +the midst of marshes. On either side of us was open land, or rather land +that would have been open had it not been for the great trees, larger +than the largest oak, which grew upon it, some of them of surpassing +beauty. Up these trees climbed creepers that hung like ropes even +from the topmost boughs, and among them were many strange and gorgeous +flowering plants that seemed to cling to the bark as moss clings to +a wall. In their branches also sat harsh-voiced birds of brilliant +colours, and apes that barked and chattered at us as we went. + +Just as the sun set over all this strange new scene the canoes came to +a landing place built of timber, and we disembarked. Now it grew dark +suddenly, and all I could discover was that I was being led along a good +road. Presently we reached a gate, which, from the barking of dogs and +the numbers of people who thronged about it, I judged to be the entrance +to a town, and passing it, we advanced down a long street with houses on +either side. At the doorway of the last house my companion halted, and +taking me by the hand, led me into a long low room lit with lamps of +earthenware. Here some women came forward and kissed him, while others +whom I took to be servants, saluted him by touching the floor with one +hand. Soon, however, all eyes were turned on me and many eager questions +were asked of the chief, of which I could only guess the purport. + +When all had gazed their fill supper was served, a rich meal of many +strange meats, and of this I was invited to partake, which I did, seated +on a mat and eating of the dishes that were placed upon the ground by +the women. Among these I noticed one girl who far surpassed all the +others in grace, though none were unpleasing to the eye. She was dark, +indeed, but her features were regular and her eyes fine. Her figure was +tall and straight, and the sweetness of her face added to the charm of +her beauty. I mention this girl here for two reasons, first because she +saved me once from sacrifice and once from torture, and secondly because +she was none other than that woman who afterwards became known as +Marina, the mistress of Cortes, without whose aid he had never conquered +Mexico. But at this time she did not guess that it was her destiny to +bring her country of Anahuac beneath the cruel yoke of the Spaniard. + +From the moment of my entry I saw that Marina, as I will call her, +for her Indian name is too long to be written, took pity on my forlorn +state, and did what lay in her power to protect me from vulgar curiosity +and to minister to my wants. It was she who brought me water to wash in, +and a clean robe of linen to replace my foul and tattered garments, and +a cloak fashioned of bright feathers for my shoulders. + +When supper was done a mat was given me to sleep on in a little room +apart, and here I lay down, thinking that though I might be lost for +ever to my own world, at least I had fallen among a people who were +gentle and kindly, and moreover, as I saw from many tokens, no savages. +One thing, however, disturbed me; I discovered that though I was well +treated, also I was a prisoner, for a man armed with a copper spear +slept across the doorway of my little room. Before I lay down I looked +through the wooden bars which served as a protection to the window +place, and saw that the house stood upon the border of a large open +space, in the midst of which a great pyramid towered a hundred feet or +more into the air. On the top of this pyramid was a building of stone +that I took to be a temple, and rightly, in front of which a fire +burned. Marvelling what the purpose of this great work might be, and in +honour of what faith it was erected, I went to sleep. + +On the morrow I was to learn. + +Here it may be convenient for me to state, what I did not discover till +afterwards, that I was in the city of Tobasco, the capital of one of the +southern provinces of Anahuac, which is situated at a distance of some +hundreds of miles from the central city of Tenoctitlan, or Mexico. The +river where I had been cast away was the Rio de Tobasco, where Cortes +landed in the following year, and my host, or rather my captor, was the +cacique or chief of Tobasco, the same man who subsequently presented +Marina to Cortes. Thus it came about that, with the exception of a +certain Aguilar, who with some companions was wrecked on the coast of +Yucatan six years before, I was the first white man who ever dwelt among +the Indians. This Aguilar was rescued by Cortes, though his companions +were all sacrificed to Huitzel, the horrible war-god of the country. But +the name of the Spaniards was already known to the Indians, who looked +on them with superstitious fear, for in the year previous to my being +cast away, the hidalgo Hernandez de Cordova had visited the coast of +Yucatan and fought several battles with the natives, and earlier in the +same year of my arrival, Juan de Grigalva had come to this very river of +Tobasco. Thus it came about that I was set down as one of this strange +new nation of Teules, as the Indians named the Spaniards, and therefore +as an enemy for whose blood the gods were thirsting. + + +I awoke at dawn much refreshed with sleep, and having washed and clothed +myself in the linen robes that were provided for me, I came into the +large room, where food was given me. Scarcely had I finished my meal +when my captor, the cacique, entered, accompanied by two men whose +appearance struck terror to my heart. In countenance they were fierce +and horrible; they wore black robes embroidered with mystic characters +in red, and their long and tangled hair was matted together with some +strange substance. These men, whom all present, including the chief or +cacique, seemed to look on with the utmost reverence, glared at me with +a fierce glee that made my blood run cold. One of them, indeed, tore +open my white robe and placed his filthy hand upon my heart, which beat +quickly enough, counting its throbs aloud while the other nodded at his +words. Afterwards I learned that he was saying that I was very strong. + +Glancing round to find the interpretation of this act upon the faces of +those about me, my eyes caught those of the girl Marina, and there was +that in them which left me in little doubt. Horror and pity were written +there, and I knew that some dreadful death overshadowed me. Before +I could do anything, before I could even think, I was seized by the +priests, or pabas as the Indians name them, and dragged from the room, +all the household following us except Marina and the cacique. Now I +found myself in a great square or market place bordered by many fine +houses of stone and lime, and some of mud, which was filling rapidly +with a vast number of people, men women and children, who all stared at +me as I went towards the pyramid on the top of which the fire burned. At +the foot of this pyramid I was led into a little chamber hollowed in its +thickness, and here my dress was torn from me by more priests, leaving +me naked except for a cloth about my loins and a chaplet of bright +flowers which was set upon my head. In this chamber were three other +men, Indians, who from the horror on their faces I judged to be also +doomed to death. + +Presently a drum began to beat high above us, and we were taken from the +chamber and placed in a procession of many priests, I being the first +among the victims. Then the priests set up a chant and we began the +ascent of the pyramid, following a road that wound round and round its +bulk till it ended on a platform at its summit, which may have measured +forty paces in the square. Hence the view of the surrounding country was +very fine, but in that hour I scarcely noticed it, having no care for +prospects, however pleasing. On the further side of the platform were +two wooden towers fifty feet or so in height. These were the temples of +the gods, Huitzel God of War and Quetzal God of the Air, whose hideous +effigies carved in stone grinned at us through the open doorways. In +the chambers of these temples stood small altars, and on the altars +were large dishes of gold, containing the hearts of those who had been +sacrificed on the yesterday. These chambers, moreover, were encrusted +with every sort of filth. In front of the temples stood the altar +whereon the fire burned eternally, and before it were a hog-backed block +of black marble of the size of an inn drinking table, and a great carven +stone shaped like a wheel, measuring some ten feet across with a copper +ring in its centre. + +All these things I remembered afterwards, though at the time I scarcely +seemed to see them, for hardly were we arrived on the platform when I +was seized and dragged to the wheel-shaped stone. Here a hide girdle +was put round my waist and secured to the ring by a rope long enough +to enable me to run to the edge of the stone and no further. Then a +flint-pointed spear was given to me and spears were given also to the +two captives who accompanied me, and it was made clear to me by signs +that I must fight with them, it being their part to leap upon the stone +and mine to defend it. Now I thought that if I could kill these two poor +creatures, perhaps I myself should be allowed to go free, and so to save +my life I prepared to take theirs if I could. Presently the head priest +gave a signal commanding the two men to attack me, but they were so lost +in fear that they did not even stir. Then the priests began to flog them +with leather girdles till at length crying out with pain, they ran at +me. One reached the stone and leapt upon it a little before the other, +and I struck the spear through his arm. Instantly he dropped his weapon +and fled, and the other man fled also, for there was no fight in them, +nor would any flogging bring them to face me again. + +Seeing that they could not make them brave, the priests determined to +have done with them. Amidst a great noise of music and chanting, he whom +I had smitten was seized and dragged to the hog-backed block of marble, +which in truth was a stone of sacrifice. On this he was cast down, +breast upwards, and held so by five priests, two gripping his hands, +two his legs, and one his head. Then, having donned a scarlet cloak, +the head priest, that same who had felt my heart, uttered some kind of +prayer, and, raising a curved knife of the flint-like glass or itztli, +struck open the poor wretch's breast at a single blow, and made the +ancient offering to the sun. + +As he did this all the multitude in the place below, in full view of +whom this bloody game was played, prostrated themselves, remaining on +their knees till the offering had been thrown into the golden censer +before the statue of the god Huitzel. Thereon the horrible priests, +casting themselves on the body, carried it with shouts to the edge of +the pyramid or teocalli, and rolled it down the steep sides. At the +foot of the slope it was lifted and borne away by certain men who were +waiting, for what purpose I did not know at that time. + +Scarcely was the first victim dead when the second was seized and +treated in a like fashion, the multitude prostrating themselves as +before. And then last of all came my turn. I felt myself seized and my +senses swam, nor did I recover them till I found myself lying on the +accursed stone, the priests dragging at my limbs and head, my breast +strained upwards till the skin was stretched tight as that of a drum, +while over me stood the human devil in his red mantle, the glass knife +in his hand. Never shall I forget his wicked face maddened with the lust +for blood, or the glare in his eyes as he tossed back his matted locks. +But he did not strike at once, he gloated over me, pricking me with the +point of the knife. It seemed to me that I lay there for years while the +paba aimed and pointed with the knife, but at last through a mist that +gathered before my eyes, I saw it flash upward. Then when I thought that +my hour had come, a hand caught his arm in mid-air and held it and I +heard a voice whispering. + +What was said did not please the priest, for suddenly he howled aloud +and made a dash towards me to kill me, but again his arm was caught +before the knife fell. Then he withdrew into the temple of the god +Quetzal, and for a long while I lay upon the stone suffering the agonies +of a hundred deaths, for I believed that it was determined to torture me +before I died, and that my slaughter had been stayed for this purpose. + +There I lay upon the stone, the fierce sunlight beating on my breast, +while from below came the faint murmur of the thousands of the wondering +people. All my life seemed to pass before me as I was stretched upon +that awful bed, a hundred little things which I had forgotten came back +to me, and with them memories of childhood, of my oath to my father, of +Lily's farewell kiss and words, of de Garcia's face as I was hurled into +the sea, of the death of Isabella de Siguenza, and lastly a vague wonder +as to why all priests were so cruel! + +At length I heard footsteps and shut my eyes, for I could bear the sight +of that dreadful knife no longer. But behold! no knife fell. Suddenly my +hands were loosed and I was lifted to my feet, on which I never hoped to +stand again. Then I was borne to the edge of the teocalli, for I could +not walk, and here my would-be murderer, the priest, having first +shouted some words to the spectators below, that caused them to murmur +like a forest when the wind stirs it, clasped me in his blood-stained +arms and kissed me on the forehead. Now it was for the first time that +I noticed my captor, the cacique, standing at my side, grave, courteous, +and smiling. As he had smiled when he handed me to the pabas, so he +smiled when he took me back from them. Then having been cleansed and +clothed, I was led into the sanctuary of the god Quetzal and stood face +to face with the hideous image there, staring at the golden censer that +was to have received my heart while the priests uttered prayers. Thence +I was supported down the winding road of the pyramid till I came to its +foot, where my captor the cacique took me by the hand and led me through +the people who, it seemed, now regarded me with some strange veneration. +The first person that I saw when we reached the house was Marina, who +looked at me and murmured some soft words that I could not understand. +Then I was suffered to go to my chamber, and there I passed the rest of +the day prostrated by all that I had undergone. Truly I had come to a +land of devils! + +And now I will tell how it was that I came to be saved from the knife. +Marina having taken some liking to me, pitied my sad fate, and being +very quick-witted, she found a way to rescue me. For when I had been led +off to sacrifice, she spoke to the cacique, her lord, bringing it to +his mind that, by common report Montezuma, the Emperor of Anahuac, was +disturbed as to the Teules or Spaniards, and desired much to see one. +Now, she said, I was evidently a Teule, and Montezuma would be angered, +indeed, if I were sacrificed in a far-off town, instead of being sent +to him to sacrifice if he saw fit. To this the cacique answered that the +words were wise, but that she should have spoken them before, for now +the priests had got hold of me, and it was hopeless to save me from +their grip. + +'Nay,' answered Marina, 'there is this to be said. Quetzal, the god +to whom this Teule is to be offered, was a white man,* and it may well +happen that this man is one of his children. Will it please the god +that his child should be offered to him? At the least, if the god is not +angered, Montezuma will certainly be wroth, and wreak a vengeance on you +and on the priests.' + + * Quetzal, or more properly Quetzalcoatl, was the divinity + who is fabled to have taught the natives of Anahuac all the + useful arts, including those of government and policy, he + was white-skinned and dark-haired. Finally he sailed from + the shores of Anahuac for the fabulous country of Tlapallan + in a bark of serpents' skins. But before he sailed he + promised that he would return again with a numerous progeny. + This promise was remembered by the Aztecs, and it was + largely on account of it that the Spaniards were enabled to + conquer the country, for they were supposed to be his + descendants. Perhaps Quetzalcoatl was a Norseman! Vide + Sagas of Eric the Red and of Thorfinn Karlsefne.--AUTHOR. + +Now when the cacique heard this he saw that Marina spoke truth, and +hurrying up the teocalli, he caught the knife as it was in the act of +falling upon me. At first the head priest was angered and called out +that this was sacrilege, but when the cacique had told him his mind, +he understood that he would do wisely not to run a risk of the wrath of +Montezuma. So I was loosed and led into the sanctuary, and when I came +out the paba announced to the people that the god had declared me to be +one of his children, and it was for this reason that then and thereafter +they treated me with reverence. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SAVING OF GUATEMOC + + +Now after this dreadful day I was kindly dealt with by the people of +Tobasco, who gave me the name of Teule or Spaniard, and no longer sought +to put me to sacrifice. Far from it indeed, I was well clothed and fed, +and suffered to wander where I would, though always under the care of +guards who, had I escaped, would have paid for it with their lives. I +learned that on the morrow of my rescue from the priests, messengers +were despatched to Montezuma, the great king, acquainting him with the +history of my capture, and seeking to know his pleasure concerning me. +But the way to Tenoctitlan was far, and many weeks passed before the +messengers returned again. Meanwhile I filled the days in learning +the Maya language, and also something of that of the Aztecs, which I +practised with Marina and others. For Marina was not a Tobascan, having +been born at Painalla, on the southeastern borders of the empire. But +her mother sold her to merchants in order that Marina's inheritance +might come to another child of hers by a second marriage, and thus in +the end the girl fell into the hands of the cacique of Tobasco. + +Also I learned something of the history and customs, and of the picture +writing of the land, and how to read it, and moreover I obtained great +repute among the Tobascans by my skill in medicine, so that in time they +grew to believe that I was indeed a child of Quetzal, the good god. And +the more I studied this people the less I could understand of them. In +most ways they were equal to any nation of our own world of which I had +knowledge. None are more skilled in the arts, few are better architects +or boast purer laws. Moreover, they were brave and had patience. But +their faith was the canker at the root of the tree. In precept it was +noble and had much in common with our own, such as the rite of baptism, +but I have told what it was in practice. And yet, when all is said, is +it more cruel to offer up victims to the gods than to torture them +in the vaults of the Holy Office or to immure them in the walls of +nunneries? + +When I had lived a month in Tobasco I had learned enough of the language +to talk with Marina, with whom I grew friendly, though no more, and it +was from her that I gathered the most of my knowledge, and also many +hints as to the conduct necessary to my safety. In return I taught her +something of my own faith, and of the customs of the Europeans, and it +was the knowledge that she gained from me which afterwards made her +so useful to the Spaniards, and prepared her to accept their religion, +giving her insight into the ways of white people. + +So I abode for four months and more in the house of the cacique of +Tobasco, who carried his kindness towards me to the length of offering +me his sister in marriage. To this proposal I said no as gently as I +might, and he marvelled at it, for the girl was fair. Indeed, so well +was I treated, that had it not been that my heart was far away, and +because of the horrible rites of their religion which I was forced to +witness almost daily, I could have learned to love this gentle, skilled, +and industrious people. + + +At length, when full four months had passed away, the messengers +returned from the court of Montezuma, having been much delayed +by swollen rivers and other accidents of travel. So great was the +importance that the Emperor attached to the fact of my capture, and +so desirous was he to see me at his capital, that he had sent his own +nephew, the Prince Guatemoc, to fetch me and a great escort of warriors +with him. + +Never shall I forget my first meeting with this prince who afterwards +became my dear companion and brother in arms. When the escort arrived I +was away from the town shooting deer with the bow and arrow, a weapon in +the use of which I had such skill that all the Indians wondered at +me, not knowing that twice I had won the prize at the butts on Bungay +Common. Our party being summoned by a messenger, we returned bearing our +deer with us. On reaching the courtyard of the cacique's house, I found +it filled with warriors most gorgeously attired, and among them one more +splendid than the rest. He was young, very tall and broad, most handsome +in face, and having eyes like those of an eagle, while his whole aspect +breathed majesty and command. His body was encased in a cuirass of gold, +over which hung a mantle made of the most gorgeous feathers, exquisitely +set in bands of different colours. On his head he wore a helmet of gold +surmounted by the royal crest, an eagle, standing on a snake fashioned +in gold and gems. On his arms, and beneath his knees, he wore circlets +of gold and gems, and in his hand was a copper-bladed spear. Round this +man were many nobles dressed in a somewhat similar fashion, except that +the most of them wore a vest of quilted cotton in place of the gold +cuirass, and a jewelled panache of the plumes of birds instead of the +royal symbol. + +This was Guatemoc, Montezuma's nephew, and afterwards the last emperor +of Anahuac. So soon as I saw him I saluted him in the Indian fashion by +touching the earth with my right hand, which I then raised to my head. +But Guatemoc, having scanned me with his eye as I stood, bow in hand, +attired in my simple hunter's dress, smiled frankly and said: + +'Surely, Teule, if I know anything of the looks of men, we are too equal +in our birth, as in our age, for you to salute me as a slave greets his +master.' And he held his hand to me. + +I took it, answering with the help of Marina, who was watching this +great lord with eager eyes. + +'It may be so, prince, but though in my own country I am a man of repute +and wealth, here I am nothing but a slave snatched from the sacrifice.' + +'I know it,' he said frowning. 'It is well for all here that you were so +snatched before the breath of life had left you, else Montezuma's wrath +had fallen on this city.' And he looked at the cacique who trembled, +such in those days was the terror of Montezuma's name. + +Then he asked me if I was a Teule or Spaniard. I told him that I was +no Spaniard but one of another white race who had Spanish blood in his +veins. This saying seemed to puzzle him, for he had never so much as +heard of any other white race, so I told him something of my story, at +least so much of it as had to do with my being cast away. + +When I had finished, he said, 'If I have understood aright, Teule, you +say that you are no Spaniard, yet that you have Spanish blood in you, +and came hither in a Spanish ship, and I find this story strange. Well, +it is for Montezuma to judge of these matters, so let us talk of them no +more. Come and show me how you handle that great bow of yours. Did you +bring it with you or did you fashion it here? They tell me, Teule, that +there is no such archer in the land.' + +So I came up and showed him the bow which was of my own make, and would +shoot an arrow some sixty paces further than any that I saw in Anahuac, +and we fell into talk on matters of sport and war, Marina helping out my +want of language, and before that day was done we had grown friendly. + +For a week the prince Guatemoc and his company rested in the town of +Tobasco, and all this time we three talked much together. Soon I saw +that Marina looked with eyes of longing on the great lord, partly +because of his beauty rank and might, and partly because she wearied of +her captivity in the house of the cacique, and would share Guatemoc's +power, for Marina was ambitious. She tried to win his heart in many +ways, but he seemed not to notice her, so that at last she spoke more +plainly and in my hearing. + +'You go hence to-morrow, prince,' she said softly, 'and I have a favour +to ask of you, if you will listen to your handmaid.' + +'Speak on, maiden,' he answered. + +'I would ask this, that if it pleases you, you will buy me of the +cacique my master, or command him to give me up to you, and take me with +you to Tenoctitlan.' + +Guatemoc laughed aloud. 'You put things plainly, maiden,' he said, +'but know that in the city of Tenoctitlan, my wife and royal cousin, +Tecuichpo, awaits me, and with her three other ladies, who as it chances +are somewhat jealous.' + +Now Marina flushed beneath her brown skin, and for the first and last +time I saw her gentle eyes grow hard with anger as she answered: + +'I asked you to take me with you, prince; I did not ask to be your wife +or love.' + +'But perchance you meant it,' he said dryly. + +'Whatever I may have meant, prince, it is now forgotten. I wished to see +the great city and the great king, because I weary of my life here and +would myself grow great. You have refused me, but perhaps a time will +come when I shall grow great in spite of you, and then I may remember +the shame that has been put upon me against you, prince, and all your +royal house.' + +Again Guatemoc laughed, then of a sudden grew stern. + +'You are over-bold, girl,' he said; 'for less words than these many a +one might find herself stretched upon the stone of sacrifice. But I will +forget them, for your woman's pride is stung, and you know not what you +say. Do you forget them also, Teule, if you have understood.' + +Then Marina turned and went, her bosom heaving with anger and outraged +love or pride, and as she passed me I heard her mutter, 'Yes, prince, +you may forget, but I shall not.' + +Often since that day I have wondered if some vision of the future +entered into the girl's breast in that hour, or if in her wrath she +spoke at random. I have wondered also whether this scene between her and +Guatemoc had anything to do with the history of her after life; or did +Marina, as she avowed to me in days to come, bring shame and ruin on +her country for the love of Cortes alone? It is hard to say, and perhaps +these things had nothing to do with what followed, for when great events +have happened, we are apt to search out causes for them in the past that +were no cause. This may have been but a passing mood of hers and one +soon put out of mind, for it is certain that few build up the temples +of their lives upon some firm foundation of hope or hate, of desire or +despair, though it has happened to me to do so, but rather take chance +for their architect--and indeed whether they take him or no, he is still +the master builder. Still that Marina did not forget this talk I know, +for in after times I heard her remind this very prince of the words that +had passed between them, ay, and heard his noble answer to her. + + +Now I have but one more thing to tell of my stay in Tobasco, and then +let me on to Mexico, and to the tale of how Montezuma's daughter became +my wife, and of my further dealings with de Garcia. + +On the day of our departure a great sacrifice of slaves was held upon +the teocalli to propitiate the gods, so that they might give us a safe +journey, and also in honour of some festival, for to the festivals of +the Indians there was no end. Thither we went up the sides of the +steep pyramid, since I must look upon these horrors daily. When all was +prepared, and we stood around the stone of sacrifice while the multitude +watched below, that fierce paba who once had felt the beatings of my +heart, came forth from the sanctuary of the god Quetzal and signed to +his companions to stretch the first of the victims on the stone. Then +of a sudden the prince Guatemoc stepped forward, and addressing the +priests, pointed to their chief, and said: + +'Seize that man!' + +They hesitated, for though he who commanded was a prince of the blood +royal, to lay hands upon a high priest was sacrilege. Then with a smile +Guatemoc drew forth a ring having a dull blue stone set in its bezel, +on which was engraved a strange device. With the ring he drew out also +a scroll of picture-writing, and held them both before the eyes of the +pabas. Now the ring was the ring of Montezuma, and the scroll was signed +by the great high priest of Tenoctitlan, and those who looked on the +ring and the scroll knew well that to disobey the mandate of him who +bore them was death and dishonour in one. So without more ado they +seized their chief and held him. Then Guatemoc spoke again and shortly: + +'Lay him on the stone and sacrifice him to the god Quetzal.' + +Now he who had taken such fierce joy in the death of others on this same +stone, began to tremble and weep, for he did not desire to drink of his +own medicine. + +'Why must I be offered up, O prince?' he cried, 'I who have been a +faithful servant to the gods and to the Emperor.' + +'Because you dared to try to offer up this Teule,' answered Guatemoc, +pointing to me, 'without leave from your master Montezuma, and because +of the other evils that you have done, all of which are written in this +scroll. The Teule is a son of Quetzal, as you have yourself declared, +and Quetzal will be avenged because of his son. Away with him, here is +your warrant.' + +Then the priests, who till this moment had been his servants, dragged +their chief to the stone, and there, notwithstanding his prayers and +bellowings, one who had donned his mantle practised his own art upon +him, and presently his body was cast down the side of the pyramid. For +my part I am not sufficient of a Christian to pretend that I was sorry +to see him die in that same fashion by which he had caused the death of +so many better men. + +When it was done Guatemoc turned to me and said, 'So perish all your +enemies, my friend Teule.' + +Within an hour of this event, which revealed to me how great was the +power of Montezuma, seeing that the sight of a ring from his finger +could bring about the instant death of a high priest at the hands of +his disciples, we started on our long journey. But before I went I bid a +warm farewell to my friend the cacique, and also to Marina, who wept at +my going. The cacique I never saw again, but Marina I did see. + + +For a whole month we travelled, for the way was far and the road rough, +and sometimes we must cut our path through forests and sometimes we must +wait upon the banks of rivers. Many were the strange sights that I saw +upon that journey, and many the cities in which we sojourned in much +state and honour, but I cannot stop to tell of all these. + +One thing I will relate, however, though briefly, because it changed +the regard that the prince Guatemoc and I felt one to the other into a +friendship which lasted till his death, and indeed endures in my heart +to this hour. + +One day we were delayed by the banks of a swollen river, and in pastime +went out to hunt for deer. When we had hunted a while and killed three +deer, it chanced that Guatemoc perceived a buck standing on a hillock, +and we set out to stalk it, five of us in all. But the buck was in the +open, and the trees and bush ceased a full hundred yards away from where +he stood, so that there was no way by which we might draw near to him. +Then Guatemoc began to mock me, saying, 'Now, Teule, they tell tales of +your archery, and this deer is thrice as far as we Aztecs can make sure +of killing. Let us see your skill.' + +'I will try,' I answered, 'though the shot is long.' + +So we drew beneath the cover of a ceiba tree, of which the lowest +branches drooped to within fifteen feet of the ground, and having set +an arrow on the string of the great bow that I had fashioned after the +shape of those we use in merry England, I aimed and drew it. Straight +sped the arrow and struck the buck fair, passing through its heart, and +a low murmur of wonderment went up from those who saw the feat. + +Then, just as we prepared to go to the fallen deer, a male puma, which +is nothing but a cat, though fifty times as big, that had been watching +the buck from above, dropped down from the boughs of the ceiba tree full +on to the shoulders of the prince Guatemoc, felling him to the ground, +where he lay face downwards while the fierce brute clawed and bit at his +back. Indeed had it not been for his golden cuirass and helm Guatemoc +would never have lived to be emperor of Anahuac, and perhaps it might +have been better so. + +Now when they saw the puma snarling and tearing at the person of their +prince, though brave men enough, the three nobles who were with us were +seized by sudden panic and ran, thinking him dead. But I did not run, +though I should have been glad enough to do so. At my side hung one of +the Indian weapons that serve them instead of swords, a club of wood set +on both sides with spikes of obsidian, like the teeth in the bill of a +swordfish. Snatching it from its loop I gave the puma battle, striking a +blow upon his head that rolled him over and caused the blood to pour. +In a moment he was up and at me roaring with rage. Whirling the wooden +sword with both hands I smote him in mid air, the blow passing between +his open paws and catching him full on the snout and head. So hard was +this stroke that my weapon was shattered, still it did not stop the +puma. In a second I was cast to the earth with a great shock, and the +brute was on me tearing and biting at my chest and neck. It was well for +me at that moment that I wore a garment of quilted cotton, otherwise +I must have been ripped open, and even with this covering I was sadly +torn, and to this day I bear the marks of the beast's claws upon my +body. But now when I seemed to be lost the great blow that I had struck +took effect on him, for one of the points of glass had pierced to his +brain. He lifted his head, his claws contracted themselves in my flesh, +then he howled like a dog in pain and fell dead upon my body. So I +lay upon the ground unable to stir, for I was much hurt, until my +companions, having taken heart, came back and pulled the puma off me. +By this time Guatemoc, who saw all, but till now was unable to move from +lack of breath, had found his feet again. + +'Teule,' he gasped, 'you are a brave man indeed, and if you live I swear +that I will always stand your friend to the death as you have stood +mine.' + +Thus he spoke to me; but to the others he said nothing, casting no +reproaches at them. + +Then I fainted away. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE COURT OF MONTEZUMA + + +Now for a week I was so ill from my wounds that I was unable to be +moved, and then I must be carried in a litter till we came to within +three days' journey of the city of Tenoctitlan or Mexico. After that, +as the roads were now better made and cared for than any I have seen in +England, I was able to take to my feet again. Of this I was glad, for +I have no love of being borne on the shoulders of other men after the +womanish Indian fashion, and, moreover, as we had now come to a cold +country, the road running through vast table-lands and across the tops +of mountains, it was no longer necessary as it had been in the hot +lands. Never did I see anything more dreary than these immense lengths +of desolate plains covered with aloes and other thorny and succulent +shrubs of fantastic aspect, which alone could live on the sandy and +waterless soil. This is a strange land, that can boast three separate +climates within its borders, and is able to show all the glories of the +tropics side by side with deserts of measureless expanse. + +One night we camped in a rest house, of which there were many built +along the roads for the use of travellers, that was placed almost on +the top of the sierra or mountain range which surrounds the valley of +Tenoctitlan. Next morning we took the road again before dawn, for the +cold was so sharp at this great height that we, who had travelled from +the hot land, could sleep very little, and also Guatemoc desired if it +were possible to reach the city that night. + +When we had gone a few hundred paces the path came to the crest of the +mountain range, and I halted suddenly in wonder and admiration. Below +me lay a vast bowl of land and water, of which, however, I could see +nothing, for the shadows of the night still filled it. But before me, +piercing the very clouds, towered the crests of two snow-clad mountains, +and on these the light of the unrisen sun played, already changing their +whiteness to the stain of blood. Popo, or the Hill that Smokes, is the +name of the one, and Ixtac, or the Sleeping Woman, that of the other, +and no grander sight was ever offered to the eyes of man than they +furnished in that hour before the dawn. From the lofty summit of Popo +went up great columns of smoke which, what with the fire in their heart +and the crimson of the sunrise, looked like rolling pillars of +flame. And for the glory of the glittering slopes below, that changed +continually from the mystery of white to dull red, from red to crimson, +and from crimson to every dazzling hue that the rainbow holds, who can +tell it, who can even imagine it? None, indeed, except those that have +seen the sun rise over the volcans of Tenoctitlan. + +When I had feasted my eyes on Popo I turned to Ixtac. She is not so +lofty as her 'husband,' for so the Aztecs name the volcan Popo, and when +first I looked I could see nothing but the gigantic shape of a woman +fashioned in snow, and lying like a corpse upon her lofty bier, whose +hair streamed down the mountain side. But now the sunbeams caught her +also, and she seemed to start out in majesty from a veil of rosy mist, +a wonderful and thrilling sight. But beautiful as she was then, still I +love the Sleeping Woman best at eve. Then she lies a shape of glory on +the blackness beneath, and is slowly swallowed up into the solemn night +as the dark draws its veil across her. + +Now as I gazed the light began to creep down the sides of the volcans, +revealing the forests on their flanks. But still the vast valley was +filled with mist that lay in dense billows resembling those of the sea, +through which hills and temple tops started up like islands. By slow +degrees as we passed upon our downward road the vapours cleared away, +and the lakes of Tezcuco, Chalco, and Xochicalco shone in the sunlight +like giant mirrors. On their banks stood many cities, indeed the +greatest of these, Mexico, seemed to float upon the waters; beyond them +and about them were green fields of corn and aloe, and groves of forest +trees, while far away towered the black wall of rock that hedges in the +valley. + +All day we journeyed swiftly through this fairy land. We passed through +the cities of Amaquem and Ajotzinco, which I will not stay to describe, +and many a lovely village that nestled upon the borders of Lake Chalco. +Then we entered on the great causeway of stone built like a road resting +on the waters, and with the afternoon we came to the town of Cuitlahuac. +Thence we passed on to Iztapalapan, and here Guatemoc would have rested +for the night in the royal house of his uncle Cuitlahua. But when we +reached the town we found that Montezuma, who had been advised of +our approach by runners, had sent orders that we were to push on to +Tenoctitlan, and that palanquins had been made ready to bear us. So we +entered the palanquins, and leaving that lovely city of gardens, were +borne swiftly along the southern causeway. On we went past towns built +upon piles fixed in the bottom of the lake, past gardens that were laid +out on reeds and floated over the waters like a boat, past teocallis and +glistening temples without number, through fleets of light canoes and +thousands of Indians going to and fro about their business, till at +length towards sunset we reached the battlemented fort that is called +Xoloc which stands upon the dyke. I say stands, but alas! it stands no +more. Cortes has destroyed it, and with it all those glorious cities +which my eyes beheld that day. + +At Xoloc we began to enter the city of Tenoctitlan or Mexico, the +mightiest city that ever I had seen. The houses on the outskirts, +indeed, were built of mud or adobe, but those in the richer parts were +constructed of red stone. Each house surrounded a courtyard and was +in turn surrounded by a garden, while between them ran canals, having +footpaths on either side. Then there were squares, and in the squares +pyramids, palaces, and temples without end. I gazed on them till I was +bewildered, but all seemed as nothing when at length I saw the great +temple with its stone gateways opening to the north and the south, +the east and the west, its wall carven everywhere with serpents, its +polished pavements, its teocallis decked with human skulls, thousands +upon thousands of them, and its vast surrounding tianquez, or market +place. I caught but a glimpse of it then, for the darkness was falling, +and afterwards we were borne on through the darkness, I did not know +whither. + +A while went by and I saw that we had left the city, and were passing +up a steep hill beneath the shadow of mighty cedar trees. Presently we +halted in a courtyard and here I was bidden to alight. Then the prince +Guatemoc led me into a wondrous house, of which all the rooms were +roofed with cedar wood, and its walls hung with richly-coloured cloths, +and in that house gold seemed as plentiful as bricks and oak are with +us in England. Led by domestics who bore cedar wands in their hands, +we went through many passages and rooms, till at length we came to +a chamber where other domestics were awaiting us, who washed us with +scented waters and clothed us in gorgeous apparel. Thence they conducted +us to a door where we were bidden to remove our shoes, and a coarse +coloured robe was given to each of us to hide our splendid dress. The +robes having been put on, we were suffered to pass the door, and found +ourselves in a vast chamber in which were many noble men and some women, +all standing and clad in coarse robes. At the far end of this chamber +was a gilded screen, and from behind it floated sounds of sweet music. + +Now as we stood in the great chamber that was lighted with +sweet-smelling torches, many men advanced and greeted Guatemoc the +prince, and I noticed that all of them looked upon me curiously. +Presently a woman came and I saw that her beauty was great. She was +tall and stately, and beneath her rough outer robe splendidly attired +in worked and jewelled garments. Weary and bewildered as I was, her +loveliness seized me as it were in a vice, never before had I seen such +loveliness. For her eye was proud and full like the eye of a buck, her +curling hair fell upon her shoulders, and her features were very noble, +yet tender almost to sadness, though at times she could seem fierce +enough. This lady was yet in her first youth, perchance she may have +seen some eighteen years, but her shape was that of a full-grown woman +and most royal. + +'Greeting, Guatemoc my cousin,' she said in a sweet voice; 'so you are +come at last. My royal father has awaited you for long and will ask +questions as to your delay. My sister your wife has wondered also why +you tarried.' + +Now as she spoke I felt rather than saw that this lady was searching me +with her eyes. + +'Greeting, Otomie my cousin,' answered the prince. 'I have been delayed +by the accidents of travel. Tobasco is far away, also my charge and +companion, Teule,' and he nodded towards me, 'met with an accident on +the road.' + +'What was the accident?' she asked. + +'Only this, that he saved me from the jaws of a puma at the risk of +his life when all the others fled from me, and was somewhat hurt in the +deed. He saved me thus--' and in few words he told the story. + +She listened and I saw that her eyes sparkled at the tale. When it was +done she spoke again, and this time to me. + +'Welcome, Teule,' she said smiling. 'You are not of our people, yet my +heart goes out to such a man.' And still smiling she left us. + +'Who is that great lady?' I asked of Guatemoc. + +'That is my cousin Otomie, the princess of the Otomie, my uncle +Montezuma's favourite daughter,' he answered. 'She likes you, Teule, and +that is well for you for many reasons. Hush!' + +As he spoke the screen at the far end of the chamber was drawn aside. +Beyond it a man sat upon a broidered cushion, who was inhaling the fumes +of the tobacco weed from a gilded pipe of wood after the Indian fashion. +This man, who was no other than the monarch Montezuma, was of a tall +build and melancholy countenance, having a very pale face for one of +his nation, and thin black hair. He was dressed in a white robe of the +purest cotton, and wore a golden belt and sandals set with pearls, and +on his head a plume of feathers of the royal green. Behind him were a +band of beautiful girls somewhat slightly clothed, some of whom played +on lutes and other instruments of music, and on either side stood four +ancient counsellors, all of them barefooted and clad in the coarsest +garments. + +So soon as the screen was drawn all the company in the chamber +prostrated themselves upon their knees, an example that I hastened to +follow, and thus they remained till the emperor made a sign with the +gilded bowl of his pipe, when they rose to their feet again and stood +with folded hands and eyes fixed abjectly upon the floor. Presently +Montezuma made another signal, and three aged men whom I understood to +be ambassadors, advanced and asked some prayer of him. He answered them +with a nod of the head and they retreated from his presence, making +obeisance and stepping backward till they mingled with the crowd. Then +the emperor spoke a word to one of the counsellors, who bowed and came +slowly down the hall looking to the right and to the left. Presently his +eye fell upon Guatemoc, and, indeed, he was easy to see, for he stood a +head taller than any there. + +'Hail, prince,' he said. 'The royal Montezuma desires to speak with you, +and with the Teule, your companion.' + +'Do as I do, Teule,' said Guatemoc, and led the way up the chamber, +till we reached the place where the wooden screen had been, which, as we +passed it, was drawn behind us, shutting us off from the hall. + +Here we stood a while, with folded hands and downcast eyes, till a +signal was made to us to advance. + +'Your report, nephew,' said Montezuma in a low voice of command. + +'I went to the city of Tobasco, O glorious Montezuma. I found the Teule +and brought him hither. Also I caused the high priest to be sacrificed +according to the royal command, and now I hand back the imperial +signet,' and he gave the ring to a counsellor. + +'Why did you delay so long upon the road, nephew?' + +'Because of the chances of the journey; while saving my life, royal +Montezuma, the Teule my prisoner was bitten by a puma. Its skin is +brought to you as an offering.' + +Now Montezuma looked at me for the first time, then opened a picture +scroll that one of the counsellors handed to him, and read in it, +glancing at me from time to time. + +'The description is good,' he said at length, 'in all save one thing--it +does not say that this prisoner is the handsomest man in Anahuac. Say, +Teule, why have your countrymen landed on my dominions and slain my +people?' + +'I know nothing of it, O king,' I answered as well as I might with the +help of Guatemoc, 'and they are not my countrymen.' + +'The report says that you confess to having the blood of these Teules in +your veins, and that you came to these shores, or near them, in one of +their great canoes.' + +'That is so, O king, yet I am not of their people, and I came to the +shore floating on a barrel.' + +'I hold that you lie,' answered Montezuma frowning, 'for the sharks and +crocodiles would devour one who swam thus.' Then he added anxiously, +'Say, are you of the descendants of Quetzal?' + +'I do not know, O king. I am of a white race, and our forefather was +named Adam.' + +'Perchance that is another name for Quetzal,' he said. 'It has long been +prophesied that his children would return, and now it seems that the +hour of their coming is at hand,' and he sighed heavily, then added: 'Go +now. To-morrow you shall tell me of these Teules, and the council of the +priests shall decide your fate.' + +Now when I heard the name of the priests I trembled in all my bones and +cried, clasping my hands in supplication: + +'Slay me if you will, O king, but I beseech you deliver me not again +into the hands of the priests.' + +'We are all in the hands of the priests, who are the mouth of God,' he +answered coldly. 'Besides, I hold that you have lied to me.' + +Then I went foreboding evil, and Guatemoc also looked downcast. Bitterly +did I curse the hour when I had said that I was of the Spanish blood and +yet no Spaniard. Had I known even what I knew that day, torture would +not have wrung those words from me. But now it was too late. + +Now Guatemoc led me to certain apartments of this palace of Chapoltepec, +where his wife, the royal princess Tecuichpo, was waiting him, a very +lovely lady, and with her other ladies, among them the princess Otomie, +Montezuma's daughter, and some nobles. Here a rich repast was served to +us, and I was seated next to the princess Otomie, who spoke to me most +graciously, asking me many things concerning my land and the people of +the Teules. It was from her that I learned first that the emperor was +much disturbed at heart because of these Teules or Spaniards, for he was +superstitious, and held them to be the children of the god Quetzal, who +according to ancient prophecy would come to take the land. Indeed, so +gracious was she, and so royally lovely, that for the first time I felt +my heart stirred by any other woman than my betrothed whom I had left +far away in England, and whom, as I thought, I should never see again. +And as I learned in after days mine was not the only heart that was +stirred that night. + +Near to us sat another royal lady, Papantzin, the sister of Montezuma, +but she was neither young nor lovely, and yet most sweet faced and sad +as though with the presage of death. Indeed she died not many weeks +after but could not rest quiet in her grave, as shall be told. + +When the feast was done and we had drunk of the cocoa or chocolate, +and smoked tobacco in pipes, a strange but most soothing custom that I +learned in Tobasco and of which I have never been able to break myself, +though the weed is still hard to come by here in England, I was led to +my sleeping place, a small chamber panelled with cedar boards. For a +while I could not sleep, for I was overcome by the memory of all the +strange sights that I had seen in this wonderful new land which was so +civilised and yet so barbarous. I thought of that sad-faced king, the +absolute lord of millions, surrounded by all that the heart of man can +desire, by vast wealth, by hundreds of lovely wives, by loving children, +by countless armies, by all the glory of the arts, ruling over the +fairest empire on the earth, with every pleasure to his hand, a god in +all things save his mortality, and worshipped as a god, and yet a victim +to fear and superstition, and more heavy hearted than the meanest slave +about his palaces. Here was a lesson such as Solomon would have loved to +show, for with Solomon this Montezuma might cry: + +'I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings +and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the +delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments, and that of all +sorts. And whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld +not my heart from any joy. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of +spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.' + +So he might have cried, so, indeed, he did cry in other words, for, as +the painting of the skeletons and the three monarchs that is upon the +north wall of the aisle of Ditchingham Church shows forth so aptly, +kings have their fates and happiness is not to them more than to any +other of the sons of men. Indeed, it is not at all, as my benefactor +Fonseca once said to me; true happiness is but a dream from which we +awake continually to the sorrows of our short laborious day. + +Then my thoughts flew to the vision of that most lovely maid, the +princess Otomie, who, as I believed, had looked on me so kindly, and I +found that vision sweet, for I was young, and the English Lily, my own +love, was far away and lost to me for ever. Was it then wonderful that +I should find this Indian poppy fair? Indeed, where is the man who would +not have been overcome by her sweetness, her beauty, and that stamp +of royal grace which comes with kingly blood and the daily exercise of +power? Like the rich wonders of the robe she wore, her very barbarism, +of which now I saw but the better side, drew and dazzled my mind's eye, +giving her woman's tenderness some new quality, sombre and strange, an +eastern richness which is lacking in our well schooled English women, +that at one and the same stroke touched both the imagination and the +senses, and through them enthralled the heart. + +For Otomie seemed such woman as men dream of but very rarely win, seeing +that the world has few such natures and fewer nurseries where they can +be reared. At once pure and passionate, of royal blood and heart, rich +natured and most womanly, yet brave as a man and beautiful as the night, +with a mind athirst for knowledge and a spirit that no sorrows could +avail to quell, ever changing in her outer moods, and yet most faithful +and with the honour of a man, such was Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, +princess of the Otomie. Was it wonderful then that I found her fair, or, +when fate gave me her love, that at last I loved her in turn? And yet +there was that in her nature which should have held me back had I but +known of it, for with all her charm, her beauty and her virtues, at +heart she was still a savage, and strive as she would to hide it, at +times her blood would master her. + +But as I lay in the chamber of the palace of Chapoltepec, the tramp of +the guards without my door reminded me that I had little now to do with +love and other delights, I whose life hung from day to day upon a hair. +To-morrow the priests would decide my fate, and when the priests were +judges, the prisoner might know the sentence before it was spoken. I was +a stranger and a white man, surely such a one would prove an offering +more acceptable to the gods than that furnished by a thousand Indian +hearts. I had been snatched from the altars of Tobasco that I might +grace the higher altars of Tenoctitlan, and that was all. My fate would +be to perish miserably far from my home, and in this world never to be +heard of more. + +Musing thus sadly at last I slept. When I woke the sun was up. Rising +from my mat I went to the wood-barred window place and looked through. +The palace whence I gazed was placed on the crest of a rocky hill. On +one side this hill was bathed by the blue waters of Tezcuco, on the +other, a mile or more away, rose the temple towers of Mexico. Along the +slopes of the hill, and in some directions for a mile from its +base, grew huge cedar trees from the boughs of which hung a grey and +ghostly-looking moss. These trees are so large that the smallest of them +is bigger than the best oak in this parish of Ditchingham, while the +greatest measures twenty-two paces round the base. Beyond and between +these marvellous and ancient trees were the gardens of Montezuma, that +with their strange and gorgeous flowers, their marble baths, their +aviaries and wild beast dens, were, as I believe, the most wonderful in +the whole world.* + +'At the least,' I thought to myself, 'even if I must die, it is +something to have seen this country of Anahuac, its king, its customs, +and its people.' + + * The gardens of Montezuma have been long destroyed, but + some of the cedars still flourish at Chapoltepec, though the + Spaniards cut down many. One of them, which tradition says + was a favourite tree of the great emperor's, measures + (according to a rough calculation the author of this book + made upon the spot) about sixty feet round the bole. It is + strange to think that a few ancient conifers should alone + survive of all the glories of Montezuma's wealth and state. + --AUTHOR. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THOMAS BECOMES A GOD + + +Little did I, plain Thomas Wingfield, gentleman, know, when I rose that +morning, that before sunset I should be a god, and after Montezuma the +Emperor, the most honoured man, or rather god, in the city of Mexico. + +It came about thus. When I had breakfasted with the household of the +prince Guatemoc, I was led to the hall of justice, which was named the +'tribunal of god.' Here on a golden throne sat Montezuma, administering +justice in such pomp as I cannot describe. About him were his +counsellors and great lords, and before him was placed a human skull +crowned with emeralds so large that a blaze of light went up from them. +In his hand also he held an arrow for a sceptre. Certain chiefs or +caciques were on their trial for treason, nor were they left long in +doubt as to their fate. For when some evidence had been heard they were +asked what they had to say in their defence. Each of them told his tale +in few words and short. Then Montezuma, who till now had said and done +nothing, took the painted scroll of their indictments and pricked it +with the arrow in his hand where the picture of each prisoner appeared +upon the scroll. Then they were led away to death, but how they died I +do not know. + +When this trial was finished certain priests entered the hall clothed +in sable robes, their matted hair hanging down their backs. They were +fierce, wild-eyed men of great dignity, and I shivered when I saw them. +I noticed also that they alone made small reverence to the majesty of +Montezuma. The counsellors and nobles having fallen back, these priests +entered into talk with the emperor, and presently two of them came +forward and taking me from the custody of the guards, led me forward +before the throne. Then of a sudden I was commanded to strip myself of +my garments, and this I did with no little shame, till I stood naked +before them all. Now the priests came forward and examined every part of +me closely. On my arms were the scars left by de Garcia's sword, and on +my breast the scarcely healed marks of the puma's teeth and claws. These +wounds they scanned, asking how I had come by them. I told them, and +thereupon they carried on a discussion among themselves, and out of my +hearing, which grew so warm that at length they appealed to the emperor +to decide the point. He thought a while, and I heard him say: + +'The blemishes do not come from within the body, nor were they upon it +at birth, but have been inflicted by the violence of man and beast.' + +Then the priests consulted together again, and presently their leader +spoke some words into the ear of Montezuma. He nodded, and rising from +his throne, came towards me who stood naked and shivering before him, +for the air of Mexico is keen. As he advanced he loosed a chain of +emeralds and gold that hung about his neck, and unclasped the royal +cloak from his shoulders. Then with his own hand, he put the chain about +my throat, and the cloak upon my shoulders, and having humbly bent the +knee before me as though in adoration, he cast his arms about me and +embraced me. + +'Hail! most blessed,' he said, 'divine son of Quetzal, holder of the +spirit of Tezcat, Soul of the World, Creator of the World. What have +we done that you should honour us thus with your presence for a season? +What can we do to pay the honour back? You created us and all this +country; behold! while you tarry with us, it is yours and we are nothing +but your servants. Order and your commands shall be obeyed, think and +your thought shall be executed before it can pass your lips. O Tezcat, +I, Montezuma your servant, offer you my adoration, and through me the +adoration of all my people,' and again he bowed the knee. + +'We adore you, O Tezcat!' chimed in the priests. + +Now I remained silent and bewildered, for of all this foolery I could +understand nothing, and while I stood thus Montezuma clapped his hands +and women entered bearing beautiful clothing with them, and a wreath of +flowers. The clothing they put upon my body and the wreath of flowers on +my head, worshipping me the while and saying, 'Tezcat who died yesterday +is come again. Be joyful, Tezcat has come again in the body of the +captive Teule.' + +Then I understood that I was now a god and the greatest of gods, though +at that moment within myself I felt more of a fool than I had ever been +before. + +And now men appeared, grave and reverend in appearance, bearing lutes in +their hands. I was told that these were my tutors, and with them a train +of royal pages who were to be my servants. They led me forth from the +hall making music as they went, and before me marched a herald, calling +out that this was the god Tezcat, Soul of the World, Creator of the +World, who had come again to visit his people. They led me through all +the courts and endless chambers of the palace, and wherever I went, man +woman and child bowed themselves to the earth before me, and worshipped +me, Thomas Wingfield of Ditchingham, in the county of Norfolk, till I +thought that I must be mad. + +Then they placed me in a litter and carried me down the hill +Chapoltepec, and along causeways and through streets, till we came to +the great square of the temple. Before me went heralds and priests, +after me followed pages and nobles, and ever as we passed the multitudes +prostrated themselves till I began to understand how wearisome a thing +it is to be a god. Next they carried me through the wall of serpents and +up the winding paths of the mighty teocalli till we reached the summit, +where the temples and idols stood, and here a great drum beat, and the +priests sacrificed victim after victim in my honour and I grew sick with +the sight of wickedness and blood. Presently they invited me to descend +from the litter, laying rich carpets and flowers for my feet to tread +on, and I was much afraid, for I thought that they were about to +sacrifice me to myself or some other divinity. But this was not so. +They led me to the edge of the pyramid, or as near as I would go, for +I shrank back lest they should seize me suddenly and cast me over the +edge. And there the high priest called out my dignity to the thousands +who were assembled beneath, and every one of them bent the knee in +adoration of me, the priests above and the multitudes below. And so it +went on till I grew dizzy with the worship, and the shouting, and the +sounds of music, and the sights of death, and very thankful was I, when +at last they carried me back to Chapoltepec. + +Here new honours awaited me, for I was conducted to a splendid range of +apartments, next to those of the emperor himself, and I was told that +all Montezuma's household were at my command and that he who refused to +do my bidding should die. + +So at last I spoke and said it was my bidding that I should be suffered +to rest a while, till a feast was prepared for me in the apartments of +Guatemoc the prince, for there I hoped to meet Otomie. + +My tutors and the nobles who attended me answered that Montezuma my +servant had trusted that I would feast with him that night. Still my +command should be done. Then they left me, saying that they would come +again in an hour to lead me to the banquet. Now I threw off the emblems +of my godhead and cast myself down on cushions to rest and think, and a +certain exultation took possession of me, for was I not a god, and had I +not power almost absolute? Still being of a cautious mind I wondered why +I was a god, and how long my power would last. + +Before the hour had gone by, pages and nobles entered, bearing new robes +which were put upon my body and fresh flowers to crown my head, and I +was led away to the apartments of Guatemoc, fair women going before me +who played upon instruments of music. + +Here Guatemoc the prince waited to receive me, which he did as though +I, his captive and companion, was the first of kings. And yet I thought +that I saw merriment in his eye, mingled with sorrow. Bending forward I +spoke to him in a whisper: + +'What does all this mean, prince?' I said. 'Am I befooled, or am I +indeed a god?' + +'Hush!' he answered, bowing low and speaking beneath his breath. 'It +means both good and ill for you, my friend Teule. Another time I will +tell you.' Then he added aloud, 'Does it please you, O Tezcat, god of +gods, that we should sit at meat with you, or will you eat alone?' + +'The gods like good company, prince,' I said. + +Now during this talk I had discovered that among those gathered in the +hall was the princess Otomie. So when we passed to the low table around +which we were to sit on cushions, I hung back watching where she would +place herself, and then at once seated myself beside her. This caused +some little confusion among the company, for the place of honour had +been prepared for me at the head of the table, the seat of Guatemoc +being to my right and that of his wife, the royal Tecuichpo, to my left. + +'Your seat is yonder, O Tezcat,' she said, blushing beneath her olive +skin as she spoke. + +'Surely a god may sit where he chooses, royal Otomie,' I answered; +'besides,' I added in a low voice, 'what better place can he find than +by the side of the most lovely goddess on the earth.' + +Again she blushed and answered, 'Alas! I no goddess, but only a mortal +maid. Listen, if you desire that I should be your companion at our +feasts, you must issue it as a command; none will dare to disobey you, +not even Montezuma my father.' + +So I rose and said in very halting Aztec to the nobles who waited on +me, 'It is my will that my place shall always be set by the side of the +princess Otomie.' + +At these words Otomie blushed even more, and a murmur went round among +the guests, while Guatemoc first looked angry and then laughed. But the +nobles, my attendants, bowed, and their spokesman answered: + +'The words of Tezcat shall be obeyed. Let the seat of Otomie, the royal +princess, the favoured of Tezcat, be placed by the side of the god.' + +Afterwards this was always done, except when I ate with Montezuma +himself. Moreover the princess Otomie became known throughout the city +as 'the blessed princess, the favoured of Tezcat.' For so strong a hold +had custom and superstition upon this people that they thought it the +greatest of honours to her, who was among the first ladies in the land, +that he who for a little space was supposed to hold the spirit of the +soul of the world, should deign to desire her companionship when he ate. +Now the feast went on, and presently I made shift to ask Otomie what all +this might mean. + +'Alas!' she whispered, 'you do not know, nor dare I tell you now. But I +will say this: though you who are a god may sit where you will to-day, +an hour shall come when you must lie where you would not. Listen: when +we have finished eating, say that it is your wish to walk in the gardens +of the palace and that I should accompany you. Then I may find a chance +to speak.' + +Accordingly, when the feast was over I said that I desired to walk in +the gardens with the princess Otomie, and we went out and wandered under +the solemn trees, that are draped in a winding-sheet of grey moss which, +hanging from every bough as though the forest had been decked with the +white beards of an army of aged men, waved and rustled sadly in the keen +night air. But alas! we might not be alone, for after us at a distance +of twenty paces followed all my crowd of attendant nobles, together with +fair dancing girls and minstrels armed with their accursed flutes, on +which they blew in season and out of it, dancing as they blew. In vain +did I command them to be silent, telling them that it was written of old +that there is a time to play and dance and a time to cease from dancing, +for in this alone they would not obey me. Never could I be at peace +because of them then or thereafter, and not till now did I learn how +great a treasure is solitude. + +Still we were allowed to walk together under the trees, and though the +clamour of music pursued us wherever we went, we were soon deep in talk. +Then it was that I learned how dreadful was the fate which overshadowed +me. + +'Know, O Teule,' said Otomie, for she would call me by the old name when +there were none to hear; 'this is the custom of our land, that every +year a young captive should be chosen to be the earthly image of the +god Tezcat, who created the world. Only two things are necessary to this +captive, namely, that his blood should be noble, and that his person +should be beautiful and without flaw or blemish. The day that you +came hither, Teule, chanced to be the day of choosing a new captive to +personate the god, and you have been chosen because you are both noble +and more beautiful than any man in Anahuac, and also because being +of the people of the Teules, the children of Quetzal of whom so many +rumours have reached us, and whose coming my father Montezuma dreads +more than anything in the world, it was thought by the priests that you +may avert their anger from us, and the anger of the gods.' + +Now Otomie paused as one who has something to say that she can scarcely +find words to fit, but I, remembering only what had been said, swelled +inwardly with the sense of my own greatness, and because this lovely +princess had declared that I was the most beautiful man in Anahuac, +I who though I was well-looking enough, had never before been called +'beautiful' by man, woman, or child. But in this case as in many +another, pride went before a fall. + +'It must be spoken, Teule,' Otomie continued. 'Alas! that it should be I +who am fated to tell you. For a year you will rule as a god in this city +of Tenoctitlan, and except for certain ceremonies that you must undergo, +and certain arts which you must learn, none will trouble you. Your +slightest wish will be a law, and when you smile on any, it shall be an +omen of good to them and they will bless you; even my father Montezuma +will treat you with reverence as an equal or more. Every delight shall +be yours except that of marriage, and this will be withheld till the +twelfth month of the year. Then the four most beautiful maidens in the +land will be given to you as brides.' + +'And who will choose them?' I asked. + +'Nay, I know not, Teule, who do not meddle in such mysteries,' she +answered hurriedly. 'Sometimes the god is judge and sometimes the +priests judge for him. It is as it may chance. Listen now to the end of +my tale and you will surely forget the rest. For one month you will live +with your wives, and this month you will pass in feasting at all the +noblest houses in the city. On the last day of the month, however, you +will be placed in a royal barge and together with your wives, paddled +across the lake to a place that is named "Melting of Metals." Thence you +will be led to the teocalli named "House of Weapons," where your wives +will bid farewell to you for ever, and there, Teule, alas! that I must +say it, you are doomed to be offered as a sacrifice to the god whose +spirit you hold, the great god Tezcat, for your heart will be torn from +your body, and your head will be struck from your shoulders and set upon +the stake that is known as "post of heads."' + +Now when I heard this dreadful doom I groaned aloud and my knees +trembled so that I almost fell to the ground. Then a great fury seized +me and, forgetting my father's counsel, I blasphemed the gods of that +country and the people who worshipped them, first in the Aztec and Maya +languages, then when my knowledge of these tongues failed me, in Spanish +and good English. But Otomie, who heard some of my words and guessed +more, was seized with fear and lifted her hands, saying: + +'Curse not the awful gods, I beseech you, lest some terrible thing +befall you at once. If you are overheard it will be thought that you +have an evil spirit and not a good one, and then you must die now and by +torment. At the least the gods, who are everywhere, will hear you.' + +'Let them hear,' I answered. 'They are false gods and that country +is accursed which worships them. They are doomed I say, and all their +worshippers are doomed. Nay, I care not if I am heard--as well die now +by torment as live a year in the torment of approaching death. But I +shall not die alone, all the sea of blood that your priests have shed +cries out for vengeance to the true God, and He will avenge.' + +Thus I raved on, being mad with fear and impotent anger, while the +princess Otomie stood terrified and amazed at my blasphemies, and the +flutes piped and the dancers danced behind us. And as I raved I saw that +the mind of Otomie wandered from my words, for she was staring towards +the east like one who sees a vision. Then I looked also towards the east +and saw that the sky was alight there. For from the edge of the horizon +to the highest parts of heaven spread a fan of pale and fearful light +powdered over with sparks of fire, the handle of the fan resting on the +earth as it were, while its wings covered the eastern sky. Now I ceased +my cursing and stood transfixed, and as I stood, a cry of terror arose +from all the precincts of the palace and people poured from every door +to gaze upon the portent that flared and blazed in the east. Presently +Montezuma himself came out, attended by his great lords, and in that +ghastly light I saw that his lips worked and his hands writhed over each +other. Nor was the miracle done with, for anon from the clear sky that +hung over the city, descended a ball of fire, which seemed to rest upon +the points of the lofty temple in the great square, lighting up the +teocalli as with the glare of day. It vanished, but where it had been +another light now burned, for the temple of Quetzal was afire. + +Now cries of fear and lamentation arose from all who beheld these +wonders on the hill of Chapoltepec and also from the city below. Even I +was frightened, I do not know why, for it may well be that the blaze +of light which we saw on that and after nights was nothing but the +brightness of a comet, and that the fire in the temple was caused by +a thunderbolt. But to these people, and more especially to Montezuma, +whose mind was filled already with rumours of the coming of a strange +white race, which, as it was truly prophesied, would bring his empire to +nothingness, the omens seemed very evil. Indeed, if they had any doubt +as to their meaning, it was soon to be dispelled, in their minds at +least. For as we stood wonder-struck, a messenger, panting and soiled +with travel, arrived among us and prostrating himself before the majesty +of the emperor, he drew a painted scroll from his robe and handed it to +an attendant noble. So desirous was Montezuma to know its contents, +that contrary to all custom he snatched the roll from the hands of the +counsellor, and unrolling it, he began to read the picture writing +by the baleful light of the blazing sky and temple. Presently, as we +watched and he read, Montezuma groaned aloud, and casting down the +writing he covered his face with his hands. As it chanced it fell near +to where I stood, and I saw painted over it rude pictures of ships of +the Spanish rig, and of men in the Spanish armour. Then I understood why +Montezuma groaned. The Spaniards had landed on his shores! + +Now some of his counsellors approached him to console him, but he thrust +them aside, saying: + +'Let me mourn--the doom that was foretold is fallen upon the children +of Anahuac. The children of Quetzal muster on our shores and slay my +people. Let me mourn, I say.' + +At that moment another messenger came from the palace, having grief +written on his face. + +'Speak,' said Montezuma. + +'O king, forgive the tongue that must tell such tidings. Your royal +sister Papantzin was seized with terror at yonder dreadful sight,' and +he pointed to the heavens; 'she lies dying in the palace!' + +Now when the emperor heard that his sister whom he loved was dying, he +said nothing, but covering his face with his royal mantle, he passed +slowly back to the palace. + +And all the while the crimson light gleamed and sparkled in the east +like some monstrous and unnatural dawn, while the temple of Quetzal +burned fiercely in the city beneath. + +Now, I turned to the princess Otomie, who had stood by my side +throughout, overcome with wonder and trembling. + +'Did I not say that this country was accursed, princess of the Otomie?' + +'You said it, Teule,' she answered, 'and it is accursed.' + + +Then we went into the palace, and even in this hour of fear, after me +came the minstrels as before. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ARISING OF PAPANTZIN + + +On the morrow Papantzin died, and was buried with great pomp that +same evening in the burial-ground at Chapoltepec, by the side of the +emperor's royal ancestors. But, as will be seen, she was not content +with their company. On that day also, I learned that to be a god is not +all pleasure, since it was expected of me that I must master various +arts, and chiefly the horrid art of music, to which I never had any +desire. Still my own wishes were not allowed to weigh in the matter, +for there came to me tutors, aged men who might have found better +employment, to instruct me in the use of the lute, and on this +instrument I must learn to strum. Others there were also, who taught me +letters, poetry, and art, as they were understood among the Aztecs, and +all this knowledge I was glad of. Still I remembered the words of the +preacher which tell us that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth +sorrow, and moreover I could see little use in acquiring learning that +was to be lost shortly on the stone of sacrifice. + +As to this matter of my sacrifice I was at first desperate. But +reflection told me that I had already passed many dangers and come out +unscathed, and therefore it was possible that I might escape this one +also. At least death was still a long way off, and for the present I +was a god. So I determined that whether I died or lived, while I lived I +would live like a god and take such pleasures as came to my hand, and +I acted on this resolve. No man ever had greater or more strange +opportunities, and no man can have used them better. Indeed, had it not +been for the sorrowful thoughts of my lost love and home which would +force themselves upon me, I should have been almost happy, because of +the power that I wielded and the strangeness of all around me. But I +must to my tale. + +During the days that followed the death of Papantzin the palace and +the city also were plunged in ferment. The minds of men were shaken +strangely because of the rumours that filled the air. Every night the +fiery portent blazed in the east, every day a new wonder or omen was +reported, and with it some wild tale of the doings of the Spaniards, who +by most were held to be white gods, the children of Quetzal, come back +to take the land which their forefather ruled. + +But of all that were troubled, none were in such bad case as the emperor +himself, who, during these weeks scarcely ate or drank or slept, so +heavy were his fears upon him. In this strait he sent messengers to his +ancient rival, that wise and severe man Neza, the king of the allied +state of Tezcuco, begging that he would visit him. This king came, +an old man with a fierce and gleaming eye, and I was witness to the +interview that followed, for in my quality of god I had full liberty of +the palace, and even to be present at the councils of the emperor and +his nobles. When the two monarchs had feasted together, Montezuma spoke +to Neza of the matter of the omens and of the coming of the Teules, +asking him to lighten the darkness by his wisdom. Then Neza pulled his +long grey beard and answered that heavy as the heart of Montezuma might +be, it must grow still heavier before the end. + +'See, Lord,' he said, 'I am so sure that the days of our empire are +numbered, that I will play you at dice for my kingdoms which you and +your forefathers have ever desired to win.' + +'For what wager?' asked Montezuma. + +'I will play you thus,' answered Neza. 'You shall stake three fighting +cocks, of which, should I win, I ask the spurs only. I set against them +all the wide empire of Tezcuco.' + +'A small stake,' said Montezuma; 'cocks are many and kingdoms few.' + +'Still, it shall serve our turn,' answered the aged king, 'for know that +we play against fate. As the game goes, so shall the issue be. If you +win my kingdoms all is well; if I win the cocks, then good-bye to +the glory of Anahuac, for its people will cease to be a people, and +strangers shall possess the land.' + +'Let us play and see,' said Montezuma, and they went down to the place +that is called tlachco, where the games are set. Here they began the +match with dice and at first all went well for Montezuma, so that he +called aloud that already he was lord of Tezcuco. + +'May it be so!' answered the aged Neza, and from that moment the chance +changed. For strive as he would, Montezuma could not win another point, +and presently the set was finished, and Neza had won the cocks. Now the +music played, and courtiers came forward to give the king homage on his +success. But he rose sighing, and said: + +'I had far sooner lose my kingdoms than have won these fowls, for if I +had lost my kingdoms they would still have passed into the hands of one +of my own race. Now alas! my possessions and his must come under the +hand of strangers, who shall cast down our gods and bring our names to +nothing.' + +And having spoken thus, he rose, and taking farewell of the emperor, he +departed for his own land, where, as it chanced, he died very shortly, +without living to see the fulfilment of his fears. + +On the morrow of his departure came further accounts of the doings of +the Spaniards that plunged Montezuma into still greater alarm. In his +terror he sent for an astronomer, noted throughout the land for the +truth of his divinations. The astronomer came, and was received by the +emperor privately. What he told him I do not know, but at least it was +nothing pleasant, for that very night men were commanded to pull down +the house of this sage, who was buried in its ruins. + +Two days after the death of the astronomer, Montezuma bethought +him that, as he believed, I also was a Teule, and could give him +information. So at the hour of sunset he sent for me, bidding me walk +with him in the gardens. I went thither, followed by my musicians and +attendants, who would never leave me in peace, but he commanded that all +should stand aside, as he wished to speak with me alone. Then he began +to walk beneath the mighty cedar trees, and I with him, but keeping one +pace behind. + +'Teule,' he said at length, 'tell me of your countrymen, and why they +have come to these shores. See that you speak truth.' + +'They are no countrymen of mine, O Montezuma,' I answered, 'though my +mother was one of them.' + +'Did I not bid you speak the truth, Teule? If your mother was one of +them, must you not also be of them; for are you not of your mother's +bone and blood?' + +'As the king pleases,' I answered bowing. Then I began and told him +of the Spaniards--of their country, their greatness, their cruelty and +their greed of gold, and he listened eagerly, though I think that +he believed little of what I said, for his fear had made him very +suspicious. When I had done, he spoke and said: + +'Why do they come here to Anahuac?' + +'I fear, O king, that they come to take the land, or at the least to rob +it of all its treasure, and to destroy its faiths.' + +'What then is your counsel, Teule? How can I defend myself against these +mighty men, who are clothed in metal, and ride upon fierce wild beasts, +who have instruments that make a noise like thunder, at the sound of +which their adversaries fall dead by hundreds, and who bear weapons of +shining silver in their hands? Alas! there is no defence possible, for +they are the children of Quetzal come back to take the land. From my +childhood I have known that this evil overshadowed me, and now it is at +my door.' + +'If I, who am only a god, may venture to speak to the lord of the +earth,' I answered, 'I say that the reply is easy. Meet force by force. +The Teules are few and you can muster a thousand soldiers for every +one of theirs. Fall on them at once, do not hesitate till their prowess +finds them friends, but crush them.' + +'Such is the counsel of one whose mother was a Teule;' the emperor +answered, with sarcasm and bitter meaning. 'Tell me now, counsellor, +how am I to know that in fighting against them I shall not be fighting +against the gods; how even am I to learn the true wishes and purposes of +men or gods who cannot speak my tongue and whose tongue I cannot speak?' + +'It is easy, O Montezuma,' I answered. 'I can speak their tongue; send +me to discover for you.' + +Now as I spoke thus my heart bounded with hope, for if once I could come +among the Spaniards, perhaps I might escape the altar of sacrifice. Also +they seemed a link between me and home. They had sailed hither in ships, +and ships can retrace their path. For though at present my lot was not +all sorrow, it will be guessed that I should have been glad indeed to +find myself once more among Christian men. + +Montezuma looked at me a while and answered: + +'You must think me very foolish, Teule. What! shall I send you to tell +my fears and weakness to your countrymen, and to show them the joints in +my harness? Do you then suppose that I do not know you for a spy sent to +this land by these same Teules to gather knowledge of the land? Fool, +I knew it from the first, and by Huitzel! were you not vowed to Tezcat, +your heart should smoke to-morrow on the altar of Huitzel. Be warned, +and give me no more false counsels lest your end prove swifter than you +think. Learn that I have asked these questions of you to a purpose, and +by the command of the gods, as it was written on the hearts of those +sacrificed this day. This was the purpose and this was the command, +that I might discover your secret mind, and that I should shun whatever +advice you chanced to give. You counsel me to fight the Teules, +therefore I will not fight them, but meet them with gifts and fair +words, for I know well that you would have me to do that which should +bring me to my doom.' + +Thus he spoke very fiercely and in a low voice, his head held low and +his arms crossed upon his breast, and I saw that he shook with passion. +Even then, though I was very much afraid, for god as I was, a nod from +this mighty king would have sent me to death by torment, I wondered at +the folly of one who in everything else was so wise. Why should he doubt +me thus and allow superstition to drag him down to ruin? To-day I see +the answer. Montezuma did not these things of himself, but because the +hand of destiny worked with his hand, and the voice of destiny spoke in +his voice. The gods of the Aztecs were false gods indeed, but I for one +believe that they had life and intelligence, for those hideous shapes of +stone were the habitations of devils, and the priests spoke truth when +they said that the sacrifice of men was pleasing to their gods. + +To these devils the king went for counsel through the priests, and now +this doom was on them, that they must give false counsel to their own +destruction, and to the destruction of those who worshipped them, as was +decreed by One more powerful than they. + + +Now while we were talking the sun had sunk swiftly, so that all the +world was dark. But the light still lingered on the snowy crests of the +volcans Popo and Ixtac, staining them an awful red. Never before to my +sight had the shape of the dead woman whose everlasting bier is Ixtac's +bulk, seemed so clear and wonderful as on that night, for either it was +so or my fancy gave it the very shape and colour of a woman's corpse +steeped in blood and laid out for burial. Nor was it my phantasy alone, +for when Montezuma had finished upbraiding me he chanced to look up, and +his eyes falling on the mountain remained fixed there. + +'Look now, Teule!' he said, presently, with a solemn laugh; 'yonder lies +the corpse of the nations of Anahuac washed in a water of blood and made +ready for burial. Is she not terrible in death?' + +As he spoke the words and turned to go, a sound of doleful wailing came +from the direction of the mountain, a very wild and unearthly sound that +caused the blood in my veins to stand still. Now Montezuma caught my arm +in his fear, and we gazed together on Ixtac, and it seemed to us that +this wonder happened. For in that red and fearful light the red figure +of the sleeping woman arose, or appeared to rise, from its bier of +stone. It arose slowly like one who awakes from sleep, and presently +it stood upright upon the mountain's brow, towering high into the air. +There it stood a giant and awakened corpse, its white wrappings stained +with blood, and we trembled to see it. + +For a while the wraith remained thus gazing towards the city of +Tenoctitlan, then suddenly it threw its vast arms upward as though in +grief, and at that moment the night rushed in upon it and covered it, +while the sound of wailing died slowly away. + +'Say, Teule,' gasped the emperor, 'do I not well to be afraid when such +portents as these meet my eyes day by day? Hearken to the lamentations +in the city; we have not seen this sight alone. Listen how the people +cry aloud with fear and the priests beat their drums to avert the omen. +Weep on, ye people, and ye priests pray and do sacrifice; it is very +fitting, for the day of your doom is upon you. O Tenoctitlan, queen of +cities, I see you ruined and desolate, your palaces blackened with fire, +your temples desecrated, your pleasant gardens a wilderness. I see your +highborn women the wantons of stranger lords, and your princes their +servants; the canals run red with the blood of your children, your +gateways are blocked with their bones. Death is about you everywhere, +dishonour is your daily bread, desolation is your portion. Farewell +to you, queen of the cities, cradle of my forefathers in which I was +nursed!' + +Thus Montezuma lamented in the darkness, and as he cried aloud the great +moon rose over the edge of the world and poured its level light through +the boughs of the cedars clothed in their ghostly robe of moss. It +struck upon Montezuma's tall shape, on his distraught countenance and +thin hands as he waved them to and fro in his prophetic agony, on my +glittering garments, and the terror-stricken band of courtiers, and the +musicians who had ceased from their music. A little wind sprang up +also, moaning sadly in the mighty trees above and against the rocks of +Chapoltepec. Never did I witness a scene more strange or more pregnant +with mystery and the promise of unborn horror, than that of this great +monarch mourning over the downfall of his race and power. As yet no +misfortune had befallen the one or the other, and still he knew that +both were doomed, and these words of lamentation burst from a heart +broken by a grief of which the shadow only lay upon it. + +But the wonders of that night were not yet done with. + +When Montezuma had made an end of crying his prophecies, I asked him +humbly if I should summon to him the lords who were in attendance on +him, but who stood at some distance. + +'Nay,' he answered, 'I will not have them see me thus with grief and +terror upon my face. Whoever fears, at least I must seem brave. Walk +with me a while, Teule, and if it is in your mind to murder me I shall +not grieve.' + +I made no answer, but followed him as he led the way down the darkest of +the winding paths that run between the cedar trees, where it would have +been easy for me to kill him if I wished, but I could not see how I +should be advantaged by the deed; also though I knew that Montezuma was +my enemy, my heart shrank from the thought of murder. For a mile or more +he walked on without speaking, now beneath the shadow of the trees, and +now through open spaces of garden planted with lovely flowers, till at +last we came to the gates of the place where the royal dead are laid to +rest. Now in front of these gates was an open space of turf on which the +moonlight shone brightly, and in the centre of this space lay something +white, shaped like a woman. Here Montezuma halted and looked at the +gates, then said: + +'These gates opened four days since for Papantzin, my sister; how long, +I wonder, will pass before they open for me?' + +As he spoke, the white shape upon the grass which I had seen and he had +not seen, stirred like an awakening sleeper. As the snow shape upon the +mountain had stirred, so this shape stirred; as it had arisen, so this +one arose; as it threw its arms upwards, so this one threw up her arms. +Now Montezuma saw and stood still trembling, and I trembled also. + +Then the woman--for it was a woman--advanced slowly towards us, and +as she came we saw that she was draped in graveclothes. Presently she +lifted her head and the moonlight fell full upon her face. Now Montezuma +groaned aloud and I groaned, for we saw that the face was the thin pale +face of the princess Papantzin--Papantzin who had lain four days in the +grave. On she came toward us, gliding like one who walks in her sleep, +till she stopped before the bush in the shadow of which we stood. Now +Papantzin, or the ghost of Papantzin, looked at us with blind eyes, that +is with eyes that were open and yet did not seem to see. + +'Are you there, Montezuma, my brother?' she said in the voice of +Papantzin; 'surely I feel your presence though I cannot see you.' + +Now Montezuma stepped from the shadow and stood face to face with the +dead. + +'Who are you?' he said, 'who wear the shape of one dead and are dressed +in the garments of the dead?' + +'I am Papantzin,' she answered, 'and I am risen out of death to bring +you a message, Montezuma, my brother.' + +'What message do you bring me?' he asked hoarsely. + +'I bring you a message of doom, my brother. Your empire shall fall and +soon you shall be accompanied to death by tens of thousands of your +people. For four days I have lived among the dead, and there I have seen +your false gods which are devils. There also I have seen the priests +that served them, and many of those who worshipped them plunged into +torment unutterable. Because of the worship of these demon gods the +people of Anahuac is destined to destruction.' + +'Have you no word of comfort for me, Papantzin, my sister?' he asked. + +'None,' she answered. 'Perchance if you abandon the worship of the false +gods you may save your soul; your life you cannot save, nor the lives of +your people.' + +Then she turned and passed away into the shadow of the trees; I heard +her graveclothes sweep upon the grass. + + +Now a fury seized Montezuma and he raved aloud, saying: + +'Curses on you, Papantzin, my sister! Why then do you come back from the +dead to bring me such evil tidings? Had you brought hope with you, had +you shown a way of escape, then I would have welcomed you. May you go +back into darkness and may the earth lie heavy on your heart for ever. +As for my gods, my fathers worshipped them and I will worship them till +the end; ay, if they desert me, at least I will never desert them. +The gods are angry because the sacrifices are few upon their altars, +henceforth they shall be doubled; ay, the priests of the gods shall +themselves be sacrificed because they neglect their worship.' + +Thus he raved on, after the fashion of a weak man maddened with terror, +while his nobles and attendants who had followed him at a distance, +clustered about him, fearful and wondering. At length there came an end, +for tearing with his thin hands at his royal robes and at his hair and +beard, Montezuma fell and writhed in a fit upon the ground. + +Then they carried him into the palace and none saw him for three days +and nights. But he made no idle threat as to the sacrifices, for from +that night forward they were doubled throughout the land. Already the +shadow of the Cross lay deep upon the altars of Anahuac, but still the +smoke of their offerings went up to heaven and the cry of the captives +rang round the teocallis. The hour of the demon gods was upon them +indeed, but now they reaped their last red harvest, and it was rich. + + +Now I, Thomas Wingfield, saw these portents with my own eyes, but +I cannot say whether they were indeed warnings sent from heaven +or illusions springing from the accidents of nature. The land was +terror-struck, and it may happen that the minds of men thus smitten can +find a dismal meaning in omens which otherwise had passed unnoticed. +That Papantzin rose from the dead is true, though perhaps she only +swooned and never really died. At the least she did not go back there +for a while, for though I never saw her again, it is said that she lived +to become a Christian and told strange tales of what she had seen in the +land of Death.* + + * For the history of the resurrection of Papantzin, see note + to Jourdanet's translation of Sahagun, page 870.--AUTHOR. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE NAMING OF THE BRIDES + + +Now some months passed between the date of my naming as the god Tezcat +and the entry of the Spaniards into Mexico, and during all this space +the city was in a state of ferment. Again and again Montezuma sent +embassies to Cortes, bearing with them vast treasures of gold and gems +as presents, and at the same time praying him to withdraw, for this +foolish prince did not understand that by displaying so much wealth +he flew a lure which must surely bring the falcon on himself. To these +ambassadors Cortes returned courteous answers together with presents of +small value, and that was all. + +Then the advance began and the emperor learned with dismay of the +conquest of the warlike tribe of the Tlascalans, who, though they were +Montezuma's bitter and hereditary foes, yet made a stand against +the white man. Next came the tidings that from enemies the conquered +Tlascalans had become the allies and servants of the Spaniard, and that +thousands of their fiercest warriors were advancing with him upon the +sacred city of Cholula. A while passed and it was known that Cholula +also had been given to massacre, and that the holy, or rather the unholy +gods, had been torn from their shrines. Marvellous tales were told of +the Spaniards, of their courage and their might, of the armour that +they wore, the thunder that their weapons made in battle, and the fierce +beasts which they bestrode. Once two heads of white men taken in a +skirmish were sent to Montezuma, fierce-looking heads, great and hairy, +and with them the head of a horse. When Montezuma saw these ghastly +relics he almost fainted with fear, still he caused them to be set up on +pinnacles of the great temple and proclamation to be made that this fate +awaited every invader of the land. + +Meanwhile all was confusion in his policies. Day by day councils were +held of the nobles, of high priests, and of neighbouring and friendly +kings. Some advised one thing, some another, and the end of it was +hesitation and folly. Ah! had Montezuma but listened to the voice of +that great man Guatemoc, Anahuac would not have been a Spanish fief +to-day. For Guatemoc prayed him again and yet again to put away his +fears and declare open war upon the Teules before it was too late; to +cease from making gifts and sending embassies, to gather his countless +armies and smite the foe in the mountain passes. + +But Montezuma would answer, 'To what end, nephew? How can I struggle +against these men when the gods themselves have declared for them? +Surely the gods can take their own parts if they wish it, and if they +will not, for myself and my own fate I do not care, but alas! for my +people, alas! for the women and the children, the aged and the weak.' + +Then he would cover his face and moan and weep like a child, and +Guatemoc would pass from his presence dumb with fury at the folly of +so great a king, but helpless to remedy it. For like myself, Guatemoc +believed that Montezuma had been smitten with a madness sent from heaven +to bring the land to ruin. + +Now it must be understood that though my place as a god gave me +opportunities of knowing all that passed, yet I Thomas Wingfield, was +but a bubble on that great wave of events which swept over the world of +Anahuac two generations since. I was a bubble on the crest of the wave +indeed, but at that time I had no more power than the foam has over the +wave. Montezuma distrusted me as a spy, the priests looked on me as a +god and future victim and no more, only Guatemoc my friend, and Otomie +who loved me secretly, had any faith in me, and with these two I +often talked, showing them the true meaning of those things that were +happening before our eyes. But they also were strengthless, for though +his reason was no longer captain, still the unchecked power of Montezuma +guided the ship of state first this way and then that, just as a rudder +directs a vessel to its ruin when the helmsman has left it, and it +swings at the mercy of the wind and tide. + +The people were distraught with fear of the future, but not the less on +that account, or perhaps because of it, they plunged with fervour into +pleasures, alternating them with religious ceremonies. In those days no +feast was neglected and no altar lacked its victim. Like a river that +quickens its flow as it draws near the precipice over which it must +fall, so the people of Mexico, foreseeing ruin, awoke as it were and +lived as they had never lived before. All day long the cries of victims +came from a hundred temple tops, and all night the sounds of revelry +were heard among the streets. 'Let us eat and drink,' they said, 'for +the gods of the sea are upon us and to-morrow we die.' Now women who had +been held virtuous proved themselves wantons, and men whose names were +honest showed themselves knaves, and none cried fie upon them; ay, even +children were seen drunken in the streets, which is an abomination among +the Aztecs. + +The emperor had moved his household from Chapoltepec to the palace +in the great square facing the temple, and this palace was a town in +itself, for every night more than a thousand human beings slept beneath +its roof, not to speak of the dwarfs and monsters, and the hundreds of +wild birds and beasts in cages. Here every day I feasted with whom I +would, and when I was weary of feasting it was my custom to sally out +into the streets playing on the lute, for by now I had in some degree +mastered that hateful instrument, dressed in shining apparel and +attended by a crowd of nobles and royal pages. Then the people would +rush from their houses shouting and doing me reverence, the children +pelted me with flowers, and the maidens danced before me, kissing +my hands and feet, till at length I was attended by a mob a thousand +strong. And I also danced and shouted like any village fool, for I think +that a kind of mad humour, or perhaps it was the drunkenness of worship, +entered into me in those days. Also I sought to forget my griefs, I +desired to forget that I was doomed to the sacrifice, and that every day +brought me nearer to the red knife of the priest. + +I desired to forget, but alas! I could not. The fumes of the mescal +and the pulque that I had drunk at feasts would pass from my brain, the +perfume of flowers, the sights of beauty and the adoration of the people +would cease to move me, and I could only brood heavily upon my doom and +think with longing of my distant love and home. In those days, had it +not been for the tender kindness of Otomie, I think that my heart would +have broken or I should have slain myself. But this great and beauteous +lady was ever at hand to cheer me in a thousand ways, and now and again +she would let fall some vague words of hope that set my pulses bounding. +It will be remembered that when first I came to the court of Montezuma, +I had found Otomie fair and my fancy turned towards her. Now I still +found her fair, but my heart was so full of terror that there was no +room in it for tender thoughts of her or of any other woman. Indeed when +I was not drunk with wine or adoration, I turned my mind to the making +of my peace with heaven, of which I had some need. + +Still I talked much with Otomie, instructing her in the matters of my +faith and many other things, as I had done by Marina, who we now heard +was the mistress and interpreter of Cortes, the Spanish leader. She for +her part listened gravely, watching me the while with her tender eyes, +but no more, for of all women Otomie was the most modest, as she was the +proudest and most beautiful. + + +So matters went on until the Spaniards had left Cholula on their road +to Mexico. It was then that I chanced one morning to be sitting in the +gardens, my lute in hand, and having my attendant nobles and tutors +gathered at a respectful distance behind me. From where I sat I could +see the entrance to the court in which the emperor met his council +daily, and I noted that when the princes had gone the priests began to +come, and after them a number of very lovely girls attended by women of +middle age. Presently Guatemoc the prince, who now smiled but rarely, +came up to me smiling, and asked me if I knew what was doing yonder. +I replied that I knew nothing and cared less, but I supposed that +Montezuma was gathering a peculiar treasure to send to his masters the +Spaniards. + +'Beware how you speak, Teule,' answered the prince haughtily. 'Your +words may be true, and yet did I not love you, you should rue them even +though you hold the spirit of Tezcat. Alas!' he added, stamping on the +ground, 'alas! that my uncle's madness should make it possible that such +words can be spoken. Oh! were I emperor of Anahuac, in a single week the +head of every Teule in Cholula should deck a pinnacle of yonder temple.' + +'Beware how you speak, prince,' I answered mocking him, 'for there are +those who did they hear, might cause YOU to rue YOUR words. Still one +day you may be emperor, and then we shall see how you will deal with the +Teules, at least others will see though I shall not. But what is it now? +Does Montezuma choose new wives?' + +'He chooses wives, but not for himself. You know, Teule, that your time +grows short. Montezuma and the priests name those who must be given to +you to wife.' + +'Given me to wife!' I said starting to my feet; 'to me whose bride is +death! What have I to do with love or marriage? I who in some few short +weeks must grace an altar? Ah! Guatemoc, you say you love me, and once I +saved you. Did you love me, surely you would save me now as you swore to +do.' + +'I swore that I would give my life for yours, Teule, if it lay in my +power, and that oath I would keep, for all do not set so high a store on +life as you, my friend. But I cannot help you; you are dedicated to the +gods, and did I die a hundred times, it would not save you from your +fate. Nothing can save you except the hand of heaven if it wills. +Therefore, Teule, make merry while you may, and die bravely when you +must. Your case is no worse than mine and that of many others, for death +awaits us all. Farewell.' + +When he had gone I rose, and leaving the gardens I passed into the +chamber where it was my custom to give audience to those who wished to +look upon the god Tezcat as they called me. Here I sat upon my golden +couch, inhaling the fumes of tobacco, and as it chanced I was alone, for +none dared to enter that room unless I gave them leave. Presently the +chief of my pages announced that one would speak with me, and I bent +my head, signifying that the person should enter, for I was weary of my +thoughts. The page withdrew, and presently a veiled woman stood before +me. I looked at her wondering, and bade her draw her veil and speak. She +obeyed, and I saw that my visitor was the princess Otomie. Now I rose +amazed, for it was not usual that she should visit me thus alone. I +guessed therefore that she had tidings, or was following some custom of +which I was ignorant. + +'I pray you be seated,' she said confusedly; 'it is not fitting that you +should stand before me.' + +'Why not, princess?' I answered. 'If I had no respect for rank, surely +beauty must claim it.' + +'A truce to words,' she replied with a wave of her slim hand. 'I come +here, O Tezcat, according to the ancient custom, because I am charged +with a message to you. Those whom you shall wed are chosen. I am the +bearer of their names.' + +'Speak on, princess of the Otomie.' + +'They are'--and she named three ladies whom I knew to be among the +loveliest in the land. + +'I thought that there were four,' I said with a bitter laugh. 'Am I to +be defrauded of the fourth?' + +'There is a fourth,' she answered, and was silent. + +'Give me her name,' I cried. 'What other slut has been found to marry a +felon doomed to sacrifice?' + +'One has been found, O Tezcat, who has borne other titles than this you +give her.' + +Now I looked at her questioningly, and she spoke again in a low voice. + +'I, Otomie, princess of the Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, am the fourth +and the first.' + +'You!' I said, sinking back upon my cushions. 'YOU!' + +'Yes, I. Listen: I was chosen by the priests as the most lovely in the +land, however unworthily. My father, the emperor, was angry and said +that whatever befell, I should never be the wife of a captive who must +die upon the altar of sacrifice. But the priests answered that this was +no time for him to claim exception for his blood, now when the gods were +wroth. Was the first lady in the land to be withheld from the god? they +asked. Then my father sighed and said that it should be as I willed. And +I said with the priests, that now in our sore distress the proud must +humble themselves to the dust, even to the marrying of a captive slave +who is named a god and doomed to sacrifice. So I, princess of the +Otomie, have consented to become your wife, O Tezcat, though perchance +had I known all that I read in your eyes this hour, I should not have +consented. It may happen that in this shame I hoped to find love if +only for one short hour, and that I purposed to vary the custom of our +people, and to complete my marriage by the side of the victim on the +altar, as, if I will, I have the right to do. But I see well that I am +not welcome, and though it is too late to go back upon my word, have +no fear. There are others, and I shall not trouble you. I have given my +message, is it your pleasure that I should go? The solemn ceremony of +wedlock will be on the twelfth day from now, O Tezcat.' + +Now I rose from my seat and took her hand, saying: + +'I thank you, Otomie, for your nobleness of mind. Had it not been for +the comfort and friendship which you and Guatemoc your cousin have given +me, I think that ere now I should be dead. So you desire to comfort me +to the last; it seems that you even purposed to die with me. How am I +to interpret this, Otomie? In our land a woman would need to love a +man after no common fashion before she consented to share such a bed as +awaits me on yonder pyramid. And yet I may scarcely think that you whom +kings have sued for can place your heart so low. How am I to read the +writing of your words, princess of the Otomie?' + +'Read it with your heart,' she whispered low, and I felt her hand +tremble in my own. + +I looked at her beauty, it was great; I thought of her devotion, a +devotion that did not shrink from the most horrible of deaths, and a +wind of feeling which was akin to love swept through my soul. But even +as I looked and thought, I remembered the English garden and the English +maid from whom I had parted beneath the beech at Ditchingham, and the +words that we had spoken then. Doubtless she still lived and was true to +me; while I lived should I not keep true at heart to her? If I must wed +these Indian girls, I must wed them, but if once I told Otomie that I +loved her, then I broke my troth, and with nothing less would she be +satisfied. As yet, though I was deeply moved and the temptation was +great, I had not come to this. + +'Be seated, Otomie,' I said, 'and listen to me. You see this golden +token,' and I drew Lily's posy ring from my hand, 'and you see the +writing within it.' + +She bent her head but did not speak, and I saw that there was fear in +her eyes. + +'I will read you the words, Otomie,' and I translated into the Aztec +tongue the quaint couplet: + + +Heart to heart, Though far apart. + + +Then at last she spoke. 'What does the writing mean?' she said. 'I can +only read in pictures, Teule.' + +'It means, Otomie, that in the far land whence I come, there is a woman +who loves me, and who is my love.' + +'Is she your wife then?' + +'She is not my wife, Otomie, but she is vowed to me in marriage.' + +'She is vowed to you in marriage,' she answered bitterly: 'why, then we +are equal, for so am I, Teule. But there is this difference between us; +you love her, and me you do not love. That is what you would make clear +to me. Spare me more words, I understand all. Still it seems that if I +have lost, she is also in the path of loss. Great seas roll between +you and this love of yours, Teule, seas of water, and the altar of +sacrifice, and the nothingness of death. Now let me go. Your wife I must +be, for there is no escape, but I shall not trouble you over much, and +it will soon be done with. Then you may seek your desire in the Houses +of the Stars whither you must wander, and it is my prayer that you shall +win it. All these months I have been planning to find hope for you, and +I thought that I had found it. But it was built upon a false belief, and +it is ended. Had you been able to say from your heart that you loved +me, it might have been well for both of us; should you be able to say +it before the end, it may still be well. But I do not ask you to say it, +and beware how you tell me a lie. I leave you, Teule, but before I go +I will say that I honour you more in this hour than I have honoured you +before, because you have dared to speak the truth to me, Montezuma's +daughter, when a lie had been so easy and so safe. That woman beyond +the seas should be grateful to you, but though I bear her no ill will, +between me and her there is a struggle to the death. We are strangers to +each other, and strangers we shall remain, but she has touched your +hand as I touch it now; you link us together and are our bond of enmity. +Farewell my husband that is to be. We shall meet no more till that sorry +day when a "slut" shall be given to a "felon" in marriage. I use your +own words, Teule!' + +Then rising, Otomie cast her veil about her face and passed slowly +from the chamber, leaving me much disturbed. It was a bold deed to have +rejected the proffered love of this queen among women, and now that +I had done so I was not altogether glad. Would Lily, I wondered, have +offered to descend from such state, to cast off the purple of her +royal rank that she might lie at my side on the red stone of sacrifice? +Perhaps not, for this fierce fidelity is only to be found in women of +another breed. These daughters of the Sun love wholly when they love at +all, and as they love they hate. They ask no priest to consecrate their +vows, nor if these become hateful, will they be bound by them for duty's +sake. Their own desire is their law, but while it rules them they follow +it unflinchingly, and if need be, they seek its consummation in the +gates of death, or failing that, forgetfulness. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FOUR GODDESSES + + +Some weary time went by, and at last came the day of the entry into +Mexico of Cortes and his conquerors. Now of all the doings of the +Spaniards after they occupied the city, I do not propose to speak at +length, for these are matters of history, and I have my own story to +tell. So I shall only write of those of them with which I was concerned +myself. I did not see the meeting between Montezuma and Cortes, though +I saw the emperor set out to it clad like Solomon in his glory and +surrounded by his nobles. But I am sure of this, that no slave being +led to sacrifice carried a heavier heart in his breast than that of +Montezuma on this unlucky day. For now his folly had ruined him, and I +think he knew that he was going to his doom. + +Afterwards, towards evening, I saw the emperor come back in his golden +litter, and pass over to the palace built by Axa his father, that stood +opposite to and some five hundred paces from his own, facing the western +gate of the temple. Presently I heard the sound of a multitude shouting, +and amidst it the tramp of horses and armed soldiers, and from a seat +in my chamber I saw the Spaniards advance down the great street, and my +heart beat at the sight of Christian men. In front, clad in rich armour, +rode their leader Cortes, a man of middle size but noble bearing, +with thoughtful eyes that noted everything, and after him, some few +on horseback but the most of them on foot, marched his little army of +conquerors, staring about them with bold wondering eyes and jesting to +each other in Castilian. They were but a handful, bronzed with the sun +and scarred by battle, some of them ill-armed and almost in rags, and +looking on them I could not but marvel at the indomitable courage +that had enabled them to pierce their way through hostile thousands, +sickness, and war, even to the home of Montezuma's power. + +By the side of Cortes, holding his stirrup in her hand, walked a +beautiful Indian woman dressed in white robes and crowned with flowers. +As she passed the palace she turned her face. I knew her at once; it +was my friend Marina, who now had attained to the greatness which she +desired, and who, notwithstanding all the evil that she had brought upon +her country, looked most happy in it and in her master's love. + +As the Spaniards went by I searched their faces one by one, with the +vague hope of hate. For though it might well chance that death had put +us out of each other's reach, I half thought to see de Garcia among the +number of the conquerors. Such a quest as theirs, with its promise of +blood, and gold, and rapine, would certainly commend itself to his evil +heart should it be in his power to join it, and a strange instinct told +me that he was NOT dead. But neither dead nor living was he among those +men who entered Mexico that day. + +That night I saw Guatemoc and asked him how things went. + +'Well for the kite that roosts in the dove's nest,' he answered with a +bitter laugh, 'but very ill for the dove. Montezuma, my uncle, has been +cooing yonder,' and he pointed to the palace of Axa, 'and the captain of +the Teules has cooed in answer, but though he tried to hide it, I could +hear the hawk's shriek in his pigeon's note. Ere long there will be +merry doings in Tenoctitlan.' + +He was right. Within a week Montezuma was treacherously seized by the +Spaniards and kept a prisoner in their quarters, watched day and night +by their soldiers. Then came event upon event. Certain lords in the +coast lands having killed some Spaniards, were summoned to Mexico by the +instigation of Cortes. They came and were burned alive in the courtyard +of the palace. Nor was this all, for Montezuma, their monarch, was +forced to witness the execution with fetters on his ankles. So low had +the emperor of the Aztecs fallen, that he must bear chains like a common +felon. After this insult he swore allegiance to the King of Spain, and +even contrived to capture Cacama, the lord of Tezcuco, by treachery and +to deliver him into the hands of the Spaniards on whom he would have +made war. To them also he gave up all the hoarded gold and treasure of +the empire, to the value of hundreds of thousands of English pounds. All +this the nation bore, for it was stupefied and still obeyed the commands +of its captive king. But when he suffered the Spaniards to worship the +true God in one of the sanctuaries of the great temple, a murmur of +discontent and sullen fury rose among the thousands of the Aztecs. It +filled the air, it could be heard wherever men were gathered, and its +sound was like that of a distant angry sea. The hour of the breaking of +the tempest was at hand. + +Now all this while my life went on as before, save that I was not +allowed to go outside the walls of the palace, for it was feared lest +I should find some means of intercourse with the Spaniards, who did +not know that a man of white blood was confined there and doomed to +sacrifice. Also in these days I saw little of the princess Otomie, +the chief of my destined brides, who since our strange love scene had +avoided me, and when we met at feasts or in the gardens spoke to me only +on indifferent matters, or of the affairs of state. At length came the +day of my marriage. It was, I remember, the night before the massacre of +the six hundred Aztec nobles on the occasion of the festival of Huitzel. + +On this my wedding day I was treated with great circumstance and +worshipped like a god by the highest in the city, who came in to do me +reverence and burned incense before me, till I was weary of the smell of +it, for though such sorrow was on the land, the priests would abate no +jot of their ceremonies or cruelties, and great hopes were held that I +being of the race of Teules, my sacrifice would avert the anger of the +gods. At sunset I was entertained with a splendid feast that lasted two +hours or more, and at its end all the company rose and shouted as with +one voice: + +'Glory to thee, O Tezcat! Happy art thou here on earth, happy mayst thou +be in the Houses of the Sun. When thou comest thither, remember that we +dealt well by thee, giving thee of our best, and intercede for us that +our sins may be forgiven. Glory to thee, O Tezcat!' + +Then two of the chief nobles came forward, and taking torches led me to +a magnificent chamber that I had never seen before. Here they changed my +apparel, investing me in robes which were still more splendid than any +that I had worn hitherto, being made of the finest embroidered cotton +and of the glittering feathers of the humming bird. On my head they set +wreaths of flowers, and about my neck and wrists emeralds of vast size +and value, and a sorry popinjay I looked in this attire, that seemed +more suited to a woman's beauty than to me. + +When I was arrayed, suddenly the torches were extinguished and for a +while there was silence. Then in the distance I heard women's voices +singing a bridal song that was beautiful enough after its fashion, +though I forbear to write it down. The singing ceased and there came a +sound of rustling robes and of low whispering. Then a man's voice spoke, +saying: + +'Are ye there, ye chosen of heaven?' + +And a woman's voice, I thought it was that of Otomie, answered: + +'We are here.' + +'O maidens of Anahuac,' said the man speaking from the darkness, 'and +you, O Tezcat, god among the gods, listen to my words. Maidens, a great +honour has been done to you, for by the very choice of heaven, you have +been endowed with the names, the lovelinesses, and the virtues of the +four great goddesses, and chosen to abide a while at the side of this +god, your maker and your master, who has been pleased to visit us for a +space before he seeks his home in the habitations of the Sun. See that +you show yourselves worthy of this honour. Comfort him and cherish him, +that he may forget his glory in your kindness, and when he returns to +his own place may take with him grateful memories and a good report of +your people. You have but a little while to live at his side in this +life, for already, like those of a caged bird, the wings of his spirit +beat against the bars of the flesh, and soon he will shake himself +free from us and you. Yet if you will, it is allowed to one of you to +accompany him to his home, sharing his flight to the Houses of the Sun. +But to all of you, whether you go also, or whether you stay to mourn him +during your life days, I say love and cherish him, be tender and gentle +towards him, for otherwise ruin shall overtake you here and hereafter, +and you and all of us will be ill spoken of in heaven. And you, O +Tezcat, we pray of you to accept these maidens, who bear the names and +wear the charms of your celestial consorts, for there are none more +beautiful or better born in the realms of Anahuac, and among them is +numbered the daughter of our king. They are not perfect indeed, for +perfection is known to you in the heavenly kingdoms only, since these +ladies are but shadows and symbols of the divine goddesses your true +wives, and here there are no perfect women. Alas, we have none better to +offer you, and it is our hope that when it pleases you to pass hence you +will think kindly of the women of this land, and from on high bless them +with your blessing, because your memory of these who were called your +wives on earth is pleasant.' + +The voice paused, then spoke again: + +'Women, in your own divine names of Xochi, Xilo, Atla, and Clixto, +and in the name of all the gods, I wed you to Tezcat, the creator, to +sojourn with him during his stay on earth. The god incarnate takes you +in marriage whom he himself created, that the symbol may be perfect and +the mystery fulfilled. Yet lest your joy should be too full--look now on +that which shall be.' + +As the voice spoke these words, many torches sprang into flame at the +far end of the great chamber, revealing a dreadful sight. For there, +stretched upon a stone of sacrifice, was the body of a man, but whether +the man lived or was modelled in wax I do not know to this hour, though +unless he was painted, I think that he must have been fashioned in wax, +since his skin shone white like mine. At the least his limbs and head +were held by five priests, and a sixth stood over him clasping a knife +of obsidian in his two hands. It flashed on high, and as it gleamed the +torches were extinguished. Then came the dull echo of a blow and a sound +of groans, and all was still, till once more the brides broke out into +their marriage song, a strange chant and a wild and sweet, though after +what I had seen and heard it had little power to move me. + +They sang on in the darkness ever more loudly, till presently a single +torch was lit at the end of the chamber, then another and another, +though I could not see who lit them, and the room was a flare of light. +Now the altar, the victim, and the priests were all gone, there was no +one left in the place except myself and the four brides. They were tall +and lovely women all of them, clad in white bridal robes starred over +with gems and flowers, and wearing on their brows the emblems of the +four goddesses, but Otomie was the stateliest and most beautiful of the +four, and seemed in truth a goddess. One by one they drew near to me, +smiling and sighing, and kneeling before me kissed my hand, saying: + +'I have been chosen to be your wife for a space, Tezcat, happy maid that +I am. May the good gods grant that I become pleasing to your sight, so +that you may love me as I worship you.' + +Then she who had spoken would draw back again out of earshot, and the +next would take her place. + +Last of all came Otomie. She knelt and said the words, then added in a +low voice, + +'Having spoken to you as the bride and goddess to the husband and the +god Tezcat, now, O Teule, I speak as the woman to the man. You do not +love me, Teule, therefore, if it is your will, let us be divorced of our +own act who were wed by the command of others, for so I shall be spared +some shame. These are friends to me and will not betray us;' and she +nodded towards her companion brides. + +'As you will, Otomie,' I answered briefly. + +'I thank you for your kindness, Teule,' she said smiling sadly, and +withdrew making obeisance, looking so stately and so sweet as she went, +that again my heart was shaken as though with love. Now from that night +till the dreadful hour of sacrifice, no kiss or tender word passed +between me and the princess of the Otomie. And yet our friendship and +affection grew daily, for we talked much together, and I sought to turn +her heart to the true King of Heaven. But this was not easy, for like +her father Montezuma, Otomie clung to the gods of her people, though +she hated the priests, and save when the victims were the foes of her +country, shrank from the rites of human sacrifice, which she said were +instituted by the pabas, since in the early days there were no men +offered on the altars of the gods, but flowers only. Daily it grew and +ripened till, although I scarcely knew it, at length in my heart, after +Lily, I loved her better than anyone on earth. As for the other women, +though they were gentle and beautiful, I soon learned to hate them. +Still I feasted and revelled with them, partly since I must, or bring +them to a miserable death because they failed to please me, and partly +that I might drown my terrors in drink and pleasure, for let it be +remembered that the days left to me on earth were few, and the awful end +drew near. + + +The day following the celebration of my marriage was that of the +shameless massacre of six hundred of the Aztec nobles by the order of +the hidalgo Alvarado, whom Cortes had left in command of the Spaniards. +For at this time Cortes was absent in the coast lands, whither he had +gone to make war on Narvaez, who had been sent to subdue him by his +enemy Velasquez, the governor of Cuba. + +On this day was celebrated the feast of Huitzel, that was held with +sacrifice, songs, and dances in the great court of the temple, that +court which was surrounded by a wall carved over with the writhing +shapes of snakes. It chanced that on this morning before he went to +join in the festival, Guatemoc, the prince, came to see me on a visit of +ceremony. + +I asked him if he intended to take part in the feast, as the splendour +of his apparel brought me to believe. + +'Yes,' he answered, 'but why do you ask?' + +'Because, were I you, Guatemoc, I would not go. Say now, will the +dancers be armed?' + +'No, it is not usual.' + +'They will be unarmed, Guatemoc, and they are the flower of the land. +Unarmed they will dance in yonder enclosed space, and the Teules will +watch them armed. Now, how would it be if these chanced to pick a +quarrel with the nobles?' + +'I do not know why you should speak thus, Teule, for surely these white +men are not cowardly murderers, still I take your words as an omen, and +though the feast must be held, for see already the nobles gather, I will +not share in it.' + +'You are wise, Guatemoc,' I said. 'I am sure that you are wise.' + +Afterwards Otomie, Guatemoc, and I went into the garden of the palace +and sat upon the crest of a small pyramid, a teocalli in miniature that +Montezuma had built for a place of outlook on the market and the courts +of the temple. From this spot we saw the dancing of the Aztec nobles, +and heard the song of the musicians. It was a gay sight, for in the +bright sunlight their feather dresses flashed like coats of gems, and +none would have guessed how it was to end. Mingling with the dancers +were groups of Spaniards clad in mail and armed with swords and +matchlocks, but I noted that, as the time went on, these men separated +themselves from the Indians and began to cluster like bees about the +gates and at various points under the shadow of the Wall of Serpents. + +'Now what may this mean?' I said to Guatemoc, and as I spoke, I saw a +Spaniard wave a white cloth in the air. Then, in an instant, before the +cloth had ceased to flutter, a smoke arose from every side, and with it +came the sound of the firing of matchlocks. Everywhere among the dancers +men fell dead or wounded, but the mass of them, unharmed as yet, +huddled themselves together like frightened sheep, and stood silent and +terror-stricken. Then the Spaniards, shouting the name of their patron +saint, as it is their custom to do when they have some such wickedness +in hand, drew their swords, and rushing on the unarmed Aztec nobles +began to kill them. Now some shrieked and fled, and some stood still +till they were cut down, but whether they stayed or ran the end was the +same, for the gates were guarded and the wall was too high to climb. +There they were slaughtered every man of them, and may God, who sees +all, reward their murderers! It was soon over; within ten minutes of +the waving of the cloth, those six hundred men were stretched upon the +pavement dead or dying, and with shouts of victory the Spaniards were +despoiling their corpses of the rich ornaments they had worn. + +Then I turned to Guatemoc and said, 'It seems that you did well not to +join in yonder revel.' + +But Guatemoc made no answer. He stared at the dead and those who had +murdered them, and said nothing. Only Otomie spoke: 'You Christians are +a gentle people,' she said with a bitter laugh; 'it is thus that you +repay our hospitality. Now I trust that Montezuma, my father, is pleased +with his guests. Ah! were I he, every man of them should lie on the +stone of sacrifice. If our gods are devils as you say, what are those +who worship yours?' + +Then at length Guatemoc said, 'Only one thing remains to us, and that is +vengeance. Montezuma has become a woman, and I heed him no more, nay, +if it were needful, I would kill him with my own hand. But two men are +still left in the land, Cuitlahua, my uncle, and myself. Now I go to +summon our armies.' And he went. + +All that night the city murmured like a swarm of wasps, and next day at +dawn, so far as the eye could reach, the streets and market place were +filled with tens of thousands of armed warriors. They threw themselves +like a wave upon the walls of the palace of Axa, and like a wave from +a rock they were driven back again by the fire of the guns. Thrice they +attacked, and thrice they were repulsed. Then Montezuma, the woman king, +appeared upon the walls, praying them to desist because, forsooth, did +they succeed, he himself might perish. Even then they obeyed him, +so great was their reverence for his sacred royalty, and for a while +attacked the Spaniards no more. But further than this they would not +go. If Montezuma forbade them to kill the Spaniards, at least they +determined to starve them out, and from that hour a strait blockade +was kept up against the palace. Hundreds of the Aztec soldiers had been +slain already, but the loss was not all upon their side, for some of the +Spaniards and many of the Tlascalans had fallen into their hands. As +for these unlucky prisoners, their end was swift, for they were taken at +once to the temples of the great teocalli, and sacrificed there to the +gods in the sight of their comrades. + +Now it was that Cortes returned with many more men, for he had conquered +Narvaez, whose followers joined the standard of Cortes, and with them +others, one of whom I had good reason to know. Cortes was suffered to +rejoin his comrades in the palace of Axa without attack, I do not know +why, and on the following day Cuitlahua, Montezuma's brother, king +of Palapan, was released by him that he might soothe the people. But +Cuitlahua was no coward. Once safe outside his prison walls, he called +the council together, of whom the chief was Guatemoc. + +There they resolved on war to the end, giving it out that Montezuma had +forfeited his kingdom by his cowardice, and on that resolve they acted. +Had it been taken but two short months before, by this date no Spaniard +would have been left alive in Tenoctitlan. For after Marina, the love of +Cortes, whose subtle wit brought about his triumph, it was Montezuma +who was the chief cause of his own fall, and of that of the kingdom of +Anahuac. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OTOMIE'S COUNSEL + + +On the day after the return of Cortes to Mexico, before the hour of +dawn I was awakened from my uneasy slumbers by the whistling cries of +thousands of warriors and the sound of atabals and drums. + +Hurrying to my post of outlook on the little pyramid, where Otomie +joined me, I saw that the whole people were gathered for war. So far +as the eye could reach, in square, market place, and street, they were +massed in thousands and tens of thousands. Some were armed with slings, +some with bows and arrows, others with javelins tipped with copper, +and the club set with spikes of obsidian that is called maqua, and yet +others, citizens of the poorer sort, with stakes hardened in the fire. +The bodies of some were covered with golden coats of mail and mantles of +featherwork, and their skulls protected by painted wooden helms, +crested with hair, and fashioned like the heads of pumas, snakes, or +wolves--others wore escaupils, or coats of quilted cotton, but the +most of them were naked except for a cloth about the loins. On the flat +azoteas, or roofs of houses also, and even on the top of the teocalli of +sacrifice, were bands of men whose part it was to rain missiles into the +Spanish quarters. It was a strange sight to see in that red sunrise, and +one never to be forgotten, as the light flashed from temples and palace +walls, on to the glittering feather garments and gay banners, the points +of countless spears and the armour of the Spaniards, who hurried to and +fro behind their battlements making ready their defence. + +So soon as the sun was up, a priest blew a shrill note upon a shell, +which was answered by a trumpet call from the Spanish quarters. Then +with a shriek of rage the thousands of the Aztecs rushed to the attack, +and the air grew dark with missiles. Instantly a wavering line of fire +and smoke, followed by a sound as of thunder, broke from the walls of +the palace of Axa, and the charging warriors fell like autumn leaves +beneath the cannon and arquebuss balls of the Christians. + +For a moment they wavered and a great groan went up to heaven, but I saw +Guatemoc spring forward, a banner in his hand, and forming up again they +rushed after him. Now they were beneath the wall of the palace, and the +assault began. The Aztecs fought furiously. Time upon time they strove +to climb the wall, piling up the bodies of the dead to serve them as +ladders, and time upon time they were repulsed with cruel loss. Failing +in this, they set themselves to battering it down with heavy beams, but +when the breach was made and they clustered in it like herded sheep, the +cannon opened fire on them, tearing long lanes through their mass and +leaving them dead by scores. Then they took to the shooting of flaming +arrows, and by this means fired the outworks, but the palace was of +stone and would not burn. Thus for twelve long hours the struggle raged +unceasingly, till the sudden fall of darkness put an end to it, and +the only sight to be seen was the flare of countless torches carried by +those who sought out the dead, and the only sounds to be heard were the +voice of women lamenting, and the groans of the dying. + +On the morrow the fight broke out again at dawn, when Cortes sallied +forth with the greater part of his soldiers, and some thousands of +his Tlascalan allies. At first I thought that he aimed his attack at +Montezuma's palace, and a breath of hope went through me, since then it +might become possible for me to escape in the confusion. But this was +not so, his object being to set fire to the houses, from the flat roofs +of which numberless missiles were hailed hourly upon his followers. +The charge was desperate and it succeeded, for the Indians could not +withstand the shock of horsemen any more than their naked skins could +turn the Spaniards' steel. Presently scores of houses were in flames, +and thick columns of smoke rolled up like those that float from the +mouth of Popo. But many of those who rode and ran from the gates of +Axa did not come back thither, for the Aztecs clung to the legs of +the horses and dragged their riders away living. That very day these +captives were sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, and in the sight of +their comrades, and with them a horse was offered up, which had been +taken alive, and was borne and dragged with infinite labour up the steep +sides of the pyramid. Indeed never had the sacrifices been so many as +during these days of combat. All day long the altars ran red, and all +day long the cries of the victims rang in my ears, as the maddened +priests went about their work. For thus they thought to please the gods +who should give them victory over the Teules. + +Even at night the sacrifices continued by the light of the sacred fires, +that from below gave those who wrought them the appearance of devils +flitting through the flames of hell, and inflicting its torments on +the damned, much as they are depicted in the 'Doom' painting of the +resurrection of the dead that is over the chancel arch in this church of +Ditchingham. And hour by hour through the darkness, a voice called out +threats and warnings to the Spaniards, saying, 'Huitzel is hungry for +your blood, ye Teules, ye shall surely follow where ye have seen your +fellows go: the cages are ready, the knives are sharp, and the irons +are hot for the torture. Prepare, ye Teules, for though ye slay many, ye +cannot escape.' + +Thus the struggle went on day after day, till thousands of the Aztecs +were dead, and the Spaniards were well nigh worn out with hunger, +war, and wounds, for they could not rest a single hour. At length one +morning, when the assault was at its hottest, Montezuma himself appeared +upon the central tower of the palace, clad in splendid robes and wearing +the diadem. Before him stood heralds bearing golden wands, and about +him were the nobles who attended him in his captivity, and a guard of +Spaniards. He stretched out his hand, and suddenly the fighting was +stayed and a silence fell upon the place, even the wounded ceased from +their groaning. Then he addressed the multitude. What he said I was too +far off to hear, though I learned its purport afterwards. He prayed his +people to cease from war, for the Spaniards were his friends and guests +and would presently leave the city of Tenoctitlan. When these cowardly +words had passed his lips, a fury took his subjects, who for long years +had worshipped him as a god, and a shriek rent the air that seemed to +say two words only: + +'Woman! Traitor!' + +Then I saw an arrow rush upwards and strike the emperor, and after the +arrow a shower of stones, so that he fell down there upon the tower +roof. + +Now a voice cried, 'We have slain our king. Montezuma is dead,' and +instantly with a dreadful wailing the multitude fled this way and that, +so that presently no living man could be seen where there had been +thousands. + +I turned to comfort Otomie, who was watching at my side, and had seen +her royal father fall, and led her weeping into the palace. Here we met +Guatemoc, the prince, and his mien was fierce and wild. He was fully +armed and carried a bow in his hand. + +'Is Montezuma dead?' I asked. + +'I neither know nor care,' he answered with a savage laugh, then added: + +'Now curse me, Otomie my cousin, for it was my arrow that smote him +down, this king who has become a woman and a traitor, false to his +manhood and his country.' + +Then Otomie ceased weeping and answered: + +'I cannot curse you, Guatemoc, for the gods have smitten my father +with a madness as you smote him with your arrow, and it is best that +he should die, both for his own sake and for that of his people. Still, +Guatemoc, I am sure of this, that your crime will not go unpunished, +and that in payment for this sacrilege, you shall yourself come to a +shameful death.' + +'It may be so,' said Guatemoc, 'but at least I shall not die betraying +my trust;' and he went. + + +Now I must tell that, as I believed, this was my last day on earth, +for on the morrow my year of godhead expired, and I, Thomas Wingfield, +should be led out to sacrifice. Notwithstanding all the tumult in the +city, the mourning for the dead and the fear that hung over it like a +cloud, the ceremonies of religion and its feasts were still celebrated +strictly, more strictly indeed than ever before. Thus on this night a +festival was held in my honour, and I must sit at the feast crowned +with flowers and surrounded by my wives, while those nobles who remained +alive in the city did me homage, and with them Cuitlahua, who, if +Montezuma were dead, would now be emperor. It was a dreary meal enough, +for I could scarcely be gay though I strove to drown my woes in drink, +and as for the guests, they had little jollity left in them. Hundreds +of their relatives were dead and with them thousands of the people; the +Spaniards still held their own in the fortress, and that day they had +seen their emperor, who to them was a god, smitten down by one of their +own number, and above all they felt that doom was upon themselves. What +wonder that they were not merry? Indeed no funeral feast could have been +more sad, for flowers and wine and fair women do not make pleasure, and +after all it was a funeral feast--for me. + +At length it came to an end and I fled to my own apartments, whither my +three wives followed me, for Otomie did not come, calling me most happy +and blessed who to-morrow should be with myself, that is with my own +godhead, in heaven. But I did not call them blessed, for, rising in +wrath, I drove them away, saying that I had but one comfort left, and it +was that wherever I might go I should leave them behind. + +Then I cast myself upon the cushions of my bed and mourned in my fear +and bitterness of heart. This was the end of the vengeance which I had +sworn to wreak on de Garcia, that I myself must have my heart torn from +my breast and offered to a devil. Truly Fonseca, my benefactor, had +spoken words of wisdom when he counselled me to take my fortune and +forget my oath. Had I done so, to-day I might have been my betrothed's +husband and happy in her love at home in peaceful England, instead of +what I was, a lost soul in the power of fiends and about to be offered +to a fiend. In the bitterness of the thought and the extremity of my +anguish I wept aloud and prayed to my Maker that I might be delivered +from this cruel death, or at the least that my sins should be forgiven +me, so that to-morrow night I might rest at peace in heaven. + +Thus weeping and praying I sank into a half sleep, and dreamed that I +walked on the hillside near the church path that runs through the garden +of the Lodge at Ditchingham. The whispers of the wind were in the trees +which clothe the bank of the Vineyard Hills, the scent of the sweet +English flowers was in my nostrils and the balmy air of June blew on my +brow. It was night in this dream of mine, and I thought that the moon +shone sweetly on the meadows and the river, while from every side came +the music of the nightingale. But I was not thinking of these delightful +sights and sounds, though they were present in my mind, for my eyes +watched the church path which goes up the hill at the back of the house, +and my heart listened for a footstep that I longed to hear. Then there +came a sound of singing from beyond the hill, and the words of the song +were sad, for they told of one who had sailed away and returned no more, +and presently between the apple trees I saw a white figure on its crest. +Slowly it came towards me and I knew that it was she for whom I waited, +Lily my beloved. Now she ceased to sing, but drew on gently and her face +seemed very sad. Moreover it was the face of a woman in middle life, +but still most beautiful, more beautiful indeed than it had been in the +bloom of youth. She had reached the foot of the hill and was turning +towards the little garden gate, when I came forward from the shadow of +the trees, and stood before her. Back she started with a cry of fear, +then grew silent and gazed into my face. + +'So changed,' she murmured; 'can it be the same? Thomas, is it you +come back to me from the dead, or is this but a vision?' and slowly and +doubtingly the dream wraith stretched out her arms as though to clasp +me. + +Then I awoke. I awoke and lo! before me stood a fair woman clothed in +white, on whom the moonlight shone as in my dream, and her arms were +stretched towards me lovingly. + +'It is I, beloved, and no vision,' I cried, springing from my bed and +clasping her to my breast to kiss her. But before my lips touched hers I +saw my error, for she whom I embraced was not Lily Bozard, my betrothed, +but Otomie, princess of the Otomie, who was called my wife. Then I knew +that this was the saddest and the most bitter of dreams that had been +sent to mock me, for all the truth rushed into my mind. Losing my hold +of Otomie, I fell back upon the bed and groaned aloud, and as I fell I +saw the flush of shame upon her brow and breast. For this woman loved +me, and thus my act and words were an insult to her, who could guess +well what prompted them. Still she spoke gently. + +'Pardon me, Teule, I came but to watch and not to waken you. I came also +that I may see you alone before the daybreak, hoping that I might be of +service, or at the least, of comfort to you, for the end draws near. Say +then, in your sleep did you mistake me for some other woman dearer and +fairer than I am, that you would have embraced me?' + +'I dreamed that you were my betrothed whom I love, and who is far +away across the sea,' I answered heavily. 'But enough of love and such +matters. What have I to do with them who go down into darkness?' + +'In truth I cannot tell, Teule, still I have heard wise men say that if +love is to be found anywhere, it is in this same darkness of death, that +is light indeed. Grieve not, for if there is truth in the faith of which +you have told me or in our own, either on this earth or beyond it, with +the eyes of the spirit you will see your dear before another sun is set, +and I pray that you may find her faithful to you. Tell me now, how +much does she love you? Would SHE have lain by your side on the bed of +sacrifice as, had things gone otherwise between us, Teule, it was my +hope to do?' + +'No,' I answered, 'it is not the custom of our women to kill themselves +because their husbands chance to die.' + +'Perhaps they think it better to live and wed again,' answered Otomie +very quietly, but I saw her eyes flash and her breast heave in the +moonlight as she spoke. + +'Enough of this foolish talk,' I said. 'Listen, Otomie; if you had cared +for me truly, surely you would have saved me from this dreadful doom, +or prevailed on Guatemoc to save me. You are Montezuma's daughter, could +you not have brought it about during all these months that he issued his +royal mandate, commanding that I should be spared?' + +'Do you, then, take me for so poor a friend, Teule?' she answered hotly. +'Know that for all these months, by day and by night, I have worked and +striven to find a means to rescue you. Before he became a prisoner I +importuned my father the emperor, till he ordered me from his presence. +I have sought to bribe the priests, I have plotted ways of escape, +ay, and Guatemoc has helped, for he loves you. Had it not been for the +coming of these accursed Teules, and the war that they have levied in +the city, I had surely saved you, for a woman's thought leaps far, and +can find a path where none seems possible. But this war has changed +everything, and moreover the star-readers and diviners of auguries have +given a prophecy which seals your fate. For they have prophesied that +if your blood flows, and your heart is offered at the hour of noon +to-morrow on the altar of Tezcat, our people shall be victorious over +the Teules, and utterly destroy them. But if the sacrifice is celebrated +one moment before or after that propitious hour, then the doom of +Tenoctitlan is sealed. Also they have declared that you must die, not, +according to custom, at the Temple of Arms across the lake, but on the +great pyramid before the chief statue of the god. All this is known +throughout the land; thousands of priests are now offering up prayers +that the sacrifice may be fortunate, and a golden ring has been hung +over the stone of slaughter in such a fashion that the light of the +sun must strike upon the centre of your breast at the very moment of +mid-day. For weeks you have been watched as a jaguar watches its prey, +for it was feared that you would escape to the Teules, and we, your +wives, have been watched also. At this moment there is a triple ring +of guards about the palace, and priests are set without your doors and +beneath the window places. Judge, then, what chance there is of escape, +Teule.' + +'Little indeed,' I said, 'and yet I know a road. If I kill myself, they +cannot kill me.' + +'Nay,' she answered hastily, 'what shall that avail you? While you live +you may hope, but once dead, you are dead for ever. Also if you must +die, it is best that you should die by the hand of the priest. Believe +me, though the end is horrible,' and she shuddered, 'it is almost +painless, so they say, and very swift. They will not torture you, that +we have saved you, Guatemoc and I, though at first they wished thus to +honour the god more particularly on this great day.' + +'O Teule,' Otomie went on, seating herself by me on the bed, and taking +my hand, 'think no more of these brief terrors, but look beyond them. +Is it so hard a thing to die, and swiftly? We all must die, to-day, or +to-night, or the next day, it matters little when--and your faith, like +ours, teaches that beyond the grave is endless blessedness. Think then, +my friend, to-morrow you will have passed far from this strife and +turmoil; the struggle and the sorrows and the daily fears for the future +that make the soul sick will be over for you, you will be taken to your +peace, where no one shall disturb you for ever. There you will find that +mother whom you have told me of, and who loved you, and there perhaps +one will join you who loves you better than your mother, mayhap even +I may meet you there, friend,' and she looked up at me strangely. 'The +road that you are doomed to walk is dark indeed, but surely it must +be well-trodden, and there is light shining beyond it. So be a man, my +friend, and do not grieve; rejoice rather that at so early an age you +have done with woes and doubts, and come to the gates of joy, that you +have passed the thorny, unwatered wilderness and see the smiling lakes +and gardens, and among them the temples of your eternal city. + +'And now farewell. We meet no more till the hour of sacrifice, for we +women who masquerade as wives must accompany you to the first platforms +of the temple. Farewell, dear friend, and think upon my words; whether +they are acceptable to you or no, I am sure of this, that both for +the sake of your own honour and because I ask it of you, you will die +bravely as though the eyes of your own people were watching all.' And +bending suddenly, Otomie kissed me on the forehead gently as a sister +might, and was gone. + +The curtains swung behind her, but the echoes of her noble words still +dwelt in my heart. Nothing can make man look on death lovingly, and that +awaiting me was one from which the bravest would shrink, yet I felt that +Otomie had spoken truth, and that, terrible as it seemed, it might prove +less terrible than life had shewn itself to be. An unnatural calm fell +upon my soul like some dense mist upon the face of the ocean. Beneath +that mist the waters might foam, above it the sun might shine, yet +around was one grey peace. In this hour I seemed to stand outside of my +earthly self, and to look on all things with a new sense. The tide of +life was ebbing away from me, the shore of death loomed very near, and +I understood then, as in extreme old age I understand to-day, how much +more part we mortals have in death than in this short accident of life. +I could consider all my past, I could wonder on the future of my spirit, +and even marvel at the gentleness and wisdom of the Indian woman, who +was able to think such thoughts and utter them. + +Well, whatever befell, in one thing I would not disappoint her, I would +die bravely as an Englishman should do, leaving the rest to God. These +barbarians should never say of me that the foreigner was a coward. Who +was I that I should complain? Did not hundreds of men as good as I was +perish daily in yonder square, and without a murmur? Had not my mother +died also at the hand of a murderer? Was not that unhappy lady, Isabella +de Siguenza, walled up alive because she had been mad enough to love a +villain who betrayed her? The world is full of terrors and sorrows such +as mine, who was I that I should complain? + + +So I mused on till at length the day dawned, and with the rising sun +rose the clamour of men making ready for battle. For now the fight raged +from day to day, and this was to be one of the most terrible. But I +thought little then of the war between the Aztecs and the Spaniards, +who must prepare myself for the struggle of my own death that was now at +hand. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE KISS OF LOVE + + +Presently there was a sound of music, and, accompanied by certain +artists, my pages entered, bearing with them apparel more gorgeous than +any that I had worn hitherto. First, these pages having stripped me of +my robes, the artists painted all my body in hideous designs of red, and +white, and blue, till I resembled a flag, not even sparing my face and +lips, which they coloured with carmine hues. Over my heart also they +drew a scarlet ring with much care and measurement. Then they did up my +hair that now hung upon my shoulders, after the fashion in which it was +worn by generals among the Indians, tying it on the top of my head +with an embroidered ribbon red in colour, and placed a plume of cock's +feathers above it. Next, having arrayed my body in gorgeous vestments +not unlike those used by popish priests at the celebration of the mass, +they set golden earrings in my ears, golden bracelets on my wrists and +ankles, and round my neck a collar of priceless emeralds. On my breast +also they hung a great gem that gleamed like moonlit water, and beneath +my chin a false beard made from pink sea shells. Then having twined me +round with wreaths of flowers till I thought of the maypole on Bungay +Common, they rested from their labours, filled with admiration at their +handiwork. + +Now the music sounded again and they gave me two lutes, one of which +I must hold in either hand, and conducted me to the great hall of the +palace. Here a number of people of rank were gathered, all dressed in +festal attire, and here also on a dais to which I was led, stood my four +wives clad in the rich dresses of the four goddesses Xochi, Xilo, Atla, +and Clixto, after whom they were named for the days of their wifehood, +Atla being the princess Otomie. When I had taken my place upon the dais, +my wives came forward one by one, and kissing me on the brow, offered +me sweetmeats and meal cakes in golden platters, and cocoa and mescal +in golden cups. Of the mescal I drank, for it is a spirit and I +needed inward comfort, but the other dainties I could not touch. These +ceremonies being finished, there was silence for a while, till presently +a band of filthy priests entered at the far end of the chamber, clad +in their scarlet sacrificial robes. Blood was on them everywhere, their +long locks were matted with it, their hands were red with it, even their +fierce eyes seemed full of it. They advanced up the chamber till they +stood before the dais, then suddenly the head priest lifted up his +hands, crying aloud: + +'Adore the immortal god, ye people,' and all those gathered there +prostrated themselves shouting: + +'We adore the god.' + +Thrice the priest cried aloud, and thrice they answered him thus, +prostrating themselves at every answer. Then they rose again, and the +priest addressed me, saying: + +'Forgive us, O Tezcat, that we cannot honour you as it is meet, for our +sovereign should have been here to worship you with us. But you know, +O Tezcat, how sore is the strait of your servants, who must wage war in +their own city against those who blaspheme you and your brother gods. +You know that our beloved emperor lies wounded, a prisoner in their +unholy hands. When we have gratified your longing to pass beyond the +skies, O Tezcat, and when in your earthly person you have taught us the +lesson that human prosperity is but a shadow which flees away; in memory +of our love for you intercede for us, we beseech you, that we may smite +these wicked ones and honour you and them by the rite of their own +sacrifice. O Tezcat, you have dwelt with us but a little while, and now +you will not suffer that we hold you longer from your glory, for your +eyes have longed to see this happy day, and it is come at last. We have +loved you, Tezcat, and ministered to you, grant in return that we may +see you in your splendour, we who are your little children, and till we +come, watch well over our earthly welfare, and that of the people among +whom you have deigned to sojourn.' + +Having spoken some such words as these, that at times could scarcely +be heard because of the sobbing of the people, and of my wives who wept +loudly, except Otomie alone, this villainous priest made a sign and once +more the music sounded. Then he and his band placed themselves about me, +my wives the goddesses going before and after, and led me down the hall +and on to the gateways of the palace, which were thrown wide for us to +pass. Looking round me with a stony wonder, for in this my last hour +nothing seemed to escape my notice, I saw that a strange play was being +played about us. Some hundreds of paces away the attack on the palace +of Axa, where the Spaniards were entrenched, raged with fury. Bands of +warriors were attempting to scale the walls and being driven back by the +deadly fire of the Spaniards and the pikes and clubs of their Tlascalan +allies, while from the roofs of such of the neighbouring houses as +remained unburned, and more especially from the platform of the great +teocalli, on which I must presently give up the ghost, arrows, javelins, +and stones were poured by thousands into the courtyards and outer works +of the Spanish quarters. + +Five hundred yards away or so, raged this struggle to the death, but +about me, around the gates of Montezuma's palace on the hither side +of the square, was a different scene. Here were gathered a vast crowd, +among them many women and children, waiting to see me die. They came +with flowers in their hands, with the sound of music and joyous cries, +and when they saw me they set up such a shout of welcome that it almost +drowned the thunder of the guns and the angry roar of battle. Now and +again an ill-aimed cannon ball would plough through them, killing some +and wounding others, but the rest took no heed, only crying the more, +'Welcome, Tezcat, and farewell. Blessings on you, our deliverer, welcome +and farewell!' + +We went slowly through the press, treading on a path of flowers, till we +came across the courtyard to the base of the pyramid. Here at the outer +gate there was a halt because of the multitude of the people, and while +we waited a warrior thrust his way through the crowd and bowed before +me. Glancing up I saw that it was Guatemoc. + +'Teule,' he whispered to me, 'I leave my charge yonder,' and he nodded +towards the force who strove to break a way into the palace of Axa, 'to +bid you farewell. Doubtless we shall meet again ere long. Believe me, +Teule, I would have helped you if I could, but it cannot be. I wish +that I might change places with you. My friend, farewell. Twice you have +saved my life, but yours I cannot save.' + +'Farewell, Guatemoc,' I answered 'heaven prosper you, for you are a true +man.' + +Then we passed on. + +At the foot of the pyramid the procession was formed, and here one of my +wives bade me adieu after weeping on my neck, though I did not weep on +hers. Now the road to the summit of the teocalli winds round and round +the pyramid, ever mounting higher as it winds, and along this road we +went in solemn state. At each turn we halted and another wife bade me a +last good-bye, or one of my instruments of music, which I did not grieve +to see the last of, or some article of my strange attire, was taken +from me. At length after an hour's march, for our progress was slow, we +reached the flat top of the pyramid that is approached by a great stair, +a space larger than the area of the churchyard here at Ditchingham, and +unfenced at its lofty edge. Here on this dizzy place stood the temples +of Huitzel and of Tezcat, soaring structures of stone and wood, within +which were placed the horrid effigies of the gods, and dreadful chambers +stained with sacrifice. Here, too, were the holy fires that burned +eternally, the sacrificial stones, the implements of torment, and the +huge drum of snakes' skin, but for the rest the spot was bare. It was +bare but not empty, for on that side of it which looked towards the +Spanish quarters were stationed some hundreds of men who hurled missiles +into their camp without ceasing. On the other side also were gathered a +concourse of priests awaiting the ceremony of my death. Below the great +square, fringed round with burnt-out houses, was crowded with thousands +of people, some of them engaged in combat with the Spaniards, but the +larger part collected there to witness my murder. + +Now we reached the top of the pyramid, two hours before midday, +for there were still many rites to be carried out ere the moment of +sacrifice. First I was led into the sanctuary of Tezcat, the god whose +name I bore. Here was his statue or idol, fashioned in black marble and +covered with golden ornaments. In the hand of this idol was a shield of +burnished gold on which its jewelled eyes were fixed, reading there, +as his priests fabled, all that passed upon the earth he had created. +Before him also was a plate of gold, which with muttered invocations the +head priest cleansed as I watched, rubbing it with his long and matted +locks. This done he held it to my lips that I might breathe on it, and +I turned faint and sick, for I knew that it was being made ready to +receive the heart which I felt beating in my breast. + +Now what further ceremonies were to be carried out in this unholy place +I do not know, for at that moment a great tumult arose in the square +beneath, and I was hurried from the sanctuary by the priests. Then I +perceived this: galled to madness by the storm of missiles rained upon +them from its crest, the Spaniards were attacking the teocalli. Already +they were pouring across the courtyard in large companies, led by +Cortes himself, and with them came many hundreds of their allies the +Tlascalans. On the other hand some thousands of the Aztecs were rushing +to the foot of the first stairway to give the white men battle there. +Five minutes passed and the fight grew fierce. Again and again, covered +by the fire of the arquebusiers, the Spaniards charged the Aztecs, but +their horses slipping upon the stone pavement, at length they dismounted +and continued the fray on foot. Slowly and with great slaughter the +Indians were pushed back and the Spaniards gained a footing on the first +stairway. But hundreds of warriors still crowded the lofty winding road, +and hundreds more held the top, and it was plain that if the Spaniards +won through at all, the task would be a hard one. Still a fierce hope +smote me like a blow when I saw what was toward. If the Spaniards took +the temple there would be no sacrifice. No sacrifice could be offered +till midday, so Otomie had told me, and that was not for hard upon two +hours. It came to this then, if the Spaniards were victorious within two +hours, there was a chance of life for me, if not I must die. + +Now when I was led out of the sanctuary of Tezcat, I wondered because +the princess Otomie, or rather the goddess Atla as she was then called, +was standing among the chief priests and disputing with them, for I had +seen her bow her head at the door of the holy place, and thought that it +was in token of farewell, seeing that she was the last of the four women +to leave me. Of what she disputed I could not hear because of the din of +battle, but the argument was keen and it seemed to me that the priests +were somewhat dismayed at her words, and yet had a fierce joy in them. +It appeared also that she won her cause, for presently they bowed +in obeisance to her, and turning slowly she swept to my side with a +peculiar majesty of gait that even then I noted. Glancing up at her face +also, I saw that it was alight as though with a great and holy purpose, +and moreover that she looked like some happy bride passing to her +husband's arms. + +'Why are you not gone, Otomie?' I said. 'Now it is too late. The +Spaniards surround the teocalli and you will be killed or taken +prisoner.' + +'I await the end whatever it may be,' she answered briefly, and we spoke +no more for a while, but watched the progress of the fray, which was +fierce indeed. Grimly the Aztec warriors fought before the symbols of +their gods, and in the sight of the vast concourse of the people who +crowded the square beneath and stared at the struggle in silence. They +hurled themselves upon the Spanish swords, they gripped the Spaniards +with their hands and screaming with rage dragged them to the steep sides +of the roadway, purposing to cast them over. Sometimes they succeeded, +and a ball of men clinging together would roll down the slope and be +dashed to pieces on the stone flooring of the courtyard, a Spaniard +being in the centre of the ball. But do what they would, like some +vast and writhing snake, still the long array of Teules clad in their +glittering mail ploughed its way upward through the storm of spears and +arrows. Minute by minute and step by step they crept on, fighting as +men fight who know the fate that awaits the desecrators of the gods of +Anahuac, fighting for life, and honour, and safety from the stone of +sacrifice. Thus an hour went by, and the Spaniards were half way up +the pyramid. Louder and louder grew the fearful sounds of battle, the +Spaniards cheered and called on their patron saints to aid them, the +Aztecs yelled like wild beasts, the priests screamed invocations to +their gods and cries of encouragement to the warriors, while above all +rose the rattle of the arquebusses, the roar of the cannon, and the +fearful note of the great drum of snake's skin on which a half-naked +priest beat madly. Only the multitudes below never moved, nor shouted. +They stood silent gazing upward, and I could see the sunlight flash on +the thousands of their staring eyes. + +Now all this while I was standing near the stone of sacrifice with +Otomie at my side. Round me were a ring of priests, and over the stone +was fixed a square of black cloth supported upon four poles, which were +set in sockets in the pavement. In the centre of this black cloth was +sewn a golden funnel measuring six inches or so across at its mouth, +and the sunbeams passing through this funnel fell in a bright patch, +the size of an apple, upon the space of pavement that was shaded by the +cloth. As the sun moved in the heavens, so did this ring of light creep +across the shadow till at length it climbed the stone of sacrifice and +lay upon its edge. + +Then at a sign from the head priest, his ministers laid hold of me and +plucked what were left of my fine clothes from me as cruel boys pluck a +living bird, till I stood naked except for the paint upon my body and a +cloth about my loins. Now I knew that my hour had come, and strange +to tell, for the first time this day courage entered into me, and I +rejoiced to think that soon I should have done with my tormentors. +Turning to Otomie I began to bid her farewell in a clear voice, when to +my amaze I saw that as I had been served so she was being served, for +her splendid robes were torn off her and she stood before me arrayed +in nothing except her beauty, her flowing hair, and a broidered cotton +smock. + +'Do not wonder, Teule,' she said in a low voice, answering the question +my tongue refused to frame, 'I am your wife and yonder is our marriage +bed, the first and last. Though you do not love me, to-day I die your +death and at your side, as I have the right to do. I could not save you, +Teule, but at least I can die with you.' + +At the moment I made no answer, for I was stricken silent by my wonder, +and before I could find my tongue the priests had cast me down, and for +the second time I lay upon the stone of doom. As they held me a yell +fiercer and longer than any which had gone before, told that the +Spaniards had got foot upon the last stair of the ascent. Scarcely had +my body been set upon the centre of the great stone, when that of Otomie +was laid beside it, so close that our sides touched, for I must lie in +the middle of the stone and there was no great place for her. Then the +moment of sacrifice not being come, the priests made us fast with cords +which they knotted to copper rings in the pavement, and turned to watch +the progress of the fray. + +For some minutes we lay thus side by side, and as we lay a great wonder +and gratitude grew in my heart, wonder that a woman could be so brave, +gratitude for the love she gave me, sealing it with her life-blood. +Because Otomie loved me she had chosen this fearful death, because she +loved me so well that she desired to die thus at my side rather than +to live on in greatness and honour without me. Of a sudden, in a moment +while I thought of this marvel, a new light shone upon my heart and it +was changed towards her. I felt that no woman could ever be so dear to +me as this glorious woman, no, not even my betrothed. I felt--nay, who +can say what I did feel? But I know this, that the tears rushed to my +eyes and ran down my painted face, and I turned my head to look at her. +She was lying as much upon her left side as her hands would allow, her +long hair fell from the stone to the paving where it lay in masses, and +her face was towards me. So close was it indeed that there was not an +inch between our lips. + +'Otomie,' I whispered, 'listen to me. I love you, Otomie.' Now I saw her +breast heave beneath the bands and the colour come upon her brow. + +'Then I am repaid,' she answered, and our lips clung together in a kiss, +the first, and as we thought the last. Yes, there we kissed, on the +stone of sacrifice, beneath the knife of the priest and the shadow of +death, and if there has been a stranger love scene in the world, I have +never heard its story. + +'Oh! I am repaid,' she said again; 'I would gladly die a score of deaths +to win this moment, indeed I pray that I may die before you take back +your words. For, Teule, I know well that there is one who is dearer to +you than I am, but now your heart is softened by the faithfulness of an +Indian girl, and you think that you love her. Let me die then believing +that the dream is true.' + +'Talk not so,' I answered heavily, for even at that moment the memory +of Lily came into my mind. 'You give your life for me and I love you for +it.' + +'My life is nothing and your love is much,' she answered smiling. 'Ah! +Teule, what magic have you that you can bring me, Montezuma's daughter, +to the altar of the gods and of my own free will? Well, I desire no +softer bed, and for the why and wherefore it will soon be known by both +of us, and with it many other things.' + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS + + +'Otomie,' I said presently, 'when will they kill us?' + +'When the point of light lies within the ring that is painted over your +heart,' she answered. + +Now I turned my head from her, and looked at the sunbeam which pierced +the shadow above us like a golden pencil. It rested at my side about +six inches from me, and I reckoned that it would lie in the scarlet +ring painted upon my breast within some fifteen minutes. Meanwhile the +clamour of battle grew louder and nearer. Shifting myself so far as the +cords would allow, I strained my head upwards and saw that the Spaniards +had gained the crest of the pyramid, since the battle now raged upon its +edge, and I have rarely seen so terrible a fight, for the Aztecs fought +with the fury of despair, thinking little of their own lives if they +could only bring a Spaniard to his death. But for the most part their +rude weapons would not pierce the coats of mail, so that there remained +only one way to compass their desire, namely, by casting the white men +over the edge of the teocalli to be crushed like eggshells upon the +pavement two hundred feet below. Thus the fray broke itself up into +groups of foes who rent and tore at each other upon the brink of the +pyramid, now and again to vanish down its side, ten or twelve of them +together. Some of the priests also joined in the fight, thinking less of +their own deaths than of the desecration of their temples, for I saw +one of them, a man of huge strength and stature, seize a Spanish soldier +round the middle and leap with him into space. Still, though very +slowly, the Spaniards and Tlascalans forced their way towards the centre +of the platform, and as they came the danger of this dreadful end grew +less, for the Aztecs must drag them further. + +Now the fight drew near to the stone of sacrifice, and all who remained +alive of the Aztecs, perhaps some two hundred and fifty of them, besides +the priests, ringed themselves round us and it in a circle. Also the +outer rim of the sunbeam that fell through the golden funnel, creeping +on remorselessly, touched my painted side which it seemed to burn as hot +iron might, for alas, I could not command the sun to stand still while +the battle raged, as did Joshua in the valley of Ajalon. When it touched +me, five priests seized my limbs and head, and the father of them, he +who had conducted me from the palace, clasped his flint knife in both +hands. Now a deathly sickness took me and I shut my eyes dreaming that +all was done, but at that moment I heard a wild-eyed man, the chief of +the astronomers whom I had noted standing by, call out to the minister +of death: + +'Not yet, O priest of Tezeat! If you smite before the sunbeam lies upon +the victim's heart, your gods are doomed and doomed are the people of +Anahuac.' + +The priest gnashed his teeth with rage, and glared first at the creeping +point of light and then over his shoulder at the advancing battle. +Slowly the ring of warriors closed in upon us, slowly the golden ray +crept up my breast till its outer rim touched the red circle painted +upon my heart. Again the priest heaved up his awful knife, again I shut +my eyes, and again I heard the shrill scream of the astronomer, 'Not +yet, not yet, or your gods are doomed!' + +Then I heard another sound. It was the voice of Otomie crying for help. + +'Save us, Teules; they murder us!' she shrieked in so piercing a note +that it reached the ears of the Spaniards, for one shouted in answer +and in the Castilian tongue, 'On, my comrades, on! The dogs do murder on +their altars!' + +Then there was a mighty rush and the defending Aztecs were swept in upon +the altar, lifting the priest of sacrifice from his feet and throwing +him across my body. Thrice that rush came like a rush of the sea, and +each time the stand of the Aztecs weakened. Now their circle was broken +and the swords of the Spaniards flashed up on every side, and now the +red ray lay within the ring upon my heart. + +'Smite, priest of Tezcat,' screamed the voice of the astronomer; 'smite +home for the glory of your gods!' + +With a fearful yell the priest lifted the knife; I saw the golden +sunbeam that rested full upon my heart shine on it. Then as it was +descending I saw the same sunbeam shine upon a yard of steel that +flashed across me and lost itself in the breast of the murderer priest. +Down came the great flint knife, but its aim was lost. It struck indeed, +but not upon my bosom, though I did not escape it altogether. Full upon +the altar of sacrifice it fell and was shattered there, piercing between +my side and that of Otomie, and gashing the flesh of both so that our +blood was mingled upon the stone, making us one indeed. Down too came +the priest across our bodies for the second time, but to rise no more, +for he writhed dying on those whom he would have slain. + +Then as in a dream I heard the wail of the astronomer singing the dirge +of the gods of Anahuac. + +'The priest is dead and his gods are fallen,' he cried. 'Tezcat has +rejected his victim and is fallen; doomed are the gods of Anahuac! +Victory is to the Cross of the Christians!' + +Thus he wailed, then came the sound of sword blows and I knew that this +prophet was dead also. + +Now a strong arm pulled the dying priest from off us, and he staggered +back till he fell over the altar where the eternal fire burned, +quenching it with his blood and body after it had flared for many +generations, and a knife cut the rope that bound us. + +I sat up staring round me wildly, and a voice spoke above me in +Castilian, not to me indeed but to some comrade. + +'These two went near to it, poor devils,' said the voice. 'Had my cut +been one second later, that savage would have drilled a hole in him as +big as my head. By all the saints! the girl is lovely, or would be if +she were washed. I shall beg her of Cortes as my prize.' + +The voice spoke and I knew the voice. None other ever had that hard +clear ring. I knew it even then and looked up, slipping off the +death-stone as I looked. Now I saw. Before me fully clad in mail was my +enemy, de Garcia. It was HIS sword that by the good providence of God +had pierced the breast of the priest. He had saved me who, had he known, +would as soon have turned his steel against his own heart as on that of +my destroyer. + +I gazed at him, wondering if I dreamed, then my lips spoke, without my +will as it were: + +'DE GARCIA!' + +He staggered back at the sound of my voice, like a man struck by a shot, +then stared at me, rubbed his eyes with his hand, and stared again. Now +at length he knew me through my paint. + +'Mother of God!' he gasped, 'it is that knave Thomas Wingfield, AND I +HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE!' + +By this time my senses had come back to me, and knowing all my folly, I +turned seeking escape. But de Garcia had no mind to suffer this. Lifting +his sword, he sprang at me with a beastlike scream of rage and hate. +Swiftly as thought I slipped round the stone of sacrifice and after me +came the uplifted sword of my enemy. It would have overtaken me soon +enough, for I was weak with fear and fasting, and my limbs were cramped +with bonds, but at that moment a cavalier whom by his dress and port +I guessed to be none other than Cortes himself, struck up de Garcia's +sword, saying: + +'How now, Sarceda? Are you mad with the lust of blood that you would +take to sacrificing victims like an Indian priest? Let the poor devil +go.' + +'He is no Indian, he is an English spy,' cried de Garcia, and once more +struggled to get at me. + +'Decidedly our friend is mad,' said Cortes, scanning me; 'he says that +this wretched creature is an Englishman. Come, be off both of you, or +somebody else may make the same mistake,' and he waved his sword in +token to us to go, deeming that I could not understand his words; then +added angrily, as de Garcia, speechless with rage, made a new attempt to +get at me: + +'No, by heaven! I will not suffer it. We are Christians and come to +save victims, not to slay them. Here, comrades, hold this fool who would +stain his soul with murder.' + +Now the Spaniards clutched de Garcia by the arms, and he cursed and +raved at them, for as I have said, his rage was that of a beast rather +than of a man. But I stood bewildered, not knowing whither to fly. +Fortunate it was for me indeed that one was by who though she understood +no Spanish, yet had a quicker wit. For while I stood thus, Otomie +clasped my hand, and whispering, 'Fly, fly swiftly!' led me away from +the stone of sacrifice. + +'Whither shall we go?' I said at length. 'Were it not better to trust to +the mercy of the Spaniards?' + +'To the mercy of that man-devil with the sword?' she answered. 'Peace, +Teule, and follow me.' + +Now she led me on, and the Spaniards let us by unharmed, ay, and even +spoke words of pity as we passed, for they knew that we were victims +snatched from sacrifice. Indeed, when a certain brute, a Tlascalan +Indian, rushed at us, purposing to slay us with a club, one of the +Spaniards ran him through the shoulder so that he fell wounded to the +pavement. + +So we went on, and at the edge of the pyramid we glanced back and saw +that de Garcia had broken from those who held him, or perhaps he found +his tongue and had explained the truth to them. At the least he was +bounding from the altar of sacrifice nearly fifty yards away, and coming +towards us with uplifted sword. Then fear gave us strength, and we fled +like the wind. Along the steep path we rushed side by side, leaping down +the steps and over the hundreds of dead and dying, only pausing now and +again to save ourselves from being smitten into space by the bodies +of the priests whom the Spaniards were hurling from the crest of the +teocalli. Once looking up, I caught sight of de Garcia pursuing far +above us, but after that we saw him no more; doubtless he wearied of the +chase, or feared to fall into the hands of such of the Aztec warriors as +still clustered round the foot of the pyramid. + +We had lived through many dangers that day, the princess Otomie and I, +but one more awaited us before ever we found shelter for awhile. After +we had reached the foot of the pyramid and turned to mingle with the +terrified rabble that surged and flowed through the courtyard of the +temple, bearing away the dead and wounded as the sea at flood reclaims +its waste and wreckage, a noise like thunder caught my ear. I looked +up, for the sound came from above, and saw a huge mass bounding down the +steep side of the pyramid. Even then I knew it again; it was the idol of +the god Tezcat that the Spaniards had torn from its shrine, and like +an avenging demon it rushed straight on to me. Already it was upon us, +there was no retreat from instant death, we had but escaped sacrifice +to the spirit of the god to be crushed to powder beneath the bulk of +his marble emblem. On he came while on high the Spaniards shouted in +triumph. His base had struck the stone side of the pyramid fifty feet +above us, now he whirled round and round in the air to strike again +within three paces of where we stood. I felt the solid mountain +shake beneath the blow, and next instant the air was filled with huge +fragments of marble, that whizzed over us and past us as though a mine +of powder had been fired beneath our feet, tearing the rocks from their +base. The god Tezcat had burst into a score of pieces, and these fell +round us like a flight of arrows, and yet we were not touched. My head +was grazed by his head, his feet dug a pit before my feet, but I stood +there unhurt, the false god had no power over the victim who had escaped +him! + +After that I remember nothing till I found myself once more in my +apartments in Montezuma's palace, which I never hoped to see again. +Otomie was by me, and she brought me water to wash the paint from my +body and the blood from my wound, which, leaving her own untended, she +dressed skilfully, for the cut of the priest's knife was deep and I had +bled much. Also she clothed herself afresh in a white robe and brought +me raiment to wear, with food and drink, and I partook of them. Then I +bade her eat something herself, and when she had done so I gathered my +wits together and spoke to her. + +'What next?' I said. 'Presently the priests will be on us, and we shall +be dragged back to sacrifice. There is no hope for me here, I must fly +to the Spaniards and trust to their mercy.' + +'To the mercy of that man with the sword? Say, Teule, who is he?' + +'He is that Spaniard of whom I have spoken to you, Otomie; he is my +mortal enemy whom I have followed across the seas.' + +'And now you would put yourself into his power. Truly, you are foolish, +Teule.' + +'It is better to fall into the hands of Christian men than into those of +your priests,' I answered. + +'Have no fear,' she said; 'the priests are harmless for you. You have +escaped them and there's an end. Few have ever come alive from their +clutches before, and he who does so is a wizard indeed. For the rest I +think that your God is stronger than our gods, for surely He must have +cast His mantle over us when we lay yonder on the stone. Ah! Teule, to +what have you brought me that I should live to doubt my gods, ay, and to +call upon the foes of my country for succour in your need. Believe me, I +had not done it for my own sake, since I would have died with your kiss +upon my lips and your word of love echoing in my ears, who now must live +knowing that these joys have passed from me.' + +'How so?' I answered. 'What I have said, I have said. Otomie, you would +have died with me, and you saved my life by your wit in calling on the +Spaniards. Henceforth it is yours, for there is no other woman in the +world so tender and so brave, and I say it again, Otomie, my wife, I +love you. Our blood has mingled on the stone of sacrifice and there +we kissed; let these be our marriage rites. Perhaps I have not long to +live, but till I die I am yours, Otomie my wife.' + +Thus I spoke from the fulness of my heart, for my strength and courage +were shattered, horror and loneliness had taken hold of me. But two +things were left to me in the world, my trust in Providence and the love +of this woman, who had dared so much for me. Therefore I forgot my +troth and clung to her as a child clings to its mother. Doubtless it was +wrong, but I will be bold to say that few men so placed would have acted +otherwise. Moreover, I could not take back the fateful words that I had +spoken on the stone of sacrifice. When I said them I was expecting death +indeed, but to renounce them now that its shadow was lifted from me, if +only for a little while, would have been the act of a coward. For good +or evil I had given myself to Montezuma's daughter, and I must abide by +it or be shamed. Still such was the nobleness of this Indian lady that +even then she would not take me at my word. For a little while she stood +smiling sadly and drawing a lock of her long hair through the hollow of +her hand. Then she spoke: + +'You are not yourself, Teule, and I should be base indeed if I made so +solemn a compact with one who does not know what he sells. Yonder on the +altar and in a moment of death you said that you loved me, and doubtless +it was true. But now you have come back to life, and say, lord, who set +that golden ring upon your hand and what is written in its circle? +Yet even if the words are true that you have spoken and you love me a +little, there is one across the sea whom you love better. That I could +bear, for my heart is fixed on you alone among men, and at the least you +would be kind to me, and I should move in the sunlight of your presence. +But having known the light, I cannot live to wander in the darkness. You +do not understand. I will tell you what I fear. I fear that if--if we +were wed, you would weary of me as men do, and that memory would grow +too strong for you. Then by and by it might be possible for you to find +your way back across the waters to your own land and your own love, and +so you would desert me, Teule. This is what I could not bear, Teule. +I can forego you now, ay, and remain your friend. But I cannot be put +aside like a dancing girl, the companion of a month, I, Montezuma's +daughter, a lady of my own land. Should you wed me, it must be for my +life, Teule, and that is perhaps more than you would wish to promise, +though you could kiss me on yonder stone and there is blood fellowship +between us,' and she glanced at the red stain in the linen robe that +covered the wound upon her side. + +'And now, Teule, I leave you a while, that I may find Guatemoc, if he +still lives, and others who, now that the strength of the priests is +shattered, have power to protect you and advance you to honour. Think +then on all that I have said, and do not be hasty to decide. Or would +you make an end at once and fly to the white men if I can find a means +of escape?' + +'I am too weary to fly anywhere,' I answered, 'even if I could. +Moreover, I forget. My enemy is among the Spaniards, he whom I have +sworn to kill, therefore his friends are my foes and his foes my +friends. I will not fly, Otomie.' + +'There you are wise,' she said, 'for if you come among the Teules that +man will murder you; by fair means or foul he will murder you within a +day, I saw it in his eyes. Now rest while I seek your safety, if there +is any safety in this blood-stained land.' + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THOMAS IS MARRIED + + +Otomie turned and went. I watched the golden curtains close behind her; +then I sank back upon the couch and instantly was lost in sleep, for +I was faint and weak, and so dazed with weariness, that at the time I +scarcely knew what had happened, or the purpose of our talk. Afterwards, +however, it came back to me. I must have slept for many hours, for when +I awoke it was far on into the night. It was night but not dark, for +through the barred window places came the sound of tumult and fighting, +and red rays of light cast by the flames of burning houses. One of these +windows was above my couch, and standing on the bed I seized the sill +with my hands. With much pain, because of the flesh wound in my side, I +drew myself up till I could look through the bars. Then I saw that the +Spaniards, not content with the capture of the teocalli, had made a +night attack and set fire to hundreds of houses in the city. The glare +of the flames was that of a lurid day, and by it I could see the white +men retreating to their quarters, pursued by thousands of Aztecs, who +hung upon their flanks, shooting at them with stones and arrows. + +Now I dropped down from the window place and began to think as to what +I should do, for again my mind was wavering. Should I desert Otomie and +escape to the Spaniards if that were possible, taking my chance of death +at the hands of de Garcia? Or should I stay among the Aztecs if they +would give me shelter, and wed Otomie? There was a third choice, indeed, +to stay with them and leave Otomie alone, though it would be difficult +to do this and keep my honour. One thing I understood, if I married +Otomie it must be at her own price, for then I must become an Indian and +give over all hope of returning to England and to my betrothed. Of this, +indeed, there was little chance, still, while my life remained to me, +it might come about if I was free. But once my hands were tied by this +marriage it could never be during Otomie's lifetime, and so far as Lily +Bozard was concerned I should be dead. How could I be thus faithless to +her memory and my troth, and on the other hand, how could I discard the +woman who had risked all for me, and who, to speak truth, had grown so +dear to me, though there was one yet dearer? A hero or an angel might +find a path out of this tangle, but alas! I was neither the one nor the +other, only a man afflicted as other men are with human weakness, and +Otomie was at hand, and very sweet and fair. Still, almost I determined +that I would avail myself of her nobleness, that I would go back upon +my words, and beg her to despise me and see me no more, in order that +I might not be forced to break the troth that I had pledged beneath +the beech at Ditchingham. For I greatly dreaded this oath of life-long +fidelity which I should be forced to swear if I chose any other path. + +Thus I thought on in pitiable confusion of mind, not knowing that all +these matters were beyond my ordering, since a path was already made +ready to my feet, which I must follow or die. And let this be a proof +of the honesty of my words, since, had I been desirous of glozing the +truth, I need have written nothing of these struggles of conscience, and +of my own weakness. For soon it was to come to this, though not by her +will, that I must either wed Otomie or die at once, and few would blame +me for doing the first and not the last. Indeed, though I did wed her, I +might still have declared myself to my affianced and to all the world as +a slave of events from which there was no escape. But it is not all the +truth, since my mind was divided, and had it not been settled for me, I +cannot say how the struggle would have ended. + +Now, looking back on the distant past, and weighing my actions and +character as a judge might do, I can see, however, that had I found time +to consider, there was another matter which would surely have turned +the scale in favour of Otomie. De Garcia was among the Spaniards, and +my hatred of de Garcia was the ruling passion of my life, a stronger +passion even than my love for the two dear women who have been its joy. +Indeed, though he is dead these many years I still hate him, and evil +though the desire be, even in my age I long that my vengeance was still +to wreak. While I remained among the Aztecs de Garcia would be their +enemy and mine, and I might meet him in war and kill him there. But if I +succeeded in reaching the Spanish camp, then it was almost sure that he +would bring about my instant death. Doubtless he had told such a tale of +me already, that within an hour I should be hung as a spy, or otherwise +made away with. + +But I will cease from these unprofitable wonderings which have but one +value, that of setting out my strange necessity of choice between an +absent and a present love, and go on with the story of an event in which +there was no room to balance scruples. + + +While I sat musing on the couch the curtain was drawn, and a man entered +bearing a torch. It was Guatemoc as he had come from the fray, which, +except for its harvest of burning houses, was finished for that night. +The plumes were shorn from his head, his golden armour was hacked by the +Spanish swords, and he bled from a shot wound in the neck. + +'Greeting, Teule,' he said. 'Certainly I never thought to see you alive +to-night, or myself either for that matter. But it is a strange world, +and now, if never before in Tenoctitlan, those things happen for which +we look the least. But I have no time for words. I came to summon you +before the council.' + +'What is to be my fate?' I asked. 'To be dragged back to the stone of +sacrifice?' + +'Nay, have no fear of that. But for the rest I cannot say. In an hour +you may be dead or great among us, if any of us can be called great in +these days of shame. Otomie has worked well for you among the princes +and the counsellors, so she says, and if you have a heart, you should be +grateful to her, for it seems to me that few women have loved a man so +much. As for me, I have been employed elsewhere,' and he glanced at his +rent armour, 'but I will lift up my voice for you. Now come, friend, for +the torch burns low. By this time you must be well seasoned in dangers; +one more or less will matter as little to you as to me.' + +Then I rose and followed him into the great cedar-panelled hall, where +that very morning I had received adoration as a god. Now I was a god no +longer, but a prisoner on trial for his life. Upon the dais where I had +stood in the hour of my godhead were gathered those of the princes and +counsellors who were left alive. Some of them, like Guatemoc, were clad +in rent and bloody mail, others in their customary dress, and one in +a priest's robe. They had only two things in common among them, the +sternness of their faces and the greatness of their rank, and they sat +there this night not to decide my fate, which was but a little thing, +but to take counsel as to how they might expel the Spaniards before the +city was destroyed. + +When I entered, a man in mail, who sat in the centre of the half circle, +and in whom I knew Cuitlahua, who would be emperor should Montezuma die, +looked up quickly and said: + +'Who is this, Guatemoc, that you bring with you? Ah! I remember; the +Teule that was the god Tezcat, and who escaped the sacrifice to-day. +Listen, nobles. What is to be done with this man? Say, is it lawful that +he be led back to sacrifice?' + +Then the priest answered: 'I grieve to say that it is not lawful most +noble prince. This man has lain on the altar of the god, he has even +been wounded by the holy knife. But the god rejected him in a fateful +hour, and he must lie there no more. Slay him if you will, but not upon +the stone of sacrifice.' + +'What then shall be done with him?' said the prince again. + +'He is of the blood of the Teules, and therefore an enemy. One thing is +certain; he must not be suffered to join the white devils and give +them tidings of our distresses. Is it not best that he be put away +forthwith?' + +Now several of the council nodded their heads, but others sat silent, +making no sign. + +'Come,' said Cuitlahua, 'we have no time to waste over this man when the +lives of thousands are hourly at stake. The question is, Shall the Teule +be slain?' + +Then Guatemoc rose and spoke, saying: 'Your pardon, noble kinsman, but +I hold that we may put this prisoner to better use than to kill him. I +know him well; he is brave and loyal, as I have proved, moreover, he is +not all a Teule, but half of another race that hates them as he hates +them. Also he has knowledge of their customs and mode of warfare, which +we lack, and I think that he may be able to give us good counsel in our +strait.' + +'The counsel of the wolf to the deer perhaps,' said Cuitlahua, coldly; +'counsel that shall lead us to the fangs of the Teules. Who shall answer +for this foreign devil, that he will not betray us if we trust him?' + +'I will answer with my life,' answered Guatemoc. + +'Your life is of too great worth to be set on such a stake, nephew. Men +of this white breed are liars, and his own word is of no value even if +he gives it. I think that it will be best to kill him and have done with +doubts.' + +'This man is wed to Otomie, princess of the Otomie, Montezuma's +daughter, your niece,' said Guatemoc again, 'and she loves him so well +that she offered herself upon the stone of sacrifice with him. Unless I +mistake she will answer for him also. Shall she be summoned before you?' + +'If you wish, nephew; but a woman in love is a blind woman, and +doubtless he has deceived her also. Moreover, she was his wife according +to the rule of religion only. Is it your desire that the princess should +be summoned before you, comrades?' + +Now some said nay, but the most, those whose interest Otomie had gained, +said yea, and the end of it was that one of their number was sent to +summon her. + +Presently she came, looking very weary, but proud in mien and royally +attired, and bowed before the council. + +'This is the question, princess,' said Cuitlahua. 'Whether this Teule +shall be slain forthwith, or whether he shall be sworn as one of us, +should he be willing to take the oath? The prince Guatemoc here vouches +for him, and he says, moreover, that you will vouch for him also. A +woman can do this in one way only, by taking him she vouches as her +husband. You are already wed to this foreigner by the rule of religion. +Are you willing to marry him according to the custom of our land, and to +answer for his faith with your own life?' + +'I am willing,' Otomie answered quietly, 'if he is willing.' + +'In truth it is a great honour that you would do this white dog,' said +Cuitlahua. 'Bethink you, you are princess of the Otomie and one of our +master's daughters, it is to you that we look to bring back the mountain +clans of the Otomie, of whom you are chieftainess, from their unholy +alliance with the accursed Tlascalans, the slaves of the Teules. Is not +your life too precious to be set on such a stake as this foreigner's +faith? for learn, Otomie, if he proves false your rank shall not help +you.' + +'I know it all,' she replied quietly. 'Foreigner or not, I love this +man and I will answer for him with my blood. Moreover, I look to him to +assist me to win back the people of the Otomie to their allegiance. But +let him speak for himself, my lord. It may happen that he has no desire +to take me in marriage.' + +Cuitlahua smiled grimly and said, 'When the choice lies between the +breast of death and those fair arms of yours, niece, it is easy to guess +his answer. Still, speak, Teule, and swiftly.' + +'I have little to say, lord. If the princess Otomie is willing to wed +me, I am willing to wed her,' I answered, and thus in the moment of my +danger all my doubts and scruples vanished. As Cuitlahua had said, it +was easy to guess the choice of one set between death and Otomie. + +She heard and looked at me warningly, saying in a low voice: 'Remember +our words, Teule. In such a marriage you renounce your past and give me +your future.' + +'I remember,' I answered, and while I spoke, there came before my eyes a +vision of Lily's face as it had been when I bade her farewell. This then +was the end of the vows that I had sworn. Cuitlahua looked at me with a +glance which seemed to search my heart and said: + +'I hear your words, Teule. You, a white wanderer, are graciously willing +to take this princess to wife, and by her to be lifted high among the +great lords of this land. But say, how can we trust you? If you fail us +your wife dies indeed, but that may be naught to you.' + +'I am ready to swear allegiance,' I answered. 'I hate the Spaniards, +and among them is my bitterest enemy whom I followed across the sea to +kill--the man who strove to murder me this very day. I can say no more, +if you doubt my words it were best to make an end of me. Already I have +suffered much at the hands of your people; it matters little if I die or +live.' + +'Boldly spoken, Teule. Now, lords, I ask your judgment. Shall this man +be given to Otomie as husband and be sworn as one of us, or shall he be +killed instantly? You know the matter. If he can be trusted, as Guatemoc +and Otomie believe, he will be worth an army to us, for he is acquainted +with the language, the customs, the weapons, and the modes of warfare of +these white devils whom the gods have let loose upon us. If on the other +hand he is not to be trusted, and it is hard for us to put faith in one +of his blood, he may do us much injury, for in the end he will escape to +the Teules, and betray our counsels and our strength, or the lack of it. +It is for you to judge, lords.' + +Now the councillors consulted together, and some said one thing and +some another, for they were not by any means of a mind in the matter. +At length growing weary, Cuitlahua called on them to put the question to +the vote, and this they did by a lifting of hands. First those who were +in favour of my death held up their hands, then those who thought that +it would be wise to spare me. There were twenty-six councillors present, +not counting Cuitlahua, and of these thirteen voted for my execution and +thirteen were for saving me alive. + +'Now it seems that I must give a casting vote,' said Cuitlahua when the +tale had been rendered, and my blood turned cold at his words, for I had +seen that his mind was set against me. Then it was that Otomie broke in, +saying: + +'Your pardon, my uncle, but before you speak I have a word to say. +You need my services, do you not? for if the people of the Otomie will +listen to any and suffer themselves to be led from their evil path, it +is to me. My mother was by birth their chieftainess, the last of a long +line, and I am her only child, moreover my father is their emperor. +Therefore my life is of no small worth now in this time of trouble, for +though I am nothing in myself, yet it may chance that I can bring thirty +thousand warriors to your standard. The priests knew this on yonder +pyramid, and when I claimed my right to lie at the side of the Teule, +they gainsayed me, nor would they suffer it, though they hungered for +the royal blood, till I called down the vengeance of the gods upon them. +Now my uncle, and you, lords, I tell you this: Slay yonder man if you +will, but know that then you must find another than me to lure the +Otomie from their rebellion, for then I complete what I began to-day, +and follow him to the grave.' + +She ceased and a murmur of amazement went round the chamber, for none +had looked to find such love and courage in this lady's heart. Only +Cuitlahua grew angry. + +'Disloyal girl,' he said; 'do you dare to set your lover before your +country? Shame upon you, shameless daughter of our king. Why, it is +in the blood--as the father is so is the daughter. Did not Montezuma +forsake his people and choose to lie among these Teules, the false +children of Quetzal? And now this Otomie follows in his path. Tell +us how is it, woman, that you and your lover alone escaped from the +teocalli yonder when all the rest were killed. Are you then in league +with these Teules? I say to you, niece, that if things were otherwise +and I had my way, you should win your desire indeed, for you should be +slain at this man's side and within the hour.' And he ceased for lack of +breath, and looked upon her fiercely. + +But Otomie never quailed; she stood before him pale and quiet, with +folded hands and downcast eyes, and answered: + +'Forbear to reproach me because my love is strong, or reproach me if you +will, I have spoken my last word. Condemn this man to die and Prince +you must seek some other envoy to win back the Otomie to the cause of +Anahuac.' + +Now Cuitlahua pondered, staring into the gloom above him and pulling at +his beard, and the silence was great, for none knew what his judgment +would be. At last he spoke: + +'So be it. We have need of Otomie, my niece, and it is of no avail to +fight against a woman's love. Teule, we give you life, and with the +life honour and wealth, and the greatest of our women in marriage, and a +place in our councils. Take these gifts and her, but I say to you both, +beware how you use them. If you betray us, nay, if you do but think +on treachery, I swear to you that you shall die a death so slow and +horrible that the very name of it would turn your heart to water; you +and your wife, your children and your servants. Come, let him be sworn!' + +I heard and my head swam, and a mist gathered before my eyes. Once again +I was saved from instant death. + +Presently it cleared, and looking up my eyes met those of the woman who +had saved me, Otomie my wife, who smiled upon me somewhat sadly. Then +the priest came forward bearing a wooden bowl, carved about with strange +signs, and a flint knife, and bade me bare my arm. He cut my flesh with +the knife, so that blood ran from it into the bowl. Some drops of this +blood he emptied on to the ground, muttering invocations the while. Then +he turned and looked at Cuitlahua as though in question, and Cuitlahua +answered with a bitter laugh: + +'Let him be baptized with the blood of the princess Otomie my niece, for +she is bail for him.' + +'Nay, lord,' said Guatemoc, 'these two have mingled bloods already +upon the stone of sacrifice, and they are man and wife. But I also have +vouched for him, and I offer mine in earnest of my faith.' + +'This Teule has good friends,' said Cuitlahua; 'you honour him overmuch. +But so be it.' + +Then Guatemoc came forward, and when the priest would have cut him with +the knife, he laughed and said, pointing to the bullet wound upon his +neck: + +'No need for that, priest. Blood runs here that was shed by the Teules. +None can be fitter for this purpose.' + +So the priest drew away the bandage and suffered the blood of Guatemoc +to drop into a second smaller bowl. Then he came to me and dipping his +finger into the blood, he drew the sign of a cross upon my forehead as a +Christian priest draws it upon the forehead of an infant, and said: + +'In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere and +sees all things, I sign you with this blood and make you of this blood. +In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere and sees +all things, I pour forth your blood upon the earth!' (here he poured +as he spoke). 'As this blood of yours sinks into the earth, so may the +memory of your past life sink and be forgotten, for you are born again +of the people of Anahuac. In the presence and the name of god our lord, +who is everywhere and sees all things, I mingle these bloods' (here +he poured from one bowl into the other), 'and with them I touch your +tongue' (here dipping his finger into the bowl he touched the tip of my +tongue with it) 'and bid you swear thus: + +'"May every evil to which the flesh of man is subject enter into my +flesh, may I live in misery and die in torment by the dreadful death, +may my soul be rejected from the Houses of the Sun, may it wander +homeless for ever in the darkness that is behind the Stars, if I depart +from this my oath. I, Teule, swear to be faithful to the people of +Anahuac and to their lawful governors. I swear to wage war upon their +foes and to compass their destruction, and more especially upon the +Teules till they are driven into the sea. I swear to offer no affront to +the gods of Anahuac. I swear myself in marriage to Otomie, princess of +the Otomie, the daughter of Montezuma my lord, for so long as her life +shall endure. I swear to attempt no escape from these shores. I swear to +renounce my father and my mother, and the land where I was born, and to +cling to this land of my new birth; and this my oath shall endure till +the volcan Popo ceases to vomit smoke and fire, till there is no king +in Tenoctitlan, till no priest serves the altars of the gods, and the +people of Anahuac are no more a people." + +'Do you swear these things, one and all?' + +'One and all I swear them,' I answered because I must, though there was +much in the oath that I liked little enough. And yet mark how strangely +things came to pass. Within fifteen years from that night the volcan +Popo had ceased to vomit smoke and fire, the kings had ceased to reign +in Tenoctitlan, the priests had ceased to serve the altars of the gods, +the people of Anahuac were no more a people, and my vow was null +and void. Yet the priests who framed this form chose these things as +examples of what was immortal! + +When I had sworn Guatemoc came forward and embraced me, saying: +'Welcome, Teule, my brother in blood and heart. Now you are one of us, +and we look to you for help and counsel. Come, be seated by me.' + +I looked towards Cuitlahua doubtfully, but he smiled graciously, and +said: 'Teule, your trial is over. We have accepted you, and you have +sworn the solemn oath of brotherhood, to break which is to die horribly +in this world, and to be tortured through eternity by demons in the +next. Forget all that may have been said in the hour of your weighing, +for the balance is in your favour, and be sure that if you give us no +cause to doubt you, you shall find none to doubt us. Now as the husband +of Otomie, you are a lord among the lords, having honour and great +possessions, and as such be seated by your brother Guatemoc, and join +our council.' + +I did as he bade me, and Otomie withdrew from our presence. Then +Cuitlahua spoke again, no longer of me and my matters, but of the urgent +affairs of state. He spoke in slow words and weighty, and more than once +his voice broke in his sorrow. He told of the grievous misfortunes +that had overcome the country, of the death of hundreds of its bravest +warriors, of the slaughter of the priests and soldiers that day on the +teocalli, and the desecration of his nation's gods. What was to be done +in this extremity? he asked. Montezuma lay dying, a prisoner in the camp +of the Teules, and the fire that he had nursed with his breath devoured +the land. No efforts of theirs could break the iron strength of these +white devils, armed as they were with strange and terrible weapons. Day +by day disaster overtook the arms of the Aztecs. What wisdom had they +now that the protecting gods were shattered in their very shrines, when +the altars ran red with the blood of their ministering priests, when the +oracles were dumb or answered only in the accents of despair? + +Then one by one princes and generals arose and gave counsel according +to their lights. At length all had spoken, and Cuitlahua said, looking +towards me: + +'We have a new counsellor among us, who is skilled in the warfare and +customs of the white men, who till an hour ago was himself a white man. +Has he no word of comfort for us?' + +'Speak, my brother?' said Guatemoc. + +Then I spoke. 'Most noble Cuitlahua, and you lords and princes. You +honour me by asking my counsel, and it is this in few words and brief. +You waste your strength by hurling your armies continually against stone +walls and the weapons of the Teules. So you shall not prevail against +them. Your devices must be changed if you would win victory. The +Spaniards are like other men; they are no gods as the ignorant imagine, +and the creatures on which they ride are not demons but beasts of +burden, such as are used for many purposes in the land where I was born. +The Spaniards are men I say, and do not men hunger and thirst? Cannot +men be worn out by want of sleep, and be killed in many ways? Are not +these Teules already weary to the death? This then is my word of comfort +to you. Cease to attack the Spaniards and invest their camp so closely +that no food can reach them and their allies the Tlascalans. If this is +done, within ten days from now, either they will surrender or they will +strive to break their way back to the coast. But to do this, first they +must win out of the city, and if dykes are cut through the causeways, +that will be no easy matter. Then when they strive to escape cumbered +with the gold they covet and came here to seek, then I say will be the +hour to attack them and to destroy them utterly.' + +I ceased, and a murmur of applause went round the council. + +'It seems that we came to a wise judgment when we determined to spare +this man's life,' said Cuitlahua, 'for all that he tells us is true, and +I would that we had followed this policy from the first. Now, lords, I +give my voice for acting as our brother points the way. What say you?' + +'We say with you that our brother's words are good,' answered Guatemoc +presently, 'and now let us follow them to the end.' + +Then, after some further talk, the council broke up and I sought my +chamber well nigh blind with weariness and crushed by the weight of all +that I had suffered on that eventful day. The dawn was flaring in +the eastern sky, and by its glimmer I found my path down the empty +corridors, till at length I came to the curtains of my sleeping place. +I drew them and passed through. There, far up the room, the faint light +gleaming on her snowy dress, her raven hair and ornaments of gold, stood +Otomie my bride. + +I went towards her, and as I came she glided to meet me with +outstretched arms. Presently they were about my neck and her kiss was on +my brow. + +'Now all is done, my love and lord,' she whispered, 'and come good or +ill, or both, we are one till death, for such vows as ours cannot be +broken.' + +'All is done indeed, Otomie, and our oaths are lifelong, though other +oaths have been broken that they might be sworn,' I answered. + + +Thus then I, Thomas Wingfield, was wed to Otomie, princess of the +Otomie, Montezuma's daughter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE NIGHT OF FEAR + + +Long before I awoke that day the commands of the council had been +carried out, and the bridges in the great causeways were broken down +wherever dykes crossed the raised roads that ran through the waters of +the lake. That afternoon also I went dressed as an Indian warrior with +Guatemoc and the other generals, to a parley which was held with Cortes, +who took his stand on the same tower of the palace that Montezuma had +stood on when the arrow of Guatemoc struck him down. There is little to +be said of this parley, and I remember it chiefly because it was then +for the first time since I had left the Tobascans that I saw Marina +close, and heard her sweet and gentle voice. For now as ever she was by +the side of Cortes, translating his proposals of peace to the Aztecs. +Among those proposals was one which showed me that de Garcia had not +been idle. It asked that the false white man who had been rescued from +the altars of the gods upon the teocalli should be given in exchange for +certain Aztec prisoners, in order that he might be hung according to +his merits as a spy and deserter, a traitor to the emperor of Spain. I +wondered as I heard, if Marina knew when she spoke the words, that 'the +false white man' was none other than the friend of her Tobascan days. + +'You see that you are fortunate in having found place among us Aztecs, +Teule,' said Guatemoc with a laugh, 'for your own people would greet you +with a rope.' + +Then he answered Cortes, saying nothing of me, but bidding him and all +the Spaniards prepare for death: + +'Many of us have perished,' he said; 'you also must perish, Teules. You +shall perish of hunger and thirst, you shall perish on the altars of the +gods. There is no escape for you Teules; the bridges are broken.' + +And all the multitude took up the words and thundered out, 'There is no +escape for you Teules; the bridges are broken!' + +Then the shooting of arrows began, and I sought the palace to tell +Otomie my wife what I had gathered of the state of her father Montezuma, +who the Spaniards said still lay dying, and of her two sisters who were +hostages in their quarters. Also I told her how my surrender had been +sought, and she kissed me, and said smiling, that though my life was now +burdened with her, still it was better so than that I should fall into +the hands of the Spaniards. + +Two days later came the news that Montezuma was dead, and shortly after +it his body, which the Spaniards handed over to the Aztecs for burial, +attired in the gorgeous robes of royalty. They laid it in the hall of +the palace, whence it was hurried secretly and at night to Chapoltepec, +and there hidden away with small ceremony, for it was feared that the +people might rend it limb from limb in their rage. With Otomie weeping +at my side, I looked for the last time on the face of that most unhappy +king, whose reign so glorious in its beginning had ended thus. And while +I looked I wondered what suffering could have equalled his, as fallen +from his estate and hated by the subjects whom he had betrayed, he lay +dying, a prisoner in the power of the foreign wolves who were tearing +out his country's heart. It is little wonder indeed that Montezuma +rent the bandages from his wounds and would not suffer them to tend his +hurts. For the real hurt was in his soul; there the iron had entered +deeply, and no leech could cure it except one called Death. And yet +the fault was not all his, the devils whom he worshipped as gods were +revenged upon him, for they had filled him with the superstitions of +their wicked faith, and because of these the gods and their high priest +must sink into a common ruin. Were it not for these unsubstantial +terrors that haunted him, the Spaniards had never won a foothold in +Tenoctitlan, and the Aztecs would have remained free for many a year to +come. But Providence willed it otherwise, and this dead and disgraced +monarch was but its instrument. + +Such were the thoughts that passed through my mind as I gazed upon the +body of the great Montezuma. But Otomie, ceasing from her tears, kissed +his clay and cried aloud: + +'O my father, it is well that you are dead, for none who loved you +could desire to see you live on in shame and servitude. May the gods you +worshipped give me strength to avenge you, or if they be no gods, then +may I find it in myself. I swear this, my father, that while a man is +left to me I will not cease from seeking to avenge you.' + +Then taking my hand, without another word she turned and passed thence. +As will be seen, she kept her oath. + + +On that day and on the morrow there was fighting with the Spaniards, who +sallied out to fill up the gaps in the dykes of the causeway, a task +in which they succeeded, though with some loss. But it availed them +nothing, for so soon as their backs were turned we opened the dykes +again. It was on these days that for the first time I had experience of +war, and armed with my bow made after the English pattern, I did good +service. As it chanced, the very first arrow that I drew was on my hated +foe de Garcia, but here my common fortune pursued me, for being out of +practice, or over-anxious, I aimed too high, though the mark was an easy +one, and the shaft pierced the iron of his casque, causing him to reel +in his saddle, but doing him no further hurt. Still this marksmanship, +poor as it was, gained me great renown among the Aztecs, who were but +feeble archers, for they had never before seen an arrow pierce through +the Spanish mail. Nor would mine have done so had I not collected the +iron barbs off the crossbow bolts of the Spaniards, and fitted them to +my own shafts. I seldom found the mail that would withstand arrows made +thus, when the range was short and the aim good. + +After the first day's fight I was appointed general over a body of three +thousand archers, and was given a banner to be borne before me and a +gorgeous captain's dress to wear. But what pleased me better was a chain +shirt which came from the body of a Spanish cavalier. For many years I +always wore this shirt beneath my cotton mail, and it saved my life more +than once, for even bullets would not pierce the two of them. + +I had taken over the command of my archers but forty-eight hours, a +scant time in which to teach them discipline whereof they had little, +though they were brave enough, when the occasion came to use them in +good earnest, and with it the night of disaster that is still known +among the Spaniards as the noche triste. On the afternoon before that +night a council was held in the palace at which I spoke, saying, I was +certain that the Teules thought of retreat from the city, and in the +dark, for otherwise they would not have been so eager to fill up the +canals in the causeway. To this Cuitlahua, who now that Montezuma +was dead would be emperor, though he was not yet chosen and crowned, +answered that it might well be that the Teules meditated flight, but +that they could never attempt it in the darkness, since in so doing they +must become entangled in the streets and dykes. + +I replied that though it was not the Aztec habit to march and fight at +night, such things were common enough among white men as they had seen +already, and that because the Spaniards knew it was not their habit, +they would be the more likely to attempt escape under cover of the +darkness, when they thought their enemies asleep. Therefore I counselled +that sentries should be set at all the entrances to every causeway. +To this Cuitlahua assented, and assigned the causeway of Tlacopan to +Guatemoc and myself, making us the guardians of its safety. That night +Guatemoc and I, with some soldiers, went out towards midnight to visit +the guard that we had placed upon the causeway. It was very dark and a +fine rain fell, so that a man could see no further before his eyes +than he can at evening through a Norfolk roke in autumn. We found and +relieved the guard, which reported that all was quiet, and we were +returning towards the great square when of a sudden I heard a dull sound +as of thousands of men tramping. + +'Listen,' I said. + +'It is the Teules who escape,' whispered Guatemoc. + +Quickly we ran to where the street from the great square opens on to +the causeway, and there even through the darkness and rain we caught the +gleam of armour. Then I cried aloud in a great voice, 'To arms! To arms! +The Teules escape by the causeway of Tlacopan.' + +Instantly my words were caught up by the sentries and passed from post +to post till the city rang with them. They were cried in every street +and canal, they echoed from the roofs of houses, and among the summits +of a hundred temples. The city awoke with a murmur, from the lake came +the sound of water beaten by ten thousand oars, as though myriads of +wild-fowl had sprung suddenly from their reedy beds. Here, there, and +everywhere torches flashed out like falling stars, wild notes were blown +on horns and shells, and above all arose the booming of the snakeskin +drum which the priests upon the teocalli beat furiously. + +Presently the murmur grew to a roar, and from this direction and from +that, armed men poured towards the causeway of Tlacopan. Some came on +foot, but the most of them were in canoes which covered the waters +of the lake further than the ear could hear. Now the Spaniards to +the number of fifteen hundred or so, accompanied by some six or eight +thousand Tlascalans, were emerging on the causeway in a long thin line. +Guatemoc and I rushed before them, collecting men as we went, till we +came to the first canal, where canoes were already gathering by scores. +The head of the Spanish column reached the canal and the fight began, +which so far as the Aztecs were concerned was a fray without plan or +order, for in that darkness and confusion the captains could not +see their men or the men hear their captains. But they were there in +countless numbers and had only one desire in their breasts, to kill the +Teules. A cannon roared, sending a storm of bullets through us, and by +its flash we saw that the Spaniards carried a timber bridge with them, +which they were placing across the canal. Then we fell on them, every +man fighting for himself. Guatemoc and I were swept over that bridge by +the first rush of the enemy, as leaves are swept in a gale, and though +both of us won through safely we saw each other no more that night. With +us and after us came the long array of Spaniards and Tlascalans, +and from every side the Aztecs poured upon them, clinging to their +struggling line as ants cling to a wounded worm. + +How can I tell all that came to pass that night? I cannot, for I saw +but little of it. All I know is that for two hours I was fighting like +a madman. The foe crossed the first canal, but when all were over the +bridge was sunk so deep in the mud that it could not be stirred, and +three furlongs on ran a second canal deeper and wider than the first. +Over this they could not cross till it was bridged with the dead. It +seemed as though all hell had broken loose upon that narrow ridge of +ground. The sound of cannons and of arquebusses, the shrieks of agony +and fear, the shouts of the Spanish soldiers, the war-cries of the +Aztecs, the screams of wounded horses, the wail of women, the hiss of +hurtling darts and arrows, and the dull noise of falling blows went up +to heaven in one hideous hurly-burly. Like a frightened mob of cattle +the long Spanish array swayed this way and that, bellowing as it swayed. +Many rolled down the sides of the causeway to be slaughtered in the +water of the lake, or borne away to sacrifice in the canoes, many were +drowned in the canals, and yet more were trampled to death in the mud. +Hundreds of the Aztecs perished also, for the most part beneath the +weapons of their own friends, who struck and shot not knowing on whom +the blow should fall or in whose breast the arrow would find its home. + +For my part I fought on with a little band of men who had gathered about +me, till at last the dawn broke and showed an awful sight. The most of +those who were left alive of the Spaniards and their allies had crossed +the second canal upon a bridge made of the dead bodies of their fellows +mixed up with a wreck of baggage, cannon, and packages of treasure. Now +the fight was raging beyond it. A mob of Spaniards and Tlascalans were +still crossing the second breach, and on these I fell with such men +as were with me. I plunged right into the heart of them, and suddenly +before me I saw the face of de Garcia. With a shout I rushed at him. He +heard my voice and knew me. With an oath he struck at my head. The heavy +sword came down upon my helmet of painted wood, shearing away one side +of it and felling me, but ere I fell I smote him on the breast with the +club I carried, tumbling him to the earth. Now half stunned and blinded +I crept towards him through the press. All that I could see was a gleam +of armour in the mud. I threw myself upon it, gripping at the wearer's +throat, and together we rolled down the side of the causeway into the +shallow water at the edge of the lake. I was uppermost, and with a +fierce joy I dashed the blood from my eyes that I might see to kill my +enemy caught at last. His body was in the lake but his head lay upon the +sloping bank, and my plan was to hold him beneath the water till he was +drowned, for I had lost my club. + +'At length, de Garcia!' I cried in Spanish as I shifted my grip. + +'For the love of God let me go!' gasped a rough voice beneath me. 'Fool, +I am no Indian dog.' + +Now I peered into the man's face bewildered. I had seized de Garcia, but +the voice was not his voice, nor was the face his face, but that of a +rough Spanish soldier. + +'Who are you?' I asked, slackening my hold. 'Where is de Garcia--he whom +you name Sarceda?' + +'Sarceda? I don't know. A minute ago he was on his back on the causeway. +The fellow pulled me down and rolled behind me. Let me be I say. I am +not Sarceda, and if I were, is this a time to settle private quarrels? +I am your comrade, Bernal Diaz. Holy Mother! who are you? An Aztec who +speaks Castilian?' + +'I am no Aztec,' I answered. 'I am an Englishman and I fight with the +Aztecs that I may slay him whom you name Sarceda. But with you I have no +quarrel, Bernal Diaz. Begone and escape if you can. No, I will keep the +sword with your leave.' + +'Englishman, Spaniard, Aztec, or devil,' grunted the man as he drew +himself from his bed of ooze, 'you are a good fellow, and I promise you +that if I live through this, and it should ever come about that I get +YOU by the throat, I will remember the turn you did me. Farewell;' and +without more ado he rushed up the bank and plunged into a knot of his +flying countrymen, leaving his good sword in my hand. I strove to follow +him that I might find my enemy, who once more had escaped me by craft, +but my strength failed me, for de Garcia's sword had bitten deep and I +bled much. So I must sit where I was till a canoe came and bore me back +to Otomie to be nursed, and ten days went by before I could walk again. + +This was my share in the victory of the noche triste. Alas! it was a +barren triumph, though more than five hundred of the Spaniards were +slain and thousands of their allies. For there was no warlike skill or +discipline among the Aztecs, and instead of following the Spaniards till +not one of them remained alive, they stayed to plunder the dead and drag +away the living to sacrifice. Also this day of revenge was a sad one +to Otomie, seeing that two of her brothers, Montezuma's sons whom the +Spaniards held in hostage, perished with them in the fray. + +As for de Garcia I could not learn what had become of him, nor whether +he was dead or living. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE BURYING OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE + + +Cuitlahua was crowned Emperor of the Aztecs in succession to his brother +Montezuma, while I lay sick with the wound given me by the sword of +de Garcia, and also with that which I had received on the altar of +sacrifice. This hurt had found no time to heal, and in the fierce +fighting on the Night of Fear it burst open and bled much. Indeed it +gave me trouble for years, and to this hour I feel it in the autumn +season. Otomie, who nursed me tenderly, and so strange is the heart +of woman, even seemed to be consoled in her sorrow at the loss of her +father and nearest kin, because I had escaped the slaughter and won +fame, told me of the ceremony of the crowning, which was splendid +enough. Indeed the Aztecs were almost mad with rejoicing because the +Teules had gone at last. They forgot, or seemed to forget, the loss of +thousands of their bravest warriors and of the flower of their rank, and +as yet, at any rate, they did not look forward to the future. From +house to house and street to street ran troops of young men and maidens +garlanded with flowers, crying, 'The Teules are gone, rejoice with +us; the Teules are fled!' and woe to them who were not merry, ay, even +though their houses were desolate with death. Also the statues of the +gods were set up again on the great pyramid and their temples rebuilt, +the holy crucifix that the Spaniards had placed there being served as +the idols Huitzel and Tezcat had been served, and tumbled down the sides +of the teocalli, and that after sacrifice of some Spanish prisoners had +been offered in its presence. It was Guatemoc himself who told me +of this sacrilege, but not with any exultation, for I had taught him +something of our faith, and though he was too sturdy a heathen to change +his creed, in secret he believed that the God of the Christians was +a true and mighty God. Moreover, though he was obliged to countenance +them, because of the power of the priests, like Otomie, Guatemoc never +loved the horrid rites of human sacrifice. + +Now when I heard this tale my anger overcame my reason, and I spoke +fiercely, saying: + +'I am sworn to your cause, Guatemoc, my brother, and I am married to +your blood, but I tell you that from this hour it is an accursed cause; +because of your bloodstained idols and your priests, it is accursed. +That God whom you have desecrated, and those who serve Him shall come +back in power, and He shall sit where your idols sat and none shall stir +Him for ever.' + +Thus I spoke, and my words were true, though I do not know what put them +into my heart, since I spoke at random in my wrath. For to-day Christ's +Church stands upon the site of the place of sacrifice in Mexico, a sign +and a token of His triumph over devils, and there it shall stand while +the world endures. + +'You speak rashly, my brother,' Guatemoc answered, proudly enough, +though I saw him quail at the evil omen of my words. 'I say you speak +rashly, and were you overheard there are those, notwithstanding the rank +we have given you, the honour which you have won in war and council, and +that you have passed the stone of sacrifice, who might force you to look +again upon the faces of the beings you blaspheme. What worse thing has +been done to your Christian God than has been done again and again to +our gods by your white kindred? But let us talk no more of this matter, +and I pray you, my brother, do not utter such ill-omened words to me +again, lest it should strain our love. Do you then believe that the +Teules will return?' + +'Ay, Guatemoc, so surely as to-morrow's sun shall rise. When you held +Cortes in your hand you let him go, and since then he has won a victory +at Otompan. Is he a man, think you, to sheathe the sword that he has +once drawn, and go down into darkness and dishonour? Before a year is +past the Spaniards will be back at the gates of Tenoctitlan.' + +'You are no comforter to-night, my brother,' said Guatemoc, 'and yet I +fear that your words are true. Well, if we must fight, let us strive +to win. Now, at least, there is no Montezuma to take the viper to +his breast and nurse it till it stings him.' Then he rose and went in +silence, and I saw that his heart was heavy. + +On the morrow of this talk I could leave my bed, and within a week I was +almost well. Now it was that Guatemoc came to me again, saying that he +had been bidden by Cuitlahua the emperor, to command me to accompany +him, Guatemoc, on a service of trust and secrecy. And indeed the nature +of the service showed how great a confidence the leaders of the Aztecs +now placed in me, for it was none other than the hiding away of the +treasure that had been recaptured from the Spaniards on the Night of +Fear, and with it much more from the secret stores of the empire. + +At the fall of darkness we started, some of the great lords, Guatemoc +and I, and coming to the water's edge, we found ten large canoes, each +laden with something that was hidden by cotton cloths. Into these canoes +we entered secretly, thinking that none saw us, three to a canoe, for +there were thirty of us in all, and led by Guatemoc, we paddled for two +hours or more across the Lake Tezcuco, till we reached the further shore +at a spot where this prince had a fair estate. Here we landed, and the +cloths were withdrawn from the cargoes of the canoes, which were great +jars and sacks of gold and jewels, besides many other precious objects, +among them a likeness of the head of Montezuma, fashioned in solid gold, +which was so heavy that it was as much as Guatemoc and I could do to +lift it between us. As for the jars, of which, if my memory serves me, +there were seventeen, six men must carry each of them by the help of +paddles lashed on either side, and then the task was not light. All this +priceless stuff we bore in several journeys to the crest of a rise some +six hundred paces distant from the water, setting it down by the mouth +of a shaft behind the shelter of a mound of earth. When everything was +brought up from the boats, Guatemoc touched me and another man, a great +Aztec noble, born of a Tlascalan mother, on the shoulder, asking us if +we were willing to descend with him into the hole, and there to dispose +of the treasure. + +'Gladly,' I answered, for I was curious to see the place, but the noble +hesitated awhile, though in the end he came with us, to his ill-fortune. + +Then Guatemoc took torches in his hand, and was lowered into the shaft +by a rope. Next came my turn, and down I went, hanging to the cord like +a spider to its thread, and the hole was very deep. At length I found +myself standing by the side of Guatemoc at the foot of the shaft, round +which, as I saw by the light of the torch he carried, an edging of dried +bricks was built up to the height of a man above our heads. Resting on +this edging and against the wall of the shaft, was a massive block of +stone sculptured with the picture writing of the Aztecs. I glanced at +the writing, which I could now read well, and saw that it recorded +the burying of the treasure in the first year of Cuitlahua, Emperor of +Mexico, and also a most fearful curse on him who should dare to steal +it. Beyond us and at right angles to the shaft ran another passage, ten +paces in length and high enough for a man to walk in, which led to a +chamber hollowed in the earth, as large as that wherein I write to-day +at Ditchingham. By the mouth of this chamber were placed piles of adobe +bricks and mortar, much as the blocks of hewn stone had been placed in +that underground vault at Seville where Isabella de Siguenza was bricked +up living. + +'Who dug this place?' I asked. + +'Those who knew not what they dug,' answered Guatemoc. 'But see, here +is our companion. Now, my brother, I charge you be surprised at nothing +which comes to pass, and be assured I have good reason for anything that +I may do.' + +Before I could speak again the Aztec noble was at our side. Then those +above began to lower the jars and sacks of treasure, and as they reached +us one by one, Guatemoc loosed the ropes and checked them, while the +Aztec and I rolled them down the passage into the chamber, as here in +England men roll a cask of ale. For two hours and more we worked, till +at length all were down and the tale was complete. The last parcel to be +lowered was a sack of jewels that burst open as it came, and descended +upon us in a glittering rain of gems. As it chanced, a great necklace of +emeralds of surpassing size and beauty fell over my head and hung upon +my shoulders. + +'Keep it, brother,' laughed Guatemoc, 'in memory of this night,' and +nothing loth, I hid the bauble in my breast. That necklace I have yet, +and it was a stone of it--the smallest save one--that I gave to our +gracious Queen Elizabeth. Otomie wore it for many years, and for this +reason it shall be buried with me, though its value is priceless, so say +those who are skilled in gems. But priceless or no, it is doomed to lie +in the mould of Ditchingham churchyard, and may that same curse which +is graved upon the stone that hides the treasure of the Aztecs fall upon +him who steals it from my bones. + +Now, leaving the chamber, we three entered the tunnel and began the work +of building the adobe wall. When it was of a height of between two and +three feet, Guatemoc paused from his labour and bade me hold a torch +aloft. I obeyed wondering what he wished to see. Then he drew back some +three paces into the tunnel and spoke to the Aztec noble, our companion, +by name. + +'What is the fate of discovered traitors, friend?' he said in a voice +that, quiet though it was, sounded very terrible; and, as he spoke, he +loosed from his side the war club set with spikes of glass that hung +there by a thong. + +Now the Aztec turned grey beneath his dusky skin and trembled in his +fear. + +'What mean you, lord?' he gasped. + +'You know well what I mean,' answered Guatemoc in the same terrible +voice, and lifted the club. + +Then the doomed man fell upon his knees crying for mercy, and his +wailing sounded so awful in that deep and lonely place that in my horror +I went near to letting the torch fall. + +'To a foe I can give mercy--to a traitor, none,' answered Guatemoc, and +whirling the club aloft, he rushed upon the noble and killed him with a +blow. Then, seizing the body in his strong embrace, he cast it into the +chamber with the treasure, and there it lay still and dreadful among +the gems and gold, the arms, as it chanced, being wound about two of the +great jars as though the dead man would clasp them to his heart. + +Now I looked at Guatemoc who had slain him, wondering if my hour was at +hand also, for I knew well that when princes bury their wealth they hold +that few should share the secret. + +'Fear not, my brother,' said Guatemoc. 'Listen: this man was a thief, a +dastard, and a traitor. As we know now, he strove twice to betray us to +the Teules. More, it was his plan to show this nest of wealth to them, +should they return again, and to share the spoil. All this we learned +from a woman whom he thought his love, but who was in truth a spy set to +worm herself into the secrets of his wicked heart. Now let him take his +fill of gold; look how he grips it even in death, a white man could not +hug the stuff more closely to his breast. Ah! Teule, would that the soil +of Anahuac bore naught but corn for bread and flint and copper for +the points of spears and arrows, then had her sons been free for ever. +Curses on yonder dross, for it is the bait that sets these sea sharks +tearing at our throats. Curses on it, I say; may it never glitter more +in the sunshine, may it be lost for ever!' And he fell fiercely to the +work of building up the wall. + +Soon it was almost done; but before we set the last bricks, which were +shaped in squares like the clay lump that we use for the building of +farmeries and hinds' houses in Norfolk, I thrust a torch through the +opening and looked for the last time at the treasure chamber that was +also a dead-house. There lay the glittering gems; there, stood upon a +jar, gleamed the golden head of Montezuma, of which the emerald eyes +seemed to glare at me, and there, his back resting against this same +jar, and his arms encircling two others to the right and left, was the +dead man. But he was no longer dead, or so it seemed to me; at the +least his eyes that were shut had opened, and they stared at me like the +emerald eyes of the golden statue above him, only more fearfully. + +Very hastily I withdrew the torch, and we finished in silence. When it +was done we withdrew to the end of the passage and looked up the shaft, +and I for one was glad to see the stars shining in heaven above me. Then +we made a double loop in the rope, and at a signal were hauled up +till we hung over the ledge where the black mass of marble rested, the +tombstone of Montezuma's treasure, and of him who sleeps among it. + +This stone, that was nicely balanced, we pushed with our hands and feet +till presently it fell forward with a heavy sound, and catching on the +ridge of brick which had been prepared to receive it, shut the treasure +shaft in such a fashion that those who would enter it again must take +powder with them. + +Then we were dragged up, and came to the surface of the earth in safety. + +Now one asked of the Aztec noble who had gone down with us and returned +no more. + +'He has chosen to stay and watch the treasure, like a good and loyal +man, till such time as his king needs it,' answered Guatemoc grimly, and +the listeners nodded, understanding all. + +Then they fell to and filled up the narrow shaft with the earth that +lay ready, working without cease, and the dawn broke before the task was +finished. When at length the hole was full, one of our companions took +seeds from a bag and scattered them on the naked earth, also he set +two young trees that he had brought with him in the soil of the shaft, +though why he did this I do not know, unless it was to mark the spot. +All being done we gathered up the ropes and tools, and embarking in +the canoes, came back to Mexico in the morning, leaving the canoes at a +landing-place outside the city, and finding our way to our homes by ones +and twos, as we thought unnoticed of any. + +Thus it was that I helped in the burying of Montezuma's treasure, for +the sake of which I was destined to suffer torture in days to come. +Whether any will help to unbury it I do not know, but till I left the +land of Anahuac the secret had been kept, and I think that then, except +myself, all those were dead who laboured with me at this task. It +chanced that I passed the spot as I came down to Mexico for the last +time, and knew it again by the two trees that were growing tall and +strong, and as I went by with Spaniards at my side, I swore in my heart +that they should never finger the gold by my help. It is for this reason +that even now I do not write of the exact bearings of the place where +it lies buried with the bones of the traitor, though I know them well +enough, seeing that in days to come what I set down here might fall into +the hands of one of their nation. + + +And now, before I go on to speak of the siege of Mexico, I must tell of +one more matter, namely of how I and Otomie my wife went up among the +people of the Otomie, and won a great number of them back to their +allegiance to the Aztec crown. It must be known, if my tale has not +made this clear already, that the Aztec power was not of one people, +but built up of several, and that surrounding it were many other tribes, +some of whom were in alliance with it or subject to it, and some of whom +were its deadly enemies. Such for instance were the Tlascalans, a small +but warlike people living between Mexico and the coast, by whose help +Cortes overcame Montezuma and Guatemoc. Beyond the Tlascalans and to the +west, the great Otomie race lived or lives among its mountains. They +are a braver nation than the Aztecs, speaking another language, of a +different blood, and made up of many clans. Sometimes they were subject +to the great Aztec empire, sometimes in alliance, and sometimes at open +war with it and in close friendship with the Tlascalans. It was to +draw the tie closer between the Aztecs and the Otomies, who were to the +inhabitants of Anahuac much what the Scottish clans are to the people +of England, that Montezuma took to wife the daughter and sole legitimate +issue of their great chief or king. This lady died in childbirth, and +her child was Otomie my wife, hereditary princess of the Otomie. But +though her rank was so great among her mother's people, as yet Otomie +had visited them but twice, and then as a child. Still, she was well +skilled in their language and customs, having been brought up by nurses +and tutors of the tribes, from which she drew a great revenue every year +and over whom she exercised many rights of royalty that were rendered to +her far more freely than they had been to Montezuma her father. + +Now as has been said, some of these Otomie clans had joined the +Tlascalans, and as their allies had taken part in the war on the side of +the Spaniards, therefore it was decided at a solemn council that Otomie +and I her husband should go on an embassy to the chief town of the +nation, that was known as the City of Pines, and strive to win it back +to the Aztec standard. + +Accordingly, heralds having been sent before us, we started upon our +journey, not knowing how we should be received at the end of it. For +eight days we travelled in great pomp and with an ever-increasing +escort, for when the tribes of the Otomie learned that their princess +was come to visit them in person, bringing with her her husband, a man +of the Teules who had espoused the Aztec cause, they flocked in vast +numbers to swell her retinue, so that it came to pass that before we +reached the City of Pines we were accompanied by an army of at least ten +thousand mountaineers, great men and wild, who made a savage music as we +marched. But with them and with their chiefs as yet we held no converse +except by way of formal greeting, though every morning when we started +on our journey, Otomie in a litter and I on a horse that had been +captured from the Spaniards, they set up shouts of salutation and made +the mountains ring. Ever as we went the land like its people grew wilder +and more beautiful, for now we were passing through forests clad with +oak and pine and with many a lovely plant and fern. Sometimes we crossed +great and sparkling rivers and sometimes we wended through gorges and +passes of the mountains, but every hour we mounted higher, till at +length the climate became like that of England, only far more bright. At +last on the eighth day we passed through a gorge riven in the red rock, +which was so narrow in places that three horsemen could scarcely have +ridden there abreast. This gorge, that is five miles long, is the high +road to the City of Pines, to which there was no other access except by +secret paths across the mountains, and on either side of it are sheer +and towering cliffs that rise to heights of between one and two thousand +feet. + +'Here is a place where a hundred men might hold an army at bay,' I said +to Otomie, little knowing that it would be my task to do so in a day to +come. + +Presently the gorge took a turn and I reined up amazed, for before me +was the City of Pines in all its beauty. The city lay in a wheelshaped +plain that may measure twelve miles across, and all around this plain +are mountains clad to their summits with forests of oak and cedar trees. +At the back of the city and in the centre of the ring of mountains is +one, however, that is not green with foliage but black with lava, and +above the lava white with snow, over which again hangs a pillar of smoke +by day and a pillar of fire by night. This was the volcan Xaca, or the +Queen, and though it is not so lofty as its sisters Orizaba, Popo, and +Ixtac, to my mind it is the loveliest of them all, both because of its +perfect shape, and of the colours, purple and blue, of the fires that +it sends forth at night or when its heart is troubled. The Otomies +worshipped this mountain as a god, offering human sacrifice to it, which +was not wonderful, for once the lava pouring from its bowels cut a path +through the City of Pines. Also they think it holy and haunted, so that +none dare set foot upon its loftier snows. Nevertheless I was destined +to climb them--I and one other. + +Now in the lap of this ring of mountains and watched over by the mighty +Xaca, clad in its robe of snow, its cap of smoke, and its crown of fire, +lies, or rather lay the City of Pines, for now it is a ruin, or so I +left it. As to the city itself, it was not so large as some others that +I have seen in Anahuac, having only a population of some five and thirty +thousand souls, since the Otomie, being a race of mountaineers, did +not desire to dwell in cities. But if it was not great, it was the most +beautiful of Indian towns, being laid out in straight streets that met +at the square in its centre. All along these streets were houses each +standing in a garden, and for the most part built of blocks of lava and +roofed with a cement of white lime. In the midst of the square stood the +teocalli or pyramid of worship, crowned with temples that were garnished +with ropes of skulls, while beyond the pyramid and facing it, was the +palace, the home of Otomie's forefathers, a long, low, and very ancient +building having many courts, and sculptured everywhere with snakes and +grinning gods. Both the palace and the pyramid were cased with a fine +white stone that shone like silver in the sunlight, and contrasted +strangely with the dark-hued houses that were built of lava. + +Such was the City of Pines when I saw it first. When I saw it last it +was but a smoking ruin, and now doubtless it is the home of bats and +jackals; now it is 'a court for owls,' now 'the line of confusion is +stretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness fill its streets.' + + +Passing from the mouth of the gorge we travelled some miles across the +plain, every foot of which was cultivated with corn, maguey or aloe, and +other crops, till we came to one of the four gates of the city. Entering +it we found the flat roofs on either side of the wide street crowded +with hundreds of women and children who threw flowers on us as we +passed, and cried, 'Welcome, princess! Welcome, Otomie, princess of the +Otomie!' And when at length we reached the great square, it seemed as +though all the men in Anahuac were gathered there, and they too took +up the cry of 'Welcome, Otomie, princess of the Otomie!' till the earth +shook with the sound. Me also they saluted as I passed, by touching the +earth with their right hands and then holding the hand above the head, +but I think that the horse I rode caused them more wonder than I did, +for the most of them had never seen a horse and looked on it as a +monster or a demon. So we went on through the shouting mass, followed +and preceded by thousands of warriors, many of them decked in glittering +feather mail and bearing broidered banners, till we had passed the +pyramid, where I saw the priests at their cruel work above us, and were +come to the palace gates. And here in a strange chamber sculptured with +grinning demons we found rest for a while. + +On the morrow in the great hall of the palace was held a council of the +chiefs and head men of the Otomie clans, to the number of a hundred or +more. When all were gathered, dressed as an Aztec noble of the first +rank, I came out with Otomie, who wore royal robes and looked most +beautiful in them, and the council rose to greet us. Otomie bade them be +seated and addressed them thus: + +'Hear me, you chiefs and captains of my mother's race, who am your +princess by right of blood, the last of your ancient rulers, and who am +moreover the daughter of Montezuma, Emperor of Anahuac, now dead to us +but living evermore in the Mansions of the Sun. First I present to you +this my husband, the lord Teule, to whom I was given in marriage when +he held the spirit of the god Tezcat, and whom, when he had passed the +altar of the god, being chosen by heaven to aid us in our war, I +wedded anew after the fashion of the earth, and by the will of my royal +brethren. Know, chiefs and captains, that this lord, my husband, is not +of our Indian blood, nor is he altogether of the blood of the Teules +with whom we are at war, but rather of that of the true children of +Quetzal, the dwellers in a far off northern sea who are foes to the +Teules. And as they are foes, so this my lord is their foe, and as +doubtless you have heard, of all the deeds of arms that were wrought +upon the night of the slaying of the Teules, none were greater than his, +and it was he who first discovered their retreat. + +'Chiefs and captains of the great and ancient people of the Otomie, I +your princess have been sent to you by Cuitlahua, my king and yours, +together with my lord, to plead with you on a certain matter. Our king +has heard, and I also have heard with shame, that many of the warriors +of our blood have joined the Tlascalans, who were ever foes to the +Aztecs, in their unholy alliance with the Teules. Now for a while the +white men are beaten back, but they have touched the gold they covet, +and they will return again like bees to a half-drained flower. They +will return, yet of themselves they can do nothing against the glory of +Tenoctitlan. But how shall it go if with them come thousands and tens +of thousands of the Indian peoples? I know well that now in this time +of trouble, when kingdoms crumble, when the air is full of portents, and +the very gods seem impotent, there are many who would seize the moment +and turn it to their profit. There are many men and tribes who remember +ancient wars and wrongs, and who cry, "Now is the hour of vengeance, +now we will think on the widows that the Aztec spears have made, on the +tribute which they have wrung from our poverty to swell their wealth, +and on the captives who have decked the altars of their sacrifice!" + +'Is it not so? Ay, it is so, and I cannot wonder at it. Yet I ask you to +remember this, that the yoke you would help to set upon the neck of the +queen of cities will fit your neck also. O foolish men, do you think +that you shall be spared when by your aid Tenoctitlan is a ruin and the +Aztecs are no more a people? I say to you never. The sticks that the +Teules use to beat out the life of Tenoctitlan shall by them be broken +one by one and cast into the fire to burn. If the Aztecs fall, then +early or late every tribe within this wide land shall fall. They shall +be slain, their cities shall be stamped flat, their wealth shall be +wrung from them, and their children shall eat the bread of slavery and +drink the water of affliction. Choose, ye people of the Otomie. Will you +stand by the men of your own customs and country, though they have been +your foes at times, or will you throw in your lot with the stranger? +Choose, ye people of the Otomie, and know this, that on your choice and +that of the other men of Anahuac, depends the fate of Anahuac. I am your +princess, and you should obey me, but to-day I issue no command. I say +choose between the alliance of the Aztec and the yoke of the Teule, and +may the god above the gods, the almighty, the invisible god, direct your +choice.' + +Otomie ceased and a murmur of applause went round the hall. Alas, I can +do no justice to the fire of her words, any more than I can describe the +dignity and loveliness of her person as it seemed in that hour. But they +went to the hearts of the rude chieftains who listened. Many of them +despised the Aztecs as a womanish people of the plains and the lakes, +a people of commerce. Many had blood feuds against them dating back for +generations. But still they knew that their princess spoke truth, and +that the triumph of the Teule in Tenoctitlan would mean his triumph over +every city throughout the land. So then and there they chose, though +in after days, in the stress of defeat and trouble, many went back upon +their choice as is the fashion of men. + +'Otomie,' cried their spokesman, after they had taken counsel together, +'we have chosen. Princess, your words have conquered us. We throw in +our lot with the Aztecs and will fight to the last for freedom from the +Teule.' + +'Now I see that you are indeed my people, and I am indeed your ruler,' +answered Otomie. 'So the great lords who are gone, my forefathers, your +chieftains, would have spoken in a like case. May you never regret this +choice, my brethren, Men of the Otomie.' + + +And so it came to pass that when we left the City of Pines we took from +it to Cuitlahua the emperor, a promise of an army of twenty thousand men +vowed to serve him to the death in his war against the Spaniard. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CROWNING OF GUATEMOC + + +Our business with the people of the Otomie being ended for a while, we +returned to the city of Tenoctitlan, which we reached safely, having +been absent a month and a day. It was but a little time, and yet long +enough for fresh sorrows to have fallen on that most unhappy town. For +now the Almighty had added to the burdens which were laid upon her. She +had tasted of death by the sword of the white man, now death was with +her in another shape. For the Spaniard had brought the foul sicknesses +of Europe with him, and small-pox raged throughout the land. Day by day +thousands perished of it, for these ignorant people treated the plague +by pouring cold water upon the bodies of those smitten, driving the +fever inwards to the vitals, so that within two days the most of them +died.* It was pitiful to see them maddened with suffering, as they +wandered to and fro about the streets, spreading the distemper far and +wide. They were dying in the houses, they lay dead by companies in the +market places awaiting burial, for the sickness took its toll of +every family, the very priests were smitten by it at the altar as they +sacrificed children to appease the anger of the gods. But the worst is +still to tell; Cuitlahua, the emperor, was struck down by the illness, +and when we reached the city he lay dying. Still, he desired to see us, +and sent commands that we should be brought to his bedside. In vain did +I pray Otomie not to obey; she, who was without fear, laughed at me, +saying, 'What, my husband, shall I shrink from that which you must face? +Come, let us go and make report of our mission. If the sickness takes me +and I die, it will be because my hour has come.' + + * This treatment is followed among the Indians of Mexico to + this day, but if the writer may believe what he heard in + that country, the patient is frequently cured by it. + +So we went and were ushered into a chamber where Cuitlahua lay covered +by a sheet, as though he were already dead, and with incense burning +round him in golden censers. When we entered he was in a stupor, but +presently he awoke, and it was announced to him that we waited. + +'Welcome, niece,' he said, speaking through the sheet and in a thick +voice; 'you find me in an evil case, for my days are numbered, the +pestilence of the Teules slays those whom their swords spared. Soon +another monarch must take my throne, as I took your father's, and I do +not altogether grieve, for on him will rest the glory and the burden +of the last fight of the Aztecs. Your report, niece; let me hear it +swiftly. What say the clans of the Otomie, your vassals?' + +'My lord,' Otomie answered, speaking humbly and with bowed head, 'may +this distemper leave you, and may you live to reign over us for many +years! My lord, my husband Teule and I have won back the most part of +the people of the Otomie to our cause and standard. An army of twenty +thousand mountain men waits upon your word, and when those are spent +there are more to follow.' + +'Well done, daughter of Montezuma, and you, white man,' gasped the dying +king. 'The gods were wise when they refused you both upon the stone of +sacrifice, and I was foolish when I would have slain you, Teule. To you +and all I say be of a steadfast heart, and if you must die, then die +with honour. The fray draws on, but I shall not share it, and who knows +its end?' + +Now he lay silent for a while, then of a sudden, as though an +inspiration had seized him, he cast the sheet from his face and sat upon +his couch, no pleasant sight to see, for the pestilence had done its +worst with him. + +'Alas!' he wailed, 'and alas! I see the streets of Tenoctitlan red with +blood and fire, I see her dead piled up in heaps, and the horses of the +Teules trample them. I see the Spirit of my people, and her voice is +sighing and her neck is heavy with chains. The children are visited +because of the evil of the fathers. Ye are doomed, people of Anahuac, +whom I would have nurtured as an eagle nurtures her young. Hell yawns +for you and Earth refuses you because of your sins, and the remnant +that remains shall be slaves from generation to generation, till the +vengeance is accomplished!' + +Having cried thus with a great voice, Cuitlahua fell back upon the +cushions, and before the frightened leech who tended him could lift his +head, he had passed beyond the troubles of this earth. But the words +which he had spoken remained fixed in the hearts of those who heard +them, though they were told to none except to Guatemoc. + + +Thus then in my presence and in that of Otomie died Cuitlahua, emperor +of the Aztecs, when he had reigned but fifteen weeks. Once more the +nation mourned its king, the chief of many a thousand of its children +whom the pestilence swept with him to the 'Mansions of the Sun,' or +perchance to the 'darkness behind the Stars.' + +But the mourning was not for long, for in the urgency of the times it +was necessary that a new emperor should be crowned to take command of +the armies and rule the nation. Therefore on the morrow of the burial of +Cuitlahua the council of the four electors was convened, and with them +lesser nobles and princes to the number of three hundred, and I among +them in the right of my rank as general, and as husband of the princess +Otomie. There was no great need of deliberation, indeed, for though the +names of several were mentioned, the princes knew that there was but one +man who by birth, by courage, and nobility of mind, was fitted to cope +with the troubles of the nation. That man was Guatemoc, my friend and +blood brother, the nephew of the two last emperors and the husband of +my wife's sister, Montezuma's daughter, Tecuichpo. All knew it, I say, +except, strangely enough, Guatemoc himself, for as we passed into the +council he named two other princes, saying that without doubt the choice +lay between them. + +It was a splendid and a solemn sight, that gathering of the four great +lords, the electors, dressed in their magnificent robes, and of the +lesser council of confirmation of three hundred lords and princes, who +sat without the circle but in hearing of all that passed. Very solemn +also was the prayer of the high priest, who, clad in his robes of sable, +seemed like a blot of ink dropped on a glitter of gold. Thus he prayed: + +'O god, thou who art everywhere and seest all, knowest that Cuitlahua +our king is gathered to thee. Thou hast set him beneath thy footstool +and there he rests in his rest. He has travelled that road which we must +travel every one, he has reached the royal inhabitations of our dead, +the home of everlasting shadows. There where none shall trouble him he +is sunk in sleep. His brief labours are accomplished, and soiled with +sin and sorrow, he has gone to thee. Thou gavest him joys to taste +but not to drink; the glory of empire passed before his eyes like the +madness of a dream. With tears and with prayers to thee he took up +his load, with happiness he laid it down. Where his forefathers went, +thither he has followed, nor can he return to us. Our fire is an ash and +our lamp is darkness. Those who wore his purple before him bequeathed to +him the intolerable weight of rule, and he in his turn bequeaths it to +another. Truly, he should give thee praise, thou king of kings, master +of the stars, that standest alone, who hast lifted from his shoulders so +great a burden, and from his brow this crown of woes, paying him peace +for war and rest for labour. + +'O god our hope, choose now a servant to succeed him, a man after thine +own heart, who shall not fear nor falter, who shall toil and not be +weary, who shall lead thy people as a mother leads her children. Lord of +lords, give grace to Guatemoc thy creature, who is our choice. Seal him +to thy service, and as thy priest let him sit upon thy earthly throne +for his life days. Let thy foes become his footstool, let him exalt thy +glory, proclaim thy worship, and protect thy kingdom. Thus have I prayed +to thee in the name of the nation. O god, thy will be done!' + +When the high priest had made an end of his prayer, the first of the +four great electors rose, saying: + +'Guatemoc, in the name of god and with the voice of the people of +Anahuac, we summon you to the throne of Anahuac. Long may you live and +justly may you rule, and may the glory be yours of beating back into the +sea those foes who would destroy us. Hail to you, Guatemoc, Emperor of +the Aztecs and of their vassal tribes.' And all the three hundred of the +council of confirmation repeated in a voice of thunder, 'Hail to you, +Guatemoc, Emperor!' + +Now the prince himself stood forward and spoke: + +'You lords of election, and you, princes, generals, nobles and captains +of the council of confirmation, hear me. May the gods be my witness +that when I entered this place I had no thought or knowledge that I was +destined to so high an honour as that which you would thrust upon me. +And may the gods be my witness again that were my life my own, and not a +trust in the hands of this people, I would say to you, "Seek on and find +one worthier to fill the throne." But my life is not my own. Anahuac +calls her son and I obey the call. War to the death threatens her, and +shall I hang back while my arm has strength to smite and my brain has +power to plan? Not so. Now and henceforth I vow myself to the service +of my country and to war against the Teules. I will make no peace with +them, I will take no rest till they are driven back whence they came, or +till I am dead beneath their swords. None can say what the gods have +in store for us, it may be victory or it may be destruction, but be it +triumph or death, let us swear a great oath together, my people and my +brethren. Let us swear to fight the Teules and the traitors who abet +them, for our cities, our hearths and our altars; till the cities are +a smoking ruin, till the hearths are cumbered with their dead, and +the altars run red with the blood of their worshippers. So, if we are +destined to conquer, our triumph shall be made sure, and if we are +doomed to fail, at least there will be a story to be told of us. Do you +swear, my people and my brethren?' + +'We swear,' they answered with a shout. + +'It is well,' said Guatemoc. 'And now may everlasting shame overtake him +who breaks this oath.' + + +Thus then was Guatemoc, the last and greatest of the Aztec emperors, +elected to the throne of his forefathers. It was happy for him that he +could not foresee that dreadful day when he, the noblest of men, must +meet a felon's doom at the hand of these very Teules. Yet so it came +about, for the destiny that lay upon the land smote all alike, indeed +the greater the man the more certain was his fate. + +When all was done I hurried to the palace to tell Otomie what had come +to pass, and found her in our sleeping chamber lying on her bed. + +'What ails you, Otomie?' I asked. + +'Alas! my husband,' she answered, 'the pestilence has stricken me. Come +not near, I pray you, come not near. Let me be nursed by the women. You +shall not risk your life for me, beloved.' + +'Peace,' I said and came to her. It was too true, I who am a physician +knew the symptoms well. Indeed had it not been for my skill, Otomie +would have died. For three long weeks I fought with death at her +bedside, and in the end I conquered. The fever left her, and thanks +to my treatment, there was no single scar upon her lovely face. During +eight days her mind wandered without ceasing, and it was then I learned +how deep and perfect was her love for me. For all this while she +did nothing but rave of me, and the secret terror of her heart was +disclosed--that I should cease to care for her, that her beauty and love +might pall upon me so that I should leave her, that 'the flower maid,' +for so she named Lily, who dwelt across the sea should draw me back to +her by magic; this was the burden of her madness. At length her senses +returned and she spoke, saying: + +'How long have I lain ill, husband?' + +I told her and she said, 'And have you nursed me all this while, and +through so foul a sickness?' + +'Yes, Otomie, I have tended you.' + +'What have I done that you should be so good to me?' she murmured. Then +some dreadful thought seemed to strike her, for she moaned as though in +pain, and said, 'A mirror! Swift, bring me a mirror!' + +I gave her one, and rising on her arm, eagerly she scanned her face in +the dim light of the shadowed room, then let the plate of burnished gold +fall, and sank back with a faint and happy cry: + +'I feared,' she said, 'I feared that I had become hideous as those are +whom the pestilence has smitten, and that you would cease to love me, +than which it had been better to die.' + +'For shame,' I said. 'Do you then think that love can be frightened away +by some few scars?' + +'Yes,' Otomie answered, 'that is the love of a man; not such love as +mine, husband. Had I been thus--ah! I shudder to think of it--within a +year you would have hated me. Perhaps it had not been so with another, +the fair maid of far away, but me you would have hated. Nay, I know it, +though I know this also, that I should not have lived to feel your hate. +Oh! I am thankful, thankful.' + +Then I left her for a while, marvelling at the great love which she had +given me, and wondering also if there was any truth in her words, and +if the heart of man could be so ungrateful and so vile. Supposing that +Otomie was now as many were who walked the streets of Tenoctitlan that +day, a mass of dreadful scars, hairless, and with blind and whitened +eyeballs, should I then have shrunk from her? I do not know, and I thank +heaven that no such trial was put upon my constancy. But I am sure of +this; had I become a leper even, Otomie would not have shrunk from me. + +So Otomie recovered from her great sickness, and shortly afterwards the +pestilence passed away from Tenoctitlan. And now I had many other +things to think of, for the choosing of Guatemoc--my friend and blood +brother--as emperor meant much advancement to me, who was made a general +of the highest class, and a principal adviser in his councils. Nor did +I spare myself in his service, but laboured by day and night in the work +of preparing the city for siege, and in the marshalling of the troops, +and more especially of that army of Otomies, who came, as they had +promised, to the number of twenty thousand. The work was hard indeed, +for these Indian tribes lacked discipline and powers of unity, without +which their thousands were of little avail in a war with white men. +Also there were great jealousies between their leaders which must be +overcome, and I was myself an object of jealousy. Moreover, many tribes +took this occasion of the trouble of the Aztecs to throw off their +allegiance or vassalage, and even if they did not join the Spaniards, to +remain neutral watching for the event of the war. Still we laboured +on, dividing the armies into regiments after the fashion of Europe, and +stationing each in its own quarter drilling them to the better use of +arms, provisioning the city for a siege, and weeding out as many useless +mouths as we might; and there was but one man in Tenoctitlan who toiled +at these tasks more heavily than I, and that was Guatemoc the emperor, +who did not rest day or night. I tried even to make powder with sulphur +which was brought from the throat of the volcan Popo, but, having no +knowledge of that art, I failed. Indeed, it would have availed us little +had I succeeded, for having neither arquebusses nor cannons, and no +skill to cast them, we could only have used it in mining roads and +gateways, and, perhaps, in grenades to be thrown with the hand. + +And so the months went on, till at length spies came in with the tidings +that the Spaniards were advancing in numbers, and with them countless +hosts of allies. + +Now I would have sent Otomie to seek safety among her own people, but +she laughed me to scorn, and said: + +'Where you are, there I will be, husband. What, shall it be suffered +that you face death, perhaps to find him, when I am not at your side to +die with you? If that is the fashion of white women, I leave it to them, +beloved, and here with you I stay.' + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN + + +Now shortly after Christmas, having marched from the coast with a great +array of Spaniards, for many had joined his banner from over sea, and +tens of thousands of native allies, Cortes took up his head quarters at +Tezcuco in the valley of Mexico. This town is situated near the borders +of the lake, at a distance of several leagues from Tenoctitlan, and +being on the edge of the territory of the Tlascalans his allies, it was +most suitable to Cortes as a base of action. And then began one of the +most terrible wars that the world has seen. For eight months it raged, +and when it ceased at length, Tenoctitlan, and with it many other +beautiful and populous towns, were blackened ruins, the most of the +Aztecs were dead by sword and famine, and their nation was crushed for +ever. Of all the details of this war I do not purpose to write, for were +I to do so, there would be no end to this book, and I have my own tale +to tell. These, therefore, I leave to the maker of histories. Let it be +enough to say that the plan of Cortes was to destroy all her vassal and +allied cities and peoples before he grappled with Mexico, queen of the +valley, and this he set himself to do with a skill, a valour, and a +straightness of purpose, such as have scarcely been shown by a general +since the days of Caesar. + +Iztapalapan was the first to fall, and here ten thousand men, women, and +children were put to the sword or burned alive. Then came the turn of +the others; one by one Cortes reduced the cities till the whole girdle +of them was in his hand, and Tenoctitlan alone remained untouched. Many +indeed surrendered, for the nations of Anahuac being of various blood +were but as a bundle of reeds and not as a tree. Thus when the power of +Spain cut the band of empire that bound them together, they fell this +way and that, having no unity. So it came about that as the power +of Guatemoc weakened that of Cortes increased, for he garnered these +loosened reeds into his basket. And, indeed, now that the people saw +that Mexico had met her match, many an ancient hate and smouldering +rivalry broke into flame, and they fell upon her and tore her, like +half-tamed wolves upon their master when his scourge is broken. It was +this that brought about the fall of Anahuac. Had she remained true to +herself, had she forgotten her feuds and jealousies and stood against +the Spaniards as one man, then Tenoctitlan would never have fallen, and +Cortes with every Teule in his company had been stretched upon the stone +of sacrifice. + +Did I not say when I took up my pen to write this book that every wrong +revenges itself at last upon the man or the people that wrought it? +So it was now. Mexico was destroyed because of the abomination of the +worship of her gods. These feuds between the allied peoples had their +root in the horrible rites of human sacrifice. At some time in the past, +from all these cities captives have been dragged to the altars of the +gods of Mexico, there to be slaughtered and devoured by the cannibal +worshippers. Now these outrages were remembered, now when the arm of +the queen of the valley was withered, the children of those whom she had +slain rose up to slay her and to drag HER children to their altars. + +By the month of May, strive as we would, and never was a more gallant +fight made, all our allies were crushed or had deserted us, and the +siege of the city began. It began by land and by water, for with +incredible resource Cortes caused thirteen brigantines of war to be +constructed in Tlascala, and conveyed in pieces for twenty leagues +across the mountains to his camp, whence they were floated into the lake +through a canal, which was hollowed out by the labour of ten thousand +Indians, who worked at it without cease for two months. The bearers +of these brigantines were escorted by an army of twenty thousand +Tlascalans, and if I could have had my way that army should have been +attacked in the mountain passes. So thought Guatemoc also, but there +were few troops to spare, for the most of our force had been despatched +to threaten a city named Chalco, that, though its people were of the +Aztec blood, had not been ashamed to desert the Aztec cause. Still I +offered to lead the twenty thousand Otomies whom I commanded against the +Tlascalan convoy, and the matter was debated hotly at a council of war. +But the most of the council were against the risking of an engagement +with the Spaniards and their allies so far from the city, and thus the +opportunity went by to return no more. It was an evil fortune like +the rest, for in the end these brigantines brought about the fall of +Tenoctitlan by cutting off the supply of food, which was carried in +canoes across the lake. Alas! the bravest can do nothing against the +power of famine. Hunger is a very great man, as the Indians say. + +Now the Aztecs fighting alone were face to face with their foes and the +last struggle began. First the Spaniards cut the aqueduct which supplied +the city with water from the springs at the royal house of Chapoltepec, +whither I was taken on being brought to Mexico. Henceforth till the end +of the siege, the only water that we found to drink was the brackish and +muddy fluid furnished by the lake and wells sunk in the soil. Although +it might be drunk after boiling to free it of the salt, it was +unwholesome and filthy to the taste, breeding various painful sicknesses +and fevers. It was on this day of the cutting of the aqueduct that +Otomie bore me a son, our first-born. Already the hardships of the siege +were so great and nourishing food so scarce, that had she been less +strong, or had I possessed less skill in medicine, I think that she +would have died. Still she recovered to my great thankfulness and joy, +and though I am no clerk I baptized the boy into the Christian Church +with my own hand, naming him Thomas after me. + +Now day by day and week by week the fighting went on with varying +success, sometimes in the suburbs of the city, sometimes on the lake, +and sometimes in the very streets. Time on time the Spaniards were +driven back with loss, time on time they advanced again from their +different camps. Once we captured sixty of them and more than a thousand +of their allies. All these were sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, +and given over to be devoured by the Aztecs according to the beastlike +custom which in Anahuac enjoined the eating of the bodies of those who +were offered to the gods, not because the Indians love such meat but for +a secret religious reason. + +In vain did I pray Guatemoc to forego this horror. + +'Is this a time for gentleness?' he answered fiercely. 'I cannot save +them from the altar, and I would not if I could. Let the dogs die +according to the custom of the land, and to you, Teule my brother, I say +presume not too far.' + +Alas! the heart of Guatemoc grew ever fiercer as the struggle wore on, +and indeed it was little to be wondered at. + +This was the dreadful plan of Cortes: to destroy the city piecemeal as +he advanced towards its heart, and it was carried out without mercy. +So soon as the Spaniards got footing in a quarter, thousands of the +Tlascalans were set to work to fire the houses and burn all in them +alive. Before the siege was done Tenoctitlan, queen of the valley, was +but a heap of blackened ruins. Cortes might have cried over Mexico with +Isaiah the prophet: 'Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the +noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover +thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! +how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations!' + +In all these fights I took my part, though it does not become me to +boast my prowess. Still the Spaniards knew me well and they had good +reason. Whenever they saw me they would greet me with revilings, calling +me 'traitor and renegade,' and 'Guatemoc's white dog,' and moreover, +Cortes set a price upon my head, for he knew through his spies that +some of Guatemoc's most successful attacks and stratagems had been of +my devising. But I took no heed even when their insults pierced me like +arrows, for though many of the Aztecs were my friends and I hated +the Spaniards, it was a shameful thing that a Christian man should be +warring on the side of cannibals who made human sacrifice. I took no +heed, since always I was seeking for my foe de Garcia. He was there I +knew, for I saw him many times, but I could never come at him. Indeed, +if I watched for him he also watched for me, but with another purpose, +to avoid me. For now as of old de Garcia feared me, now as of old he +believed that I should bring his death upon him. + +It was the custom of warriors in the opposing armies to send challenges +to single combat, one to another, and many such duels were fought in +the sight of all, safe conduct being given to the combatants and their +seconds. Upon a day, despairing of meeting him face to face in battle, +I sent a challenge to de Garcia by a herald, under his false name of +Sarceda. In an hour the herald returned with this message written on +paper in Spanish: + +'Christian men do not fight duels with renegade heathen dogs, white +worshippers of devils and eaters of human flesh. There is but one +weapon which such cannot defile, a rope, and it waits for you, Thomas +Wingfield.' + +I tore the writing to pieces and stamped upon it in my rage, for now, +to all his other crimes against me, de Garcia had added the blackest +insult. But wrath availed me nothing, for I could never come near him, +though once, with ten of my Otomies, I charged into the heart of the +Spanish column after him. + +From that rush I alone escaped alive, the ten Otomies were sacrificed to +my hate. + +How shall I paint the horrors that day by day were heaped upon the +doomed city? Soon all the food was gone, and men, ay, and worse still, +tender women and children, must eat such meat as swine would have turned +from, striving to keep life in them for a little longer. Grass, the bark +of trees, slugs and insects, washed down with brackish water from +the lake, these were their best food, these and the flesh of captives +offered in sacrifice. Now they began to die by hundreds and by +thousands, they died so fast that none could bury them. Where they +perished, there they lay, till at length their bodies bred a plague, +a black and horrible fever that swept off thousands more, who in turn +became the root of pestilence. For one who was killed by the Spaniards +and their allies, two were swept off by hunger and plague. Think then +what was the number of dead when not less than seventy thousand perished +beneath the sword and by fire alone. Indeed, it is said that forty +thousand died in this manner in a single day, the day before the last of +the siege. + + +One night I came back to the lodging where Otomie dwelt with her royal +sister Tecuichpo, the wife of Guatemoc, for now all the palaces had been +burnt down. I was starving, for I had scarcely tasted food for forty +hours, but all that my wife could set before me were three little meal +cakes, or tortillas, mixed with bark. She kissed me and bade me eat +them, but I discovered that she herself had touched no food that day, so +I would not till she shared them. Then I noted that she could scarcely +swallow the bitter morsels, and also that she strove to hide tears which +ran down her face. + +'What is it, wife?' I asked. + +Then Otomie broke out into a great and bitter crying and said: + +'This, my beloved: for two days the milk has been dry in my +breast--hunger has dried it--and our babe is dead! Look, he lies dead!' +and she drew aside a cloth and showed me the tiny body. + +'Hush,' I said, 'he is spared much. Can we then desire that a child +should live to see such days as we have seen, and after all, to die at +last?' + +'He was our son, our first-born,' she cried again. 'Oh! why must we +suffer thus?' + +'We must suffer, Otomie, because we are born to it. Just so much +happiness is given to us as shall save us from madness and no more. Ask +me not why, for I cannot answer you! There is no answer in my faith or +in any other.' + +And then, looking on that dead babe, I wept also. Every hour in those +terrible months it was my lot to see a thousand sights more awful, and +yet this sight of a dead infant moved me the most of all of them. The +child was mine, my firstborn, its mother wept beside me, and its stiff +and tiny fingers seemed to drag at my heart strings. Seek not the cause, +for the Almighty Who gave the heart its infinite power of pain alone can +answer, and to our ears He is dumb. + +Then I took a mattock and dug a hole outside the house till I came to +water, which in Tenoctitlan is found at a depth of two feet or so. And, +having muttered a prayer over him, there in the water I laid the body of +our child, burying it out of sight. At the least he was not left for the +zapilotes, as the Aztecs call the vultures, like the rest of them. + +After that we wept ourselves to sleep in each other's arms, Otomie +murmuring from time to time, 'Oh! my husband, I would that we were +asleep and forgotten, we and the babe together.' + +'Rest now,' I answered, 'for death is very near to us.' + +The morrow came, and with it a deadlier fray than any that had gone +before, and after it more morrows and more deaths, but still we lived +on, for Guatemoc gave us of his food. Then Cortes sent his heralds +demanding our surrender, and now three-fourths of the city was a ruin, +and three-fourths of its defenders were dead. The dead were heaped in +the houses like bees stifled in a hive, and in the streets they lay so +thick that we walked upon them. + +The council was summoned--fierce men, haggard with hunger and with war, +and they considered the offer of Cortes. + +'What is your word, Guatemoc?' said their spokesman at last. + +'Am I Montezuma, that you ask me? I swore to defend this city to the +last,' he answered hoarsely, 'and, for my part, I will defend it. Better +that we should all die, than that we should fall living into the hands +of the Teules.' + +'So say we,' they replied, and the war went on. + + +At length there came a day when the Spaniards made a new attack and +gained another portion of the city. There the people were huddled +together like sheep in a pen. We strove to defend them, but our arms +were weak with famine. They fired into us with their pieces, mowing us +down like corn before the sickle. Then the Tlascalans were loosed upon +us, like fierce hounds upon a defenceless buck, and on this day it is +said that there died forty thousand people, for none were spared. On +the morrow, it was the last day of the siege, came a fresh embassy from +Cortes, asking that Guatemoc should meet him. The answer was the same, +for nothing could conquer that noble spirit. + +'Tell him,' said Guatemoc, 'that I will die where I am, but that I will +hold no parley with him. We are helpless, let Cortes work his pleasure +on us.' + +By now all the city was destroyed, and we who remained alive within its +bounds were gathered on the causeways and behind the ruins of walls; +men, women, and children together. + +Here they attacked us again. The great drum on the teocalli beat for the +last time, and for the last time the wild scream of the Aztec warriors +went up to heaven. We fought our best; I killed four men that day with +my arrows which Otomie, who was at my side, handed me as I shot. But the +most of us had not the strength of a child, and what could we do? They +came among us like seamen among a flock of seals, and slaughtered us by +hundreds. They drove us into the canals and trod us to death there, till +bridges were made of our bodies. How we escaped I do not know. + +At length a party of us, among whom was Guatemoc with his wife +Tecuichpo, were driven to the shores of the lake where lay canoes, and +into these we entered, scarcely knowing what we did, but thinking that +we might escape, for now all the city was taken. The brigantines saw us +and sailed after us with a favouring wind--the wind always favoured the +foe in that war--and row as we would, one of them came up with us and +began to fire into us. Then Guatemoc stood up and spoke, saying: + +'I am Guatemoc. Bring me to Malinche. But spare those of my people who +remain alive.' + +'Now,' I said to Otomie at my side, 'my hour has come, for the Spaniards +will surely hang me, and it is in my mind, wife, that I should do well +to kill myself, so that I may be saved from a death of shame.' + +'Nay, husband,' she answered sadly, 'as I said in bygone days, while you +live there is hope, but the dead come back no more. Fortune may favour +us yet; still, if you think otherwise, I am ready to die.' + +'That I will not suffer, Otomie.' + +'Then you must hold your hand, husband, for now as always, where you go, +I follow.' + +'Listen,' I whispered; 'do not let it be known that you are my wife; +pass yourself as one of the ladies of Tecuichpo, the queen, your sister. +If we are separated, and if by any chance I escape, I will try to make +my way to the City of Pines. There, among your own people, we may find +refuge.' + +'So be it, beloved,' she answered, smiling sadly. 'But I do not know +how the Otomie will receive me, who have led twenty thousand of their +bravest men to a dreadful death.' + +Now we were on the deck of the brigantine and must stop talking, and +thence, after the Spaniards had quarrelled over us a while, we were +taken ashore and led to the top of a house which still stood, where +Cortes had made ready hurriedly to receive his royal prisoner. +Surrounded by his escort, the Spanish general stood, cap in hand, and by +his side was Marina, grown more lovely than before, whom I now met for +the first time since we had parted in Tobasco. + +Our eyes met and she started, thereby showing that she knew me again, +though it must have been hard for Marina to recognise her friend Teule +in the blood-stained, starving, and tattered wretch who could scarcely +find strength to climb the azotea. But at that time no words passed +between us, for all eyes were bent on the meeting between Cortes and +Guatemoc, between the conqueror and the conquered. + +Still proud and defiant, though he seemed but a living skeleton, +Guatemoc walked straight to where the Spaniard stood, and spoke, Marina +translating his words. + +'I am Guatemoc, the emperor, Malinche,' he said. 'What a man might do to +defend his people, I have done. Look on the fruits of my labour,' and +he pointed to the blackened ruins of Tenoctitlan that stretched on every +side far as the eye could reach. 'Now I have come to this pass, for the +gods themselves have been against me. Deal with me as you will, but it +will be best that you kill me now,' and he touched the dagger of Cortes +with his hand, 'and thus rid me swiftly of the misery of life.' + +'Fear not, Guatemoc,' answered Cortes. 'You have fought like a brave +man, and such I honour. With me you are safe, for we Spaniards love a +gallant foe. See, here is food,' and he pointed to a table spread with +such viands as we had not seen for many a week; 'eat, you and your +companions together, for you must need it. Afterwards we will talk.' + +So we ate, and heartily, I for my part thinking that it would be well to +die upon a full stomach, having faced death so long upon an empty one, +and while we devoured the meat the Spaniards stood on one side scanning +us, not without pity. Presently, Tecuichpo was brought before +Cortes, and with her Otomie and some six other ladies. He greeted her +graciously, and they also were given to eat. Now, one of the Spaniards +who had been watching me whispered something into the ear of Cortes, and +I saw his face darken. + +'Say,' he said to me in Castilian, 'are you that renegade, that traitor +who has aided these Aztecs against us?' + +'I am no renegade and no traitor, general,' I answered boldly, for the +food and wine had put new life into me. 'I am an Englishman, and I have +fought with the Aztecs because I have good cause to hate you Spaniards.' + +'You shall soon have better, traitor,' he said furiously. 'Here, lead +this man away and hang him on the mast of yonder ship.' + +Now I saw that it was finished, and made ready to go to my death, when +Marina spoke into the ear of Cortes. All she said I could not catch, but +I heard the words 'hidden gold.' He listened, then hesitated, and spoke +aloud: 'Do not hang this man to-day. Let him be safely guarded. Tomorrow +I will inquire into his case.' + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THOMAS IS DOOMED + + +At the words of Cortes two Spaniards came forward, and seizing me one +by either arm, they led me across the roof of the house towards the +stairway. Otomie had heard also, and though she did not understand the +words, she read the face of Cortes, and knew well that I was being taken +to imprisonment or death. As I passed her, she started forward, a terror +shining in her eyes. Fearing that she was about to throw herself upon +my breast, and thus to reveal herself as my wife, and bring my fate upon +her, I glanced at her warningly, then making pretence to stumble, as +though with fear and exhaustion, I fell at her feet. The soldiers who +led me laughed brutally, and one of them kicked me with his heavy boot. +But Otomie stooped down and held her hand to me to help me rise, and as +I did so, we spoke low and swiftly. + +'Farewell, wife,' I said; 'whatever happens, keep silent.' + +'Farewell,' she answered; 'if you must die, await me in the gates of +death, for I will join you there.' + +'Nay, live on. Time shall bring comfort.' + +'You are my life, beloved. With you time ends for me.' Now I was on my +feet again, and I think that none noted our whispered words, for all +were listening to Cortes, who rated the man that had kicked me. + +'I bade you guard this traitor, not to kick him,' he said angrily in +Castilian. 'Will you put us to open shame before these savages? Do +so once more, and you shall pay for it smartly. Learn a lesson in +gentleness from that woman; she is starving, yet she leaves her food to +help your prisoner to his feet. Now take him away to the camp, and see +that he comes to no harm, for he can tell me much.' + +Then the soldiers led me away, grumbling as they went, and the last +thing that I saw was the despairing face of Otomie my wife, as she gazed +after me, faint with the secret agony of our parting. But when I came +to the head of the stairway, Guatemoc, who stood near, took my hand and +shook it. + +'Farewell, my brother,' he said with a heavy smile; 'the game we played +together is finished, and now it is time for us to rest. I thank you for +your valour and your aid.' + +'Farewell, Guatemoc,' I answered. 'You are fallen, but let this comfort +you, in your fall you have found immortal fame.' + +'On, on!' growled the soldiers, and I went, little thinking how Guatemoc +and I should meet again. + +They took me to a canoe, and we were paddled across the lake by +Tlascalans, till at length we came to the Spanish camp. All the journey +through, my guards, though they laid no hand on me, fearing the anger +of Cortes, mocked and taunted me, asking me how I liked the ways of the +heathen, and whether I ate the flesh of the sacrifices raw or cooked; +and many another such brutal jest they made at my expense. For a while I +bore it, for I had learned to be patient from the Indians, but at last I +answered them in few words and bitter. + +'Peace, cowards,' I said; 'remember that I am helpless, and that were I +before you strong and armed, either I should not live to listen to such +words, or you would not live to repeat them.' + +Then they were silent, and I also was silent. + +When we reached their camp I was led through it, followed by a throng of +fierce Tlascalans and others, who would have torn me limb from limb had +they not feared to do so. I saw some Spaniards also, but the most +of these were so drunk with mescal, and with joy at the tidings that +Tenoctitlan had fallen, and their labours were ended at last, that they +took no heed of me. Never did I see such madness as possessed them, for +these poor fools believed that henceforth they should eat their very +bread off plates of gold. It was for gold that they had followed Cortes; +for gold they had braved the altar of sacrifice and fought in a hundred +fights, and now, as they thought, they had won it. + +The room of the stone house where they prisoned me had a window secured +by bars of wood, and through these bars I could see and hear the +revellings of the soldiers during the time of my confinement. All day +long, when they were not on duty, and most of the night also, they +gambled and drank, staking tens of pesos on a single throw, which +the loser must pay out of his share of the countless treasures of the +Aztecs. Little did they care if they won or lost, they were so sure +of plunder, but played on till drink overpowered them, and they rolled +senseless beneath the tables, or till they sprang up and danced wildly +to and fro, catching at the sunbeams and screaming 'Gold! gold! gold!' + +Listening at this window also I gathered some of the tidings of the +camp. I learned that Cortes had come back, bringing Guatemoc and several +of the princes with him, together with many of the noble Aztec ladies. +Indeed I saw and heard the soldiers gambling for these women when they +were weary of their play for money, a description of each of them +being written on a piece of paper. One of these ladies answered well to +Otomie, my wife, and she was put up to auction by the brute who won her +in the gamble, and sold to a common soldier for a hundred pesos. For +these men never doubted but that the women and the gold would be handed +over to them. + +Thus things went for several days, during which I sat and slept in my +prison untroubled by any, except the native woman who waited on me and +brought me food in plenty. During those days I ate as I have never eaten +before or since, and I slept much, for my sorrows could not rid my body +of its appetites and commanding need for food and rest. Indeed I verily +believe that at the end of a week, I had increased in weight by a full +half; also my weariness was conquered at length, and I was strong again. + +But when I was neither sleeping nor eating I watched at my window, +hoping, though in vain, to catch some sight of Otomie or of Guatemoc. +If I might not see my friends, however, at least I saw my foe, for one +evening de Garcia came and stared at my prison. He could not see me, but +I saw him, and the devilish smile that flickered on his face as he went +away like a wolf, made me shiver with a presage of woes to come. For ten +minutes or more he stood gazing at my window hungrily, as a cat gazes at +a caged bird, and I felt that he was waiting for the door to be opened, +and KNEW that it would soon be opened. + +This happened on the eve of the day upon which I was put to torture. + +Meanwhile, as time went on, I noticed that a change came over the temper +of the camp. The soldiers ceased to gamble for untold wealth, they even +ceased from drinking to excess and from their riotous joy, but took to +hanging together in knots discussing fiercely I could not learn of what. +On the day when de Garcia came to look at my prison there was a great +gathering in the square opposite my prison, to which I saw Cortes ride +up on a white horse and richly dressed. The meeting was too far away for +me to overhear what passed, but I noted that several officers addressed +Cortes angrily, and that their speeches were loudly cheered by the +soldiers. At length the great captain answered them at some length, and +they broke up in silence. Next morning after I had breakfasted, four +soldiers came into my prison and ordered me to accompany them. + +'Whither?' I asked. + +'To the captain, traitor,' their leader answered. + +'It has come at last,' I thought to myself, but I said only: + +'It is well. Any change from this hole is one for the better.' + +'Certainly,' he replied; 'and it is your last shift.' + +Then I knew that the man believed that I was going to my death. In five +minutes I was standing before Cortes in his private house. At his side +was Marina and around him were several of his companions in arms. The +great man looked at me for a while, then spoke. + +'Your name is Wingfield; you are of mixed blood, half English and +half Spanish. You were cast away in the Tobasco River and taken to +Tenoctitlan. There you were doomed to personate the Aztec god Tezcat, +and were rescued by us when we captured the great teocalli. Subsequently +you joined the Aztecs and took part in the attack and slaughter of the +noche triste. You were afterwards the friend and counsellor of Guatemoc, +and assisted him in his defence of Tenoctitlan. Is this true, prisoner?' + +'It is all true, general,' I answered. + +'Good. You are now our prisoner, and had you a thousand lives, you have +forfeited them all because of your treachery to your race and blood. +Into the circumstances that led you to commit this horrible treason I +cannot enter; the fact remains. You have slain many of the Spaniards +and their allies; that is, being in a state of treason you have murdered +them. Wingfield, your life is forfeit and I condemn you to die by +hanging as a traitor and an apostate.' + +'Then there is nothing more to be said,' I answered quietly, though a +cold fear froze my blood. + +'There is something,' answered Cortes. 'Though your crimes have been so +many, I am ready to give you your life and freedom upon a condition. +I am ready to do more, to find you a passage to Europe on the first +occasion, where you may perchance escape the echoes of your infamy if +God is good to you. The condition is this. We have reason to believe +that you are acquainted with the hiding place of the gold of Montezuma, +which was unlawfully stolen from us on the night of the noche triste. +Nay, we know that this is so, for you were seen to go with the canoes +that were laden with it. Choose now, apostate, between a shameful death +and the revealing to us of the secret of this treasure.' + +For a moment I wavered. On the one hand was the loss of honour with life +and liberty and the hope of home, on the other a dreadful end. Then I +remembered my oath and Otomie, and what she would think of me living or +dead, if I did this thing, and I wavered no more. + +'I know nothing of the treasure, general,' I answered coldly. 'Send me +to my death.' + +'You mean that you will say nothing of it, traitor. Think again. If you +have sworn any oaths they are broken by God. The empire of the Aztecs +is at an end, their king is my prisoner, their great city is a ruin. The +true God has triumphed over these devils by my hand. Their wealth is my +lawful spoil, and I must have it to pay my gallant comrades who cannot +grow rich on desolation. Think again.' + +'I know nothing of this treasure, general.' + +'Yet memory sometimes wakens, traitor. I have said that you shall die +if yours should fail you, and so you shall to be sure. But death is not +always swift. There are means, doubtless you who have lived in Spain +have heard of them,' and he arched his brows and glared at me meaningly, +'by which a man may die and yet live for many weeks. Now, loth as I am +to do it, it seems that if your memory still sleeps, I must find some +such means to rouse it--before you die.' + +'I am in your power, general,' I answered. 'You call me traitor again +and again. I am no traitor. I am a subject of the King of England, not +of the King of Spain. I came hither following a villain who has wrought +me and mine bitter wrong, one of your company named de Garcia or +Sarceda. To find him and for other reasons I joined the Aztecs. They are +conquered and I am your prisoner. At the least deal with me as a brave +man deals with a fallen enemy. I know nothing of the treasure; kill me +and make an end.' + +'As a man I might wish to do this, Wingfield, but I am more than a man, +I am the hand of the Church here in Anahuac. You have partaken with the +worshippers of idols, you have seen your fellow Christians sacrificed +and devoured by your brute comrades. For this alone you deserve to be +tortured eternally, and doubtless that will be so after we have done +with you. As for the hidalgo Don Sarceda, I know him only as a brave +companion in arms, and certainly I shall not listen to tales told +against him by a wandering apostate. It is, however, unlucky for you,' +and here a gleam of light shot across the face of Cortes, 'that there +should be any old feud between you, seeing that it is to his charge that +I am about to confide you. Now for the last time I say choose. Will +you reveal the hiding place of the treasure and go free, or will you be +handed over to the care of Don Sarceda till such time as he shall find +means to make you speak?' + +Now a great faintness seized me, for I knew that I was condemned to be +tortured, and that de Garcia was to be the torturer. What mercy had I to +expect from his cruel heart when I, his deadliest foe, lay in his power +to wreak his vengeance on? But still my will and my honour prevailed +against my terrors, and I answered: + +'I have told you, general, that I know nothing of this treasure. Do your +worst, and may God forgive you for your cruelty.' + +'Dare not to speak that holy Name, apostate and worshipper of idols, +eater of human flesh. Let Sarceda be summoned.' + +A messenger went out, and for a while there was silence. I caught +Marina's glance and saw pity in her gentle eyes. But she could not help +me here, for Cortes was mad because no gold had been found, and the +clamour of the soldiers for reward had worn him out and brought him to +this shameful remedy, he who was not cruel by nature. Still she strove +to plead for me with him, whispering earnestly in his ear. For a while +Cortes listened, then he pushed her from him roughly. + +'Peace, Marina,' he said. 'What, shall I spare this English dog some +pangs, when my command, and perchance my very life, hangs upon the +finding of the gold? Nay, he knows well where it lies hid; you said it +yourself when I would have hung him for a traitor, and certainly he was +one of those whom the spy saw go out with it upon the lake. Our friend +was with them also, but he came back no more; doubtless they murdered +him. What is this man to you that you should plead for him? Cease to +trouble me, Marina, am I not troubled enough already?' and Cortes put +his hands to his face and remained lost in thought. As for Marina, she +looked at me sadly and sighed as though to say, 'I have done my best,' +and I thanked her with my eyes. + +Presently there was a sound of footsteps and I looked up to see de +Garcia standing before me. Time and hardship had touched him lightly, +and the lines of silver in his curling hair and peaked beard did but add +dignity to his noble presence. Indeed, when I looked at him in his dark +Spanish beauty, his rich garments decked with chains of gold, as he +bowed before Cortes hat in hand, I was fain to confess that I had never +seen a more gallant cavalier, or one whose aspect gave the lie so wholly +to the black heart within. But knowing him for what he was, my very +blood quivered with hate at the sight of him, and when I thought of my +own impotence and of the errand on which he had come, I ground my teeth +and cursed the day that I was born. As for de Garcia, he greeted me with +a little cruel smile, then spoke to Cortes. + +'Your pleasure, general?' + +'Greeting to you, comrade,' answered Cortes. 'You know this renegade?' + +'But too well, general. Three times he has striven to murder me.' + +'Well, you have escaped and it is your hour now, Sarceda. He says that +he has a quarrel with you; what is it?' + +De Garcia hesitated, stroking his peaked beard, then answered: 'I am +loth to tell it because it is a tale of error for which I have often +sorrowed and done penance. Yet I will speak for fear you should think +worse of me than I deserve. This man has some cause to mislike me, +since to be frank, when I was younger than I am to-day and given to +the follies of youth, it chanced that in England I met his mother, a +beautiful Spanish lady who by ill fortune was wedded to an Englishman, +this man's father and a clown of clowns, who maltreated her. I will be +short; the lady learned to love me and I worsted her husband in a duel. +Hence this traitor's hate of me.' + +I heard and thought that my heart must burst with fury. To all his +wickedness and offences against me, de Garcia now had added slander of +my dead mother's honour. + +'You lie, murderer,' I gasped, tearing at the ropes that bound me. + +'I must ask you to protect me from such insult, general,' de Garcia +answered coldly. 'Were the prisoner worthy of my sword, I would ask +further that his bonds should be loosed for a little space, but my +honour would be tarnished for ever were I to fight with such as he.' + +'Dare to speak thus once more to a gentleman of Spain,' said Cortes +coldly, 'and, you heathen dog, your tongue shall be dragged from you +with red-hot pincers. For you, Sarceda, I thank you for your confidence. +If you have no worse crime than a love affair upon your soul, I think +that our good chaplain Olmedo will frank you through the purgatorial +fires. But we waste words and time. This man has the secret of the +treasure of Guatemoc and of Montezuma. If Guatemoc and his nobles will +not tell it, he at least may be forced to speak, for the torments that +an Indian can endure without a groan will soon bring truth bubbling from +the lips of this white heathen. Take him, Sarceda, and hearken, let +him be your especial care. First let him suffer with the others, and +afterwards, should he prove obdurate, alone. The method I leave to you. +Should he confess, summon me.' + +'Pardon me, general, but this is no task for an hidalgo of Spain. I have +been more wont to pierce my enemies with the sword than to tear them +with pincers,' said de Garcia, but as he spoke I saw a gleam of triumph +shine in his black eyes, and heard the ring of triumph through the mock +anger of his voice. + +'I know it, comrade. But this must be done; though I hate it, it must be +done, there is no other way. The gold is necessary to me--by the +Mother of God! the knaves say that I have stolen it!--and I doubt these +stubborn Indian dogs will ever speak, however great their agony. This +man knows and I give him over to you because you are acquainted with his +wickedness, and that knowledge will steel your heart against all pity. +Spare not, comrade; remember that he must be forced to speak.' + +'It is your command, Cortes, and I will obey it, though I love the task +little; with one proviso, however, that you give me your warrant in +writing.' + +'It shall be made out at once,' answered the general. 'And now away with +him.' + +'Where to?' + +'To the prison that he has left. All is ready and there he will find his +comrades.' + +Then a guard was summoned and I was dragged back to my own place, de +Garcia saying as I went that he would be with me presently. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +DE GARCIA SPEAKS HIS MIND + + +At first I was not taken into the chamber that I had left, but placed in +a little room opening out of it where the guard slept. Here I waited +a while, bound hand and foot and watched by two soldiers with drawn +swords. As I waited, torn by rage and fear, I heard the noise of +hammering through the wall, followed by a sound of groans. At length +the suspense came to an end; a door was opened, and two fierce Tlascalan +Indians came through it and seized me by the hair and ears, dragging me +thus into my own chamber. + +'Poor devil!' I heard one of the Spanish soldiers say as I went. +'Apostate or no, I am sorry for him; this is bloody work.' + +Then the door closed and I was in the place of torment. The room was +darkened, for a cloth had been hung in front of the window bars, but its +gloom was relieved by certain fires that burned in braziers. It was by +the light of these fires chiefly that I saw the sight. On the floor of +the chamber were placed three solid chairs, one of them empty. The other +two were filled by none other than Guatemoc, Emperor of the Aztecs, and +by his friend and mine the cacique of Tacuba. They were bound in the +chairs, the burning braziers were placed at their feet, behind them +stood a clerk with paper and an inkhorn, and around them Indians were +busy at some dreadful task, directed to it by two Spanish soldiers. Near +the third chair stood another Spaniard who as yet took no part in +the play; it was de Garcia. As I looked, an Indian lifted one of the +braziers and seizing the naked foot of the Tacuban prince, thrust it +down upon the glowing coals. For a while there was silence, then the +Tacuban broke into groans. Guatemoc turned his head towards him and +spoke, and as he spoke I saw that his foot also was resting in the +flames of a brazier. 'Why do you complain, friend,' he said, in a steady +voice, 'when I keep silence? Am I then taking my pleasure in a bed? +Follow me now as always, friend, and be silent beneath your sufferings.' + +The clerk wrote down his words, for I heard the quill scratching on the +paper, and as he wrote, Guatemoc turned his head and saw me. His face +was grey with pain, still he spoke as a hundred times I had heard him +speak at council, slowly and clearly. 'Alas! are you also here, my +friend Teule?' he said; 'I hoped that they had spared you. See how these +Spaniards keep faith. Malinche swore to treat me with all honour; behold +how he honours me, with hot coals for my feet and pincers for my flesh. +They think that we have buried treasure, Teule, and would wring its +secret from us. You know that it is a lie. If we had treasure would we +not give it gladly to our conquerors, the god-born sons of Quetzal? You +know that there is nothing left except the ruins of our cities and the +bones of our dead.' + +Here he ceased suddenly, for the demon who tormented him struck him +across the mouth saying, 'Silence, dog.' + +But I understood, and I swore in my heart that I would die ere I +revealed my brother's secret. This was the last triumph that Guatemoc +could win, to keep his gold from the grasp of the greedy Spaniard, and +that victory at least he should not lose through me. So I swore, and +very soon my oath must be put to the test, for at a motion from de +Garcia the Tlascalans seized me and bound me to the third chair. + +Then he spoke into my ear in Castilian: 'Strange are the ways of +Providence, Cousin Wingfield. You have hunted me across the world, and +several times we have met, always to your sorrow. I thought I had you +in the slave ship, I thought that the sharks had you in the water, but +somehow you escaped me whom you came to hunt. When I knew it I grieved, +but now I grieve no more, for I see that you were reserved for this +moment. Cousin Wingfield, it shall go hard if you escape me this time, +and yet I think that we shall spend some days together before we part. +Now I will be courteous with you. You may have a choice of evils. How +shall we begin? The resources at my command are not all that we could +wish, alas! the Holy Office is not yet here with its unholy armoury, but +still I have done my best. These fellows do not understand their art: +hot coals are their only inspiration. I, you see, have several,' and he +pointed to various instruments of torture. 'Which will you select?' + +I made no answer, for I had determined that I would speak no word and +utter no cry, do what they might with me. + +'Let me think, let me think,' went on de Garcia, smoothing his beard. +'Ah, I have it. Here, slaves.' + +Now I will not renew my own agonies, or awake the horror of any who may +chance to read what I have written by describing what befell me after +this. Suffice it to say that for two hours and more this devil, helped +in his task by the Tlascalans, worked his wicked will upon me. One by +one torments were administered to me with a skill and ingenuity that +cannot often have been surpassed, and when at times I fainted I was +recovered by cold water being dashed upon me and spirits poured down +my throat. And yet, I say it with some pride, during those two dreadful +hours I uttered no groan however great my sufferings, and spoke no word +good or bad. + +Nor was it only bodily pain that I must bear, for all this while my +enemy mocked me with bitter words, which tormented my soul as his +instruments and hot coals tormented my body. At length he paused +exhausted, and cursed me for an obstinate pig of an Englishman, and at +that moment Cortes entered the shambles and with him Marina. + +'How goes it?' he said lightly, though his face turned pale at the sight +of horror. + +'The cacique of Tacuba has confessed that gold is buried in his garden, +the other two have said nothing, general,' the clerk answered, glancing +down his paper. + +'Brave men, indeed!' I heard Cortes mutter to himself; then said aloud, +'Let the cacique be carried to-morrow to the garden of which he speaks, +that he may point out the gold. As for the other two, cease tormenting +them for this day. Perhaps they may find another mind before to-morrow. +I trust so, for their own sakes I trust so!' + +Then he drew to the corner of the room and consulted with Sarceda and +the other torturers, leaving Marina face to face with Guatemoc and with +me. For a while she stared at the prince as though in horror, then a +strange light came into her beautiful eyes, and she spoke to him in a +low voice, saying in the Aztec tongue: + +'Do you remember how once you rejected me down yonder in Tobasco, +Guatemoc, and what I told you then?--that I should grow great in spite +of you? You see it has all come true and more than true, and you are +brought to this. Are you not sorry, Guatemoc? I am sorry, though were I +as some women are, perchance I might rejoice to see you thus.' + +'Woman,' the prince answered in a thick voice, 'you have betrayed your +country and you have brought me to shame and torment. Yes, had it not +been for you, these things had never been. I am sorry, indeed I am +sorry--that I did not kill you. For the rest, may your name be shameful +for ever in the ears of honest men and your soul be everlastingly +accursed, and may you yourself, even before you die, know the bitterness +of dishonour and betrayal! Your words were fulfilled, and so shall mine +be also.' + +She heard and turned away trembling, and for a while was silent. Then +her glance fell upon me and she began to weep. + +'Alas! poor man,' she said; 'alas! my friend.' + +'Weep not over me, Marina,' I answered, speaking in Aztec, 'for our +tears are of no worth, but help me if you may.' + +'Ah that I could!' she sobbed, and turning fled from the place, followed +presently by Cortes. + +Now the Spaniards came in again and removed Guatemoc and the cacique of +Tacuba, carrying them in their arms, for they could not walk, and indeed +the cacique was in a swoon. + +'Farewell, Teule,' said Guatemoc as he passed me; 'you are indeed a true +son of Quetzal and a gallant man. May the gods reward you in times to +come for all that you have suffered for me and mine, since I cannot.' + +Then he was borne out and these were the last words that I ever heard +him utter. + +Now I was left alone with the Tlascalans and de Garcia, who mocked me as +before. + +'A little tired, eh, friend Wingfield?' he said sneering. 'Well, the +play is rough till you get used to it. A night's sleep will refresh you, +and to-morrow you will be a new man. Perhaps you believe that I have +done my worst. Fool, this is but a beginning. Also you think doubtless +that your obstinacy angers me? Wrong again, my friend, I only pray that +you may keep your lips sealed to the last. Gladly would I give my share +of this hidden gold in payment for two more such days with you. I have +still much to pay you back, and look you, I have found a way to do it. +There are more ways of hurting a man than through his own flesh--for +instance, when I wished to be revenged upon your father, I struck him +through her whom he loved. Now I have touched you and you wonder what I +mean. Well, I will tell you. Perhaps you may know an Aztec lady of royal +blood who is named Otomie?' + +'Otomie, what of her?' I cried, speaking for the first time, since fear +for her stirred me more than all the torments I had borne. + +'A triumph indeed; I have found a way to make you speak at last; why, +then, to-morrow you will be full of words. Only this, Cousin Wingfield; +Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, a very lovely woman by the way, is +your wife according to the Indian customs. Well, I know all the story +and--she is in my power. I will prove it to you, for she shall be +brought here presently and then you can console each other. For listen, +dog, to-morrow she will sit where you are sitting, and before your eyes +she shall be dealt with as you have been dealt with. Ah! then you will +talk fast enough, but perhaps it will be too late.' + +And now for the first time I broke down and prayed for mercy even of my +foe. + +'Spare her,' I groaned; 'do what you will with me, but spare her! Surely +you must have a heart, even you, for you are human. You can never do +this thing, and Cortes would not suffer it.' + +'As for Cortes,' he answered, 'he will know nothing of it--till it is +done. I have my warrant that charges me to use every means in my power +to force the truth from you. Torture has failed; this alone is left. And +for the rest, you must read me ill. You know what it is to hate, for you +hate me; multiply your hate by ten and you may find the sum of mine +for you. I hate you for your blood, I hate you because you have your +mother's eyes, but much more do I hate you for yourself, for did you not +beat me, a gentleman of Spain, with a stick as though I were a hound? +Shall I then shrink from such a deed when I can satisfy my hate by it? +Also perhaps, though you are a brave man, at this moment you know what +it is to fear, and are tasting of its agony. Now I will be open with +you; Thomas Wingfield, I fear you. When first I saw you I feared you as +I had reason to do, and that is why I tried to kill you, and as time has +gone by I have feared you more and more, so much indeed, that at times +I cannot rest because of a nameless terror that dogs me and which has +to do with you. Because of you I fled from Spain, because of you I have +played the coward in more frays than one. The luck has always been mine +in this duel between us, and yet I tell you that even as you are, I +fear you still. If I dared I would kill you at once, only then you would +haunt me as your mother haunts me, and also I must answer for it to +Cortes. Fear, Cousin Wingfield, is the father of cruelty, and mine makes +me cruel to you. Living or dead, I know that you will triumph over me +at the last, but it is my turn now, and while you breathe, or while one +breathes who is dear to you, I will spend my life to bring you and them +to shame and misery and death, as I brought your mother, my cousin, +though she forced me to it to save myself. Why not? There is no +forgiveness for me, I cannot undo the past. You came to take vengeance +on me, and soon or late by you, or through you, it will be glutted, but +till then I triumph, ay, even when I must sink to this butcher's work to +do it,' and suddenly he turned and left the place. + +Then weakness and suffering overcame me and I swooned away. When I awoke +it was to find that my bonds had been loosed and that I lay on some sort +of bed, while a woman bent over me, tending me with murmured words of +pity and love. The night had fallen, but there was light in the chamber, +and by it I saw that the woman was none other than Otomie, no longer +starved and wretched, but almost as lovely as before the days of siege +and hunger. + +'Otomie! you here!' I gasped through my wounded lips, for with my senses +came the memory of de Garcia's threats. + +'Yes, beloved, it is I,' she murmured; 'they have suffered that I nurse +you, devils though they are. Oh! that I must see you thus and yet be +helpless to avenge you,' and she burst into weeping. + +'Hush,' I said, 'hush. Have we food?' + +'In plenty. A woman brought it from Marina.' + +'Give me to eat, Otomie.' + +Now for a while she fed me and the deadly sickness passed from me, +though my poor flesh burned with a hundred agonies. + +'Listen, Otomie: have you seen de Garcia?' + +'No, husband. Two days since I was separated from my sister Tecuichpo +and the other ladies, but I have been well treated and have seen no +Spaniard except the soldiers who led me here, telling me that you were +sick. Alas! I knew not from what cause,' and again she began to weep. + +'Still some have seen you and it is reported that you are my wife.' + +'It is likely enough,' she answered, 'for it was known throughout the +Aztec hosts, and such secrets cannot be kept. But why have they treated +you thus? Because you fought against them?' + +'Are we alone?' I asked. + +'The guard is without, but there are none else in the chamber.' + +'Then bend down your head and I will tell you,' and I told her all. + +When I had done so she sprang up with flashing eyes and her hand pressed +upon her breast, and said: + +'Oh! if I loved you before, now I love you more if that is possible, who +could suffer thus horribly and yet be faithful to the fallen and your +oath. Blessed be the day when first I looked upon your face, O my +husband, most true of men. But they who could do this--what of them? +Still it is done with and I will nurse you back to health. Surely it is +done with, or they had not suffered me to come to you?' + +'Alas! Otomie, I must tell all--it is NOT done with,' and with faltering +voice I went on with the tale, yes, and since I must, I told her for +what purpose she had been brought here. She listened without a word, +though her lips turned pale. + +'Truly,' she said when I had done, 'these Teules far surpass the pabas +of our people, for if the priests torture and sacrifice, it is to +the gods and not for gold and secret hate. Now, husband, what is your +counsel? Surely you have some counsel.' + +'I have none that I dare offer, wife,' I groaned. + +'You are timid as a girl who will not utter the love she burns to tell,' +Otomie answered with a proud and bitter laugh. 'Well, I will speak it +for you. It is in your mind that we must die to-night.' + +'It is,' I said; 'death now, or shame and agony to-morrow and then death +at last, that is our choice. Since God will not protect us, we must +protect ourselves if we can find the means.' + +'God! there is no God. At times I have doubted the gods of my people and +turned to yours; now I renounce and reject Him. If there were a God of +mercy such as you cling to, could He suffer that such things be? You are +my god, husband, to you and for you I pray, and you alone. Let us have +done now with pleading to those who are not, or who, if they live, +are deaf to our cries and blind to our misery, and befriend ourselves. +Yonder lies rope, that window has bars, very soon we can be beyond the +sun and the cruelty of Teules, or sound asleep. But there is time yet; +let us talk a while, they will scarcely begin their torments before the +dawn, and ere dawn we shall be far.' + +So we talked as well as my sufferings would allow. We talked of how we +first had met, of how Otomie had been vowed to me as the wife of Tezcat, +Soul of the World, of that day when we had lain side by side upon the +stone of sacrifice, of our true marriage thereafter, of the siege +of Tenoctitlan and the death of our first-born. Thus we talked till +midnight was two hours gone. Then there came a silence. + +'Husband,' said Otomie at last in a hushed and solemn voice, 'you are +worn with suffering, and I am weary. It is time to do that which must +be done. Sad is our fate, but at least rest is before us. I thank you, +husband, for your gentleness, I thank you more for your faithfulness to +my house and people. Shall I make ready for our last journey?' + +'Make ready!' I answered. + +Then she rose and soon was busy with the ropes. At length all was +prepared and the moment of death was at hand. + +'You must aid me, Otomie,' I said; 'I cannot walk by myself.' + +She came and lifted me with her strong and tender arms, till I stood +upon a stool beneath the window bars. There she placed the rope about my +throat, then taking her stand by me she fitted the second rope upon her +own. Now we kissed in solemn silence, for there was nothing more to say. +Yet Otomie said something, asking: + +'Of whom do you think in this moment, husband? Of me and of my dead +child, or of that lady who lives far across the sea? Nay, I will not +ask. I have been happy in my love, it is enough. Now love and life must +end together, and it is well for me, but for you I grieve. Say, shall I +thrust away the stool?' + +'Yes, Otomie, since there is no hope but death. I cannot break my faith +with Guatemoc, nor can I live to see you shamed and tortured.' + +'Then kiss me first and for the last time.' + +We kissed again and then, as she was in the very act of pushing the +stool from beneath us, the door opened and shut, and a veiled woman +stood before us, bearing a torch in one hand and a bundle in the other. +She looked, and seeing us and our dreadful purpose, ran to us. + +'What do you?' she cried, and I knew the voice for that of Marina. 'Are +you then mad, Teule?' + +'Who is this who knows you so well, husband, and will not even suffer +that we die in peace?' asked Otomie. + +'I am Marina,' answered the veiled woman, 'and I come to save you if I +can.' + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE ESCAPE + + +Now Otomie put the rope off her neck, and descending from the stool, +stood before Marina. + +'You are Marina,' she said coldly and proudly, 'and you come to save +us, you who have brought ruin on the land that bore you, and have given +thousands of her children to death, and shame, and torment. Now, if I +had my way, I would have none of your salvation, nay, I would rather +save myself as I was about to do.' + +Thus Otomie spoke, and never had she looked more royal than in this +moment, when she risked her last chance of life that she might pour +out her scorn upon one whom she deemed a traitress, no, one who was a +traitress, for had it not been for Marina's wit and aid, Cortes would +never have conquered Anahuac. I trembled as I heard her angry words, +for, all I suffered notwithstanding, life still seemed sweet to me, who, +ten seconds ago, had stood upon the verge of death. Surely Marina would +depart and leave us to our doom. But it was not so. Indeed, she shrank +and trembled before Otomie's contempt. They were a strange contrast in +their different loveliness as they stood face to face in the torture +den, and it was strange also to see the spirit of the lady of royal +blood, threatened as she was with a shameful death, or still more +shameful life, triumph over the Indian girl whom to-day fortune had set +as far above her as the stars. + +'Say, royal lady,' asked Marina in her gentle voice, 'for what cause +did you, if tales are true, lie by the side of yonder white man upon the +stone of sacrifice?' + +'Because I love him, Marina.' + +'And for this same cause have I, Marina, laid my honour upon a different +altar, for this same cause I have striven against the children of my +people, because I love another such as he. It is for love of Cortes that +I have aided Cortes, therefore despise me not, but let your love plead +for mine, seeing that, to us women, love is all. I have sinned, I know, +but doubtless in its season my sin shall find a fitting punishment.' + +'It had need be sharp,' answered Otomie. 'My love has harmed none, see +before you but one grain of the countless harvest of your own. In yonder +chair Guatemoc your king was this day tortured by your master Cortes, +who swore to treat him with all honour. By his side sat Teule, my +husband and your friend; him Cortes gave over to has private enemy, +de Garcia, whom you name Sarceda. See how he has left him. Nay, do not +shudder, gentle lady; look now at his wounds! Consider to what a pass we +are driven when you find us about to die thus like dogs, he, my husband, +that he may not live to see me handled as he has been, and I with him, +because a princess of the Otomie and of Montezuma's blood cannot submit +to such a shame while death has one door through which to creep. It is +but a single grain of your harvest, outcast and traitress, the harvest +of misery and death that is stored yonder in the ruins of Tenoctitlan. +Had I my will, I tell you that I had sooner die a score of times than +take help from a hand so stained with the blood of my people and of +yours--I--' + +'Oh! cease, lady, cease,' groaned Marina, covering her eyes with her +hand, as though the sight of Otomie were dreadful to her. 'What is done +is done; do not add to my remorse. What did you say, that you, the lady +Otomie, were brought here to be tortured?' + +'Even so, and before my husband's eyes. Why should Montezuma's daughter +and the princess of the Otomie escape the fate of the emperor of the +Aztecs? If her womanhood does not protect her, has she anything to hope +of her lost rank?' + +'Cortes knows nothing of this, I swear it,' said Marina. 'To the rest +he has been driven by the clamour of the soldiers, who taunt him with +stealing treasure that he has never found. But of this last wickedness +he is innocent.' + +'Then let him ask his tool Sarceda of it.' + +'As for Sarceda, I promise you, princess, that if I can I will avenge +this threat upon him. But time is short, I am come here with the +knowledge of Cortes, to see if I can win the secret of the treasure from +Teule, your husband, and for my friendship's sake I am about to betray +my trust and help him and you to fly. Do you refuse my aid?' + +Otomie said nothing, but I spoke for the first time. + +'Nay, Marina, I have no love for this thief's fate if I can escape it, +but how is it to be done?' + +'The chance is poor enough, Teule, but I bethought me that once out of +this prison you might slip away disguised. Few will be stirring at dawn, +and of them the most will not be keen to notice men or things. See, I +have brought you the dress of a Spanish soldier; your skin is dark, and +in the half light you might pass as one; and for the princess your wife, +I have brought another dress, indeed I am ashamed to offer it, but it is +the only one that will not be noted at this hour; also, Teule, I bring +you a sword, that which was taken from you, though I think that once it +had another owner.' + +Now while she spoke Marina undid her bundle, and there in it were the +dresses and the sword, the same that I had taken from the Spaniard Diaz +in the massacre of the noche triste. First she drew out the woman's robe +and handed it to Otomie, and I saw that it was such a robe as among +the Indians is worn by the women who follow camps, a robe with red and +yellow in it. Otomie saw it also and drew back. + +'Surely, girl, you have brought a garment of your own in error,' she +said quietly, but in such a fashion as showed more of the savage heart +that is native to her race than she often suffered to be seen; 'at the +least I cannot wear such robes.' + +'It seems that I must bear too much,' answered Marina, growing wroth at +last, and striving to keep back the tears that started to her eyes. 'I +will away and leave you;' and she began to roll up her bundle. + +'Forgive her, Marina,' I said hastily, for the desire to escape grew on +me every minute; 'sorrow has set an edge upon her tongue.' Then turning +to Otomie I added, 'I pray you be more gentle, wife, for my sake if not +for your own. Marina is our only hope.' + +'Would that she had left us to die in peace, husband. Well, so be it, +for your sake I will put on these garments of a drab. But how shall we +escape out of this place and the camp? Will the door be opened to us, +and the guards removed, and if we pass them, can you walk, husband?' + +'The doors will not be opened, lady,' said Marina, 'for those wait +without, who will see that they are locked when I have passed them. But +there will be nothing to fear from the guard, trust to me for it. See, +the bars of this window are but of wood, that sword will soon sever +them, and if you are seen you must play the part of a drunken soldier +being guided to his quarters by a woman. For the rest I know nothing, +save that I run great risk for your sakes, since if it is discovered +that I have aided you, then I shall find it hard to soften the rage of +Cortes, who, the war being won,' and she sighed, 'does not need me now +so much as once he did.' + +'I can make shift to hop on my right foot,' I said, 'and for the rest we +must trust to fortune. It can give us no worse gifts than those we have +already.' + +'So be it, Teule, and now farewell, for I dare stay no longer. I can +do nothing more. May your good star shine on you and lead you hence +in safety; and Teule, if we never meet again, I pray you think of me +kindly, for there are many in the world who will do otherwise in the +days to come.' + +'Farewell, Marina,' I said, and she was gone. + +We heard the doors close behind her, and the distant voices of those who +bore her litter, then all was silence. Otomie listened at the window for +a while, but the guards seemed to be gone, where or why I do not know to +this hour, and the only sound was that of distant revelry from the camp. + +'And now to the work,' I said to Otomie. + +'As you wish, husband, but I fear it will be profitless. I do not trust +that woman. Faithless in all, without doubt she betrays us. Still at the +worst you have the sword, and can use it.' + +'It matters little,' I answered. 'Our plight cannot be worse than it is +now; life has no greater evils than torment and death, and they are with +us already.' + +Then I sat upon the stool, and my arms being left sound and strong, I +hacked with the sharp sword at the wooden bars of the window, severing +them one by one till there was a space big enough for us to creep +through. This being done and no one having appeared to disturb us, +Otomie clad me in the clothes of a Spanish soldier which Marina had +brought, for I could not dress myself. What I suffered in the donning of +those garments, and more especially in the pulling of the long boot +on to my burnt foot, can never be told, but more than once I stopped, +pondering whether it would not be better to die rather than to endure +such agonies. At last it was done, and Otomie must put on the red and +yellow robe, a garb of shame such as many honest Indian women would die +sooner than be seen in, and I think that as she did this, her agony was +greater than mine, though of another sort, for to her proud heart, that +dress was a very shirt of Nessus. Presently she was clad, and minced +before me with savage mockery, saying: + +'Prithee, soldier, do I look my part?' + +'A peace to such fooling,' I answered; 'our lives are at stake, what +does it matter how we disguise ourselves?' + +'It matters much, husband, but how can you understand, who are a man and +a foreigner? Now I will clamber through the window, and you must +follow me if you can, if not I will return to you and we will end this +masquerade.' + +Then she passed through the hole swiftly, for Otomie was agile and +strong as an ocelot, and mounting the stool I made shift to follow her +as well as my hurts would allow. In the end I was able to throw myself +upon the sill of the window, and there I was stretched out like a dead +cat till she drew me across it, and I fell with her to the ground on the +further side, and lay groaning. She lifted me to my feet, or rather to +my foot, for I could use but one of them, and we stared round us. No one +was to be seen, and the sound of revelry had died away, for the crest of +Popo was already red with the sunlight and the dawn grew in the valley. + +'Where to?' I said. + +Now Otomie had been allowed to walk in the camp with her sister, the +wife of Guatemoc, and other Aztec ladies, and she had this gift in +common with most Indians, that where she had once passed there she could +pass again, even in the darkest night. + +'To the south gate,' she whispered; 'perhaps it is unguarded now that +the war is done, at the least I know the road thither.' + +So we started, I leaning on her shoulder and hopping on my right foot, +and thus very painfully we traversed some three hundred yards meeting +nobody. But now our good luck failed us, for passing round the corner +of some buildings, we came face to face with three soldiers returning to +their huts from a midnight revel, and with them some native servants. + +'Whom have we here?' said the first of these. 'Your name, comrade?' + +'Good-night, brother, good-night,' I answered in Spanish, speaking with +the thick voice of drunkenness. + +'Good morning, you mean,' he said, for the dawn was breaking. 'Your +name. I don't know your face, though it seems that you have been in the +wars,' and he laughed. + +'You mustn't ask a comrade his name,' I said solemnly and swinging to +and fro. 'The captain might send for me and he's a temperate man. Your +arm, girl; it is time to go to sleep, the sun sets.' + +They laughed, but one of them addressed Otomie, saying: + +'Leave the sot, my pretty, and come and walk with us,' and he caught her +by the arm. But she turned on him with so fierce a look that he let +her go again astonished, and we staggered on till the corner of another +house hid us from their view. Here I sank to the ground overcome with +pain, for while the soldiers were in sight, I was obliged to use my +wounded foot lest they should suspect. But Otomie pulled me up, saying: + +'Alas! beloved, we must pass on or perish.' + +I rose groaning, and by what efforts I reached the south gate I cannot +describe, though I thought that I must die before I came there. At last +it was before us, and as chance would have it, the Spanish guard were +asleep in the guardhouse. Three Tlascalans only were crouched over a +little fire, their zerapes or blankets about their heads, for the dawn +was chilly. + +'Open the gates, dogs!' I said in a proud voice. + +Seeing a Spanish soldier one of them rose to obey, then paused and said: + +'Why, and by whose orders?' + +I could not see the man's face because of the blanket, but his voice +sounded familiar to me and I grew afraid. Still I must speak. + +'Why?--because I am drunk and wish to lie without till I grow sober. By +whose orders? By mine, I am an officer of the day, and if you disobey +I'll have you flogged till you never ask another question.' + +'Shall I call the Teules within?' said the man sulkily to his companion. + +'No,' he answered; 'the lord Sarceda is weary and gave orders that he +should not be awakened without good cause. Keep them in or let them +through as you will, but do not wake him.' + +I trembled in every limb; de Garcia was in the guardhouse! What if he +awoke, what if he came out and saw me? More--now I guessed whose voice +it was that I knew again; it was that of one of those Tlascalans who had +aided in tormenting me. What if he should see my face? He could scarcely +fail to know that on which he had left his mark so recently. I was dumb +with fear and could say nothing, and had it not been for the wit of +Otomie, there my story would have ended. But now she played her part +and played it well, plying the man with the coarse raillery of the camp, +till at length she put him in a good humour, and he opened the gate, +bidding her begone and me with her. Already we had passed the gate when +a sudden faintness seized me, and I stumbled and fell, rolling over on +to my back as I touched the earth. + +'Up, friend, up!' said Otomie, with a harsh laugh. 'If you must sleep, +wait till you find some friendly bush,' and she dragged at me to lift +me. The Tlascalan, still laughing, came forward to help her, and between +them I gained my feet again, but as I rose, my cap, which fitted me but +ill, fell off. He picked it up and gave it to me and our eyes met, my +face being somewhat in the shadow. Next instant I was hobbling on, but +looking back, I saw the Tlascalan staring after us with a puzzled air, +like that of a man who is not sure of the witness of his senses. + +'He knows me,' I said to Otomie, 'and presently when he has found his +wits, he will follow us.' + +'On, on!' answered Otomie; 'round yonder corner are aloe bushes where we +may hide.' + +'I am spent, I can no more;' and again I began to fall. + +Then Otomie caught me as I fell, and of a sudden she put out her +strength, and lifting me from the ground, as a mother lifts her child, +staggered forward holding me to her breast. For fifty paces or more she +carried me thus, love and despair giving her strength, till at last we +reached the edge of the aloe plants and there we sank together to the +earth. I cast my eyes back over the path which we had travelled. Round +the corner came the Tlascalan, a spiked club in his hand, seeking us to +solve his doubts. + +'It is finished,' I gasped; 'the man comes.' + +For answer Otomie drew my sword from its scabbard and hid it in the +grass. 'Now feign sleep,' she said; 'it is our last chance.' + +I cast my arm over my face and pretended to be asleep. Presently I heard +the sound of a man passing through the bushes, and the Tlascalan stood +over me. + +'What would you?' asked Otomie. 'Can you not see that he sleeps? Let him +sleep.' + +'I must look on his face first, woman,' he answered, dragging aside my +arm. 'By the gods, I thought so! This is that Teule whom we dealt with +yesterday and who escapes.' + +'You are mad,' she said laughing. 'He has escaped from nowhere, save +from a brawl and a drinking bout.' + +'You lie, woman, or if you do not lie, you know nothing. This man has +the secret of Montezuma's treasure, and is worth a king's ransom,' and +he lifted his club. + +'And yet you wish to slay him! Well, I know nothing of him. Take him +back whence he came. He is but a drunken sot and I shall be well rid of +him.' + +'Well said. It would be foolish to kill him, but by bearing him alive to +the lord Sarceda, I shall win honour and reward. Come, help me.' + +'Help yourself,' she answered sullenly. 'But first search his pouch; +there may be some trifle there which we can divide.' + +'Well said, again,' he answered, and kneeling down he bent over me and +began to fumble at the fastenings of the pouch. + +Otomie was behind him. I saw her face change and a terrible light came +into her eyes, such a light as shines in the eyes of the priest at +sacrifice. Quick as thought she drew the sword from the grass and smote +with all her strength upon the man's bent neck. Down he fell, making +no sound, and she also fell beside him. In a moment she was on her feet +again, staring at him wildly--the naked sword in her hand. + +'Up,' she said, 'before others come to seek him. Nay, you must.' + +Now, again we were struggling forward through the bushes, my mind filled +with a great wonder that grew slowly to a whirling nothingness. For a +while it seemed to me as though I were lost in an evil dream and walking +on red hot irons in my dream. Then came a vision of armed men with +lifted spears, and of Otomie running towards them with outstretched +arms. + +I knew no more. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +OTOMIE PLEADS WITH HER PEOPLE + + +When I awoke it was to find myself in a cave, where the light shone very +dimly. Otomie leant over me, and not far away a man was cooking a pot +over a fire made of dry aloe leaves. + +'Where am I and what has happened?' I asked. + +'You are safe, beloved,' she answered, 'at least for awhile. When you +have eaten I will tell you more.' + +She brought me broth and food and I ate eagerly, and when I was +satisfied she spoke. + +'You remember how the Tlascalan followed us and how--I was rid of him?' + +'I remember, Otomie, though how you found strength to kill him I do not +understand.' + +'Love and despair gave it to me, and I pray that I may never have such +another need. Do not speak of it, husband, for this is more horrible to +me than all that has been before. One thing comforts me, however; I did +not kill him, the sword twisted in my hand and I believe that he was +but stunned. Then we fled a little way, and looking back I saw that two +other Tlascalans, companions of the senseless man, were following us +and him. Presently, they came up to where he lay and stared at him. Then +they started on our tracks, running hard, and very soon they must have +caught us, for now you could scarcely stir, your mind was gone, and I +had no more strength to carry you. Still we stumbled on till presently, +when the pursuers were within fifty paces of us, I saw armed men, eight +of them, rushing at us from the bushes. They were of my own people, the +Otomies, soldiers that had served under you, who watched the Spanish +camp, and seeing a Spaniard alone they came to slay him. They very +nearly did so indeed, for at first I was so breathless that I could +scarcely speak, but at last in few words I made shift to declare my name +and rank, and your sad plight. By now the two Tlascalans were upon us, +and I called to the men of the Otomie to protect us, and falling on the +Tlascalans before they knew that enemies were there, they killed one of +them and took the other prisoner. Then they made a litter, and placing +you on it, bore you without rest twenty leagues into the mountains, till +they reached this secret hiding place, and here you have lain three days +and nights. The Teules have searched for you far and wide, but they have +searched in vain. Only yesterday two of them with ten Tlascalans, passed +within a hundred paces of this cave and I had much ado to prevent our +people from attacking them. Now they are gone whence they came, and I +think that we are safe for a time. Soon you will be better and we can go +hence.' + +'Where can we go to, Otomie? We are birds without a nest.' + +'We must seek shelter in the City of Pines, or fly across the water; +there is no other choice, husband.' + +'We cannot try the sea, Otomie, for all the ships that come here are +Spanish, and I do not know how they will greet us in the City of Pines +now that our cause is lost, and with it so many thousands of their +warriors.' + +'We must take the risk, husband. There are still true hearts in Anahuac, +who will stand by us in our sorrow and their own. At the least we have +escaped from greater dangers. Now let me dress your wounds and rest +awhile.' + +So for three more days I lay in the cave of the mountains and Otomie +tended me, and at the end of that time my state was such that I could +travel in a litter, though for some weeks I was unable to set foot to +the ground. On the fourth day we started by night, and I was carried on +men's shoulders till at length we passed up the gorge that leads to the +City of Pines. Here we were stopped by sentries to whom Otomie told our +tale, bidding some of them go forward and repeat it to the captains of +the city. We followed the messengers slowly, for my bearers were weary, +and came to the gates of the beautiful town just as the red rays of +sunset struck upon the snowy pinnacle of Xaca that towers behind it, +turning her cap of smoke to a sullen red, like that of molten iron. + +The news of our coming had spread about, and here and there knots of +people were gathered to watch us pass. For the most part they stood +silent, but now and again some woman whose husband or son had perished +in the siege, would hiss a curse at us. + +Alas! how different was our state this day to what it had been when not +a year before we entered the City of Pines for the first time. Then we +were escorted by an army ten thousand strong, then musicians had sung +before us and our path was strewn with flowers. And now! Now we came two +fugitives from the vengeance of the Teules, I borne in a litter by four +tired soldiers, while Otomie, the princess of this people, still clad in +her wanton's robe, at which the women mocked, for she had been able to +come by no other, tramped at my side, since there were none to carry +her, and the inhabitants of the place cursed us as the authors of their +woes. Nor did we know if they would stop at words. + +At length we crossed the square beneath the shadow of the teocalli, and +reached the ancient and sculptured palace as the light failed, and the +smoke on Xaca, the holy hill, began to glow with the fire in its heart. +Here small preparation had been made to receive us, and that night we +supped by the light of a torch upon tortillas or meal cakes and water, +like the humblest in the land. Then we crept to our rest, and as I lay +awake because of the pain of my hurts, I heard Otomie, who thought that +I slept, break into low sobbing at my side. Her proud spirit was humbled +at last, and she, whom I had never known to weep except once, when our +firstborn died in the siege, wept bitterly. + +'Why do you sorrow thus, Otomie?' I asked at length. + +'I did not know that you were awake, husband,' she sobbed in answer, +'or I would have checked my grief. Husband, I sorrow over all that has +befallen us and my people--also, though these are but little things, +because you are brought low and treated as a man of no estate, and of +the cold comfort that we find here.' + +'You have cause, wife,' I answered. 'Say, what will these Otomies do +with us--kill us, or give us up to the Teules?' + +'I do not know; to-morrow we shall learn, but for my part I will not be +surrendered living.' + +'Nor I, wife. Death is better than the tender mercies of Cortes and his +minister, de Garcia. Is there any hope?' + +'Yes, there is hope, beloved. Now the Otomie are cast down and they +remember that we led the flower of their land to death. But they are +brave and generous at heart, and if I can touch them there, all may yet +be well. Weariness, pain and memory make us weak, who should be full of +courage, having escaped so many ills. Sleep, my husband, and leave me to +think. All shall yet go well, for even misfortune has an end.' + +So I slept, and woke in the morning somewhat refreshed and with a +happier mind, for who is there that is not bolder when the light shines +on him and he is renewed by rest? + + +When I opened my eyes the sun was already high, but Otomie had risen +with the dawn and she had not been idle during those three hours. +For one thing she had contrived to obtain food and fresh raiment more +befitting to our rank than the rags in which we were clothed. Also she +had brought together certain men of condition who were friendly and +loyal to her in misfortune, and these she sent about the city, letting +it be known that she would address the people at mid-day from the steps +of the palace, for as Otomie knew well, the heartstrings of a crowd are +touched more easily than those of cold and ancient counsellors. + +'Will they come to listen?' I asked. + +'Have no fear,' she answered. 'The desire to look upon us who have +survived the siege, and to know the truth of what has happened, will +bring them. Moreover, some will be there seeking vengeance on us.' + +Otomie was right, for as the morning drew on towards mid-day, I saw the +dwellers in the City of Pines gathering in thousands, till the space +between the steps of the palace and the face of the pyramid was black +with them. Now Otomie combed her curling hair and placed flowers in it, +and set a gleaming feather cloak about her shoulders, so that it hung +down over her white robes, and on her breast that splendid necklace of +emeralds which Guatemoc had given to me in the treasure chamber, and +which she had preserved safely through all our evil fortune, and a +golden girdle about her waist. In her hand also she took a little +sceptre of ebony tipped with gold, that was in the palace, with other +ornaments and emblems of rank, and thus attired, though she was worn +with travel and suffering, and grief had dimmed her beauty for a while, +she seemed the queenliest woman that my eyes have seen. Next she caused +me to be laid upon my rude litter, and when the hour of noon was come, +she commanded those soldiers who had borne me across the mountains to +carry me by her side. Thus we issued from the wide doorway of the palace +and took our stand upon the platform at the head of the steps. As we +came a great cry rose from the thousands of the people, a fierce cry +like that of wild beasts howling for their prey. Higher and higher it +rose, a sound to strike terror into the bravest heart, and by degrees I +caught its purport. + +'Kill them!' said the cry. 'Give the liars to the Teules.' + +Otomie stepped forward to the edge of the platform, and lifting the +ebony sceptre she stood silent, the sunlight beating on her lovely face +and form. But the multitude screamed a thousand taunts and threats at +us, and still the tumult grew. Once they rushed towards her as though +to tear her to pieces, but fell back at the last stair, as a wave falls +from a rock, and once a spear was thrown that passed between her neck +and shoulder. + +Now the soldiers who had carried me, making certain that our death was +at hand, and having no wish to share it, set my litter down upon the +stones and slipped back into the palace, but all this while Otomie never +so much as moved, no, not even when the spear hissed past her. She stood +before them stately and scornful, a very queen among women, and little +by little the majesty of her presence and the greatness of her courage +hushed them to silence. When there was quiet at length, she spoke in a +clear voice that carried far. + +'Am I among my own people of the Otomie?' she asked bitterly, 'or have +we lost our path and wandered perchance among some savage Tlascalan +tribe? Listen, people of the Otomie. I have but one voice and none can +reason with a multitude. Choose you a tongue to speak for you, and let +him set out the desire of your hearts.' + +Now the tumult began again, for some shouted one name and some another, +but in the end a priest and noble named Maxtla stepped forward, a man +of great power among the Otomie, who, above all had favoured an alliance +with the Spaniards and opposed the sending of an army to aid Guatemoc +in the defence of Tenoctitlan. Nor did he come alone, for with him were +four chiefs, whom by their dress I knew to be Tlascalans and envoys from +Cortes. Then my heart sank, for it was not difficult to guess the object +of their coming. + +'Speak on, Maxtla,' said Otomie, 'for we must hear what there is for us +to answer, and you, people of the Otomie, I pray you keep silence, that +you may judge between us when there is an end of talking.' + +Now a great silence fell upon the multitude, who pressed together like +sheep in a pen, and strained their ears to catch the words of Maxtla. + +'My speech with you, princess, and the Teule your outlawed husband, +shall be short and sharp,' he began roughly. 'A while hence you came +hither to seek an army to aid Cuitlahua, Emperor of the Aztecs, in his +struggle with the Teules, the sons of Quetzal. That army was given you, +against the wishes of many of us, for you won over the council by the +honey of your words, and we who urged caution, or even an alliance with +the white men, the children of god, were overruled. You went hence, +and twenty thousand men, the flower of our people, followed you to +Tenoctitlan. Where are they now? I will tell you. Some two hundred of +them have crept back home, the rest fly to and fro through the air in +the gizzards of the zaphilotes, or crouch on the earth in the bellies +of jackals. Death has them all, and you led them to their deaths. Is it +then much that we should seek the lives of you two in payment for those +of twenty thousand of our sons, our husbands, and our fathers? But we do +not even ask this. Here beside me stand ambassadors from Malinche, the +captain of the Teules, who reached our city but an hour ago. This is the +demand that they bring from Malinche, and in his own words: + +'"Deliver back to me Otomie, the daughter of Montezuma, and the renegade +her paramour, who is known as Teule, and who has fled from the justice +due to his crimes, and it shall be well with you, people of the Otomie. +Hide them or refuse to deliver them, and the fate of the City of Pines +shall be as the fate of Tenoctitlan, queen of the valley. Choose then +between my love and my wrath, people of the Otomie. If you obey, the +past shall be forgiven and my yoke will be light upon you; if you +refuse, your city shall be stamped flat and your very name wiped out of +the records of the world." + +'Say, messengers of Malinche, are not these the words of Malinche?' + +'They are his very words, Maxtla,' said the spokesman of the embassy. + +Now again there was a tumult among the people, and voices cried, 'Give +them up, give them to Malinche as a peace offering.' Otomie stood +forward to speak and it died away, for all desired to hear her words. +Then she spoke: + +'It seems, people of the Otomie, that I am on my trial before my own +vassals, and my husband with me. Well, I will plead our cause as well as +a woman may, and having the power, you shall judge between us and Maxtla +and his allies, Malinche and the Tlascalans. What is our offence? It is +that we came hither by the command of Cuitlahua to seek your aid in his +war with the Teules. What did I tell you then? I told you that if the +people of Anahuac would not stand together against the white men, they +must be broken one by one like the sticks of an unbound faggot, and cast +into the flames. Did I speak lies? Nay, I spoke truth, for through +the treason of her tribes, and chiefly through the treason of the +Tlascalans, Anahuac is fallen, and Tenoctitlan is a ruin sown with dead +like a field with corn.' + +'It is true,' cried a voice. + +'Yes, people of the Otomie, it is true, but I say that had all the +warriors of the nations of Anahuac played the part that your sons +played, the tale had run otherwise. They are dead, and because of their +death you would deliver us to our foes and yours, but I for one do not +mourn them, though among their number are many of my kin. Nay, be not +wroth, but listen. It is better that they should lie dead in honour, +having earned for themselves a wreath of fame, and an immortal dwelling +in the Houses of the Sun, than that they should live to be slaves, which +it seems is your desire, people of the Otomie. There is no false word +in what I said to you. Now the sticks that Malinche has used to beat out +the brains of Guatemoc shall be broken and burnt to cook the pot of the +Teules. Already these false children are his slaves. Have you not heard +his command, that the tribes his allies shall labour in the quarries and +the streets till the glorious city which he has burned rises afresh upon +the face of the waters? Will you not hasten to take your share in the +work, people of the Otomie, the work that knows no rest and no reward +except the lash of the overseer and the curse of the Teule? Surely you +will hasten, people of the mountains! Your hands are shaped to the spade +and the trowel, not to the bow and the spear, and it will be sweeter to +toil to do the will and swell the wealth of Malinche in the sun of the +valley or the shadow of the mine, than to bide here free upon your hills +where as yet no foe has set his foot!' + +Again she paused, and a murmur of doubt and unrest went through the +thousands who listened. Maxtla stepped forward and would have spoken, +but the people shouted him down, crying: 'Otomie, Otomie! Let us hear +the words of Otomie.' + +'I thank you, my people,' she said, 'for I have still much to tell you. +Our crime is then, that we drew an army after us to fight against the +Teules. And how did we draw this army? Did I command you to muster your +array? Nay, I set out my case and I said "Now choose." You chose, and of +your own free will you despatched those glorious companies that now are +dead. My crime is therefore that you chose wrongly as you say, but as I +still hold, most rightly, and because of this crime I and my husband are +to be given as a peace offering to the Teules. Listen: let me tell you +something of those wars in which we have fought before you give us to +the Teules and our mouths are silent for ever. Where shall I begin? I +know not. Stay, I bore a child--had he lived he would have been your +prince to-day. That child I saw starve to death before my eyes, inch by +inch and day by day I saw him starve. But it is nothing; who am I that +I should complain because I have lost my son, when so many of your sons +are dead and their blood is required at my hands? Listen again:' and +she went on to tell in burning words of the horrors of the siege, of the +cruelties of the Spaniards, and of the bravery of the men of the Otomie +whom I had commanded. For a full hour she spoke thus, while all that +vast audience hung upon her words. Also she told of the part that I +played in the struggle, and of the deeds which I had done, and now and +again some soldier in the crowd who served under me, and who had escaped +the famine and the massacre, cried out: + +'It is true; we saw it with our eyes.' + +'And so,' she said, 'at last it was finished, at last Tenoctitlan was a +ruin and my cousin and my king, the glorious Guatemoc, lay a prisoner +in the hands of Malinche, and with him my husband Teule, my sister, I +myself, and many another. Malinche swore that he would treat Guatemoc +and his following with all honour. Do you know how he treated him? +Within a few days Guatemoc our king was seated in the chair of torment, +while slaves burned him with hot irons to cause him to declare the +hiding place of the treasure of Montezuma! Ay, you may well cry "Shame +upon him," you shall cry it yet more loudly before I have done, for know +that Guatemoc did not suffer alone, one lies there who suffered with him +and spoke no word, and I also, your princess, was doomed to torment. +We escaped when death was at our door, for I told my husband that +the people of the Otomie had true hearts, and would shelter us in our +sorrow, and for his sake I, Otomie, disguised myself in the robe of a +wanton and fled with him hither. Could I have known what I should live +to see and hear, could I have dreamed that you would receive us thus, I +had died a hundred deaths before I came to stand and plead for pity at +your hands. + +'Oh! my people, my people, I beseech of you, make no terms with the +false Teule, but remain bold and free. Your necks are not fitted to the +yoke of the slave, your sons and daughters are of too high a blood to +serve the foreigner in his needs and pleasures. Defy Malinche. Some of +our race are dead, but many thousands remain. Here in your mountain nest +you can beat back every Teule in Anahuac, as in bygone years the false +Tlascalans beat back the Aztecs. Then the Tlascalans were free, now they +are a race of serfs. Say, will you share their serfdom? My people, my +people, think not that I plead for myself, or even for the husband who +is more dear to me than aught save honour. Do you indeed dream that +we will suffer you to hand us living to these dogs of Tlascalans, whom +Malinche insults you by sending as his messengers? Look,' and she walked +to where the spear that had been hurled at her lay upon the pavement and +lifted it, 'here is a means of death that some friend has sent us, and +if you will not listen to my pleading you shall see it used before your +eyes. Then, if you will, you may send our bodies to Malinche as a peace +offering. But for your own sakes I plead with you. Defy Malinche, and +if you must die at last, die as free men and not as the slaves of the +Teule. Behold now his tender mercies, and see the lot that shall be +yours if you take another counsel, the counsel of Maxtla;' and coming to +the litter on which I lay, swiftly Otomie rent my robes from me leaving +me almost naked to the waist, and unwound the bandages from my wounded +limb, then lifted me up so that I rested upon my sound foot. + +'Look!' she cried in a piercing voice, and pointing to the scars and +unhealed wounds upon my face and leg; 'look on the work of the Teule +and the Tlascalan, see how the foe is dealt with who surrenders to them. +Yield if you will, desert us if you will, but I say that then your own +bodies shall be marked in a like fashion, till not an ounce of gold is +left that can minister to the greed of the Teule, or a man or a maiden +who can labour to satisfy his indolence.' + +Then she ceased, and letting me sink gently to the ground, for I could +not stand alone, she stood over me, the spear in her hand, as though +waiting to plunge it to my heart should the people still demand our +surrender to the messengers of Cortes. + + +For one instant there was silence, then of a sudden the clamour and the +tumult broke out again ten times more furiously than at first. But it +was no longer aimed at us. Otomie had conquered. Her noble words, her +beauty, the tale of our sorrows and the sight of my torments, had done +their work, and the heart of the people was filled with fury against the +Teules who had destroyed their army, and the Tlascalans that had aided +them. Never did the wit and eloquence of a woman cause a swifter change. +They screamed and tore their robes and shook their weapons in the air. +Maxtla strove to speak, but they pulled him down and presently he was +flying for his life. Then they turned upon the Tlascalan envoys and beat +them with sticks, crying: + +'This is our answer to Malinche. Run, you dogs, and take it!' till they +were driven from the town. + +Now at length the turmoil ceased, and some of the great chiefs came +forward and, kissing the hand of Otomie, said: + +'Princess, we your children will guard you to the death, for you have +put another heart into us. You are right; it is better to die free than +to live as slaves.' + +'See, my husband,' said Otomie, 'I was not mistaken when I told you that +my people were loyal and true. But now we must make ready for war, for +they have gone too far to turn back, and when this tidings comes to the +ears of Malinche he will be like a puma robbed of her young. Now, let us +rest, I am very weary.' + +'Otomie,' I answered, 'there has lived no greater woman than you upon +this earth.' + +'I cannot tell, husband,' she said, smiling; 'if I have won your praise +and safety, it is enough for me.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE END OF GUATEMOC + + +Now for a while we dwelt in quiet at the City of Pines, and by slow +degrees and with much suffering I recovered from the wounds that the +cruel hand of de Garcia had inflicted upon me. But we knew that this +peace could not last, and the people of the Otomie knew it also, for had +they not scourged the envoys of Malinche out of the gates of their city? +Many of them were now sorry that this had been done, but it was done, +and they must reap as they had sown. + +So they made ready for war, and Otomie was the president of their +councils, in which I shared. At length came news that a force of fifty +Spaniards with five thousand Tlascalan allies were advancing on the city +to destroy us. Then I took command of the tribesmen of the Otomie--there +were ten thousand or more of them, all well-armed after their own +fashion--and advanced out of the city till I was two-thirds of the way +down the gorge which leads to it. But I did not bring all my army down +this gorge, since there was no room for them to fight there, and I had +another plan. I sent some seven thousand men round the mountains, of +which the secret paths were well known to them, bidding them climb to +the crest of the precipices that bordered either side of the gorge, +and there, at certain places where the cliff is sheer and more than one +thousand feet in height, to make a great provision of stones. + +The rest of my army, excepting five hundred whom I kept with me, I +armed with bows and throwing spears, and stationed them in ambush in +convenient places where the sides of the cliff were broken, and in such +fashion that rocks from above could not be rolled on them. Then I sent +trusty men as spies to warn me of the approach of the Spaniards, and +others whose mission it was to offer themselves to them as guides. + +Now I thought my plan good, and everything looked well, and yet it +missed failure but by a very little. For Maxtla, our enemy and the +friend of the Spaniards, was in my camp--indeed, I had brought him with +me that I might watch him--and he had not been idle. + +For when the Spaniards were half a day's march from the mouth of the +defile, one of those men whom I had told off to watch their advance, +came to me and made it known that Maxtla had bribed him to go to the +leader of the Spaniards and disclose to him the plan of the ambuscade. +This man had taken the bribe and started on his errand of treachery, +but his heart failed him and, returning, he told me all. Then I caused +Maxtla to be seized, and before nightfall he had paid the price of his +wickedness. + +On the morning after his death the Spanish array entered the pass. +Half-way down it I met them with my five hundred men and engaged them, +but suffered them to drive us back with some loss. As they followed they +grew bolder and we fled faster, till at length we flew down the defile +followed by the Spanish horse. Now, some three furlongs from its mouth +that leads to the City of Pines, this pass turns and narrows, and here +the cliffs are so sheer and high that a twilight reigns at the foot of +them. + +Down the narrow way we ran in seeming rout, and after us came the +Spaniards shouting on their saints and flushed with victory. But +scarcely had we turned the corner when they sang another song, for those +who were watching a thousand feet above us gave the signal, and down +from on high came a rain of stones and boulders that darkened the air +and crashed among them, crushing many of them. On they struggled, seeing +a wider way in front where the cliffs sloped, and perhaps half of them +won through. But here the archers were waiting, and now, in the place of +stones, arrows were hailed upon them, till at length, utterly bewildered +and unable to strike a blow in their own defence, they turned to fly +towards the open country. This finished the fight, for now we assailed +their flank, and once more the rocks thundered on them from above, and +the end of it was that those who remained of the Spaniards and their +Indian allies were driven in utter rout back to the plain beyond the +Pass of Pines. + +After this battle the Spaniards troubled us no more for many years +except by threats, and my name grew great among the people of the +Otomie. + +One Spaniard I rescued from death and afterwards I gave him his liberty. +From him I inquired of the doings of de Garcia or Sarceda, and learned +that he was still in the service of Cortes, but that Marina had been +true to her word, and had brought disgrace upon him because he had +threatened to put Otomie to the torture. Moreover Cortes was angry with +him because of our escape, the burden of which Marina had laid upon his +shoulders, hinting that he had taken a bribe to suffer us to pass the +gate. + + +Of the fourteen years of my life which followed the defeat of the +Spaniards I can speak briefly, for compared to the time that had gone +before they were years of quiet. In them children were born to me and +Otomie, three sons, and these children were my great joy, for I loved +them dearly and they loved me. Indeed, except for the strain of their +mother's blood, they were English boys and not Indian, for I christened +them all, and taught them our English tongue and faith, and their mien +and eyes were more English than Indian, though their skins were dark. +But I had no luck with these dear children of mine, any more than I have +had with that which Lily bore me. Two of them died--one from a fever +that all my skill would not avail to cure, and another by a fall from a +lofty cedar tree, which he climbed searching for a kite's nest. Thus +of the three of them--since I do not speak now of that infant, my +firstborn, who perished in the siege--there remained to me only the +eldest and best beloved of whom I must tell hereafter. + +For the rest, jointly with Otomie I was named cacique of the City +of Pines at a great council that was held after I had destroyed the +Spaniards and their allies, and as such we had wide though not absolute +power. By the exercise of this power, in the end I succeeded in +abolishing the horrible rites of human sacrifice, though, because of +this, a large number of the outlying tribes fell away from our rule, and +the enmity of the priests was excited against me. The last sacrifice, +except one only, the most terrible of them all, of which I will tell +afterwards, that was ever celebrated on the teocalli in front of the +palace, took place after the defeat of the Spaniards in the pass. + +When I had dwelt three years in the City of Pines and two sons had +been born to me there, secret messengers arrived that were sent by +the friends of Guatemoc, who had survived the torture and was still a +prisoner in the hands of Cortes. From these messengers we learned that +Cortes was about to start upon an expedition to the Gulf of Honduras, +across the country that is now known as Yucatan, taking Guatemoc and +other Aztec nobles with him for he feared to leave them behind. We heard +also that there was much murmuring among the conquered tribes of Anahuac +because of the cruelties and extortions of the Spaniards, and many +thought that the hour had come when a rising against them might be +carried to a successful issue. + +This was the prayer of those who sent the envoys, that I should raise a +force of Otomies and travel with it across the country to Yucatan, and +there with others who would be gathered, wait a favourable opportunity +to throw myself upon the Spaniards when they were entangled in the +forests and swamps, putting them to the sword and releasing Guatemoc. +Such was the first purpose of the plot, though it had many others of +which it is useless to speak, seeing that they came to nothing. + +When the message had been delivered I shook my head sadly, for I could +see no hope in such a scheme, but the chief of the messengers rose and +led me aside, saying that he had a word for my ear. + +'Guatemoc sends these words,' he said; 'I hear that you, my brother, are +free and safe with my cousin Otomie in the mountains of the Otomie. I, +alas! linger in the prisons of the Teules like a crippled eagle in a +cage. My brother, if it is in your power to help me, do so I conjure +you by the memory of our ancient friendship, and of all that we have +suffered together. Then a time may still come when I shall rule again in +Anahuac, and you shall sit at my side.' + +I heard and my heart was stirred, for then, as to this hour, I loved +Guatemoc as a brother. + +'Go back,' I said, 'and find means to tell Guatemoc that if I can save +him I will, though I have small hopes that way. Still, let him look for +me in the forests of Yucatan.' + +Now when Otomie heard of this promise of mine she was vexed, for she +said that it was foolish and would only end in my losing my life. Still, +having given it she held with me that it must be carried out, and the +end of it was that I raised five hundred men, and with them set out upon +my long and toilsome march, which I timed so as to meet Cortes in the +passes of Yucatan. At the last moment Otomie wished to accompany me, but +I forbade it, pointing out that she could leave neither her children nor +her people, and we parted with bitter grief for the first time. + +Of all the hardships that I underwent I will not write. For two and +a half months we struggled on across mountains and rivers and through +swamps and forests, till at last we reached a mighty deserted city, +that is called Palenque by the Indians of those parts, which has been +uninhabited for many generations. This city is the most marvellous place +that I have seen in all my travels, though much of it is hidden in +bush, for wherever the traveller wanders there he finds vast palaces of +marble, carven within and without, and sculptured teocallis and the huge +images of grinning gods. Often have I wondered what nation was strong +enough to build such a capital, and who were the kings that dwelt in it. +But these are secrets belonging to the past, and they cannot be answered +till some learned man has found the key to the stone symbols and +writings with which the walls of the buildings are covered over. + +In this city I hid with my men, though it was no easy task to persuade +them to take up their habitation among so many ghosts of the departed, +not to speak of the noisome fevers and the wild beasts and snakes that +haunted it, for I had information that the Spaniards would pass through +the swamp that lies between the ruins and the river, and there I hoped +to ambush them. But on the eighth day of my hiding I learned from spies +that Cortes had crossed the great river higher up, and was cutting his +way through the forest, for of swamps he had passed more than enough. So +I hurried also to the river intending to cross it. But all that day and +all that night it rained as it can rain nowhere else in the world that +I have seen, till at last we waded on our road knee deep in water, and +when we came to the ford of the river it was to find a wide roaring +flood, that no man could pass in anything less frail than a Yarmouth +herring boat. So there on the bank we must stay in misery, suffering +many ills from fever, lack of food, and plenitude of water, till at +length the stream ran down. + +Three days and nights we waited there, and on the fourth morning I made +shift to cross, losing four men by drowning in the passage. Once over, I +hid my force in the bush and reeds, and crept forward with six men only, +to see if I could discover anything of the whereabouts of the Spaniards. +Within an hour I struck the trail that they had cut through the forest, +and followed it cautiously. Presently we came to a spot where the forest +was thin, and here Cortes had camped, for there was heat left in the +ashes of his fires, and among them lay the body of an Indian who had +died from sickness. Not fifty yards from this camp stood a huge ceiba, +a tree that has a habit of growth not unlike that of our English oak, +though it is soft wooded and white barked, and will increase more in +bulk in twenty years than any oak may in a hundred. Indeed I never yet +saw an oak tree so large as this ceiba of which I write, either in girth +or in its spread of top, unless it be the Kirby oak or the tree that +is called the 'King of Scoto' which grows at Broome, that is the next +parish to this of Ditchingham in Norfolk. On this ceiba tree many +zaphilotes or vultures were perched, and as we crept towards it I saw +what it was they came to seek, for from the lowest branches of the ceiba +three corpses swung in the breeze. 'Here are the Spaniard's footprints,' +I said. 'Let us look at them,' and we passed beneath the shadow of the +tree. + +As I came, a zaphilote alighted on the head of the body that hung +nearest to me, and its weight, or the wafting of the fowl's wing, caused +the dead man to turn round so that he came face to face with me. I +looked, started back, then looked again and sank to the earth groaning. +For here was he whom I had come to seek and save, my friend, my brother, +Guatemoc the last emperor of Anahuac. Here he hung in the dim and +desolate forest, dead by the death of a thief, while the vulture +shrieked upon his head. I sat bewildered and horror-stricken, and as +I sat I remembered the proud sign of Aztec royalty, a bird of prey +clasping an adder in its claw. There before me was the last of the +stock, and behold! a bird of prey gripped his hair in its talons, a +fitting emblem indeed of the fall of Anahuac and the kings of Anahuac. + +I sprang to my feet with an oath, and lifting the bow I held I sent +an arrow through the vulture and it fell to the earth fluttering and +screaming. Then I bade those with me to cut down the corpses of Guatemoc +and of the prince of Tacuba and another noble who hung with him, and +hollow a deep grave beneath the tree. There I laid them, and there I +left them to sleep for ever in its melancholy shadow, and thus for the +last time I saw Guatemoc my brother, whom I came from far to save and +found made ready for burial by the Spaniard. + +Then I turned my face homewards, for now Anahuac had no king to rescue, +but it chanced that before I went I caught a Tlascalan who could speak +Spanish, and who had deserted from the army of Cortes because of the +hardships that he suffered in their toilsome march. This man was present +at the murder of Guatemoc and his companions, and heard the Emperor's +last words. It seems that some knave had betrayed to Cortes that an +attempt would be made to rescue the prince, and that thereon Cortes +commanded that he should be hung. It seems also that Guatemoc met his +death as he had met the misfortunes of his life, proudly and without +fear. These were his last words: 'I did ill, Malinche, when I held my +hand from taking my own life before I surrendered myself to you. Then my +heart told me that all your promises were false, and it has not lied to +me. I welcome my death, for I have lived to know shame and defeat and +torture, and to see my people the slaves of the Teule, but still I say +that God will reward you for this deed.' + +Then they murdered him in the midst of a great silence. + + +And so farewell to Guatemoc, the most brave, the best and the noblest +Indian that ever breathed, and may the shadow of his tormentings and +shameful end lie deep upon the fame of Cortes for so long as the names +of both of them are remembered among men! + + +For two more months I journeyed homeward and at length I reached the +City of Pines, well though wearied, and having lost only forty men by +various misadventures of travel, to find Otomie in good health, and +overjoyed to know me safe whom she thought never to see again. But when +I told her what was the end of her cousin Guatemoc she grieved bitterly, +both for his sake and because the last hope of the Aztec was gone, and +she would not be comforted for many days. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA IS AVENGED + + +For many years after the death of Guatemoc I lived with Otomie at peace +in the City of Pines. Our country was poor and rugged, and though we +defied the Spaniards and paid them no tribute, now that Cortes had gone +back to Spain, they had no heart to attempt our conquest. Save some few +tribes that lived in difficult places like ourselves, all Anahuac was +in their power, and there was little to gain except hard blows in the +bringing of a remnant of the people of the Otomie beneath their yoke, so +they let us be till a more convenient season. I say of a remnant of the +Otomie, for as time went on many clans submitted to the Spaniards, till +at length we ruled over the City of Pines alone and some leagues of +territory about it. Indeed it was only love for Otomie and respect for +the shadow of her ancient race and name, together with some reverence +for me as one of the unconquerable white men, and for my skill as a +general, that kept our following together. + +And now it may be asked was I happy in those years? I had much to make +me happy--no man could have been blessed with a wife more beautiful and +loving, nor one who had exampled her affection by more signal deeds of +sacrifice. This woman of her own free will had lain by my side on the +stone of slaughter; overriding the instincts of her sex she had not +shrunk from dipping her hands in blood to secure my safety, her wit had +rescued me in many a trouble, her love had consoled me in many a sorrow: +surely therefore if gratitude can conquer the heart of man, mine should +have been at her feet for ever and a day, and so indeed it was, and in a +sense is still. But can gratitude, can love itself, or any passion that +rules our souls, make a man forget the house where he was born? Could +I, an Indian chief struggling with a fallen people against an inevitable +destiny, forget my youth and all its hopes and fears, could I forget the +valley of the Waveney and that Flower who dwelt therein, and forsworn +though I might be, could I forget the oath that I once had sworn? Chance +had been against me, circumstances overpowered me, and I think that +there are few who, could they read this story, would not find in it +excuse for all that I had done. Certainly there are very few who, +standing where I stood, surrounded as I was by doubts, difficulties, and +dangers, would not have acted as I did. + +And yet memory would rise up against me, and time upon time I would lie +awake at night, even by the side of Otomie, and remember and repent, +if a man may repent of that over which he has no control. For I was a +stranger in a strange land, and though my home was there and my children +were about me, the longing for my other home was yet with me, and I +could not put away the memory of that Lily whom I had lost. Her ring was +still upon my hand, but nothing else of her remained to me. I did not +know if she were married or single, living or dead. The gulf between us +widened with the widening years, but still the thought of her went +with me like my shadow; it shone across the stormy love of Otomie, I +remembered it even in my children's kiss. And worst of all I despised +myself for these regrets. Nay, if the worst can have a worse, there was +one here, for though she never spoke of it, I feared that Otomie had +read my mind. + + +Heart to heart, Though far apart, + + +so ran the writing upon Lily's betrothal ring, and so it was with me. +Far apart we were indeed, so far that no bridge that I might imagine +could join that distance, and yet I could not say that we had ceased +from being 'heart to heart.' Her heart might throb no more, but mine +beat still toward it. Across the land, across the sea, across the gulf +of death--if she were dead--still in secret must I desire the love that +I had forsworn. + +And so the years rolled on, bringing little of change with them, till +I grew sure that here in this far place I should live and die. But that +was not to be my fate. + + +If any should read this, the story of my early life, he will remember +that the tale of the death of a certain Isabella de Siguenza is pieced +into its motley. He will remember how this Isabella, in the last moments +of her life, called down a curse upon that holy father who added outrage +and insult to her torment, praying that he might also die by the hands +of fanatics and in a worse fashion. If my memory does not play me false, +I have said that this indeed came to pass, and very strangely. For after +the conquest of Anahuac by Cortes, among others this same fiery priest +came from Spain to turn the Indians to the love of God by torment and by +sword. Indeed, of all of those who entered on this mission of peace, he +was the most zealous. The Indian pabas wrought cruelties enough when, +tearing out the victim's heart, they offered it like incense to Huitzel +or to Quetzal, but they at least dismissed his soul to the Mansions of +the Sun. With the Christian priests the thumb-screw and the stake took +the place of the stone of sacrifice, but the soul which they delivered +from its earthly bondage they consigned to the House of Hell. + +Of these priests a certain Father Pedro was the boldest and the most +cruel. To and fro he passed, marking his path with the corpses of +idolaters, until he earned the name of the 'Christian Devil.' At length +he ventured too far in his holy fervour, and was seized by a clan of the +Otomie that had broken from our rule upon this very question of human +sacrifice, but which was not yet subjugated by the Spaniards. One day, +it was when we had ruled for some fourteen years in the City of Pines, +it came to my knowledge that the pabas of this clan had captured a +Christian priest, and designed to offer him to the god Tezcat. + +Attended by a small guard only, I passed rapidly across the mountains, +purposing to visit the cacique of this clan with whom, although he had +cast off his allegiance to us, I still kept up a show of friendship, +and if I could, to persuade him to release the priest. But swiftly as I +travelled the vengeance of the pabas had been more swift, and I arrived +at the village only to find the 'Christian Devil' in the act of being +led to sacrifice before the image of a hideous idol that was set upon a +stake and surrounded with piles of skulls. Naked to the waist, his hands +bound behind him, his grizzled locks hanging about his breast, his keen +eyes fixed upon the faces of his heathen foes in menace rather than in +supplication, his thin lips muttering prayers, Father Pedro passed on to +the place of his doom, now and again shaking his head fiercely to free +himself from the torment of the insects which buzzed about it. + +I looked upon him and wondered. I looked again and knew. Suddenly there +rose before my mind a vision of that gloomy vault in Seville, of a +woman, young and lovely, draped in cerements, and of a thin-faced +black-robed friar who smote her upon the lips with his ivory crucifix +and cursed her for a blaspheming heretic. There before me was the man. +Isabella de Siguenza had prayed that a fate like to her own fate should +befall him, and it was upon him now. Nor indeed, remembering all that +had been, was I minded to avert it, even if it had been in my power to +do so. I stood by and let the victim pass, but as he passed I spoke to +him in Spanish, saying: + +'Remember that which it may well be you have forgotten, holy father, +remember now the dying prayer of Isabella de Siguenza whom many years +ago you did to death in Seville.' + +The man heard me; he turned livid beneath his bronzed skin and staggered +until I thought that he would have fallen. He stared upon me, with +terror in his eye, to see as he believed a common sight enough, that of +an Indian chief rejoicing at the death of one of his oppressors. + +'What devil are you,' he said hoarsely, 'sent from hell to torment me at +the last?' + +'Remember the dying prayer of Isabella de Siguenza, whom you struck and +cursed,' I answered mocking. 'Seek not to know whence I am, but remember +this only, now and for ever.' + +For a moment he stood still, heedless of the urgings of his tormentors. +Then his courage came to him again, and he cried with a great voice: +'Get thee behind me, Satan, what have I to fear from thee? I remember +that dead sinner well--may her soul have peace--and her curse has fallen +upon me. I rejoice that it should be so, for on the further side of +yonder stone the gates of heaven open to my sight. Get thee behind me, +Satan, what have I to fear from thee?' + +Crying thus he staggered forward saying, 'O God, into Thy hand I commend +my spirit!' May his soul have peace also, for if he was cruel, at least +he was brave, and did not shrink beneath those torments which he had +inflicted on many others. + + +Now this was a little matter, but its results were large. Had I saved +Father Pedro from the hands of the pabas of the Otomie, it is likely +enough that I should not to-day be writing this history here in the +valley of the Waveney. I do not know if I could have saved him, I only +know that I did not try, and that because of his death great sorrows +came upon me. Whether I was right or wrong, who can say? Those who judge +my story may think that in this as in other matters I was wrong; had +they seen Isabella de Siguenza die within her living tomb, certainly +they would hold that I was right. But for good or ill, matters came +about as I have written. + +And it came about also, that the new viceroy sent from Spain was stirred +to anger at the murder of the friar by the rebellious and heathen people +of the Otomie, and set himself to take vengeance on the tribe that +wrought the deed. + +Soon tidings reached me that a great force of Tlascalan and other +Indians were being collected to put an end to us, root and branch, and +that with them marched more than a hundred Spaniards, the expedition +being under the command of none other than the Captain Bernal Diaz, that +same soldier whom I had spared in the slaughter of the noche triste, and +whose sword to this day hung at my side. + +Now we must needs prepare our defence, for our only hope lay in +boldness. Once before the Spaniards had attacked us with thousands of +their allies, and of their number but few had lived to look again on the +camp of Cortes. What had been done could be done a second time--so said +Otomie in the pride of her unconquerable heart. But alas! in fourteen +years things had changed much with us. Fourteen years ago we held sway +over a great district of mountains, whose rude clans would send up their +warriors in hundreds at our call. Now these clans had broken from our +yoke, which was acknowledged by the people of the City of Pines alone +and those of some adjacent villages. When the Spaniards came down on me +the first time, I was able to muster an army of ten thousand soldiers to +oppose them, now with much toil I could collect no more than between two +and three thousand men, and of these some slipped away as the hour of +danger drew nigh. + +Still I must put a bold face on my necessities, and make what play I +might with such forces as lay at my command, although in my heart I +feared much for the issue. But of my fears I said nothing to Otomie, and +if she felt any she, on her part, buried them in her breast. In truth I +do believe her faith in me was so great, that she thought my single wit +enough to over-match all the armies of the Spaniards. + +Now at length the enemy drew near, and I set my battle as I had done +fourteen years before, advancing down the pass by which alone they +could approach us with a small portion of my force, and stationing the +remainder in two equal companies upon either brow of the beetling cliffs +that overhung the road, having command to overwhelm the Spaniards with +rocks, hurled upon them from above, so soon as I should give the signal +by flying before them down the pass. Other measures I took also, for +seeing that do what I would it well might happen that we should be +driven back upon the city, I caused its walls and gates to be set in +order, and garrisoned them. As a last resource too, I stored the lofty +summit of the teocalli, which now that sacrifices were no longer offered +there was used as an arsenal for the material of war, with water and +provisions, and fortified its sides by walls studded with volcanic +glass and by other devices, till it seemed well nigh impossible that any +should be able to force them while a score of men still lived to offer a +defence. + +It was on one night in the early summer, having bid farewell to Otomie +and taking my son with me, for he was now of an age when, according to +the Indian customs, lads are brought face to face with the dangers of +battle, that I despatched the appointed companies to their stations on +the brow of the precipice, and sallied into the darksome mouth of the +pass with the few hundred men who were left to me. I knew by my spies +that the Spaniards who were encamped on the further side would attempt +its passage an hour before the daylight, trusting to finding me asleep. +And sure enough, on the following morning, so early that the first rays +of the sun had not yet stained the lofty snows of the volcan Xaca that +towered behind us, a distant murmuring which echoed through the silence +of the night told me that the enemy had begun his march. I moved down +the pass to meet him easily enough; there was no stone in it that was +not known to me and my men. But with the Spaniards it was otherwise, +for many of them were mounted, and moreover they dragged with them +two carronades. Time upon time these heavy guns remained fast in the +boulder-strewn roadway, for in the darkness the slaves who drew them +could find no places for the wheels to run on, till in the end +the captains of the army, unwilling to risk a fight at so great a +disadvantage, ordered them to halt until the day broke. + +At length the dawn came, and the light fell dimly down the depths of +the vast gulf, revealing the long ranks of the Spaniards clad in their +bright armour, and the yet more brilliant thousands of their native +allies, gorgeous in their painted helms and their glittering coats of +feathers. They saw us also, and mocking at our poor array, their column +twisted forward like some huge snake in the crack of a rock, till they +came to within a hundred paces of us. Then the Spaniards raised their +battle cry of Saint Peter, and lance at rest, they charged us with their +horse. We met them with a rain of arrows that checked them a little, but +not for long. Soon they were among us, driving us back at the point of +their lances, and slaying many, for our Indian weapons could work +little harm to men and horses clad in armour. Therefore we must fly, and +indeed, flight was my plan, for by it I hoped to lead the foe to that +part of the defile where the road was narrow and the cliffs sheer, +and they might be crushed by the stones which should hail on them from +above. All went well; we fled, the Spaniards followed flushed with +victory, till they were fairly in the trap. Now a single boulder +came rushing from on high, and falling on a horse, killed him, then +rebounding, carried dismay and wounds to those behind. Another followed, +and yet another, and I grew glad at heart, for it seemed to me that the +danger was over, and that for the second time my strategy had succeeded. + +But suddenly from above there came a sound other than that of the +rushing rocks, the sound of men joining in battle, that grew and grew +till the air was full of its tumult, then something whirled down from on +high. I looked; it was no stone, but a man, one of my own men. Indeed he +was but as the first rain-drop of a shower. + +Alas! I saw the truth; I had been outwitted. The Spaniards, old in war, +could not be caught twice by such a trick; they advanced down the pass +with the carronades indeed because they must, but first they sent great +bodies of men to climb the mountain under shelter of the night, by +secret paths which had been discovered to them, and there on its summit +to deal with those who would stay their passage by hurling rocks upon +them. And in truth they dealt with them but too well, for my men of the +Otomie, lying on the verge of the cliff among the scrub of aloes and +other prickly plants that grew there, watching the advance of the foe +beneath, and never for one moment dreaming that foes might be upon their +flank, were utterly surprised. Scarcely had they time to seize their +weapons, which were laid at their sides that they might have the greater +freedom in the rolling of heavy masses of rock, when the enemy, who +outnumbered them by far, were upon them with a yell. Then came a fight, +short but decisive. + +Too late I saw it all, and cursed the folly that had not provided +against such chances, for, indeed, I never thought it possible that the +forces of the Spaniards could find the secret trails upon the further +side of the mountain, forgetting that treason makes most things +possible. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE SIEGE OF THE CITY OF PINES + + +The battle was already lost. From a thousand feet above us swelled the +shouts of victory. The battle was lost, and yet I must fight on. As +swiftly as I could I withdrew those who were left to me to a certain +angle in the path, where a score of desperate men might, for a while, +hold back the advance of an army. Here I called for some to stand at +my side, and many answered to my call. Out of them I chose fifty men +or more, bidding the rest run hard for the City of Pines, there to warn +those who were left in garrison that the hour of danger was upon +them, and, should I fall, to conjure Otomie my wife to make the best +resistance in her power, till, if it were possible, she could wring +from the Spaniards a promise of safety for herself, her child, and her +people. Meanwhile I would hold the pass so that time might be given to +shut the gates and man the walls. With the main body of those who were +left to me I sent back my son, though he prayed hard to be allowed to +stay with me. But, seeing nothing before me except death, I refused him. + +Presently all were gone, and fearing a snare the Spaniards came slowly +and cautiously round the angle of the rock, and seeing so few men +mustered to meet them halted, for now they were certain that we had set +a trap for them, since they did not think it possible that such a little +band would venture to oppose their array. Here the ground lay so that +only a few of them could come against us at one time, nor could they +bring their heavy pieces to bear on us, and even their arquebusses +helped them but little. Also the roughness of the road forced them to +dismount from their horses, so that if they would attack at all, it +must be on foot. This in the end they chose to do. Many fell upon either +side, though I myself received no wound, but in the end they drove us +back. Inch by inch they drove us back, or rather those who were left +of us, at the point of their long lances, till at length they forced us +into the mouth of the pass, that is some five furlongs distant from what +was once the wall of the City of Pines. + +To fight further was of no avail, here we must choose between death and +flight, and as may be guessed, for wives' and children's sake if not for +our own, we chose to fly. Across the plain we fled like deer, and after +us came the Spaniards and their allies like hounds. Happily the ground +was rough with stones so that their horses could not gallop freely, and +thus it happened that some of us, perhaps twenty, gained the gates in +safety. Of my army not more than five hundred in all lived to enter them +again, and perchance there were as many left within the city. + +The heavy gates swung to, and scarcely were they barred with the massive +beams of oak, when the foremost of the Spaniards rode up to them. My bow +was still in my hand and there was one arrow left in my quiver. I set it +on the string, and drawing the bow with my full strength, I loosed +the shaft through the bars of the gate at a young and gallant looking +cavalier who rode the first of all. It struck him truly between the +joint of his helm and neck piece, and stretching his arms out wide he +fell backward over the crupper of his horse, to move no more. Then they +withdrew, but presently one of their number came forward bearing a +flag of truce. He was a knightly looking man, clad in rich armour, and +watching him, it seemed to me that there was something in his bearing, +and in the careless grace with which he sat his horse, that was familiar +to me. Reining up in front of the gates he raised his visor and began to +speak. + +I knew him at once; before me was de Garcia, my ancient enemy, of whom I +had neither heard nor seen anything for hard upon twelve years. Time had +touched him indeed, which was scarcely to be wondered at, for now he was +a man of sixty or more. His peaked chestnut-coloured beard was streaked +with grey, his cheeks were hollow, and at that distance his lips seemed +like two thin red lines, but the eyes were as they had always been, +bright and piercing, and the same cold smile played about his mouth. +Without a doubt it was de Garcia, who now, as at every crisis of my +life, appeared to shape my fortunes to some evil end, and I felt as I +looked upon him that the last and greatest struggle between us was at +hand, and that before many days were sped, the ancient and accumulated +hate of one or of both of us would be buried for ever in the silence of +death. How ill had fate dealt with me, now as always. But a few minutes +before, when I set that arrow on the string, I had wavered for a moment, +doubting whether to loose it at the young cavalier who lay dead, or at +the knight who rode next to him; and see! I had slain one with whom I +had no quarrel and left my enemy unharmed. + +'Ho there!' cried de Garcia in Spanish. 'I desire to speak with the +leader of the rebel Otomie on behalf of the Captain Bernal Diaz, who +commands this army.' + +Now I mounted on the wall by means of a ladder which was at hand, and +answered, 'Speak on, I am the man you seek.' + +'You know Spanish well, friend,' said de Garcia, starting and looking at +me keenly beneath his bent brows. 'Say now, where did you learn it? And +what is your name and lineage?' + +'I learned it, Juan de Garcia, from a certain Donna Luisa, whom you knew +in your days of youth. And my name is Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now de Garcia reeled in his saddle and swore a great oath. + +'Mother of God!' he said, 'years ago I was told that you had taken up +your abode among some savage tribe, but since then I have been far, +to Spain and back indeed, and I deemed that you were dead, Thomas +Wingfield. My luck is good in truth, for it has been one of the great +sorrows of my life that you have so often escaped me, renegade. Be sure +that this time there shall be no escape.' + +'I know well that there will be no escape for one or other of us, Juan +de Garcia,' I answered. 'Now we play the last round of the game, but do +not boast, for God alone knows to whom the victory shall be given. You +have prospered long, but a day may be at hand when your prosperity shall +cease with your breath. To your errand, Juan de Garcia.' + +For a moment he sat silent, pulling at his pointed beard, and watching +him I thought that I could see the shadow of a half-forgotten fear creep +into his eyes. If so, it was soon gone, for lifting his head, he spoke +boldly and clearly. + +'This is my message to you, Thomas Wingfield, and to such of the Otomie +dogs with whom you herd as we have left alive to-day. The Captain Bernal +Diaz offers you terms on behalf of his Excellency the viceroy.' + +'What are his terms?' I asked. + +'Merciful enough to such pestilent rebels and heathens,' he answered +sneering. 'Surrender your city without condition, and the viceroy, in +his clemency, will accept the surrender. Nevertheless, lest you should +say afterwards that faith has been broken with you, be it known to +you, that you shall not go unpunished for your many crimes. This is the +punishment that shall be inflicted on you. All those who had part or +parcel in the devilish murder of that holy saint Father Pedro, shall be +burned at the stake, and the eyes of all those who beheld it shall be +put out. Such of the leaders of the Otomie as the judges may select +shall be hanged publicly, among them yourself, Cousin Wingfield, and +more particularly the woman Otomie, daughter of Montezuma the late king. +For the rest, the dwellers in the City of Pines must surrender their +wealth into the treasury of the viceroy, and they themselves, men, women +and children, shall be led from the city and be distributed according to +the viceroy's pleasure upon the estates of such of the Spanish settlers +as he may select, there to learn the useful arts of husbandry and +mining. These are the conditions of surrender, and I am commanded to +say that an hour is given you in which to decide whether you accept or +reject them.' + +'And if we reject them?' + +'Then the Captain Bernal Diaz has orders to sack and destroy this city, +and having given it over for twelve hours to the mercy of the Tlascalans +and other faithful Indian allies, to collect those who may be left +living within it, and bring them to the city of Mexico, there to be sold +as slaves.' + +'Good,' I said; 'you shall have your answer in an hour.' Now, leaving +the gate guarded, I hurried to the palace, sending messengers as I went +to summon such of the council of the city as remained alive. At the door +of the palace I met Otomie, who greeted me fondly, for after hearing of +our disaster she had hardly looked to see me again. + +'Come with me to the Hall of Assembly,' I said; 'there I will speak to +you.' + +We went to the hall, where the members of the council were already +gathering. So soon as the most of them were assembled, there were but +eight in all, I repeated to them the words of de Garcia without comment. +Then Otomie spoke, as being the first in rank she had a right to do. +Twice before I had heard her address the people of the Otomie upon these +questions of defence against the Spaniards. The first time, it may be +remembered, was when we came as envoys from Cuitlahua, Montezuma her +father's successor, to pray the aid of the children of the mountain +against Cortes and the Teules. The second time was when, some fourteen +years ago, we had returned to the City of Pines as fugitives after the +fall of Tenoctitlan, and the populace, moved to fury by the destruction +of nearly twenty thousand of their soldiers, would have delivered us as +a peace offering into the hands of the Spaniards. + +On each of these occasions Otomie had triumphed by her eloquence, by the +greatness of her name and the majesty of her presence. Now things were +far otherwise, and even had she not scorned to use them, such arts would +have availed us nothing in this extremity. Now her great name was but +a shadow, one of many waning shadows cast by an empire whose glory +had gone for ever; now she used no passionate appeal to the pride and +traditions of a doomed race, now she was no longer young and the first +splendour of her womanhood had departed from her. And yet, as with her +son and mine at her side, she rose to address those seven councillors, +who, haggard with fear and hopeless in the grasp of fate, crouched in +silence before her, their faces buried in their hands, I thought that +Otomie had never seemed more beautiful, and that her words, simple as +they were, had never been more eloquent. + +'Friends,' she said, 'you know the disaster that has overtaken us. My +husband has given you the message of the Teules. Our case is desperate. +We have but a thousand men at most to defend this city, the home of our +forefathers, and we alone of all the peoples of Anahuac still dare to +stand in arms against the white men. Years ago I said to you, Choose +between death with honour and life with shame! To-day again I say to +you, Choose! For me and mine there is no choice left, since whatever you +decide, death must be our portion. But with you it is otherwise. Will +you die fighting, or will you and your children serve your remaining +years as slaves?' + +For a while the seven consulted together, then their spokesman answered. + +'Otomie, and you, Teule, we have followed your counsels for many years +and they have brought us but little luck. We do not blame you, for the +gods of Anahuac have deserted us as we have deserted them, and the gods +alone stand between men and their evil destiny. Whatever misfortunes we +may have borne, you have shared in them, and so it is now at the end. +Nor will we go back upon our words in this the last hour of the people +of the Otomie. We have chosen; we have lived free with you, and still +free, we will die with you. For like you we hold that it is better for +us and ours to perish as free men than to drag out our days beneath the +yoke of the Teule.' + +'It is well,' said Otomie; 'now nothing remains for us except to seek a +death so glorious that it shall be sung of in after days. Husband, you +have heard the answer of the council. Let the Spaniards hear it also.' + +So I went back to the wall, a white flag in my hand, and presently an +envoy advanced from the Spanish camp to speak with me--not de Garcia, +but another. I told him in few words that those who remained alive of +the people of the Otomie would die beneath the ruins of their city like +the children of Tenoctitlan before them, but that while they had a spear +to throw and an arm to throw it, they would never yield to the tender +mercies of the Spaniard. + + +The envoy returned to the camp, and within an hour the attack began. +Bringing up their pieces of ordnance, the Spaniards set them within +little more than an hundred paces of the gates, and began to batter +us with iron shot at their leisure, for our spears and arrows could +scarcely harm them at such a distance. Still we were not idle, for +seeing that the wooden gates must soon be down, we demolished houses on +either side of them and filled up the roadway with stones and rubbish. +At the rear of the heap thus formed I caused a great trench to be dug, +which could not be passed by horsemen and ordnance till it was filled +in again. All along the main street leading to the great square of the +teocalli I threw up other barricades, protected in the front and rear by +dykes cut through the roadway, and in case the Spaniards should try to +turn our flank and force a passage through the narrow and tortuous lanes +to the right and left, I also barricaded the four entrances to the great +square or market place. + +Till nightfall the Spaniards bombarded the shattered remains of the +gates and the earthworks behind them, doing no great damage beyond the +killing of about a score of people by cannon shot and arquebuss balls. +But they attempted no assault that day. At length the darkness fell and +their fire ceased, but not so our labours. Most of the men must guard +the gates and the weak spots in the walls, and therefore the building of +the barricades was left chiefly to the women, working under my command +and that of my captains. Otomie herself took a share in the toil, an +example that was followed by every lady and indeed by every woman in +the city, and there were many of them, for the women outnumbered the men +among the Otomie, and moreover not a few of them had been made widows on +that same day. + +It was a strange sight to see them in the glare of hundreds of torches +split from the resin pine that gave its name to the city, as all night +long they moved to and fro in lines, each of them staggering beneath the +weight of a basket of earth or a heavy stone, or dug with wooden spades +at the hard soil, or laboured at the pulling down of houses. They never +complained, but worked on sullenly and despairingly; no groan or tear +broke from them, no, not even from those whose husbands and sons had +been hurled that morning from the precipices of the pass. They knew that +resistance would be useless and that their doom was at hand, but no cry +arose among them of surrender to the Spaniards. Those of them who spoke +of the matter at all said with Otomie, that it was better to die free +than to live as slaves, but the most did not speak; the old and the +young, mother, wife, widow, and maid, they laboured in silence and the +children laboured at their sides. + +Looking at them it came into my mind that these silent patient women +were inspired by some common and desperate purpose, that all knew of, +but which none of them chose to tell. + +'Will you work so hard for your masters the Teules?' cried a man in +bitter mockery, as a file of them toiled past beneath their loads of +stone. + +'Fool!' answered their leader, a young and lovely lady of rank; 'do the +dead labour?' + +'Nay,' said this ill jester, 'but such as you are too fair for the +Teules to kill, and your years of slavery will be many. Say, how shall +you escape them?' + +'Fool!' answered the lady again, 'does fire die from lack of fuel only, +and must every man live till age takes him? We shall escape them thus,' +and casting down the torch she carried, she trod it into the earth with +her sandal, and went on with her load. Then I was sure that they had +some purpose, though I did not guess how desperate it was, and Otomie +would tell me nothing of this woman's secret. + +'Otomie,' I said to her that night, when we met by chance, 'I have ill +news for you.' + +'It must be bad indeed, husband, to be so named in such an hour,' she +answered. + +'De Garcia is among our foes.' + +'I knew it, husband.' + +'How did you know it?' + +'By the hate written in your eyes,' she answered. + +'It seems that his hour of triumph is at hand,' I said. + +'Nay, beloved, not HIS but YOURS. You shall triumph over de Garcia, but +victory will cost you dear. I know it in my heart; ask me not how or +why. See, the Queen puts on her crown,' and she pointed to the volcan +Xaca, whose snows grew rosy with the dawn, 'and you must go to the gate, +for the Spaniards will soon be stirring.' + +As Otomie spoke I heard a trumpet blare without the walls. Hurrying to +the gates by the first light of day, I could see that the Spaniards were +mustering their forces for attack. They did not come at once, however, +but delayed till the sun was well up. Then they began to pour a furious +fire upon our defences, that reduced the shattered beams of the gates +to powder, and even shook down the crest of the earthwork beyond them. +Suddenly the firing ceased and again a trumpet called. Now they charged +us in column, a thousand or more Tlascalans leading the van, followed by +the Spanish force. In two minutes I, who awaited them beyond it together +with some three hundred warriors of the Otomie, saw their heads appear +over the crest of the earthwork, and the fight began. Thrice we drove +them back with our spears and arrows, but at the fourth charge the wave +of men swept over our defence, and poured into the dry ditch beyond. + +Now we were forced to fly to the next earthwork, for we could not hope +to fight so many in the open street, whither, so soon as a passage had +been made for their horse and ordnance, the enemy followed us. Here the +fight was renewed, and this barricade being very strong, we held it +for hard upon two hours with much loss to ourselves and to the Spanish +force. Again we retreated and again we were assailed, and so the +struggle went on throughout the live-long day. Every hour our numbers +grew fewer and our arms fainter, but still we fought on desperately. At +the two last barricades, hundreds of the women of the Otomie fought by +the sides of their husbands and their brothers. + +The last earthwork was captured by the Spaniards just as the sun sank, +and under the shadow of approaching darkness those of us that remained +alive fled to the refuge which we had prepared upon the teocalli, nor +was there any further fighting during that night. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE + + +Here in the courtyard of the teocalli, by the light of burning houses, +for as they advanced the Spaniards fired the town, we mustered our array +to find that there were left to us in all some four hundred fighting +men, together with a crowd of nearly two thousand women and many +children. Now although this teocalli was not quite so lofty as that of +the great temple of Mexico, its sides were steeper and everywhere faced +with dressed stone, and the open space upon its summit was almost as +great, measuring indeed more than a hundred paces every way. This area +was paved with blocks of marble, and in its centre stood the temple of +the war-god, where his statue still sat, although no worship had been +offered to him for many years; the stone of sacrifice, the altar of +fire, and the storehouses of the priests. Moreover in front of the +temple, and between it and the stone of sacrifice, was a deep cemented +hole the size of a large room, which once had been used as a place for +the safe keeping of grain in times of famine. This pit I had caused to +be filled with water borne with great toil to the top of the pyramid, +and in the temple itself I stored a great quantity of food, so that we +had no cause to fear present death from thirst or famine. + +But now we were face to face with a new trouble. Large as was the summit +of the pyramid, it would not give shelter to a half of our numbers, and +if we desired to defend it some of the multitude herded round its base +must seek refuge elsewhere. Calling the leaders of the people together, +I put the matter before them in few words, leaving them to decide what +must be done. They in turn consulted among themselves, and at length +gave me this answer: that it was agreed that all the wounded and aged +there, together with most of the children, and with them any others who +wished to go, should leave the teocalli that night, to find their way +out of the city if they could, or if not, to trust to the mercy of the +Spaniards. + +I said that it was well, for death was on every side, and it mattered +little which way men turned to meet it. So they were sorted out, fifteen +hundred or more of them, and at midnight the gates of the courtyard were +thrown open, and they left. Oh! it was dreadful to see the farewells +that took place in that hour. Here a daughter clung to the neck of her +aged father, here husbands and wives bade each other a last farewell, +here mothers kissed their little children, and on every side rose up the +sounds of bitter agony, the agony of those who parted for ever. I buried +my face in my hands, wondering as I had often wondered before, how a God +whose name is Mercy can bear to look upon sights that break the hearts +of sinful men to witness. + +Presently I raised my eyes and spoke to Otomie, who was at my side, +asking her if she would not send our son away with the others, passing +him off as the child of common people. + +'Nay, husband,' she answered, 'it is better for him to die with us, than +to live as a slave of the Spaniards.' + +At length it was over and the gates had shut behind the last of them. +Soon we heard the distant challenge of the Spanish sentries as they +perceived them, and the sounds of some shots followed by cries. + +'Doubtless the Tlascalans are massacring them,' I said. But it was not +so. When a few had been killed the leaders of the Spaniards found that +they waged war upon an unarmed mob, made up for the most part of aged +people, women and children, and their commander, Bernal Diaz, a merciful +man if a rough one, ordered that the onslaught should cease. Indeed he +did more, for when all the able-bodied men, together with such children +as were sufficiently strong to bear the fatigues of travel, had been +sorted out to be sold as slaves, he suffered the rest of that melancholy +company to depart whither they would. And so they went, though what +became of them I do not know. + +That night we spent in the courtyard of the teocalli, but before it was +light I caused the women and children who remained with us, perhaps some +six hundred in all, for very few of the former who were unmarried, or +who being married were still young and comely, had chosen to desert our +refuge, to ascend the pyramid, guessing that the Spaniards would attack +us at dawn. I stayed, however, with the three hundred fighting men that +were left to me, a hundred or more having thrown themselves upon the +mercy of the Spaniards, with the refugees, to await the Spanish onset +under shelter of the walls of the courtyard. At dawn it began, and by +midday, do what we could to stay it, the wall was stormed, and leaving +nearly a hundred dead and wounded behind me, I was driven to the winding +way that led to the summit of the pyramid. Here they assaulted us again, +but the road was steep and narrow, and their numbers gave them no great +advantage on it, so that the end of it was that we beat them back with +loss, and there was no more fighting that day. + +The night which followed we spent upon the summit of the pyramid, and +for my part I was so weary that after I had eaten I never slept more +soundly. Next morning the struggle began anew; and this time with better +success to the Spaniards. Inch by inch under cover of the heavy fire +from their arquebusses and pieces, they forced us upward and backward. +All day long the fight continued upon the narrow road that wound from +stage to stage of the pyramid. At length, as the sun sank, a company of +our foes, their advance guard, with shouts of victory, emerged upon the +flat summit, and rushed towards the temple in its centre. All this while +the women had been watching, but now one of them sprang up, crying with +a loud voice: + +'Seize them; they are but few.' + +Then with a fearful scream of rage, the mob of women cast themselves +upon the weary Spaniards and Tlascalans, bearing them down by the weight +of their numbers. Many of them were slain indeed, but in the end the +women conquered, ay, and made their victims captive, fastening them +with cords to the rings of copper that were let into the stones of the +pavement, to which in former days those doomed to sacrifice had been +secured, when their numbers were so great that the priests feared +lest they should escape. I and the soldiers with me watched this sight +wondering, then I cried out: + +'What! men of the Otomie, shall it be said that our women outdid us in +courage?' and without further ado, followed by a hundred or more of my +companions, I rushed desperately down the steep and narrow path. + +At the first corner we met the main array of Spaniards and their allies, +coming up slowly, for now they were sure of victory, and so great was +the shock of our encounter that many of them were hurled over the edge +of the path, to roll down the steep sides of the pyramid. Seeing the +fate of their comrades, those behind them halted, then began to retreat. +Presently the weight of our rush struck them also, and they in turn +pushed upon those below, till at length panic seized them, and with a +great crying the long line of men that wound round and round the pyramid +from its base almost to its summit, sought their safety in flight. But +some of them found none, for the rush of those above pressing with ever +increasing force upon their friends below, drove many to their death, +since here on the pyramid there was nothing to cling to, and if once +a man lost his foothold on the path, his fall was broken only when his +body reached the court beneath. Thus in fifteen short minutes all that +the Spaniards had won this day was lost again, for except the prisoners +at its summit, none of them remained alive upon the teocalli; indeed so +great a terror took them, that bearing with them their dead and wounded, +they retreated under cover of the night to their camp without the walls +of the courtyard. + +Now, weary but triumphant, we wended back towards the crest of the +pyramid, but as I turned the corner of the second angle that was perhaps +nearly one hundred feet above the level of the ground, a thought struck +me and I set those with me at a task. Loosening the blocks of stone that +formed the edge of the roadway, we rolled them down the sides of the +pyramid, and so laboured on removing layer upon layer of stones and +of the earth beneath, till where the path had been, was nothing but a +yawning gap thirty feet or more in width. + +'Now,' I said, surveying our handiwork by the light of the rising moon, +'that Spaniard who would win our nest must find wings to fly with.' + +'Ay, Teule,' answered one at my side, 'but say what wings shall WE +find?' + +'The wings of Death,' I said grimly, and went on my upward way. + + +It was near midnight when I reached the temple, for the labour of +levelling the road took many hours and food had been sent to us from +above. As I drew nigh I was amazed to hear the sound of solemn chanting, +and still more was I amazed when I saw that the doors of the temple of +Huitzel were open, and that the sacred fire which had not shone there +for many years once more flared fiercely upon his altar. I stood still +listening. Did my ears trick me, or did I hear the dreadful song of +sacrifice? Nay, again its wild refrain rang out upon the silence: + + +To Thee we sacrifice! Save us, O Huitzel, Huitzel, lord god! + + +I rushed forward, and turning the angle of the temple I found myself +face to face with the past, for there as in bygone years were the +pabas clad in their black robes, their long hair hanging about their +shoulders, the dreadful knife of glass fixed in their girdles; there to +the right of the stone of sacrifice were those destined to the god, and +there being led towards it was the first victim, a Tlascalan prisoner, +his limbs held by men clad in the dress of priests. Near him, arrayed +in the scarlet robe of sacrifice, stood one of my own captains, who I +remembered had once served as a priest of Tezcat before idolatry was +forbidden in the City of Pines, and around were a wide circle of women +that watched, and from whose lips swelled the awful chant. + +Now I understood it all. In their last despair, maddened by the loss of +fathers, husbands, and children, by their cruel fate, and standing face +to face with certain death, the fire of the old faith had burnt up in +their savage hearts. There was the temple, there were the stone and +implements of sacrifice, and there to their hands were the victims taken +in war. They would glut a last revenge, they would sacrifice to their +fathers' gods as their fathers had done before them, and the victims +should be taken from their own victorious foes. Ay, they must die, but +at the least they would seek the Mansions of the Sun made holy by the +blood of the accursed Teule. + +I have said that it was the women who sang this chant and glared so +fiercely upon the victims, but I have not yet told all the horror of +what I saw, for in the fore-front of their circle, clad in white robes, +the necklet of great emeralds, Guatemoc's gift, flashing upon her +breast, the plumes of royal green set in her hair, giving the time of +the death chant with a little wand, stood Montezuma's daughter, Otomie +my wife. Never had I seen her look so beautiful or so dreadful. It was +not Otomie whom I saw, for where was the tender smile and where the +gentle eyes? Here before me was a living Vengeance wearing the shape of +woman. In an instant I guessed the truth, though I did not know it all. +Otomie, who although she was not of it, had ever favoured the Christian +faith, Otomie, who for years had never spoken of these dreadful rites +except with anger, whose every act was love and whose every word was +kindness, was still in her soul an idolater and a savage. She had hidden +this side of her heart from me well through all these years, perchance +she herself had scarcely known its secret, for but twice had I seen +anything of the buried fierceness of her blood. The first time was when +Marina had brought her a certain robe in which she might escape from +the camp of Cortes, and she had spoken to Marina of that robe; and the +second when on this same day she had played her part to the Tlascalan, +and had struck him down with her own hand as he bent over me. + +All this and much more passed through my mind in that brief moment, +while Otomie marked the time of the death chant, and the pabas dragged +the Tlascalan to his doom. + +The next I was at her side. + +'What passes here?' I asked sternly. + +Otomie looked on me with a cold wonder, and empty eyes as though she did +not know me. + +'Go back, white man,' she answered; 'it is not lawful for strangers to +mingle in our rites.' + +I stood bewildered, not knowing what to do, while the flame burned and +the chant went up before the effigy of Huitzel, of the demon Huitzel +awakened after many years of sleep. + +Again and yet again the solemn chant arose, Otomie beating time with her +little rod of ebony, and again and yet again the cry of triumph rose to +the silent stars. + +Now I awoke from my dream, for as an evil dream it seemed to me, and +drawing my sword I rushed towards the priest at the altar to cut him +down. But though the men stood still the women were too quick for me. +Before I could lift the sword, before I could even speak a word, they +had sprung upon me like the jaguars of their own forests, and like +jaguars they hissed and growled into my ear: + +'Get you gone, Teule,' they said, 'lest we stretch you on the stone with +your brethren.' And still hissing they pushed me thence. + +I drew back and thought for a while in the shadow of the temple. My eye +fell upon the long line of victims awaiting their turn of sacrifice. +There were thirty and one of them still alive, and of these five were +Spaniards. I noted that the Spaniards were chained the last of all the +line. It seemed that the murderers would keep them till the end of the +feast, indeed I discovered that they were to be offered up at the rising +of the sun. How could I save them, I wondered. My power was gone. The +women could not be moved from their work of vengeance; they were mad +with their sufferings. As well might a man try to snatch her prey from a +puma robbed of her whelps, as to turn them from their purpose. With the +men it was otherwise, however. Some of them mingled in the orgie indeed, +but more stood aloof watching with a fearful joy the spectacle in +which they did not share. Near me was a man, a noble of the Otomie, of +something more than my own age. He had always been my friend, and after +me he commanded the warriors of the tribe. I went to him and said, +'Friend, for the sake of the honour of your people, help me to end +this.' + +'I cannot, Teule,' he answered, 'and beware how you meddle in the play, +for none will stand by you. Now the women have power, and you see they +use it. They are about to die, but before they die they will do as their +fathers did, for their strait is sore, and though they have been put +aside, the old customs are not forgotten.' + +'At the least can we not save these Teules?' I answered. + +'Why should you wish to save the Teules? Will they save us some few days +hence, when WE are in their power?' + +'Perhaps not,' I said, 'but if we must die, let us die clean from this +shame.' + +'What then do you wish me to do, Teule?' + +'This: I would have you find some three or four men who are not fallen +into this madness, and with them aid me to loose the Teules, for we +cannot save the others. If this may be done, surely we can lower them +with ropes from that point where the road is broken away, down to the +path beneath, and thus they may escape to their own people.' + +'I will try,' he answered, shrugging his shoulders, 'not from any +tenderness towards the accursed Teules, whom I could well bear to see +stretched upon the stone, but because it is your wish, and for the sake +of the friendship between us.' + +Then he went, and presently I saw several men place themselves, as +though by chance, between the spot where the last of the line of Indian +prisoners, and the first of the Spaniards were made fast, in such a +fashion as to hide them from the sight of the maddened women, engrossed +as they were in their orgies. + +Now I crept up to the Spaniards. They were squatted upon the ground, +bound by their hands and feet to the copper rings in the pavement. There +they sat silently awaiting the dreadful doom, their faces grey with +terror, and their eyes starting from their sockets. + +'Hist!' I whispered in Spanish into the ear of the first, an old man +whom I knew as one who had taken part in the wars of Cortes. 'Would you +be saved?' + +He looked up quickly, and said in a hoarse voice: + +'Who are you that talk of saving us? Who can save us from these she +devils?' + +'I am Teule, a man of white blood and a Christian, and alas that I must +say it, the captain of this savage people. With the aid of some few men +who are faithful to me, I purpose to cut your bonds, and afterwards you +shall see. Know, Spaniard, that I do this at great risk, for if we are +caught, it is a chance but that I myself shall have to suffer those +things from which I hope to rescue you.' + +'Be assured, Teule,' answered the Spaniard, 'that if we should get safe +away, we shall not forget this service. Save our lives now, and the +time may come when we shall pay you back with yours. But even if we are +loosed, how can we cross the open space in this moonlight and escape the +eyes of those furies?' + +'We must trust to chance for that,' I answered, and as I spoke, fortune +helped us strangely, for by now the Spaniards in their camp below had +perceived what was going forward on the crest of the teocalli. A yell of +horror rose from them and instantly they opened fire upon us with their +pieces and arquebusses, though, because of the shape of the pyramid and +of their position beneath it, the storm of shot swept over us, doing +us little or no hurt. Also a great company of them poured across the +courtyard, hoping to storm the temple, for they did not know that the +road had been broken away. + +Now, though the rites of sacrifice never ceased, what with the roar of +cannon, the shouts of rage and terror from the Spaniards, the hiss of +musket balls, and the crackling of flames from houses which they had +fired to give them more light, and the sound of chanting, the turmoil +and confusion grew so great as to render the carrying out of my purpose +easier than I had hoped. By this time my friend, the captain of the +Otomie, was at my side, and with him several men whom he could trust. +Stooping down, with a few swift blows of a knife I cut the ropes which +bound the Spaniards. Then we gathered ourselves into a knot, twelve of +us or more, and in the centre of the knot we set the five Spaniards. +This done, I drew my sword and cried: + +'The Teules storm the temple!' which was true, for already their long +line was rushing up the winding path. 'The Teules storm the temple, I go +to stop them,' and straightway we sped across the open space. + +None saw us, or if they saw us, none hindered us, for all the company +were intent upon the consummation of a fresh sacrifice; moreover, the +tumult was such, as I afterwards discovered, that we were scarcely +noticed. Two minutes passed, and our feet were set upon the winding way, +and now I breathed again, for we were beyond the sight of the women. +On we rushed swiftly as the cramped limbs of the Spaniards would carry +them, till presently we reached that angle in the path where the breach +began. The attacking Spaniards had already come to the further side of +the gap, for though we could not see them, we could hear their cries +of rage and despair as they halted helplessly and understood that their +comrades were beyond their aid. + +'Now we are sped,' said the Spaniard with whom I had spoken; 'the road +is gone, and it must be certain death to try the side of the pyramid.' + +'Not so,' I answered; 'some fifty feet below the path still runs, and +one by one we will lower you to it with this rope.' + +Then we set to work. Making the cord fast beneath the arms of a soldier +we let him down gently, till he came to the path, and was received there +by his comrades as a man returned from the dead. The last to be lowered +was that Spaniard with whom I had spoken. + +'Farewell,' he said, 'and may the blessing of God be on you for this act +of mercy, renegade though you are. Say, now, will you not come with me? +I set my life and honour in pledge for your safety. You tell me that +you are still a Christian man. Is that a place for Christians?' and he +pointed upwards. + +'No, indeed,' I answered, 'but still I cannot come, for my wife and son +are there, and I must return to die with them if need be. If you bear me +any gratitude, strive in return to save their lives, since for my own I +care but little.' + +'That I will,' he said, and then we let him down among his friends, whom +he reached in safety. + +Now we returned to the temple, giving it out that the Spaniards were in +retreat, having failed to cross the breach in the roadway. Here before +the temple the orgie still went on. But two Indians remained alive; and +the priests of sacrifice grew weary. + +'Where are the Teules?' cried a voice. 'Swift! strip them for the +altar.' + +But the Teules were gone, nor, search where they would, could they find +them. + +'Their God has taken them beneath His wing,' I said, speaking from the +shadow and in a feigned voice. 'Huitzel cannot prevail before the God of +the Teules.' + +Then I slipped aside, so that none knew that it was I who had spoken, +but the cry was caught up and echoed far and wide. + +'The God of the Christians has hidden them beneath His wing. Let us make +merry with those whom He rejects,' said the cry, and the last of the +captives were dragged away. + +Now I thought that all was finished, but this was not so. I have spoken +of the secret purpose which I read in the sullen eyes of the Indian +women as they laboured at the barricades, and I was about to see its +execution. Madness still burned in the hearts of these women; they had +accomplished their sacrifice, but their festival was still to come. They +drew themselves away to the further side of the pyramid, and, heedless +of the shots which now and again pierced the breast of one of them--for +here they were exposed to the Spanish fire--remained a while in +preparation. With them went the priests of sacrifice, but now, as +before, the rest of the men stood in sullen groups, watching what +befell, but lifting no hand or voice to hinder its hellishness. + +One woman did not go with them, and that woman was Otomie my wife. + +She stood by the stone of sacrifice, a piteous sight to see, for her +frenzy or rather her madness had outworn itself, and she was as she had +ever been. There stood Otomie, gazing with wide and horror-stricken +eyes now at the tokens of this unholy rite and now at her own hands--as +though she thought to see them red, and shuddered at the thought. I +drew near to her and touched her on the shoulder. She turned swiftly, +gasping, + +'Husband! husband!' + +'It is I,' I answered, 'but call me husband no more.' + +'Oh! what have I done?' she wailed, and fell senseless in my arms. + + +And here I will add what at the time I knew nothing of, for it was told +me in after years by the Rector of this parish, a very learned man, +though one of narrow mind. Had I known it indeed, I should have spoken +more kindly to Otomie my wife even in that hour, and thought more gently +of her wickedness. It seems, so said my friend the Rector, that from the +most ancient times, those women who have bent the knee to demon gods, +such as were the gods of Anahuac, are subject at any time to become +possessed by them, even after they have abandoned their worship, and to +be driven in their frenzy to the working of the greatest crimes. Thus, +among other instances, he told me that a Greek poet named Theocritus +sets out in one of his idyls how a woman called Agave, being engaged in +a secret religious orgie in honour of a demon named Dionysus, perceived +her own son Pentheus watching the celebration of the mysteries, and +thereon becoming possessed by the demon she fell on him and murdered +him, being aided by the other women. For this the poet, who was also a +worshipper of Dionysus, gave her great honour and not reproach, seeing +that she did the deed at the behest of this god, 'a deed not to be +blamed.' + +Now I write of this for a reason, though it has nothing to do with me, +for it seems that as Dionysus possessed Agave, driving her to unnatural +murder, so did Huitzel possess Otomie, and indeed she said as much to me +afterwards. For I am sure that if the devils whom the Greeks worshipped +had such power, a still greater strength was given to those of Anahuac, +who among all fiends were the first. If this be so, as I believe, it was +not Otomie that I saw at the rites of sacrifice, but rather the demon +Huitzel whom she had once worshipped, and who had power, therefore, to +enter into her body for awhile in place of her own spirit. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE SURRENDER + + +Taking Otomie in my arms, I bore her to one of the storehouses attached +to the temple. Here many children had been placed for safety, among them +my own son. + +'What ails our mother, father?' said the boy. 'And why did she shut +me in here with these children when it seems that there is fighting +without?' + +'Your mother has fainted,' I answered, 'and doubtless she placed you +here to keep you safe. Now do you tend her till I return.' + +'I will do so,' answered the boy, 'but surely it would be better that I, +who am almost a man, should be without, fighting the Spaniards at your +side rather than within, nursing sick women.' + +'Do as I bid you, son,' I said, 'and I charge you not to leave this +place until I come for you again.' + +Now I passed out of the storehouse, shutting the door behind me. A +minute later I wished that I had stayed where I was, since on the +platform my eyes were greeted by a sight more dreadful than any that +had gone before. For there, advancing towards us, were the women divided +into four great companies, some of them bearing infants in their arms. +They came singing and leaping, many of them naked to the middle. Nor +was this all, for in front of them ran the pabas and such of the women +themselves as were persons in authority. These leaders, male and female, +ran and leaped and sang, calling upon the names of their demon-gods, +and celebrating the wickednesses of their forefathers, while after them +poured the howling troops of women. + +To and fro they rushed, now making obeisance to the statue of Huitzel, +now prostrating themselves before his hideous sister, the goddess of +Death, who sat beside him adorned with her carven necklace of men's +skulls and hands, now bowing around the stone of sacrifice, and now +thrusting their bare arms into the flames of the holy fire. For an hour +or more they celebrated this ghastly carnival, of which even I, versed +as I was in the Indian customs, could not fully understand the meaning, +and then, as though some single impulse had possessed them, they +withdrew to the centre of the open space, and, forming themselves into a +double circle, within which stood the pabas, of a sudden they burst into +a chant so wild and shrill that as I listened my blood curdled in my +veins. + +Even now the burden of that chant with the vision of those who sang it +sometimes haunts my sleep at night, but I will not write it here. Let +him who reads imagine all that is most cruel in the heart of man, and +every terror of the evillest dream, adding to these some horror-ridden +tale of murder, ghosts, and inhuman vengeance; then, if he can, let him +shape the whole in words and, as in a glass darkly, perchance he may +mirror the spirit of that last ancient song of the women of the Otomie, +with its sobs, its cries of triumph, and its death wailings. + +Ever as they sang, step by step they drew backwards, and with them went +the leaders of each company, their eyes fixed upon the statues of their +gods. Now they were but a segment of a circle, for they did not advance +towards the temple; backward and outward they went with a slow and +solemn tramp. There was but one line of them now, for those in the +second ring filled the gaps in the first as it widened; still they drew +on till at length they stood on the sheer edge of the platform. Then +the priests and the women leaders took their place among them and for a +moment there was silence, until at a signal one and all they bent them +backwards. Standing thus, their long hair waving on the wind, the light +of burning houses flaring upon their breasts and in their maddened eyes, +they burst into the cry of: + +'SAVE US, HUITZEL! RECEIVE US, LORD GOD, OUR HOME!' + +Thrice they cried it, each time more shrilly than before, then suddenly +they were GONE, the women of the Otomie were no more! + +With their own self-slaughter they had consummated the last celebration +of the rites of sacrifice that ever shall be held in the City of Pines. +The devil gods were dead and their worshippers with them. + + +A low murmur ran round the lips of the men who watched, then one cried, +and his voice rang strangely in the sudden silence: 'May our wives, +the women of the Otomie, rest softly in the Houses of the Sun, for of a +surety they teach us how to die.' + +'Ay,' I answered, 'but not thus. Let women do self-murder, our foes have +swords for the hearts of men.' + +I turned to go, and before me stood Otomie. + +'What has befallen?' she said. 'Where are my sisters? Oh! surely I have +dreamed an evil dream. I dreamed that the gods of my forefathers were +strong once more, and that once more they drank the blood of men.' + +'Your ill dream has a worse awakening, Otomie,' I answered. 'The gods of +hell are still strong indeed in this accursed land, and they have taken +your sisters into their keeping.' + +'Is it so?' she said softly, 'yet in my dream it seemed to me that this +was their last strength ere they sink into death unending. Look yonder!' +and she pointed toward the snowy crest of the volcan Xaca. + +I looked, but whether I saw the sight of which I am about to tell or +whether it was but an imagining born of the horrors of that most hideous +night, in truth I cannot say. At the least I seemed to see this, and +afterwards there were some among the Spaniards who swore that they had +witnessed it also. + +On Xaca's lofty summit, now as always stood a pillar of fiery smoke, and +while I gazed, to my vision the smoke and the fire separated themselves. +Out of the fire was fashioned a cross of flame, that shone like +lightning and stretched for many a rod across the heavens, its base +resting on the mountain top. At its foot rolled the clouds of smoke, and +now these too took forms vast and terrifying, such forms indeed as +those that sat in stone within the temple behind me, but magnified a +hundredfold. + +'See,' said Otomie again, 'the cross of your God shines above the shapes +of mine, the lost gods whom to-night I worshipped though not of my own +will.' Then she turned and went. + +For some few moments I stood very much afraid, gazing upon the vision +on Xaca's snow, then suddenly the rays of the rising sun smote it and it +was gone. + + +Now for three days more we held out against the Spaniards, for they +could not come at us and their shot swept over our heads harmlessly. +During these days I had no talk with Otomie, for we shrank from one +another. Hour by hour she would sit in the storehouse of the temple a +very picture of desolation. Twice I tried to speak with her, my heart +being moved to pity by the dumb torment in her eyes, but she turned her +head from me and made no answer. + +Soon it came to the knowledge of the Spaniards that we had enough food +and water upon the teocalli to enable us to live there for a month or +more, and seeing that there was no hope of capturing the place by force +of arms, they called a parley with us. + +I went down to the breach in the roadway and spoke with their envoy, +who stood upon the path below. At first the terms offered were that we +should surrender at discretion. To this I answered that sooner than do +so we would die where we were. Their reply was that if we would give +over all who had any part in the human sacrifice, the rest of us might +go free. To this I said that the sacrifice had been carried out by women +and some few men, and that all of these were dead by their own hands. +They asked if Otomie was also dead. I told them no, but that I would +never surrender unless they swore that neither she nor her son should +be harmed, but rather that together with myself they should be given a +safe-conduct to go whither we willed. This was refused, but in the end +I won the day, and a parchment was thrown up to me on the point of a +lance. This parchment, which was signed by the Captain Bernal Diaz, set +out that in consideration of the part that I and some men of the Otomie +had played in rescuing the Spanish captives from death by sacrifice, a +pardon was granted to me, my wife and child, and all upon the teocalli, +with liberty to go whither-soever we would unharmed, our lands and +wealth being however declared forfeit to the viceroy. + +With these terms I was well content, indeed I had never hoped to win any +that would leave us our lives and liberty. + +And yet for my part death had been almost as welcome, for now Otomie +had built a wall between us that I could never climb, and I was bound +to her, to a woman who, willingly or no, had stained her hands with +sacrifice. Well, my son was left to me and with him I must be satisfied; +at the least he knew nothing of his mother's shame. Oh! I thought to +myself as I climbed the teocalli, oh! that I could but escape far from +this accursed land and bear him with me to the English shores, ay, and +Otomie also, for there she might forget that once she had been a savage. +Alas! it could scarcely be! + +Coming to the temple, I and those with me told the good tidings to our +companions, who received it silently. Men of a white race would have +rejoiced thus to escape, for when death is near all other loss seems as +nothing. But with these Indian people it is not so, since when fortune +frowns upon them they do not cling to life. These men of the Otomie had +lost their country, their wives, their wealth, their brethren, and their +homes; therefore life, with freedom to wander whither they would, seemed +no great thing to them. So they met the boon that I had won from the +mercy of our foes, as had matters gone otherwise they would have met the +bane, in sullen silence. + +I came to Otomie, and to her also I told the news. + +'I had hoped to die here where I am,' she answered. 'But so be it; death +is always to be found.' + +Only my son rejoiced, because he knew that God had saved us all from +death by sword or hunger. + +'Father,' he said, 'the Spaniards have given us life, but they take our +country and drive us out of it. Where then shall we go?' + +'I do not know, my son,' I answered. + +'Father,' the lad said again, 'let us leave this land of Anahuac where +there is nothing but Spaniards and sorrow. Let us find a ship and sail +across the seas to England, our own country.' + +The boy spoke my very thought and my heart leapt at his words, though I +had no plan to bring the matter about. I pondered a moment, looking at +Otomie. + +'The thought is good, Teule,' she said, answering my unspoken question; +'for you and for our son there is no better, but for myself I will +answer in the proverb of my people, "The earth that bears us lies +lightest on our bones."' + +Then she turned, making ready to quit the storehouse of the temple where +we had been lodged during the siege, and no more was said about the +matter. + +Before the sun set a weary throng of men, with some few women and +children, were marching across the courtyard that surrounded the +pyramid, for a bridge of timbers taken from the temple had been made +over the breach in the roadway that wound about its side. + +At the gates the Spaniards were waiting to receive us. Some of them +cursed us, some mocked, but those of the nobler sort said nothing, for +they pitied our plight and respected us for the courage we had shown +in the last struggle. Their Indian allies were there also, and these +grinned like unfed pumas, snarling and whimpering for our lives, till +their masters kicked them to silence. The last act of the fall of +Anahuac was as the first had been, dog still ate dog, leaving the goodly +spoil to the lion who watched. + +At the gates we were sorted out; the men of small condition, together +with the children, were taken from the ruined city by an escort and +turned loose upon the mountains, while those of note were brought to the +Spanish camp, to be questioned there before they were set free. I, with +my wife and son, was led to the palace, our old home, there to learn the +will of the Captain Diaz. + +It is but a little way to go, and yet there was something to be seen +in the path. For as we walked I looked up, and before me, standing +with folded arms and apart from all men, was de Garcia. I had scarcely +thought of him for some days, so full had my mind been of other matters, +but at the sight of his evil face I remembered that while this man +lived, sorrow and danger must be my bedfellows. + +He watched us pass, taking note of all, then he called to me who walked +last: + +'Farewell, Cousin Wingfield. You have lived through this bout also and +won a free pardon, you, your woman and your brat together. If the old +war-horse who is set over us as a captain had listened to me you should +have been burned at the stake, every one of you, but so it is. Farewell +for a while, friend. I am away to Mexico to report these matters to the +viceroy, who may have a word to say.' + +I made no answer, but asked of our conductor, that same Spaniard whom I +had saved from the sacrifice, what the senor meant by his words. + +'This, Teule; that there has been a quarrel between our comrade Sarceda +and our captain. The former would have granted you no terms, or failing +this would have decoyed you from your stronghold with false promises, +and then have put you to the sword as infidels with whom no oath is +binding. But the captain would not have it so, for he said that faith +must be kept even with the heathen, and we whom you had saved cried +shame on him. And so words ran high, and in the end the Senor Sarceda, +who is third in command among us, declared that he would be no party to +this peacemaking, but would be gone to Mexico with his servants, there +to report to the viceroy. Then the Captain Diaz bade him begone to hell +if he wished and report to the devil, saying that he had always believed +that he had escaped thence by mistake, and they parted in wrath who, +since the day of noche triste, never loved each other much; the end +of it being that Sarceda rides for Mexico within an hour, to make what +mischief he can at the viceroy's court, and I think that you are well +rid of him.' + +'Father,' said my son to me, 'who is that Spaniard who looks so cruelly +upon us?' + +'That is he of whom I have told you, son, de Garcia, who has been the +curse of our race for two generations, who betrayed your grandfather to +the Holy Office, and murdered your grandmother, who put me to torture, +and whose ill deeds are not done with yet. Beware of him, son, now and +ever, I beseech you.' + + +Now we were come to the palace, almost the only house that was left +standing in the City of Pines. Here an apartment was given to us at the +end of the long building, and presently a command was brought to us that +I and my wife should wait upon the Spanish captain Diaz. + +So we went, though Otomie desired to stay behind, leaving our son alone +in the chamber where food had been brought to him. I remember that I +kissed him before I left, though I do not know what moved me to do so, +unless it was because I thought that he might be asleep when I returned. +The Captain Diaz had his quarters at the other end of the palace, +some two hundred paces away. Presently we stood before him. He was a +rough-looking, thick-set man well on in years, with bright eyes and an +ugly honest face, like the face of a peasant who has toiled a lifetime +in all weathers, only the fields that Diaz tilled were fields of war, +and his harvest had been the lives of men. Just then he was joking with +some common soldiers in a strain scarcely suited to nice ears, but so +soon as he saw us he ceased and came forward. I saluted him after the +Indian fashion by touching the earth with my hand, for what was I but an +Indian captive? + +'Your sword,' he said briefly, as he scanned me with his quick eyes. + +I unbuckled it from my side and handed it to him, saying in Spanish: + +'Take it, Captain, for you have conquered, also it does but come back +to its owner.' For this was the same sword that I had captured from one +Bernal Diaz in the fray of the noche triste. + +He looked at it, then swore a great oath and said: + +'I thought that it could be no other man. And so we meet again thus +after so many years. Well, you gave me my life once, and I am glad that +I have lived to pay the debt. Had I not been sure that it was you, you +had not won such easy terms, friend. How are you named? Nay, I know what +the Indians call you.' + +'I am named Wingfield.' + +'Friend Wingfield then. For I tell you that I would have sat beneath +yonder devil's house,' and he nodded towards the teocalli, 'till you +starved upon its top. Nay, friend Wingfield, take back the sword. I +suited myself with another many years ago, and you have used this one +gallantly; never have I seen Indians make a better fight. And so that is +Otomie, Montezuma's daughter and your wife, still handsome and royal, +I see. Lord! Lord! it is many years ago, and yet it seems but yesterday +that I saw her father die, a Christian-hearted man, though no Christian, +and one whom we dealt ill with. May God forgive us all! Well, Madam, +none can say that YOU have a Christian heart. If a certain tale that I +have heard of what passed yonder, some three nights since, is true. But +we will speak no more of it, for the savage blood will show, and you +are pardoned for your husband's sake who saved my comrades from the +sacrifice.' + +To all this Otomie listened, standing still like a statue, but she never +answered a word. Indeed she had spoken very rarely since that dreadful +night of her unspeakable shame. + +'And now, friend Wingfield,' went on the Captain Diaz, 'what is your +purpose? You are free to go where you will, whither then will you go?' + +'I do not know,' I answered. 'Years ago, when the Aztec emperor gave me +my life and this princess my wife in marriage, I swore to be faithful +to him and his cause, and to fight for them till Popo ceased to vomit +smoke, till there was no king in Tenoctitlan, and the people of Anahuac +were no more a people.' + +'Then you are quit of your oath, friend, for all these things have come +about, and there has been no smoke on Popo for these two years. Now, if +you will be advised by me, you will turn Christian again and enter +the service of Spain. But come, let us to supper, we can talk of these +matters afterwards.' + +So we sat down to eat by the light of torches in the banqueting hall +with Bernal Diaz and some other of the Spaniards. Otomie would have left +us, and though the captain bade her stay she ate nothing, and presently +slipped away from the chamber. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +VENGEANCE + + +During that meal Bernal Diaz spoke of our first meeting on the causeway, +and of how I had gone near to killing him in error, thinking that he was +Sarceda, and then he asked me what was my quarrel with Sarceda. + +In as few words as possible I told him the story of my life, of all the +evil that de Garcia or Sarceda had worked upon me and mine, and of how +it was through him that I was in this land that day. He listened amazed. + +'Holy Mother!' he said at length, 'I always knew him for a villain, but +that, if you do not lie, friend Wingfield, he could be such a man as +this, I did not know. Now by my word, had I heard this tale an hour +ago, Sarceda should not have left this camp till he had answered it or +cleared himself by combat with you. But I fear it is too late; he was to +leave for Mexico at the rising of the moon, to stir up mischief against +me because I granted you terms--not that I fear him there, where his +repute is small.' + +'I do not lie indeed,' I answered. 'Much of this tale I can prove if +need be, and I tell you that I would give half the life that is left +to me to stand face to face in open fight with him again. Ever he has +escaped me, and the score between us is long.' + +Now as I spoke thus it seemed to me that a cold and dreadful air played +upon my hands and brow and a warning sense of present evil crept into my +soul, overcoming me so that I could not stir or speak for a while. + +'Let us go and see if he has gone,' said Diaz presently, and summoning +a guard, he was about to leave the chamber. It was at this moment that +I chanced to look up and see a woman standing in the doorway. Her hand +rested on the doorpost; her head, from which the long hair streamed, was +thrown back, and on her face was a look of such anguish that at first, +so much was she changed, I did not know her for Otomie. When I knew her, +I knew all; one thing only could conjure up the terror and agony that +shone in her deep eyes. + +'What has chanced to our son?' I asked. + +'DEAD, DEAD!' she answered in a whisper that seemed to pierce my marrow. + +I said nothing, for my heart told me what had happened, but Diaz asked, +'Dead--why, what has killed him?' + +'De Garcia! I saw him go,' replied Otomie; then she tossed her arms +high, and without another sound fell backwards to the earth. + +In that moment I think that my heart broke--at least I know that nothing +has had the power to move me greatly since, though this memory moves me +day by day and hour by hour, till I die and go to seek my son. + +'Say, Bernal Diaz,' I cried, with a hoarse laugh, 'did I lie to you +concerning this comrade of yours?' + +Then, springing over Otomie's body I left the chamber, followed by +Bernal Diaz and the others. + +Without the door I turned to the left towards the camp. I had not gone +a hundred paces when, in the moonlight, I saw a small troop of horsemen +riding towards us. It was de Garcia and his servants, and they headed +towards the mountain pass on their road to Mexico. I was not too late. + +'Halt!' cried Bernal Diaz. + +'Who commands me to halt?' said the voice of de Garcia. + +'I, your captain,' roared Diaz. 'Halt, you devil, you murderer, or you +shall be cut down.' + +I saw him start and turn pale. + +'These are strange manners, senor,' he said. 'Of your grace I ask--' + +At this moment de Garcia caught sight of me for the first time, for I +had broken from the hold of Diaz who clutched my arm, and was moving +towards him. I said nothing, but there was something in my face which +told him that I knew all, and warned him of his doom. He looked past me, +but the narrow road was blocked with men. I drew near, but he did +not wait for me. Once he put his hand on the hilt of the sword, then +suddenly he wheeled his horse round and fled down the street of Xaca. + +De Garcia fled, and I followed after him, running fast and low like a +hound. At first he gained on me, but soon the road grew rough, and he +could not gallop over it. We were clear of the town now, or rather of +its ruins, and travelling along a little path which the Indians used +to bring down snow from Xaca in the hot weather. Perhaps there are some +five miles of this path before the snow line is reached, beyond which no +Indian dared to set his foot, for the ground above was holy. Along this +path he went, and I was content to see it, for I knew well that the +traveller cannot leave it, since on either side lie water-courses and +cliffs. Mile after mile de Garcia followed it, looking now to the left, +now to the right, and now ahead at the great dome of snow crowned with +fire that towered above him. But he never looked behind him; he knew +what was there--death in the shape of a man! + +I came on doggedly, saving my strength. I was sure that I must catch him +at last, it did not matter when. + +At length he reached the snow-line where the path ended, and for the +first time he looked back. There I was some two hundred paces behind +him. I, his death, was behind him, and in front of him shone the snow. +For a moment he hesitated, and I heard the heavy breathing of his horse +in the great stillness. Then he turned and faced the slope, driving his +spurs into the brute's sides. The snow was hard, for here the frost bit +sharply, and for a while, though it was so steep, the horse travelled +over it better than he had done along the pathway. Now, as before, there +was only one road that he could take, for we passed up the crest of a +ridge, a pleat as it were in the garment of the mountain, and on either +side were steeps of snow on which neither horse nor man might keep his +footing. For two hours or more we followed that ridge, and as we went +through the silence of the haunted volcan, and the loneliness of its +eternal snows, it seemed to me that my spirit entered into the spirit +of my quarry, and that with its eyes I saw all that was passing in his +heart. To a man so wronged the dream was pleasant even if it were not +true, for I read there such agony, such black despair, such haunting +memories, such terror of advancing death and of what lay beyond it, that +no revenge of man's could surpass their torment. And it was true--I +knew that it was true; he suffered all this and more, for if he had no +conscience, at least he had fear and imagination to quicken and multiply +the fear. + +Now the snow grew steeper, and the horse was almost spent, for he could +scarcely breathe at so great a height. In vain did de Garcia drive his +spurs into its sides, the gallant beast could do no more. Suddenly it +fell down. Surely, I thought, he will await me now. But even I had not +fathomed the depth of his terrors, for de Garcia disengaged himself +from the fallen horse, looked towards me, then fled forward on his feet, +casting away his armour as he went that he might travel more lightly. + +By this time we had passed the snow and were come to the edge of the ice +cap that is made by the melting of the snow with the heat of the inner +fires, or perhaps by that of the sun in hot seasons, I know not, and +its freezing in the winter months or in the cold of the nights. At least +there is such a cap on Xaca, measuring nearly a mile in depth, which +lies between the snow and the black rim of the crater. Up this ice +climbed de Garcia, and the task is not of the easiest, even for one of +untroubled mind, for a man must step from crack to crack or needle +to needle of rough ice, that stand upon the smooth surface like the +bristles on a hog's back, and woe to him if one break or if he slip, for +then, as he falls, very shortly the flesh will be filed from his bones +by the thousands of sword-like points over which he must pass in his +descent towards the snow. Indeed, many times I feared greatly lest this +should chance to de Garcia, for I did not desire to lose my vengeance +thus. Therefore twice when I saw him in danger I shouted to him, telling +him where to put his feet, for now I was within twenty paces of +him, and, strange to say, he obeyed me without question, forgetting +everything in his terror of instant death. But for myself I had no fear, +for I knew that I should not fall, though the place was one which I had +surely shrunk from climbing at any other time. + +All this while we had been travelling towards Xaca's fiery crest by the +bright moonlight, but now the dawn broke suddenly on the mountain top, +and the flame died away in the heart of the pillar of smoke. It was +wonderful to see the red glory that shone upon the ice-cap, and on us +two men who crept like flies across it, while the mountain's breast and +the world below were plunged in the shadows of night. + +'Now we have a better light to climb by, comrade!' I called to de +Garcia, and my voice rang strangely among the ice cliffs, where never a +man's voice had echoed before. + +As I spoke the mountain rumbled and bellowed beneath us, shaking like +a wind-tossed tree, as though in wrath at the desecration of its sacred +solitudes. With the rumbling came a shower of grey ashes that rained +down on us, and for a little while hid de Garcia from my sight. I heard +him call out in fear, and was afraid lest he had fallen; but presently +the ashes cleared away, and I saw him standing safely on the lava rim +that surrounds the crater. + +Now, I thought, he will surely make a stand, for could he have found +courage it had been easy for him to kill me with his sword, which he +still wore, as I climbed from the ice to the hot lava. It seemed that he +thought of it, for he turned and glared at me like a devil, then went on +again, leaving me wondering where he believed that he would find refuge. +Some three hundred paces from the edge of the ice, the smoke and steam +of the crater rose into the air, and between the two was lava so hot +that in places it was difficult to walk upon it. Across this bed, that +trembled as I passed over it, went de Garcia somewhat slowly, for now he +was weary, and I followed him at my ease, getting my breath again. + +Presently I saw that he had come to the edge of the crater, for he +leaned forward and looked over, and I thought that he was about to +destroy himself by plunging into it. But if such thoughts had been in +his mind, he forgot them when he had seen what sort of nest this was +to sleep in, for turning, he came back towards me, sword up, and we met +within a dozen paces of the edge. I say met, but in truth we did not +meet, for he stopped again, well out of reach of my sword. I sat down +upon a block of lava and looked at him; it seemed to me that I could not +feast my eyes enough upon his face. And what a face it was; that of a +more than murderer about to meet his reward! Would that I could paint to +show it, for no words can tell the fearfulness of those red and sunken +eyes, those grinning teeth and quivering lips. I think that when the +enemy of mankind has cast his last die and won his last soul, he too +will look thus as he passes into doom. + +'At length, de Garcia!' I said. + +'Why do you not kill me and make an end?' he asked hoarsely. + +'Where is the hurry, cousin? For hard on twenty years I have sought you, +shall we then part so soon? Let us talk a while. Before we part to meet +no more, perhaps of your courtesy you will answer me a question, for I +am curious. Why have you wrought these evils on me and mine? Surely +you must have some reason for what seems to be an empty and foolish +wickedness.' + +I spoke to him thus calmly and coldly, feeling no passion, feeling +nothing. For in that strange hour I was no longer Thomas Wingfield, I +was no longer human, I was a force, an instrument; I could think of my +dead son without sorrow, he did not seem dead to me, for I partook of +the nature that he had put on in this change of death. I could even +think of de Garcia without hate, as though he also were nothing but a +tool in some other hand. Moreover, I KNEW that he was mine, body and +mind, and that he must answer and truly, so surely as he must die when +I chose to kill him. He tried to shut his lips, but they opened of +themselves and word by word the truth was dragged from his black heart +as though he stood already before the judgment seat. + +'I loved your mother, my cousin,' he said, speaking slowly and +painfully; 'from a child I loved her only in the world, as I love her to +this hour, but she hated me because I was wicked and feared me because I +was cruel. Then she saw your father and loved him, and brought about his +escape from the Holy Office, whither I had delivered him to be tortured +and burnt, and fled with him to England. I was jealous and would have +been revenged if I might, but there was no way. I led an evil life, and +when nearly twenty years had gone by, chance took me to England on a +trading journey. By chance I learned that your father and mother lived +near Yarmouth, and I determined to see her, though at that time I had no +thought of killing her. Fortune favoured me, and we met in the woodland, +and I saw that she was still beautiful and knew that I loved her more +than ever before. I gave her choice to fly with me or to die, and after +a while she died. But as she shrank up the wooded hillside before my +sword, of a sudden she stood still and said: + +'"Listen before you smite, Juan. I have a death vision. As I have fled +from you, so shall you fly before one of my blood in a place of fire and +rock and snow, and as you drive me to the gates of heaven, so he shall +drive you into the mouth of hell."' + +'In such a place as this, cousin,' I said. + +'In such a place as this,' he whispered, glancing round. + +'Continue.' + +Again he strove to be silent, but again my will mastered him and he +spoke. + +'It was too late to spare her if I wished to escape myself, so I killed +her and fled. But terror entered my heart, terror which has never left +it to this hour, for always before my eyes was the vision of him of +your mother's blood, before whom I should fly as she fled before me, who +shall drive me into the mouth of hell.' + +'That must be yonder, cousin,' I said, pointing with the sword toward +the pit of the crater. + +'It is yonder; I have looked.' + +'But only for the body, cousin, not for the spirit.' + +'Only for the body, not for the spirit,' he repeated after me. + +'Continue,' I said. + +'Afterwards on that same day I met you, Thomas Wingfield. Already your +dead mother's prophecy had taken hold of me, and seeing one of her blood +I strove to kill him lest he should kill me.' + +'As he will do presently, cousin.' + +'As he will do presently,' he repeated like a talking bird. + +'You know what happened and how I escaped. I fled to Spain and strove +to forget. But I could not. One night I saw a face in the streets of +Seville that reminded me of your face. I did not think that it could +be you, yet so strong was my fear that I determined to fly to the far +Indies. You met me on the night of my flight when I was bidding farewell +to a lady.' + +'One Isabella de Siguenza, cousin. I bade farewell to her afterwards and +delivered her dying words to you. Now she waits to welcome you again, +she and her child.' + +He shuddered and went on. 'In the ocean we met again. You rose out of +the sea. I did not dare to kill you at once, I thought that you must die +in the slave-hold and that none could bear witness against me and hold +me guilty of your blood. You did not die, even the sea could not destroy +you. But I thought that you were dead. I came to Anahuac in the train +of Cortes and again we met; that time you nearly killed me. Afterwards +I had my revenge and I tortured you well; I meant to murder you on the +morrow, though first I would torture you, for terror can be very cruel, +but you escaped me. Long years passed, I wandered hither and thither, to +Spain, back to Mexico, and elsewhere, but wherever I went my fear, +the ghosts of the dead, and my dreams went with me, and I was never +fortunate. Only the other day I joined the company of Diaz as an +adventurer. Not till we reached the City of Pines did I learn that you +were the captain of the Otomie; it was said that you were long dead. You +know the rest.' + +'Why did you murder my son, cousin?' + +'Was he not of your mother's blood, of the blood that should bring my +doom upon me, and did I owe you no reward for all the terrors of these +many years? Moreover he is foolish who strives to slay the father and +spares the son. He is dead and I am glad that I killed him, though he +haunts me now with the others.' + +'And shall haunt you eternally. Now let us make an end. You have your +sword, use it if you can. It will be easier to die fighting.' + +'I cannot,' he groaned; 'my doom is upon me.' + +'As you will,' and I came at him, sword up. + +He ran from before me, moving backwards and keeping his eyes fixed upon +mine, as I have seen a rat do when a snake is about to swallow it. Now +we were upon the edge of the crater, and looking over I saw an awful +sight. For there, some thirty feet beneath us, the red-hot lava glowing +sullenly beneath a shifting pall of smoke, rolled and spouted like a +thing alive. Jets of steam flew upwards from it with a screaming sound, +lines of noxious vapours, many-coloured, crept and twisted on its +surface, and a hot and horrid stench poisoned the heated air. Here +indeed was such a gate as I could wish for de Garcia to pass through to +his own abode. + +I looked, pointed with my sword, and laughed; he looked and shrieked +aloud, for now all his manhood had left him, so great was his terror of +what lay beyond the end. Yes, this proud and haughty Spaniard screamed +and wept and prayed for mercy; he who had done so many villanies beyond +forgiveness, prayed for mercy that he might find time to repent. I stood +and watched him, and so dreadful was his aspect that horror struck me +even through the calm of my frozen heart. + +'Come, it is time to finish,' I said, and again I lifted my sword, only +to let it fall, for suddenly his brain gave way and de Garcia went mad +before my eyes! + +Of all that followed I will not write. With his madness courage came +back to him, and he began to fight, but not with ME. + +He seemed to perceive me no more, but nevertheless he fought, and +desperately, thrusting at the empty air. It was terrible to see him +thus doing battle with his invisible foes, and to hear his screams and +curses, as inch by inch they drove him back to the edge of the +crater. Here he stood a while, like one who makes a last stand against +overpowering strength, thrusting and striking furiously. Twice he nearly +fell, as though beneath a mortal wound, but recovering himself, fought +on with Nothingness. Then, with a sharp cry, suddenly he threw his arms +wide, as a man does who is pierced through the heart; his sword dropped +from his hand, and he fell backwards into the pit. + +I turned away my eyes, for I wished to see no more; but often I have +wondered Who or What it was that dealt de Garcia his death wound. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +OTOMIE'S FAREWELL + + +Thus then did I accomplish the vengeance that I had sworn to my father +I would wreak upon de Garcia, or rather, thus did I witness its +accomplishment, for in the end he died, terribly enough, not by my hand +but by those of his own fears. Since then I have sorrowed for this, for, +when the frozen and unnatural calm passed from my mind, I hated him as +bitterly as ever, and grieved that I let him die otherwise than by my +hand, and to this hour such is my mind towards him. Doubtless, many may +think it wicked, since we are taught to forgive our enemies, but here I +leave the forgiveness to God, for how can I pardon one who betrayed my +father to the priests, who murdered my mother and my son, who chained +me in the slave-ship and for many hours tortured me with his own hand? +Rather, year by year, do I hate him more. I write of this at some +length, since the matter has been a trouble to me. I never could say +that I was in charity with all men living and dead, and because of this, +some years since, a worthy and learned rector of this parish took upon +himself to refuse me the rites of the church. Then I went to the bishop +and laid the story before him, and it puzzled him somewhat. + +But he was a man of large mind, and in the end he rebuked the rector +and commanded him to minister to me, for he thought with me that the +Almighty could not ask of an erring man, that he should forgive one who +had wrought such evils on him and his, even though that enemy were dead +and gone to judgment in another place. + +But enough of this question of conscience. + + +When de Garcia was gone into the pit, I turned my steps homewards, or +rather towards the ruined city which I could see beneath me, for I had +no home left. Now I must descend the ice cap, and this I found less +easy than climbing it had been, for, my vengeance being accomplished, I +became as other men are, and a sad and weary one at that, so sad indeed +that I should not have sorrowed greatly if I had made a false step upon +the ice. + +But I made none, and at length I came to the snow where the travelling +was easy. My oath was fulfilled and my vengeance was accomplished, but +as I went I reckoned up the cost. I had lost my betrothed, the love of +my youth; for twenty years I had lived a savage chief among savages and +made acquaintance with every hardship, wedded to a woman who, although +she loved me dearly, and did not lack nobility of mind, as she had shown +the other day, was still at heart a savage or, at the least, a thrall +of demon gods. The tribe that I ruled was conquered, the beautiful city +where I dwelt was a ruin, I was homeless and a beggar, and my fortune +would be great if in the issue I escaped death or slavery. All this I +could have borne, for I had borne the like before, but the cruel end of +my last surviving son, the one true joy of my desolate life, I could +not bear. The love of those children had become the passion of my middle +age, and as I loved them so they had loved me. I had trained them from +babyhood till their hearts were English and not Aztec, as were their +speech and faith, and thus they were not only my dear children, but +companions of my own race, the only ones I had. And now by accident, by +sickness, and by the sword, they were dead the three of them, and I was +desolate. + +Ah! we think much of the sorrows of our youth, and should a sweetheart +give us the go by we fill the world with moans and swear that it holds +no comfort for us. But when we bend our heads before the shrouded shape +of some lost child, then it is that for the first time we learn how +terrible grief can be. Time, they tell us, will bring consolation, +but it is false, for such sorrows time has no salves--I say it who am +old--as they are so they shall be. There is no hope but faith, there is +no comfort save in the truth that love which might have withered on the +earth grows fastest in the tomb, to flower gloriously in heaven; that no +love indeed can be perfect till God sanctifies and completes it with His +seal of death. + +I threw myself down there upon the desolate snows of Xaca, that none had +trod before, and wept such tears as a man may weep but once in his life +days. + +'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for +thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!' I cried with the ancient king--I whose +grief was greater than his, for had I not lost three sons within as many +years? Then remembering that as this king had gone to join his son +long centuries ago, so I must one day go to join mine, and taking such +comfort from the thought as may be found in it, I rose and crept back to +the ruined City of Pines. + +It was near sunset when I came thither, for the road was long and I grew +weak. By the palace I met the Captain Diaz and some of his company, and +they lifted their bonnets to me as I went by, for they had respect for +my sorrows. Only Diaz spoke, saying: + +'Is the murderer dead?' + +I nodded and went on. I went on to our chamber, for there I thought that +I should find Otomie. + +She sat in it alone, cold and beautiful as though she had been fashioned +in marble. + +'I have buried him with the bones of his brethren and his forefathers,' +she said, answering the question that my eyes asked. 'It seemed best +that you should see him no more, lest your heart should break.' + +'It is well,' I answered; 'but my heart is broken already.' + +'Is the murderer dead?' she said presently in the very words of Diaz. + +'He is dead.' + +'How?' + +I told her in few words. + +'You should have slain him yourself; our son's blood is not avenged.' + +'I should have slain him, but in that hour I did not seek vengeance, I +watched it fall from heaven, and was content. Perchance it is best so. +The seeking of vengeance has brought all my sorrows upon me; vengeance +belongs to God and not to man, as I have learned too late.' + +'I do not think so,' said Otomie, and the look upon her face was that +look which I had seen when she smote the Tlascalan, when she taunted +Marina, and when she danced upon the pyramid, the leader of the +sacrifice. 'Had I been in your place, I would have killed him by inches. +When I had done with him, then the devils might begin, not before. But +it is of no account; everything is done with, all are dead, and my heart +with them. Now eat, for you are weary.' + +So I ate, and afterwards I cast myself upon the bed and slept. + + +In the darkness I heard the voice of Otomie that said, 'Awake, I would +speak with you,' and there was that about her voice which stirred me +from my heavy sleep. + +'Speak on,' I said. 'Where are you, Otomie?' + +'Seated at your side. I cannot rest, so I am seated here. Listen. Many, +many years ago we met, when you were brought by Guatemoc from Tobasco. +Ah! well do I remember my first sight of you, the Teule, in the court +of my father Montezuma, at Chapoltepec. I loved you then as I have loved +you ever since. At least I have never gone astray after strange gods,' +and she laughed bitterly. + +'Why do you talk of these things, Otomie?' I asked. + +'Because it is my fancy to do so. Cannot you spare me one hour from your +sleep, who have spared you so many? You remember how you scorned me--oh! +I thought I should have died of shame when, after I had caused myself +to be given to you as wife, the wife of Tezcat, you told me of the +maid across the seas, that Lily maid whose token is still set upon +your finger. But I lived through it and I loved you the better for your +honesty, and then you know the rest. I won you because I was brave and +lay at your side upon the stone of sacrifice, where you kissed me and +told me that you loved me. But you never loved me, not truly, all the +while you were thinking of the Lily maid. I knew it then, as I know it +now, though I tried to deceive myself. I was beautiful in those days and +this is something with a man. I was faithful and that is more, and once +or twice you thought that you loved me. Now I wish that those Teules had +come an hour later, and we had died together there upon the stone, that +is I wish it for my own sake, not for yours. Then we escaped and the +great struggle came. I told you then that I understood it all. You had +kissed me on the stone of sacrifice, but in that moment you were as one +dead; when you came back to life, it was otherwise. But fortune took the +game out of your hands and you married me, and swore an oath to me, and +this oath you have kept faithfully. You married me but you did not know +whom you married; you thought me beautiful, and sweet, and true, and all +these things I was, but you did not understand that I was far apart from +you, that I was still a savage as my forefathers had been. You thought +that I had learned your ways, perchance even you thought that I +reverenced your God, as for your sake I have striven to do, but all the +while I have followed the ways of my own people and I could not quite +forget my own gods, or at the least they would not suffer me, their +servant, to escape them. For years and years I put them from me, but at +last they were avenged and my heart mastered me, or rather they mastered +me, for I knew nothing of what I did some few nights since, when I +celebrated the sacrifice to Huitzel and you saw me at the ancient rites. + +'All these years you had been true to me and I had borne you children +whom you loved; but you loved them for their own sake, not for mine, +indeed, at heart you hated the Indian blood that was mixed in their +veins with yours. Me also you loved in a certain fashion and this half +love of yours drove me well nigh mad; such as it was, it died when you +saw me distraught and celebrating the rites of my forefathers on the +teocalli yonder, and you knew me for what I am, a savage. And now the +children who linked us together are dead--one by one they died in this +way and in that, for the curse which follows my blood descended upon +them--and your love for me is dead with them. I alone remain alive, a +monument of past days, and I die also. + +'Nay, be silent; listen to me, for my time is short. When you bade me +call you "husband" no longer, then I knew that it was finished. I obey +you, I put you from me, you are no more my husband, and soon I shall +cease to be your wife; still, Teule, I pray you listen to me. Now it +seems to you in your sorrow, that your days are done and that there is +no happiness left for you. This is not so. You are still but a man in +the beginning of middle age, and you are yet strong. You will escape +from this ruined land, and when you shake the dust of it off your feet +its curse shall fall from you; you will return to your own place, and +there you will find one who has awaited your coming for many years. +There the savage woman whom you mated with, the princess of a fallen +house, will become but a fantastic memory to you, and all these strange +eventful years will be as a midnight dream. Only your love for the dead +children will always remain, these you must always love by day and by +night, and the desire of them, that desire for the dead than which there +is nothing more terrible, shall follow you to your grave, and I am glad +that it should be so, for I was their mother and some thought of me must +go with them. This alone the Lily maid has left to me, and there only +I shall prevail against her, for, Teule, no child of hers shall live to +rob your heart of the memory of those I gave you. + +'Oh! I have watched you by day and by night: I have seen the longing in +your eyes for a face which you have lost and for the land of your youth. +Be happy, you shall gain both, for the struggle is ended and the Lily +maid has been too strong for me. I grow weak and I have little more to +say. We part, and perhaps for ever, for what is there between us save +the souls of those dead sons of ours? Since you desire me no more, that +I may make our severance perfect, now in the hour of my death I renounce +your gods and I seek my own, though I think that I love yours and hate +those of my people. Is there any communion between them? We part, and +perchance for ever, yet I pray of you to think of me kindly, for I have +loved you and I love you; I was the mother of your children, whom being +Christian, you will meet again. I love you now and for always. I am +glad to have lived because you kissed me on the stone of sacrifice, and +afterwards I bore you sons. They are yours and not mine; it seems to me +now that I only cared for them because they were yours, and they +loved you and not me. Take them--take their spirits as you have taken +everything. You swore that death alone should sever us, and you have +kept your oath in the letter and in the thought. But now I go to the +Houses of the Sun to seek my own people, and to you, Teule, with whom +I have lived many years and seen much sorrow, but whom I will no longer +call husband, since you forbade me so to do, I say, make no mock of +me to the Lily maid. Speak of me to her as little as you may--be happy +and--farewell!' + + +Now as she spoke ever more faintly, and I listened bewildered, the light +of dawn grew slowly in the chamber. It gathered on the white shape of +Otomie seated in a chair hard by the bed, and I saw that her arms hung +down and that her head was resting on the back of the chair. Now I +sprang up and peered into her face. It was white and cold, and I could +feel no breath upon her lips. I seized her hand, that also was cold. I +spoke into her ear, I kissed her brow, but she did not move nor answer. +The light grew quickly, and now I saw all. Otomie was dead, and by her +own act. + +This was the manner of her death. She had drunk of a poison of which the +Indians have the secret, a poison that works slowly and without pain, +leaving the mind unclouded to the end. It was while her life was fading +from her that she had spoken to me thus sadly and bitterly. I sat upon +the bed and gazed at her. I did not weep, for my tears were done, and as +I have said, whatever I might feel nothing could break my calm any more. +And as I gazed a great tenderness and sorrow took hold of me, and I +loved Otomie better now that she was dead before me than ever I had done +in her life days, and this is saying much. I remembered her in the glory +of her youth as she was in the court of her royal father, I remembered +the look which she had given me when she stepped to my side upon the +stone of sacrifice, and that other look when she defied Cuitlahua the +emperor, who would have slain me. Once more I seemed to hear her cry of +bitter sorrow as she uncovered the body of the dead babe our firstborn, +and to see her sword in hand standing over the Tlascalan. + +Many things came back to me in that sad hour of dawn while I watched +by the corpse of Otomie. There was truth in her words, I had never +forgotten my first love and often I desired to see her face. But it was +not true to say that I had no love for Otomie. I loved her well and I +was faithful in my oath to her, indeed, not until she was dead did I +know how dear she had grown to me. It is true that there was a great +gulf between us which widened with the years, the gulf of blood and +faith, for I knew well that she could not altogether put away her old +beliefs, and it is true that when I saw her leading the death chant, a +great horror took me and for a while I loathed her. But these things I +might have lived to forgive, for they were part of her blood and nature, +moreover, the last and worst of them was not done by her own will, and +when they were set aside there remained much that I could honour and +love in the memory of this most royal and beautiful woman, who for so +many years was my faithful wife. So I thought in that hour and so I +think to this day. She said that we parted for ever, but I trust and I +believe that this is not so. Surely there is forgiveness for us all, and +a place where those who were near and dear to each other on the earth +may once more renew their fellowship. + +At last I rose with a sigh to seek help, and as I rose I felt that there +was something set about my neck. It was the collar of great emeralds +which Guatemoc had given to me, and that I had given to Otomie. She had +set it there while I slept, and with it a lock of her long hair. Both +shall be buried with me. + + +I laid her in the ancient sepulchre amid the bones of her forefathers +and by the bodies of her children, and two days later I rode to Mexico +in the train of Bernal Diaz. At the mouth of the pass I turned and +looked back upon the ruins of the City of Pines, where I had lived +so many years and where all I loved were buried. Long and earnestly I +gazed, as in his hour of death a man looks back upon his past life, till +at length Diaz laid his hand upon my shoulder: + +'You are a lonely man now, comrade,' he said; 'what plans have you for +the future?' + +'None,' I answered, 'except to die.' + +'Never talk so,' he said; 'why, you are scarcely forty, and I who am +fifty and more do not speak of dying. Listen; you have friends in your +own country, England?' + +'I had.' + +'Folk live long in those quiet lands. Go seek them, I will find you a +passage to Spain.' + +'I will think of it,' I answered. + +In time we came to Mexico, a new and a strange city to me, for Cortes +had rebuilt it, and where the teocalli had stood, up which I was led to +sacrifice, a cathedral was building, whereof the foundations were fitly +laid with the hideous idols of the Aztecs. The place was well enough, +but it is not so beautiful as the Tenoctitlan of Montezuma, nor ever +will be. The people too were changed; then they were warriors and free, +now they are slaves. + +In Mexico Diaz found me a lodging. None molested me there, for the +pardon that I had received was respected. Also I was a ruined man, no +longer to be feared, the part that I had played in the noche triste and +in the defence of the city was forgotten, and the tale of my sorrows won +me pity even from the Spaniards. I abode in Mexico ten days, wandering +sadly about the city and up to the hill of Chapoltepec, where +Montezuma's pleasure-house had been, and where I had met Otomie. Nothing +was left of its glories except some of the ancient cedar trees. On the +eighth day of my stay an Indian stopped me in the street, saying that an +old friend had charged him to say that she wished to see me. + +I followed the Indian, wondering who the friend might be, for I had no +friends, and he led me to a fine stone house in a new street. Here I was +seated in a darkened chamber and waited there a while, till suddenly +a sad and sweet voice that seemed familiar to me, addressed me in the +Aztec tongue, saying, 'Welcome, Teule.' + +I looked and there before me, dressed in the Spanish fashion, stood +a lady, an Indian, still beautiful, but very feeble and much worn, as +though with sickness and sorrow. + +'Do you not know Marina, Teule?' she said again, but before the words +had left her lips I knew her. 'Well, I will say this, that I should +scarcely have known YOU, Teule. Trouble and time have done their work +with both of us.' + +I took her hand and kissed it. + +'Where then is Cortes?' I asked. + +Now a great trembling seized her. + +'Cortes is in Spain, pleading his suit. He has wed a new wife there, +Teule. Many years ago he put me away, giving me in marriage to Don +Juan Xaramillo, who took me because of my possessions, for Cortes dealt +liberally with me, his discarded mistress.' And she began to weep. + +Then by degrees I learned the story, but I will not write it here, for +it is known to the world. When Marina had served his turn and her wit +was of no more service to him, the conqueror discarded her, leaving her +to wither of a broken heart. She told me all the tale of her anguish +when she learned the truth, and of how she had cried to him that +thenceforth he would never prosper. Nor indeed did he do so. + +For two hours or more we talked, and when I had heard her story I told +her mine, and she wept for me, since with all her faults Marina's heart +was ever gentle. + +Then we parted never to meet again. Before I went she pressed a gift of +money on me, and I was not ashamed to take it who had none. + +This then was the history of Marina, who betrayed her country for her +love's sake, and this the reward of her treason and her love. But I +shall always hold her memory sacred, for she was a good friend to me, +and twice she saved my life, nor would she desert me, even when Otomie +taunted her so cruelly. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THOMAS COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD + + +Now on the morrow of my visit to Marina, the Captain Diaz came to see me +and told me that a friend of his was in command of a carak which was due +to sail from the port of Vera Cruz for Cadiz within ten days, and +that this friend was willing to give me a passage if I wished to leave +Mexico. I thought for a while and said that I would go, and that very +night, having bid farewell to the Captain Diaz, whom may God prosper, +for he was a good man among many bad ones, I set out from the city for +the last time in the company of some merchants. A week's journey took +us safely down the mountains to Vera Cruz, a hot unhealthy town with an +indifferent anchorage, much exposed to the fierce northerly winds. Here +I presented my letters of recommendation to the commander of the carak, +who gave me passage without question, I laying in a stock of food for +the journey. + +Three nights later we set sail with a fair wind, and on the following +morning at daybreak all that was left in sight of the land of Anahuac +was the snowy crest of the volcan Orizaba. Presently that vanished into +the clouds, and thus did I bid farewell to the far country where so many +things had happened to me, and which according to my reckoning I had +first sighted on this very day eighteen years before. + +Of my journey to Spain I have nothing of note to tell. It was more +prosperous than such voyages often are, and within ten weeks of the date +of our lifting anchor at Vera Cruz, we let it drop in the harbour of +Cadiz. Here I sojourned but two days, for as it chanced there was an +English ship in the harbour trading to London, and in her I took a +passage, though I was obliged to sell the smallest of the emeralds from +the necklace to find the means to do so, the money that Marina gave me +being spent. This emerald sold for a great sum, however, with part of +which I purchased clothing suitable to a person of rank, taking the rest +of the gold with me. I grieved to part with the stone indeed, though it +was but a pendant to the pendant of the collar, but necessity knows no +law. The pendant stone itself, a fine gem though flawed, I gave in after +years to her gracious majesty Queen Elizabeth. + +On board the English ship they thought me a Spanish adventurer who had +made moneys in the Indies, and I did not undeceive them, since I would +be left to my own company for a while that I might prepare my mind to +return to ways of thought and life that it had long forgotten. Therefore +I sat apart like some proud don, saying little but listening much, and +learning all I could of what had chanced in England since I left it some +twenty years before. + + +At length our voyage came to an end, and on a certain twelfth of June I +found myself in the mighty city of London that I had never yet visited, +and kneeling down in the chamber of my inn, I thanked God that after +enduring so many dangers and hardships, it had pleased Him to preserve +me to set foot again on English soil. Indeed to this hour I count it +nothing short of marvellous that this frail body of a man should survive +all the sorrows and risks of death by sickness, hunger, battle, murder, +drowning, wild beasts, and the cruelty of men, to which mine had been +exposed for many years. + +In London I bought a good horse, through the kind offices of the host of +my inn, and on the morrow at daybreak I set out upon the Ipswich road. +That very morning my last adventure befell me, for as I jogged along +musing of the beauty of the English landscape and drinking in the sweet +air of June, a cowardly thief fired a pistol at me from behind a hedge, +purposing to plunder me if I fell. The bullet passed through my hat, +grazing the skull, but before I could do anything the rascal fled, +seeing that he had missed his mark, and I went on my journey, thinking +to myself that it would indeed have been strange, if after passing such +great dangers in safety, I had died at last by the hand of a miserable +foot-pad within five miles of London town. + +I rode hard all that day and the next, and my horse being stout and +swift, by half-past seven o'clock of the evening I pulled up upon the +little hill whence I had looked my last on Bungay, when I rode thence +for Yarmouth with my father. Below me lay the red roofs of the town; +there to the right were the oaks of Ditchingham and the beautiful tower +of St. Mary's Church, yonder the stream of Waveney wandered, and before +me stretched the meadow lands, purple and golden with marsh weeds in +bloom. All was as it had been, I could see no change at all, the only +change was in myself. I dismounted, and going to a pool of water near +the roadway I looked at the reflection of my own face. I was changed +indeed, scarcely should I have known it for that of the lad who had +ridden up this hill some twenty years ago. Now, alas! the eyes were +sunken and very sorrowful, the features were sharp, and there was more +grey than black in the beard and hair. I should scarcely have known it +myself, would any others know it, I wondered? Would there be any to know +it indeed? In twenty years many die and others pass out of sight; should +I find a friend at all among the living? Since I read the letters which +Captain Bell of the 'Adventuress' had brought me before I sailed for +Hispaniola, I had heard no tidings from my home, and what tidings +awaited me now? Above all what of Lily, was she dead or married or gone? + +Mounting my horse I pushed on again at a canter, taking the road past +Waingford Mills through the fords and Pirnhow town, leaving Bungay upon +my left. In ten minutes I was at the gate of the bridle path that runs +from the Norwich road for half a mile or more beneath the steep and +wooded bank under the shelter of which stands the Lodge at Ditchingham. +By the gate a man loitered in the last rays of the sun. I looked at +him and knew him; it was Billy Minns, that same fool who had loosed de +Garcia when I left him bound that I might run to meet my sweetheart. +He was an old man now and his white hair hung about his withered face, +moreover he was unclean and dressed in rags, but I could have fallen on +his neck and embraced him, so rejoiced was I to look once more on one +whom I had known in youth. + +Seeing me come he hobbled on his stick to the gate to open it for me, +whining a prayer for alms. + +'Does Mr. Wingfield live here?' I said, pointing up the path, and my +breath came quick as I asked. + +'Mr. Wingfield, sir, Mr. Wingfield, which of them?' he answered. 'The +old gentleman he's been dead nigh upon twenty years. I helped to dig +his grave in the chancel of yonder church I did, we laid him by his +wife--her that was murdered. Then there's Mr. Geoffrey.' + +'What of him?' I asked. + +'He's dead, too, twelve year gone or more; he drank hisself to dead +he did. And Mr. Thomas, he's dead, drowned over seas they say, many +a winter back; they're all dead, all dead! Ah! he was a rare one, Mr. +Thomas was; I mind me well how when I let the furriner go--' and he +rambled off into the tale of how he had set de Garcia on his horse after +I had beaten him, nor could I bring him back from it. + +Casting him a piece of money, I set spurs to my weary horse and cantered +up the bridle path, leaving the Mill House on my left, and as I went, +the beat of his hoofs seemed to echo the old man's words, 'All dead, all +dead!' Doubtless Lily was dead also, or if she was not dead, when the +tidings came that I had been drowned at sea, she would have married. +Being so fair and sweet she would surely not have lacked for suitors, +nor could it be believed that she had worn her life away mourning over +the lost love of her youth. + +Now the Lodge was before me; it had changed no whit except that the ivy +and creepers on its front had grown higher, to the roof indeed, and +I could see that people lived in the house, for it was well kept, and +smoke hung above the chimneys. The gate was locked, and there were no +serving men about, for night fell fast, and all had ceased from their +labour. Leaving the house on the right I passed round it to the stables +that are at the back near the hillside garden, but here the gate was +locked also, and I dismounted not knowing what to do. Indeed I was so +unmanned with fear and doubt that for a while I seemed bewildered, and +leaving the horse to crop the grass where he stood, I wandered to the +foot of the church path and gazed up the hill as though I waited for the +coming of one whom I should meet. + +'What if they were all dead, what if SHE were dead and gone?' I buried +my face in my hands and prayed to the Almighty who had protected me +through so many years, to spare me this last bitterness. I was crushed +with sorrow, and I felt that I could bear no more. If Lily were lost to +me also, then I thought that it would be best that I should die, since +there was nothing left for which I cared to live. + +Thus I prayed for some while, trembling like a leaf, and when I looked +up again, ere I turned to seek tidings from those that dwelt in the +house, whoever they might be, the twilight had fallen completely, and +lo! nightingales sang both far and near. I listened to their song, and +as I listened, some troubled memory came back to me that at first I +could not grasp. Then suddenly there rose up in my mind a vision of the +splendid chamber in Montezuma's palace in Tenoctitlan, and of myself +sleeping on a golden bed, and dreaming on that bed. I knew it now, I was +the god Tezcat, and on the morrow I must be sacrificed, and I slept in +misery, and as I slept I dreamed. I dreamed that I stood where I stood +this night, that the scent of the English flowers was in my nostrils as +it was this night, and that the sweet song of the nightingales rang in +my ears as at this present hour. I dreamed that as I mused and listened +the moon came up over the green ash and oaks, and lo! there she shone. I +dreamed that I heard a sound of singing on the hill-- + +But now I awoke from this vision of the past and of a long lost dream, +for as I stood the sweet voice of a woman began to sing yonder on the +brow of the slope; I was not mad, I heard it clearly, and the sound grew +ever nearer as the singer drew down the steep hillside. It was so near +now that I could catch the very words of that sad song which to this day +I remember. + +Now I could see the woman's shape in the moonlight; it was tall and +stately and clad in a white robe. Presently she lifted her head to watch +the flitter of a bat and the moonlight lit upon her face. It was the +face of Lily Bozard, my lost love, beautiful as of yore, though grown +older and stamped with the seal of some great sorrow. I saw, and so +deeply was I stirred at the sight, that had it not been for the low +paling to which I clung, I must have fallen to the earth, and a deep +groan broke from my lips. + +She heard the groan and ceased her song, then catching sight of the +figure of a man, she stopped and turned as though to fly. I stood quite +still, and wonder overcoming her fear, she drew nearer and spoke in the +sweet low voice that I remembered well, saying, 'Who wanders here so +late? Is it you, John?' + +Now when I heard her speak thus a new fear took me. Doubtless she was +married and 'John' was her husband. I had found her but to lose her more +completely. Of a sudden it came into my mind that I would not discover +myself till I knew the truth. I advanced a pace, but not so far as to +pass from the shadow of the shrubs which grow here, and taking my stand +in such a fashion that the moonlight did not strike upon my face, I +bowed low in the courtly Spanish fashion, and disguising my voice spoke +as a Spaniard might in broken English which I will spare to write down. + +'Madam,' I said, 'have I the honour to speak to one who in bygone years +was named the Senora Lily Bozard?' + +'That was my name,' she answered. 'What is your errand with me, sir?' + +Now I trembled afresh, but spoke on boldly. + +'Before I answer, Madam, forgive me if I ask another question. Is this +still your name?' + +'It is still my name, I am no married woman,' she answered, and for a +moment the sky seemed to reel above me and the ground to heave beneath +my feet like the lava crust of Xaca. But as yet I did not reveal myself, +for I wished to learn if she still loved my memory. + +'Senora,' I said, 'I am a Spaniard who served in the Indian wars of +Cortes, of which perhaps you have heard.' + +She bowed her head and I went on. 'In those wars I met a man who was +named Teule, but who had another name in former days, so he told me on +his deathbed some two years ago.' + +'What name?' she asked in a low voice. + +'Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now Lily moaned aloud, and in her turn caught at the pales to save +herself from falling. + +'I deemed him dead these eighteen years,' she gasped; 'drowned in the +Indian seas where his vessel foundered.' + +'I have heard say that he was shipwrecked in those seas, senora, but he +escaped death and fell among the Indians, who made a god of him and gave +him the daughter of their king in marriage,' and I paused. + +She shivered, then said in a hard voice, 'Continue, sir; I listen to +you.' + +'My friend Teule took the part of the Indians in the wars, as being +the husband of one of their princesses he must do in honour, and fought +bravely for them for many years. At length the town that he defended was +captured, his one remaining child was murdered, his wife the princess +slew herself for sorrow, and he himself was taken into captivity, where +he languished and died.' + +'A sad tale, sir,' she said with a little laugh--a mournful laugh that +was half choked by tears. + +'A very sad tale, senora, but one which is not finished. While he lay +dying, my friend told me that in his early life he had plighted troth +with a certain English maid, named--' + +'I know the name--continue.' + +'He told me that though he had been wedded, and loved his wife the +princess, who was a very royal woman, that many times had risked her +life for his, ay, even to lying at his side upon the stone of sacrifice +and of her own free will, yet the memory of this maiden to whom he was +once betrothed had companioned him through life and was strong upon him +now at its close. Therefore he prayed me for our friendship's sake to +seek her out when I returned to Europe, should she still live, and to +give her a message from him, and to make a prayer to her on his behalf.' + +'What message and what prayer?' Lily whispered. + +'This: that he loved her at the end of his life as he had loved her +at its beginning; that he humbly prayed her forgiveness because he had +broken the troth which they two swore beneath the beech at Ditchingham.' + +'Sir,' she cried, 'what do you know of that?' + +'Only what my friend told me, senora.' + +'Your friendship must have been close and your memory must be good,' she +murmured. + +'Which he had done,' I went on, 'under strange circumstances, so strange +indeed that he dared to hope that his broken troth might be renewed in +some better world than this. His last prayer was that she should say to +me, his messenger, that she forgave him and still loved him, as to his +death he loved her.' + +'And how can such forgiveness or such an avowal advantage a dead man?' +Lily asked, watching me keenly through the shadows. 'Have the dead then +eyes to see and ears to hear?' + +'How can I know, senora? I do but execute my mission.' + +'And how can I know that you are a true messenger. It chanced that I +had sure tidings of the drowning of Thomas Wingfield many years ago, and +this tale of Indians and princesses is wondrous strange, more like those +that happen in romances than in this plain world. Have you no token of +your good faith, sir?' + +'I have such a token, senora, but the light is too faint for you to see +it.' + +'Then follow me to the house, there we will get light. Stay,' and once +more going to the stable gate, she called 'John.' + +An old man answered her, and I knew the voice for that of one of my +father's serving men. To him she spoke in low tones, then led the way by +the garden path to the front door of the house, which she opened with +a key from her girdle, motioning to me to pass in before her. I did so, +and thinking little of such matters at the moment, turned by habit into +the doorway of the sitting-room which I knew so well, lifting my feet +to avoid stumbling on its step, and passing into the room found my way +through the gloom to the wide fireplace where I took my stand. Lily +watched me enter, then following me, she lit a taper at the fire which +smouldered on the hearth, and placed it upon the table in the window in +such fashion that though I was now obliged to take off my hat, my face +was still in shadow. + +'Now, sir, your token if it pleases you.' + +Then I drew the posy ring from my finger and gave it to her, and she sat +down by the table and examined it in the light of the candle, and as +she sat thus, I saw how beautiful she was still, and how little time had +touched her, except for the sadness of her face, though now she had seen +eight-and-thirty winters. I saw also that though she kept control of her +features as she looked upon the ring, her breast heaved quickly and her +hand shook. + +'The token is a true one,' she said at length. 'I know the ring, though +it is somewhat worn since last I saw it, it was my mother's; and many +years ago I gave it as a love gage to a youth to whom I promised myself +in marriage. Doubtless all your tale is true also, sir, and I thank you +for your courtesy in bringing it so far. It is a sad tale, a very sad +tale. And now, sir, as I may not ask you to stay in this house where I +live alone, and there is no inn near, I propose to send serving men to +conduct you to my brother's dwelling that is something more than a mile +away, if indeed,' she added slowly, 'you do not already know the path! +There you will find entertainment, and there the sister of your dead +companion, Mary Bozard, will be glad to learn the story of his strange +adventures from your lips.' + +I bowed my head and answered, 'First, senora, I would pray your answer +to my friend's dying prayer and message.' + +'It is childish to send answers to the dead.' + +'Still I pray for them as I was charged to do.' + +'How reads the writing within this ring, sir?' + + +'Heart to heart, Though far apart,' + + +I said glibly, and next instant I could have bitten out my tongue. + +'Ah! you know that also, but doubtless you have carried the ring for +many months and learned the writing. Well, sir, though we were far +apart, and though perchance I cherished the memory of him who wore this +ring, and for his sake remained unwed, it seems that his heart went a +straying--to the breast indeed of some savage woman whom he married, and +who bore him children. That being so, my answer to the prayer of your +dead friend is that I forgive him indeed, but I must needs take back +the vows which I swore to him for this life and for ever, since he has +broken them, and as best I may, strive to cast out the love I bore him +since he rejected and dishonoured it,' and standing up Lily made as +though she tore at her breast and threw something from her, and at the +same time she let fall the ring upon the floor. + +I heard and my heart stood still. So this was the end of it. Well, she +had the right of me, though now I began to wish that I had been +less honest, for sometimes women can forgive a lie sooner than such +frankness. I said nothing, my tongue was tied, but a great misery and +weariness entered into me. Stooping down I found the ring, and replacing +it on my finger, I turned to seek the door with a last glance at the +woman who refused me. Halfway thither I paused for one second, wondering +if I should do well to declare myself, then bethought me that if she +would not abate her anger toward me dead, her pity for me living would +be small. Nay, I was dead to her, and dead I would remain. + +Now I was at the door and my foot was on its step, when suddenly a +voice, Lily's voice, sounded in my ears and it was sweet and kind. + +'Thomas,' said the voice, 'Thomas, before you go, will you not take +count of the gold and goods and land that you placed in my keeping?' + +Now I turned amazed, and lo! Lily came towards me slowly and with +outstretched arms. + +'Oh! foolish man,' she whispered low, 'did you think to deceive a +woman's heart thus clumsily? You who talked of the beech in the Hall +garden, you who found your way so well to this dark chamber, and spoke +the writing in the ring with the very voice of one who has been dead so +long. Listen: I forgive that friend of yours his broken troth, for he +was honest in the telling of his fault and it is hard for man to live +alone so many years, and in strange countries come strange adventures; +moreover, I will say it, I still love him as it seems that he loves me, +though in truth I grow somewhat old for love, who have lingered long +waiting to find it beyond my grave.' + +Thus Lily spoke, sobbing as she spoke, then my arms closed round her +and she said no more. And yet as our lips met I thought of Otomie, +remembering her words, and remembering also that she had died by her own +hand on this very day a year ago. + +Let us pray that the dead have no vision of the living! + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AMEN + + +And now there is little left for me to tell and my tale draws to +its end, for which I am thankful, for I am very old and writing is a +weariness to me, so great a weariness indeed that many a time during the +past winter I have been near to abandoning the task. + +For a while Lily and I sat almost silent in this same room where I write +to-day, for our great joy and many another emotion that was mixed with +it, clogged our tongues. Then as though moved by one impulse, we knelt +down and offered our humble thanks to heaven that had preserved us both +to this strange meeting. Scarcely had we risen from our knees when +there was a stir without the house, and presently a buxom dame entered, +followed by a gallant gentleman, a lad, and a maiden. These were my +sister Mary, her husband Wilfred Bozard, Lily's brother, and their two +surviving children, Roger and Joan. When she guessed that it was I come +home again and no other, Lily had sent them tidings by the servant man +John, that one was with her whom she believed they would be glad to see, +and they had hurried hither, not knowing whom they should find. Nor were +they much the wiser at first, for I was much changed and the light in +the room shone dim, but stood perplexed, wondering who this stranger +might be. + +'Mary,' I said at length, 'Mary, do you not remember me, my sister?' + +Then she cried aloud, and throwing herself into my arms, she wept there +a while, as would any of us were our beloved dead suddenly to appear +before our eyes, alive and well, and her husband clasped me by the hand +and swore heartily in his amazement, as is the fashion of some men when +they are moved. But the children stood staring blankly till I called the +girl to me, who now was much what her mother had been when we parted, +and kissing her, told her that I was that uncle of whom perhaps she had +heard as dead many years ago. + +Then my horse, that all this while had been forgotten, having been +caught and stabled, we went to supper and it was a strange meal to me, +and after meat I asked for tidings. Now I learned that the fortune which +my old master Fonseca had left to me came home in safety, and that it +had prospered exceedingly under Lily's care, for she had spent but very +little of it for her maintenance, looking on it always as a trust rather +than as her own. When my death seemed certain my sister Mary had entered +on her share of my possessions, however, and with it had purchased +some outlying lands in Earsham and Hedenham, and the wood and manor of +Tyndale Hall in Ditchingham and Broome. These lands I made haste to say +she might keep as a gift from me, since it seemed that I had greater +riches than I could need without them, and this saying of mine pleased +her husband Wilfred Bozard not a little, seeing that it is hard for a +man to give up what he has held for many years. + +Then I heard the rest of the story; of my father's sudden death, of how +the coming of the gold had saved Lily from being forced into marriage +with my brother Geoffrey, who afterwards had taken to evil courses which +ended in his decease at the age of thirty-one; of the end of Squire +Bozard, Lily's father and my old enemy, from an apoplexy which took +him in a sudden fit of anger. After this it seemed, her brother being +married to my sister Mary, Lily had moved down to the Lodge, having paid +off the charges that my brother Geoffrey had heaped upon his heritage, +and bought out my sister's rights to it. And here at the Lodge she had +lived ever since, a sad and lonely woman, and yet not altogether an +unhappy one, for she gave much of her time to good works. Indeed she +told me that had it not been for the wide lands and moneys which +she must manage as my heiress, she would have betaken herself to a +sisterhood, there to wear her life away in peace, since I being lost to +her, and indeed dead, as she was assured,--for the news of the wreck +of the carak found its way to Ditchingham,--she no longer thought of +marriage, though more than one gentleman of condition had sought her +hand. This, with some minor matters, such as the birth and death of +children, and the story of the great storm and flood that smote Bungay, +and indeed the length of the vale of Waveney in those days, was all the +tale that they had to tell who had grown from youth to middle age in +quiet. For of the crowning and end of kings and of matters politic, such +as the downfall of the power of the Pope of Rome and the sacking of the +religious houses which was still in progress, I make no mention here. + +But now they called for mine, and I began it at the beginning, and it +was strange to see their faces as they listened. All night long, till +the thrushes sang down the nightingales, and the dawn shone in the +east, I sat at Lily's side telling them my story, and then it was not +finished. So we slept in the chambers that had been made ready for us, +and on the morrow I took it up again, showing them the sword that had +belonged to Bernal Diaz, the great necklace of emeralds which Guatemoc +had given to me, and certain scars and wounds in witness of its truth. +Never did I see folk so much amazed, and when I came to speak of the +last sacrifice of the women of the Otomie, and of the horrid end of de +Garcia who died fighting with his own shadow, or rather with the shadows +of his own wickedness, they cried aloud with fear, as they wept when I +told of the deaths of Isabella de Siguenza and of Guatemoc, and of the +loss of my sons. + +But I did not tell all the story to this company, for some of it was for +Lily's ear alone, and to her I spoke of my dealings with Otomie as a +man might speak with a man, for I felt that if I kept anything back now +there would never be complete faith between us. Therefore I set out +all my doubts and troublings, nor did I hide that I had learned to love +Otomie, and that her beauty and sweetness had drawn me from the first +moment when I saw her in the court of Montezuma, or that which had +passed between us on the stone of sacrifice. + +When I had done Lily thanked me for my honesty and said it seemed that +in such matters men differed from women, seeing that SHE had never felt +the need to be delivered from the temptation of strange loves. Still we +were as God and Nature had made us, and therefore had little right to +reproach each other, or even to set that down as virtue which was +but lack of leaning. Moreover, this Otomie, her sin of heathenism +notwithstanding, had been a great-hearted woman and one who might well +dazzle the wandering eyes of man, daring more for her love's sake than +ever she, Lily, could have dared; and to end with, it was clear that at +last I must choose between wedding her and a speedy death, and having +sworn so great an oath to her I should have been perjured indeed if +I had left her when my dangers were gone by. Therefore she, Lily, was +minded to let all this matter rest, nor should she be jealous if I still +thought of this dead wife of mine with tenderness. + +Thus she spoke most sweetly, looking at me the while with her clear +and earnest eyes, that I ever fancied must be such as adorn the shining +faces of angels. Ay, and those same eyes of hers were filled with tears +when I told her my bitter grief over the death of my firstborn and of my +other bereavements. For it was not till some years afterwards, when she +had abandoned further hope of children, that Lily grew jealous of those +dead sons of mine and of my ever present love for them. + + +Now the tidings of my return and of my strange adventures among the +nations of the Indies were noised abroad far and wide, and people came +from miles round, ay, even from Norwich and Yarmouth, to see me and I +was pressed to tell my tale till I grew weary of it. Also a service of +thanksgiving for my safe deliverance from many dangers by land and sea +was held in the church of St. Mary's here in Ditchingham, which service +was no longer celebrated after the rites of the Romish faith, for while +I had sojourned afar, the saints were fallen like the Aztec gods; the +yoke of Rome had been broken from off the neck of England, and though +all do not think with me, I for one rejoiced at it heartily who had seen +enough of priestcraft and its cruelties. + +When that ceremony was over and all people had gone to their homes, I +came back again to the empty church from the Hall, where I abode a while +as the guest of my sister and her husband, till Lily and I were wed. + +And there in the quiet light of the June evening I knelt in the chancel +upon the rushes that strewed the grave of my father and my mother, and +sent my spirit up towards them in the place of their eternal rest, and +to the God who guards them. A great calm came upon me as I knelt thus, +and I felt how mad had been that oath of mine that as a lad I had sworn +to be avenged upon de Garcia, and I saw how as a tree from a seed, all +my sorrows had grown from it. But even then I could not do other than +hate de Garcia, no, nor can I to this hour, and after all it was natural +that I should desire vengeance on the murderer of my mother though the +wreaking of it had best been left in another Hand. + +Without the little chancel door I met Lily, who was lingering there +knowing me to be within, and we spoke together. + +'Lily,' I said, 'I would ask you something. After all that has been, +will you still take me for your husband, unworthy as I am?' + +'I promised so to do many a year ago, Thomas,' she answered, speaking +very low, and blushing like the wild rose that bloomed upon a grave +beside her, 'and I have never changed my mind. Indeed for many years I +have looked upon you as my husband, though I thought you dead.' + +'Perhaps it is more than I deserve,' I said. 'But if it is to be, say +when it shall be, for youth has left us and we have little time to +lose.' + +'When you will, Thomas,' she answered, placing her hand in mine. + +Within a week from that evening we were wed. + + +And now my tale is done. God who gave me so sad and troublous a youth +and early manhood, has blessed me beyond measure in my middle age and +eld. All these events of which I have written at such length were done +with many a day ago: the hornbeam sapling that I set beneath these +windows in the year when we were married is now a goodly tree of shade +and still I live to look on it. Here in the happy valley of the Waveney, +save for my bitter memories and that longing for the dead which no time +can so much as dull, year after year has rolled over my silvering hairs +in perfect health and peace and rest, and year by year have I rejoiced +more deeply in the true love of a wife such as few have known. For +it would seem as though the heart-ache and despair of youth had but +sweetened that most noble nature till it grew well nigh divine. But one +sorrow came to us, the death of our infant child--for it was fated that +I should die childless--and in that sorrow, as I have told, Lily shewed +that she was still a woman. For the rest no shadow lay between us. Hand +in hand we passed down the hill of life, till at length in the fulness +of her days my wife was taken from me. One Christmas night she lay down +to sleep at my side, in the morning she was dead. I grieved indeed and +bitterly, but the sorrow was not as the sorrows of my youth had been, +since age and use dull the edge of mortal griefs and I knew and know +that we are no long space apart. Very soon I shall join Lily where she +is, and I do not fear that journey. For the dread of death has left me +at length, as it departs from all who live long enough and strive to +repent them of their sins, and I am well content to leave my safety at +the Gates and my heavenly comfort in the Almighty Hand that saved me +from the stone of sacrifice and has guided me through so many perils +upon this troubled earth. + +And now to God my Father, Who holds me, Thomas Wingfield, and all I +have loved and love in His holy keeping, be thanks and glory and praise! +Amen. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Montezuma's Daughter, by H. 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Rider Haggard + + + +NOTE + +The more unpronounceable of the Aztec names are shortened in many +instances out of consideration for the patience of the reader; thus +'Popocatapetl' becomes 'Popo,' 'Huitzelcoatl' becomes 'Huitzel,' +&c. The prayer in Chapter xxvi. is freely rendered from +Jourdanet's French translation of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun's +History of New Spain, written shortly after the conquest of Mexico +(Book VI, chap. v.), to which monumental work and to Prescott's +admirable history the author of this romance is much indebted. The +portents described as heralding the fall of the Aztec Empire, and +many of the incidents and events written of in this story, such as +the annual personation of the god Tezcatlipoca by a captive +distinguished for his personal beauty, and destined to sacrifice, +are in the main historical. The noble speech of the Emperor +Guatemoc to the Prince of Tacuba uttered while they both were +suffering beneath the hands of the Spaniards is also authentic. + + + +DEDICATION + +My dear Jebb, + +Strange as were the adventures and escapes of Thomas Wingfield, +once of this parish, whereof these pages tell, your own can almost +equal them in these latter days, and, since a fellow feeling makes +us kind, you at least they may move to a sigh of sympathy. Among +many a distant land you know that in which he loved and fought, +following vengeance and his fate, and by your side I saw its relics +and its peoples, its volcans and its valleys. You know even where +lies the treasure which, three centuries and more ago, he helped to +bury, the countless treasure that an evil fortune held us back from +seeking. Now the Indians have taken back their secret, and though +many may search, none will lift the graven stone that seals it, nor +shall the light of day shine again upon the golden head of +Montezuma. So be it! The wealth which Cortes wept over, and his +Spaniards sinned and died for, is for ever hidden yonder by the +shores of the bitter lake whose waters gave up to you that ancient +horror, the veritable and sleepless god of Sacrifice, of whom I +would not rob you--and, for my part, I do not regret the loss. + +What cannot be lost, what to me seem of more worth than the dead +hero Guatemoc's gems and jars of gold, are the memories of true +friendship shown to us far away beneath the shadow of the +Slumbering Woman,* and it is in gratitude for these that I ask +permission to set your name within a book which were it not for you +would never have been written. + +I am, my dear Jebb, + +Always sincerely yours, + +H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + +DITCHINGHAM, NORFOLK, October 5, 1892. + +To J. Gladwyn Jebb, Esq. + + + +NOTE + +Worn out prematurely by a life of hardship and extraordinary +adventure, Mr. Jebb passed away on March 18, 1893, taking with him +the respect and affection of all who had the honour of his +friendship. The author has learned with pleasure that the reading +of this tale in proof and the fact of its dedication to himself +afforded him some amusement and satisfaction in the intervals of +his sufferings. + +H. R. H. + +March 22, 1893. + + +* The volcano Izticcihuatl in Mexico. + + + +CONTENTS + + +I WHY THOMAS WINGFIELD TELLS HIS TALE + +II. OF THE PARENTAGE OF THOMAS WINGFIELD + +III. THE COMING OF THE SPANIARD + +IV. THOMAS TELLS HIS LOVE + +V. THOMAS SWEARS AN OATH + +VI. GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART + +VII. ANDRES DE FONSECA + +VIII. THE SECOND MEETING + +IX. THOMAS BECOMES RICH + +X. THE PASSING OF ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA + +XI. THE LOSS OF THE CARAK + +XII. THOMAS COMES TO SHORE + +XIII. THE STONE OF SACRIFICE + +XIV. THE SAVING OF GUATEMOC + +XV. THE COURT OF MONTEZUMA + +XVI. THOMAS BECOMES A GOD + +XVII. THE ARISING OF PAPANTZIN + +XVIII. THE NAMING OF THE BRIDES + +XIX. THE FOUR GODDESSES + +XX. OTOMIE'S COUNSEL + +XXI. THE KISS OF LOVE + +XXII. THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS + +XXIII. THOMAS IS MARRIED + +XXIV. THE NIGHT OF FEAR + +XXV. THE BURYING OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE + +XXVI. THE CROWNING OF GUATEMOC + +XXVII. THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN + +XXVIII. THOMAS IS DOOMED + +XXIX. DE GARCIA SPEAKS HIS MIND + +XXX. THE ESCAPE + +XXXI. OTOMIE PLEADS WITH HER PEOPLE + +XXXII. THE END OF GUATEMOC + +XXXIII. ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA IS AVENGED + +XXXIV. THE SIEGE OF THE CITY OF PINES + +XXXV. THE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE + +XXXVI. THE SURRENDER + +XXXVII. VENGEANCE + +XXXVIII. OTOMIE'S FAREWELL + +XXXIX. THOMAS COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD + +XL. AMEN + + + +Montezuma's Daughter + + +CHAPTER I + +WHY THOMAS WINGFIELD TELLS HIS TALE + + +Now glory be to God who has given us the victory! It is true, the +strength of Spain is shattered, her ships are sunk or fled, the sea +has swallowed her soldiers and her sailors by hundreds and by +thousands, and England breathes again. They came to conquer, to +bring us to the torture and the stake--to do to us free Englishmen +as Cortes did by the Indians of Anahuac. Our manhood to the slave +bench, our daughters to dishonour, our souls to the loving-kindness +of the priest, our wealth to the Emperor and the Pope! God has +answered them with his winds, Drake has answered them with his +guns. They are gone, and with them the glory of Spain. + +I, Thomas Wingfield, heard the news to-day on this very Thursday in +the Bungay market-place, whither I went to gossip and to sell the +apples which these dreadful gales have left me, as they hang upon +my trees. + +Before there had been rumours of this and of that, but here in +Bungay was a man named Young, of the Youngs of Yarmouth, who had +served in one of the Yarmouth ships in the fight at Gravelines, aye +and sailed north after the Spaniards till they were lost in the +Scottish seas. + +Little things lead to great, men say, but here great things lead to +little, for because of these tidings it comes about that I, Thomas +Wingfield, of the Lodge and the parish of Ditchingham in the county +of Norfolk, being now of a great age and having only a short time +to live, turn to pen and ink. Ten years ago, namely, in the year +1578, it pleased her Majesty, our gracious Queen Elizabeth, who at +that date visited this county, that I should be brought before her +at Norwich. There and then, saying that the fame of it had reached +her, she commanded me to give her some particulars of the story of +my life, or rather of those twenty years, more or less, which I +spent among the Indians at that time when Cortes conquered their +country of Anahuac, which is now known as Mexico. But almost +before I could begin my tale, it was time for her to start for +Cossey to hunt the deer, and she said it was her wish that I should +write the story down that she might read it, and moreover that if +it were but half as wonderful as it promised to be, I should end my +days as Sir Thomas Wingfield. To this I answered her Majesty that +pen and ink were tools I had no skill in, yet I would bear her +command in mind. Then I made bold to give her a great emerald that +once had hung upon the breast of Montezuma's daughter, and of many +a princess before her, and at the sight of it her eyes glistened +brightly as the gem, for this Queen of ours loves such costly +playthings. Indeed, had I so desired, I think that I might then +and there have struck a bargain, and set the stone against a title; +but I, who for many years had been the prince of a great tribe, had +no wish to be a knight. So I kissed the royal hand, and so tightly +did it grip the gem within that the knuckle joints shone white, and +I went my ways, coming back home to this my house by the Waveney on +that same day. + +Now the Queen's wish that I should set down the story of my life +remained in my mind, and for long I have desired to do it before +life and story end together. The labour, indeed, is great to one +unused to such tasks; but why should I fear labour who am so near +to the holiday of death? I have seen things that no other +Englishman has seen, which are worthy to be recorded; my life has +been most strange, many a time it has pleased God to preserve it +when all seemed lost, and this perchance He has done that the +lesson of it might become known to others. For there is a lesson +in it and in the things that I have seen, and it is that no wrong +can ever bring about a right, that wrong will breed wrong at last, +and be it in man or people, will fall upon the brain that thought +it and the hand that wrought it. + +Look now at the fate of Cortes--that great man whom I have known +clothed with power like a god. Nearly forty years ago, so I have +heard, he died poor and disgraced in Spain; he, the conqueror--yes, +and I have learned also that his son Don Martin has been put to the +torture in that city which the father won with so great cruelties +for Spain. Malinche, she whom the Spaniards named Marina, the +chief and best beloved of all the women of this same Cortes, +foretold it to him in her anguish when after all that had been, +after she had so many times preserved him and his soldiers to look +upon the sun, at the last he deserted her, giving her in marriage +to Don Juan Xaramillo. Look again at the fate of Marina herself. +Because she loved this man Cortes, or Malinche, as the Indians +named him after her, she brought evil on her native land; for +without her aid Tenoctitlan, or Mexico, as they call it now, had +never bowed beneath the yoke of Spain--yes, she forgot her honour +in her passion. And what was her reward, what right came to her of +her wrongdoing? This was her reward at last: to be given away in +marriage to another and a lesser man when her beauty waned, as a +worn-out beast is sold to a poorer master. + +Consider also the fate of those great peoples of the land of +Anahuac. They did evil that good might come. They sacrificed the +lives of thousands to their false gods, that their wealth might +increase, and peace and prosperity be theirs throughout the +generations. And now the true God has answered them. For wealth +He has given them desolation, for peace the sword of the Spaniard, +for prosperity the rack and the torment and the day of slavery. +For this it was that they did sacrifice, offering their own +children on the altars of Huitzel and of Tezcat. + +And the Spaniards themselves, who in the name of mercy have wrought +cruelties greater than any that were done by the benighted Aztecs, +who in the name of Christ daily violate His law to the uttermost +extreme, say shall they prosper, shall their evil-doing bring them +welfare? I am old and cannot live to see the question answered, +though even now it is in the way of answering. Yet I know that +their wickedness shall fall upon their own heads, and I seem to see +them, the proudest of the peoples of the earth, bereft of fame and +wealth and honour, a starveling remnant happy in nothing save their +past. What Drake began at Gravelines God will finish in many +another place and time, till at last Spain is of no more account +and lies as low as the empire of Montezuma lies to-day. + +Thus it is in these great instances of which all the world may +know, and thus it is even in the life of so humble a man as I, +Thomas Wingfield. Heaven indeed has been merciful to me, giving me +time to repent my sins; yet my sins have been visited on my head, +on me who took His prerogative of vengeance from the hand of the +Most High. It is just, and because it is so I wish to set out the +matter of my life's history that others may learn from it. For +many years this has been in my mind, as I have said, though to +speak truth it was her Majesty the Queen who first set the seed. +But only on this day, when I have heard for certain of the fate of +the Armada, does it begin to grow, and who can say if ever it will +come to flower? For this tidings has stirred me strangely, +bringing back my youth and the deeds of love and war and wild +adventure which I have been mingled in, fighting for my own hand +and for Guatemoc and the people of the Otomie against these same +Spaniards, as they have not been brought back for many years. +Indeed, it seems to me, and this is no rare thing with the aged, as +though there in the far past my true life lay, and all the rest +were nothing but a dream. + +From the window of the room wherein I write I can see the peaceful +valley of the Waveney. Beyond its stream are the common lands +golden with gorse, the ruined castle, and the red roofs of Bungay +town gathered about the tower of St. Mary's Church. Yonder far +away are the king's forests of Stowe and the fields of Flixton +Abbey; to the right the steep bank is green with the Earsham oaks, +to the left the fast marsh lands spotted with cattle stretch on to +Beccles and Lowestoft, while behind me my gardens and orchards rise +in terraces up the turfy hill that in old days was known as the +Earl's Vineyard. All these are about me, and yet in this hour they +are as though they were not. For the valley of the Waveney I see +the vale of Tenoctitlan, for the slopes of Stowe the snowy shapes +of the volcans Popo and Iztac, for the spire of Earsham and the +towers of Ditchingham, of Bungay, and of Beccles, the soaring +pyramids of sacrifice gleaming with the sacred fires, and for the +cattle in the meadows the horsemen of Cortes sweeping to war. + +It comes back to me; that was life, the rest is but a dream. Once +more I feel young, and, should I be spared so long, I will set down +the story of my youth before I am laid in yonder churchyard and +lost in the world of dreams. Long ago I had begun it, but it was +only on last Christmas Day that my dear wife died, and while she +lived I knew that this task was better left undone. Indeed, to be +frank, it was thus with my wife: She loved me, I believe, as few +men have the fortune to be loved, and there is much in my past that +jarred upon this love of hers, moving her to a jealousy of the dead +that was not the less deep because it was so gentle and so closely +coupled with forgiveness. For she had a secret sorrow that ate her +heart away, although she never spoke of it. But one child was born +to us, and this child died in infancy, nor for all her prayers did +it please God to give her another, and indeed remembering the words +of Otomie I did not expect that it would be so. Now she knew well +that yonder across the seas I had children whom I loved by another +wife, and though they were long dead, must always love unalterably, +and this thought wrung her heart. That I had been the husband of +another woman she could forgive, but that this woman should have +borne me children whose memory was still so dear, she could not +forget if she forgave it, she who was childless. Why it was so, +being but a man, I cannot say; for who can know all the mystery of +a loving woman's heart? But so it was. Once, indeed, we +quarrelled on the matter; it was our only quarrel. + +It chanced that when we had been married but two years, and our +babe was some few days buried in the churchyard of this parish of +Ditchingham, I dreamed a very vivid dream as I slept one night at +my wife's side. I dreamed that my dead children, the four of them, +for the tallest lad bore in his arms my firstborn, that infant who +died in the great siege, came to me as they had often come when I +ruled the people of the Otomie in the City of Pines, and talked +with me, giving me flowers and kissing my hands. I looked upon +their strength and beauty, and was proud at heart, and, in my +dream, it seemed as though some great sorrow had been lifted from +my mind; as though these dear ones had been lost and now were found +again. Ah! what misery is there like to this misery of dreams, +that can thus give us back our dead in mockery, and then departing, +leave us with a keener woe? + +Well, I dreamed on, talking with my children in my sleep and naming +them by their beloved names, till at length I woke to look on +emptiness, and knowing all my sorrow I sobbed aloud. Now it was +early morning, and the light of the August sun streamed through the +window, but I, deeming that my wife slept, still lay in the shadow +of my dream as it were, and groaned, murmuring the names of those +whom I might never see again. It chanced, however, that she was +awake, and had overheard those words which I spoke with the dead, +while I was yet asleep and after; and though some of this talk was +in the tongue of the Otomie, the most was English, and knowing the +names of my children she guessed the purport of it all. Suddenly +she sprang from the bed and stood over me, and there was such anger +in her eyes as I had never seen before nor have seen since, nor did +it last long then, for presently indeed it was quenched in tears. + +'What is it, wife?' I asked astonished. + +'It is hard,' she answered, 'that I must bear to listen to such +talk from your lips, husband. Was it not enough that, when all men +thought you dead, I wore my youth away faithful to your memory? +though how faithful you were to mine you know best. Did I ever +reproach you because you had forgotten me, and wedded a savage +woman in a distant land?' + +'Never, dear wife, nor had I forgotten you as you know well; but +what I wonder at is that you should grow jealous now when all cause +is done with.' + +'Cannot we be jealous of the dead? With the living we may cope, +but who can fight against the love which death has completed, +sealing it for ever and making it immortal! Still, THAT I forgive +you, for against this woman I can hold my own, seeing that you were +mine before you became hers, and are mine after it. But with the +children it is otherwise. They are hers and yours alone. I have +no part nor lot in them, and whether they be dead or living I know +well you love them always, and will love them beyond the grave if +you may find them there. Already I grow old, who waited twenty +years and more before I was your wife, and I shall give you no +other children. One I gave you, and God took it back lest I should +be too happy; yet its name was not on your lips with those strange +names. My dead babe is little to you, husband!' + +Here she choked, bursting into tears; nor did I think it well to +answer her that there was this difference in the matter, that +whereas, with the exception of one infant, those sons whom I had +lost were almost adolescent, the babe she bore lived but sixty +days. + +Now when the Queen first put it in my mind to write down the +history of my life, I remembered this outbreak of my beloved wife; +and seeing that I could write no true tale and leave out of it the +story of her who was also my wife, Montezuma's daughter, Otomie, +Princess of the Otomie, and of the children that she gave me, I let +the matter lie. For I knew well, that though we spoke very rarely +on the subject during all the many years we passed together, still +it was always in Lily's mind; nor did her jealousy, being of the +finer sort, abate at all with age, but rather gathered with the +gathering days. That I should execute the task without the +knowledge of my wife would not have been possible, for till the +very last she watched over my every act, and, as I verily believe, +divined the most of my thoughts. + + +And so we grew old together, peacefully, and side by side, speaking +seldom of that great gap in my life when we were lost to each other +and of all that then befell. At length the end came. My wife died +suddenly in her sleep in the eighty-seventh year of her age. I +buried her on the south side of the church here, with sorrow +indeed, but not with sorrow inconsolable, for I know that I must +soon rejoin her, and those others whom I have loved. + +There in that wide heaven are my mother and my sister and my sons; +there are great Guatemoc my friend, last of the emperors, and many +other companions in war who have preceded me to peace; there, too, +though she doubted of it, is Otomie the beautiful and proud. In +the heaven which I trust to reach, all the sins of my youth and the +errors of my age notwithstanding, it is told us there is no +marrying and giving in marriage; and this is well, for I do not +know how my wives, Montezuma's daughter and the sweet English +gentlewoman, would agree together were it otherwise. + +And now to my task. + + + +CHAPTER II + +OF THE PARENTAGE OF THOMAS WINGFIELD + + +I, Thomas Wingfield, was born here at Ditchingham, and in this very +room where I write to-day. The house of my birth was built or +added to early in the reign of the seventh Henry, but long before +his time some kind of tenement stood here, which was lived in by +the keeper of the vineyards, and known as Gardener's Lodge. +Whether it chanced that the climate was more kindly in old times, +or the skill of those who tended the fields was greater, I do not +know, but this at the least is true, that the hillside beneath +which the house nestles, and which once was the bank of an arm of +the sea or of a great broad, was a vineyard in Earl Bigod's days. +Long since it has ceased to grow grapes, though the name of the +'Earl's Vineyard' still clings to all that slope of land which lies +between this house and a certain health-giving spring that bubbles +from the bank the half of a mile away, in the waters of which sick +folks come to bathe even from Norwich and Lowestoft. But sheltered +as it is from the east winds, to this hour the place has the +advantage that gardens planted here are earlier by fourteen days +than any others in the country side, and that a man may sit in them +coatless in the bitter month of May, when on the top of the hill, +not two hundred paces hence, he must shiver in a jacket of +otterskins. + +The Lodge, for so it has always been named, in its beginnings +having been but a farmhouse, faces to the south-west, and is built +so low that it might well be thought that the damp from the river +Waveney, which runs through the marshes close by, would rise in it. +But this is not so, for though in autumn the roke, as here in +Norfolk we name ground fog, hangs about the house at nightfall, and +in seasons of great flood the water has been known to pour into the +stables at the back of it, yet being built on sand and gravel there +is no healthier habitation in the parish. For the rest the +building is of stud-work and red brick, quaint and mellow looking, +with many corners and gables that in summer are half hidden in +roses and other creeping plants, and with its outlook on the +marshes and the common where the lights vary continually with the +seasons and even with the hours of the day, on the red roofs of +Bungay town, and on the wooded bank that stretches round the +Earsham lands; though there are many larger, to my mind there is +none pleasanter in these parts. Here in this house I was born, and +here doubtless I shall die, and having spoken of it at some length, +as we are wont to do of spots which long custom has endeared to us, +I will go on to tell of my parentage. + +First, then, I would set out with a certain pride--for who of us +does not love an ancient name when we happen to be born to it?-- +that I am sprung from the family of the Wingfields of Wingfield +Castle in Suffolk, that lies some two hours on horseback from this +place. Long ago the heiress of the Wingfields married a De la +Pole, a family famous in our history, the last of whom, Edmund, +Earl of Suffolk, lost his head for treason when I was young, and +the castle passed to the De la Poles with her. But some offshoots +of the old Wingfield stock lingered in the neighbourhood, perchance +there was a bar sinister on their coat of arms, I know not and do +not care to know; at the least my fathers and I are of this blood. +My grandfather was a shrewd man, more of a yeoman than a squire, +though his birth was gentle. He it was who bought this place with +the lands round it, and gathered up some fortune, mostly by careful +marrying and living, for though he had but one son he was twice +married, and also by trading in cattle. + +Now my grandfather was godly-minded even to superstition, and +strange as it may seem, having only one son, nothing would satisfy +him but that the boy should be made a priest. But my father had +little leaning towards the priesthood and life in a monastery, +though at all seasons my grandfather strove to reason it into him, +sometimes with words and examples, at others with his thick cudgel +of holly, that still hangs over the ingle in the smaller sitting- +room. The end of it was that the lad was sent to the priory here +in Bungay, where his conduct was of such nature that within a year +the prior prayed his parents to take him back and set him in some +way of secular life. Not only, so said the prior, did my father +cause scandal by his actions, breaking out of the priory at night +and visiting drinking houses and other places; but, such was the +sum of his wickedness, he did not scruple to question and make mock +of the very doctrines of the Church, alleging even that there was +nothing sacred in the image of the Virgin Mary which stood in the +chancel, and shut its eyes in prayer before all the congregation +when the priest elevated the Host. 'Therefore,' said the prior, 'I +pray you take back your son, and let him find some other road to +the stake than that which runs through the gates of Bungay Priory.' + +Now at this story my grandfather was so enraged that he almost fell +into a fit; then recovering, he bethought him of his cudgel of +holly, and would have used it. But my father, who was now nineteen +years of age and very stout and strong, twisted it from his hand +and flung it full fifty yards, saying that no man should touch him +more were he a hundred times his father. Then he walked away, +leaving the prior and my grandfather staring at each other. + +Now to shorten a long tale, the end of the matter was this. It was +believed both by my grandfather and the prior that the true cause +of my father's contumacy was a passion which he had conceived for a +girl of humble birth, a miller's fair daughter who dwelt at +Waingford Mills. Perhaps there was truth in this belief, or +perhaps there was none. What does it matter, seeing that the maid +married a butcher at Beccles and died years since at the good age +of ninety and five? But true or false, my grandfather believed the +tale, and knowing well that absence is the surest cure for love, he +entered into a plan with the prior that my father should be sent to +a monastery at Seville in Spain, of which the prior's brother was +abbot, and there learn to forget the miller's daughter and all +other worldly things. + +When this was told to my father he fell into it readily enough, +being a young man of spirit and having a great desire to see the +world, otherwise, however, than through the gratings of a monastery +window. So the end of it was that he went to foreign parts in the +care of a party of Spanish monks, who had journeyed here to Norfolk +on a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham. + +It is said that my grandfather wept when he parted with his son, +feeling that he should see him no more; yet so strong was his +religion, or rather his superstition, that he did not hesitate to +send him away, though for no reason save that he would mortify his +own love and flesh, offering his son for a sacrifice as Abraham +would have offered Isaac. But though my father appeared to consent +to the sacrifice, as did Isaac, yet his mind was not altogether set +on altars and faggots; in short, as he himself told me in after +years, his plans were already laid. + +Thus it chanced that when he had sailed from Yarmouth a year and +six months, there came a letter from the abbot of the monastery in +Seville to his brother, the prior of St. Mary's at Bungay, saying +that my father had fled from the monastery, leaving no trace of +where he had gone. My grandfather was grieved at this tidings, but +said little about it. + +Two more years passed away, and there came other news, namely, that +my father had been captured, that he had been handed over to the +power of the Holy Office, as the accursed Inquisition was then +named, and tortured to death at Seville. When my grandfather heard +this he wept, and bemoaned himself that his folly in forcing one +into the Church who had no liking for that path, had brought about +the shameful end of his only son. After that date also he broke +his friendship with the prior of St. Mary's at Bungay, and ceased +his offerings to the priory. Still he did not believe that my +father was dead in truth, since on the last day of his own life, +that ended two years later, he spoke of him as a living man, and +left messages to him as to the management of the lands which now +were his. + +And in the end it became clear that this belief was not ill- +founded, for one day three years after the old man's death, there +landed at the port of Yarmouth none other than my father, who had +been absent some eight years in all. Nor did he come alone, for +with him he brought a wife, a young and very lovely lady, who +afterwards was my mother. She was a Spaniard of noble family, +having been born at Seville, and her maiden name was Donna Luisa de +Garcia. + + +Now of all that befell my father during his eight years of +wandering I cannot speak certainly, for he was very silent on the +matter, though I may have need to touch on some of his adventures. +But I know it is true that he fell under the power of the Holy +Office, for once when as a little lad I bathed with him in the +Elbow Pool, where the river Waveney bends some three hundred yards +above this house, I saw that his breast and arms were scored with +long white scars, and asked him what had caused them. I remember +well how his face changed as I spoke, from kindliness to the hue of +blackest hate, and how he answered speaking to himself rather than +to me. + +'Devils,' he said, 'devils set on their work by the chief of all +devils that live upon the earth and shall reign in hell. Hark you, +my son Thomas, there is a country called Spain where your mother +was born, and there these devils abide who torture men and women, +aye, and burn them living in the name of Christ. I was betrayed +into their hands by him whom I name the chief of the devils, though +he is younger than I am by three years, and their pincers and hot +irons left these marks upon me. Aye, and they would have burnt me +alive also, only I escaped, thanks to your mother--but such tales +are not for a little lad's hearing; and see you never speak of +them, Thomas, for the Holy Office has a long arm. You are half a +Spaniard, Thomas, your skin and eyes tell their own tale, but +whatever skin and eyes may tell, let your heart give them the lie. +Keep your heart English, Thomas; let no foreign devilments enter +there. Hate all Spaniards except your mother, and be watchful lest +her blood should master mine within you.' + +I was a child then, and scarcely understood his words or what he +meant by them. Afterwards I learned to understand them but too +well. As for my father's counsel, that I should conquer my Spanish +blood, would that I could always have followed it, for I know that +from this blood springs the most of such evil as is in me. Hence +come my fixedness of purpose or rather obstinacy, and my powers of +unchristian hatred that are not small towards those who have +wronged me. Well, I have done what I might to overcome these and +other faults, but strive as we may, that which is bred in the bone +will out in the flesh, as I have seen in many signal instances. + +There were three of us children, Geoffrey my elder brother, myself, +and my sister Mary, who was one year my junior, the sweetest child +and the most beautiful that I have ever known. We were very happy +children, and our beauty was the pride of our father and mother, +and the envy of other parents. I was the darkest of the three, +dark indeed to swarthiness, but in Mary the Spanish blood showed +only in her rich eyes of velvet hue, and in the glow upon her cheek +that was like the blush on a ripe fruit. My mother used to call me +her little Spaniard, because of my swarthiness, that is when my +father was not near, for such names angered him. She never learned +to speak English very well, but he would suffer her to talk in no +other tongue before him. Still, when he was not there she spoke in +Spanish, of which language, however, I alone of the family became a +master--and that more because of certain volumes of old Spanish +romances which she had by her, than for any other reason. From my +earliest childhood I was fond of such tales, and it was by bribing +me with the promise that I should read them that she persuaded me +to learn Spanish. For my mother's heart still yearned towards her +old sunny home, and often she would talk of it with us children, +more especially in the winter season, which she hated as I do. +Once I asked her if she wished to go back to Spain. She shivered +and answered no, for there dwelt one who was her enemy and would +kill her; also her heart was with us children and our father. I +wondered if this man who sought to kill my mother was the same as +he of whom my father had spoken as 'the chief of the devils,' but I +only answered that no man could wish to kill one so good and +beautiful. + +'Ah! my boy,' she said, 'it is just because I am, or rather have +been, beautiful that he hates me. Others would have wedded me +besides your dear father, Thomas.' And her face grew troubled as +though with fear. + + +Now when I was eighteen and a half years old, on a certain evening +in the month of May it happened that a friend of my father's, +Squire Bozard, late of the Hall in this parish, called at the Lodge +on his road from Yarmouth, and in the course of his talk let it +fall that a Spanish ship was at anchor in the Roads, laden with +merchandise. My father pricked up his ears at this, and asked who +her captain might be. Squire Bozard answered that he did not know +his name, but that he had seen him in the market-place, a tall and +stately man, richly dressed, with a handsome face and a scar upon +his temple. + +At this news my mother turned pale beneath her olive skin, and +muttered in Spanish: + +'Holy Mother! grant that it be not he.' + +My father also looked frightened, and questioned the squire closely +as to the man's appearance, but without learning anything more. +Then he bade him adieu with little ceremony, and taking horse rode +away for Yarmouth. + +That night my mother never slept, but sat all through it in her +nursing chair, brooding over I know not what. As I left her when I +went to my bed, so I found her when I came from it at dawn. I can +remember well pushing the door ajar to see her face glimmering +white in the twilight of the May morning, as she sat, her large +eyes fixed upon the lattice. + +'You have risen early, mother,' I said. + +'I have never lain down, Thomas,' she answered. + +'Why not? What do you fear?' + +'I fear the past and the future, my son. Would that your father +were back.' + +About ten o'clock of that morning, as I was making ready to walk +into Bungay to the house of that physician under whom I was +learning the art of healing, my father rode up. My mother, who was +watching at the lattice, ran out to meet him. + +Springing from his horse he embraced her, saying, 'Be of good +cheer, sweet, it cannot be he. This man has another name.' + +'But did you see him?' she asked. + +'No, he was out at his ship for the night, and I hurried home to +tell you, knowing your fears.' + +'It were surer if you had seen him, husband. He may well have +taken another name.' + +'I never thought of that, sweet,' my father answered; 'but have no +fear. Should it be he, and should he dare to set foot in the +parish of Ditchingham, there are those who will know how to deal +with him. But I am sure that it is not he.' + +'Thanks be to Jesu then!' she said, and they began talking in a low +voice. + +Now, seeing that I was not wanted, I took my cudgel and started +down the bridle-path towards the common footbridge, when suddenly +my mother called me back. + +'Kiss me before you go, Thomas,' she said. 'You must wonder what +all this may mean. One day your father will tell you. It has to +do with a shadow which has hung over my life for many years, but +that is, I trust, gone for ever.' + +'If it be a man who flings it, he had best keep out of reach of +this,' I said, laughing, and shaking my thick stick. + +'It is a man,' she answered, 'but one to be dealt with otherwise +than by blows, Thomas, should you ever chance to meet him.' + +'May be, mother, but might is the best argument at the last, for +the most cunning have a life to lose.' + +'You are too ready to use your strength, son,' she said, smiling +and kissing me. 'Remember the old Spanish proverb: "He strikes +hardest who strikes last."' + +'And remember the other proverb, mother: "Strike before thou art +stricken,"' I answered, and went. + +When I had gone some ten paces something prompted me to look back, +I know not what. My mother was standing by the open door, her +stately shape framed as it were in the flowers of a white creeping +shrub that grew upon the wall of the old house. As was her custom, +she wore a mantilla of white lace upon her head, the ends of which +were wound beneath her chin, and the arrangement of it was such +that at this distance for one moment it put me in mind of the +wrappings which are placed about the dead. I started at the +thought and looked at her face. She was watching me with sad and +earnest eyes that seemed to be filled with the spirit of farewell. + + +I never saw her again till she was dead. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE COMING OF THE SPANIARD + + +And now I must go back and speak of my own matters. As I have +told, it was my father's wish that I should be a physician, and +since I came back from my schooling at Norwich, that was when I had +entered on my sixteenth year, I had studied medicine under the +doctor who practised his art in the neighbourhood of Bungay. He +was a very learned man and an honest, Grimstone by name, and as I +had some liking for the business I made good progress under him. +Indeed I had learned almost all that he could teach me, and my +father purposed to send me to London, there to push on my studies, +so soon as I should attain my twentieth year, that is within some +five months of the date of the coming of the Spaniard. + +But it was not fated that I should go to London. + +Medicine was not the only thing that I studied in those days, +however. Squire Bozard of Ditchingham, the same who told my father +of the coming of the Spanish ship, had two living children, a son +and a daughter, though his wife had borne him many more who died in +infancy. The daughter was named Lily and of my own age, having +been born three weeks after me in the same year. Now the Bozards +are gone from these parts, for my great-niece, the granddaughter +and sole heiress of this son, has married and has issue of another +name. But this is by the way. + +From our earliest days we children, Bozards and Wingfields, lived +almost as brothers and sisters, for day by day we met and played +together in the snow or in the flowers. Thus it would be hard for +me to say when I began to love Lily or when she began to love me; +but I know that when first I went to school at Norwich I grieved +more at losing sight of her than because I must part from my mother +and the rest. In all our games she was ever my partner, and I +would search the country round for days to find such flowers as she +chanced to love. When I came back from school it was the same, +though by degrees Lily grew shyer, and I also grew suddenly shy, +perceiving that from a child she had become a woman. Still we met +often, and though neither said anything of it, it was sweet to us +to meet. + +Thus things went on till this day of my mother's death. But before +I go further I must tell that Squire Bozard looked with no favour +on the friendship between his daughter and myself--and this, not +because he disliked me, but rather because he would have seen Lily +wedded to my elder brother Geoffrey, my father's heir, and not to a +younger son. So hard did he grow about the matter at last that we +two might scarcely meet except by seeming accident, whereas my +brother was ever welcome at the Hall. And on this account some +bitterness arose between us two brothers, as is apt to be the case +when a woman comes between friends however close. For it must be +known that my brother Geoffrey also loved Lily, as all men would +have loved her, and with a better right perhaps than I had--for he +was my elder by three years and born to possessions. It may seem +indeed that I was somewhat hasty to fall into this state, seeing +that at the time of which I write I was not yet of age; but young +blood is nimble, and moreover mine was half Spanish, and made a man +of me when many a pure-bred Englishman is still nothing but a boy. +For the blood and the sun that ripens it have much to do with such +matters, as I have seen often enough among the Indian peoples of +Anahuac, who at the age of fifteen will take to themselves a bride +of twelve. At the least it is certain that when I was eighteen +years of age I was old enough to fall in love after such fashion +that I never fell out of it again altogether, although the history +of my life may seem to give me the lie when I say so. But I take +it that a man may love several women and yet love one of them the +best of all, being true in the spirit to the law which he breaks in +the letter. + +Now when I had attained nineteen years I was a man full grown, and +writing as I do in extreme old age, I may say it without false +shame, a very handsome youth to boot. I was not over tall, indeed, +measuring but five feet nine inches and a half in height, but my +limbs were well made, and I was both deep and broad in the chest. +In colour I was, and my white hair notwithstanding, am still +extraordinarily dark hued, my eyes also were large and dark, and my +hair, which was wavy, was coal black. In my deportment I was +reserved and grave to sadness, in speech I was slow and temperate, +and more apt at listening than in talking. I weighed matters well +before I made up my mind upon them, but being made up, nothing +could turn me from that mind short of death itself, whether it were +set on good or evil, on folly or wisdom. In those days also I had +little religion, since, partly because of my father's secret +teaching and partly through the workings of my own reason, I had +learned to doubt the doctrines of the Church as they used to be set +out. Youth is prone to reason by large leaps as it were, and to +hold that all things are false because some are proved false; and +thus at times in those days I thought that there was no God, +because the priest said that the image of the Virgin at Bungay wept +and did other things which I knew that it did not do. Now I know +well that there is a God, for my own story proves it to my heart. +In truth, what man can look back across a long life and say that +there is no God, when he can see the shadow of His hand lying deep +upon his tale of years? + +On this sad day of which I write I knew that Lily, whom I loved, +would be walking alone beneath the great pollard oaks in the park +of Ditchingham Hall. Here, in Grubswell as the spot is called, +grew, and indeed still grow, certain hawthorn trees that are the +earliest to blow of any in these parts, and when we had met at the +church door on the Sunday, Lily said that there would be bloom upon +them by the Wednesday, and on that afternoon she should go to cut +it. It may well be that she spoke thus with design, for love will +breed cunning in the heart of the most guileless and truthful maid. +Moreover, I noticed that though she said it before her father and +the rest of us, yet she waited to speak till my brother Geoffrey +was out of hearing, for she did not wish to go maying with him, and +also that as she spoke she shot a glance of her grey eyes at me. +Then and there I vowed to myself that I also would be gathering +hawthorn bloom in this same place and on that Wednesday afternoon, +yes, even if I must play truant and leave all the sick of Bungay to +Nature's nursing. Moreover, I was determined on one thing, that if +I could find Lily alone I would delay no longer, but tell her all +that was in my heart; no great secret indeed, for though no word of +love had ever passed between us as yet, each knew the other's +hidden thoughts. Not that I was in the way to become affianced to +a maid, who had my path to cut in the world, but I feared that if I +delayed to make sure of her affection my brother would be before me +with her father, and Lily might yield to that to which she would +not yield if once we had plighted troth. + +Now it chanced that on this afternoon I was hard put to it to +escape to my tryst, for my master, the physician, was ailing, and +sent me to visit the sick for him, carrying them their medicines. +At the last, however, between four and five o'clock, I fled, asking +no leave. Taking the Norwich road I ran for a mile and more till I +had passed the Manor House and the church turn, and drew near to +Ditchingham Park. Then I dropped my pace to a walk, for I did not +wish to come before Lily heated and disordered, but rather looking +my best, to which end I had put on my Sunday garments. Now as I +went down the little hill in the road that runs past the park, I +saw a man on horseback who looked first at the bridle-path, that at +this spot turns off to the right, then back across the common lands +towards the Vineyard Hills and the Waveney, and then along the road +as though he did not know which way to turn. I was quick to notice +things--though at this moment my mind was not at its swiftest, +being set on other matters, and chiefly as to how I should tell my +tale to Lily--and I saw at once that this man was not of our +country. + +He was very tall and noble-looking, dressed in rich garments of +velvet adorned by a gold chain that hung about his neck, and as I +judged about forty years of age. But it was his face which chiefly +caught my eye, for at that moment there was something terrible +about it. It was long, thin, and deeply carved; the eyes were +large, and gleamed like gold in sunlight; the mouth was small and +well shaped, but it wore a devilish and cruel sneer; the forehead +lofty, indicating a man of mind, and marked with a slight scar. +For the rest the cavalier was dark and southern-looking, his +curling hair, like my own, was black, and he wore a peaked +chestnut-coloured beard. + + +By the time that I had finished these observations my feet had +brought me almost to the stranger's side, and for the first time he +caught sight of me. Instantly his face changed, the sneer left it, +and it became kindly and pleasant looking. Lifting his bonnet with +much courtesy he stammered something in broken English, of which +all that I could catch was the word Yarmouth; then perceiving that +I did not understand him, he cursed the English tongue and all +those who spoke it, aloud and in good Castilian. + +'If the senor will graciously express his wish in Spanish,' I said, +speaking in that language, 'it may be in my power to help him.' + +'What! you speak Spanish, young sir,' he said, starting, 'and yet +you are not a Spaniard, though by your face you well might be. +Caramba! but it is strange!' and he eyed me curiously. + +'It may be strange, sir,' I answered, 'but I am in haste. Be +pleased to ask your question and let me go.' + +'Ah!' he said, 'perhaps I can guess the reason of your hurry. I +saw a white robe down by the streamlet yonder,' and he nodded +towards the park. 'Take the advice of an older man, young sir, and +be careful. Make what sport you will with such, but never believe +them and never marry them--lest you should live to desire to kill +them!' + +Here I made as though I would pass on, but he spoke again. + +'Pardon my words, they were well meant, and perhaps you may come to +learn their truth. I will detain you no more. Will you graciously +direct me on my road to Yarmouth, for I am not sure of it, having +ridden by another way, and your English country is so full of trees +that a man cannot see a mile?' + +I walked a dozen paces down the bridle-path that joined the road at +this place, and pointed out the way that he should go, past +Ditchingham church. As I did so I noticed that while I spoke the +stranger was watching my face keenly and, as it seemed to me, with +an inward fear which he strove to master and could not. When I had +finished again he raised his bonnet and thanked me, saying, + +'Will you be so gracious as to tell me your name, young Sir?' + +'What is my name to you?' I answered roughly, for I disliked this +man. 'You have not told me yours.' + +'No, indeed, I am travelling incognito. Perhaps I also have met a +lady in these parts,' and he smiled strangely. 'I only wished to +know the name of one who had done me a courtesy, but who it seems +is not so courteous as I deemed.' And he shook his horse's reins. + +'I am not ashamed of my name,' I said. 'It has been an honest one +so far, and if you wish to know it, it is Thomas Wingfield.' + +'I thought it,' he cried, and as he spoke his face grew like the +face of a fiend. Then before I could find time even to wonder, he +had sprung from his horse and stood within three paces of me. + +'A lucky day! Now we will see what truth there is in prophecies,' +he said, drawing his silver-mounted sword. 'A name for a name; +Juan de Garcia gives you greeting, Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now, strange as it may seem, it was at this moment only that there +flashed across my mind the thought of all that I had heard about +the Spanish stranger, the report of whose coming to Yarmouth had +stirred my father and mother so deeply. At any other time I should +have remembered it soon enough, but on this day I was so set upon +my tryst with Lily and what I should say to her, that nothing else +could hold a place in my thoughts. + +'This must be the man,' I said to myself, and then I said no more, +for he was on me, sword up. I saw the keen point flash towards me, +and sprang to one side having a desire to fly, as, being unarmed +except for my stick, I might have done without shame. But spring +as I would I could not avoid the thrust altogether. It was aimed +at my heart and it pierced the sleeve of my left arm, passing +through the flesh--no more. Yet at the pain of that cut all +thought of flight left me, and instead of it a cold anger filled +me, causing me to wish to kill this man who had attacked me thus +and unprovoked. In my hand was my stout oaken staff which I had +cut myself on the banks of Hollow Hill, and if I would fight I must +make such play with this as I might. It seems a poor weapon indeed +to match against a Toledo blade in the hands of one who could +handle it well, and yet there are virtues in a cudgel, for when a +man sees himself threatened with it, he is likely to forget that he +holds in his hand a more deadly weapon, and to take to the guarding +of his own head in place of running his adversary through the body. + +And that was what chanced in this case, though how it came about +exactly I cannot tell. The Spaniard was a fine swordsman, and had +I been armed as he was would doubtless have overmatched me, who at +that age had no practice in the art, which was almost unknown in +England. But when he saw the big stick flourished over him he +forgot his own advantage, and raised his arm to ward away the blow. +Down it came upon the back of his hand, and lo! his sword fell from +it to the grass. But I did not spare him because of that, for my +blood was up. The next stroke took him on the lips, knocking out a +tooth and sending him backwards. Then I caught him by the leg and +beat him most unmercifully, not upon the head indeed, for now that +I was victor I did not wish to kill one whom I thought a madman as +I would that I had done, but on every other part of him. + +Indeed I thrashed him till my arms were weary and then I fell to +kicking him, and all the while he writhed like a wounded snake and +cursed horribly, though he never cried out or asked for mercy. At +last I ceased and looked at him, and he was no pretty sight to see-- +indeed, what with his cuts and bruises and the mire of the +roadway, it would have been hard to know him for the gallant +cavalier whom I had met not five minutes before. But uglier than +all his hurts was the look in his wicked eyes as he lay there on +his back in the pathway and glared up at me. + +'Now, friend Spaniard,' I said, 'you have learned a lesson; and +what is there to hinder me from treating you as you would have +dealt with me who had never harmed you?' and I took up his sword +and held it to his throat. + +'Strike home, you accursed whelp!' he answered in a broken voice; +'it is better to die than to live to remember such shame as this.' + +'No,' I said, 'I am no foreign murderer to kill a defenceless man. +You shall away to the justice to answer for yourself. The hangman +has a rope for such as you.' + +'Then you must drag me thither,' he groaned, and shut his eyes as +though with faintness, and doubtless he was somewhat faint. + +Now as I pondered on what should be done with the villain, it +chanced that I looked up through a gap in the fence, and there, +among the Grubswell Oaks three hundred yards or more away, I caught +sight of the flutter of a white robe that I knew well, and it +seemed to me that the wearer of that robe was moving towards the +bridge of the 'watering' as though she were weary of waiting for +one who did not come. + +Then I thought to myself that if I stayed to drag this man to the +village stocks or some other safe place, there would be an end of +meeting with my love that day, and I did not know when I might find +another chance. Now I would not have missed that hour's talk with +Lily to bring a score of murderous-minded foreigners to their +deserts, and, moreover, this one had earned good payment for his +behaviour. Surely thought I, he might wait a while till I had done +my love-making, and if he would not wait I could find a means to +make him do so. Not twenty paces from us the horse stood cropping +the grass. I went to him and undid his bridle rein, and with it +fastened the Spaniard to a small wayside tree as best I was able. + +'Now, here you stay,' I said, 'till I am ready to fetch you;' and I +turned to go. + +But as I went a great doubt took me, and once more I remembered my +mother's fear, and how my father had ridden in haste to Yarmouth on +business about a Spaniard. Now to-day a Spaniard had wandered to +Ditchingham, and when he learned my name had fallen upon me madly +trying to kill me. Was not this the man whom my mother feared, and +was it right that I should leave him thus that I might go maying +with my dear? I knew in my breast that it was not right, but I was +so set upon my desire and so strongly did my heartstrings pull me +towards her whose white robe now fluttered on the slope of the Park +Hill, that I never heeded the warning. + +Well had it been for me if I had done so, and well for some who +were yet unborn. Then they had never known death, nor I the land +of exile, the taste of slavery, and the altar of sacrifice. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THOMAS TELLS HIS LOVE + + +Having made the Spaniard as fast as I could, his arms being bound +to the tree behind him, and taking his sword with me, I began to +run hard after Lily and caught her not too soon, for in one more +minute she would have turned along the road that runs to the +watering and over the bridge by the Park Hill path to the Hall. + +Hearing my footsteps, she faced about to greet me, or rather as +though to see who it was that followed her. There she stood in the +evening light, a bough of hawthorn bloom in her hand, and my heart +beat yet more wildly at the sight of her. Never had she seemed +fairer than as she stood thus in her white robe, a look of amaze +upon her face and in her grey eyes, that was half real half +feigned, and with the sunlight shifting on her auburn hair that +showed beneath her little bonnet. Lily was no round-checked +country maid with few beauties save those of health and youth, but +a tall and shapely lady who had ripened early to her full grace and +sweetness, and so it came about that though we were almost of an +age, yet in her presence I felt always as though I were the +younger. Thus in my love for her was mingled some touch of +reverence. + +'Oh! it is you, Thomas,' she said, blushing as she spoke. 'I +thought you were not--I mean that I am going home as it grows late. +But say, why do you run so fast, and what has happened to you, +Thomas, that your arm is bloody and you carry a sword in your +hand?' + +'I have no breath to speak yet,' I answered. 'Come back to the +hawthorns and I will tell you.' + +'No, I must be wending homewards. I have been among the trees for +more than an hour, and there is little bloom upon them.' + +'I could not come before, Lily. I was kept, and in a strange +manner. Also I saw bloom as I ran.' + +'Indeed, I never thought that you would come, Thomas,' she +answered, looking down, 'who have other things to do than to go out +maying like a girl. But I wish to hear your story, if it is short, +and I will walk a little way with you.' + +So we turned and walked side by side towards the great pollard +oaks, and by the time that we reached them, I had told her the tale +of the Spaniard, and how he strove to kill me, and how I had beaten +him with my staff. Now Lily listened eagerly enough, and sighed +with fear when she learned how close I had been to death. + +'But you are wounded, Thomas,' she broke in; 'see, the blood runs +fast from your arm. Is the thrust deep?' + +'I have not looked to see. I have had no time to look.' + +'Take off your coat, Thomas, that I may dress the wound. Nay, I +will have it so.' + +So I drew off the garment, not without pain, and rolled up the +shirt beneath, and there was the hurt, a clean thrust through the +fleshy part of the lower arm. Lily washed it with water from the +brook, and bound it with her kerchief, murmuring words of pity all +the while. To say truth, I would have suffered a worse harm +gladly, if only I could find her to tend it. Indeed, her gentle +care broke down the fence of my doubts and gave me a courage that +otherwise might have failed me in her presence. At first, indeed, +I could find no words, but as she bound my wound, I bent down and +kissed her ministering hand. She flushed red as the evening sky, +the flood of crimson losing itself at last beneath her auburn hair, +but it burned deepest upon the white hand which I had kissed. + +'Why did you do that, Thomas?' she said, in a low voice. + +Then I spoke. 'I did it because I love you, Lily, and do not know +how to begin the telling of my love. I love you, dear, and have +always loved as I always shall love you.' + +'Are you so sure of that, Thomas?' she said, again. + +'There is nothing else in the world of which I am so sure, Lily. +What I wish to be as sure of is that you love me as I love you.' + +For a moment she stood quiet, her head sunk almost to her breast, +then she lifted it and her eyes shone as I had never seen them +shine before. + +'Can you doubt it, Thomas?' she said. + +And now I took her in my arms and kissed her on the lips, and the +memory of that kiss has gone with me through my long life, and is +with me yet, when, old and withered, I stand upon the borders of +the grave. It was the greatest joy that has been given to me in +all my days. Too soon, alas! it was done, that first pure kiss of +youthful love--and I spoke again somewhat aimlessly. + +'It seems then that you do love me who love you so well.' + +'If you doubted it before, can you doubt it NOW?' she answered very +softly. 'But listen, Thomas. It is well that we should love each +other, for we were born to it, and have no help in the matter, even +if we wished to find it. Still, though love be sweet and holy, it +is not all, for there is duty to be thought of, and what will my +father say to this, Thomas?' + +'I do not know, Lily, and yet I can guess. I am sure, sweet, that +he wishes you to take my brother Geoffrey, and leave me on one +side.' + +'Then his wishes are not mine, Thomas. Also, though duty be +strong, it is not strong enough to force a woman to a marriage for +which she has no liking. Yet it may prove strong enough to keep a +woman from a marriage for which her heart pleads--perhaps, also, it +should have been strong enough to hold me back from the telling of +my love.' + +'No, Lily, the love itself is much, and though it should bring no +fruit, still it is something to have won it for ever and a day.' + +'You are very young to talk thus, Thomas. I am also young, I know, +but we women ripen quicker. Perhaps all this is but a boy's fancy, +to pass with boyhood.' + +'It will never pass, Lily. They say that our first loves are the +longest, and that which is sown in youth will flourish in our age. +Listen, Lily; I have my place to make in the world, and it may take +a time in the making, and I ask one promise of you, though perhaps +it is a selfish thing to seek. I ask of you that you will be +faithful to me, and come fair weather or foul, will wed no other +man till you know me dead.' + +'It is something to promise, Thomas, for with time come changes. +Still I am so sure of myself that I promise--nay I swear it. Of +you I cannot be sure, but things are so with us women that we must +risk all upon a throw, and if we lose, good-bye to happiness.' + +Then we talked on, and I cannot remember what we said, though these +words that I have written down remain in my mind, partly because of +their own weight, and in part because of all that came about in the +after years. + +And at last I knew that I must go, though we were sad enough at +parting. So I took her in my arms and kissed her so closely that +some blood from my wound ran down her white attire. But as we +embraced I chanced to look up, and saw a sight that frightened me +enough. For there, not five paces from us, stood Squire Bozard, +Lily's father, watching all, and his face wore no smile. + +He had been riding by a bridle-path to the watering ford, and +seeing a couple trespassing beneath the oaks, dismounted from his +horse to hunt them away. Not till he was quite near did he know +whom he came to hunt, and then he stood still in astonishment. +Lily and I drew slowly apart and looked at him. He was a short +stout man, with a red face and stern grey eyes, that seemed to be +starting from his head with anger. For a while he could not speak, +but when he began at length the words came fast enough. All that +he said I forget, but the upshot of it was that he desired to know +what my business was with his daughter. I waited till he was out +of breath, then answered him that Lily and I loved each other well, +and were plighting our troth. + +'Is this so, daughter?' he asked. + +'It is so, my father,' she answered boldly. + +Then he broke out swearing. 'You light minx,' he said, 'you shall +be whipped and kept cool on bread and water in your chamber. And +for you, my half-bred Spanish cockerel, know once and for all that +this maid is for your betters. How dare you come wooing my +daughter, you empty pill-box, who have not two silver pennies to +rattle in your pouch! Go win fortune and a name before you dare to +look up to such as she.' + +'That is my desire, and I will do it, sir,' I answered. + +'So, you apothecary's drudge, you will win name and place, will +you! Well, long before that deed is done the maid shall be safely +wedded to one who has them and who is not unknown to you. +Daughter, say now that you have finished with him.' + +'I cannot say that, father,' she replied, plucking at her robe. +'If it is not your will that I should marry Thomas here, my duty is +plain and I may not wed him. But I am my own and no duty can make +me marry where I will not. While Thomas lives I am sworn to him +and to no other man.' + +'At the least you have courage, hussey,' said her father. 'But +listen now, either you will marry where and when I wish, or tramp +it for your bread. Ungrateful girl, did I breed you to flaunt me +to my face? Now for you, pill-box. I will teach you to come +kissing honest men's daughters without their leave,' and with a +curse he rushed at me, stick aloft, to thrash me. + +Then for the second time that day my quick blood boiled in me, and +snatching up the Spaniard's sword that lay upon the grass beside +me, I held it at the point, for the game was changed, and I who had +fought with cudgel against sword, must now fight with sword against +cudgel. And had it not been that Lily with a quick cry of fear +struck my arm from beneath, causing the point of the sword to pass +over his shoulder, I believe truly that I should then and there +have pierced her father through, and ended my days early with a +noose about my neck. + +'Are you mad?' she cried. 'And do you think to win me by slaying +my father? Throw down that sword, Thomas.' + +'As for winning you, it seems that there is small chance of it;' I +answered hotly, 'but I tell you this, not for the sake of all the +maids upon the earth will I stand to be beaten with a stick like a +scullion.' + +'And there I do not blame you, lad,' said her father, more kindly. +'I see that you also have courage which may serve you in good +stead, and it was unworthy of me to call you "pill-box" in my +anger. Still, as I have said, the girl is not for you, so be gone +and forget her as best you may, and if you value your life, never +let me find you two kissing again. And know that to-morrow I will +have a word with your father on this matter.' + +'I will go since I must go,' I answered, 'but, sir, I still hope to +live to call your daughter wife. Lily, farewell till these storms +are overpast.' + +'Farewell, Thomas,' she said weeping. 'Forget me not and I will +never forget my oath to you.' + +Then taking Lily by the arm her father led her away. + +I also went away--sad, but not altogether ill-pleased. For now I +knew that if I had won the father's anger, I had also won the +daughter's unalterable love, and love lasts longer than wrath, and +here or hereafter will win its way at length. When I had gone a +little distance I remembered the Spaniard, who had been clean +forgotten by me in all this love and war, and I turned to seek him +and drag him to the stocks, the which I should have done with joy, +and been glad to find some one on whom to wreak my wrongs. But +when I came to the spot where I had left him, I found that fate had +befriended him by the hand of a fool, for there was no Spaniard but +only the village idiot, Billy Minns by name, who stood staring +first at the tree to which the foreigner had been made fast, and +then at a piece of silver in his hand. + +'Where is the man who was tied here, Billy?' I asked. + +'I know not, Master Thomas,' he answered in his Norfolk talk which +I will not set down. 'Half-way to wheresoever he was going I +should say, measured by the pace at which he left when once I had +set him upon his horse.' + +'You set him on his horse, fool? How long was that ago?' + +'How long! Well, it might be one hour, and it might be two. I'm +no reckoner of time, that keeps its own score like an innkeeper, +without my help. Lawks! how he did gallop off, working those long +spurs he wore right into the ribs of the horse. And little wonder, +poor man, and he daft, not being able to speak, but only to bleat +sheeplike, and fallen upon by robbers on the king's roads, and in +broad daylight. But Billy cut him loose and caught his horse and +set him on it, and got this piece for his good charity. Lawks! but +he was glad to be gone. How he did gallop!' + +'Now you are a bigger fool even than I thought you, Billy Minns,' I +said in anger. 'That man would have murdered me, I overcame him +and made him fast, and you have let him go.' + +'He would have murdered you, Master, and you made him fast! Then +why did you not stop to keep him till I came along, and we would +have haled him to the stocks? That would have been sport and all. +You call me fool--but if you found a man covered with blood and +hurts tied to a tree, and he daft and not able to speak, had you +not cut him loose? Well, he's gone, and this alone is left of +him,' and he spun the piece into the air. + +Now, seeing that there was reason in Billy's talk, for the fault +was mine, I turned away without more words, not straight homewards, +for I wished to think alone awhile on all that had come about +between me and Lily and her father, but down the way which runs +across the lane to the crest of the Vineyard Hills. These hills +are clothed with underwood, in which large oaks grow to within some +two hundred yards of this house where I write, and this underwood +is pierced by paths that my mother laid out, for she loved to walk +here. One of these paths runs along the bottom of the hill by the +edge of the pleasant river Waveney, and the other a hundred feet or +more above and near the crest of the slope, or to speak more +plainly, there is but one path shaped like the letter O, placed +thus [symbol of O laying on its side omitted], the curved ends of +the letter marking how the path turns upon the hill-side. + +Now I struck the path at the end that is furthest from this house, +and followed that half of it which runs down by the river bank, +having the water on one side of it and the brushwood upon the +other. Along this lower path I wandered, my eyes fixed upon the +ground, thinking deeply as I went, now of the joy of Lily's love, +and now of the sorrow of our parting and of her father's wrath. As +I went, thus wrapped in meditation, I saw something white lying +upon the grass, and pushed it aside with the point of the +Spaniard's sword, not heeding it. Still, its shape and fashioning +remained in my mind, and when I had left it some three hundred +paces behind me, and was drawing near to the house, the sight of it +came back to me as it lay soft and white upon the grass, and I knew +that it was familiar to my eyes. From the thing, whatever it might +be, my mind passed to the Spaniard's sword with which I had tossed +it aside, and from the sword to the man himself. What had been his +business in this parish?--an ill one surely--and why had he looked +as though he feared me and fallen upon me when he learned my name? + +I stood still, looking downward, and my eyes fell upon footprints +stamped in the wet sand of the path. One of them was my mother's. +I could have sworn to it among a thousand, for no other woman in +these parts had so delicate a foot. Close to it, as though +following after, was another that at first I thought must also have +been made by a woman, it was so narrow. But presently I saw that +this could scarcely be, because of its length, and moreover, that +the boot which left it was like none that I knew, being cut very +high at the instep and very pointed at the toe. Then, of a sudden, +it came upon me that the Spanish stranger wore such boots, for I +had noted them while I talked with him, and that his feet were +following those of my mother, for they had trodden on her track, +and in some places, his alone had stamped their impress on the sand +blotting out her footprints. Then, too, I knew what the white rag +was that I had thrown aside. It was my mother's mantilla which I +knew, and yet did not know, because I always saw it set daintily +upon her head. In a moment it had come home to me, and with the +knowledge a keen and sickening dread. Why had this man followed my +mother, and why did her mantilla lie thus upon the ground? + +I turned and sped like a deer back to where I had seen the lace. +All the way the footprints went before me. Now I was there. Yes, +the wrapping was hers, and it had been rent as though by a rude +hand; but where was she? + +With a beating heart once more I bent to read the writing of the +footsteps. Here they were mixed one with another, as though the +two had stood close together, moving now this way and now that in +struggle. I looked up the path, but there were none. Then I cast +round about like a beagle, first along the river side, then up the +bank. Here they were again, and made by feet that flew and feet +that followed. Up the bank they went fifty yards and more, now +lost where the turf was sound, now seen in sand or loam, till they +led to the bole of a big oak, and were once more mixed together, +for here the pursuer had come up with the pursued. + +Despairingly as one who dreams, for now I guessed all and grew mad +with fear, I looked this way and that, till at length I found more +footsteps, those of the Spaniard. These were deep marked, as of a +man who carried some heavy burden. I followed them; first they +went down the hill towards the river, then turned aside to a spot +where the brushwood was thick. In the deepest of the clump the +boughs, now bursting into leaf, were bent downwards as though to +hide something beneath. I wrenched them aside, and there, gleaming +whitely in the gathering twilight was the dead face of my mother. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THOMAS SWEARS AN OATH + + +For a while I stood amazed with horror, staring down at the dead +face of my beloved mother. Then I stooped to lift her and saw that +she had been stabbed, and through the breast, stabbed with the +sword which I carried in my hand. + +Now I understood. This was the work of that Spanish stranger whom +I had met as he hurried from the place of murder, who, because of +the wickedness of his heart or for some secret reason, had striven +to slay me also when he learned that I was my mother's son. And I +had held this devil in my power, and that I might meet my May, I +had suffered him to escape my vengeance, who, had I known the +truth, would have dealt with him as the priests of Anahuac deal +with the victims of their gods. I understood and shed tears of +pity, rage, and shame. Then I turned and fled homewards like one +mad. + +At the doorway I met my father and my brother Geoffrey riding up +from Bungay market, and there was that written on my face which +caused them to ask as with one voice: + +'What evil thing has happened?' + +Thrice I looked at my father before I could speak, for I feared +lest the blow should kill him. But speak I must at last, though I +chose that it should be to Geoffrey my brother. 'Our mother lies +murdered yonder on the Vineyard Hill. A Spanish man has done the +deed, Juan de Garcia by name.' When my father heard these words +his face became livid as though with pain of the heart, his jaw +fell and a low moan issued from his open mouth. Presently he +rested his hand upon the pommel of the saddle, and lifting his +ghastly face he said: + +'Where is this Spaniard? Have you killed him?' + +'No, father. He chanced upon me in Grubswell, and when he learned +my name he would have murdered me. But I played quarter staff with +him and beat him to a pulp, taking his sword.' + +'Ay, and then?' + +'And then I let him go, knowing nothing of the deed he had already +wrought upon our mother. Afterwards I will tell you all.' + +'You let him go, son! You let Juan de Garcia go! Then, Thomas, +may the curse of God rest upon you till you find him and finish +that which you began to-day.' + +'Spare to curse me, father, who am accursed by my own conscience. +Turn your horses rather and ride for Yarmouth, for there his ship +lies and thither he has gone with two hours' start. Perhaps you +may still trap him before he sets sail.' + +Without another word my father and brother wheeled their horses +round and departed at full gallop into the gloom of the gathering +night. + +They rode so fiercely that, their horses being good, they came to +the gates of Yarmouth in little more than an hour and a half, and +that is fast riding. But the bird was flown. They tracked him to +the quay and found that he had shipped a while before in a boat +which was in waiting for him, and passed to his vessel that lay in +the Roads at anchor but with the most of her canvas set. Instantly +she sailed, and now was lost in the night. Then my father caused +notice to be given that he would pay reward of two hundred pieces +in gold to any ship that should capture the Spaniard, and two +started on the quest, but they did not find her that before morning +was far on her way across the sea. + +So soon as they had galloped away I called together the grooms and +other serving men and told them what had chanced. Then we went +with lanterns, for by now it was dark, and came to the thick +brushwood where lay the body of my mother. I drew near the first, +for the men were afraid, and so indeed was I, though why I should +fear her lying dead who living had loved me tenderly, I do not +know. Yet I know this, that when I came to the spot and saw two +eyes glowering at me and heard the crash of bushes as something +broke them, I could almost have fallen with fear, although I knew +well that it was but a fox or wandering hound haunting the place of +death. + +Still I went on, calling the others to follow, and the end of it +was that we laid my mother's body upon a door which had been lifted +from its hinges, and bore her home for the last time. And to me +that path is still a haunted place. It is seventy years and more +since my mother died by the hand of Juan de Garcia her cousin, yet +old as I am and hardened to such sad scenes, I do not love to walk +that path alone at night. + +Doubtless it was fancy which plays us strange tricks, still but a +year ago, having gone to set a springe for a woodcock, I chanced to +pass by yonder big oak upon a November eve, and I could have sworn +that I saw it all again. I saw myself a lad, my wounded arm still +bound with Lily's kerchief, climbing slowly down the hill-side, +while behind me, groaning beneath their burden, were the forms of +the four serving men. I heard the murmur of the river and the wind +that seventy years ago whispered in the reeds. I saw the clouded +sky flawed here and there with blue, and the broken light that +gleamed on the white burden stretched upon the door, and the red +stain at its breast. Ay, I heard myself talk as I went forward +with the lantern, bidding the men pass to the right of some steep +and rotten ground, and it was strange to me to listen to my own +voice as it had been in youth. Well, well, it was but a dream, yet +such slaves are we to the fears of fancy, that because of the dead, +I, who am almost of their number, do not love to pass that path at +night. + +At length we came home with our burden, and the women took it +weeping and set about their task with it. And now I must not only +fight my own sorrows but must strive to soothe those of my sister +Mary, who as I feared would go mad with grief and horror. At last +she sobbed herself into a torpor, and I went and questioned the men +who sat round the fire in the kitchen, for none sought their beds +that night. From them I learned that an hour or more before I met +the Spaniard, a richly-dressed stranger had been seen walking along +the church-path, and that he had tied his horse among some gorse +and brambles on the top of the hill, where he stood as though in +doubt, till my mother came out, when he descended and followed her. +Also I learned that one of the men at work in the garden, which is +not more than three hundred paces from where the deed was done, +heard cries, but had taken no note of them, thinking forsooth that +it was but the play of some lover from Bungay and his lass chasing +each other through the woods, as to this hour it is their fashion +to do. Truly it seemed to me that day as though this parish of +Ditchingham were the very nursery of fools, of whom I was the first +and biggest, and indeed this same thought has struck me since +concerning other matters. + +At length the morning came, and with it my father and brother, who +returned from Yarmouth on hired horses, for their own were spent. +In the afternoon also news followed them that the ships which had +put to sea on the track of the Spaniard had been driven back by bad +weather, having seen nothing of him. + +Now I told all the story of my dealings with the murderer of my +mother, keeping nothing back, and I must bear my father's bitter +anger because knowing that my mother was in dread of a Spaniard, I +had suffered my reason to be led astray by my desire to win speech +with my love. Nor did I meet with any comfort from my brother +Geoffrey, who was fierce against me because he learned that I had +not pleaded in vain with the maid whom he desired for himself. But +he said nothing of this reason. Also that no drop might be lacking +in my cup, Squire Bozard, who came with many other neighbours to +view the corpse and offer sympathy with my father in his loss, told +him at the same time that he took it ill that I should woo his +daughter against his wish, and that if I continued in this course +it would strain their ancient friendship. Thus I was hit on every +side; by sorrow for my mother whom I had loved tenderly, by longing +for my dear whom I might not see, by self-reproach because I had +let the Spaniard go when I held him fast, and by the anger of my +father and my brother. Indeed those days were so dark and bitter, +for I was at the age when shame and sorrow sting their sharpest, +that I wished that I were dead beside my mother. One comfort +reached me indeed, a message from Lily sent by a servant girl whom +she trusted, giving me her dear love and bidding me to be of good +cheer. + +At length came the day of burial, and my mother, wrapped in fair +white robes, was laid to her rest in the chancel of the church at +Ditchingham, where my father has long been set beside her, hard by +the brass effigies that mark the burying place of Lily's +forefather, his wife, and many of their children. This funeral was +the saddest of sights, for the bitterness of my father's grief +broke from him in sobs and my sister Mary swooned away in my arms. +Indeed there were few dry eyes in all that church, for my mother, +notwithstanding her foreign birth, was much loved because of her +gentle ways and the goodness of her heart. But it came to an end, +and the noble Spanish lady and English wife was left to her long +sleep in the ancient church, where she shall rest on when her +tragic story and her very name are forgotten among men. Indeed +this is likely to be soon, for I am the last of the Wingfields +alive in these parts, though my sister Mary has left descendants of +another name to whom my lands and fortune go except for certain +gifts to the poor of Bungay and of Ditchingham. + +When it was over I went back home. My father was sitting in the +front room well nigh beside himself with grief, and by him was my +brother. Presently he began to assail me with bitter words because +I had let the murderer go when God gave him into my hand. + +'You forget, father,' sneered Geoffrey, 'Thomas woos a maid, and it +was more to him to hold her in his arms than to keep his mother's +murderer safely. But by this it seems he has killed two birds with +one stone, he has suffered the Spanish devil to escape when he knew +that our mother feared the coming of a Spaniard, and he has made +enmity between us and Squire Bozard, our good neighbour, who +strangely enough does not favour his wooing.' + +'It is so,' said my father. 'Thomas, your mother's blood is on +your hands.' + +I listened and could bear this goading injustice no longer. + +'It is false,' I said, 'I say it even to my father. The man had +killed my mother before I met him riding back to seek his ship at +Yarmouth and having lost his way; how then is her blood upon my +hands? As for my wooing of Lily Bozard, that is my matter, +brother, and not yours, though perhaps you wish that it was yours +and not mine. Why, father, did you not tell me what you feared of +this Spaniard? I heard some loose talk only and gave little +thought to it, my mind being full of other things. And now I will +say something. You called down God's curse upon me, father, till +such time as I should find this murderer and finish what I had +begun. So be it! Let God's curse rest upon me till I do find him. +I am young, but I am quick and strong, and so soon as may be I +start for Spain to hunt him there till I shall run him down or know +him to be dead. If you will give me money to help me on my quest, +so be it--if not I go without. I swear before God and by my +mother's spirit that I will neither rest nor stay till with the +very sword that slew her, I have avenged her blood upon her +murderer or know him dead, and if I suffer myself to be led astray +from the purpose of this oath by aught that is, then may a worse +end than hers overtake me, may my soul be rejected in heaven, and +my name be shameful for ever upon the earth!' + +Thus I swore in my rage and anguish, holding up my hand to heaven +that I called upon to witness the oath. + +My father looked at me keenly. 'If that is your mind, son Thomas, +you shall not lack for money. I would go myself, for blood must be +wiped out with blood, but I am too broken in my health; also I am +known in Spain and the Holy Office would claim me there. Go, and +my blessing go with you. It is right that you should go, for it is +through your folly that our enemy has escaped us.' + +'Yes, it is right that he should go,' said Geoffrey. + +'You say that because you wish to be rid of me, Geoffrey,' I +answered hotly, 'and you would be rid of me because you desire to +take my place at the side of a certain maid. Follow your nature +and do as you will, but if you would outwit an absent man no good +shall come to you of it.' + +'The girl is to him who can win her,' he said. + +'The girl's heart is won already, Geoffrey. You may buy her from +her father but you can never win her heart, and without a heart she +will be but a poor prize.' + +'Peace! now is no time for such talk of love and maids,' said my +father, 'and listen. This is the tale of the Spanish murderer and +your mother. I have said nothing of it heretofore, but now it must +out. When I was a lad it happened that I also went to Spain +because my father willed it. I went to a monastery at Seville, but +I had no liking for monks and their ways, and I broke out from the +monastery. For a year or more I made my living as I best might, +for I feared to return to England as a runaway. Still I made a +living and not a bad one, now in this way and now in that, but +though I am ashamed to say it, mostly by gaming, at which I had +great luck. One night I met this man Juan de Garcia--for in his +hate he gave you his true name when he would have stabbed you--at +play. Even then he had an evil fame, though he was scarcely more +than a lad, but he was handsome in person, set high in birth, and +of a pleasing manner. It chanced that he won of me at the dice, +and being in a good humour, he took me to visit at the house of his +aunt, his uncle's widow, a lady of Seville. This aunt had one +child, a daughter, and that daughter was your mother. Now your +mother, Luisa de Garcia, was affianced to her cousin Juan de +Garcia, not with her own will indeed, for the contract had been +signed when she was only eight years old. Still it was binding, +more binding indeed than in this country, being a marriage in all +except in fact. But those women who are thus bound for the most +part bear no wife's love in their hearts, and so it was with your +mother. Indeed she both hated and feared her cousin Juan, though I +think that he loved her more than anything on earth, and by one +pretext and another she contrived to bring him to an agreement that +no marriage should be celebrated till she was full twenty years of +age. But the colder she was to him, the more was he inflamed with +desire to win her and also her possessions, which were not small, +for like all Spaniards he was passionate, and like most gamesters +and men of evil life, much in want of money. + +'Now to be brief, from the first moment that your mother and I set +eyes on each other we loved one another, and it was our one desire +to meet as often as might be; and in this we had no great +difficulty, for her mother also feared and hated Juan de Garcia, +her nephew by marriage, and would have seen her daughter clear of +him if possible. The end of it was that I told my love, and a plot +was made between us that we should fly to England. But all this +had not escaped the ears of Juan, who had spies in the household, +and was jealous and revengeful as only a Spaniard can be. First he +tried to be rid of me by challenging me to a duel, but we were +parted before we could draw swords. Then he hired bravos to murder +me as I walked the streets at night, but I wore a chain shirt +beneath my doublet and their daggers broke upon it, and in place of +being slain I slew one of them. Twice baffled, de Garcia was not +defeated. Fight and murder had failed, but another and surer means +remained. I know not how, but he had won some clue to the history +of my life, and of how I had broken out from the monastery. It was +left to him, therefore, to denounce me to the Holy Office as a +renegade and an infidel, and this he did one night; it was the +night before the day when we should have taken ship. I was sitting +with your mother and her mother in their house at Seville, when six +cowled men entered and seized me without a word. When I prayed to +know their purpose they gave no other answer than to hold a +crucifix before my eyes. Then I knew why I was taken, and the +women ceased clinging to me and fell back sobbing. Secretly and +silently I was hurried away to the dungeons of the Holy Office, but +of all that befell me there I will not stop to tell. + +'Twice I was racked, once I was seared with hot irons, thrice I was +flogged with wire whips, and all this while I was fed on food such +as we should scarcely offer to a dog here in England. At length my +offence of having escaped from a monastery and sundry blasphemies, +so-called, being proved against me, I was condemned to death by +fire. + +'Then at last, when after a long year of torment and of horror, I +had abandoned hope and resigned myself to die, help came. On the +eve of the day upon which I was to be consumed by flame, the chief +of my tormentors entered the dungeon where I lay on straw, and +embracing me bade me be of good cheer, for the church had taken +pity on my youth and given me my freedom. At first I laughed +wildly, for I thought that this was but another torment, and not +till I was freed of my fetters, clothed in decent garments, and set +at midnight without the prison gates, would I believe that so good +a thing had befallen me through the hand of God. I stood weak and +wondering outside the gates, not knowing where to fly, and as I +stood a woman glided up to me wrapped in a dark cloak, who +whispered "Come." That woman was your mother. She had learned of +my fate from the boasting of de Garcia and set herself to save me. +Thrice her plans failed, but at length through the help of some +cunning agent, gold won what was denied to justice and to mercy, +and my life and liberty were bought with a very great sum. + +'That same night we were married and fled for Cadiz, your mother +and I, but not her mother, who was bedridden with a sickness. For +my sake your beloved mother abandoned her people, what remained to +her of her fortune after paying the price of my life, and her +country, so strong is the love of woman. All had been made ready, +for at Cadiz lay an English ship, the "Mary" of Bristol, in which +passage was taken for us. But the "Mary" was delayed in port by a +contrary wind which blew so strongly that notwithstanding his +desire to save us, her master dared not take the sea. Two days and +a night we lay in the harbour, fearing all things not without +cause, and yet most happy in each other's love. Now those who had +charge of me in the dungeon had given out that I had escaped by the +help of my master the Devil, and I was searched for throughout the +country side. De Garcia also, finding that his cousin and +affianced wife was missing, guessed that we two were not far apart. +It was his cunning, sharpened by jealousy and hate, that dogged us +down step by step till at length he found us. + +'On the morning of the third day, the gale having abated, the +anchor of the "Mary" was got home and she swung out into the +tideway. As she came round and while the seamen were making ready +to hoist the sails, a boat carrying some twenty soldiers, and +followed by two others, shot alongside and summoned the captain to +heave to, that his ship might be boarded and searched under warrant +from the Holy Office. It chanced that I was on deck at the time, +and suddenly, as I prepared to hide myself below, a man, in whom I +knew de Garcia himself, stood up and called out that I was the +escaped heretic whom they sought. Fearing lest his ship should be +boarded and he himself thrown into prison with the rest of his +crew, the captain would then have surrendered me. But I, desperate +with fear, tore my clothes from my body and showed the cruel scars +that marked it. + +'"You are Englishmen," I cried to the sailors, "and will you +deliver me to these foreign devils, who am of your blood? Look at +their handiwork," and I pointed to the half-healed scars left by +the red-hot pincers; "if you give me up, you send me back to more +of this torment and to death by burning. Pity my wife if you will +not pity me, or if you will pity neither, then lend me a sword that +by death I may save myself from torture." + +'Then one of the seamen, a Southwold man who had known my father, +called out: "By God! I for one will stand by you, Thomas Wingfield. +If they want you and your sweet lady they must kill me first," and +seizing a bow from the rack he drew it out of its case and strung +it, and setting an arrow on the string he pointed it at the +Spaniards in the boat. + +'Then the others broke into shouts of: + +'"If you want any man from among us, come aboard and take him, you +torturing devils," and the like. + +'Seeing where the heart of the crew lay, the captain found courage +in his turn. He made no answer to the Spaniards, but bade half of +the men hoist the sails with all speed, and the rest make ready to +keep off the soldiers should they seek to board us. + +'By now the other two boats had come up and fastened on to us with +their hooks. One man climbed into the chains and thence to the +deck, and I knew him for a priest of the Holy Office, one of those +who had stood by while I was tormented. Then I grew mad at the +thought of all that I had suffered, while that devil watched, +bidding them lay on for the love of God. Snatching the bow from +the hand of the Southwold seaman, I drew the arrow to its head and +loosed. It did not miss its mark, for like you, Thomas, I was +skilled with the bow, and he dived back into the sea with an +English yard shaft in his heart. + +'After that they tried to board us no more, though they shot at us +with arrows, wounding one man. The captain called to us to lay +down our bows and take cover behind the bulwarks, for by now the +sails began to draw. Then de Garcia stood up in the boat and +cursed me and my wife. + +'"I will find you yet," he screamed, with many Spanish oaths and +foul words. "If I must wait for twenty years I will be avenged +upon you and all you love. Be assured of this, Luisa de Garcia, +hide where you will, I shall find you, and when we meet, you shall +come with me for so long as I will keep you or that shall be the +hour of your death." + +'Then we sailed away for England, and the boats fell astern. + + +'My sons, this is the story of my youth, and of how I came to wed +your mother whom I have buried to-day. Juan de Garcia has kept his +word.' + +'Yet it seems strange,' said my brother, 'that after all these +years he should have murdered her thus, whom you say he loved. +Surely even the evilest of men had shrunk from such a deed!' + +'There is little that is strange about it,' answered my father. +'How can we know what words were spoken between them before he +stabbed her? Doubtless he told of some of them when he cried to +Thomas that now they would see what truth there was in prophecies. +What did de Garcia swear years since?--that she should come with +him or he would kill her. Your mother was still beautiful, +Geoffrey, and he may have given her choice between flight and +death. Seek to know no more, son'--and suddenly my father hid his +face in his hands and broke into sobs that were dreadful to hear. + +'Would that you had told us this tale before, father,' I said so +soon as I could speak. 'Then there would have lived a devil the +less in the world to-day, and I should have been spared a long +journey.' + + +Little did I know how long that journey would be! + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOOD-BYE, SWEETHEART + + +Within twelve days of the burial of my mother and the telling of +the story of his marriage to her by my father, I was ready to start +upon my search. As it chanced a vessel was about to sail from +Yarmouth to Cadiz. She was named the 'Adventuress,' of one hundred +tons burden, and carried wool and other goods outwards, purposing +to return with a cargo of wine and yew staves for bows. In this +vessel my father bought me a passage. Moreover, he gave me fifty +pounds in gold, which was as much as I would risk upon my person, +and obtained letters from the Yarmouth firm of merchants to their +agents in Cadiz, in which they were advised to advance me such sums +as I might need up to a total of one hundred and fifty English +pounds, and further to assist me in any way that was possible. + +Now the ship 'Adventuress' was to sail on the third day of June. +Already it was the first of that month, and that evening I must +ride to Yarmouth, whither my baggage had gone already. Except one +my farewells were made, and yet that was the one I most wished to +make. Since the day when we had sworn our troth I had gained no +sight of Lily except once at my mother's burial, and then we had +not spoken. Now it seemed that I must go without any parting word, +for her father had sent me notice that if I came near the Hall his +serving men had orders to thrust me from the door, and this was a +shame that I would not risk. Yet it was hard that I must go upon +so long a journey, whence it well might chance I should not return, +and bid her no goodbye. In my grief and perplexity I spoke to my +father, telling him how the matter stood and asking his help. + +'I go hence,' I said, 'to avenge our common loss, and if need be to +give my life for the honour of our name. Aid me then in this.' + +'My neighbour Bozard means his daughter for your brother Geoffrey, +and not for you, Thomas,' he answered; 'and a man may do what he +wills with his own. Still I will help you if I can, at the least +he cannot drive me from his door. Bid them bring horses, and we +will ride to the Hall.' + +Within the half of an hour we were there, and my father asked for +speech with its master. The serving man looked at me askance, +remembering his orders, still he ushered us into the justice room +where the Squire sat drinking ale. + +'Good morrow to you, neighbour,' said the Squire; 'you are welcome +here, but you bring one with you who is not welcome, though he be +your son.' + +'I bring him for the last time, friend Bozard. Listen to his +request, then grant it or refuse it as you will; but if you refuse +it, it will not bind us closer. The lad rides to-night to take +ship for Spain to seek that man who murdered his mother. He goes +of his own free will because after the doing of the deed it was he +who unwittingly suffered the murderer to escape, and it is well +that he should go.' + +'He is a young hound to run such a quarry to earth, and in a +strange country,' said the Squire. 'Still I like his spirit and +wish him well. What would he of me?' + +'Leave to bid farewell to your daughter. I know that his suit does +not please you and cannot wonder at it, and for my own part I think +it too early for him to set his fancy in the way of marriage. But +if he would see the maid it can do no harm, for such harm as there +is has been done already. Now for your answer.' + +Squire Bozard thought a while, then said: + +'The lad is a brave lad though he shall be no son-in-law of mine. +He is going far, and mayhap will return no more, and I do not wish +that he should think unkindly of me when I am dead. Go without, +Thomas Wingfield, and stand under yonder beech--Lily shall join you +there and you may speak with her for the half of an hour--no more. +See to it that you keep within sight of the window. Nay, no +thanks; go before I change my mind.' + +So I went and waited under the beech with a beating heart, and +presently Lily glided up to me, a more welcome sight to my eyes +than any angel out of heaven. And, indeed, I doubt if an angel +could have been more fair than she, or more good and gentle. + +'Oh! Thomas,' she whispered, when I had greeted her, 'is this true +that you sail oversea to seek the Spaniard?' + +'I sail to seek the Spaniard, and to find him and to kill him when +he is found. It was to come to you, Lily, that I let him go, now I +must let you go to come to him. Nay, do not weep, I have sworn to +do it, and were I to break my oath I should be dishonoured.' + +'And because of this oath of yours I must be widowed, Thomas, +before I am a wife? You go and I shall never see you more.' + +'Who can say, my sweet? My father went over seas and came back +safe, having passed through many perils.' + +'Yes, he came back and--not alone. You are young, Thomas, and in +far countries there are ladies great and fair, and how shall I hold +my own in your heart against them, I being so far away?' + +'I swear to you, Lily--' + +'Nay, Thomas, swear no oaths lest you should add to your sins by +breaking them. Yet, love, forget me not, who shall forget you +never. Perhaps--oh! it wrings my heart to say it--this is our last +meeting on the earth. If so, then we must hope to meet in heaven. +At the least be sure of this, while I live I will be true to you, +and father or no father, I will die before I break my troth. I am +young to speak so largely, but it shall be as I say. Oh! this +parting is more cruel than death. Would that we were asleep and +forgotten among men. Yet it is best that you should go, for if you +stayed what could we be to each other while my father lives, and +may he live long!' + +'Sleep and forgetfulness will come soon enough, Lily; none must +await them for very long. Meanwhile we have our lives to live. +Let us pray that we may live them to each other. I go to seek +fortune as well as foes, and I will win it for your sake that we +may marry.' + +She shook her head sadly. 'It were too much happiness, Thomas. +Men and women may seldom wed their true loves, or if they do, it is +but to lose them. At the least we love, and let us be thankful +that we have learned what love can be, for having loved here, +perchance at the worst we may love otherwhere when there are none +to say us nay.' + +Then we talked on awhile, babbling broken words of love and hope +and sorrow, as young folks so placed are wont to do, till at length +Lily looked up with a sad sweet smile and said: + +'It is time to go, sweetheart. My father beckons me from the +lattice. All is finished.' + +'Let us go then,' I answered huskily, and drew her behind the trunk +of the old beech. And there I caught her in my arms and kissed her +again and yet again, nor was she ashamed to kiss me back. + +After this I remember little of what happened, except that as we +rode away I saw her beloved face, wan and wistful, watching me +departing out of her life. For twenty years that sad and beautiful +face haunted me, and it haunts me yet athwart life and death. +Other women have loved me and I have known other partings, some of +them more terrible, but the memory of this woman as she was then, +and of her farewell look, overruns them all. Whenever I gaze down +the past I see this picture framed in it and I know that it is one +which cannot fade. Are there any sorrows like these sorrows of our +youth? Can any bitterness equal the bitterness of such good-byes? +I know but one of which I was fated to taste in after years, and +that shall be told of in its place. It is a common jest to mock at +early love, but if it be real, if it be something more than the +mere arising of the passions, early love is late love also; it is +love for ever, the best and worst event which can befall a man or +woman. I say it who am old and who have done with everything, and +it is true. + +One thing I have forgotten. As we kissed and clung in our despair +behind the bole of the great beech, Lily drew a ring from her +finger and pressed it into my hand saying, 'Look on this each +morning when you wake, and think of me.' It had been her mother's, +and to-day it still is set upon my withered hand, gleaming in the +winter sunlight as I trace these words. Through the long years of +wild adventure, through all the time of after peace, in love and +war, in the shine of the camp fire, in the glare of the sacrificial +flame, in the light of lonely stars illumining the lonely +wilderness, that ring has shone upon my hand, reminding me always +of her who gave it, and on this hand it shall go down into the +grave. It is a plain circlet of thick gold, somewhat worn now, a +posy-ring, and on its inner surface is cut this quaint couplet: + + + Heart to heart, + Though far apart. + + +A fitting motto for us indeed, and one that has its meaning to this +hour. + + +That same day of our farewell I rode with my father to Yarmouth. +My brother Geoffrey did not come with us, but we parted with kindly +words, and of this I am glad, for we never saw each other again. +No more was said between us as to Lily Bozard and our wooing of +her, though I knew well enough that so soon as my back was turned +he would try to take my place at her side, as indeed happened. I +forgive it to him; in truth I cannot blame him much, for what man +is there that would not have desired to wed Lily who knew her? +Once we were dear friends, Geoffrey and I, but when we ripened +towards manhood, our love of Lily came between us, and we grew more +and more apart. It is a common case enough. Well, as it chanced +he failed, so why should I think unkindly of him? Let me rather +remember the affection of our childhood and forget the rest. God +rest his soul. + +Mary, my sister, who after Lily Bozard was now the fairest maiden +in the country side, wept much at my going. There was but a year +between us, and we loved each other dearly, for no such shadow of +jealousy had fallen on our affection. I comforted her as well as I +was able, and telling her all that had passed between me and Lily, +I prayed her to stand my friend and Lily's, should it ever be in +her power to do so. This Mary promised to do readily enough, and +though she did not give the reason, I could see that she thought it +possible that she might be able to help us. As I have said, Lily +had a brother, a young man of some promise, who at this time was +away at college, and he and my sister Mary had a strong fancy for +each other, that might or might not ripen into something closer. +So we kissed and bade farewell with tears. + +And after that my father and I rode away. But when we had passed +down Pirnhow Street, and mounted the little hill beyond Waingford +Mills to the left of Bungay town, I halted my horse, and looked +back upon the pleasant valley of the Waveney where I was born, and +my heart grew full to bursting. Had I known all that must befall +me, before my eyes beheld that scene again, I think indeed that it +would have burst. But God, who in his wisdom has laid many a +burden upon the backs of men, has saved them from this; for had we +foreknowledge of the future, I think that of our own will but few +of us would live to see it. So I cast one long last look towards +the distant mass of oaks that marked the spot where Lily lived, and +rode on. + +On the following day I embarked on board the 'Adventuress' and we +sailed. Before I left, my father's heart softened much towards me, +for he remembered that I was my mother's best beloved, and feared +also lest we should meet no more. So much did it soften indeed, +that at the last hour he changed his mind and wished to hold me +back from going. But having put my hand to the plough and suffered +all the bitterness of farewell, I would not return to be mocked by +my brother and my neighbours. 'You speak too late, father,' I +said. 'You desired me to go to work this vengeance and stirred me +to it with many bitter words, and now I would go if I knew that I +must die within a week, for such oaths cannot be lightly broken, +and till mine is fulfilled the curse rests on me.' + +'So be it, son,' he answered with a sigh. 'Your mother's cruel +death maddened me and I said what I may live to be sorry for, +though at the best I shall not live long, for my heart is broken. +Perhaps I should have remembered that vengeance is in the hand of +the Lord, who wreaks it at His own time and without our help. Do +not think unkindly of me, my boy, if we should chance to meet no +more, for I love you, and it was but the deeper love that I bore to +your mother which made me deal harshly with you.' + +'I know it, father, and bear no grudge. But if you think that you +owe me anything, pay it by holding back my brother from working +wrong to me and Lily Bozard while I am absent.' + +'I will do my best, son, though were it not that you and she have +grown so dear to each other, the match would have pleased me well. +But as I have said, I shall not be long here to watch your welfare +in this or any other matter, and when I am gone things must follow +their own fate. Do not forget your God or your home wherever you +chance to wander, Thomas: keep yourself from brawling, beware of +women that are the snare of youth, and set a watch upon your tongue +and your temper which is not of the best. Moreover, wherever you +may be do not speak ill of the religion of the land, or make a mock +of it by your way of life, lest you should learn how cruel men can +be when they think that it is pleasing to their gods, as I have +learnt already.' + +I said that I would bear his counsel in mind, and indeed it saved +me from many a sorrow. Then he embraced me and called on the +Almighty to take me in His care, and we parted. + +I never saw him more, for though he was but middle-aged, within a +year of my going my father died suddenly of a distemper of the +heart in the nave of Ditchingham church, as he stood there, near +the rood screen, musing by my mother's grave one Sunday after mass, +and my brother took his lands and place. God rest him also! He +was a true-hearted man, but more wrapped up in his love for my +mother than it is well for any man to be who would look at life +largely and do right by all. For such love, though natural to +women, is apt to turn to something that partakes of selfishness, +and to cause him who bears it to think all else of small account. +His children were nothing to my father when compared to my mother, +and he would have been content to lose them every one if thereby he +might have purchased back her life. But after all it was a noble +infirmity, for he thought little of himself and had gone through +much to win her. + + +Of my voyage to Cadiz, to which port I had learned that de Garcia's +ship was bound, there is little to be told. We met with contrary +winds in the Bay of Biscay and were driven into the harbour of +Lisbon, where we refitted. But at last we came safely to Cadiz, +having been forty days at sea. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ANDRES DE FONSECA + + +Now I shall dwell but briefly on all the adventures which befell me +during the year or so that I remained in Spain, for were I to set +out everything at length, this history would have no end, or at +least mine would find me before I came to it. + +Many travellers have told of the glories of Seville, to which +ancient Moorish city I journeyed with all speed, sailing there up +the Guadalquiver, and I have to tell of lands from which no other +wanderer has returned to England, and must press on to them. To be +short then; foreseeing that it might be necessary for me to stop +some time in Seville, and being desirous to escape notice and to be +at the smallest expense possible, I bethought me that it would be +well if I could find means of continuing my studies of medicine, +and to this end I obtained certain introductions from the firm of +merchants to whose care I had been recommended, addressed to +doctors of medicine in Seville. These letters at my request were +made out not in my own name but in that of 'Diego d'Aila,' for I +did not wish it to be known that I was an Englishman. Nor, indeed, +was this likely, except my speech should betray me, for, as I have +said, in appearance I was very Spanish, and the hindrance of the +language was one that lessened every day, since having already +learned it from my mother, and taking every opportunity to read and +speak it, within six months I could talk Castilian except for some +slight accent, like a native of the land. Also I have a gift for +the acquiring of languages. + + +When I was come to Seville, and had placed my baggage in an inn, +not one of the most frequented, I set out to deliver a letter of +recommendation to a famous physician of the town whose name I have +long forgotten. This physician had a fine house in the street of +Las Palmas, a great avenue planted with graceful trees, that has +other little streets running into it. Down one of these I came +from my inn, a quiet narrow place having houses with patios or +courtyards on either side of it. As I walked down this street I +noticed a man sitting in the shade on a stool in the doorway of his +patio. He was small and withered, with keen black eyes and a +wonderful air of wisdom, and he watched me as I went by. Now the +house of the famous physician whom I sought was so placed that the +man sitting at this doorway could command it with his eyes and take +note of all who went in and came out. When I had found the house I +returned again into the quiet street and walked to and fro there +for a while, thinking of what tale I should tell to the physician, +and all the time the little man watched me with his keen eyes. At +last I had made up my story and went to the house, only to find +that the physician was from home. Having inquired when I might +find him I left, and once more took to the narrow street, walking +slowly till I came to where the little man sat. As I passed him, +his broad hat with which he was fanning himself slipped to the +ground before my feet. I stooped down, lifted it from the +pavement, and restored it to him. + +'A thousand thanks, young sir,' he said in a full and gentle voice. +'You are courteous for a foreigner.' + +'How do you know me to be a foreigner, senor?' I asked, surprised +out of my caution. + +'If I had not guessed it before, I should know it now,' he +answered, smiling gravely. 'Your Castilian tells its own tale.' + +I bowed, and was about to pass on, when he addressed me again. + +'What is your hurry, young sir? Step in and take a cup of wine +with me; it is good.' + +I was about to say him nay, when it came into my mind that I had +nothing to do, and that perhaps I might learn something from this +gossip. + +'The day is hot, senor, and I accept.' + +He spoke no more, but rising, led me into a courtyard paved with +marble in the centre of which was a basin of water, having vines +trained around it. Here were chairs and a little table placed in +the shade of the vines. When he had closed the door of the patio +and we were seated, he rang a silver bell that stood upon the +table, and a girl, young and fair, appeared from the house, dressed +in a quaint Spanish dress. + +'Bring wine,' said my host. + +The wine was brought, white wine of Oporto such as I had never +tasted before. + +'Your health, senor?' And my host stopped, his glass in his hand, +and looked at me inquiringly. + +'Diego d'Aila,' I answered. + +'Humph,' he said. 'A Spanish name, or perhaps an imitation Spanish +name, for I do not know it, and I have a good head for names.' + +'That is my name, to take or to leave, senor?'--And I looked at him +in turn. + +'Andres de Fonseca,' he replied bowing, 'a physician of this city, +well known enough, especially among the fair. Well, Senor Diego, I +take your name, for names are nothing, and at times it is +convenient to change them, which is nobody's business except their +owners'. I see that you are a stranger in this city--no need to +look surprised, senor, one who is familiar with a town does not +gaze and stare and ask the path of passers-by, nor does a native of +Seville walk on the sunny side of the street in summer. And now, +if you will not think me impertinent, I will ask you what can be +the business of so healthy a young man with my rival yonder?' And +he nodded towards the house of the famous physician. + +'A man's business, like his name, is his own affair, senor,' I +answered, setting my host down in my mind as one of those who +disgrace our art by plying openly for patients that they may +capture their fees. 'Still, I will tell you. I am also a +physician, though not yet fully qualified, and I seek a place where +I may help some doctor of repute in his daily practice, and thus +gain experience and my living with it.' + +'Ah is it so? Well, senor, then you will look in vain yonder,' and +again he nodded towards the physician's house. 'Such as he will +take no apprentice without the fee be large indeed; it is not the +custom of this city.' + +'Then I must seek a livelihood elsewhere, or otherwise.' + +'I did not say so. Now, senor, let us see what you know of +medicine, and what is more important, of human nature, for of the +first none of us can ever know much, but he who knows the latter +will be a leader of men--or of women--who lead the men.' + +And without more ado he put me many questions, each of them so +shrewd and going so directly to the heart of the matter in hand, +that I marvelled at his sagacity. Some of these questions were +medical, dealing chiefly with the ailments of women, others were +general and dealt more with their characters. At length he +finished. + +'You will do, senor,' he said; 'you are a young man of parts and +promise, though, as was to be expected from one of your years, you +lack experience. There is stuff in you, senor, and you have a +heart, which is a good thing, for the blunders of a man with a +heart often carry him further than the cunning of the cynic; also +you have a will and know how to direct it.' + +I bowed, and did my best to hold back my satisfaction at his words +from showing in my face. + +'Still,' he went on, 'all this would not cause me to submit to you +the offer that I am about to make, for many a prettier fellow than +yourself is after all unlucky, or a fool at the bottom, or bad +tempered and destined to the dogs, as for aught I know you may be +also. But I take my chance of that because you suit me in another +way. Perhaps you may scarcely know it yourself, but you have +beauty, senor, beauty of a very rare and singular type, which half +the ladies of Seville will praise when they come to know you.' + +'I am much flattered,' I said, 'but might I ask what all these +compliments may mean? To be brief, what is your offer?' + +'To be brief then, it is this. I am in need of an assistant who +must possess all the qualities that I see in you, but most of all +one which I can only guess you to possess--discretion. That +assistant would not be ill-paid; this house would be at his +disposal, and he would have opportunities of learning the world +such as are given to few. What say you?' + +'I say this, senor, that I should wish to know more of the business +in which I am expected to assist. Your offers sound too liberal, +and I fear that I must earn your bounty by the doing of work that +honest men might shrink from.' + +'A fair argument, but, as it happens, not quite a correct one. +Listen: you have been told that yonder physician, to whose house +you went but now, and these'--here he repeated four or five names-- +'are the greatest of their tribe in Seville. It is not so. I am +the greatest and the richest, and I do more business than any two +of them. Do you know what my earnings have been this day alone? I +will tell you; just over twenty-five gold pesos,* more than all the +rest of the profession have taken together, I will wager. You want +to know how I earn so much; you want to know also, why, if I have +earned so much, I am not content to rest from my labours. Good, I +will tell you. I earn it by ministering to the vanities of women +and sheltering them from the results of their own folly. Has a +lady a sore heart, she comes to me for comfort and advice. Has she +pimples on her face, she flies to me to cure them. Has she a +secret love affair, it is I who hide her indiscretion; I consult +the future for her, I help her to atone the past, I doctor her for +imaginary ailments, and often enough I cure her of real ones. Half +the secrets of Seville are in my hands; did I choose to speak I +could set a score of noble houses to broil and bloodshed. But I do +not speak, I am paid to keep silent; and when I am not paid, still +I keep silent for my credit's sake. Hundreds of women think me +their saviour, I know them for my dupes. But mark you, I do not +push this game too far. A love philtre--of coloured water--I may +give at a price, but not a poisoned rose. These they must seek +elsewhere. For the rest, in my way I am honest. I take the world +as it comes, that is all, and, as women will be fools, I profit by +their folly and have grown rich upon it. + + +* About sixty-three pounds sterling. + + +'Yes, I have grown rich, and yet I cannot stop. I love the money +that is power; but more than all, I love the way of life. Talk of +romances and adventure! What romance or adventure is half so +wonderful as those that come daily to my notice? And I play a part +in every one of them, and none the less a leading part because I do +not shout and strut upon the boards.' + +'If all this is so, why do you seek the help of an unknown lad, a +stranger of whom you know nothing?' I asked bluntly. + +'Truly, you lack experience,' the old man answered with a laugh. +'Do you then suppose that I should choose one who was NOT a +stranger--one who might have ties within this city with which I was +unacquainted. And as for knowing nothing of you, young man, do you +think that I have followed this strange trade of mine for forty +years without learning to judge at sight? Perhaps I know you +better than you know yourself. By the way, the fact that you are +deeply enamoured of that maid whom you have left in England is a +recommendation to me, for whatever follies you may commit, you will +scarcely embarrass me and yourself by suffering your affections to +be seriously entangled. Ah! have I astonished you?' + +'How do you know?' I began--then ceased. + +'How do I know? Why, easily enough. Those boots you wear were +made in England. I have seen many such when I travelled there; +your accent also though faint is English, and twice you have spoken +English words when your Castilian failed you. Then for the maid, +is not that a betrothal ring upon your hand? And when I spoke to +you of the ladies of this country, my talk did not interest you +overmuch as at your age it had done were you heart-whole. Surely +also the lady is fair and tall? Ah! I thought so. I have noticed +that men and women love their opposite in colour, no invariable +rule indeed, but good for a guess.' + +'You are very clever, senor.' + +'No, not clever, but trained, as you will be when you have been a +year in my hands, though perchance you do not intend to stop so +long in Seville. Perhaps you came here with an object, and wish to +pass the time profitably till it is fulfilled. A good guess again, +I think. Well, so be it, I will risk that; object and attainment +are often far apart. Do you take my offer?' + +'I incline to do so.' + +'Then you will take it. Now I have something more to say before we +come to terms. I do not want you to play the part of an +apothecary's drudge. You will figure before the world as my +nephew, come from abroad to learn my trade. You will help me in it +indeed, but that is not all your duty. Your part will be to mix in +the life of Seville, and to watch those whom I bid you watch, to +drop a word here and a hint there, and in a hundred ways that I +shall show you to draw grist to my mill--and to your own. You must +be brilliant and witty, or sad and learned, as I wish; you must +make the most of your person and your talents, for these go far +with my customers. To the hidalgo you must talk of arms, to the +lady, of love; but you must never commit yourself beyond +redemption. And above all, young man'--and here his manner changed +and his face grew stern and almost fierce--'you must never violate +my confidence or the confidence of my clients. On this point I +will be quite open within you, and I pray you for your own sake to +believe what I say, however much you may mistrust the rest. If you +break faith with me, YOU DIE. You die, not by my hand, but you +die. That is my price; take it or leave it. Should you leave it +and go hence to tell what you have heard this day, even then +misfortune may overtake you suddenly. Do you understand?' + +'I understand. For my own sake I will respect your confidence.' + +'Young sir, I like you better than ever. Had you said that you +would respect it because it was a confidence, I should have +mistrusted you, for doubtless you feel that secrets communicated so +readily have no claim to be held sacred. Nor have they, but when +their violation involves the sad and accidental end of the +violator, it is another matter. Well now, do you accept?' + +'I accept.' + +'Good. Your baggage I suppose is at the inn. I will send porters +to discharge your score and bring it here. No need for you to go, +nephew, let us stop and drink another glass of wine; the sooner we +grow intimate the better, nephew.' + + +It was thus that first I became acquainted with Senor Andres de +Fonseca, my benefactor, the strangest man whom I have ever known. +Doubtless any person reading this history would think that I, the +narrator, was sowing a plentiful crop of troubles for myself in +having to deal with him, setting him down as a rogue of the +deepest, such as sometimes, for their own wicked purposes, decoy +young men to crime and ruin. But it was not so, and this is the +strangest part of the strange story. All that Andres de Fonseca +told me was true to the very letter. + +He was a gentleman of great talent who had been rendered a little +mad by misfortunes in his early life. As a physician I have never +met his master, if indeed he has one in these times, and as a man +versed in the world and more especially in the world of women, I +have known none to compare with him. He had travelled far, and +seen much, and he forgot nothing. In part he was a quack, but his +quackery always had a meaning in it. He fleeced the foolish, +indeed, and even juggled with astronomy, making money out of their +superstition; but on the other hand he did many a kind act without +reward. He would make a rich lady pay ten gold pesos for the +dyeing of her hair, but often he would nurse some poor girl through +her trouble and ask no charge; yes, and find her honest employment +after it. He who knew all the secrets of Seville never made money +out of them by threat of exposure, as he said because it would not +pay to do so, but really because though he affected to be a selfish +knave, at bottom his heart was honest. + +For my own part I found life with him both easy and happy, so far +as mine could be quite happy. Soon I learned my role and played it +well. It was given out that I was the nephew of the rich old +physician Fonseca, whom he was training to take his place; and +this, together with my own appearance and manners, ensured me a +welcome in the best houses of Seville. Here I took that share of +our business which my master could not take, for now he never mixed +among the fashion of the city. Money I was supplied with in +abundance so that I could ruffle it with the best, but soon it +became known that I looked to business as well as to pleasure. +Often and often during some gay ball or carnival, a lady would +glide up to me and ask beneath her breath if Don Andres de Fonseca +would consent to see her privately on a matter of some importance, +and I would fix an hour then and there. Had it not been for me +such patients would have been lost to us, since, for the most part, +their timidity had kept them away. + +In the same fashion when the festival was ended and I prepared to +wend homewards, now and again a gallant would slip his arm in mine +and ask my master's help in some affair of love or honour, or even +of the purse. Then I would lead him straight to the old Moorish +house where Don Andres sat writing in his velvet robe like some +spider in his web, for the most of our business was done at night; +and straight-way the matter would be attended to, to my master's +profit and the satisfaction of all. By degrees it became known +that though I was so young yet I had discretion, and that nothing +which went in at my ears came out of my lips; that I neither +brawled nor drank nor gambled to any length, and that though I was +friendly with many fair ladies, there were none who were entitled +to know my secrets. Also it became known that I had some skill in +my art of healing, and it was said among the ladies of Seville that +there lived no man in that city so deft at clearing the skin of +blemishes or changing the colour of the hair as old Fonseca's +nephew, and as any one may know this reputation alone was worth a +fortune. Thus it came about that I was more and more consulted on +my own account. In short, things went so well with us that in the +first six months of my service I added by one third to the receipts +of my master's practice, large as they had been before, besides +lightening his labours not a little. + +It was a strange life, and of the things that I saw and learned, +could they be written, I might make a tale indeed, but they have no +part in this history. For it was as though the smiles and silence +with which men and women hide their thoughts were done away, and +their hearts spoke to us in the accents of truth. Now some fair +young maid or wife would come to us with confessions of wickedness +that would be thought impossible, did not her story prove itself; +the secret murder perchance of a spouse, or a lover, or a rival; +now some aged dame who would win a husband in his teens, now some +wealthy low-born man or woman, who desired to buy an alliance with +one lacking money, but of noble blood. Such I did not care to help +indeed, but to the love-sick or the love-deluded I listened with a +ready ear, for I had a fellow-feeling with them. Indeed so deep +and earnest was my sympathy that more than once I found the unhappy +fair ready to transfer their affections to my unworthy self, and in +fact once things came about so that, had I willed it, I could have +married one of the loveliest and wealthiest noble ladies of +Seville. + +But I would none of it, who thought of my English Lily by day and +night. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SECOND MEETING + + +It may be thought that while I was employed thus I had forgotten +the object of my coming to Spain, namely to avenge my mother's +murder on the person of Juan de Garcia. But this was not so. So +soon as I was settled in the house of Andres de Fonseca I set +myself to make inquiries as to de Garcia's whereabouts with all +possible diligence, but without result. + +Indeed, when I came to consider the matter coolly it seemed that I +had but a slender chance of finding him in this city. He had, +indeed, given it out in Yarmouth that he was bound for Seville, but +no ship bearing the same name as his had put in at Cadiz or sailed +up the Guadalquivir, nor was it likely, having committed murder in +England, that he would speak the truth as to his destination. +Still I searched on. The house where my mother and grandmother had +lived was burned down, and as their mode of life had been retired, +after more than twenty years of change few even remembered their +existence. Indeed I only discovered one, an old woman whom I found +living in extreme poverty, and who once had been my grandmother's +servant and knew my mother well, although she was not in the house +at the time of her flight to England. From this woman I gathered +some information, though, needless to say, I did not tell her that +I was the grandson of her old mistress. + +It seemed that after my mother fled to England with my father, de +Garcia persecuted my grandmother and his aunt with lawsuits and by +other means, till at last she was reduced to beggary, in which +condition the villain left her to die. So poor was she indeed, +that she was buried in a public grave. After that the old woman, +my informant, said she had heard that de Garcia had committed some +crime and been forced to flee the country. What the crime was she +could not remember, but it had happened about fifteen years ago. + +All this I learned when I had been about three months in Seville, +and though it was of interest it did not advance me in my search. + +Some four or five nights afterwards, as I entered my employer's +house I met a young woman coming out of the doorway of the patio; +she was thickly veiled and my notice was drawn to her by her tall +and beautiful figure and because she was weeping so violently that +her body shook with her sobs. I was already well accustomed to +such sights, for many of those who sought my master's counsel had +good cause to weep, and I passed her without remark. But when I +was come into the room where he received his patients, I mentioned +that I had met such a person and asked if it was any one whom I +knew. + +'Ah! nephew,' said Fonseca, who always called me thus by now, and +indeed began to treat me with as much affection as though I were +really of his blood, 'a sad case, but you do not know her and she +is no paying patient. A poor girl of noble birth who had entered +religion and taken her vows, when a gallant appears, meets her +secretly in the convent garden, promises to marry her if she will +fly with him, indeed does go through some mummery of marriage with +her--so she says--and the rest of it. Now he has deserted her and +she is in trouble, and what is more, should the priests catch her, +likely to learn what it feels like to die by inches in a convent +wall. She came to me for counsel and brought some silver ornaments +as the fee. Here they are.' + +'You took them!' + +'Yes, I took them--I always take a fee, but I gave her back their +weight in gold. What is more, I told her where she might hide from +the priests till the hunt is done with. What I did not like to +tell her is that her lover is the greatest villain who ever trod +the streets of Seville. What was the good? She will see little +more of him. Hist! here comes the duchess--an astrological case +this. Where are the horoscope and the wand, yes, and the crystal +ball? There, shade the lamps, give me the book, and vanish.' + +I obeyed, and presently met the great lady, a stout woman attended +by a duenna, gliding fearfully through the darkened archways to +learn the answer of the stars and pay many good pesos for it, and +the sight of her made me laugh so much that I forgot quickly about +the other lady and her woes. + + +And now I must tell how I met my cousin and my enemy de Garcia for +the second time. Two days after my meeting with the veiled lady it +chanced that I was wandering towards midnight through a lonely part +of the old city little frequented by passers-by. It was scarcely +safe to be thus alone in such a place and hour, but the business +with which I had been charged by my master was one that must be +carried out unattended. Also I had no enemies whom I knew of, and +was armed with the very sword that I had taken from de Garcia in +the lane at Ditchingham, the sword that had slain my mother, and +which I bore in the hope that it might serve to avenge her. In the +use of this weapon I had grown expert enough by now, for every +morning I took lessons in the art of fence. + +My business being done I was walking slowly homeward, and as I went +I fell to thinking of the strangeness of my present life and of how +far it differed from my boyhood in the valley of the Waveney, and +of many other things. And then I thought of Lily and wondered how +her days passed, and if my brother Geoffrey persecuted her to marry +him, and whether or no she would resist his importunities and her +father's. And so as I walked musing I came to a water-gate that +opened on to the Guadalquivir, and leaning upon the coping of a low +wall I rested there idly to consider the beauty of the night. In +truth it was a lovely night, for across all these years I remember +it. Let those who have seen it say if they know any prospect more +beautiful than the sight of the August moon shining on the broad +waters of the Guadalquivir and the clustering habitations of the +ancient city. + +Now as I leaned upon the wall and looked, I saw a man pass up the +steps beside me and go on into the shadow of the street. I took no +note of him till presently I heard a murmur of distant voices, and +turning my head I discovered that the man was in conversation with +a woman whom he had met at the head of the path that ran down to +the water-gate. Doubtless it was a lovers' meeting, and since such +sights are of interest to all, and more especially to the young, I +watched the pair. Soon I learned that there was little of +tenderness in this tryst, at least on the part of the gallant, who +drew continually backwards toward me as though he would seek the +boat by which doubtless he had come, and I marvelled at this, for +the moonlight shone upon the woman's face, and even at that +distance I could see that it was very fair. The man's face I could +not see however, since his back was towards me for the most part, +moreover he wore a large sombrero that shaded it. Now they came +nearer to me, the man always drawing backward and the woman always +following, till at length they were within earshot. The woman was +pleading with the man. + +'Surely you will not desert me,' she said, 'after marrying me and +all that you have sworn; you will not have the heart to desert me. +I abandoned everything for you. I am in great danger. I--' and +here her voice fell so that I could not catch her words. + +Then he spoke. 'Fairest, now as always I adore you. But we must +part awhile. You owe me much, Isabella. I have rescued you from +the grave, I have taught you what it is to live and love. +Doubtless with your advantages and charms, your great charms, you +will profit by the lesson. Money I cannot give you, for I have +none to spare, but I have endowed you with experience that is more +valuable by far. This is our farewell for awhile and I am +brokenhearted. Yet + + + "'Neath fairer skies + Shine other eyes," + + +and I--' and again he spoke so low that I could not catch his +words. + +As he talked on, all my body began to tremble. The scene was +moving indeed, but it was not that which stirred me so deeply, it +was the man's voice and bearing that reminded me--no, it could +scarcely be! + +'Oh! you will not be so cruel,' said the lady, 'to leave me, your +wife, thus alone and in such sore trouble and danger. Take me with +you, Juan, I beseech you!' and she caught him by the arm and clung +to him. + +He shook her from him somewhat roughly, and as he did so his wide +hat fell to the ground so that the moonlight shone upon his face. +By Heaven! it was he--Juan de Garcia and no other! I could not be +mistaken. There was the deeply carved, cruel face, the high +forehead with the scar on it, the thin sneering mouth, the peaked +beard and curling hair. Chance had given him into my hand, and I +would kill him or he should kill me. + +I took three paces and stood before him, drawing my sword as I +came. + +'What, my dove, have you a bully at hand?' he said stepping back +astonished. 'Your business, senor? Are you here to champion +beauty in distress?' + +'I am here, Juan de Garcia, to avenge a murdered woman. Do you +remember a certain river bank away in England, where you chanced to +meet a lady you had known, and to leave her dead? Or if you have +forgotten, perhaps at least you will remember this, which I carry +that it may kill you,' and I flashed the sword that had been his +before his eyes. + +'Mother of God! It is the English boy who--' and he stopped. + +'It is Thomas Wingfield who beat and bound you, and who now +purposes to finish what he began yonder as he has sworn. Draw, or, +Juan de Garcia, I will stab you where you stand.' + +De Garcia heard this speech, that to-day seems to me to smack of +the theatre, though it was spoken in grimmest earnest, and his face +grew like the face of a trapped wolf. Yet I saw that he had no +mind to fight, not because of cowardice, for to do him justice he +was no coward, but because of superstition. He feared to fight +with me since, as I learned afterwards, he believed that he would +meet his end at my hand, and it was for this reason chiefly that he +strove to kill me when first we met. + +'The duello has its laws, senor,' he said courteously. 'It is not +usual to fight thus unseconded and in the presence of a woman. If +you believe that you have any grievance against me--though I know +not of what you rave, or the name by which you call me--I will meet +you where and when you will.' And all the while he looked over his +shoulder seeking some way of escape. + +'You will meet me now,' I answered. 'Draw or I strike!' + +Then he drew, and we fell to it desperately enough, till the sparks +flew, indeed, and the rattle of steel upon steel rang down the +quiet street. At first he had somewhat the better of me, for my +hate made me wild in my play, but soon I settled to the work and +grew cooler. I meant to kill him--more, I knew that I should kill +him if none came between us. He was still a better swordsman than +I, who, till I fought with him in the lane at Ditchingham, had +never even seen one of these Spanish rapiers, but I had the youth +and the right on my side, as also I had an eye like a hawk's and a +wrist of steel. + +Slowly I pressed him back, and ever my play grew closer and better +and his became wilder. Now I had touched him twice, once in the +face, and I held him with his back against the wall of the way that +led down to the water-gate, and it had come to this, that he +scarcely strove to thrust at me at all, but stood on his defence +waiting till I should tire. Then, when victory was in my hand +disaster overtook me, for the woman, who had been watching +bewildered, saw that her faithless lover was in danger of death and +straightway seized me from behind, at the same time sending up +shriek after shriek for help. I shook her from me quickly enough, +but not before de Garcia, seeing his advantage, had dealt me a +coward's thrust that took me in the right shoulder and half +crippled me, so that in my turn I must stand on my defence if I +would keep my life in me. Meanwhile the shrieks had been heard, +and of a sudden the watch came running round the corner whistling +for help. De Garcia saw them, and disengaging suddenly, turned and +ran for the water-gate, the lady also vanishing, whither I do not +know. + +Now the watch was on me, and their leader came at me to seize me, +holding a lantern in his hand. I struck it with the handle of the +sword, so that it fell upon the roadway, where it blazed up like a +bonfire. Then I turned also and fled, for I did not wish to be +dragged before the magistrates of the city as a brawler, and in my +desire to escape I forgot that de Garcia was escaping also. Away I +went and three of the watch after me, but they were stout and scant +of breath, and by the time that I had run three furlongs I +distanced them. I halted to get my breath and remembered that I +had lost de Garcia and did not know when I should find him again. +At first I was minded to return and seek him, but reflection told +me that by now it would be useless, also that the end of it might +be that I should fall into the hands of the watch, who would know +me by my wound, which began to pain me. So I went homeward cursing +my fortune, and the woman who had clasped me from behind just as I +was about to send the death-thrust home, and also my lack of skill +which had delayed that thrust so long. Twice I might have made it +and twice I had waited, being overcautious and over-anxious to be +sure, and now I had lost my chance, and might bide many a day +before it came again. + +How should I find him in this great city? Doubtless, though I had +not thought of it, de Garcia passed under some feigned name as he +had done at Yarmouth. It was bitter indeed to have been so near to +vengeance and to have missed it. + +By now I was at home and bethought me that I should do well to go +to Fonseca, my master, and ask his help. Hitherto I had said +nothing of this matter to him, for I have always loved to keep my +own counsel, and as yet I had not spoken of my past even to him. +Going to the room where he was accustomed to receive patients, I +found he had retired to rest, leaving orders that I was not to +awake him this night as he was weary. So I bound up my hurt after +a fashion and sought my bed also, very ill-satisfied with my +fortune. + +On the morrow I went to my master's chamber where he still lay +abed, having been seized by a sudden weakness that was the +beginning of the illness which ended in his death. As I mixed a +draught for him he noticed that my shoulder was hurt and asked me +what had happened. This gave me my opportunity, which I was not +slow to take. + +'Have you patience to listen to a story?' I said, 'for I would seek +your help.' + +'Ah!' he answered, 'it is the old case, the physician cannot heal +himself. Speak on, nephew.' + +Then I sat down by the bed and told him all, keeping nothing back. +I told him the history of my mother and my father's courtship, of +my own childhood, of the murder of my mother by de Garcia, and of +the oath that I had sworn to be avenged upon him. Lastly I told +him of what had happened upon the previous night and how my enemy +had evaded me. All the while that I was speaking Fonseca, wrapped +in a rich Moorish robe, sat up in the bed holding his knees beneath +his chin, and watching my face with his keen eyes. But he spoke no +word and made no sign till I had finished the tale. + +'You are strangely foolish, nephew,' he said at length. 'For the +most part youth fails through rashness, but you err by over- +caution. By over-caution in your fence you lost your chance last +night, and so by over-caution in hiding this tale from me you have +lost a far greater opportunity. What, have you not seen me give +counsel in many such matters, and have you ever known me to betray +the confidence even of the veriest stranger? Why then did you fear +for yours?' + +'I do not know,' I answered, 'but I thought that first I would +search for myself.' + +'Pride goeth before a fall, nephew. Now listen: had I known this +history a month ago, by now de Garcia had perished miserably, and +not by your hand, but by that of the law. I have been acquainted +with the man from his childhood, and know enough to hang him twice +over did I choose to speak. More, I knew your mother, boy, and now +I see that it was the likeness in your face to hers that haunted +me, for from the first it was familiar. It was I also who bribed +the keepers of the Holy Office to let your father loose, though, as +it chanced, I never saw him, and arranged his flight. Since then, +I have had de Garcia through my hands some four or five times, now +under this name and now under that. Once even he came to me as a +client, but the villainy that he would have worked was too black +for me to touch. This man is the wickedest whom I have known in +Seville, and that is saying much, also he is the cleverest and the +most revengeful. He lives by vice for vice, and there are many +deaths upon his hands. But he has never prospered in his evil- +doing, and to-day he is but an adventurer without a name, who lives +by blackmail, and by ruining women that he may rob them at his +leisure. Give me those books from the strong box yonder, and I +will tell you of this de Garcia.' + +I did as he bade me, bringing the heavy parchment volumes, each +bound in vellum and written in cipher. + +'These are my records,' he said, 'though none can read them except +myself. Now for the index. Ah! here it is. Give me volume three, +and open it at page two hundred and one.' + +I obeyed, laying the book on the bed before him, and he began to +read the crabbed marks as easily as though they were good black- +letter. + +'De Garcia--Juan. Height, appearance, family, false names, and so +on. This is it--history. Now listen.' + +Then came some two pages of closely written matter, expressed in +secret signs that Fonseca translated as he read. It was brief +enough, but such a record as it contained I have never heard before +nor since. Here, set out against this one man's name, was well +nigh every wickedness of which a human being could be capable, +carried through by him to gratify his appetites and revengeful +hate, and to provide himself with gold. + +In that black list were two murders: one of a rival by the knife, +and one of a mistress by poison. And there were other things even +worse, too shameful, indeed, to be written. + +'Doubtless there is more that has not come beneath my notice,' said +Fonseca coolly, 'but these things I know for truth, and one of the +murders could be proved against him were he captured. Stay, give +me ink, I must add to the record.' + +And he wrote in his cipher: 'In May, 1517, the said de Garcia +sailed to England on a trading voyage, and there, in the parish of +Ditchingham, in the county of Norfolk, he murdered Luisa Wingfield, +spoken of above as Luisa de Garcia, his cousin, to whom he was once +betrothed. In September of the same year, or previously, under +cover of a false marriage, he decoyed and deserted one Donna +Isabella of the noble family of Siguenza, a nun in a religious +house in this city.' + +'What!' I exclaimed, 'is the girl who came to seek your help two +nights since the same that de Garcia deserted?' + +'The very same, nephew. It was she whom you heard pleading with +him last night. Had I known two days ago what I know to-day, by +now this villain had been safe in prison. But perhaps it is not +yet too late. I am ill, but I will rise and see to it. Leave it +to me, nephew. Go, nurse yourself, and leave it to me; if anything +may be done I can do it. Stay, bid a messenger be ready. This +evening I shall know whatever there is to be known.' + +That night Fonseca sent for me again. + +'I have made inquiries,' he said. 'I have even warned the officers +of justice for the first time for many years, and they are hunting +de Garcia as bloodhounds hunt a slave. But nothing can be heard of +him. He has vanished and left no trace. To-night I write to +Cadiz, for he may have fled there down the river. One thing I have +discovered, however. The Senora Isabella was caught by the watch, +and being recognised as having escaped from a convent, she was +handed over to the executories of the Holy Office, that her case +may be investigated, or in other words, should her fault be proved, +to death.' + +'Can she be rescued?' + +'Impossible. Had she followed my counsel she would never have been +taken.' + +'Can she be communicated with?' + +'No. Twenty years ago it might have been managed, now the Office +is stricter and purer. Gold has no power there. We shall never +see or hear of her again, unless, indeed, it is at the hour of her +death, when, should she choose to speak with me, the indulgence may +possibly be granted to her, though I doubt it. But it is not +likely that she will wish to do so. Should she succeed in hiding +her disgrace, she may escape; but it is not probable. Do not look +so sad, nephew, religion must have its sacrifices. Perchance it is +better for her to die thus than to live for many years dead in +life. She can die but once. May her blood lie heavy on de +Garcia's head!' + +'Amen!' I answered. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THOMAS BECOMES RICH + + +For many months we heard no more of de Garcia or of Isabella de +Siguenza. Both had vanished leaving no sign, and we searched for +them in vain. As for me I fell back into my former way of life of +assistant to Fonseca, posing before the world as his nephew. But +it came about that from the night of my duel with the murderer, my +master's health declined steadily through the action of a wasting +disease of the liver which baffled all skill, so that within eight +months of that time he lay almost bedridden and at the point of +death. His mind indeed remained quite clear, and on occasions he +would even receive those who came to consult him, reclining on a +chair and wrapped in his embroidered robe. But the hand of death +lay on him, and he knew that it was so. As the weeks went by he +grew more and more attached to me, till at length, had I been his +son, he could not have treated me with a greater affection, while +for my part I did what lay in my power to lessen his sufferings, +for he would let no other physician near him. + +At length when he had grown very feeble he expressed a desire to +see a notary. The man he named was sent for and remained closeted +with him for an hour or more, when he left for a while to return +with several of his clerks, who accompanied him to my master's +room, from which I was excluded. Presently they all went away, +bearing some parchments with them. + +That evening Fonseca sent for me. I found him very weak, but +cheerful and full of talk. + +'Come here, nephew,' he said, 'I have had a busy day. I have been +busy all my life through, and it would not be well to grow idle at +the last. Do you know what I have been doing this day?' + +I shook my head. + +'I will tell you. I have been making my will--there is something +to leave; not so very much, but still something.' + +'Do not talk of wills,' I said; 'I trust that you may live for many +years.' + +He laughed. 'You must think badly of my case, nephew, when you +think that I can be deceived thus. I am about to die as you know +well, and I do not fear death. My life has been prosperous but not +happy, for it was blighted in its spring--no matter how. The story +is an old one and not worth telling; moreover, whichever way it had +read, it had all been one now in the hour of death. We must travel +our journey each of us; what does it matter if the road has been +good or bad when we have reached the goal? For my part religion +neither comforts nor frightens me now at the last. I will stand or +fall upon the record of my life. I have done evil in it and I have +done good; the evil I have done because nature and temptation have +been too strong for me at times, the good also because my heart +prompted me to it. Well, it is finished, and after all death +cannot be so terrible, seeing that every human being is born to +undergo it, together with all living things. Whatever else is +false, I hold this to be true, that God exists and is more merciful +than those who preach Him would have us to believe.' And he ceased +exhausted. + +Often since then I have thought of his words, and I still think of +them now that my own hour is so near. As will be seen Fonseca was +a fatalist, a belief which I do not altogether share, holding as I +do that within certain limits we are allowed to shape our own +characters and destinies. But his last sayings I believe to be +true. God is and is merciful, and death is not terrible either in +its act or in its consequence. + +Presently Fonseca spoke again. 'Why do you lead me to talk of such +things? They weary me and I have little time. I was telling of my +will. Nephew, listen. Except certain sums that I have given to be +spent in charities--not in masses, mind you--I have left you all I +possess.' + +'You have left it to ME!' I said astonished. + +'Yes, nephew, to you. Why not? I have no relations living and I +have learned to love you, I who thought that I could never care +again for any man or woman or child. I am grateful to you, who +have proved to me that my heart is not dead, take what I give you +as a mark of my gratitude.' + +Now I began to stammer my thanks, but he stopped me. 'The sum that +you will inherit, nephew, amounts in all to about five thousand +gold pesos, or perhaps twelve thousand of your English pounds, +enough for a young man to begin life on, even with a wife. Indeed +there in England it may well be held a great fortune, and I think +that your betrothed's father will make no more objection to you as +a son-in-law. Also there is this house and all that it contains; +the library and the silver are valuable, and you will do well to +keep them. All is left to you with the fullest formality, so that +no question can arise as to your right to take it; indeed, +foreseeing my end, I have of late called in my moneys, and for the +most part the gold lies in strong boxes in the secret cupboard in +the wall yonder that you know of. It would have been more had I +known you some years ago, for then, thinking that I grew too rich +who was without an heir, I gave away as much as what remains in +acts of mercy and in providing refuge for the homeless and the +suffering. Thomas Wingfield, for the most part this money has come +to me as the fruit of human folly and human wretchedness, frailty +and sin. Use it for the purposes of wisdom and the advancing of +right and liberty. May it prosper you, and remind you of me, your +old master, the Spanish quack, till at last you pass it on to your +children or the poor. And now one word more. If your conscience +will let you, abandon the pursuit of de Garcia. Take your fortune +and go with it to England; wed that maid whom you desire, and +follow after happiness in whatever way seems best to you. Who are +you that you should meet out vengeance on this knave de Garcia? +Let him be, and he will avenge himself upon himself. Otherwise you +may undergo much toil and danger, and in the end lose love, and +life, and fortune at a blow.' + +'But I have sworn to kill him,' I answered, 'and how can I break so +solemn an oath? How could I sit at home in peace beneath the +burden of such shame?' + +'I do not know; it is not for me to judge. You must do as you +wish, but in the doing of it, it may happen that you will fall into +greater shames than this. You have fought the man and he has +escaped you. Let him go if you are wise. Now bend down and kiss +me, and bid me farewell. I do not desire that you should see me +die, and my death is near. I cannot tell if we shall meet again +when in your turn you have lain as I lie now, or if we shape our +course for different stars. If so, farewell for ever.' + +Then I leant down and kissed him on the forehead, and as I did so I +wept, for not till this hour did I learn how truly I had come to +love him, so truly that it seemed to me as though my father lay +there dying. + +'Weep not,' he said, 'for all our life is but a parting. Once I +had a son like you, and ours was the bitterest of farewells. Now I +go to seek for him again who could not come back to me, so weep not +because I die. Good-bye, Thomas Wingfield. May God prosper and +protect you! Now go!' + +So I went weeping, and that night, before the dawn, all was over +with Andres de Fonseca. They told me that he was conscious to the +end and died murmuring the name of that son of whom he spoke in his +last words to me. + +What was the history of this son, or of Fonseca himself, I never +learned, for like an Indian he hid his trail as step by step he +wandered down the path of life. He never spoke of his past, and in +all the books and documents that he left behind him there is no +allusion to it. Once, some years ago, I read through the cipher +volumes of records that I have spoken of, and of which he gave me +the key before he died. They stand before me on the shelf as I +write, and in them are many histories of shame, sorrow, and evil, +of faith deluded and innocence betrayed, of the cruelty of priests, +of avarice triumphant over love, and of love triumphant over death-- +enough, indeed, to furnish half a hundred of true romances. But +among these chronicles of a generation now past and forgotten, +there is no mention of Fonseca's own name and no hint of his own +story. It is lost for ever, and perhaps this is well. So died my +benefactor and best friend. + +When he was made ready for burial I went in to see him and he +looked calm and beautiful in his death sleep. Then it was that she +who had arrayed him for the grave handed to me two portraits most +delicately painted on ivory and set in gold, which had been found +about his neck. I have them yet. One is of the head of a lady +with a sweet and wistful countenance, and the other the face of a +dead youth also beautiful, but very sad. Doubtless they were +mother and son, but I know no more about them. + +On the morrow I buried Andres de Fonseca, but with no pomp, for he +had said that he wished as little money as possible spent upon his +dead body, and returned to the house to meet the notaries. Then +the seals were broken and the parchments read and I was put in full +possession of the dead man's wealth, and having deducted such sums +as were payable for dues, legacies, and fees, the notaries left me +bowing humbly, for was I not rich? Yes, I was rich, wealth had +come to me without effort, and I had reason to desire it, yet this +was the saddest night that I had passed since I set foot in Spain, +for my mind was filled with doubts and sorrow, and moreover my +loneliness got a hold of me. But sad as it might be, it was +destined to seem yet more sorrowful before the morning. For as I +sat making pretence to eat, a servant came to me saying that a +woman waited in the outer room who had asked to see his late +master. Guessing that this was some client who had not heard of +Fonseca's death I was about to order that she should be dismissed, +then bethought me that I might be of service to her or at the least +forget some of my own trouble in listening to hers. So I bade him +bring her in. Presently she came, a tall woman wrapped in a dark +cloak that hid her face. I bowed and motioned to her to be seated, +when suddenly she started and spoke. + +'I asked to see Don Andres de Fonseca,' she said in a low quick +voice. 'You are not he, senor.' + +'Andres de Fonseca was buried to-day,' I answered. 'I was his +assistant in his business and am his heir. If I can serve you in +any way I am at your disposal.' + +'You are young--very young,' she murmured confusedly, 'and the +matter is terrible and urgent. How can I trust you?' + +'It is for you to judge, senora.' + +She thought a while, then drew off her cloak, displaying the robes +of a nun. + +'Listen,' she said. 'I must do many a penance for this night's +work, and very hardly have I won leave to come hither upon an +errand of mercy. Now I cannot go back empty-handed, so I must +trust you. But first swear by thine blessed Mother of God that you +will not betray me.' + +'I give you my word,' I answered; 'if that is not enough, let us +end this talk.' + +'Do not be angry with me,' she pleaded; 'I have not left my convent +walls for many years and I am distraught with grief. I seek a +poison of the deadliest. I will pay well for it.' + +'I am not the tool of murderers,' I answered. 'For what purpose do +you wish the poison?' + +'Oh! I must tell you--yet how can I? In our convent there dies to- +night a woman young and fair, almost a girl indeed, who has broken +the vows she took. She dies to-night with her babe--thus, oh God, +thus! by being built alive into the foundations of the house she +has disgraced. It is the judgment that has been passed upon her, +judgment without forgiveness or reprieve. I am the abbess of this +convent--ask not its name or mine--and I love this sinner as though +she were my daughter. I have obtained this much of mercy for her +because of my faithful services to the church and by secret +influence, that when I give her the cup of water before the work is +done, I may mix poison with it and touch the lips of the babe with +poison, so that their end is swift. I may do this and yet have no +sin upon my soul. I have my pardon under seal. Help me then to be +an innocent murderess, and to save this sinner from her last +agonies on earth.' + +I cannot set down the feelings with which I listened to this tale +of horror, for words could not carry them. I stood aghast seeking +an answer, and a dreadful thought entered my mind. + +'Is this woman named Isabella de Siguenza?' I asked. + +'That name was hers in the world,' she answered, 'though how you +know it I cannot guess.' + +'We know many things in this house, mother. Say now, can this +Isabella be saved by money or by interest?' + +'It is impossible; her sentence has been confirmed by the Tribunal +of Mercy. She must die and within two hours. Will you not give +the poison?' + +'I cannot give it unless I know its purpose, mother. This may be a +barren tale, and the medicine might be used in such a fashion that +I should fall beneath the law. At one price only can I give it, +and it is that I am there to see it used.' + +She thought a while and answered: 'It may be done, for as it +chances the wording of my absolution will cover it. But you must +come cowled as a priest, that those who carry out the sentence may +know nothing. Still others will know and I warn you that should +you speak of the matter you yourself will meet with misfortune. +The Church avenges itself on those who betray its secrets, senor.' + +'As one day its secrets will avenge themselves upon the Church,' I +answered bitterly. 'And now let me seek a fitting drug--one that +is swift, yet not too swift, lest your hounds should see themselves +baffled of the prey before all their devilry is done. Here is +something that will do the work,' and I held up a phial that I drew +from a case of such medicines. 'Come, veil yourself, mother, and +let us be gone upon this "errand of mercy."' + +She obeyed, and presently we left the house and walked away swiftly +through the crowded streets till we came to the ancient part of the +city along the river's edge. Here the woman led me to a wharf +where a boat was in waiting for her. We entered it, and were rowed +for a mile or more up the stream till the boat halted at a landing- +place beneath a high wall. Leaving it, we came to a door in the +wall on which my companion knocked thrice. Presently a shutter in +the woodwork was drawn, and a white face peeped through the grating +and spoke. My companion answered in a low voice, and after some +delay the door was opened, and I found myself in a large walled +garden planted with orange trees. Then the abbess spoke to me. + +'I have led you to our house,' she said. 'If you know where you +are, and what its name may be, for your own sake I pray you forget +it when you leave these doors.' + +I made no answer, but looked round the dim and dewy garden. + +Here it was doubtless that de Garcia had met that unfortunate who +must die this night. A walk of a hundred paces brought us to +another door in the wall of a long low building of Moorish style. +Here the knocking and the questioning were repeated at more length. +Then the door was opened, and I found myself in a passage, ill +lighted, long and narrow, in the depths of which I could see the +figures of nuns flitting to and fro like bats in a tomb. The +abbess walked down the passage till she came to a door on the right +which she opened. It led into a cell, and here she left me in the +dark. For ten minutes or more I stayed there, a prey to thoughts +that I had rather forget. At length the door opened again, and she +came in, followed by a tall priest whose face I could not see, for +he was dressed in the white robe and hood of the Dominicans that +left nothing visible except his eyes. + +'Greeting, my son,' he said, when he had scanned me for a while. +'The abbess mother has told me of your errand. You are full young +for such a task.' + +'Were I old I should not love it better, father. You know the +case. I am asked to provide a deadly drug for a certain merciful +purpose. I have provided that drug, but I must be there to see +that it is put to proper use.' + +'You are very cautious, my son. The Church is no murderess. This +woman must die because her sin is flagrant, and of late such +wickedness has become common. Therefore, after much thought and +prayer, and many searchings to find a means of mercy, she is +condemned to death by those whose names are too high to be spoken. +I, alas, am here to see the sentence carried out with a certain +mitigation which has been allowed by the mercy of her chief judge. +It seems that your presence is needful to this act of love, +therefore I suffer it. The mother abbess has warned you that evil +dogs the feet of those who reveal the secrets of the Church. For +your own sake I pray you to lay that warning to heart.' + +'I am no babbler, father, so the caution is not needed. One word +more. This visit should be well feed, the medicine is costly.' + +'Fear not, physician,' the monk answered with a note of scorn in +his voice; 'name your sum, it shall be paid to you.' + +'I ask no money, father. Indeed I would pay much to be far away +to-night. I ask only that I may be allowed to speak with this girl +before she dies.' + +'What!' he said, starting, 'surely you are not that wicked man? If +so, you are bold indeed to risk the sharing of her fate.' + +'No, father, I am not that man. I never saw Isabella de Siguenza +except once, and I have never spoken to her. I am not the man who +tricked her but I know him; he is named Juan de Garcia.' + +'Ah!' he said quickly, 'she would never tell his real name, even +under threat of torture. Poor erring soul, she could be faithful +in her unfaith. Of what would you speak to her?' + +'I wish to ask her whither this man has gone. He is my enemy, and +I would follow him as I have already followed him far. He has done +worse by me and mine than by this poor girl even. Grant my +request, father, that I may be able to work my vengeance on him, +and with mine the Church's also.' + +'"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord; "I will repay." Yet it may +be, son, that the Lord will choose you as the instrument of his +wrath. An opportunity shall be given you to speak with her. Now +put on this dress'--and he handed me a white Dominican hood and +robe--'and follow me.' + +'First,' I said, 'let me give this medicine to the abbess, for I +will have no hand in its administering. Take it, mother, and when +the time comes, pour the contents of the phial into a cup of water. +Then, having touched the mouth and tongue of the babe with the +fluid, give it to the mother to drink and be sure that she does +drink it. Before the bricks are built up about them both will +sleep sound, never to wake again.' + +'I will do it,' murmured the abbess; 'having absolution I will be +bold, and do it for love and mercy's sake!' + +'Your heart is too soft, sister. Justice is mercy,' said the monk +with a sigh. 'Alas for the frailty of the flesh that wars against +the spirit!' + +Then I clothed myself in the ghastly looking dress, and they took +lamps and motioned to me to follow them. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PASSING OF ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA + + +Silently we went down the long passage, and as we went I saw the +eyes of the dwellers in this living tomb watch us pass through the +gratings of their cell doors. Little wonder that the woman about +to die had striven to escape from such a home back to the world of +life and love! Yet for that crime she must perish. Surely God +will remember the doings of such men as these priests, and the +nation that fosters them. And, in deed, He does remember, for +where is the splendour of Spain to-day, and where are the cruel +rites she gloried in? Here in England their fetters are broken for +ever, and in striving to bind them fast upon us free Englishmen she +is broken also--never to be whole again. + +At the far end of the passage we found a stair down which we +passed. At its foot was an iron-bound door that the monk unlocked +and locked again upon the further side. Then came another passage +hollowed in the thickness of the wall, and a second door, and we +were in the place of death. + +It was a vault low and damp, and the waters of the river washed its +outer wall, for I could hear their murmuring in the silence. +Perhaps the place may have measured ten paces in length by eight +broad. For the rest its roof was supported by massive columns, and +on one side there was a second door that led to a prison cell. At +the further end of this gloomy den, that was dimly lighted by +torches and lamps, two men with hooded heads, and draped in coarse +black gowns, were at work, silently mixing lime that sent up a hot +steam upon the stagnant air. By their sides were squares of +dressed stone ranged neatly against the end of the vault, and +before them was a niche cut in the thickness of the wall itself, +shaped like a large coffin set upon its smaller end. In front of +this niche was placed a massive chair of chestnut wood. I noticed +also that two other such coffin-shaped niches had been cut in this +same wall, and filled in with similar blocks of whitish stone. On +the face of each was a date graved in deep letters. One had been +sealed up some thirty years before, and one hard upon a hundred. + +These two men were the only occupants of the vault when we entered +it, but presently a sound of soft and solemn singing stole down the +second passage. Then the door was opened, the mason monks ceased +labouring at the heap of lime, and the sound of singing grew louder +so that I could catch the refrain. It was that of a Latin hymn for +the dying. Next through the open door came the choir, eight veiled +nuns walking two by two, and ranging themselves on either side of +the vault they ceased their singing. After them followed the +doomed woman, guarded by two more nuns, and last of all a priest +bearing a crucifix. This man wore a black robe, and his thin half- +frenzied face was uncovered. All these and other things I noticed +and remembered, yet at the time it seemed to me that I saw nothing +except the figure of the victim. I knew her again, although I had +seen her but once in the moonlight. She was changed indeed, her +lovely face was fuller and the great tormented eyes shone like +stars against its waxen pallor, relieved by the carmine of her lips +alone. Still it was the same face that some eight months before I +had seen lifted in entreaty to her false lover. Now her tall shape +was wrapped about with grave clothes over which her black hair +streamed, and in her arms she bore a sleeping babe that from time +to time she pressed convulsively to her breast. + +On the threshold of her tomb Isabella de Siguenza paused and looked +round wildly as though for help, scanning each of the silent +watchers to find a friend among them. Then her eye fell upon the +niche and the heap of smoking lime and the men who guarded it, and +she shuddered and would have fallen had not those who attended her +led her to the chair and placed her in it--a living corpse. + +Now the dreadful rites began. The Dominican father stood before +her and recited her offence, and the sentence that had been passed +upon her, which doomed her, 'to be left alone with God and the +child of your sin, that He may deal with you as He sees fit.'* To +all of this she seemed to pay no heed, nor to the exhortation that +followed. At length he ceased with a sigh, and turning to me said: + +'Draw near to this sinner, brother, and speak with her before it is +too late.' + + +* Lest such cruelty should seem impossible and unprecedented, the +writer may mention that in the museum of the city of Mexico, he has +seen the desiccated body of a young woman, which was found immured +in the walls of a religious building. With it is the body of an +infant. Although the exact cause of her execution remains a matter +of conjecture, there can be no doubt as to the manner of her death, +for in addition to other evidences, the marks of the rope with +which her limbs were bound in life are still distinctly visible. +Such in those days were the mercies of religion! + + +Then he bade all present gather themselves at the far end of the +vault that our talk might not be overheard, and they did so without +wonder, thinking doubtless that I was a monk sent to confess the +doomed woman. + +So I drew near with a beating heart, and bending over her I spoke +in her ear. + +'Listen to me, Isabella de Siguenza!' I said; and as I uttered the +name she started wildly. 'Where is that de Garcia who deceived and +deserted you?' + +'How have you learnt his true name?' she answered. 'Not even +torture would have wrung it from me as you know.' + +'I am no monk and I know nothing. I am that man who fought with de +Garcia on the night when you were taken, and who would have killed +him had you not seized me.' + +'At the least I saved him, that is my comfort now.' + +'Isabella de Siguenza,' I said, 'I am your friend, the best you +ever had and the last, as you shall learn presently. Tell me where +this man is, for there is that between us which must be settled.' + +'If you are my friend, weary me no more. I do not know where he +is. Months ago he went whither you will scarcely follow, to the +furthest Indies; but you will never find him there.' + +'It may still be that I shall, and if it should so chance, say have +you any message for this man?' + +'None--yes, this. Tell him how we died, his child and his wife-- +tell him that I did my best to hide his name from the priests lest +some like fate should befall him.' + +'Is that all?' + +'Yes. No, it is not all. Tell him that I passed away loving and +forgiving.' + +'My time is short,' I said; 'awake and listen!' for having spoken +thus she seemed to be sinking into a lethargy. 'I was the +assistant of that Andres de Fonseca whose counsel you put aside to +your ruin, and I have given a certain drug to the abbess yonder. +When she offers you the cup of water, see that you drink and deep, +you and the child. If so none shall ever die more happily. Do you +understand?' + +'Yes--yes,' she gasped, 'and may blessings rest upon you for the +gift. Now I am no more afraid--for I have long desired to die--it +was the way I feared.' + +'Then farewell, and God be with you, unhappy woman.' + +'Farewell,' she answered softly, 'but call me not unhappy who am +about to die thus easily with that I love.' And she glanced at the +sleeping babe. + +Then I drew back and stood with bent head, speaking no word. Now +the Dominican motioned to all to take the places where they had +stood before and asked her: + +'Erring sister, have you aught to say before you are silent for +ever?' + +'Yes,' she answered in a clear, sweet voice, that never even +quavered, so bold had she become since she learned that her death +would be swift and easy. 'Yes, I have this to say, that I go to my +end with a clean heart, for if I have sinned it is against custom +and not against God. I broke the vows indeed, but I was forced to +take those vows, and, therefore, they did not bind. I was a woman +born for light and love, and yet I was thrust into the darkness of +this cloister, there to wither dead in life. And so I broke the +vows, and I am glad that I have broken them, though it has brought +me to this. If I was deceived and my marriage is no marriage +before the law as they tell me now, I knew nothing of it, therefore +to me it is still valid and holy and on my soul there rests no +stain. At the least I have lived, and for some few hours I have +been wife and mother, and it is as well to die swiftly in this cell +that your mercy has prepared, as more slowly in those above. And +now for you--I tell you that your wickedness shall find you out, +you who dare to say to God's children--"Ye shall not love," and to +work murder on them because they will not listen. It shall find +you out I say, and not only you but the Church you serve. Both +priest and Church shall be broken together and shall be a scorn in +the mouths of men to come.' + +'She is distraught,' said the Dominican as a sigh of fear and +wonder went round the vault, 'and blasphemes in her madness. +Forget her words. Shrive her, brother, swiftly ere she adds to +them.' + +Then the black-robed, keen-eyed priest came to her, and holding the +cross before her face, began to mutter I know not what. But she +rose from the chair and thrust the crucifix aside. + +'Peace!' she said, 'I will not be shriven by such as you. I take +my sins to God and not to you--you who do murder in the name of +Christ.' + +The fanatic heard and a fury took him. + +'Then go unshriven down to hell, you--' and he named her by ill +names and struck her in the face with the ivory crucifix. + +The Dominican bade him cease his revilings angrily enough, but +Isabella de Siguenza wiped her bruised brow and laughed aloud a +dreadful laugh to hear. + +'Now I see that you are a coward also,' she said. 'Priest, this is +my last prayer, that you also may perish at the hands of fanatics, +and more terribly than I die to-night.' + +Then they hurried her into the place prepared for her and she spoke +again: + +'Give me to drink, for we thirst, my babe and I!' + +Now I saw the abbess enter that passage whence the victim had been +led. Presently she came back bearing a cup of water in her hand +and with it a loaf of bread, and I knew by her mien that my draught +was in the water. But of what befell afterwards I cannot say +certainly, for I prayed the Dominican to open the door by which we +had entered the vault, and passing through it I stood dazed with +horror at some distance. A while went by, I do not know how long, +till at length I saw the abbess standing before me, a lantern in +her hand, and she was sobbing bitterly. + +'All is done,' she said. 'Nay, have no fear, the draught worked +well. Before ever a stone was laid mother and child slept sound. +Alas for her soul who died unrepentant and unshriven!' + +'Alas for the souls of all who have shared in this night's work,' I +answered. 'Now, mother, let me hence, and may we never meet +again!' + +Then she led me back to the cell, where I tore off that accursed +monk's robe, and thence to the door in the garden wall and to the +boat which still waited on the river, and I rejoiced to feel the +sweet air upon my face as one rejoices who awakes from some foul +dream. But I won little sleep that night, nor indeed for some days +to come. For whenever I closed my eyes there rose before me the +vision of that beauteous woman as I saw her last by the murky +torchlight, wrapped in grave clothes and standing in the coffin- +shaped niche, proud and defiant to the end, her child clasped to +her with one arm while the other was outstretched to take the +draught of death. Few have seen such a sight, for the Holy Office +and its helpers do not seek witnesses to their dark deeds, and none +would wish to see it twice. If I have described it ill, it is not +that I have forgotten, but because even now, after the lapse of +some seventy years, I can scarcely bear to write of it or to set +out its horrors fully. But of all that was wonderful about it +perhaps the most wonderful was that even to the last this +unfortunate lady should still have clung to her love for the +villain who, having deceived her by a false marriage, deserted her, +leaving her to such a doom. To what end can so holy a gift as this +great love of hers have been bestowed on such a man? None can say, +but so it was. Yet now that I think of it, there is one thing even +stranger than her faithfulness. + +It will be remembered that when the fanatic priest struck her she +prayed that he also might die at such hands and more terribly than +she must do. So it came about. In after years that very man, +Father Pedro by name, was sent to convert the heathen of Anahuac, +among whom, because of his cruelty, he was known as the 'Christian +Devil.' But it chanced that venturing too far among a clan of the +Otomie before they were finally subdued, he fell into the hands of +some priests of the war god Huitzel, and by them was sacrificed +after their dreadful fashion. I saw him as he went to his death, +and without telling that I had been present when it was uttered, I +called to his mind the dying curse of Isabella de Siguenza. Then +for a moment his courage gave way, for seeing in me nothing but an +Indian chief, he believed that the devil had put the words into my +lips to torment him, causing me to speak of what I knew nothing. +But enough of this now; if it is necessary I will tell of it in its +proper place. At least, whether it was by chance, or because she +had a gift of vision in her last hours, or that Providence was +avenged on him after this fashion, so it came about, and I do not +sorrow for it, though the death of this priest brought much +misfortune on me. + +This then was the end of Isabella de Siguenza who was murdered by +priests because she had dared to break their rule. + + +So soon as I could clear my mind somewhat of all that I had seen +and heard in that dreadful vault, I began to consider the +circumstances in which I found myself. In the first place I was +now a rich man, and if it pleased me to go back to Norfolk with my +wealth, as Fonseca had pointed out, my prospects were fair indeed. +But the oath that I had taken hung like lead about my neck. I had +sworn to be avenged upon de Garcia, and I had prayed that the curse +of heaven might rest upon me till I was so avenged, but in England +living in peace and plenty I could scarcely come by vengeance. +Moreover, now I knew where he was, or at least in what portion of +the world I might seek him, and there where white men are few he +could not hide from me as in Spain. This tidings I had gained from +the doomed lady, and I have told her story at some length because +it was through it and her that I came to journey to Hispaniola, as +it was because of the sacrifice of her tormentor, Father Pedro, by +the priests of the Otomie that I am here in England this day, since +had it not been for that sacrifice the Spaniards would never have +stormed the City of Pines, where, alive or dead, I should doubtless +have been to this hour; for thus do seeming accidents build up the +fates of men. Had those words never passed Isabella's lips, +doubtless in time I should have wearied of a useless search and +sailed for home and happiness. But having heard them it seemed to +me, to my undoing, that this would be to play the part of a sorry +coward. Moreover, strange as it may look, now I felt as though I +had two wrongs to avenge, that of my mother and that of Isabella de +Siguenza. Indeed none could have seen that young and lovely lady +die thus terribly and not desire to wreak her death on him who had +betrayed and deserted her. + +So the end of it was that being of a stubborn temper, I determined +to do violence to my own desires and the dying counsels of my +benefactor, and to follow de Garcia to the ends of the earth and +there to kill him as I had sworn to do. + +First, however, I inquired secretly and diligently as to the truth +of the statement that de Garcia had sailed for the Indies, and to +be brief, having the clue, I discovered that two days after the +date of the duel I had fought with him, a man answering to de +Garcia's description, though bearing a different name, had shipped +from Seville in a carak bound for the Canary Islands, which carak +was there to await the arrival of the fleet sailing for Hispaniola. +Indeed from various circumstances I had little doubt that the man +was none other than de Garcia himself, which, although I had not +thought of it before, was not strange, seeing that then as now the +Indies were the refuge of half the desperadoes and villains who +could no longer live in Spain. Thither then I made up my mind to +follow him, consoling myself a little by the thought that at least +I should see new and wonderful countries, though how new and +wonderful they were I did not guess. + + +Now it remained for me to dispose of the wealth which had come to +me suddenly. While I was wondering how I could place it in safety +till my return, I heard by chance that the 'Adventuress' of +Yarmouth, the same ship in which I had come to Spain a year before, +was again in the port of Cadiz, and I bethought me that the best +thing I could do with the gold and other articles of value would be +to ship them to England, there to be held in trust for me. So +having despatched a message to my friend the captain of the +'Adventuress,' that I had freight of value for him, I made my +preparations to depart from Seville with such speed as I might, and +to this end I sold my benefactor's house, with many of the effects, +at a price much below their worth. The most of the books and +plate, together with some other articles, I kept, and packing them +in cases, I caused them to be transported down the river to Cadiz, +to the care of those same agents to whom I had received letters +from the Yarmouth merchants. + +This being done I followed thither myself, taking the bulk of my +fortune with me in gold, which I hid artfully in numerous packages. +And so it came to pass that after a stay of a year in Seville, I +turned my back on it for ever. My sojourn there had been +fortunate, for I came to it poor and left it a rich man, to say +nothing of what I had gained in experience, which was much. Yet I +was glad to be gone, for here Juan de Garcia had escaped me, here I +had lost my best friend and seen Isabella de Siguenza die. + + +I came to Cadiz in safety and without loss of any of my goods or +gold, and taking boat proceeded on board the 'Adventuress,' where I +found her captain, whose name was Bell, in good health and very +glad to see me. What pleased me more, however, was that he had +three letters for me, one from my father, one from my sister Mary, +and one from my betrothed, Lily Bozard, the only letter I ever +received from her. The contents of these writings were not +altogether pleasing however, for I learned from them that my father +was in broken health and almost bedridden, and indeed, though I did +not know it for many years after, he died in Ditchingham Church +upon the very day that I received his letter. It was short and +sad, and in it he said that he sorrowed much that he had allowed me +to go upon my mission, since he should see me no more and could +only commend me to the care of the Almighty, and pray Him for my +safe return. As for Lily's letter, which, hearing that the +'Adventuress' was to sail for Cadiz, she had found means to +despatch secretly, though it was not short it was sad also, and +told me that so soon as my back was turned on home, my brother +Geoffrey had asked her in marriage from her father, and that they +pushed the matter strongly, so that her life was made a misery to +her, for my brother waylaid her everywhere, and her father did not +cease to revile her as an obstinate jade who would fling away her +fortune for the sake of a penniless wanderer. + +'But,' it went on, 'be assured, sweetheart, that unless they marry +me by force, as they have threatened to do, I will not budge from +my promise. And, Thomas, should I be wedded thus against my will, +I shall not be a wife for long, for though I am strong I believe +that I shall die of shame and sorrow. It is hard that I should be +thus tormented, and for one reason only, that you are not rich. +Still I have good hope that things may better themselves, for I see +that my brother Wilfred is much inclined towards your sister Mary, +and though he also urges this marriage on me to-day, she is a +friend to both of us and may be in the way to make terms with him +before she accepts his suit.' Then the writing ended with many +tender words and prayers for my safe return. + +As for the letter from my sister Mary it was to the same purpose. +As yet, she said, she could do nothing for me with Lily Bozard, for +my brother Geoffrey was mad with love for her, my father was too +ill to meddle in the matter, and Squire Bozard was fiercely set +upon the marriage because of the lands that were at stake. Still, +she hinted, things might not always be so, as a time might come +when she could speak up for me and not in vain. + +Now all this news gave me much cause for thought. More indeed, it +awoke in me a longing for home which was so strong that it grew +almost to a sickness. Her loving words and the perfume that hung +about the letter of my betrothed brought Lily back to me in such +sort that my heart ached with a desire to be with her. Moreover I +knew that I should be welcome now, for my fortune was far greater +than my brother's would ever be, and parents do not show the door +to suitors who bring more than twelve thousand golden pieces in +their baggage. Also I wished to see my father again before he +passed beyond my reach. But still between me and my desire lay the +shadow of de Garcia and my oath. I had brooded on vengeance for so +long that I felt even in the midst of this strong temptation that I +should have no pleasure in my life if I forsook my quest. To be +happy I must first kill de Garcia. Moreover I had come to believe +that did I so forsake it the curse which I had invoked would surely +fall upon me. + +Meanwhile I did this. Going to a notary I caused him to prepare a +deed which I translated into English. By this deed I vested all my +fortune except two hundred pesos that I kept for my own use, in +three persons to hold the same on my behalf till I came to claim +it. Those three persons were my old master, Doctor Grimstone of +Bungay, whom I knew for the honestest of men, my sister Mary +Wingfield, and my betrothed, Lily Bozard. I directed them by this +deed, which for greater validity I signed upon the ship and caused +to be witnessed by Captain Bell and two other Englishmen, to deal +with the property according to their discretion, investing not less +than half of it in the purchase of lands and putting the rest out +to interest, which interest with the rent of the lands was to be +paid to the said Lily Bozard for her own use for so long as she +remained unmarried. + +Also with the deed I executed a will by which I devised the most of +my property to Lily Bozard should she be unmarried at the date of +my death, and the residue to my sister Mary. In the event of the +marriage or death of Lily, then the whole was to pass to Mary and +her heirs. + +These two documents being signed and sealed, I delivered them, +together with all my treasure and other goods, into the keeping of +Captain Bell, charging him solemnly to hand them and my possessions +to Dr. Grimstone of Bungay, by whom he would be liberally rewarded. +This he promised to do, though not until he had urged me almost +with tears to accompany them myself. + +With the gold and the deeds I sent several letters; to my father, +my sister, my brother, Dr. Grimstone, Squire Bozard, and lastly to +Lily herself. In these letters I gave an account of my life and +fortunes since I had come to Spain, for I gathered that others +which I had sent had never reached England, and told them of my +resolution to follow de Garcia to the ends of the earth. + +'Others,' I wrote to Lily, 'may think me a madman thus to postpone, +or perchance to lose, a happiness which I desire above anything on +earth, but you who understand my heart will not blame me, however +much you may grieve for my decision. You will know that when once +I have set my mind upon an object, nothing except death itself can +turn me from it, and that in this matter I am bound by an oath +which my conscience will not suffer me to break. I could never be +happy even at your side if I abandoned my search now. First must +come the toil and then the rest, first the sorrow and then the joy. +Do not fear for me, I feel that I shall live to return again, and +if I do not return, at least I am able to provide for you in such +fashion that you need never be married against your will. While de +Garcia lives I must follow him.' + +To my brother Geoffrey I wrote very shortly, telling him what I +thought of his conduct in persecuting an undefended maiden and +striving to do wrong to an absent brother. I have heard that my +letter pleased him very ill. + + +And here I may state that those letters and everything else that I +sent came safely to Yarmouth. There the gold and goods were taken +to Lowestoft and put aboard a wherry, and when he had discharged +his ship, Captain Bell sailed up the Waveney with them till he +brought them to Bungay Staithe and thence to the house of Dr. +Grimstone in Nethergate Street. Here were gathered my sister and +brother, for my father was then two months buried--and also Squire +Bozard and his son and daughter, for Captain Bell had advised them +of his coming by messenger, and when all the tale was told there +was wonder and to spare. Still greater did it grow when the chests +were opened and the weight of bullion compared with that set out in +my letters, for there had never been so much gold at once in Bungay +within the memory of man. + +And now Lily wept, first for joy because of my good fortune, and +then for sorrow because I had not come with my treasure, and when +he had seen all and heard the deeds read by virtue of which Lily +was a rich woman whether I lived or died, the Squire her father +swore aloud and said that he had always thought well of me, and +kissed his daughter, wishing her joy of her luck. In short all +were pleased except my brother, who left the house without a word +and straightway took to evil courses. For now the cup was dashed +from his lips, seeing that having come into my father's lands, he +had brought it about that Lily was to be married to him by might if +no other means would serve. For even now a man can force his +daughter into marriage while she is under age, and Squire Bozard +was not one to shrink from such a deed, holding as he did that a +woman's fancies were of no account. But on this day, so great is +the power of gold, there was no more talk of her marrying any man +except myself, indeed her father would have held her back from such +a thing had she shown a mind to it, seeing that then Lily would +have lost the wealth which I had settled on her. But all talked +loudly of my madness because I would not abandon the chase of my +enemy but chose to follow him to the far Indies, though Squire +Bozard took comfort from the thought that whether I lived or died +the money was still his daughter's. Only Lily spoke up for me, +saying 'Thomas has sworn an oath and he does well to keep it, for +his honour is at stake. Now I go to wait until he comes to me in +this world or the next.' + + +But all this is out of place, for many a year passed away before I +heard of these doings. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LOSS OF THE CARAK + + +On the day after I had given my fortune and letters into the charge +of Captain Bell, I watched the 'Adventuress' drop slowly round the +mole of Cadiz, and so sad was I at heart, that I am not ashamed to +confess I wept. I would gladly have lost the wealth she carried if she +had but carried me. But my purpose was indomitable, and it must be +some other ship that would bear me home to the shores of England. + +As it chanced, a large Spanish carak named 'Las Cinque Llagas,' or +'The Five Wounds,' was about to sail for Hispaniola, and having +obtained a licence to trade, I took passage in her under my assumed +name of d'Aila, passing myself off as a merchant. To further this +deception I purchased goods the value of one hundred and five +pesos, and of such nature as I was informed were most readily +saleable in the Indies, which merchandise I shipped with me. The +vessel was full of Spanish adventurers, mostly ruffians of varied +career and strange history, but none the less good companions +enough when not in drink. By this time I could speak Castilian so +perfectly, and was so Spanish in appearance, that it was not +difficult for me to pass myself off as one of their nation and this +I did, inventing a feigned tale of my parentage, and of the reasons +that led me to tempt the seas. For the rest, now as ever I kept my +own counsel, and notwithstanding my reserve, for I would not mingle +in their orgies, I soon became well liked by my comrades, chiefly +because of my skill in ministering to their sicknesses. + +Of our voyage there is little to tell except of its sad end. At +the Canary Isles we stayed a month, and then sailed away for +Hispaniola, meeting with fine weather but light winds. When, as +our captain reckoned, we were within a week's sail of the port of +San Domingo for which we were bound, the weather changed, and +presently gathered to a furious tempest from the north that grew +more terrible every hour. For three days and nights our cumbrous +vessel groaned and laboured beneath the stress of the gale, that +drove us on rapidly we knew not whither, till at length it became +clear that, unless the weather moderated, we must founder. Our +ship leaked at every seam, one of our masts was carried away, and +another broken in two, at a height of twenty feet from the deck. +But all these misfortunes were small compared to what was to come, +for on the fourth morning a great wave swept off our rudder, and we +drifted helpless before the waves. An hour later a green sea came +aboard of us, washing away the captain, so that we filled and +settled down to founder. + +Then began a most horrid scene. For several days both the crew and +passengers had been drinking heavily to allay their terror, and now +that they saw their end at hand, they rushed to and fro screaming, +praying, and blaspheming. Such of them as remained sober began to +get out the two boats, into which I and another man, a worthy +priest, strove to place the women and children, of whom we had +several on board. But this was no easy task, for the drunken +sailors pushed them aside and tried to spring into the boats, the +first of which overturned, so that all were lost. Just then the +carak gave a lurch before she sank, and, seeing that everything was +over, I called to the priest to follow me, and springing into the +sea I swam for the second boat, which, laden with some shrieking +women, had drifted loose in the confusion. As it chanced I reached +it safely, being a strong swimmer, and was able to rescue the +priest before he sank. Then the vessel reared herself up on her +stern and floated thus for a minute or more, which gave us time to +get out the oars and row some fathoms further away from her. +Scarcely had we done so, when, with one wild and fearful scream +from those on board of her, she rushed down into the depths below, +nearly taking us with her. For a while we sat silent, for our +horror overwhelmed us, but when the whirlpool which she made had +ceased to boil, we rowed back to where the carak had been. Now all +the sea was strewn with wreckage, but among it we found only one +child living that had clung to an oar. The rest, some two hundred +souls, had been sucked down with the ship and perished miserably, +or if there were any still living, we could not find them in that +weltering sea over which the darkness was falling. + +Indeed, it was well for our own safety that we failed in so doing, +for the little boat had ten souls on board in all, which was as +many as she could carry--the priest and I being the only men among +them. I have said that the darkness was falling, and as it chanced +happily for us, so was the sea, or assuredly we must have been +swamped. All that we could do was to keep the boat's head straight +to the waves, and this we did through the long night. It was a +strange thing to see, or rather to hear, that good man the priest +my companion, confessing the women one by one as he laboured at his +oar, and when all were shriven sending up prayers to God for the +salvation of our souls, for of the safety of our bodies we +despaired. What I felt may well be imagined, but I forbear to +describe it, seeing that, bad as was my case, there were worse ones +before me of which I shall have to tell in their season. + +At length the night wore away, and the dawn broke upon the desolate +sea. Presently the sun came up, for which at first we were +thankful, for we were chilled to the bone, but soon its heat grew +intolerable, since we had neither food nor water in the boat, and +already we were parched with thirst. But now the wind had fallen +to a steady breeze, and with the help of the oars and a blanket, we +contrived to fashion a sail that drew us through the water at a +good speed. But the ocean was vast, and we did not know whither we +were sailing, and every hour the agony of thirst pressed us more +closely. Towards mid-day a child died suddenly and was thrown into +the sea, and some three hours later the mother filled a bailing +bowl and drank deep of the bitter water. For a while it seemed to +assuage her thirst, then suddenly a madness took her, and springing +up she cast herself overboard and sank. Before the sun, glowing +like a red-hot ball, had sunk beneath the horizon, the priest and I +were the only ones in that company who could sit upright--the rest +lay upon the bottom of the boat heaped one on another like dying +fish groaning in their misery. Night fell at last and brought us +some relief from our sufferings, for the air grew cooler. But the +rain we prayed for did not fall, and so great was the heat that, +when the sun rose again in a cloudless sky, we knew, if no help +reached us, that it must be the last which we should see. + +An hour after dawn another child died, and as we were in the act of +casting the body into the sea, I looked up and saw a vessel far +away, that seemed to be sailing in such fashion that she would pass +within two miles of where we were. Returning thanks to God for +this most blessed sight, we took to the oars, for the wind was now +so light that our clumsy sail would no longer draw us through the +water, and rowed feebly so as to cut the path of the ship. When we +had laboured for more than an hour the wind fell altogether and the +vessel lay becalmed at a distance of about three miles. So the +priest and I rowed on till I thought that we must die in the boat, +for the heat of the sun was like that of a flame and there came no +wind to temper it; by now, too, our lips were cracked with thirst. +Still we struggled on till the shadow of the ship's masts fell +athwart us and we saw her sailors watching us from the deck. Now +we were alongside and they let down a ladder of rope, speaking to +us in Spanish. + +How we reached the deck I cannot say, but I remember falling +beneath the shade of an awning and drinking cup after cup of the +water that was brought to me. At last even my thirst was +satisfied, and for a while I grew faint and dizzy, and had no +stomach for the meat which was thrust into my hand. Indeed, I +think that I must have fainted, for when I came to myself the sun +was straight overhead, and it seemed to me that I had dreamed I +heard a familiar and hateful voice. At the time I was alone +beneath the awning, for the crew of the ship were gathered on the +foredeck clustering round what appeared to be the body of a man. +By my side was a large plate of victuals and a flask of spirits, +and feeling stronger I ate and drank of them heartily. I had +scarcely finished my meal when the men on the foredeck lifted the +body of the man, which I saw was black in colour, and cast it +overboard. Then three of them, whom from their port I took to be +officers, came towards me and I rose to my feet to meet them. + +'Senor,' said the tallest of them in a soft and gentle voice, +'suffer me to offer you our felicitations on your wonderful--' and +he stopped suddenly. + +Did I still dream, or did I know the voice? Now for the first time +I could see the man's face--it was that of JUAN DE GARCIA! But if +I knew him he also knew me. + +'Caramba!' he said, 'whom have we here? Senor Thomas Wingfield I +salute you. Look, my comrades, you see this young man whom the sea +has brought to us. He is no Spaniard but an English spy. The last +time that I saw him was in the streets of Seville, and there he +tried to murder me because I threatened to reveal his trade to the +authorities. Now he is here, upon what errand he knows best.' + +'It is false,' I answered; 'I am no spy, and I am come to these +seas for one purpose only--to find you.' + +'Then you have succeeded well, too well for your own comfort, +perhaps. Say now, do you deny that you are Thomas Wingfield and an +Englishman?' + +'I do not deny it. I--' + +'Your pardon. How comes it then that, as your companion the priest +tells me, you sailed in Las Cinque Llagas under the name of +D'AILA?' + +'For my own reasons, Juan de Garcia.' + +'You are confused, senor. My name is Sarceda, as these gentlemen +can bear me witness. Once I knew a cavalier of the name of de +Garcia, but he is dead.' + +'You lie,' I answered; whereon one of De Garcia's companions struck +me across the mouth. + +'Gently, friend,' said de Garcia; 'do not defile your hand by +striking such rats as this, or if you must strike, use a stick. +You have heard that he confesses to passing under a false name and +to being an Englishman, and therefore one of our country's foes. +To this I add upon my word of honour that to my knowledge he is a +spy and a would-be murderer. Now, gentlemen, under the commission +of his majesty's representative, we are judges here, but since you +may think that, having been called a liar openly by this English +dog, I might be minded to deal unjustly with him, I prefer to leave +the matter in your hands.' + +Now I tried to speak once more, but the Spaniard who had struck me, +a ferocious-looking villain, drew his sword and swore that he would +run me through if I dared to open my lips. So I thought it well to +keep silent. + +'This Englishman would grace a yardarm very well,' he said. + +De Garcia, who had begun to hum a tune indifferently, smiled, +looking first at the yard and then at my neck, and the hate in his +eyes seemed to burn me. + +'I have a better thought than that,' said the third officer. 'If +we hung him questions might be asked, and at the least, it would be +a waste of good money. He is a finely built young man and would +last some years in the mines. Let him be sold with the rest of the +cargo, or I will take him myself at a valuation. I am in want of a +few such on my estate.' + +At these words I saw de Garcia's face fall a little, for he wished +to be rid of me for ever. Still he did not think it politic to +interfere beyond saying with a slight yawn: + +'So far as I am concerned, take him, comrade, and free of cost. +Only I warn you, watch him well or you will find a stiletto in your +back.' + +The officer laughed and said: 'Our friend will scarcely get a +chance at me, for I do not go a hundred paces underground, where he +will find his quarters. And now, Englishman, there is room for you +below I think;' and he called to a sailor bidding him bring the +irons of the man who had died. + +This was done, and after I had been searched and a small sum in +gold that I had upon my person taken from me--it was all that +remained to me of my possessions--fetters were placed upon my +ankles and round my neck, and I was dragged into the hold. Before +I reached it I knew from various signs what was the cargo of this +ship. She was laden with slaves captured in Fernandina, as the +Spaniards name the island of Cuba, that were to be sold in +Hispaniola. Among these slaves I was now numbered. + + +How to tell the horrors of that hold I know not. The place was +low, not more than seven feet in height, and the slaves lay ironed +in the bilge water on the bottom of the vessel. They were crowded +as thick as they could lie, being chained to rings fixed in the +sides of the ship. Altogether there may have been two hundred of +them, men, women and children, or rather there had been two hundred +when the ship sailed a week before. Now some twenty were dead, +which was a small number, since the Spaniards reckon to lose from a +third to half of their cargo in this devilish traffic. When I +entered the place a deadly sickness seized me, weak as I was, +brought on by the horrible sounds and smells, and the sights that I +saw in the flare of the lanterns which my conductors carried, for +the hold was shut off from light and air. But they dragged me +along and presently I found myself chained in the midst of a line +of black men and women, many feet resting in the bilge water. +There the Spaniards left me with a jeer, saying that this was too +good a bed for an Englishman to lie on. For a while I endured, +then sleep or insensibility came to my succour, and I sank into +oblivion, and so I must have remained for a day and a night. + +When I awoke it was to find the Spaniard to whom I had been sold or +given, standing near me with a lantern and directing the removal of +the fetters from a woman who was chained next to me. She was dead, +and in the light of the lantern I could see that she had been +carried off by some horrible disease that was new to me, but which +I afterwards learned to know by the name of the Black Vomit. Nor +was she the only one, for I counted twenty dead who were dragged +out in succession, and I could see that many more were sick. Also +I saw that the Spaniards were not a little frightened, for they +could make nothing of this sickness, and strove to lessen it by +cleansing the hold and letting air into it by the removal of some +planks in the deck above. Had they not done this I believe that +every soul of us must have perished, and I set down my own escape +from the sickness to the fact that the largest opening in the deck +was made directly above my head, so that by standing up, which my +chains allowed me to do, I could breathe air that was almost pure. + +Having distributed water and meal cakes, the Spaniards went away. +I drank greedily of the water, but the cakes I could not eat, for +they were mouldy. The sights and sounds around me were so awful +that I will not try to write of them. + +And all the while we sweltered in the terrible heat, for the sun +pierced through the deck planking of the vessel, and I could feel +by her lack of motion that we were becalmed and drifting. I stood +up, and by resting my heels upon a rib of the ship and my back +against her side, I found myself in a position whence I could see +the feet of the passers-by on the deck above. + +Presently I saw that one of these wore a priest's robe, and +guessing that he must be my companion with whom I had escaped, I +strove to attract his notice, and at length succeeded. So soon as +he knew who it was beneath him, the priest lay down on the deck as +though to rest himself, and we spoke together. He told me, as I +had guessed, that we were becalmed and that a great sickness had +taken hold of the ship, already laying low a third of the crew, +adding that it was a judgment from heaven because of their cruelty +and wickedness. + +To this I answered that the judgment was working on the captives as +well as on the captors, and asked him where was Sarceda, as they +named de Garcia. Then I learned that he had been taken sick that +morning, and I rejoiced at the news, for if I had hated him before, +it may be judged how deeply I hated him now. Presently the priest +left me and returned with water mixed with the juice of limes, that +tasted to me like nectar from the gods, and some good meat and +fruit. These he gave me through the hole in the planks, and I made +shift to seize them in my manacled hands and devoured them. After +this he went away, to my great chagrin; why, I did not discover +till the following morning. + +That day passed and the long night passed, and when at length the +Spaniards visited the hold once more, there were forty bodies to be +dragged out of it, and many others were sick. After they had gone +I stood up, watching for my friend the priest, but he did not come +then, nor ever again. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THOMAS COMES TO SHORE + + +For an hour or more I stood thus craning my neck upwards to seek +for the priest. At length when I was about to sink back into the +hold, for I could stand no longer in that cramped posture, I saw a +woman's dress pass by the hole in the deck, and knew it for one +that was worn by a lady who had escaped with me in the boat. + +'Senora,' I whispered, 'for the love of God listen to me. It is I, +d'Aila, who am chained down here among the slaves.' + +She started, then as the priest had done, she sat herself down upon +the deck, and I told her of my dreadful plight, not knowing that +she was acquainted with it, and of the horrors below. + +'Alas! senor,' she answered, 'they can be little worse than those +above. A dreadful sickness is raging among the crew, six are +already dead and many more are raving in their last madness. I +would that the sea had swallowed us with the rest, for we have been +rescued from it only to fall into hell. Already my mother is dead +and my little brother is dying.' + +'Where is the priest?' I asked. + +'He died this morning and has just been cast into the sea. Before +he died he spoke of you, and prayed me to help you if I could. But +his words were wild and I thought that he might be distraught. And +indeed how can I help you?' + +'Perhaps you can find me food and drink,' I answered 'and for our +friend, God rest his soul. What of the Captain Sarceda? Is he +also dead?' + +'No, senor, he alone is recovering of all whom the scourge has +smitten. And now I must go to my brother, but first I will seek +food for you.' + +She went and presently returned with meat and a flask of wine which +she had hidden beneath her dress, and I ate and blessed her. + +For two days she fed me thus, bringing me food at night. On the +second night she told me that her brother was dead and of all the +crew only fifteen men and one officer remained untouched by the +sickness, and that she herself grew ill. Also she said that the +water was almost finished, and there was little food left for the +slaves. After this she came no more, and I suppose that she died +also. + +It was within twenty hours of her last visit that I left this +accursed ship. For a day none had come to feed or tend the slaves, +and indeed many needed no tending, for they were dead. Some still +lived however, though so far as I could see the most of them were +smitten with the plague. I myself had escaped the sickness, +perhaps because of the strength and natural healthiness of my body, +which has always saved me from fevers and diseases, fortified as it +was by the good food that I had obtained. But now I knew that I +could not live long, indeed chained in this dreadful charnel-house +I prayed for death to release me from the horrors of such +existence. The day passed as before in sweltering heat, unbroken +by any air or motion, and night came at last, made hideous by the +barbarous ravings of the dying. But even there and then I slept +and dreamed that I was walking with my love in the vale of Waveney. + +Towards the morning I was awakened by a sound of clanking iron, and +opening my eyes, I saw that men were at work, by the light of +lanterns, knocking the fetters from the dead and the living +together. As the fetters were loosed a rope was put round the body +of the slave, and dead or quick, he was hauled through the +hatchway. Presently a heavy splash in the water without told the +rest of the tale. Now I understood that all the slaves were being +thrown overboard because of the want of water, and in the hope that +it might avail to save from the pestilence those of the Spaniards +who still remained alive. + +I watched them at their work for a while till there were but two +slaves between me and the workers, of whom one was living and the +other dead. Then I bethought me that this would be my fate also, +to be cast quick into the sea, and took counsel with myself as to +whether I should declare that I was whole from the plague and pray +them to spare me, or whether I should suffer myself to be drowned. +The desire for life was strong, but perhaps it may serve to show +how great were the torments from which I was suffering, and how +broken was my spirit by misfortunes and the horrors around me, when +I say that I determined to make no further effort to live, but +rather to accept death as a merciful release. And, indeed, I knew +that there was little likelihood of such attempts being of avail, +for I saw that the Spanish sailors were mad with fear and had but +one desire, to be rid of the slaves who consumed the water, and as +they believed, had bred the pestilence. So I said such prayers as +came into my head, and although with a great shivering of fear, for +the poor flesh shrinks from its end and the unknown beyond it, +however high may be the spirit, I prepared myself to die. + +Now, having dragged away my neighbour in misery, the living savage, +the men turned to me. They were naked to the middle, and worked +furiously to be done with their hateful task, sweating with the +heat, and keeping themselves from fainting by draughts of spirit. + +'This one is alive also and does not seem so sick,' said a man as +he struck the fetters from me. + +'Alive or dead, away with the dog!' answered another hoarsely, and +I saw that it was the same officer to whom I had been given as a +slave. 'It is that Englishman, and he it is who brought us ill +luck. Cast the Jonah overboard and let him try his evil eye upon +the sharks.' + +'So be it,' answered the other man, and finished striking off my +fetters. 'Those who have come to a cup of water each a day, do not +press their guests to share it. They show them the door. Say your +prayers, Englishman, and may they do you more good than they have +done for most on this accursed ship. Here, this is the stuff to +make drowning easy, and there is more of it on board than of +water,' and he handed me the flask of spirit. I took it and drank +deep, and it comforted me a little. Then they put the rope round +me and at a signal those on the deck above began to haul till I +swung loose beneath the hatchway. As I passed that Spaniard to +whom I had been given in slavery, and who but now had counselled my +casting away, I saw his face well in the light of the lantern, and +there were signs on it that a physician could read clearly. + +'Farewell,' I said to him, 'we may soon meet again. Fool, why do +you labour? Take your rest, for the plague is on you. In six +hours you will be dead!' + +His jaw dropped with terror at my words, and for a moment he stood +speechless. Then he uttered a fearful oath and aimed a blow at me +with the hammer he held, which would swiftly have put an end to my +sufferings had I not at that moment been lifted from his reach by +those who pulled above. + +In another second I had fallen on the deck as they slacked the +rope. Near me stood two black men whose office it was to cast us +poor wretches into the sea, and behind them, seated in a chair, his +face haggard from recent illness, sat de Garcia fanning himself +with his sombrero, for the night was very hot. + +He recognised me at once in the moonlight, which was brilliant, and +said, 'What! are you here and still alive, Cousin? You are tough +indeed; I thought that you must be dead or dying. Indeed had it +not been for this accursed plague, I would have seen to it myself. +Well, it has come right at last, and here is the only lucky thing +in all this voyage, that I shall have the pleasure of sending you +to the sharks. It consoles me for much, friend Wingfield. So you +came across the seas to seek vengeance on me? Well, I hope that +your stay has been pleasant. The accommodation was a little poor, +but at least the welcome was hearty. And now it is time to speed +the parting guest. Good night, Thomas Wingfield; if you should +chance to meet your mother presently, tell her from me that I was +grieved to have to kill her, for she is the one being whom I have +loved. I did not come to murder her as you may have thought, but +she forced me to it to save myself, since had I not done so, I +should never have lived to return to Spain. She had too much of my +own blood to suffer me to escape, and it seems that it runs strong +in your veins also, else you would scarcely hold so fast by +vengeance. Well, it has not prospered you!' And he dropped back +into the chair and fell to fanning himself again with the broad +hat. + +Even then, as I stood upon the eve of death, I felt my blood run +hot within me at the sting of his coarse taunts. Truly de Garcia's +triumph was complete. I had come to hunt him down, and what was +the end of it? He was about to hurl me to the sharks. Still I +answered him with such dignity as I could command. + +'You have me at some disadvantage,' I said. 'Now if there is any +manhood left in you, give me a sword and let us settle our quarrel +once and for all. You are weak from sickness I know, but what am I +who have spent certain days and nights in this hell of yours. We +should be well matched, de Garcia.' + +'Perhaps so, Cousin, but where is the need? To be frank, things +have not gone over well with me when we stood face to face before, +and it is odd, but do you know, I have been troubled with a +foreboding that you would be the end of me. That is one of the +reasons why I sought a change of air to these warmer regions. But +see the folly of forebodings, my friend. I am still alive, though +I have been ill, and I mean to go on living, but you are--forgive +me for mentioning it--you are already dead. Indeed those +gentlemen,' and he pointed to the two black men who were taking +advantage of our talk to throw into the sea the slave who followed +me up the hatchway, 'are waiting to put a stop to our conversation. +Have you any message that I can deliver for you? If so, out with +it, for time is short and that hold must be cleared by daybreak.' + +'I have no message to give you from myself, though I have a message +for you, de Garcia,' I answered. 'But before I tell it, let me say +a word. You seem to have won, wicked murderer as you are, but +perhaps the game is not yet played. Your fears may still come +true. I am dead, but my vengeance may yet live on, for I leave it +to the Hand in which I should have left it at first. You may live +some years longer, but do you think that you shall escape? One day +you will die as surely as I must die to-night, and what then, de +Garcia?' + +'A truce, I pray you,' he said with a sneer. 'Surely you have not +been consecrated priest. You had a message, you said. Pray +deliver it quickly. Time presses, Cousin Wingfield. Who sends +messages to an exile like myself?' + +'Isabella de Siguenza, whom you cheated with a false marriage and +abandoned,' I said. + +He started from his chair and stood over me. + +'What of her?' he whispered fiercely. + +'Only this, the monks walled her up alive with her babe.' + +'Walled her up alive! Mother of God! how do you know that?' + +'I chanced to see it done, that is all. She prayed me to tell you +of her end and the child's, and that she died hiding your name, +loving and forgiving. This was all her message, but I will add to +it. May she haunt you for ever, she and my mother; may they haunt +you through life and death, through earth and hell.' + +He covered his face with his hands for a moment, then dropping them +sank back into the chair and called to the black sailors. + +'Away with this slave. Why are you so slow?' + +The men advanced upon me, but I was not minded to be handled by +them if I could help it, and I was minded to cause de Garcia to +share my fate. Suddenly I bounded at him, and gripping him round +the middle, I dragged him from his chair. Such was the strength +that rage and despair gave to me that I succeeded in swinging him +up to the level of the bulwarks. But there the matter ended, for +at that moment the two black sailors sprang upon us both, and tore +him from my grip. Then seeing that all was lost, for they were +about to cut me down with their swords, I placed my hand upon the +bulwark and leaped into the sea. + +My reason told me that I should do well to drown as quickly as +possible, and I thought to myself that I would not try to swim, but +would sink at once. Yet love of life was too strong for me, and so +soon as I touched the water, I struck out and began to swim along +the side of the ship, keeping myself in her shadow, for I feared +lest de Garcia should cause me to be shot at with arrows and musket +balls. Presently as I went I heard him say with an oath: + +'He has gone, and for good this time, but my foreboding went near +to coming true after all. Bah! how the sight of that man frightens +me.' + +Now I knew in my heart that I was doing a mad thing, for though if +no shark took me, I might float for six or eight hours in this warm +water yet I must sink at last, and what would my struggle have +profited me? Still I swam on slowly, and after the filth and +stench of the slave hold, the touch of the clean water and the +breath of the pure air were like food and wine to me, and I felt +strength enter into me as I went. By this time I was a hundred +yards or more from the ship, and though those on board could +scarcely have seen me, I could still hear the splash of the bodies, +as the slaves were flung from her, and the drowning cries of such +among them as still lived. + +I lifted my head and looked round the waste of water, and seeing +something floating on it at a distance, I swam towards it, +expecting that every moment would be my last, because of the sharks +which abound in these seas. Soon I was near it, and to my joy I +perceived that it was a large barrel, which had been thrown from +the ship, and was floating upright in the water. I reached it, and +pushing at it from below, contrived to tilt it so that I caught its +upper edge with my hand. Then I saw that it was half full of meal +cakes, and that it had been cast away because the meal was +stinking. It was the weight of these rotten cakes acting as +ballast, that caused the tub to float upright in the water. Now I +bethought me, that if I could get into this barrel I should be safe +from the sharks for a while, but how to do it I did not know. + +While I wondered, chancing to glance behind me, I saw the fin of a +shark standing above the water not twenty paces away, and advancing +rapidly towards me. Then terror seized me and gave me strength and +the wit of despair. Pulling down the edge of the barrel till the +water began to pour into it, I seized it on either side with my +hands, and lifting my weight upon them, I doubled my knees. To +this hour I cannot tell how I accomplished it, but the next second +I was in the cask, with no other hurt than a scraped shin. But +though I had found a boat, the boat itself was like to sink, for +what with my weight and that of the rotten meal, and of the water +which had poured over the rim, the edge of the barrel was not now +an inch above the level of the sea, and I knew that did another +bucketful come aboard, it would no longer bear me. At that moment +also I saw the fin of the shark within four yards, and then felt +the barrel shake as the fish struck it with his nose. + +Now I began to bail furiously with my hands, and as I bailed, the +edge of the cask lifted itself above the water. When it had risen +some two inches, the shark, enraged at my escape, came to the +surface, and turning on its side, bit at the tub so that I heard +its teeth grate on the wood and iron bands, causing it to heel over +and to spin round, shipping more water as it heeled. Now I must +bail afresh, and had the fish renewed its onset, I should have been +lost. But not finding wood and iron to its taste, it went away for +a while, although I saw its fin from time to time for the space of +some hours. I bailed with my hands till I could lift the water no +longer, then making shift to take off my boot, I bailed with that. +Soon the edge of the cask stood twelve inches above the water, and +I did not lighten it further, fearing lest it should overturn. Now +I had time to rest and to remember that all this was of no avail, +since I must die at last either by the sea or because of thirst, +and I lamented that my cowardice had only sufficed to prolong my +sufferings. + +Then I prayed to God to succour me, and never did I pray more +heartily than in that hour, and when I had finished praying some +sort of peace and hope fell upon me. I thought it marvellous that +I should thus have escaped thrice from great perils within the +space of a few days, first from the sinking carak, then from +pestilence and starvation in the bold of the slave-ship, and now, +if only for a while, from the cruel jaws of the sharks. It seemed +to me that I had not been preserved from dangers which proved fatal +to so many, only that I might perish miserably at last, and even in +my despair I began to hope when hope was folly; though whether this +relief was sent to me from above, or whether it was simply that +being so much alive at the moment I could not believe that I should +soon be dead, is not for me to say. + +At the least my courage rose again, and I could even find heart to +note the beauty of the night. The sea was smooth as a pond, there +was no breath of wind, and now that the moon began to sink, +thousands of stars of a marvellous brightness, such as we do not +see in England, gemmed the heavens everywhere. At last these grew +pale, and dawn began to flush the east, and after it came the first +rays of sunlight. But now I could not see fifty yards around me, +because of a dense mist that gathered on the face of the quiet +water, and hung there for an hour or more. When the sun was well +up and at length the mist cleared away, I perceived that I had +drifted far from the ship, of which I could only see the masts that +grew ever fainter till they vanished. Now the surface of the sea +was clear of fog except in one direction, where it hung in a thick +bank of vapour, though why it should rest there and nowhere else, I +could not understand. + +Then the sun grew hot, and my sufferings commenced, for except the +draught of spirits that had been given me in the hold of the slave- +ship, I had touched no drink for a day and a night. I will not +tell them all in particular detail, it is enough to say that those +can scarcely imagine them who have never stood for hour after hour +in a barrel, bare-headed and parched with thirst, while the fierce +heat of a tropical sun beat down on them from above, and was +reflected upward from the glassy surface of the water. In time, +indeed, I grew faint and dizzy, and could hardly save myself from +falling into the sea, and at last I sank into a sort of sleep or +insensibility, from which I was awakened by a sound of screaming +birds and of falling water. I looked and saw to my wonder and +delight, that what I had taken to be a bank of mist was really low- +lying land, and that I was drifting rapidly with the tide towards +the bar of a large river. The sound of birds came from great +flocks of sea-gulls that were preying on the shoals of fish, which +fed at the meeting of the fresh and salt water. Presently, as I +watched, a gull seized a fish that could not have weighed less than +three pounds, and strove to lift it from the sea. Failing in this, +it beat the fish on the head with its beak till it died, and had +begun to devour it, when I drifted down upon the spot and made +haste to seize the fish. In another moment, dreadful as it may +seem, I was devouring the food raw, and never have I eaten with +better appetite, or found more refreshment in a meal. + +When I had swallowed all that I was able, without drinking water, I +put the rest of the fish into the pocket of my coat, and turned my +thoughts to the breakers on the bar. Soon it was evident to me +that I could not pass them standing in my barrel, so I hastened to +upset myself into the water and to climb astride of it. Presently +we were in the surf, and I had much ado to cling on, but the tide +bore me forward bravely, and in half an hour more the breakers were +past, and I was in the mouth of the great river. Now fortune +favoured me still further, for I found a piece of wood floating on +the stream which served me for a paddle, and by its help I was +enabled to steer my craft towards the shore, that as I went I +perceived to be clothed with thick reeds, in which tall and lovely +trees grew in groups, bearing clusters of large nuts in their +crowns. Hither to this shore I came without further accident, +having spent some ten hours in my tub, though it was but a chance +that I did so, because of the horrible reptiles called crocodiles, +or, by some, alligators, with which this river swarmed. But of +them I knew nothing as yet. + +I reached land but just in time, for before I was ashore the tide +turned, and tide and current began to carry me out to sea again, +whence assuredly I had never come back. Indeed, for the last ten +minutes, it took all the strength that I had to force the barrel +along towards the bank. At length, however, I perceived that it +floated in not more than four feet of water, and sliding from it, I +waded to the bank and cast myself at length there to rest and thank +God who thus far had preserved me miraculously. But my thirst, +which now returned upon me more fiercely than ever, would not +suffer me to lie thus for long, so I staggered to my feet and +walked along the bank of the river till I came to a pool of rain +water, which on the tasting, proved to be sweet and good. Then I +drank, weeping for joy at the taste of the water, drank till I +could drink no more, and let those who have stood in such a plight +remember what water was to them, for no words of mine can tell it. +After I had drunk and washed the brine from my face and body, I +drew out the remainder of my fish and ate it thankfully, and thus +refreshed, cast myself down to sleep in the shade of a bush bearing +white flowers, for I was utterly outworn. + +When I opened my eyes again it was night, and doubtless I should +have slept on through many hours more had it not been for a +dreadful itch and pain that took me in every part, till at length I +sprang up and cursed in my agony. At first I was at a loss to know +what occasioned this torment, till I perceived that the air was +alive with gnat-like insects which made a singing noise, and then +settling on my flesh, sucked blood and spat poison into the wound +at one and the same time. These dreadful insects the Spaniards +name mosquitoes. Nor were they the only flies, for hundreds of +other creatures, no bigger than a pin's head, had fastened on to me +like bulldogs to a baited bear, boring their heads into the flesh, +where in the end they cause festers. They are named garrapatas by +the Spanish, and I take them to be the young of the tic. Others +there were, also, too numerous to mention, and of every shape and +size, though they had this in common, all bit and all were +venomous. Before the morning these plagues had driven me almost to +madness, for in no way could I obtain relief from them. Towards +dawn I went and lay in the water, thinking to lessen my sufferings, +but before I had been there ten minutes I saw a huge crocodile rise +up from the mud beside me. I sprang away to the bank horribly +afraid, for never before had I beheld so monstrous and evil-looking +a brute, to fall again into the clutches of the creatures, winged +and crawling, that were waiting for me there by myriads. + +But enough of these damnable insects! + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE STONE OF SACRIFICE + + +At length the morning broke and found me in a sorry plight, for my +face was swollen to the size of a pumpkin by the venom of the +mosquitoes, and the rest of my body was in little better case. +Moreover I could not keep myself still because of the itching, but +must run and jump like a madman. And where was I to run to through +this huge swamp, in which I could see no shelter or sign of man? I +could not guess, so since I must keep moving I followed the bank of +the river, as I walked disturbing many crocodiles and loathsome +snakes. Now I knew that I could not live long in such suffering, +and determined to struggle forward till I fell down insensible and +death put an end to my torments. + +For an hour or more I went on thus till I came to a place that was +clear of bush and reeds. Across this I skipped and danced, +striking with my swollen hands at the gnats which buzzed about my +head. Now the end was not far off, for I was exhausted and near to +falling, when suddenly I came upon a party of men, brown in colour +and clothed with white garments, who had been fishing in the river. +By them on the water were several canoes in which were loads of +merchandise, and they were now engaged in eating. So soon as these +men caught sight of me they uttered exclamations in an unknown +tongue and seizing weapons that lay by them, bows and arrows and +wooden clubs set on either side with spikes of flinty glass, they +made towards me as though to kill me. Now I lifted up my hands +praying for mercy, and seeing that I was unarmed and helpless the +men laid down their arms and addressed me. I shook my head to show +that I could not understand, and pointed first to the sea and then +to my swollen features. They nodded, and going to one of the +canoes a man brought from it a paste of a brown colour and aromatic +smell. Then by signs he directed me to remove such garments as +remained on me, the fashion of which seemed to puzzle them greatly. +This being done, they proceeded to anoint my body with the paste, +the touch of which gave me a most blessed relief from my +intolerable itching and burning, and moreover rendered my flesh +distasteful to the insects, for after that they plagued me little. + +When I was anointed they offered me food, fried fish and cakes of +meal, together with a most delicious hot drink covered with a brown +and foaming froth that I learned to know afterwards as chocolate. +When I had finished eating, having talked a while together in low +tones, they motioned me to enter one of the canoes, giving me mats +to lie on. I obeyed, and three other men came with me, for the +canoe was large. One of these, a very grave man with a gentle face +and manner whom I took to be the chief of the party, sat down +opposite to me, the other two placing themselves in the bow and +stern of the boat which they drove along by means of paddles. Then +we started, followed by three other canoes, and before we had gone +a mile utter weariness overpowered me and I fell asleep. + +I awoke much refreshed, having slept many hours, for now the sun +was setting, and was astonished to find the grave-looking man my +companion in the canoe, keeping watch over my sleep and warding the +gnats from me with a leafy branch. His kindness seemed to show +that I was in no danger of ill-treatment, and my fears on that +point being set at rest, I began to wonder as to what strange land +I had come and who its people might be. Soon, however, I gave +over, having nothing to build on, and observed the scenery instead. +Now we were paddling up a smaller river than the one on the banks +of which I had been cast away, and were no longer in the midst of +marshes. On either side of us was open land, or rather land that +would have been open had it not been for the great trees, larger +than the largest oak, which grew upon it, some of them of +surpassing beauty. Up these trees climbed creepers that hung like +ropes even from the topmost boughs, and among them were many +strange and gorgeous flowering plants that seemed to cling to the +bark as moss clings to a wall. In their branches also sat harsh- +voiced birds of brilliant colours, and apes that barked and +chattered at us as we went. + +Just as the sun set over all this strange new scene the canoes came +to a landing place built of timber, and we disembarked. Now it +grew dark suddenly, and all I could discover was that I was being +led along a good road. Presently we reached a gate, which, from +the barking of dogs and the numbers of people who thronged about +it, I judged to be the entrance to a town, and passing it, we +advanced down a long street with houses on either side. At the +doorway of the last house my companion halted, and taking me by the +hand, led me into a long low room lit with lamps of earthenware. +Here some women came forward and kissed him, while others whom I +took to be servants, saluted him by touching the floor with one +hand. Soon, however, all eyes were turned on me and many eager +questions were asked of the chief, of which I could only guess the +purport. + +When all had gazed their fill supper was served, a rich meal of +many strange meats, and of this I was invited to partake, which I +did, seated on a mat and eating of the dishes that were placed upon +the ground by the women. Among these I noticed one girl who far +surpassed all the others in grace, though none were unpleasing to +the eye. She was dark, indeed, but her features were regular and +her eyes fine. Her figure was tall and straight, and the sweetness +of her face added to the charm of her beauty. I mention this girl +here for two reasons, first because she saved me once from +sacrifice and once from torture, and secondly because she was none +other than that woman who afterwards became known as Marina, the +mistress of Cortes, without whose aid he had never conquered +Mexico. But at this time she did not guess that it was her destiny +to bring her country of Anahuac beneath the cruel yoke of the +Spaniard. + +From the moment of my entry I saw that Marina, as I will call her, +for her Indian name is too long to be written, took pity on my +forlorn state, and did what lay in her power to protect me from +vulgar curiosity and to minister to my wants. It was she who +brought me water to wash in, and a clean robe of linen to replace +my foul and tattered garments, and a cloak fashioned of bright +feathers for my shoulders. + +When supper was done a mat was given me to sleep on in a little +room apart, and here I lay down, thinking that though I might be +lost for ever to my own world, at least I had fallen among a people +who were gentle and kindly, and moreover, as I saw from many +tokens, no savages. One thing, however, disturbed me; I discovered +that though I was well treated, also I was a prisoner, for a man +armed with a copper spear slept across the doorway of my little +room. Before I lay down I looked through the wooden bars which +served as a protection to the window place, and saw that the house +stood upon the border of a large open space, in the midst of which +a great pyramid towered a hundred feet or more into the air. On +the top of this pyramid was a building of stone that I took to be a +temple, and rightly, in front of which a fire burned. Marvelling +what the purpose of this great work might be, and in honour of what +faith it was erected, I went to sleep. + +On the morrow I was to learn. + +Here it may be convenient for me to state, what I did not discover +till afterwards, that I was in the city of Tobasco, the capital of +one of the southern provinces of Anahuac, which is situated at a +distance of some hundreds of miles from the central city of +Tenoctitlan, or Mexico. The river where I had been cast away was +the Rio de Tobasco, where Cortes landed in the following year, and +my host, or rather my captor, was the cacique or chief of Tobasco, +the same man who subsequently presented Marina to Cortes. Thus it +came about that, with the exception of a certain Aguilar, who with +some companions was wrecked on the coast of Yucatan six years +before, I was the first white man who ever dwelt among the Indians. +This Aguilar was rescued by Cortes, though his companions were all +sacrificed to Huitzel, the horrible war-god of the country. But +the name of the Spaniards was already known to the Indians, who +looked on them with superstitious fear, for in the year previous to +my being cast away, the hidalgo Hernandez de Cordova had visited +the coast of Yucatan and fought several battles with the natives, +and earlier in the same year of my arrival, Juan de Grigalva had +come to this very river of Tobasco. Thus it came about that I was +set down as one of this strange new nation of Teules, as the +Indians named the Spaniards, and therefore as an enemy for whose +blood the gods were thirsting. + + +I awoke at dawn much refreshed with sleep, and having washed and +clothed myself in the linen robes that were provided for me, I came +into the large room, where food was given me. Scarcely had I +finished my meal when my captor, the cacique, entered, accompanied +by two men whose appearance struck terror to my heart. In +countenance they were fierce and horrible; they wore black robes +embroidered with mystic characters in red, and their long and +tangled hair was matted together with some strange substance. +These men, whom all present, including the chief or cacique, seemed +to look on with the utmost reverence, glared at me with a fierce +glee that made my blood run cold. One of them, indeed, tore open +my white robe and placed his filthy hand upon my heart, which beat +quickly enough, counting its throbs aloud while the other nodded at +his words. Afterwards I learned that he was saying that I was very +strong. + +Glancing round to find the interpretation of this act upon the +faces of those about me, my eyes caught those of the girl Marina, +and there was that in them which left me in little doubt. Horror +and pity were written there, and I knew that some dreadful death +overshadowed me. Before I could do anything, before I could even +think, I was seized by the priests, or pabas as the Indians name +them, and dragged from the room, all the household following us +except Marina and the cacique. Now I found myself in a great +square or market place bordered by many fine houses of stone and +lime, and some of mud, which was filling rapidly with a vast number +of people, men women and children, who all stared at me as I went +towards the pyramid on the top of which the fire burned. At the +foot of this pyramid I was led into a little chamber hollowed in +its thickness, and here my dress was torn from me by more priests, +leaving me naked except for a cloth about my loins and a chaplet of +bright flowers which was set upon my head. In this chamber were +three other men, Indians, who from the horror on their faces I +judged to be also doomed to death. + +Presently a drum began to beat high above us, and we were taken +from the chamber and placed in a procession of many priests, I +being the first among the victims. Then the priests set up a chant +and we began the ascent of the pyramid, following a road that wound +round and round its bulk till it ended on a platform at its summit, +which may have measured forty paces in the square. Hence the view +of the surrounding country was very fine, but in that hour I +scarcely noticed it, having no care for prospects, however +pleasing. On the further side of the platform were two wooden +towers fifty feet or so in height. These were the temples of the +gods, Huitzel God of War and Quetzal God of the Air, whose hideous +effigies carved in stone grinned at us through the open doorways. +In the chambers of these temples stood small altars, and on the +altars were large dishes of gold, containing the hearts of those +who had been sacrificed on the yesterday. These chambers, +moreover, were encrusted with every sort of filth. In front of the +temples stood the altar whereon the fire burned eternally, and +before it were a hog-backed block of black marble of the size of an +inn drinking table, and a great carven stone shaped like a wheel, +measuring some ten feet across with a copper ring in its centre. + +All these things I remembered afterwards, though at the time I +scarcely seemed to see them, for hardly were we arrived on the +platform when I was seized and dragged to the wheel-shaped stone. +Here a hide girdle was put round my waist and secured to the ring +by a rope long enough to enable me to run to the edge of the stone +and no further. Then a flint-pointed spear was given to me and +spears were given also to the two captives who accompanied me, and +it was made clear to me by signs that I must fight with them, it +being their part to leap upon the stone and mine to defend it. Now +I thought that if I could kill these two poor creatures, perhaps I +myself should be allowed to go free, and so to save my life I +prepared to take theirs if I could. Presently the head priest gave +a signal commanding the two men to attack me, but they were so lost +in fear that they did not even stir. Then the priests began to +flog them with leather girdles till at length crying out with pain, +they ran at me. One reached the stone and leapt upon it a little +before the other, and I struck the spear through his arm. +Instantly he dropped his weapon and fled, and the other man fled +also, for there was no fight in them, nor would any flogging bring +them to face me again. + +Seeing that they could not make them brave, the priests determined +to have done with them. Amidst a great noise of music and +chanting, he whom I had smitten was seized and dragged to the hog- +backed block of marble, which in truth was a stone of sacrifice. +On this he was cast down, breast upwards, and held so by five +priests, two gripping his hands, two his legs, and one his head. +Then, having donned a scarlet cloak, the head priest, that same who +had felt my heart, uttered some kind of prayer, and, raising a +curved knife of the flint-like glass or itztli, struck open the +poor wretch's breast at a single blow, and made the ancient +offering to the sun. + +As he did this all the multitude in the place below, in full view +of whom this bloody game was played, prostrated themselves, +remaining on their knees till the offering had been thrown into the +golden censer before the statue of the god Huitzel. Thereon the +horrible priests, casting themselves on the body, carried it with +shouts to the edge of the pyramid or teocalli, and rolled it down +the steep sides. At the foot of the slope it was lifted and borne +away by certain men who were waiting, for what purpose I did not +know at that time. + +Scarcely was the first victim dead when the second was seized and +treated in a like fashion, the multitude prostrating themselves as +before. And then last of all came my turn. I felt myself seized +and my senses swam, nor did I recover them till I found myself +lying on the accursed stone, the priests dragging at my limbs and +head, my breast strained upwards till the skin was stretched tight +as that of a drum, while over me stood the human devil in his red +mantle, the glass knife in his hand. Never shall I forget his +wicked face maddened with the lust for blood, or the glare in his +eyes as he tossed back his matted locks. But he did not strike at +once, he gloated over me, pricking me with the point of the knife. +It seemed to me that I lay there for years while the paba aimed and +pointed with the knife, but at last through a mist that gathered +before my eyes, I saw it flash upward. Then when I thought that my +hour had come, a hand caught his arm in mid-air and held it and I +heard a voice whispering. + +What was said did not please the priest, for suddenly he howled +aloud and made a dash towards me to kill me, but again his arm was +caught before the knife fell. Then he withdrew into the temple of +the god Quetzal, and for a long while I lay upon the stone +suffering the agonies of a hundred deaths, for I believed that it +was determined to torture me before I died, and that my slaughter +had been stayed for this purpose. + +There I lay upon the stone, the fierce sunlight beating on my +breast, while from below came the faint murmur of the thousands of +the wondering people. All my life seemed to pass before me as I +was stretched upon that awful bed, a hundred little things which I +had forgotten came back to me, and with them memories of childhood, +of my oath to my father, of Lily's farewell kiss and words, of de +Garcia's face as I was hurled into the sea, of the death of +Isabella de Siguenza, and lastly a vague wonder as to why all +priests were so cruel! + +At length I heard footsteps and shut my eyes, for I could bear the +sight of that dreadful knife no longer. But behold! no knife fell. +Suddenly my hands were loosed and I was lifted to my feet, on which +I never hoped to stand again. Then I was borne to the edge of the +teocalli, for I could not walk, and here my would-be murderer, the +priest, having first shouted some words to the spectators below, +that caused them to murmur like a forest when the wind stirs it, +clasped me in his blood-stained arms and kissed me on the forehead. +Now it was for the first time that I noticed my captor, the +cacique, standing at my side, grave, courteous, and smiling. As he +had smiled when he handed me to the pabas, so he smiled when he +took me back from them. Then having been cleansed and clothed, I +was led into the sanctuary of the god Quetzal and stood face to +face with the hideous image there, staring at the golden censer +that was to have received my heart while the priests uttered +prayers. Thence I was supported down the winding road of the +pyramid till I came to its foot, where my captor the cacique took +me by the hand and led me through the people who, it seemed, now +regarded me with some strange veneration. The first person that I +saw when we reached the house was Marina, who looked at me and +murmured some soft words that I could not understand. Then I was +suffered to go to my chamber, and there I passed the rest of the +day prostrated by all that I had undergone. Truly I had come to a +land of devils! + +And now I will tell how it was that I came to be saved from the +knife. Marina having taken some liking to me, pitied my sad fate, +and being very quick-witted, she found a way to rescue me. For +when I had been led off to sacrifice, she spoke to the cacique, her +lord, bringing it to his mind that, by common report Montezuma, the +Emperor of Anahuac, was disturbed as to the Teules or Spaniards, +and desired much to see one. Now, she said, I was evidently a +Teule, and Montezuma would be angered, indeed, if I were sacrificed +in a far-off town, instead of being sent to him to sacrifice if he +saw fit. To this the cacique answered that the words were wise, +but that she should have spoken them before, for now the priests +had got hold of me, and it was hopeless to save me from their grip. + +'Nay,' answered Marina, 'there is this to be said. Quetzal, the +god to whom this Teule is to be offered, was a white man,* and it +may well happen that this man is one of his children. Will it +please the god that his child should be offered to him? At the +least, if the god is not angered, Montezuma will certainly be +wroth, and wreak a vengeance on you and on the priests.' + + +* Quetzal, or more properly Quetzalcoatl, was the divinity who is +fabled to have taught the natives of Anahuac all the useful arts, +including those of government and policy, he was white-skinned and +dark-haired. Finally he sailed from the shores of Anahuac for the +fabulous country of Tlapallan in a bark of serpents' skins. But +before he sailed he promised that he would return again with a +numerous progeny. This promise was remembered by the Aztecs, and +it was largely on account of it that the Spaniards were enabled to +conquer the country, for they were supposed to be his descendants. +Perhaps Quetzalcoatl was a Norseman! Vide Sagas of Eric the Red +and of Thorfinn Karlsefne.--AUTHOR. + + +Now when the cacique heard this he saw that Marina spoke truth, and +hurrying up the teocalli, he caught the knife as it was in the act +of falling upon me. At first the head priest was angered and +called out that this was sacrilege, but when the cacique had told +him his mind, he understood that he would do wisely not to run a +risk of the wrath of Montezuma. So I was loosed and led into the +sanctuary, and when I came out the paba announced to the people +that the god had declared me to be one of his children, and it was +for this reason that then and thereafter they treated me with +reverence. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SAVING OF GUATEMOC + + +Now after this dreadful day I was kindly dealt with by the people +of Tobasco, who gave me the name of Teule or Spaniard, and no +longer sought to put me to sacrifice. Far from it indeed, I was +well clothed and fed, and suffered to wander where I would, though +always under the care of guards who, had I escaped, would have paid +for it with their lives. I learned that on the morrow of my rescue +from the priests, messengers were despatched to Montezuma, the +great king, acquainting him with the history of my capture, and +seeking to know his pleasure concerning me. But the way to +Tenoctitlan was far, and many weeks passed before the messengers +returned again. Meanwhile I filled the days in learning the Maya +language, and also something of that of the Aztecs, which I +practised with Marina and others. For Marina was not a Tobascan, +having been born at Painalla, on the southeastern borders of the +empire. But her mother sold her to merchants in order that +Marina's inheritance might come to another child of hers by a +second marriage, and thus in the end the girl fell into the hands +of the cacique of Tobasco. + +Also I learned something of the history and customs, and of the +picture writing of the land, and how to read it, and moreover I +obtained great repute among the Tobascans by my skill in medicine, +so that in time they grew to believe that I was indeed a child of +Quetzal, the good god. And the more I studied this people the less +I could understand of them. In most ways they were equal to any +nation of our own world of which I had knowledge. None are more +skilled in the arts, few are better architects or boast purer laws. +Moreover, they were brave and had patience. But their faith was +the canker at the root of the tree. In precept it was noble and +had much in common with our own, such as the rite of baptism, but I +have told what it was in practice. And yet, when all is said, is +it more cruel to offer up victims to the gods than to torture them +in the vaults of the Holy Office or to immure them in the walls of +nunneries? + +When I had lived a month in Tobasco I had learned enough of the +language to talk with Marina, with whom I grew friendly, though no +more, and it was from her that I gathered the most of my knowledge, +and also many hints as to the conduct necessary to my safety. In +return I taught her something of my own faith, and of the customs +of the Europeans, and it was the knowledge that she gained from me +which afterwards made her so useful to the Spaniards, and prepared +her to accept their religion, giving her insight into the ways of +white people. + +So I abode for four months and more in the house of the cacique of +Tobasco, who carried his kindness towards me to the length of +offering me his sister in marriage. To this proposal I said no as +gently as I might, and he marvelled at it, for the girl was fair. +Indeed, so well was I treated, that had it not been that my heart +was far away, and because of the horrible rites of their religion +which I was forced to witness almost daily, I could have learned to +love this gentle, skilled, and industrious people. + + +At length, when full four months had passed away, the messengers +returned from the court of Montezuma, having been much delayed by +swollen rivers and other accidents of travel. So great was the +importance that the Emperor attached to the fact of my capture, and +so desirous was he to see me at his capital, that he had sent his +own nephew, the Prince Guatemoc, to fetch me and a great escort of +warriors with him. + +Never shall I forget my first meeting with this prince who +afterwards became my dear companion and brother in arms. When the +escort arrived I was away from the town shooting deer with the bow +and arrow, a weapon in the use of which I had such skill that all +the Indians wondered at me, not knowing that twice I had won the +prize at the butts on Bungay Common. Our party being summoned by a +messenger, we returned bearing our deer with us. On reaching the +courtyard of the cacique's house, I found it filled with warriors +most gorgeously attired, and among them one more splendid than the +rest. He was young, very tall and broad, most handsome in face, +and having eyes like those of an eagle, while his whole aspect +breathed majesty and command. His body was encased in a cuirass of +gold, over which hung a mantle made of the most gorgeous feathers, +exquisitely set in bands of different colours. On his head he wore +a helmet of gold surmounted by the royal crest, an eagle, standing +on a snake fashioned in gold and gems. On his arms, and beneath +his knees, he wore circlets of gold and gems, and in his hand was a +copper-bladed spear. Round this man were many nobles dressed in a +somewhat similar fashion, except that the most of them wore a vest +of quilted cotton in place of the gold cuirass, and a jewelled +panache of the plumes of birds instead of the royal symbol. + +This was Guatemoc, Montezuma's nephew, and afterwards the last +emperor of Anahuac. So soon as I saw him I saluted him in the +Indian fashion by touching the earth with my right hand, which I +then raised to my head. But Guatemoc, having scanned me with his +eye as I stood, bow in hand, attired in my simple hunter's dress, +smiled frankly and said: + +'Surely, Teule, if I know anything of the looks of men, we are too +equal in our birth, as in our age, for you to salute me as a slave +greets his master.' And he held his hand to me. + +I took it, answering with the help of Marina, who was watching this +great lord with eager eyes. + +'It may be so, prince, but though in my own country I am a man of +repute and wealth, here I am nothing but a slave snatched from the +sacrifice.' + +'I know it,' he said frowning. 'It is well for all here that you +were so snatched before the breath of life had left you, else +Montezuma's wrath had fallen on this city.' And he looked at the +cacique who trembled, such in those days was the terror of +Montezuma's name. + +Then he asked me if I was a Teule or Spaniard. I told him that I +was no Spaniard but one of another white race who had Spanish blood +in his veins. This saying seemed to puzzle him, for he had never +so much as heard of any other white race, so I told him something +of my story, at least so much of it as had to do with my being cast +away. + +When I had finished, he said, 'If I have understood aright, Teule, +you say that you are no Spaniard, yet that you have Spanish blood +in you, and came hither in a Spanish ship, and I find this story +strange. Well, it is for Montezuma to judge of these matters, so +let us talk of them no more. Come and show me how you handle that +great bow of yours. Did you bring it with you or did you fashion +it here? They tell me, Teule, that there is no such archer in the +land.' + +So I came up and showed him the bow which was of my own make, and +would shoot an arrow some sixty paces further than any that I saw +in Anahuac, and we fell into talk on matters of sport and war, +Marina helping out my want of language, and before that day was +done we had grown friendly. + +For a week the prince Guatemoc and his company rested in the town +of Tobasco, and all this time we three talked much together. Soon +I saw that Marina looked with eyes of longing on the great lord, +partly because of his beauty rank and might, and partly because she +wearied of her captivity in the house of the cacique, and would +share Guatemoc's power, for Marina was ambitious. She tried to win +his heart in many ways, but he seemed not to notice her, so that at +last she spoke more plainly and in my hearing. + +'You go hence to-morrow, prince,' she said softly, 'and I have a +favour to ask of you, if you will listen to your handmaid.' + +'Speak on, maiden,' he answered. + +'I would ask this, that if it pleases you, you will buy me of the +cacique my master, or command him to give me up to you, and take me +with you to Tenoctitlan.' + +Guatemoc laughed aloud. 'You put things plainly, maiden,' he said, +'but know that in the city of Tenoctitlan, my wife and royal +cousin, Tecuichpo, awaits me, and with her three other ladies, who +as it chances are somewhat jealous.' + +Now Marina flushed beneath her brown skin, and for the first and +last time I saw her gentle eyes grow hard with anger as she +answered: + +'I asked you to take me with you, prince; I did not ask to be your +wife or love.' + +'But perchance you meant it,' he said dryly. + +'Whatever I may have meant, prince, it is now forgotten. I wished +to see the great city and the great king, because I weary of my +life here and would myself grow great. You have refused me, but +perhaps a time will come when I shall grow great in spite of you, +and then I may remember the shame that has been put upon me against +you, prince, and all your royal house.' + +Again Guatemoc laughed, then of a sudden grew stern. + +'You are over-bold, girl,' he said; 'for less words than these many +a one might find herself stretched upon the stone of sacrifice. +But I will forget them, for your woman's pride is stung, and you +know not what you say. Do you forget them also, Teule, if you have +understood.' + +Then Marina turned and went, her bosom heaving with anger and +outraged love or pride, and as she passed me I heard her mutter, +'Yes, prince, you may forget, but I shall not.' + +Often since that day I have wondered if some vision of the future +entered into the girl's breast in that hour, or if in her wrath she +spoke at random. I have wondered also whether this scene between +her and Guatemoc had anything to do with the history of her after +life; or did Marina, as she avowed to me in days to come, bring +shame and ruin on her country for the love of Cortes alone? It is +hard to say, and perhaps these things had nothing to do with what +followed, for when great events have happened, we are apt to search +out causes for them in the past that were no cause. This may have +been but a passing mood of hers and one soon put out of mind, for +it is certain that few build up the temples of their lives upon +some firm foundation of hope or hate, of desire or despair, though +it has happened to me to do so, but rather take chance for their +architect--and indeed whether they take him or no, he is still the +master builder. Still that Marina did not forget this talk I know, +for in after times I heard her remind this very prince of the words +that had passed between them, ay, and heard his noble answer to +her. + + +Now I have but one more thing to tell of my stay in Tobasco, and +then let me on to Mexico, and to the tale of how Montezuma's +daughter became my wife, and of my further dealings with de Garcia. + +On the day of our departure a great sacrifice of slaves was held +upon the teocalli to propitiate the gods, so that they might give +us a safe journey, and also in honour of some festival, for to the +festivals of the Indians there was no end. Thither we went up the +sides of the steep pyramid, since I must look upon these horrors +daily. When all was prepared, and we stood around the stone of +sacrifice while the multitude watched below, that fierce paba who +once had felt the beatings of my heart, came forth from the +sanctuary of the god Quetzal and signed to his companions to +stretch the first of the victims on the stone. Then of a sudden +the prince Guatemoc stepped forward, and addressing the priests, +pointed to their chief, and said: + +'Seize that man!' + +They hesitated, for though he who commanded was a prince of the +blood royal, to lay hands upon a high priest was sacrilege. Then +with a smile Guatemoc drew forth a ring having a dull blue stone +set in its bezel, on which was engraved a strange device. With the +ring he drew out also a scroll of picture-writing, and held them +both before the eyes of the pabas. Now the ring was the ring of +Montezuma, and the scroll was signed by the great high priest of +Tenoctitlan, and those who looked on the ring and the scroll knew +well that to disobey the mandate of him who bore them was death and +dishonour in one. So without more ado they seized their chief and +held him. Then Guatemoc spoke again and shortly: + +'Lay him on the stone and sacrifice him to the god Quetzal.' + +Now he who had taken such fierce joy in the death of others on this +same stone, began to tremble and weep, for he did not desire to +drink of his own medicine. + +'Why must I be offered up, O prince?' he cried, 'I who have been a +faithful servant to the gods and to the Emperor.' + +'Because you dared to try to offer up this Teule,' answered +Guatemoc, pointing to me, 'without leave from your master +Montezuma, and because of the other evils that you have done, all +of which are written in this scroll. The Teule is a son of +Quetzal, as you have yourself declared, and Quetzal will be avenged +because of his son. Away with him, here is your warrant.' + +Then the priests, who till this moment had been his servants, +dragged their chief to the stone, and there, notwithstanding his +prayers and bellowings, one who had donned his mantle practised his +own art upon him, and presently his body was cast down the side of +the pyramid. For my part I am not sufficient of a Christian to +pretend that I was sorry to see him die in that same fashion by +which he had caused the death of so many better men. + +When it was done Guatemoc turned to me and said, 'So perish all +your enemies, my friend Teule.' + +Within an hour of this event, which revealed to me how great was +the power of Montezuma, seeing that the sight of a ring from his +finger could bring about the instant death of a high priest at the +hands of his disciples, we started on our long journey. But before +I went I bid a warm farewell to my friend the cacique, and also to +Marina, who wept at my going. The cacique I never saw again, but +Marina I did see. + + +For a whole month we travelled, for the way was far and the road +rough, and sometimes we must cut our path through forests and +sometimes we must wait upon the banks of rivers. Many were the +strange sights that I saw upon that journey, and many the cities in +which we sojourned in much state and honour, but I cannot stop to +tell of all these. + +One thing I will relate, however, though briefly, because it +changed the regard that the prince Guatemoc and I felt one to the +other into a friendship which lasted till his death, and indeed +endures in my heart to this hour. + +One day we were delayed by the banks of a swollen river, and in +pastime went out to hunt for deer. When we had hunted a while and +killed three deer, it chanced that Guatemoc perceived a buck +standing on a hillock, and we set out to stalk it, five of us in +all. But the buck was in the open, and the trees and bush ceased a +full hundred yards away from where he stood, so that there was no +way by which we might draw near to him. Then Guatemoc began to +mock me, saying, 'Now, Teule, they tell tales of your archery, and +this deer is thrice as far as we Aztecs can make sure of killing. +Let us see your skill.' + +'I will try,' I answered, 'though the shot is long.' + +So we drew beneath the cover of a ceiba tree, of which the lowest +branches drooped to within fifteen feet of the ground, and having +set an arrow on the string of the great bow that I had fashioned +after the shape of those we use in merry England, I aimed and drew +it. Straight sped the arrow and struck the buck fair, passing +through its heart, and a low murmur of wonderment went up from +those who saw the feat. + +Then, just as we prepared to go to the fallen deer, a male puma, +which is nothing but a cat, though fifty times as big, that had +been watching the buck from above, dropped down from the boughs of +the ceiba tree full on to the shoulders of the prince Guatemoc, +felling him to the ground, where he lay face downwards while the +fierce brute clawed and bit at his back. Indeed had it not been +for his golden cuirass and helm Guatemoc would never have lived to +be emperor of Anahuac, and perhaps it might have been better so. + +Now when they saw the puma snarling and tearing at the person of +their prince, though brave men enough, the three nobles who were +with us were seized by sudden panic and ran, thinking him dead. +But I did not run, though I should have been glad enough to do so. +At my side hung one of the Indian weapons that serve them instead +of swords, a club of wood set on both sides with spikes of +obsidian, like the teeth in the bill of a swordfish. Snatching it +from its loop I gave the puma battle, striking a blow upon his head +that rolled him over and caused the blood to pour. In a moment he +was up and at me roaring with rage. Whirling the wooden sword with +both hands I smote him in mid air, the blow passing between his +open paws and catching him full on the snout and head. So hard was +this stroke that my weapon was shattered, still it did not stop the +puma. In a second I was cast to the earth with a great shock, and +the brute was on me tearing and biting at my chest and neck. It +was well for me at that moment that I wore a garment of quilted +cotton, otherwise I must have been ripped open, and even with this +covering I was sadly torn, and to this day I bear the marks of the +beast's claws upon my body. But now when I seemed to be lost the +great blow that I had struck took effect on him, for one of the +points of glass had pierced to his brain. He lifted his head, his +claws contracted themselves in my flesh, then he howled like a dog +in pain and fell dead upon my body. So I lay upon the ground +unable to stir, for I was much hurt, until my companions, having +taken heart, came back and pulled the puma off me. By this time +Guatemoc, who saw all, but till now was unable to move from lack of +breath, had found his feet again. + +'Teule,' he gasped, 'you are a brave man indeed, and if you live I +swear that I will always stand your friend to the death as you have +stood mine.' + +Thus he spoke to me; but to the others he said nothing, casting no +reproaches at them. + +Then I fainted away. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE COURT OF MONTEZUMA + + +Now for a week I was so ill from my wounds that I was unable to be +moved, and then I must be carried in a litter till we came to +within three days' journey of the city of Tenoctitlan or Mexico. +After that, as the roads were now better made and cared for than +any I have seen in England, I was able to take to my feet again. +Of this I was glad, for I have no love of being borne on the +shoulders of other men after the womanish Indian fashion, and, +moreover, as we had now come to a cold country, the road running +through vast table-lands and across the tops of mountains, it was +no longer necessary as it had been in the hot lands. Never did I +see anything more dreary than these immense lengths of desolate +plains covered with aloes and other thorny and succulent shrubs of +fantastic aspect, which alone could live on the sandy and waterless +soil. This is a strange land, that can boast three separate +climates within its borders, and is able to show all the glories of +the tropics side by side with deserts of measureless expanse. + +One night we camped in a rest house, of which there were many built +along the roads for the use of travellers, that was placed almost +on the top of the sierra or mountain range which surrounds the +valley of Tenoctitlan. Next morning we took the road again before +dawn, for the cold was so sharp at this great height that we, who +had travelled from the hot land, could sleep very little, and also +Guatemoc desired if it were possible to reach the city that night. + +When we had gone a few hundred paces the path came to the crest of +the mountain range, and I halted suddenly in wonder and admiration. +Below me lay a vast bowl of land and water, of which, however, I +could see nothing, for the shadows of the night still filled it. +But before me, piercing the very clouds, towered the crests of two +snow-clad mountains, and on these the light of the unrisen sun +played, already changing their whiteness to the stain of blood. +Popo, or the Hill that Smokes, is the name of the one, and Ixtac, +or the Sleeping Woman, that of the other, and no grander sight was +ever offered to the eyes of man than they furnished in that hour +before the dawn. From the lofty summit of Popo went up great +columns of smoke which, what with the fire in their heart and the +crimson of the sunrise, looked like rolling pillars of flame. And +for the glory of the glittering slopes below, that changed +continually from the mystery of white to dull red, from red to +crimson, and from crimson to every dazzling hue that the rainbow +holds, who can tell it, who can even imagine it? None, indeed, +except those that have seen the sun rise over the volcans of +Tenoctitlan. + +When I had feasted my eyes on Popo I turned to Ixtac. She is not +so lofty as her 'husband,' for so the Aztecs name the volcan Popo, +and when first I looked I could see nothing but the gigantic shape +of a woman fashioned in snow, and lying like a corpse upon her +lofty bier, whose hair streamed down the mountain side. But now +the sunbeams caught her also, and she seemed to start out in +majesty from a veil of rosy mist, a wonderful and thrilling sight. +But beautiful as she was then, still I love the Sleeping Woman best +at eve. Then she lies a shape of glory on the blackness beneath, +and is slowly swallowed up into the solemn night as the dark draws +its veil across her. + +Now as I gazed the light began to creep down the sides of the +volcans, revealing the forests on their flanks. But still the vast +valley was filled with mist that lay in dense billows resembling +those of the sea, through which hills and temple tops started up +like islands. By slow degrees as we passed upon our downward road +the vapours cleared away, and the lakes of Tezcuco, Chalco, and +Xochicalco shone in the sunlight like giant mirrors. On their +banks stood many cities, indeed the greatest of these, Mexico, +seemed to float upon the waters; beyond them and about them were +green fields of corn and aloe, and groves of forest trees, while +far away towered the black wall of rock that hedges in the valley. + +All day we journeyed swiftly through this fairy land. We passed +through the cities of Amaquem and Ajotzinco, which I will not stay +to describe, and many a lovely village that nestled upon the +borders of Lake Chalco. Then we entered on the great causeway of +stone built like a road resting on the waters, and with the +afternoon we came to the town of Cuitlahuac. Thence we passed on +to Iztapalapan, and here Guatemoc would have rested for the night +in the royal house of his uncle Cuitlahua. But when we reached the +town we found that Montezuma, who had been advised of our approach +by runners, had sent orders that we were to push on to Tenoctitlan, +and that palanquins had been made ready to bear us. So we entered +the palanquins, and leaving that lovely city of gardens, were borne +swiftly along the southern causeway. On we went past towns built +upon piles fixed in the bottom of the lake, past gardens that were +laid out on reeds and floated over the waters like a boat, past +teocallis and glistening temples without number, through fleets of +light canoes and thousands of Indians going to and fro about their +business, till at length towards sunset we reached the battlemented +fort that is called Xoloc which stands upon the dyke. I say +stands, but alas! it stands no more. Cortes has destroyed it, and +with it all those glorious cities which my eyes beheld that day. + +At Xoloc we began to enter the city of Tenoctitlan or Mexico, the +mightiest city that ever I had seen. The houses on the outskirts, +indeed, were built of mud or adobe, but those in the richer parts +were constructed of red stone. Each house surrounded a courtyard +and was in turn surrounded by a garden, while between them ran +canals, having footpaths on either side. Then there were squares, +and in the squares pyramids, palaces, and temples without end. I +gazed on them till I was bewildered, but all seemed as nothing when +at length I saw the great temple with its stone gateways opening to +the north and the south, the east and the west, its wall carven +everywhere with serpents, its polished pavements, its teocallis +decked with human skulls, thousands upon thousands of them, and its +vast surrounding tianquez, or market place. I caught but a glimpse +of it then, for the darkness was falling, and afterwards we were +borne on through the darkness, I did not know whither. + +A while went by and I saw that we had left the city, and were +passing up a steep hill beneath the shadow of mighty cedar trees. +Presently we halted in a courtyard and here I was bidden to alight. +Then the prince Guatemoc led me into a wondrous house, of which all +the rooms were roofed with cedar wood, and its walls hung with +richly-coloured cloths, and in that house gold seemed as plentiful +as bricks and oak are with us in England. Led by domestics who +bore cedar wands in their hands, we went through many passages and +rooms, till at length we came to a chamber where other domestics +were awaiting us, who washed us with scented waters and clothed us +in gorgeous apparel. Thence they conducted us to a door where we +were bidden to remove our shoes, and a coarse coloured robe was +given to each of us to hide our splendid dress. The robes having +been put on, we were suffered to pass the door, and found ourselves +in a vast chamber in which were many noble men and some women, all +standing and clad in coarse robes. At the far end of this chamber +was a gilded screen, and from behind it floated sounds of sweet +music. + +Now as we stood in the great chamber that was lighted with sweet- +smelling torches, many men advanced and greeted Guatemoc the +prince, and I noticed that all of them looked upon me curiously. +Presently a woman came and I saw that her beauty was great. She +was tall and stately, and beneath her rough outer robe splendidly +attired in worked and jewelled garments. Weary and bewildered as I +was, her loveliness seized me as it were in a vice, never before +had I seen such loveliness. For her eye was proud and full like +the eye of a buck, her curling hair fell upon her shoulders, and +her features were very noble, yet tender almost to sadness, though +at times she could seem fierce enough. This lady was yet in her +first youth, perchance she may have seen some eighteen years, but +her shape was that of a full-grown woman and most royal. + +'Greeting, Guatemoc my cousin,' she said in a sweet voice; 'so you +are come at last. My royal father has awaited you for long and +will ask questions as to your delay. My sister your wife has +wondered also why you tarried.' + +Now as she spoke I felt rather than saw that this lady was +searching me with her eyes. + +'Greeting, Otomie my cousin,' answered the prince. 'I have been +delayed by the accidents of travel. Tobasco is far away, also my +charge and companion, Teule,' and he nodded towards me, 'met with +an accident on the road.' + +'What was the accident?' she asked. + +'Only this, that he saved me from the jaws of a puma at the risk of +his life when all the others fled from me, and was somewhat hurt in +the deed. He saved me thus--' and in few words he told the story. + +She listened and I saw that her eyes sparkled at the tale. When it +was done she spoke again, and this time to me. + +'Welcome, Teule,' she said smiling. 'You are not of our people, +yet my heart goes out to such a man.' And still smiling she left +us. + +'Who is that great lady?' I asked of Guatemoc. + +'That is my cousin Otomie, the princess of the Otomie, my uncle +Montezuma's favourite daughter,' he answered. 'She likes you, +Teule, and that is well for you for many reasons. Hush!' + +As he spoke the screen at the far end of the chamber was drawn +aside. Beyond it a man sat upon a broidered cushion, who was +inhaling the fumes of the tobacco weed from a gilded pipe of wood +after the Indian fashion. This man, who was no other than the +monarch Montezuma, was of a tall build and melancholy countenance, +having a very pale face for one of his nation, and thin black hair. +He was dressed in a white robe of the purest cotton, and wore a +golden belt and sandals set with pearls, and on his head a plume of +feathers of the royal green. Behind him were a band of beautiful +girls somewhat slightly clothed, some of whom played on lutes and +other instruments of music, and on either side stood four ancient +counsellors, all of them barefooted and clad in the coarsest +garments. + +So soon as the screen was drawn all the company in the chamber +prostrated themselves upon their knees, an example that I hastened +to follow, and thus they remained till the emperor made a sign with +the gilded bowl of his pipe, when they rose to their feet again and +stood with folded hands and eyes fixed abjectly upon the floor. +Presently Montezuma made another signal, and three aged men whom I +understood to be ambassadors, advanced and asked some prayer of +him. He answered them with a nod of the head and they retreated +from his presence, making obeisance and stepping backward till they +mingled with the crowd. Then the emperor spoke a word to one of +the counsellors, who bowed and came slowly down the hall looking to +the right and to the left. Presently his eye fell upon Guatemoc, +and, indeed, he was easy to see, for he stood a head taller than +any there. + +'Hail, prince,' he said. 'The royal Montezuma desires to speak +with you, and with the Teule, your companion.' + +'Do as I do, Teule,' said Guatemoc, and led the way up the chamber, +till we reached the place where the wooden screen had been, which, +as we passed it, was drawn behind us, shutting us off from the +hall. + +Here we stood a while, with folded hands and downcast eyes, till a +signal was made to us to advance. + +'Your report, nephew,' said Montezuma in a low voice of command. + +'I went to the city of Tobasco, O glorious Montezuma. I found the +Teule and brought him hither. Also I caused the high priest to be +sacrificed according to the royal command, and now I hand back the +imperial signet,' and he gave the ring to a counsellor. + +'Why did you delay so long upon the road, nephew?' + +'Because of the chances of the journey; while saving my life, royal +Montezuma, the Teule my prisoner was bitten by a puma. Its skin is +brought to you as an offering.' + +Now Montezuma looked at me for the first time, then opened a +picture scroll that one of the counsellors handed to him, and read +in it, glancing at me from time to time. + +'The description is good,' he said at length, 'in all save one +thing--it does not say that this prisoner is the handsomest man in +Anahuac. Say, Teule, why have your countrymen landed on my +dominions and slain my people?' + +'I know nothing of it, O king,' I answered as well as I might with +the help of Guatemoc, 'and they are not my countrymen.' + +'The report says that you confess to having the blood of these +Teules in your veins, and that you came to these shores, or near +them, in one of their great canoes.' + +'That is so, O king, yet I am not of their people, and I came to +the shore floating on a barrel.' + +'I hold that you lie,' answered Montezuma frowning, 'for the sharks +and crocodiles would devour one who swam thus.' Then he added +anxiously, 'Say, are you of the descendants of Quetzal?' + +'I do not know, O king. I am of a white race, and our forefather +was named Adam.' + +'Perchance that is another name for Quetzal,' he said. 'It has +long been prophesied that his children would return, and now it +seems that the hour of their coming is at hand,' and he sighed +heavily, then added: 'Go now. To-morrow you shall tell me of these +Teules, and the council of the priests shall decide your fate.' + +Now when I heard the name of the priests I trembled in all my bones +and cried, clasping my hands in supplication: + +'Slay me if you will, O king, but I beseech you deliver me not +again into the hands of the priests.' + +'We are all in the hands of the priests, who are the mouth of God,' +he answered coldly. 'Besides, I hold that you have lied to me.' + +Then I went foreboding evil, and Guatemoc also looked downcast. +Bitterly did I curse the hour when I had said that I was of the +Spanish blood and yet no Spaniard. Had I known even what I knew +that day, torture would not have wrung those words from me. But +now it was too late. + +Now Guatemoc led me to certain apartments of this palace of +Chapoltepec, where his wife, the royal princess Tecuichpo, was +waiting him, a very lovely lady, and with her other ladies, among +them the princess Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, and some nobles. +Here a rich repast was served to us, and I was seated next to the +princess Otomie, who spoke to me most graciously, asking me many +things concerning my land and the people of the Teules. It was +from her that I learned first that the emperor was much disturbed +at heart because of these Teules or Spaniards, for he was +superstitious, and held them to be the children of the god Quetzal, +who according to ancient prophecy would come to take the land. +Indeed, so gracious was she, and so royally lovely, that for the +first time I felt my heart stirred by any other woman than my +betrothed whom I had left far away in England, and whom, as I +thought, I should never see again. And as I learned in after days +mine was not the only heart that was stirred that night. + +Near to us sat another royal lady, Papantzin, the sister of +Montezuma, but she was neither young nor lovely, and yet most sweet +faced and sad as though with the presage of death. Indeed she died +not many weeks after but could not rest quiet in her grave, as +shall be told. + +When the feast was done and we had drunk of the cocoa or chocolate, +and smoked tobacco in pipes, a strange but most soothing custom +that I learned in Tobasco and of which I have never been able to +break myself, though the weed is still hard to come by here in +England, I was led to my sleeping place, a small chamber panelled +with cedar boards. For a while I could not sleep, for I was +overcome by the memory of all the strange sights that I had seen in +this wonderful new land which was so civilised and yet so +barbarous. I thought of that sad-faced king, the absolute lord of +millions, surrounded by all that the heart of man can desire, by +vast wealth, by hundreds of lovely wives, by loving children, by +countless armies, by all the glory of the arts, ruling over the +fairest empire on the earth, with every pleasure to his hand, a god +in all things save his mortality, and worshipped as a god, and yet +a victim to fear and superstition, and more heavy hearted than the +meanest slave about his palaces. Here was a lesson such as Solomon +would have loved to show, for with Solomon this Montezuma might +cry: + +'I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of +kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, +and the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments, and +that of all sorts. And whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from +them, I withheld not my heart from any joy. And behold, all was +vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the +sun.' + +So he might have cried, so, indeed, he did cry in other words, for, +as the painting of the skeletons and the three monarchs that is +upon the north wall of the aisle of Ditchingham Church shows forth +so aptly, kings have their fates and happiness is not to them more +than to any other of the sons of men. Indeed, it is not at all, as +my benefactor Fonseca once said to me; true happiness is but a +dream from which we awake continually to the sorrows of our short +laborious day. + +Then my thoughts flew to the vision of that most lovely maid, the +princess Otomie, who, as I believed, had looked on me so kindly, +and I found that vision sweet, for I was young, and the English +Lily, my own love, was far away and lost to me for ever. Was it +then wonderful that I should find this Indian poppy fair? Indeed, +where is the man who would not have been overcome by her sweetness, +her beauty, and that stamp of royal grace which comes with kingly +blood and the daily exercise of power? Like the rich wonders of +the robe she wore, her very barbarism, of which now I saw but the +better side, drew and dazzled my mind's eye, giving her woman's +tenderness some new quality, sombre and strange, an eastern +richness which is lacking in our well schooled English women, that +at one and the same stroke touched both the imagination and the +senses, and through them enthralled the heart. + +For Otomie seemed such woman as men dream of but very rarely win, +seeing that the world has few such natures and fewer nurseries +where they can be reared. At once pure and passionate, of royal +blood and heart, rich natured and most womanly, yet brave as a man +and beautiful as the night, with a mind athirst for knowledge and a +spirit that no sorrows could avail to quell, ever changing in her +outer moods, and yet most faithful and with the honour of a man, +such was Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, princess of the Otomie. Was +it wonderful then that I found her fair, or, when fate gave me her +love, that at last I loved her in turn? And yet there was that in +her nature which should have held me back had I but known of it, +for with all her charm, her beauty and her virtues, at heart she +was still a savage, and strive as she would to hide it, at times +her blood would master her. + +But as I lay in the chamber of the palace of Chapoltepec, the tramp +of the guards without my door reminded me that I had little now to +do with love and other delights, I whose life hung from day to day +upon a hair. To-morrow the priests would decide my fate, and when +the priests were judges, the prisoner might know the sentence +before it was spoken. I was a stranger and a white man, surely +such a one would prove an offering more acceptable to the gods than +that furnished by a thousand Indian hearts. I had been snatched +from the altars of Tobasco that I might grace the higher altars of +Tenoctitlan, and that was all. My fate would be to perish +miserably far from my home, and in this world never to be heard of +more. + +Musing thus sadly at last I slept. When I woke the sun was up. +Rising from my mat I went to the wood-barred window place and +looked through. The palace whence I gazed was placed on the crest +of a rocky hill. On one side this hill was bathed by the blue +waters of Tezcuco, on the other, a mile or more away, rose the +temple towers of Mexico. Along the slopes of the hill, and in some +directions for a mile from its base, grew huge cedar trees from the +boughs of which hung a grey and ghostly-looking moss. These trees +are so large that the smallest of them is bigger than the best oak +in this parish of Ditchingham, while the greatest measures twenty- +two paces round the base. Beyond and between these marvellous and +ancient trees were the gardens of Montezuma, that with their +strange and gorgeous flowers, their marble baths, their aviaries +and wild beast dens, were, as I believe, the most wonderful in the +whole world.* + +'At the least,' I thought to myself, 'even if I must die, it is +something to have seen this country of Anahuac, its king, its +customs, and its people.' + + +* The gardens of Montezuma have been long destroyed, but some of +the cedars still flourish at Chapoltepec, though the Spaniards cut +down many. One of them, which tradition says was a favourite tree +of the great emperor's, measures (according to a rough calculation +the author of this book made upon the spot) about sixty feet round +the bole. It is strange to think that a few ancient conifers +should alone survive of all the glories of Montezuma's wealth and +state.--AUTHOR. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THOMAS BECOMES A GOD + + +Little did I, plain Thomas Wingfield, gentleman, know, when I rose +that morning, that before sunset I should be a god, and after +Montezuma the Emperor, the most honoured man, or rather god, in the +city of Mexico. + +It came about thus. When I had breakfasted with the household of +the prince Guatemoc, I was led to the hall of justice, which was +named the 'tribunal of god.' Here on a golden throne sat +Montezuma, administering justice in such pomp as I cannot describe. +About him were his counsellors and great lords, and before him was +placed a human skull crowned with emeralds so large that a blaze of +light went up from them. In his hand also he held an arrow for a +sceptre. Certain chiefs or caciques were on their trial for +treason, nor were they left long in doubt as to their fate. For +when some evidence had been heard they were asked what they had to +say in their defence. Each of them told his tale in few words and +short. Then Montezuma, who till now had said and done nothing, +took the painted scroll of their indictments and pricked it with +the arrow in his hand where the picture of each prisoner appeared +upon the scroll. Then they were led away to death, but how they +died I do not know. + +When this trial was finished certain priests entered the hall +clothed in sable robes, their matted hair hanging down their backs. +They were fierce, wild-eyed men of great dignity, and I shivered +when I saw them. I noticed also that they alone made small +reverence to the majesty of Montezuma. The counsellors and nobles +having fallen back, these priests entered into talk with the +emperor, and presently two of them came forward and taking me from +the custody of the guards, led me forward before the throne. Then +of a sudden I was commanded to strip myself of my garments, and +this I did with no little shame, till I stood naked before them +all. Now the priests came forward and examined every part of me +closely. On my arms were the scars left by de Garcia's sword, and +on my breast the scarcely healed marks of the puma's teeth and +claws. These wounds they scanned, asking how I had come by them. +I told them, and thereupon they carried on a discussion among +themselves, and out of my hearing, which grew so warm that at +length they appealed to the emperor to decide the point. He +thought a while, and I heard him say: + +'The blemishes do not come from within the body, nor were they upon +it at birth, but have been inflicted by the violence of man and +beast.' + +Then the priests consulted together again, and presently their +leader spoke some words into the ear of Montezuma. He nodded, and +rising from his throne, came towards me who stood naked and +shivering before him, for the air of Mexico is keen. As he +advanced he loosed a chain of emeralds and gold that hung about his +neck, and unclasped the royal cloak from his shoulders. Then with +his own hand, he put the chain about my throat, and the cloak upon +my shoulders, and having humbly bent the knee before me as though +in adoration, he cast his arms about me and embraced me. + +'Hail! most blessed,' he said, 'divine son of Quetzal, holder of +the spirit of Tezcat, Soul of the World, Creator of the World. +What have we done that you should honour us thus with your presence +for a season? What can we do to pay the honour back? You created +us and all this country; behold! while you tarry with us, it is +yours and we are nothing but your servants. Order and your +commands shall be obeyed, think and your thought shall be executed +before it can pass your lips. O Tezcat, I, Montezuma your servant, +offer you my adoration, and through me the adoration of all my +people,' and again he bowed the knee. + +'We adore you, O Tezcat!' chimed in the priests. + +Now I remained silent and bewildered, for of all this foolery I +could understand nothing, and while I stood thus Montezuma clapped +his hands and women entered bearing beautiful clothing with them, +and a wreath of flowers. The clothing they put upon my body and +the wreath of flowers on my head, worshipping me the while and +saying, 'Tezcat who died yesterday is come again. Be joyful, +Tezcat has come again in the body of the captive Teule.' + +Then I understood that I was now a god and the greatest of gods, +though at that moment within myself I felt more of a fool than I +had ever been before. + +And now men appeared, grave and reverend in appearance, bearing +lutes in their hands. I was told that these were my tutors, and +with them a train of royal pages who were to be my servants. They +led me forth from the hall making music as they went, and before me +marched a herald, calling out that this was the god Tezcat, Soul of +the World, Creator of the World, who had come again to visit his +people. They led me through all the courts and endless chambers of +the palace, and wherever I went, man woman and child bowed +themselves to the earth before me, and worshipped me, Thomas +Wingfield of Ditchingham, in the county of Norfolk, till I thought +that I must be mad. + +Then they placed me in a litter and carried me down the hill +Chapoltepec, and along causeways and through streets, till we came +to the great square of the temple. Before me went heralds and +priests, after me followed pages and nobles, and ever as we passed +the multitudes prostrated themselves till I began to understand how +wearisome a thing it is to be a god. Next they carried me through +the wall of serpents and up the winding paths of the mighty +teocalli till we reached the summit, where the temples and idols +stood, and here a great drum beat, and the priests sacrificed +victim after victim in my honour and I grew sick with the sight of +wickedness and blood. Presently they invited me to descend from +the litter, laying rich carpets and flowers for my feet to tread +on, and I was much afraid, for I thought that they were about to +sacrifice me to myself or some other divinity. But this was not +so. They led me to the edge of the pyramid, or as near as I would +go, for I shrank back lest they should seize me suddenly and cast +me over the edge. And there the high priest called out my dignity +to the thousands who were assembled beneath, and every one of them +bent the knee in adoration of me, the priests above and the +multitudes below. And so it went on till I grew dizzy with the +worship, and the shouting, and the sounds of music, and the sights +of death, and very thankful was I, when at last they carried me +back to Chapoltepec. + +Here new honours awaited me, for I was conducted to a splendid +range of apartments, next to those of the emperor himself, and I +was told that all Montezuma's household were at my command and that +he who refused to do my bidding should die. + +So at last I spoke and said it was my bidding that I should be +suffered to rest a while, till a feast was prepared for me in the +apartments of Guatemoc the prince, for there I hoped to meet +Otomie. + +My tutors and the nobles who attended me answered that Montezuma my +servant had trusted that I would feast with him that night. Still +my command should be done. Then they left me, saying that they +would come again in an hour to lead me to the banquet. Now I threw +off the emblems of my godhead and cast myself down on cushions to +rest and think, and a certain exultation took possession of me, for +was I not a god, and had I not power almost absolute? Still being +of a cautious mind I wondered why I was a god, and how long my +power would last. + +Before the hour had gone by, pages and nobles entered, bearing new +robes which were put upon my body and fresh flowers to crown my +head, and I was led away to the apartments of Guatemoc, fair women +going before me who played upon instruments of music. + +Here Guatemoc the prince waited to receive me, which he did as +though I, his captive and companion, was the first of kings. And +yet I thought that I saw merriment in his eye, mingled with sorrow. +Bending forward I spoke to him in a whisper: + +'What does all this mean, prince?' I said. 'Am I befooled, or am I +indeed a god?' + +'Hush!' he answered, bowing low and speaking beneath his breath. +'It means both good and ill for you, my friend Teule. Another time +I will tell you.' Then he added aloud, 'Does it please you, O +Tezcat, god of gods, that we should sit at meat with you, or will +you eat alone?' + +'The gods like good company, prince,' I said. + +Now during this talk I had discovered that among those gathered in +the hall was the princess Otomie. So when we passed to the low +table around which we were to sit on cushions, I hung back watching +where she would place herself, and then at once seated myself +beside her. This caused some little confusion among the company, +for the place of honour had been prepared for me at the head of the +table, the seat of Guatemoc being to my right and that of his wife, +the royal Tecuichpo, to my left. + +'Your seat is yonder, O Tezcat,' she said, blushing beneath her +olive skin as she spoke. + +'Surely a god may sit where he chooses, royal Otomie,' I answered; +'besides,' I added in a low voice, 'what better place can he find +than by the side of the most lovely goddess on the earth.' + +Again she blushed and answered, 'Alas! I no goddess, but only a +mortal maid. Listen, if you desire that I should be your companion +at our feasts, you must issue it as a command; none will dare to +disobey you, not even Montezuma my father.' + +So I rose and said in very halting Aztec to the nobles who waited +on me, 'It is my will that my place shall always be set by the side +of the princess Otomie.' + +At these words Otomie blushed even more, and a murmur went round +among the guests, while Guatemoc first looked angry and then +laughed. But the nobles, my attendants, bowed, and their spokesman +answered: + +'The words of Tezcat shall be obeyed. Let the seat of Otomie, the +royal princess, the favoured of Tezcat, be placed by the side of +the god.' + +Afterwards this was always done, except when I ate with Montezuma +himself. Moreover the princess Otomie became known throughout the +city as 'the blessed princess, the favoured of Tezcat.' For so +strong a hold had custom and superstition upon this people that +they thought it the greatest of honours to her, who was among the +first ladies in the land, that he who for a little space was +supposed to hold the spirit of the soul of the world, should deign +to desire her companionship when he ate. Now the feast went on, +and presently I made shift to ask Otomie what all this might mean. + +'Alas!' she whispered, 'you do not know, nor dare I tell you now. +But I will say this: though you who are a god may sit where you +will to-day, an hour shall come when you must lie where you would +not. Listen: when we have finished eating, say that it is your +wish to walk in the gardens of the palace and that I should +accompany you. Then I may find a chance to speak.' + +Accordingly, when the feast was over I said that I desired to walk +in the gardens with the princess Otomie, and we went out and +wandered under the solemn trees, that are draped in a winding-sheet +of grey moss which, hanging from every bough as though the forest +had been decked with the white beards of an army of aged men, waved +and rustled sadly in the keen night air. But alas! we might not be +alone, for after us at a distance of twenty paces followed all my +crowd of attendant nobles, together with fair dancing girls and +minstrels armed with their accursed flutes, on which they blew in +season and out of it, dancing as they blew. In vain did I command +them to be silent, telling them that it was written of old that +there is a time to play and dance and a time to cease from dancing, +for in this alone they would not obey me. Never could I be at +peace because of them then or thereafter, and not till now did I +learn how great a treasure is solitude. + +Still we were allowed to walk together under the trees, and though +the clamour of music pursued us wherever we went, we were soon deep +in talk. Then it was that I learned how dreadful was the fate +which overshadowed me. + +'Know, O Teule,' said Otomie, for she would call me by the old name +when there were none to hear; 'this is the custom of our land, that +every year a young captive should be chosen to be the earthly image +of the god Tezcat, who created the world. Only two things are +necessary to this captive, namely, that his blood should be noble, +and that his person should be beautiful and without flaw or +blemish. The day that you came hither, Teule, chanced to be the +day of choosing a new captive to personate the god, and you have +been chosen because you are both noble and more beautiful than any +man in Anahuac, and also because being of the people of the Teules, +the children of Quetzal of whom so many rumours have reached us, +and whose coming my father Montezuma dreads more than anything in +the world, it was thought by the priests that you may avert their +anger from us, and the anger of the gods.' + +Now Otomie paused as one who has something to say that she can +scarcely find words to fit, but I, remembering only what had been +said, swelled inwardly with the sense of my own greatness, and +because this lovely princess had declared that I was the most +beautiful man in Anahuac, I who though I was well-looking enough, +had never before been called 'beautiful' by man, woman, or child. +But in this case as in many another, pride went before a fall. + +'It must be spoken, Teule,' Otomie continued. 'Alas! that it +should be I who am fated to tell you. For a year you will rule as +a god in this city of Tenoctitlan, and except for certain +ceremonies that you must undergo, and certain arts which you must +learn, none will trouble you. Your slightest wish will be a law, +and when you smile on any, it shall be an omen of good to them and +they will bless you; even my father Montezuma will treat you with +reverence as an equal or more. Every delight shall be yours except +that of marriage, and this will be withheld till the twelfth month +of the year. Then the four most beautiful maidens in the land will +be given to you as brides.' + +'And who will choose them?' I asked. + +'Nay, I know not, Teule, who do not meddle in such mysteries,' she +answered hurriedly. 'Sometimes the god is judge and sometimes the +priests judge for him. It is as it may chance. Listen now to the +end of my tale and you will surely forget the rest. For one month +you will live with your wives, and this month you will pass in +feasting at all the noblest houses in the city. On the last day of +the month, however, you will be placed in a royal barge and +together with your wives, paddled across the lake to a place that +is named "Melting of Metals." Thence you will be led to the +teocalli named "House of Weapons," where your wives will bid +farewell to you for ever, and there, Teule, alas! that I must say +it, you are doomed to be offered as a sacrifice to the god whose +spirit you hold, the great god Tezcat, for your heart will be torn +from your body, and your head will be struck from your shoulders +and set upon the stake that is known as "post of heads."' + +Now when I heard this dreadful doom I groaned aloud and my knees +trembled so that I almost fell to the ground. Then a great fury +seized me and, forgetting my father's counsel, I blasphemed the +gods of that country and the people who worshipped them, first in +the Aztec and Maya languages, then when my knowledge of these +tongues failed me, in Spanish and good English. But Otomie, who +heard some of my words and guessed more, was seized with fear and +lifted her hands, saying: + +'Curse not the awful gods, I beseech you, lest some terrible thing +befall you at once. If you are overheard it will be thought that +you have an evil spirit and not a good one, and then you must die +now and by torment. At the least the gods, who are everywhere, +will hear you.' + +'Let them hear,' I answered. 'They are false gods and that country +is accursed which worships them. They are doomed I say, and all +their worshippers are doomed. Nay, I care not if I am heard--as +well die now by torment as live a year in the torment of +approaching death. But I shall not die alone, all the sea of blood +that your priests have shed cries out for vengeance to the true +God, and He will avenge.' + +Thus I raved on, being mad with fear and impotent anger, while the +princess Otomie stood terrified and amazed at my blasphemies, and +the flutes piped and the dancers danced behind us. And as I raved +I saw that the mind of Otomie wandered from my words, for she was +staring towards the east like one who sees a vision. Then I looked +also towards the east and saw that the sky was alight there. For +from the edge of the horizon to the highest parts of heaven spread +a fan of pale and fearful light powdered over with sparks of fire, +the handle of the fan resting on the earth as it were, while its +wings covered the eastern sky. Now I ceased my cursing and stood +transfixed, and as I stood, a cry of terror arose from all the +precincts of the palace and people poured from every door to gaze +upon the portent that flared and blazed in the east. Presently +Montezuma himself came out, attended by his great lords, and in +that ghastly light I saw that his lips worked and his hands writhed +over each other. Nor was the miracle done with, for anon from the +clear sky that hung over the city, descended a ball of fire, which +seemed to rest upon the points of the lofty temple in the great +square, lighting up the teocalli as with the glare of day. It +vanished, but where it had been another light now burned, for the +temple of Quetzal was afire. + +Now cries of fear and lamentation arose from all who beheld these +wonders on the hill of Chapoltepec and also from the city below. +Even I was frightened, I do not know why, for it may well be that +the blaze of light which we saw on that and after nights was +nothing but the brightness of a comet, and that the fire in the +temple was caused by a thunderbolt. But to these people, and more +especially to Montezuma, whose mind was filled already with rumours +of the coming of a strange white race, which, as it was truly +prophesied, would bring his empire to nothingness, the omens seemed +very evil. Indeed, if they had any doubt as to their meaning, it +was soon to be dispelled, in their minds at least. For as we stood +wonder-struck, a messenger, panting and soiled with travel, arrived +among us and prostrating himself before the majesty of the emperor, +he drew a painted scroll from his robe and handed it to an +attendant noble. So desirous was Montezuma to know its contents, +that contrary to all custom he snatched the roll from the hands of +the counsellor, and unrolling it, he began to read the picture +writing by the baleful light of the blazing sky and temple. +Presently, as we watched and he read, Montezuma groaned aloud, and +casting down the writing he covered his face with his hands. As it +chanced it fell near to where I stood, and I saw painted over it +rude pictures of ships of the Spanish rig, and of men in the +Spanish armour. Then I understood why Montezuma groaned. The +Spaniards had landed on his shores! + +Now some of his counsellors approached him to console him, but he +thrust them aside, saying: + +'Let me mourn--the doom that was foretold is fallen upon the +children of Anahuac. The children of Quetzal muster on our shores +and slay my people. Let me mourn, I say.' + +At that moment another messenger came from the palace, having grief +written on his face. + +'Speak,' said Montezuma. + +'O king, forgive the tongue that must tell such tidings. Your +royal sister Papantzin was seized with terror at yonder dreadful +sight,' and he pointed to the heavens; 'she lies dying in the +palace!' + +Now when the emperor heard that his sister whom he loved was dying, +he said nothing, but covering his face with his royal mantle, he +passed slowly back to the palace. + +And all the while the crimson light gleamed and sparkled in the +east like some monstrous and unnatural dawn, while the temple of +Quetzal burned fiercely in the city beneath. + +Now, I turned to the princess Otomie, who had stood by my side +throughout, overcome with wonder and trembling. + +'Did I not say that this country was accursed, princess of the +Otomie?' + +'You said it, Teule,' she answered, 'and it is accursed.' + + +Then we went into the palace, and even in this hour of fear, after +me came the minstrels as before. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ARISING OF PAPANTZIN + + +On the morrow Papantzin died, and was buried with great pomp that +same evening in the burial-ground at Chapoltepec, by the side of +the emperor's royal ancestors. But, as will be seen, she was not +content with their company. On that day also, I learned that to be +a god is not all pleasure, since it was expected of me that I must +master various arts, and chiefly the horrid art of music, to which +I never had any desire. Still my own wishes were not allowed to +weigh in the matter, for there came to me tutors, aged men who +might have found better employment, to instruct me in the use of +the lute, and on this instrument I must learn to strum. Others +there were also, who taught me letters, poetry, and art, as they +were understood among the Aztecs, and all this knowledge I was glad +of. Still I remembered the words of the preacher which tell us +that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow, and moreover I +could see little use in acquiring learning that was to be lost +shortly on the stone of sacrifice. + +As to this matter of my sacrifice I was at first desperate. But +reflection told me that I had already passed many dangers and come +out unscathed, and therefore it was possible that I might escape +this one also. At least death was still a long way off, and for +the present I was a god. So I determined that whether I died or +lived, while I lived I would live like a god and take such +pleasures as came to my hand, and I acted on this resolve. No man +ever had greater or more strange opportunities, and no man can have +used them better. Indeed, had it not been for the sorrowful +thoughts of my lost love and home which would force themselves upon +me, I should have been almost happy, because of the power that I +wielded and the strangeness of all around me. But I must to my +tale. + +During the days that followed the death of Papantzin the palace and +the city also were plunged in ferment. The minds of men were +shaken strangely because of the rumours that filled the air. Every +night the fiery portent blazed in the east, every day a new wonder +or omen was reported, and with it some wild tale of the doings of +the Spaniards, who by most were held to be white gods, the children +of Quetzal, come back to take the land which their forefather +ruled. + +But of all that were troubled, none were in such bad case as the +emperor himself, who, during these weeks scarcely ate or drank or +slept, so heavy were his fears upon him. In this strait he sent +messengers to his ancient rival, that wise and severe man Neza, the +king of the allied state of Tezcuco, begging that he would visit +him. This king came, an old man with a fierce and gleaming eye, +and I was witness to the interview that followed, for in my quality +of god I had full liberty of the palace, and even to be present at +the councils of the emperor and his nobles. When the two monarchs +had feasted together, Montezuma spoke to Neza of the matter of the +omens and of the coming of the Teules, asking him to lighten the +darkness by his wisdom. Then Neza pulled his long grey beard and +answered that heavy as the heart of Montezuma might be, it must +grow still heavier before the end. + +'See, Lord,' he said, 'I am so sure that the days of our empire are +numbered, that I will play you at dice for my kingdoms which you +and your forefathers have ever desired to win.' + +'For what wager?' asked Montezuma. + +'I will play you thus,' answered Neza. 'You shall stake three +fighting cocks, of which, should I win, I ask the spurs only. I +set against them all the wide empire of Tezcuco.' + +'A small stake,' said Montezuma; 'cocks are many and kingdoms few.' + +'Still, it shall serve our turn,' answered the aged king, 'for know +that we play against fate. As the game goes, so shall the issue +be. If you win my kingdoms all is well; if I win the cocks, then +good-bye to the glory of Anahuac, for its people will cease to be a +people, and strangers shall possess the land.' + +'Let us play and see,' said Montezuma, and they went down to the +place that is called tlachco, where the games are set. Here they +began the match with dice and at first all went well for Montezuma, +so that he called aloud that already he was lord of Tezcuco. + +'May it be so!' answered the aged Neza, and from that moment the +chance changed. For strive as he would, Montezuma could not win +another point, and presently the set was finished, and Neza had won +the cocks. Now the music played, and courtiers came forward to +give the king homage on his success. But he rose sighing, and +said: + +'I had far sooner lose my kingdoms than have won these fowls, for +if I had lost my kingdoms they would still have passed into the +hands of one of my own race. Now alas! my possessions and his must +come under the hand of strangers, who shall cast down our gods and +bring our names to nothing.' + +And having spoken thus, he rose, and taking farewell of the +emperor, he departed for his own land, where, as it chanced, he +died very shortly, without living to see the fulfilment of his +fears. + +On the morrow of his departure came further accounts of the doings +of the Spaniards that plunged Montezuma into still greater alarm. +In his terror he sent for an astronomer, noted throughout the land +for the truth of his divinations. The astronomer came, and was +received by the emperor privately. What he told him I do not know, +but at least it was nothing pleasant, for that very night men were +commanded to pull down the house of this sage, who was buried in +its ruins. + +Two days after the death of the astronomer, Montezuma bethought him +that, as he believed, I also was a Teule, and could give him +information. So at the hour of sunset he sent for me, bidding me +walk with him in the gardens. I went thither, followed by my +musicians and attendants, who would never leave me in peace, but he +commanded that all should stand aside, as he wished to speak with +me alone. Then he began to walk beneath the mighty cedar trees, +and I with him, but keeping one pace behind. + +'Teule,' he said at length, 'tell me of your countrymen, and why +they have come to these shores. See that you speak truth.' + +'They are no countrymen of mine, O Montezuma,' I answered, 'though +my mother was one of them.' + +'Did I not bid you speak the truth, Teule? If your mother was one +of them, must you not also be of them; for are you not of your +mother's bone and blood?' + +'As the king pleases,' I answered bowing. Then I began and told +him of the Spaniards--of their country, their greatness, their +cruelty and their greed of gold, and he listened eagerly, though I +think that he believed little of what I said, for his fear had made +him very suspicious. When I had done, he spoke and said: + +'Why do they come here to Anahuac?' + +'I fear, O king, that they come to take the land, or at the least +to rob it of all its treasure, and to destroy its faiths.' + +'What then is your counsel, Teule? How can I defend myself against +these mighty men, who are clothed in metal, and ride upon fierce +wild beasts, who have instruments that make a noise like thunder, +at the sound of which their adversaries fall dead by hundreds, and +who bear weapons of shining silver in their hands? Alas! there is +no defence possible, for they are the children of Quetzal come back +to take the land. From my childhood I have known that this evil +overshadowed me, and now it is at my door.' + +'If I, who am only a god, may venture to speak to the lord of the +earth,' I answered, 'I say that the reply is easy. Meet force by +force. The Teules are few and you can muster a thousand soldiers +for every one of theirs. Fall on them at once, do not hesitate +till their prowess finds them friends, but crush them.' + +'Such is the counsel of one whose mother was a Teule;' the emperor +answered, with sarcasm and bitter meaning. 'Tell me now, +counsellor, how am I to know that in fighting against them I shall +not be fighting against the gods; how even am I to learn the true +wishes and purposes of men or gods who cannot speak my tongue and +whose tongue I cannot speak?' + +'It is easy, O Montezuma,' I answered. 'I can speak their tongue; +send me to discover for you.' + +Now as I spoke thus my heart bounded with hope, for if once I could +come among the Spaniards, perhaps I might escape the altar of +sacrifice. Also they seemed a link between me and home. They had +sailed hither in ships, and ships can retrace their path. For +though at present my lot was not all sorrow, it will be guessed +that I should have been glad indeed to find myself once more among +Christian men. + +Montezuma looked at me a while and answered: + +'You must think me very foolish, Teule. What! shall I send you to +tell my fears and weakness to your countrymen, and to show them the +joints in my harness? Do you then suppose that I do not know you +for a spy sent to this land by these same Teules to gather +knowledge of the land? Fool, I knew it from the first, and by +Huitzel! were you not vowed to Tezcat, your heart should smoke to- +morrow on the altar of Huitzel. Be warned, and give me no more +false counsels lest your end prove swifter than you think. Learn +that I have asked these questions of you to a purpose, and by the +command of the gods, as it was written on the hearts of those +sacrificed this day. This was the purpose and this was the +command, that I might discover your secret mind, and that I should +shun whatever advice you chanced to give. You counsel me to fight +the Teules, therefore I will not fight them, but meet them with +gifts and fair words, for I know well that you would have me to do +that which should bring me to my doom.' + +Thus he spoke very fiercely and in a low voice, his head held low +and his arms crossed upon his breast, and I saw that he shook with +passion. Even then, though I was very much afraid, for god as I +was, a nod from this mighty king would have sent me to death by +torment, I wondered at the folly of one who in everything else was +so wise. Why should he doubt me thus and allow superstition to +drag him down to ruin? To-day I see the answer. Montezuma did not +these things of himself, but because the hand of destiny worked +with his hand, and the voice of destiny spoke in his voice. The +gods of the Aztecs were false gods indeed, but I for one believe +that they had life and intelligence, for those hideous shapes of +stone were the habitations of devils, and the priests spoke truth +when they said that the sacrifice of men was pleasing to their +gods. + +To these devils the king went for counsel through the priests, and +now this doom was on them, that they must give false counsel to +their own destruction, and to the destruction of those who +worshipped them, as was decreed by One more powerful than they. + + +Now while we were talking the sun had sunk swiftly, so that all the +world was dark. But the light still lingered on the snowy crests +of the volcans Popo and Ixtac, staining them an awful red. Never +before to my sight had the shape of the dead woman whose +everlasting bier is Ixtac's bulk, seemed so clear and wonderful as +on that night, for either it was so or my fancy gave it the very +shape and colour of a woman's corpse steeped in blood and laid out +for burial. Nor was it my phantasy alone, for when Montezuma had +finished upbraiding me he chanced to look up, and his eyes falling +on the mountain remained fixed there. + +'Look now, Teule!' he said, presently, with a solemn laugh; 'yonder +lies the corpse of the nations of Anahuac washed in a water of blood +and made ready for burial. Is she not terrible in death?' + +As he spoke the words and turned to go, a sound of doleful wailing +came from the direction of the mountain, a very wild and unearthly +sound that caused the blood in my veins to stand still. Now +Montezuma caught my arm in his fear, and we gazed together on +Ixtac, and it seemed to us that this wonder happened. For in that +red and fearful light the red figure of the sleeping woman arose, +or appeared to rise, from its bier of stone. It arose slowly like +one who awakes from sleep, and presently it stood upright upon the +mountain's brow, towering high into the air. There it stood a +giant and awakened corpse, its white wrappings stained with blood, +and we trembled to see it. + +For a while the wraith remained thus gazing towards the city of +Tenoctitlan, then suddenly it threw its vast arms upward as though +in grief, and at that moment the night rushed in upon it and +covered it, while the sound of wailing died slowly away. + +'Say, Teule,' gasped the emperor, 'do I not well to be afraid when +such portents as these meet my eyes day by day? Hearken to the +lamentations in the city; we have not seen this sight alone. +Listen how the people cry aloud with fear and the priests beat +their drums to avert the omen. Weep on, ye people, and ye priests +pray and do sacrifice; it is very fitting, for the day of your doom +is upon you. O Tenoctitlan, queen of cities, I see you ruined and +desolate, your palaces blackened with fire, your temples +desecrated, your pleasant gardens a wilderness. I see your +highborn women the wantons of stranger lords, and your princes +their servants; the canals run red with the blood of your children, +your gateways are blocked with their bones. Death is about you +everywhere, dishonour is your daily bread, desolation is your +portion. Farewell to you, queen of the cities, cradle of my +forefathers in which I was nursed!' + +Thus Montezuma lamented in the darkness, and as he cried aloud the +great moon rose over the edge of the world and poured its level +light through the boughs of the cedars clothed in their ghostly +robe of moss. It struck upon Montezuma's tall shape, on his +distraught countenance and thin hands as he waved them to and fro +in his prophetic agony, on my glittering garments, and the terror- +stricken band of courtiers, and the musicians who had ceased from +their music. A little wind sprang up also, moaning sadly in the +mighty trees above and against the rocks of Chapoltepec. Never did +I witness a scene more strange or more pregnant with mystery and +the promise of unborn horror, than that of this great monarch +mourning over the downfall of his race and power. As yet no +misfortune had befallen the one or the other, and still he knew +that both were doomed, and these words of lamentation burst from a +heart broken by a grief of which the shadow only lay upon it. + +But the wonders of that night were not yet done with. + +When Montezuma had made an end of crying his prophecies, I asked +him humbly if I should summon to him the lords who were in +attendance on him, but who stood at some distance. + +'Nay,' he answered, 'I will not have them see me thus with grief +and terror upon my face. Whoever fears, at least I must seem +brave. Walk with me a while, Teule, and if it is in your mind to +murder me I shall not grieve.' + +I made no answer, but followed him as he led the way down the +darkest of the winding paths that run between the cedar trees, +where it would have been easy for me to kill him if I wished, but I +could not see how I should be advantaged by the deed; also though I +knew that Montezuma was my enemy, my heart shrank from the thought +of murder. For a mile or more he walked on without speaking, now +beneath the shadow of the trees, and now through open spaces of +garden planted with lovely flowers, till at last we came to the +gates of the place where the royal dead are laid to rest. Now in +front of these gates was an open space of turf on which the +moonlight shone brightly, and in the centre of this space lay +something white, shaped like a woman. Here Montezuma halted and +looked at the gates, then said: + +'These gates opened four days since for Papantzin, my sister; how +long, I wonder, will pass before they open for me?' + +As he spoke, the white shape upon the grass which I had seen and he +had not seen, stirred like an awakening sleeper. As the snow shape +upon the mountain had stirred, so this shape stirred; as it had +arisen, so this one arose; as it threw its arms upwards, so this +one threw up her arms. Now Montezuma saw and stood still +trembling, and I trembled also. + +Then the woman--for it was a woman--advanced slowly towards us, and +as she came we saw that she was draped in graveclothes. Presently +she lifted her head and the moonlight fell full upon her face. Now +Montezuma groaned aloud and I groaned, for we saw that the face was +the thin pale face of the princess Papantzin--Papantzin who had +lain four days in the grave. On she came toward us, gliding like +one who walks in her sleep, till she stopped before the bush in the +shadow of which we stood. Now Papantzin, or the ghost of +Papantzin, looked at us with blind eyes, that is with eyes that +were open and yet did not seem to see. + +'Are you there, Montezuma, my brother?' she said in the voice of +Papantzin; 'surely I feel your presence though I cannot see you.' + +Now Montezuma stepped from the shadow and stood face to face with +the dead. + +'Who are you?' he said, 'who wear the shape of one dead and are +dressed in the garments of the dead?' + +'I am Papantzin,' she answered, 'and I am risen out of death to +bring you a message, Montezuma, my brother.' + +'What message do you bring me?' he asked hoarsely. + +'I bring you a message of doom, my brother. Your empire shall fall +and soon you shall be accompanied to death by tens of thousands of +your people. For four days I have lived among the dead, and there +I have seen your false gods which are devils. There also I have +seen the priests that served them, and many of those who worshipped +them plunged into torment unutterable. Because of the worship of +these demon gods the people of Anahuac is destined to destruction.' + +'Have you no word of comfort for me, Papantzin, my sister?' he +asked. + +'None,' she answered. 'Perchance if you abandon the worship of the +false gods you may save your soul; your life you cannot save, nor +the lives of your people.' + +Then she turned and passed away into the shadow of the trees; I +heard her graveclothes sweep upon the grass. + + +Now a fury seized Montezuma and he raved aloud, saying: + +'Curses on you, Papantzin, my sister! Why then do you come back +from the dead to bring me such evil tidings? Had you brought hope +with you, had you shown a way of escape, then I would have welcomed +you. May you go back into darkness and may the earth lie heavy on +your heart for ever. As for my gods, my fathers worshipped them +and I will worship them till the end; ay, if they desert me, at +least I will never desert them. The gods are angry because the +sacrifices are few upon their altars, henceforth they shall be +doubled; ay, the priests of the gods shall themselves be sacrificed +because they neglect their worship.' + +Thus he raved on, after the fashion of a weak man maddened with +terror, while his nobles and attendants who had followed him at a +distance, clustered about him, fearful and wondering. At length +there came an end, for tearing with his thin hands at his royal +robes and at his hair and beard, Montezuma fell and writhed in a +fit upon the ground. + +Then they carried him into the palace and none saw him for three +days and nights. But he made no idle threat as to the sacrifices, +for from that night forward they were doubled throughout the land. +Already the shadow of the Cross lay deep upon the altars of +Anahuac, but still the smoke of their offerings went up to heaven +and the cry of the captives rang round the teocallis. The hour of +the demon gods was upon them indeed, but now they reaped their last +red harvest, and it was rich. + + +Now I, Thomas Wingfield, saw these portents with my own eyes, but I +cannot say whether they were indeed warnings sent from heaven or +illusions springing from the accidents of nature. The land was +terror-struck, and it may happen that the minds of men thus smitten +can find a dismal meaning in omens which otherwise had passed +unnoticed. That Papantzin rose from the dead is true, though +perhaps she only swooned and never really died. At the least she +did not go back there for a while, for though I never saw her +again, it is said that she lived to become a Christian and told +strange tales of what she had seen in the land of Death.* + + +* For the history of the resurrection of Papantzin, see note to +Jourdanet's translation of Sahagun, page 870.--AUTHOR. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE NAMING OF THE BRIDES + + +Now some months passed between the date of my naming as the god +Tezcat and the entry of the Spaniards into Mexico, and during all +this space the city was in a state of ferment. Again and again +Montezuma sent embassies to Cortes, bearing with them vast +treasures of gold and gems as presents, and at the same time +praying him to withdraw, for this foolish prince did not understand +that by displaying so much wealth he flew a lure which must surely +bring the falcon on himself. To these ambassadors Cortes returned +courteous answers together with presents of small value, and that +was all. + +Then the advance began and the emperor learned with dismay of the +conquest of the warlike tribe of the Tlascalans, who, though they +were Montezuma's bitter and hereditary foes, yet made a stand +against the white man. Next came the tidings that from enemies the +conquered Tlascalans had become the allies and servants of the +Spaniard, and that thousands of their fiercest warriors were +advancing with him upon the sacred city of Cholula. A while passed +and it was known that Cholula also had been given to massacre, and +that the holy, or rather the unholy gods, had been torn from their +shrines. Marvellous tales were told of the Spaniards, of their +courage and their might, of the armour that they wore, the thunder +that their weapons made in battle, and the fierce beasts which they +bestrode. Once two heads of white men taken in a skirmish were +sent to Montezuma, fierce-looking heads, great and hairy, and with +them the head of a horse. When Montezuma saw these ghastly relics +he almost fainted with fear, still he caused them to be set up on +pinnacles of the great temple and proclamation to be made that this +fate awaited every invader of the land. + +Meanwhile all was confusion in his policies. Day by day councils +were held of the nobles, of high priests, and of neighbouring and +friendly kings. Some advised one thing, some another, and the end +of it was hesitation and folly. Ah! had Montezuma but listened to +the voice of that great man Guatemoc, Anahuac would not have been a +Spanish fief to-day. For Guatemoc prayed him again and yet again +to put away his fears and declare open war upon the Teules before +it was too late; to cease from making gifts and sending embassies, +to gather his countless armies and smite the foe in the mountain +passes. + +But Montezuma would answer, 'To what end, nephew? How can I +struggle against these men when the gods themselves have declared +for them? Surely the gods can take their own parts if they wish +it, and if they will not, for myself and my own fate I do not care, +but alas! for my people, alas! for the women and the children, the +aged and the weak.' + +Then he would cover his face and moan and weep like a child, and +Guatemoc would pass from his presence dumb with fury at the folly +of so great a king, but helpless to remedy it. For like myself, +Guatemoc believed that Montezuma had been smitten with a madness +sent from heaven to bring the land to ruin. + +Now it must be understood that though my place as a god gave me +opportunities of knowing all that passed, yet I Thomas Wingfield, +was but a bubble on that great wave of events which swept over the +world of Anahuac two generations since. I was a bubble on the +crest of the wave indeed, but at that time I had no more power than +the foam has over the wave. Montezuma distrusted me as a spy, the +priests looked on me as a god and future victim and no more, only +Guatemoc my friend, and Otomie who loved me secretly, had any faith +in me, and with these two I often talked, showing them the true +meaning of those things that were happening before our eyes. But +they also were strengthless, for though his reason was no longer +captain, still the unchecked power of Montezuma guided the ship of +state first this way and then that, just as a rudder directs a +vessel to its ruin when the helmsman has left it, and it swings at +the mercy of the wind and tide. + +The people were distraught with fear of the future, but not the +less on that account, or perhaps because of it, they plunged with +fervour into pleasures, alternating them with religious ceremonies. +In those days no feast was neglected and no altar lacked its +victim. Like a river that quickens its flow as it draws near the +precipice over which it must fall, so the people of Mexico, +foreseeing ruin, awoke as it were and lived as they had never lived +before. All day long the cries of victims came from a hundred +temple tops, and all night the sounds of revelry were heard among +the streets. 'Let us eat and drink,' they said, 'for the gods of +the sea are upon us and to-morrow we die.' Now women who had been +held virtuous proved themselves wantons, and men whose names were +honest showed themselves knaves, and none cried fie upon them; ay, +even children were seen drunken in the streets, which is an +abomination among the Aztecs. + +The emperor had moved his household from Chapoltepec to the palace +in the great square facing the temple, and this palace was a town +in itself, for every night more than a thousand human beings slept +beneath its roof, not to speak of the dwarfs and monsters, and the +hundreds of wild birds and beasts in cages. Here every day I +feasted with whom I would, and when I was weary of feasting it was +my custom to sally out into the streets playing on the lute, for by +now I had in some degree mastered that hateful instrument, dressed +in shining apparel and attended by a crowd of nobles and royal +pages. Then the people would rush from their houses shouting and +doing me reverence, the children pelted me with flowers, and the +maidens danced before me, kissing my hands and feet, till at length +I was attended by a mob a thousand strong. And I also danced and +shouted like any village fool, for I think that a kind of mad +humour, or perhaps it was the drunkenness of worship, entered into +me in those days. Also I sought to forget my griefs, I desired to +forget that I was doomed to the sacrifice, and that every day +brought me nearer to the red knife of the priest. + +I desired to forget, but alas! I could not. The fumes of the +mescal and the pulque that I had drunk at feasts would pass from my +brain, the perfume of flowers, the sights of beauty and the +adoration of the people would cease to move me, and I could only +brood heavily upon my doom and think with longing of my distant +love and home. In those days, had it not been for the tender +kindness of Otomie, I think that my heart would have broken or I +should have slain myself. But this great and beauteous lady was +ever at hand to cheer me in a thousand ways, and now and again she +would let fall some vague words of hope that set my pulses +bounding. It will be remembered that when first I came to the +court of Montezuma, I had found Otomie fair and my fancy turned +towards her. Now I still found her fair, but my heart was so full +of terror that there was no room in it for tender thoughts of her +or of any other woman. Indeed when I was not drunk with wine or +adoration, I turned my mind to the making of my peace with heaven, +of which I had some need. + +Still I talked much with Otomie, instructing her in the matters of +my faith and many other things, as I had done by Marina, who we now +heard was the mistress and interpreter of Cortes, the Spanish +leader. She for her part listened gravely, watching me the while +with her tender eyes, but no more, for of all women Otomie was the +most modest, as she was the proudest and most beautiful. + + +So matters went on until the Spaniards had left Cholula on their +road to Mexico. It was then that I chanced one morning to be +sitting in the gardens, my lute in hand, and having my attendant +nobles and tutors gathered at a respectful distance behind me. +From where I sat I could see the entrance to the court in which the +emperor met his council daily, and I noted that when the princes +had gone the priests began to come, and after them a number of very +lovely girls attended by women of middle age. Presently Guatemoc +the prince, who now smiled but rarely, came up to me smiling, and +asked me if I knew what was doing yonder. I replied that I knew +nothing and cared less, but I supposed that Montezuma was gathering +a peculiar treasure to send to his masters the Spaniards. + +'Beware how you speak, Teule,' answered the prince haughtily. +'Your words may be true, and yet did I not love you, you should rue +them even though you hold the spirit of Tezcat. Alas!' he added, +stamping on the ground, 'alas! that my uncle's madness should make +it possible that such words can be spoken. Oh! were I emperor of +Anahuac, in a single week the head of every Teule in Cholula should +deck a pinnacle of yonder temple.' + +'Beware how you speak, prince,' I answered mocking him, 'for there +are those who did they hear, might cause YOU to rue YOUR words. +Still one day you may be emperor, and then we shall see how you +will deal with the Teules, at least others will see though I shall +not. But what is it now? Does Montezuma choose new wives?' + +'He chooses wives, but not for himself. You know, Teule, that your +time grows short. Montezuma and the priests name those who must be +given to you to wife.' + +'Given me to wife!' I said starting to my feet; 'to me whose bride +is death! What have I to do with love or marriage? I who in some +few short weeks must grace an altar? Ah! Guatemoc, you say you +love me, and once I saved you. Did you love me, surely you would +save me now as you swore to do.' + +'I swore that I would give my life for yours, Teule, if it lay in +my power, and that oath I would keep, for all do not set so high a +store on life as you, my friend. But I cannot help you; you are +dedicated to the gods, and did I die a hundred times, it would not +save you from your fate. Nothing can save you except the hand of +heaven if it wills. Therefore, Teule, make merry while you may, +and die bravely when you must. Your case is no worse than mine and +that of many others, for death awaits us all. Farewell.' + +When he had gone I rose, and leaving the gardens I passed into the +chamber where it was my custom to give audience to those who wished +to look upon the god Tezcat as they called me. Here I sat upon my +golden couch, inhaling the fumes of tobacco, and as it chanced I +was alone, for none dared to enter that room unless I gave them +leave. Presently the chief of my pages announced that one would +speak with me, and I bent my head, signifying that the person +should enter, for I was weary of my thoughts. The page withdrew, +and presently a veiled woman stood before me. I looked at her +wondering, and bade her draw her veil and speak. She obeyed, and I +saw that my visitor was the princess Otomie. Now I rose amazed, +for it was not usual that she should visit me thus alone. I +guessed therefore that she had tidings, or was following some +custom of which I was ignorant. + +'I pray you be seated,' she said confusedly; 'it is not fitting +that you should stand before me.' + +'Why not, princess?' I answered. 'If I had no respect for rank, +surely beauty must claim it.' + +'A truce to words,' she replied with a wave of her slim hand. 'I +come here, O Tezcat, according to the ancient custom, because I am +charged with a message to you. Those whom you shall wed are +chosen. I am the bearer of their names.' + +'Speak on, princess of the Otomie.' + +'They are'--and she named three ladies whom I knew to be among the +loveliest in the land. + +'I thought that there were four,' I said with a bitter laugh. 'Am +I to be defrauded of the fourth?' + +'There is a fourth,' she answered, and was silent. + +'Give me her name,' I cried. 'What other slut has been found to +marry a felon doomed to sacrifice?' + +'One has been found, O Tezcat, who has borne other titles than this +you give her.' + +Now I looked at her questioningly, and she spoke again in a low +voice. + +'I, Otomie, princess of the Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, am the +fourth and the first.' + +'You!' I said, sinking back upon my cushions. 'YOU!' + +'Yes, I. Listen: I was chosen by the priests as the most lovely in +the land, however unworthily. My father, the emperor, was angry +and said that whatever befell, I should never be the wife of a +captive who must die upon the altar of sacrifice. But the priests +answered that this was no time for him to claim exception for his +blood, now when the gods were wroth. Was the first lady in the +land to be withheld from the god? they asked. Then my father +sighed and said that it should be as I willed. And I said with the +priests, that now in our sore distress the proud must humble +themselves to the dust, even to the marrying of a captive slave who +is named a god and doomed to sacrifice. So I, princess of the +Otomie, have consented to become your wife, O Tezcat, though +perchance had I known all that I read in your eyes this hour, I +should not have consented. It may happen that in this shame I +hoped to find love if only for one short hour, and that I purposed +to vary the custom of our people, and to complete my marriage by +the side of the victim on the altar, as, if I will, I have the +right to do. But I see well that I am not welcome, and though it +is too late to go back upon my word, have no fear. There are +others, and I shall not trouble you. I have given my message, is +it your pleasure that I should go? The solemn ceremony of wedlock +will be on the twelfth day from now, O Tezcat.' + +Now I rose from my seat and took her hand, saying: + +'I thank you, Otomie, for your nobleness of mind. Had it not been +for the comfort and friendship which you and Guatemoc your cousin +have given me, I think that ere now I should be dead. So you +desire to comfort me to the last; it seems that you even purposed +to die with me. How am I to interpret this, Otomie? In our land a +woman would need to love a man after no common fashion before she +consented to share such a bed as awaits me on yonder pyramid. And +yet I may scarcely think that you whom kings have sued for can +place your heart so low. How am I to read the writing of your +words, princess of the Otomie?' + +'Read it with your heart,' she whispered low, and I felt her hand +tremble in my own. + +I looked at her beauty, it was great; I thought of her devotion, a +devotion that did not shrink from the most horrible of deaths, and +a wind of feeling which was akin to love swept through my soul. +But even as I looked and thought, I remembered the English garden +and the English maid from whom I had parted beneath the beech at +Ditchingham, and the words that we had spoken then. Doubtless she +still lived and was true to me; while I lived should I not keep +true at heart to her? If I must wed these Indian girls, I must wed +them, but if once I told Otomie that I loved her, then I broke my +troth, and with nothing less would she be satisfied. As yet, +though I was deeply moved and the temptation was great, I had not +come to this. + +'Be seated, Otomie,' I said, 'and listen to me. You see this +golden token,' and I drew Lily's posy ring from my hand, 'and you +see the writing within it.' + +She bent her head but did not speak, and I saw that there was fear +in her eyes. + +'I will read you the words, Otomie,' and I translated into the +Aztec tongue the quaint couplet: + + + Heart to heart, + Though far apart. + + +Then at last she spoke. 'What does the writing mean?' she said. +'I can only read in pictures, Teule.' + +'It means, Otomie, that in the far land whence I come, there is a +woman who loves me, and who is my love.' + +'Is she your wife then?' + +'She is not my wife, Otomie, but she is vowed to me in marriage.' + +'She is vowed to you in marriage,' she answered bitterly: 'why, +then we are equal, for so am I, Teule. But there is this +difference between us; you love her, and me you do not love. That +is what you would make clear to me. Spare me more words, I +understand all. Still it seems that if I have lost, she is also in +the path of loss. Great seas roll between you and this love of +yours, Teule, seas of water, and the altar of sacrifice, and the +nothingness of death. Now let me go. Your wife I must be, for +there is no escape, but I shall not trouble you over much, and it +will soon be done with. Then you may seek your desire in the +Houses of the Stars whither you must wander, and it is my prayer +that you shall win it. All these months I have been planning to +find hope for you, and I thought that I had found it. But it was +built upon a false belief, and it is ended. Had you been able to +say from your heart that you loved me, it might have been well for +both of us; should you be able to say it before the end, it may +still be well. But I do not ask you to say it, and beware how you +tell me a lie. I leave you, Teule, but before I go I will say that +I honour you more in this hour than I have honoured you before, +because you have dared to speak the truth to me, Montezuma's +daughter, when a lie had been so easy and so safe. That woman +beyond the seas should be grateful to you, but though I bear her no +ill will, between me and her there is a struggle to the death. We +are strangers to each other, and strangers we shall remain, but she +has touched your hand as I touch it now; you link us together and +are our bond of enmity. Farewell my husband that is to be. We +shall meet no more till that sorry day when a "slut" shall be given +to a "felon" in marriage. I use your own words, Teule!' + +Then rising, Otomie cast her veil about her face and passed slowly +from the chamber, leaving me much disturbed. It was a bold deed to +have rejected the proffered love of this queen among women, and now +that I had done so I was not altogether glad. Would Lily, I +wondered, have offered to descend from such state, to cast off the +purple of her royal rank that she might lie at my side on the red +stone of sacrifice? Perhaps not, for this fierce fidelity is only +to be found in women of another breed. These daughters of the Sun +love wholly when they love at all, and as they love they hate. +They ask no priest to consecrate their vows, nor if these become +hateful, will they be bound by them for duty's sake. Their own +desire is their law, but while it rules them they follow it +unflinchingly, and if need be, they seek its consummation in the +gates of death, or failing that, forgetfulness. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FOUR GODDESSES + + +Some weary time went by, and at last came the day of the entry into +Mexico of Cortes and his conquerors. Now of all the doings of the +Spaniards after they occupied the city, I do not propose to speak +at length, for these are matters of history, and I have my own +story to tell. So I shall only write of those of them with which I +was concerned myself. I did not see the meeting between Montezuma +and Cortes, though I saw the emperor set out to it clad like +Solomon in his glory and surrounded by his nobles. But I am sure +of this, that no slave being led to sacrifice carried a heavier +heart in his breast than that of Montezuma on this unlucky day. +For now his folly had ruined him, and I think he knew that he was +going to his doom. + +Afterwards, towards evening, I saw the emperor come back in his +golden litter, and pass over to the palace built by Axa his father, +that stood opposite to and some five hundred paces from his own, +facing the western gate of the temple. Presently I heard the sound +of a multitude shouting, and amidst it the tramp of horses and +armed soldiers, and from a seat in my chamber I saw the Spaniards +advance down the great street, and my heart beat at the sight of +Christian men. In front, clad in rich armour, rode their leader +Cortes, a man of middle size but noble bearing, with thoughtful +eyes that noted everything, and after him, some few on horseback +but the most of them on foot, marched his little army of +conquerors, staring about them with bold wondering eyes and jesting +to each other in Castilian. They were but a handful, bronzed with +the sun and scarred by battle, some of them ill-armed and almost in +rags, and looking on them I could not but marvel at the indomitable +courage that had enabled them to pierce their way through hostile +thousands, sickness, and war, even to the home of Montezuma's +power. + +By the side of Cortes, holding his stirrup in her hand, walked a +beautiful Indian woman dressed in white robes and crowned with +flowers. As she passed the palace she turned her face. I knew her +at once; it was my friend Marina, who now had attained to the +greatness which she desired, and who, notwithstanding all the evil +that she had brought upon her country, looked most happy in it and +in her master's love. + +As the Spaniards went by I searched their faces one by one, with +the vague hope of hate. For though it might well chance that death +had put us out of each other's reach, I half thought to see de +Garcia among the number of the conquerors. Such a quest as theirs, +with its promise of blood, and gold, and rapine, would certainly +commend itself to his evil heart should it be in his power to join +it, and a strange instinct told me that he was NOT dead. But +neither dead nor living was he among those men who entered Mexico +that day. + +That night I saw Guatemoc and asked him how things went. + +'Well for the kite that roosts in the dove's nest,' he answered +with a bitter laugh, 'but very ill for the dove. Montezuma, my +uncle, has been cooing yonder,' and he pointed to the palace of +Axa, 'and the captain of the Teules has cooed in answer, but though +he tried to hide it, I could hear the hawk's shriek in his pigeon's +note. Ere long there will be merry doings in Tenoctitlan.' + +He was right. Within a week Montezuma was treacherously seized by +the Spaniards and kept a prisoner in their quarters, watched day +and night by their soldiers. Then came event upon event. Certain +lords in the coast lands having killed some Spaniards, were +summoned to Mexico by the instigation of Cortes. They came and +were burned alive in the courtyard of the palace. Nor was this +all, for Montezuma, their monarch, was forced to witness the +execution with fetters on his ankles. So low had the emperor of +the Aztecs fallen, that he must bear chains like a common felon. +After this insult he swore allegiance to the King of Spain, and +even contrived to capture Cacama, the lord of Tezcuco, by treachery +and to deliver him into the hands of the Spaniards on whom he would +have made war. To them also he gave up all the hoarded gold and +treasure of the empire, to the value of hundreds of thousands of +English pounds. All this the nation bore, for it was stupefied and +still obeyed the commands of its captive king. But when he +suffered the Spaniards to worship the true God in one of the +sanctuaries of the great temple, a murmur of discontent and sullen +fury rose among the thousands of the Aztecs. It filled the air, it +could be heard wherever men were gathered, and its sound was like +that of a distant angry sea. The hour of the breaking of the +tempest was at hand. + +Now all this while my life went on as before, save that I was not +allowed to go outside the walls of the palace, for it was feared +lest I should find some means of intercourse with the Spaniards, +who did not know that a man of white blood was confined there and +doomed to sacrifice. Also in these days I saw little of the +princess Otomie, the chief of my destined brides, who since our +strange love scene had avoided me, and when we met at feasts or in +the gardens spoke to me only on indifferent matters, or of the +affairs of state. At length came the day of my marriage. It was, +I remember, the night before the massacre of the six hundred Aztec +nobles on the occasion of the festival of Huitzel. + +On this my wedding day I was treated with great circumstance and +worshipped like a god by the highest in the city, who came in to do +me reverence and burned incense before me, till I was weary of the +smell of it, for though such sorrow was on the land, the priests +would abate no jot of their ceremonies or cruelties, and great +hopes were held that I being of the race of Teules, my sacrifice +would avert the anger of the gods. At sunset I was entertained +with a splendid feast that lasted two hours or more, and at its end +all the company rose and shouted as with one voice: + +'Glory to thee, O Tezcat! Happy art thou here on earth, happy +mayst thou be in the Houses of the Sun. When thou comest thither, +remember that we dealt well by thee, giving thee of our best, and +intercede for us that our sins may be forgiven. Glory to thee, O +Tezcat!' + +Then two of the chief nobles came forward, and taking torches led +me to a magnificent chamber that I had never seen before. Here +they changed my apparel, investing me in robes which were still +more splendid than any that I had worn hitherto, being made of the +finest embroidered cotton and of the glittering feathers of the +humming bird. On my head they set wreaths of flowers, and about my +neck and wrists emeralds of vast size and value, and a sorry +popinjay I looked in this attire, that seemed more suited to a +woman's beauty than to me. + +When I was arrayed, suddenly the torches were extinguished and for +a while there was silence. Then in the distance I heard women's +voices singing a bridal song that was beautiful enough after its +fashion, though I forbear to write it down. The singing ceased and +there came a sound of rustling robes and of low whispering. Then a +man's voice spoke, saying: + +'Are ye there, ye chosen of heaven?' + +And a woman's voice, I thought it was that of Otomie, answered: + +'We are here.' + +'O maidens of Anahuac,' said the man speaking from the darkness, +'and you, O Tezcat, god among the gods, listen to my words. +Maidens, a great honour has been done to you, for by the very +choice of heaven, you have been endowed with the names, the +lovelinesses, and the virtues of the four great goddesses, and +chosen to abide a while at the side of this god, your maker and +your master, who has been pleased to visit us for a space before he +seeks his home in the habitations of the Sun. See that you show +yourselves worthy of this honour. Comfort him and cherish him, +that he may forget his glory in your kindness, and when he returns +to his own place may take with him grateful memories and a good +report of your people. You have but a little while to live at his +side in this life, for already, like those of a caged bird, the +wings of his spirit beat against the bars of the flesh, and soon he +will shake himself free from us and you. Yet if you will, it is +allowed to one of you to accompany him to his home, sharing his +flight to the Houses of the Sun. But to all of you, whether you go +also, or whether you stay to mourn him during your life days, I say +love and cherish him, be tender and gentle towards him, for +otherwise ruin shall overtake you here and hereafter, and you and +all of us will be ill spoken of in heaven. And you, O Tezcat, we +pray of you to accept these maidens, who bear the names and wear +the charms of your celestial consorts, for there are none more +beautiful or better born in the realms of Anahuac, and among them +is numbered the daughter of our king. They are not perfect indeed, +for perfection is known to you in the heavenly kingdoms only, since +these ladies are but shadows and symbols of the divine goddesses +your true wives, and here there are no perfect women. Alas, we +have none better to offer you, and it is our hope that when it +pleases you to pass hence you will think kindly of the women of +this land, and from on high bless them with your blessing, because +your memory of these who were called your wives on earth is +pleasant.' + +The voice paused, then spoke again: + +'Women, in your own divine names of Xochi, Xilo, Atla, and Clixto, +and in the name of all the gods, I wed you to Tezcat, the creator, +to sojourn with him during his stay on earth. The god incarnate +takes you in marriage whom he himself created, that the symbol may +be perfect and the mystery fulfilled. Yet lest your joy should be +too full--look now on that which shall be.' + +As the voice spoke these words, many torches sprang into flame at +the far end of the great chamber, revealing a dreadful sight. For +there, stretched upon a stone of sacrifice, was the body of a man, +but whether the man lived or was modelled in wax I do not know to +this hour, though unless he was painted, I think that he must have +been fashioned in wax, since his skin shone white like mine. At +the least his limbs and head were held by five priests, and a sixth +stood over him clasping a knife of obsidian in his two hands. It +flashed on high, and as it gleamed the torches were extinguished. +Then came the dull echo of a blow and a sound of groans, and all +was still, till once more the brides broke out into their marriage +song, a strange chant and a wild and sweet, though after what I had +seen and heard it had little power to move me. + +They sang on in the darkness ever more loudly, till presently a +single torch was lit at the end of the chamber, then another and +another, though I could not see who lit them, and the room was a +flare of light. Now the altar, the victim, and the priests were +all gone, there was no one left in the place except myself and the +four brides. They were tall and lovely women all of them, clad in +white bridal robes starred over with gems and flowers, and wearing +on their brows the emblems of the four goddesses, but Otomie was +the stateliest and most beautiful of the four, and seemed in truth +a goddess. One by one they drew near to me, smiling and sighing, +and kneeling before me kissed my hand, saying: + +'I have been chosen to be your wife for a space, Tezcat, happy maid +that I am. May the good gods grant that I become pleasing to your +sight, so that you may love me as I worship you.' + +Then she who had spoken would draw back again out of earshot, and +the next would take her place. + +Last of all came Otomie. She knelt and said the words, then added +in a low voice, + +'Having spoken to you as the bride and goddess to the husband and +the god Tezcat, now, O Teule, I speak as the woman to the man. You +do not love me, Teule, therefore, if it is your will, let us be +divorced of our own act who were wed by the command of others, for +so I shall be spared some shame. These are friends to me and will +not betray us;' and she nodded towards her companion brides. + +'As you will, Otomie,' I answered briefly. + +'I thank you for your kindness, Teule,' she said smiling sadly, and +withdrew making obeisance, looking so stately and so sweet as she +went, that again my heart was shaken as though with love. Now from +that night till the dreadful hour of sacrifice, no kiss or tender +word passed between me and the princess of the Otomie. And yet our +friendship and affection grew daily, for we talked much together, +and I sought to turn her heart to the true King of Heaven. But +this was not easy, for like her father Montezuma, Otomie clung to +the gods of her people, though she hated the priests, and save when +the victims were the foes of her country, shrank from the rites of +human sacrifice, which she said were instituted by the pabas, since +in the early days there were no men offered on the altars of the +gods, but flowers only. Daily it grew and ripened till, although I +scarcely knew it, at length in my heart, after Lily, I loved her +better than anyone on earth. As for the other women, though they +were gentle and beautiful, I soon learned to hate them. Still I +feasted and revelled with them, partly since I must, or bring them +to a miserable death because they failed to please me, and partly +that I might drown my terrors in drink and pleasure, for let it be +remembered that the days left to me on earth were few, and the +awful end drew near. + + +The day following the celebration of my marriage was that of the +shameless massacre of six hundred of the Aztec nobles by the order +of the hidalgo Alvarado, whom Cortes had left in command of the +Spaniards. For at this time Cortes was absent in the coast lands, +whither he had gone to make war on Narvaez, who had been sent to +subdue him by his enemy Velasquez, the governor of Cuba. + +On this day was celebrated the feast of Huitzel, that was held with +sacrifice, songs, and dances in the great court of the temple, that +court which was surrounded by a wall carved over with the writhing +shapes of snakes. It chanced that on this morning before he went +to join in the festival, Guatemoc, the prince, came to see me on a +visit of ceremony. + +I asked him if he intended to take part in the feast, as the +splendour of his apparel brought me to believe. + +'Yes,' he answered, 'but why do you ask?' + +'Because, were I you, Guatemoc, I would not go. Say now, will the +dancers be armed?' + +'No, it is not usual.' + +'They will be unarmed, Guatemoc, and they are the flower of the +land. Unarmed they will dance in yonder enclosed space, and the +Teules will watch them armed. Now, how would it be if these +chanced to pick a quarrel with the nobles?' + +'I do not know why you should speak thus, Teule, for surely these +white men are not cowardly murderers, still I take your words as an +omen, and though the feast must be held, for see already the nobles +gather, I will not share in it.' + +'You are wise, Guatemoc,' I said. 'I am sure that you are wise.' + +Afterwards Otomie, Guatemoc, and I went into the garden of the +palace and sat upon the crest of a small pyramid, a teocalli in +miniature that Montezuma had built for a place of outlook on the +market and the courts of the temple. From this spot we saw the +dancing of the Aztec nobles, and heard the song of the musicians. +It was a gay sight, for in the bright sunlight their feather +dresses flashed like coats of gems, and none would have guessed how +it was to end. Mingling with the dancers were groups of Spaniards +clad in mail and armed with swords and matchlocks, but I noted +that, as the time went on, these men separated themselves from the +Indians and began to cluster like bees about the gates and at +various points under the shadow of the Wall of Serpents. + +'Now what may this mean?' I said to Guatemoc, and as I spoke, I saw +a Spaniard wave a white cloth in the air. Then, in an instant, +before the cloth had ceased to flutter, a smoke arose from every +side, and with it came the sound of the firing of matchlocks. +Everywhere among the dancers men fell dead or wounded, but the mass +of them, unharmed as yet, huddled themselves together like +frightened sheep, and stood silent and terror-stricken. Then the +Spaniards, shouting the name of their patron saint, as it is their +custom to do when they have some such wickedness in hand, drew +their swords, and rushing on the unarmed Aztec nobles began to kill +them. Now some shrieked and fled, and some stood still till they +were cut down, but whether they stayed or ran the end was the same, +for the gates were guarded and the wall was too high to climb. +There they were slaughtered every man of them, and may God, who +sees all, reward their murderers! It was soon over; within ten +minutes of the waving of the cloth, those six hundred men were +stretched upon the pavement dead or dying, and with shouts of +victory the Spaniards were despoiling their corpses of the rich +ornaments they had worn. + +Then I turned to Guatemoc and said, 'It seems that you did well not +to join in yonder revel.' + +But Guatemoc made no answer. He stared at the dead and those who +had murdered them, and said nothing. Only Otomie spoke: 'You +Christians are a gentle people,' she said with a bitter laugh; 'it +is thus that you repay our hospitality. Now I trust that +Montezuma, my father, is pleased with his guests. Ah! were I he, +every man of them should lie on the stone of sacrifice. If our +gods are devils as you say, what are those who worship yours?' + +Then at length Guatemoc said, 'Only one thing remains to us, and +that is vengeance. Montezuma has become a woman, and I heed him no +more, nay, if it were needful, I would kill him with my own hand. +But two men are still left in the land, Cuitlahua, my uncle, and +myself. Now I go to summon our armies.' And he went. + +All that night the city murmured like a swarm of wasps, and next +day at dawn, so far as the eye could reach, the streets and market +place were filled with tens of thousands of armed warriors. They +threw themselves like a wave upon the walls of the palace of Axa, +and like a wave from a rock they were driven back again by the fire +of the guns. Thrice they attacked, and thrice they were repulsed. +Then Montezuma, the woman king, appeared upon the walls, praying +them to desist because, forsooth, did they succeed, he himself +might perish. Even then they obeyed him, so great was their +reverence for his sacred royalty, and for a while attacked the +Spaniards no more. But further than this they would not go. If +Montezuma forbade them to kill the Spaniards, at least they +determined to starve them out, and from that hour a strait blockade +was kept up against the palace. Hundreds of the Aztec soldiers had +been slain already, but the loss was not all upon their side, for +some of the Spaniards and many of the Tlascalans had fallen into +their hands. As for these unlucky prisoners, their end was swift, +for they were taken at once to the temples of the great teocalli, +and sacrificed there to the gods in the sight of their comrades. + +Now it was that Cortes returned with many more men, for he had +conquered Narvaez, whose followers joined the standard of Cortes, +and with them others, one of whom I had good reason to know. +Cortes was suffered to rejoin his comrades in the palace of Axa +without attack, I do not know why, and on the following day +Cuitlahua, Montezuma's brother, king of Palapan, was released by +him that he might soothe the people. But Cuitlahua was no coward. +Once safe outside his prison walls, he called the council together, +of whom the chief was Guatemoc. + +There they resolved on war to the end, giving it out that Montezuma +had forfeited his kingdom by his cowardice, and on that resolve +they acted. Had it been taken but two short months before, by this +date no Spaniard would have been left alive in Tenoctitlan. For +after Marina, the love of Cortes, whose subtle wit brought about +his triumph, it was Montezuma who was the chief cause of his own +fall, and of that of the kingdom of Anahuac. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OTOMIE'S COUNSEL + + +On the day after the return of Cortes to Mexico, before the hour of +dawn I was awakened from my uneasy slumbers by the whistling cries +of thousands of warriors and the sound of atabals and drums. + +Hurrying to my post of outlook on the little pyramid, where Otomie +joined me, I saw that the whole people were gathered for war. So +far as the eye could reach, in square, market place, and street, +they were massed in thousands and tens of thousands. Some were +armed with slings, some with bows and arrows, others with javelins +tipped with copper, and the club set with spikes of obsidian that +is called maqua, and yet others, citizens of the poorer sort, with +stakes hardened in the fire. The bodies of some were covered with +golden coats of mail and mantles of featherwork, and their skulls +protected by painted wooden helms, crested with hair, and fashioned +like the heads of pumas, snakes, or wolves--others wore escaupils, +or coats of quilted cotton, but the most of them were naked except +for a cloth about the loins. On the flat azoteas, or roofs of +houses also, and even on the top of the teocalli of sacrifice, were +bands of men whose part it was to rain missiles into the Spanish +quarters. It was a strange sight to see in that red sunrise, and +one never to be forgotten, as the light flashed from temples and +palace walls, on to the glittering feather garments and gay +banners, the points of countless spears and the armour of the +Spaniards, who hurried to and fro behind their battlements making +ready their defence. + +So soon as the sun was up, a priest blew a shrill note upon a +shell, which was answered by a trumpet call from the Spanish +quarters. Then with a shriek of rage the thousands of the Aztecs +rushed to the attack, and the air grew dark with missiles. +Instantly a wavering line of fire and smoke, followed by a sound as +of thunder, broke from the walls of the palace of Axa, and the +charging warriors fell like autumn leaves beneath the cannon and +arquebuss balls of the Christians. + +For a moment they wavered and a great groan went up to heaven, but +I saw Guatemoc spring forward, a banner in his hand, and forming up +again they rushed after him. Now they were beneath the wall of the +palace, and the assault began. The Aztecs fought furiously. Time +upon time they strove to climb the wall, piling up the bodies of +the dead to serve them as ladders, and time upon time they were +repulsed with cruel loss. Failing in this, they set themselves to +battering it down with heavy beams, but when the breach was made +and they clustered in it like herded sheep, the cannon opened fire +on them, tearing long lanes through their mass and leaving them +dead by scores. Then they took to the shooting of flaming arrows, +and by this means fired the outworks, but the palace was of stone +and would not burn. Thus for twelve long hours the struggle raged +unceasingly, till the sudden fall of darkness put an end to it, and +the only sight to be seen was the flare of countless torches +carried by those who sought out the dead, and the only sounds to be +heard were the voice of women lamenting, and the groans of the +dying. + +On the morrow the fight broke out again at dawn, when Cortes +sallied forth with the greater part of his soldiers, and some +thousands of his Tlascalan allies. At first I thought that he +aimed his attack at Montezuma's palace, and a breath of hope went +through me, since then it might become possible for me to escape in +the confusion. But this was not so, his object being to set fire +to the houses, from the flat roofs of which numberless missiles +were hailed hourly upon his followers. The charge was desperate +and it succeeded, for the Indians could not withstand the shock of +horsemen any more than their naked skins could turn the Spaniards' +steel. Presently scores of houses were in flames, and thick +columns of smoke rolled up like those that float from the mouth of +Popo. But many of those who rode and ran from the gates of Axa did +not come back thither, for the Aztecs clung to the legs of the +horses and dragged their riders away living. That very day these +captives were sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, and in the sight +of their comrades, and with them a horse was offered up, which had +been taken alive, and was borne and dragged with infinite labour up +the steep sides of the pyramid. Indeed never had the sacrifices +been so many as during these days of combat. All day long the +altars ran red, and all day long the cries of the victims rang in +my ears, as the maddened priests went about their work. For thus +they thought to please the gods who should give them victory over +the Teules. + +Even at night the sacrifices continued by the light of the sacred +fires, that from below gave those who wrought them the appearance +of devils flitting through the flames of hell, and inflicting its +torments on the damned, much as they are depicted in the 'Doom' +painting of the resurrection of the dead that is over the chancel +arch in this church of Ditchingham. And hour by hour through the +darkness, a voice called out threats and warnings to the Spaniards, +saying, 'Huitzel is hungry for your blood, ye Teules, ye shall +surely follow where ye have seen your fellows go: the cages are +ready, the knives are sharp, and the irons are hot for the torture. +Prepare, ye Teules, for though ye slay many, ye cannot escape.' + +Thus the struggle went on day after day, till thousands of the +Aztecs were dead, and the Spaniards were well nigh worn out with +hunger, war, and wounds, for they could not rest a single hour. At +length one morning, when the assault was at its hottest, Montezuma +himself appeared upon the central tower of the palace, clad in +splendid robes and wearing the diadem. Before him stood heralds +bearing golden wands, and about him were the nobles who attended +him in his captivity, and a guard of Spaniards. He stretched out +his hand, and suddenly the fighting was stayed and a silence fell +upon the place, even the wounded ceased from their groaning. Then +he addressed the multitude. What he said I was too far off to +hear, though I learned its purport afterwards. He prayed his +people to cease from war, for the Spaniards were his friends and +guests and would presently leave the city of Tenoctitlan. When +these cowardly words had passed his lips, a fury took his subjects, +who for long years had worshipped him as a god, and a shriek rent +the air that seemed to say two words only: + +'Woman! Traitor!' + +Then I saw an arrow rush upwards and strike the emperor, and after +the arrow a shower of stones, so that he fell down there upon the +tower roof. + +Now a voice cried, 'We have slain our king. Montezuma is dead,' +and instantly with a dreadful wailing the multitude fled this way +and that, so that presently no living man could be seen where there +had been thousands. + +I turned to comfort Otomie, who was watching at my side, and had +seen her royal father fall, and led her weeping into the palace. +Here we met Guatemoc, the prince, and his mien was fierce and wild. +He was fully armed and carried a bow in his hand. + +'Is Montezuma dead?' I asked. + +'I neither know nor care,' he answered with a savage laugh, then +added: + +'Now curse me, Otomie my cousin, for it was my arrow that smote him +down, this king who has become a woman and a traitor, false to his +manhood and his country.' + +Then Otomie ceased weeping and answered: + +'I cannot curse you, Guatemoc, for the gods have smitten my father +with a madness as you smote him with your arrow, and it is best +that he should die, both for his own sake and for that of his +people. Still, Guatemoc, I am sure of this, that your crime will +not go unpunished, and that in payment for this sacrilege, you +shall yourself come to a shameful death.' + +'It may be so,' said Guatemoc, 'but at least I shall not die +betraying my trust;' and he went. + + +Now I must tell that, as I believed, this was my last day on earth, +for on the morrow my year of godhead expired, and I, Thomas +Wingfield, should be led out to sacrifice. Notwithstanding all the +tumult in the city, the mourning for the dead and the fear that +hung over it like a cloud, the ceremonies of religion and its +feasts were still celebrated strictly, more strictly indeed than +ever before. Thus on this night a festival was held in my honour, +and I must sit at the feast crowned with flowers and surrounded by +my wives, while those nobles who remained alive in the city did me +homage, and with them Cuitlahua, who, if Montezuma were dead, would +now be emperor. It was a dreary meal enough, for I could scarcely +be gay though I strove to drown my woes in drink, and as for the +guests, they had little jollity left in them. Hundreds of their +relatives were dead and with them thousands of the people; the +Spaniards still held their own in the fortress, and that day they +had seen their emperor, who to them was a god, smitten down by one +of their own number, and above all they felt that doom was upon +themselves. What wonder that they were not merry? Indeed no +funeral feast could have been more sad, for flowers and wine and +fair women do not make pleasure, and after all it was a funeral +feast--for me. + +At length it came to an end and I fled to my own apartments, +whither my three wives followed me, for Otomie did not come, +calling me most happy and blessed who to-morrow should be with +myself, that is with my own godhead, in heaven. But I did not call +them blessed, for, rising in wrath, I drove them away, saying that +I had but one comfort left, and it was that wherever I might go I +should leave them behind. + +Then I cast myself upon the cushions of my bed and mourned in my +fear and bitterness of heart. This was the end of the vengeance +which I had sworn to wreak on de Garcia, that I myself must have my +heart torn from my breast and offered to a devil. Truly Fonseca, +my benefactor, had spoken words of wisdom when he counselled me to +take my fortune and forget my oath. Had I done so, to-day I might +have been my betrothed's husband and happy in her love at home in +peaceful England, instead of what I was, a lost soul in the power +of fiends and about to be offered to a fiend. In the bitterness of +the thought and the extremity of my anguish I wept aloud and prayed +to my Maker that I might be delivered from this cruel death, or at +the least that my sins should be forgiven me, so that to-morrow +night I might rest at peace in heaven. + +Thus weeping and praying I sank into a half sleep, and dreamed that +I walked on the hillside near the church path that runs through the +garden of the Lodge at Ditchingham. The whispers of the wind were +in the trees which clothe the bank of the Vineyard Hills, the scent +of the sweet English flowers was in my nostrils and the balmy air +of June blew on my brow. It was night in this dream of mine, and I +thought that the moon shone sweetly on the meadows and the river, +while from every side came the music of the nightingale. But I was +not thinking of these delightful sights and sounds, though they +were present in my mind, for my eyes watched the church path which +goes up the hill at the back of the house, and my heart listened +for a footstep that I longed to hear. Then there came a sound of +singing from beyond the hill, and the words of the song were sad, +for they told of one who had sailed away and returned no more, and +presently between the apple trees I saw a white figure on its +crest. Slowly it came towards me and I knew that it was she for +whom I waited, Lily my beloved. Now she ceased to sing, but drew +on gently and her face seemed very sad. Moreover it was the face +of a woman in middle life, but still most beautiful, more beautiful +indeed than it had been in the bloom of youth. She had reached the +foot of the hill and was turning towards the little garden gate, +when I came forward from the shadow of the trees, and stood before +her. Back she started with a cry of fear, then grew silent and +gazed into my face. + +'So changed,' she murmured; 'can it be the same? Thomas, is it you +come back to me from the dead, or is this but a vision?' and slowly +and doubtingly the dream wraith stretched out her arms as though to +clasp me. + +Then I awoke. I awoke and lo! before me stood a fair woman clothed +in white, on whom the moonlight shone as in my dream, and her arms +were stretched towards me lovingly. + +'It is I, beloved, and no vision,' I cried, springing from my bed +and clasping her to my breast to kiss her. But before my lips +touched hers I saw my error, for she whom I embraced was not Lily +Bozard, my betrothed, but Otomie, princess of the Otomie, who was +called my wife. Then I knew that this was the saddest and the most +bitter of dreams that had been sent to mock me, for all the truth +rushed into my mind. Losing my hold of Otomie, I fell back upon +the bed and groaned aloud, and as I fell I saw the flush of shame +upon her brow and breast. For this woman loved me, and thus my act +and words were an insult to her, who could guess well what prompted +them. Still she spoke gently. + +'Pardon me, Teule, I came but to watch and not to waken you. I +came also that I may see you alone before the daybreak, hoping that +I might be of service, or at the least, of comfort to you, for the +end draws near. Say then, in your sleep did you mistake me for +some other woman dearer and fairer than I am, that you would have +embraced me?' + +'I dreamed that you were my betrothed whom I love, and who is far +away across the sea,' I answered heavily. 'But enough of love and +such matters. What have I to do with them who go down into +darkness?' + +'In truth I cannot tell, Teule, still I have heard wise men say +that if love is to be found anywhere, it is in this same darkness +of death, that is light indeed. Grieve not, for if there is truth +in the faith of which you have told me or in our own, either on +this earth or beyond it, with the eyes of the spirit you will see +your dear before another sun is set, and I pray that you may find +her faithful to you. Tell me now, how much does she love you? +Would SHE have lain by your side on the bed of sacrifice as, had +things gone otherwise between us, Teule, it was my hope to do?' + +'No,' I answered, 'it is not the custom of our women to kill +themselves because their husbands chance to die.' + +'Perhaps they think it better to live and wed again,' answered +Otomie very quietly, but I saw her eyes flash and her breast heave +in the moonlight as she spoke. + +'Enough of this foolish talk,' I said. 'Listen, Otomie; if you had +cared for me truly, surely you would have saved me from this +dreadful doom, or prevailed on Guatemoc to save me. You are +Montezuma's daughter, could you not have brought it about during +all these months that he issued his royal mandate, commanding that +I should be spared?' + +'Do you, then, take me for so poor a friend, Teule?' she answered +hotly. 'Know that for all these months, by day and by night, I +have worked and striven to find a means to rescue you. Before he +became a prisoner I importuned my father the emperor, till he +ordered me from his presence. I have sought to bribe the priests, +I have plotted ways of escape, ay, and Guatemoc has helped, for he +loves you. Had it not been for the coming of these accursed +Teules, and the war that they have levied in the city, I had surely +saved you, for a woman's thought leaps far, and can find a path +where none seems possible. But this war has changed everything, +and moreover the star-readers and diviners of auguries have given a +prophecy which seals your fate. For they have prophesied that if +your blood flows, and your heart is offered at the hour of noon to- +morrow on the altar of Tezcat, our people shall be victorious over +the Teules, and utterly destroy them. But if the sacrifice is +celebrated one moment before or after that propitious hour, then +the doom of Tenoctitlan is sealed. Also they have declared that +you must die, not, according to custom, at the Temple of Arms +across the lake, but on the great pyramid before the chief statue +of the god. All this is known throughout the land; thousands of +priests are now offering up prayers that the sacrifice may be +fortunate, and a golden ring has been hung over the stone of +slaughter in such a fashion that the light of the sun must strike +upon the centre of your breast at the very moment of mid-day. For +weeks you have been watched as a jaguar watches its prey, for it +was feared that you would escape to the Teules, and we, your wives, +have been watched also. At this moment there is a triple ring of +guards about the palace, and priests are set without your doors and +beneath the window places. Judge, then, what chance there is of +escape, Teule.' + +'Little indeed,' I said, 'and yet I know a road. If I kill myself, +they cannot kill me.' + +'Nay,' she answered hastily, 'what shall that avail you? While you +live you may hope, but once dead, you are dead for ever. Also if +you must die, it is best that you should die by the hand of the +priest. Believe me, though the end is horrible,' and she +shuddered, 'it is almost painless, so they say, and very swift. +They will not torture you, that we have saved you, Guatemoc and I, +though at first they wished thus to honour the god more +particularly on this great day.' + +'O Teule,' Otomie went on, seating herself by me on the bed, and +taking my hand, 'think no more of these brief terrors, but look +beyond them. Is it so hard a thing to die, and swiftly? We all +must die, to-day, or to-night, or the next day, it matters little +when--and your faith, like ours, teaches that beyond the grave is +endless blessedness. Think then, my friend, to-morrow you will +have passed far from this strife and turmoil; the struggle and the +sorrows and the daily fears for the future that make the soul sick +will be over for you, you will be taken to your peace, where no one +shall disturb you for ever. There you will find that mother whom +you have told me of, and who loved you, and there perhaps one will +join you who loves you better than your mother, mayhap even I may +meet you there, friend,' and she looked up at me strangely. 'The +road that you are doomed to walk is dark indeed, but surely it must +be well-trodden, and there is light shining beyond it. So be a +man, my friend, and do not grieve; rejoice rather that at so early +an age you have done with woes and doubts, and come to the gates of +joy, that you have passed the thorny, unwatered wilderness and see +the smiling lakes and gardens, and among them the temples of your +eternal city. + +'And now farewell. We meet no more till the hour of sacrifice, for +we women who masquerade as wives must accompany you to the first +platforms of the temple. Farewell, dear friend, and think upon my +words; whether they are acceptable to you or no, I am sure of this, +that both for the sake of your own honour and because I ask it of +you, you will die bravely as though the eyes of your own people +were watching all.' And bending suddenly, Otomie kissed me on the +forehead gently as a sister might, and was gone. + +The curtains swung behind her, but the echoes of her noble words +still dwelt in my heart. Nothing can make man look on death +lovingly, and that awaiting me was one from which the bravest would +shrink, yet I felt that Otomie had spoken truth, and that, terrible +as it seemed, it might prove less terrible than life had shewn +itself to be. An unnatural calm fell upon my soul like some dense +mist upon the face of the ocean. Beneath that mist the waters +might foam, above it the sun might shine, yet around was one grey +peace. In this hour I seemed to stand outside of my earthly self, +and to look on all things with a new sense. The tide of life was +ebbing away from me, the shore of death loomed very near, and I +understood then, as in extreme old age I understand to-day, how +much more part we mortals have in death than in this short accident +of life. I could consider all my past, I could wonder on the +future of my spirit, and even marvel at the gentleness and wisdom +of the Indian woman, who was able to think such thoughts and utter +them. + +Well, whatever befell, in one thing I would not disappoint her, I +would die bravely as an Englishman should do, leaving the rest to +God. These barbarians should never say of me that the foreigner +was a coward. Who was I that I should complain? Did not hundreds +of men as good as I was perish daily in yonder square, and without +a murmur? Had not my mother died also at the hand of a murderer? +Was not that unhappy lady, Isabella de Siguenza, walled up alive +because she had been mad enough to love a villain who betrayed her? +The world is full of terrors and sorrows such as mine, who was I +that I should complain? + + +So I mused on till at length the day dawned, and with the rising +sun rose the clamour of men making ready for battle. For now the +fight raged from day to day, and this was to be one of the most +terrible. But I thought little then of the war between the Aztecs +and the Spaniards, who must prepare myself for the struggle of my +own death that was now at hand. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE KISS OF LOVE + + +Presently there was a sound of music, and, accompanied by certain +artists, my pages entered, bearing with them apparel more gorgeous +than any that I had worn hitherto. First, these pages having +stripped me of my robes, the artists painted all my body in hideous +designs of red, and white, and blue, till I resembled a flag, not +even sparing my face and lips, which they coloured with carmine +hues. Over my heart also they drew a scarlet ring with much care +and measurement. Then they did up my hair that now hung upon my +shoulders, after the fashion in which it was worn by generals among +the Indians, tying it on the top of my head with an embroidered +ribbon red in colour, and placed a plume of cock's feathers above +it. Next, having arrayed my body in gorgeous vestments not unlike +those used by popish priests at the celebration of the mass, they +set golden earrings in my ears, golden bracelets on my wrists and +ankles, and round my neck a collar of priceless emeralds. On my +breast also they hung a great gem that gleamed like moonlit water, +and beneath my chin a false beard made from pink sea shells. Then +having twined me round with wreaths of flowers till I thought of +the maypole on Bungay Common, they rested from their labours, +filled with admiration at their handiwork. + +Now the music sounded again and they gave me two lutes, one of +which I must hold in either hand, and conducted me to the great +hall of the palace. Here a number of people of rank were gathered, +all dressed in festal attire, and here also on a dais to which I +was led, stood my four wives clad in the rich dresses of the four +goddesses Xochi, Xilo, Atla, and Clixto, after whom they were named +for the days of their wifehood, Atla being the princess Otomie. +When I had taken my place upon the dais, my wives came forward one +by one, and kissing me on the brow, offered me sweetmeats and meal +cakes in golden platters, and cocoa and mescal in golden cups. Of +the mescal I drank, for it is a spirit and I needed inward comfort, +but the other dainties I could not touch. These ceremonies being +finished, there was silence for a while, till presently a band of +filthy priests entered at the far end of the chamber, clad in their +scarlet sacrificial robes. Blood was on them everywhere, their +long locks were matted with it, their hands were red with it, even +their fierce eyes seemed full of it. They advanced up the chamber +till they stood before the dais, then suddenly the head priest +lifted up his hands, crying aloud: + +'Adore the immortal god, ye people,' and all those gathered there +prostrated themselves shouting: + +'We adore the god.' + +Thrice the priest cried aloud, and thrice they answered him thus, +prostrating themselves at every answer. Then they rose again, and +the priest addressed me, saying: + +'Forgive us, O Tezcat, that we cannot honour you as it is meet, for +our sovereign should have been here to worship you with us. But +you know, O Tezcat, how sore is the strait of your servants, who +must wage war in their own city against those who blaspheme you and +your brother gods. You know that our beloved emperor lies wounded, +a prisoner in their unholy hands. When we have gratified your +longing to pass beyond the skies, O Tezcat, and when in your +earthly person you have taught us the lesson that human prosperity +is but a shadow which flees away; in memory of our love for you +intercede for us, we beseech you, that we may smite these wicked +ones and honour you and them by the rite of their own sacrifice. O +Tezcat, you have dwelt with us but a little while, and now you will +not suffer that we hold you longer from your glory, for your eyes +have longed to see this happy day, and it is come at last. We have +loved you, Tezcat, and ministered to you, grant in return that we +may see you in your splendour, we who are your little children, and +till we come, watch well over our earthly welfare, and that of the +people among whom you have deigned to sojourn.' + +Having spoken some such words as these, that at times could +scarcely be heard because of the sobbing of the people, and of my +wives who wept loudly, except Otomie alone, this villainous priest +made a sign and once more the music sounded. Then he and his band +placed themselves about me, my wives the goddesses going before and +after, and led me down the hall and on to the gateways of the +palace, which were thrown wide for us to pass. Looking round me +with a stony wonder, for in this my last hour nothing seemed to +escape my notice, I saw that a strange play was being played about +us. Some hundreds of paces away the attack on the palace of Axa, +where the Spaniards were entrenched, raged with fury. Bands of +warriors were attempting to scale the walls and being driven back +by the deadly fire of the Spaniards and the pikes and clubs of +their Tlascalan allies, while from the roofs of such of the +neighbouring houses as remained unburned, and more especially from +the platform of the great teocalli, on which I must presently give +up the ghost, arrows, javelins, and stones were poured by thousands +into the courtyards and outer works of the Spanish quarters. + +Five hundred yards away or so, raged this struggle to the death, +but about me, around the gates of Montezuma's palace on the hither +side of the square, was a different scene. Here were gathered a +vast crowd, among them many women and children, waiting to see me +die. They came with flowers in their hands, with the sound of +music and joyous cries, and when they saw me they set up such a +shout of welcome that it almost drowned the thunder of the guns and +the angry roar of battle. Now and again an ill-aimed cannon ball +would plough through them, killing some and wounding others, but +the rest took no heed, only crying the more, 'Welcome, Tezcat, and +farewell. Blessings on you, our deliverer, welcome and farewell!' + +We went slowly through the press, treading on a path of flowers, +till we came across the courtyard to the base of the pyramid. Here +at the outer gate there was a halt because of the multitude of the +people, and while we waited a warrior thrust his way through the +crowd and bowed before me. Glancing up I saw that it was Guatemoc. + +'Teule,' he whispered to me, 'I leave my charge yonder,' and he +nodded towards the force who strove to break a way into the palace +of Axa, 'to bid you farewell. Doubtless we shall meet again ere +long. Believe me, Teule, I would have helped you if I could, but +it cannot be. I wish that I might change places with you. My +friend, farewell. Twice you have saved my life, but yours I cannot +save.' + +'Farewell, Guatemoc,' I answered 'heaven prosper you, for you are a +true man.' + +Then we passed on. + +At the foot of the pyramid the procession was formed, and here one +of my wives bade me adieu after weeping on my neck, though I did +not weep on hers. Now the road to the summit of the teocalli winds +round and round the pyramid, ever mounting higher as it winds, and +along this road we went in solemn state. At each turn we halted +and another wife bade me a last good-bye, or one of my instruments +of music, which I did not grieve to see the last of, or some +article of my strange attire, was taken from me. At length after +an hour's march, for our progress was slow, we reached the flat top +of the pyramid that is approached by a great stair, a space larger +than the area of the churchyard here at Ditchingham, and unfenced +at its lofty edge. Here on this dizzy place stood the temples of +Huitzel and of Tezcat, soaring structures of stone and wood, within +which were placed the horrid effigies of the gods, and dreadful +chambers stained with sacrifice. Here, too, were the holy fires +that burned eternally, the sacrificial stones, the implements of +torment, and the huge drum of snakes' skin, but for the rest the +spot was bare. It was bare but not empty, for on that side of it +which looked towards the Spanish quarters were stationed some +hundreds of men who hurled missiles into their camp without +ceasing. On the other side also were gathered a concourse of +priests awaiting the ceremony of my death. Below the great square, +fringed round with burnt-out houses, was crowded with thousands of +people, some of them engaged in combat with the Spaniards, but the +larger part collected there to witness my murder. + +Now we reached the top of the pyramid, two hours before midday, for +there were still many rites to be carried out ere the moment of +sacrifice. First I was led into the sanctuary of Tezcat, the god +whose name I bore. Here was his statue or idol, fashioned in black +marble and covered with golden ornaments. In the hand of this idol +was a shield of burnished gold on which its jewelled eyes were +fixed, reading there, as his priests fabled, all that passed upon +the earth he had created. Before him also was a plate of gold, +which with muttered invocations the head priest cleansed as I +watched, rubbing it with his long and matted locks. This done he +held it to my lips that I might breathe on it, and I turned faint +and sick, for I knew that it was being made ready to receive the +heart which I felt beating in my breast. + +Now what further ceremonies were to be carried out in this unholy +place I do not know, for at that moment a great tumult arose in the +square beneath, and I was hurried from the sanctuary by the +priests. Then I perceived this: galled to madness by the storm of +missiles rained upon them from its crest, the Spaniards were +attacking the teocalli. Already they were pouring across the +courtyard in large companies, led by Cortes himself, and with them +came many hundreds of their allies the Tlascalans. On the other +hand some thousands of the Aztecs were rushing to the foot of the +first stairway to give the white men battle there. Five minutes +passed and the fight grew fierce. Again and again, covered by the +fire of the arquebusiers, the Spaniards charged the Aztecs, but +their horses slipping upon the stone pavement, at length they +dismounted and continued the fray on foot. Slowly and with great +slaughter the Indians were pushed back and the Spaniards gained a +footing on the first stairway. But hundreds of warriors still +crowded the lofty winding road, and hundreds more held the top, and +it was plain that if the Spaniards won through at all, the task +would be a hard one. Still a fierce hope smote me like a blow when +I saw what was toward. If the Spaniards took the temple there +would be no sacrifice. No sacrifice could be offered till midday, +so Otomie had told me, and that was not for hard upon two hours. +It came to this then, if the Spaniards were victorious within two +hours, there was a chance of life for me, if not I must die. + +Now when I was led out of the sanctuary of Tezcat, I wondered +because the princess Otomie, or rather the goddess Atla as she was +then called, was standing among the chief priests and disputing +with them, for I had seen her bow her head at the door of the holy +place, and thought that it was in token of farewell, seeing that +she was the last of the four women to leave me. Of what she +disputed I could not hear because of the din of battle, but the +argument was keen and it seemed to me that the priests were +somewhat dismayed at her words, and yet had a fierce joy in them. +It appeared also that she won her cause, for presently they bowed +in obeisance to her, and turning slowly she swept to my side with a +peculiar majesty of gait that even then I noted. Glancing up at +her face also, I saw that it was alight as though with a great and +holy purpose, and moreover that she looked like some happy bride +passing to her husband's arms. + +'Why are you not gone, Otomie?' I said. 'Now it is too late. The +Spaniards surround the teocalli and you will be killed or taken +prisoner.' + +'I await the end whatever it may be,' she answered briefly, and we +spoke no more for a while, but watched the progress of the fray, +which was fierce indeed. Grimly the Aztec warriors fought before +the symbols of their gods, and in the sight of the vast concourse +of the people who crowded the square beneath and stared at the +struggle in silence. They hurled themselves upon the Spanish +swords, they gripped the Spaniards with their hands and screaming +with rage dragged them to the steep sides of the roadway, purposing +to cast them over. Sometimes they succeeded, and a ball of men +clinging together would roll down the slope and be dashed to pieces +on the stone flooring of the courtyard, a Spaniard being in the +centre of the ball. But do what they would, like some vast and +writhing snake, still the long array of Teules clad in their +glittering mail ploughed its way upward through the storm of spears +and arrows. Minute by minute and step by step they crept on, +fighting as men fight who know the fate that awaits the desecrators +of the gods of Anahuac, fighting for life, and honour, and safety +from the stone of sacrifice. Thus an hour went by, and the +Spaniards were half way up the pyramid. Louder and louder grew the +fearful sounds of battle, the Spaniards cheered and called on their +patron saints to aid them, the Aztecs yelled like wild beasts, the +priests screamed invocations to their gods and cries of +encouragement to the warriors, while above all rose the rattle of +the arquebusses, the roar of the cannon, and the fearful note of +the great drum of snake's skin on which a half-naked priest beat +madly. Only the multitudes below never moved, nor shouted. They +stood silent gazing upward, and I could see the sunlight flash on +the thousands of their staring eyes. + +Now all this while I was standing near the stone of sacrifice with +Otomie at my side. Round me were a ring of priests, and over the +stone was fixed a square of black cloth supported upon four poles, +which were set in sockets in the pavement. In the centre of this +black cloth was sewn a golden funnel measuring six inches or so +across at its mouth, and the sunbeams passing through this funnel +fell in a bright patch, the size of an apple, upon the space of +pavement that was shaded by the cloth. As the sun moved in the +heavens, so did this ring of light creep across the shadow till at +length it climbed the stone of sacrifice and lay upon its edge. + +Then at a sign from the head priest, his ministers laid hold of me +and plucked what were left of my fine clothes from me as cruel boys +pluck a living bird, till I stood naked except for the paint upon +my body and a cloth about my loins. Now I knew that my hour had +come, and strange to tell, for the first time this day courage +entered into me, and I rejoiced to think that soon I should have +done with my tormentors. Turning to Otomie I began to bid her +farewell in a clear voice, when to my amaze I saw that as I had +been served so she was being served, for her splendid robes were +torn off her and she stood before me arrayed in nothing except her +beauty, her flowing hair, and a broidered cotton smock. + +'Do not wonder, Teule,' she said in a low voice, answering the +question my tongue refused to frame, 'I am your wife and yonder is +our marriage bed, the first and last. Though you do not love me, +to-day I die your death and at your side, as I have the right to +do. I could not save you, Teule, but at least I can die with you.' + +At the moment I made no answer, for I was stricken silent by my +wonder, and before I could find my tongue the priests had cast me +down, and for the second time I lay upon the stone of doom. As +they held me a yell fiercer and longer than any which had gone +before, told that the Spaniards had got foot upon the last stair of +the ascent. Scarcely had my body been set upon the centre of the +great stone, when that of Otomie was laid beside it, so close that +our sides touched, for I must lie in the middle of the stone and +there was no great place for her. Then the moment of sacrifice not +being come, the priests made us fast with cords which they knotted +to copper rings in the pavement, and turned to watch the progress +of the fray. + +For some minutes we lay thus side by side, and as we lay a great +wonder and gratitude grew in my heart, wonder that a woman could be +so brave, gratitude for the love she gave me, sealing it with her +life-blood. Because Otomie loved me she had chosen this fearful +death, because she loved me so well that she desired to die thus at +my side rather than to live on in greatness and honour without me. +Of a sudden, in a moment while I thought of this marvel, a new +light shone upon my heart and it was changed towards her. I felt +that no woman could ever be so dear to me as this glorious woman, +no, not even my betrothed. I felt--nay, who can say what I did +feel? But I know this, that the tears rushed to my eyes and ran +down my painted face, and I turned my head to look at her. She was +lying as much upon her left side as her hands would allow, her long +hair fell from the stone to the paving where it lay in masses, and +her face was towards me. So close was it indeed that there was not +an inch between our lips. + +'Otomie,' I whispered, 'listen to me. I love you, Otomie.' Now I +saw her breast heave beneath the bands and the colour come upon her +brow. + +'Then I am repaid,' she answered, and our lips clung together in a +kiss, the first, and as we thought the last. Yes, there we kissed, +on the stone of sacrifice, beneath the knife of the priest and the +shadow of death, and if there has been a stranger love scene in the +world, I have never heard its story. + +'Oh! I am repaid,' she said again; 'I would gladly die a score of +deaths to win this moment, indeed I pray that I may die before you +take back your words. For, Teule, I know well that there is one +who is dearer to you than I am, but now your heart is softened by +the faithfulness of an Indian girl, and you think that you love +her. Let me die then believing that the dream is true.' + +'Talk not so,' I answered heavily, for even at that moment the +memory of Lily came into my mind. 'You give your life for me and I +love you for it.' + +'My life is nothing and your love is much,' she answered smiling. +'Ah! Teule, what magic have you that you can bring me, Montezuma's +daughter, to the altar of the gods and of my own free will? Well, +I desire no softer bed, and for the why and wherefore it will soon +be known by both of us, and with it many other things.' + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS + + +'Otomie,' I said presently, 'when will they kill us?' + +'When the point of light lies within the ring that is painted over +your heart,' she answered. + +Now I turned my head from her, and looked at the sunbeam which +pierced the shadow above us like a golden pencil. It rested at my +side about six inches from me, and I reckoned that it would lie in +the scarlet ring painted upon my breast within some fifteen +minutes. Meanwhile the clamour of battle grew louder and nearer. +Shifting myself so far as the cords would allow, I strained my head +upwards and saw that the Spaniards had gained the crest of the +pyramid, since the battle now raged upon its edge, and I have +rarely seen so terrible a fight, for the Aztecs fought with the +fury of despair, thinking little of their own lives if they could +only bring a Spaniard to his death. But for the most part their +rude weapons would not pierce the coats of mail, so that there +remained only one way to compass their desire, namely, by casting +the white men over the edge of the teocalli to be crushed like +eggshells upon the pavement two hundred feet below. Thus the fray +broke itself up into groups of foes who rent and tore at each other +upon the brink of the pyramid, now and again to vanish down its +side, ten or twelve of them together. Some of the priests also +joined in the fight, thinking less of their own deaths than of the +desecration of their temples, for I saw one of them, a man of huge +strength and stature, seize a Spanish soldier round the middle and +leap with him into space. Still, though very slowly, the Spaniards +and Tlascalans forced their way towards the centre of the platform, +and as they came the danger of this dreadful end grew less, for the +Aztecs must drag them further. + +Now the fight drew near to the stone of sacrifice, and all who +remained alive of the Aztecs, perhaps some two hundred and fifty of +them, besides the priests, ringed themselves round us and it in a +circle. Also the outer rim of the sunbeam that fell through the +golden funnel, creeping on remorselessly, touched my painted side +which it seemed to burn as hot iron might, for alas, I could not +command the sun to stand still while the battle raged, as did +Joshua in the valley of Ajalon. When it touched me, five priests +seized my limbs and head, and the father of them, he who had +conducted me from the palace, clasped his flint knife in both +hands. Now a deathly sickness took me and I shut my eyes dreaming +that all was done, but at that moment I heard a wild-eyed man, the +chief of the astronomers whom I had noted standing by, call out to +the minister of death: + +'Not yet, O priest of Tezeat! If you smite before the sunbeam lies +upon the victim's heart, your gods are doomed and doomed are the +people of Anahuac.' + +The priest gnashed his teeth with rage, and glared first at the +creeping point of light and then over his shoulder at the advancing +battle. Slowly the ring of warriors closed in upon us, slowly the +golden ray crept up my breast till its outer rim touched the red +circle painted upon my heart. Again the priest heaved up his awful +knife, again I shut my eyes, and again I heard the shrill scream of +the astronomer, 'Not yet, not yet, or your gods are doomed!' + +Then I heard another sound. It was the voice of Otomie crying for +help. + +'Save us, Teules; they murder us!' she shrieked in so piercing a +note that it reached the ears of the Spaniards, for one shouted in +answer and in the Castilian tongue, 'On, my comrades, on! The dogs +do murder on their altars!' + +Then there was a mighty rush and the defending Aztecs were swept in +upon the altar, lifting the priest of sacrifice from his feet and +throwing him across my body. Thrice that rush came like a rush of +the sea, and each time the stand of the Aztecs weakened. Now their +circle was broken and the swords of the Spaniards flashed up on +every side, and now the red ray lay within the ring upon my heart. + +'Smite, priest of Tezcat,' screamed the voice of the astronomer; +'smite home for the glory of your gods!' + +With a fearful yell the priest lifted the knife; I saw the golden +sunbeam that rested full upon my heart shine on it. Then as it was +descending I saw the same sunbeam shine upon a yard of steel that +flashed across me and lost itself in the breast of the murderer +priest. Down came the great flint knife, but its aim was lost. It +struck indeed, but not upon my bosom, though I did not escape it +altogether. Full upon the altar of sacrifice it fell and was +shattered there, piercing between my side and that of Otomie, and +gashing the flesh of both so that our blood was mingled upon the +stone, making us one indeed. Down too came the priest across our +bodies for the second time, but to rise no more, for he writhed +dying on those whom he would have slain. + +Then as in a dream I heard the wail of the astronomer singing the +dirge of the gods of Anahuac. + +'The priest is dead and his gods are fallen,' he cried. 'Tezcat +has rejected his victim and is fallen; doomed are the gods of +Anahuac! Victory is to the Cross of the Christians!' + +Thus he wailed, then came the sound of sword blows and I knew that +this prophet was dead also. + +Now a strong arm pulled the dying priest from off us, and he +staggered back till he fell over the altar where the eternal fire +burned, quenching it with his blood and body after it had flared +for many generations, and a knife cut the rope that bound us. + +I sat up staring round me wildly, and a voice spoke above me in +Castilian, not to me indeed but to some comrade. + +'These two went near to it, poor devils,' said the voice. 'Had my +cut been one second later, that savage would have drilled a hole in +him as big as my head. By all the saints! the girl is lovely, or +would be if she were washed. I shall beg her of Cortes as my +prize.' + +The voice spoke and I knew the voice. None other ever had that +hard clear ring. I knew it even then and looked up, slipping off +the death-stone as I looked. Now I saw. Before me fully clad in +mail was my enemy, de Garcia. It was HIS sword that by the good +providence of God had pierced the breast of the priest. He had +saved me who, had he known, would as soon have turned his steel +against his own heart as on that of my destroyer. + +I gazed at him, wondering if I dreamed, then my lips spoke, without +my will as it were: + +'DE GARCIA!' + +He staggered back at the sound of my voice, like a man struck by a +shot, then stared at me, rubbed his eyes with his hand, and stared +again. Now at length he knew me through my paint. + +'Mother of God!' he gasped, 'it is that knave Thomas Wingfield, AND +I HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE!' + +By this time my senses had come back to me, and knowing all my +folly, I turned seeking escape. But de Garcia had no mind to +suffer this. Lifting his sword, he sprang at me with a beastlike +scream of rage and hate. Swiftly as thought I slipped round the +stone of sacrifice and after me came the uplifted sword of my +enemy. It would have overtaken me soon enough, for I was weak with +fear and fasting, and my limbs were cramped with bonds, but at that +moment a cavalier whom by his dress and port I guessed to be none +other than Cortes himself, struck up de Garcia's sword, saying: + +'How now, Sarceda? Are you mad with the lust of blood that you +would take to sacrificing victims like an Indian priest? Let the +poor devil go.' + +'He is no Indian, he is an English spy,' cried de Garcia, and once +more struggled to get at me. + +'Decidedly our friend is mad,' said Cortes, scanning me; 'he says +that this wretched creature is an Englishman. Come, be off both of +you, or somebody else may make the same mistake,' and he waved his +sword in token to us to go, deeming that I could not understand his +words; then added angrily, as de Garcia, speechless with rage, made +a new attempt to get at me: + +'No, by heaven! I will not suffer it. We are Christians and come +to save victims, not to slay them. Here, comrades, hold this fool +who would stain his soul with murder.' + +Now the Spaniards clutched de Garcia by the arms, and he cursed and +raved at them, for as I have said, his rage was that of a beast +rather than of a man. But I stood bewildered, not knowing whither +to fly. Fortunate it was for me indeed that one was by who though +she understood no Spanish, yet had a quicker wit. For while I +stood thus, Otomie clasped my hand, and whispering, 'Fly, fly +swiftly!' led me away from the stone of sacrifice. + +'Whither shall we go?' I said at length. 'Were it not better to +trust to the mercy of the Spaniards?' + +'To the mercy of that man-devil with the sword?' she answered. +'Peace, Teule, and follow me.' + +Now she led me on, and the Spaniards let us by unharmed, ay, and +even spoke words of pity as we passed, for they knew that we were +victims snatched from sacrifice. Indeed, when a certain brute, a +Tlascalan Indian, rushed at us, purposing to slay us with a club, +one of the Spaniards ran him through the shoulder so that he fell +wounded to the pavement. + +So we went on, and at the edge of the pyramid we glanced back and +saw that de Garcia had broken from those who held him, or perhaps +he found his tongue and had explained the truth to them. At the +least he was bounding from the altar of sacrifice nearly fifty +yards away, and coming towards us with uplifted sword. Then fear +gave us strength, and we fled like the wind. Along the steep path +we rushed side by side, leaping down the steps and over the +hundreds of dead and dying, only pausing now and again to save +ourselves from being smitten into space by the bodies of the +priests whom the Spaniards were hurling from the crest of the +teocalli. Once looking up, I caught sight of de Garcia pursuing +far above us, but after that we saw him no more; doubtless he +wearied of the chase, or feared to fall into the hands of such of +the Aztec warriors as still clustered round the foot of the +pyramid. + +We had lived through many dangers that day, the princess Otomie and +I, but one more awaited us before ever we found shelter for awhile. +After we had reached the foot of the pyramid and turned to mingle +with the terrified rabble that surged and flowed through the +courtyard of the temple, bearing away the dead and wounded as the +sea at flood reclaims its waste and wreckage, a noise like thunder +caught my ear. I looked up, for the sound came from above, and saw +a huge mass bounding down the steep side of the pyramid. Even then +I knew it again; it was the idol of the god Tezcat that the +Spaniards had torn from its shrine, and like an avenging demon it +rushed straight on to me. Already it was upon us, there was no +retreat from instant death, we had but escaped sacrifice to the +spirit of the god to be crushed to powder beneath the bulk of his +marble emblem. On he came while on high the Spaniards shouted in +triumph. His base had struck the stone side of the pyramid fifty +feet above us, now he whirled round and round in the air to strike +again within three paces of where we stood. I felt the solid +mountain shake beneath the blow, and next instant the air was +filled with huge fragments of marble, that whizzed over us and past +us as though a mine of powder had been fired beneath our feet, +tearing the rocks from their base. The god Tezcat had burst into a +score of pieces, and these fell round us like a flight of arrows, +and yet we were not touched. My head was grazed by his head, his +feet dug a pit before my feet, but I stood there unhurt, the false +god had no power over the victim who had escaped him! + +After that I remember nothing till I found myself once more in my +apartments in Montezuma's palace, which I never hoped to see again. +Otomie was by me, and she brought me water to wash the paint from +my body and the blood from my wound, which, leaving her own +untended, she dressed skilfully, for the cut of the priest's knife +was deep and I had bled much. Also she clothed herself afresh in a +white robe and brought me raiment to wear, with food and drink, and +I partook of them. Then I bade her eat something herself, and when +she had done so I gathered my wits together and spoke to her. + +'What next?' I said. 'Presently the priests will be on us, and we +shall be dragged back to sacrifice. There is no hope for me here, +I must fly to the Spaniards and trust to their mercy.' + +'To the mercy of that man with the sword? Say, Teule, who is he?' + +'He is that Spaniard of whom I have spoken to you, Otomie; he is my +mortal enemy whom I have followed across the seas.' + +'And now you would put yourself into his power. Truly, you are +foolish, Teule.' + +'It is better to fall into the hands of Christian men than into +those of your priests,' I answered. + +'Have no fear,' she said; 'the priests are harmless for you. You +have escaped them and there's an end. Few have ever come alive +from their clutches before, and he who does so is a wizard indeed. +For the rest I think that your God is stronger than our gods, for +surely He must have cast His mantle over us when we lay yonder on +the stone. Ah! Teule, to what have you brought me that I should +live to doubt my gods, ay, and to call upon the foes of my country +for succour in your need. Believe me, I had not done it for my own +sake, since I would have died with your kiss upon my lips and your +word of love echoing in my ears, who now must live knowing that +these joys have passed from me.' + +'How so?' I answered. 'What I have said, I have said. Otomie, you +would have died with me, and you saved my life by your wit in +calling on the Spaniards. Henceforth it is yours, for there is no +other woman in the world so tender and so brave, and I say it +again, Otomie, my wife, I love you. Our blood has mingled on the +stone of sacrifice and there we kissed; let these be our marriage +rites. Perhaps I have not long to live, but till I die I am yours, +Otomie my wife.' + +Thus I spoke from the fulness of my heart, for my strength and +courage were shattered, horror and loneliness had taken hold of me. +But two things were left to me in the world, my trust in Providence +and the love of this woman, who had dared so much for me. +Therefore I forgot my troth and clung to her as a child clings to +its mother. Doubtless it was wrong, but I will be bold to say that +few men so placed would have acted otherwise. Moreover, I could +not take back the fateful words that I had spoken on the stone of +sacrifice. When I said them I was expecting death indeed, but to +renounce them now that its shadow was lifted from me, if only for a +little while, would have been the act of a coward. For good or +evil I had given myself to Montezuma's daughter, and I must abide +by it or be shamed. Still such was the nobleness of this Indian +lady that even then she would not take me at my word. For a little +while she stood smiling sadly and drawing a lock of her long hair +through the hollow of her hand. Then she spoke: + +'You are not yourself, Teule, and I should be base indeed if I made +so solemn a compact with one who does not know what he sells. +Yonder on the altar and in a moment of death you said that you +loved me, and doubtless it was true. But now you have come back to +life, and say, lord, who set that golden ring upon your hand and +what is written in its circle? Yet even if the words are true that +you have spoken and you love me a little, there is one across the +sea whom you love better. That I could bear, for my heart is fixed +on you alone among men, and at the least you would be kind to me, +and I should move in the sunlight of your presence. But having +known the light, I cannot live to wander in the darkness. You do +not understand. I will tell you what I fear. I fear that if--if +we were wed, you would weary of me as men do, and that memory would +grow too strong for you. Then by and by it might be possible for +you to find your way back across the waters to your own land and +your own love, and so you would desert me, Teule. This is what I +could not bear, Teule. I can forego you now, ay, and remain your +friend. But I cannot be put aside like a dancing girl, the +companion of a month, I, Montezuma's daughter, a lady of my own +land. Should you wed me, it must be for my life, Teule, and that +is perhaps more than you would wish to promise, though you could +kiss me on yonder stone and there is blood fellowship between us,' +and she glanced at the red stain in the linen robe that covered the +wound upon her side. + +'And now, Teule, I leave you a while, that I may find Guatemoc, if +he still lives, and others who, now that the strength of the +priests is shattered, have power to protect you and advance you to +honour. Think then on all that I have said, and do not be hasty to +decide. Or would you make an end at once and fly to the white men +if I can find a means of escape?' + +'I am too weary to fly anywhere,' I answered, 'even if I could. +Moreover, I forget. My enemy is among the Spaniards, he whom I +have sworn to kill, therefore his friends are my foes and his foes +my friends. I will not fly, Otomie.' + +'There you are wise,' she said, 'for if you come among the Teules +that man will murder you; by fair means or foul he will murder you +within a day, I saw it in his eyes. Now rest while I seek your +safety, if there is any safety in this blood-stained land.' + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THOMAS IS MARRIED + + +Otomie turned and went. I watched the golden curtains close behind +her; then I sank back upon the couch and instantly was lost in +sleep, for I was faint and weak, and so dazed with weariness, that +at the time I scarcely knew what had happened, or the purpose of +our talk. Afterwards, however, it came back to me. I must have +slept for many hours, for when I awoke it was far on into the +night. It was night but not dark, for through the barred window +places came the sound of tumult and fighting, and red rays of light +cast by the flames of burning houses. One of these windows was +above my couch, and standing on the bed I seized the sill with my +hands. With much pain, because of the flesh wound in my side, I +drew myself up till I could look through the bars. Then I saw that +the Spaniards, not content with the capture of the teocalli, had +made a night attack and set fire to hundreds of houses in the city. +The glare of the flames was that of a lurid day, and by it I could +see the white men retreating to their quarters, pursued by +thousands of Aztecs, who hung upon their flanks, shooting at them +with stones and arrows. + +Now I dropped down from the window place and began to think as to +what I should do, for again my mind was wavering. Should I desert +Otomie and escape to the Spaniards if that were possible, taking my +chance of death at the hands of de Garcia? Or should I stay among +the Aztecs if they would give me shelter, and wed Otomie? There +was a third choice, indeed, to stay with them and leave Otomie +alone, though it would be difficult to do this and keep my honour. +One thing I understood, if I married Otomie it must be at her own +price, for then I must become an Indian and give over all hope of +returning to England and to my betrothed. Of this, indeed, there +was little chance, still, while my life remained to me, it might +come about if I was free. But once my hands were tied by this +marriage it could never be during Otomie's lifetime, and so far as +Lily Bozard was concerned I should be dead. How could I be thus +faithless to her memory and my troth, and on the other hand, how +could I discard the woman who had risked all for me, and who, to +speak truth, had grown so dear to me, though there was one yet +dearer? A hero or an angel might find a path out of this tangle, +but alas! I was neither the one nor the other, only a man afflicted +as other men are with human weakness, and Otomie was at hand, and +very sweet and fair. Still, almost I determined that I would avail +myself of her nobleness, that I would go back upon my words, and +beg her to despise me and see me no more, in order that I might not +be forced to break the troth that I had pledged beneath the beech +at Ditchingham. For I greatly dreaded this oath of life-long +fidelity which I should be forced to swear if I chose any other +path. + +Thus I thought on in pitiable confusion of mind, not knowing that +all these matters were beyond my ordering, since a path was already +made ready to my feet, which I must follow or die. And let this be +a proof of the honesty of my words, since, had I been desirous of +glozing the truth, I need have written nothing of these struggles +of conscience, and of my own weakness. For soon it was to come to +this, though not by her will, that I must either wed Otomie or die +at once, and few would blame me for doing the first and not the +last. Indeed, though I did wed her, I might still have declared +myself to my affianced and to all the world as a slave of events +from which there was no escape. But it is not all the truth, since +my mind was divided, and had it not been settled for me, I cannot +say how the struggle would have ended. + +Now, looking back on the distant past, and weighing my actions and +character as a judge might do, I can see, however, that had I found +time to consider, there was another matter which would surely have +turned the scale in favour of Otomie. De Garcia was among the +Spaniards, and my hatred of de Garcia was the ruling passion of my +life, a stronger passion even than my love for the two dear women +who have been its joy. Indeed, though he is dead these many years +I still hate him, and evil though the desire be, even in my age I +long that my vengeance was still to wreak. While I remained among +the Aztecs de Garcia would be their enemy and mine, and I might +meet him in war and kill him there. But if I succeeded in reaching +the Spanish camp, then it was almost sure that he would bring about +my instant death. Doubtless he had told such a tale of me already, +that within an hour I should be hung as a spy, or otherwise made +away with. + +But I will cease from these unprofitable wonderings which have but +one value, that of setting out my strange necessity of choice +between an absent and a present love, and go on with the story of +an event in which there was no room to balance scruples. + + +While I sat musing on the couch the curtain was drawn, and a man +entered bearing a torch. It was Guatemoc as he had come from the +fray, which, except for its harvest of burning houses, was finished +for that night. The plumes were shorn from his head, his golden +armour was hacked by the Spanish swords, and he bled from a shot +wound in the neck. + +'Greeting, Teule,' he said. 'Certainly I never thought to see you +alive to-night, or myself either for that matter. But it is a +strange world, and now, if never before in Tenoctitlan, those +things happen for which we look the least. But I have no time for +words. I came to summon you before the council.' + +'What is to be my fate?' I asked. 'To be dragged back to the stone +of sacrifice?' + +'Nay, have no fear of that. But for the rest I cannot say. In an +hour you may be dead or great among us, if any of us can be called +great in these days of shame. Otomie has worked well for you among +the princes and the counsellors, so she says, and if you have a +heart, you should be grateful to her, for it seems to me that few +women have loved a man so much. As for me, I have been employed +elsewhere,' and he glanced at his rent armour, 'but I will lift up +my voice for you. Now come, friend, for the torch burns low. By +this time you must be well seasoned in dangers; one more or less +will matter as little to you as to me.' + +Then I rose and followed him into the great cedar-panelled hall, +where that very morning I had received adoration as a god. Now I +was a god no longer, but a prisoner on trial for his life. Upon +the dais where I had stood in the hour of my godhead were gathered +those of the princes and counsellors who were left alive. Some of +them, like Guatemoc, were clad in rent and bloody mail, others in +their customary dress, and one in a priest's robe. They had only +two things in common among them, the sternness of their faces and +the greatness of their rank, and they sat there this night not to +decide my fate, which was but a little thing, but to take counsel +as to how they might expel the Spaniards before the city was +destroyed. + +When I entered, a man in mail, who sat in the centre of the half +circle, and in whom I knew Cuitlahua, who would be emperor should +Montezuma die, looked up quickly and said: + +'Who is this, Guatemoc, that you bring with you? Ah! I remember; +the Teule that was the god Tezcat, and who escaped the sacrifice +to-day. Listen, nobles. What is to be done with this man? Say, +is it lawful that he be led back to sacrifice?' + +Then the priest answered: 'I grieve to say that it is not lawful +most noble prince. This man has lain on the altar of the god, he +has even been wounded by the holy knife. But the god rejected him +in a fateful hour, and he must lie there no more. Slay him if you +will, but not upon the stone of sacrifice.' + +'What then shall be done with him?' said the prince again. + +'He is of the blood of the Teules, and therefore an enemy. One +thing is certain; he must not be suffered to join the white devils +and give them tidings of our distresses. Is it not best that he be +put away forthwith?' + +Now several of the council nodded their heads, but others sat +silent, making no sign. + +'Come,' said Cuitlahua, 'we have no time to waste over this man +when the lives of thousands are hourly at stake. The question is, +Shall the Teule be slain?' + +Then Guatemoc rose and spoke, saying: 'Your pardon, noble kinsman, +but I hold that we may put this prisoner to better use than to kill +him. I know him well; he is brave and loyal, as I have proved, +moreover, he is not all a Teule, but half of another race that +hates them as he hates them. Also he has knowledge of their +customs and mode of warfare, which we lack, and I think that he may +be able to give us good counsel in our strait.' + +'The counsel of the wolf to the deer perhaps,' said Cuitlahua, +coldly; 'counsel that shall lead us to the fangs of the Teules. +Who shall answer for this foreign devil, that he will not betray us +if we trust him?' + +'I will answer with my life,' answered Guatemoc. + +'Your life is of too great worth to be set on such a stake, nephew. +Men of this white breed are liars, and his own word is of no value +even if he gives it. I think that it will be best to kill him and +have done with doubts.' + +'This man is wed to Otomie, princess of the Otomie, Montezuma's +daughter, your niece,' said Guatemoc again, 'and she loves him so +well that she offered herself upon the stone of sacrifice with him. +Unless I mistake she will answer for him also. Shall she be +summoned before you?' + +'If you wish, nephew; but a woman in love is a blind woman, and +doubtless he has deceived her also. Moreover, she was his wife +according to the rule of religion only. Is it your desire that the +princess should be summoned before you, comrades?' + +Now some said nay, but the most, those whose interest Otomie had +gained, said yea, and the end of it was that one of their number +was sent to summon her. + +Presently she came, looking very weary, but proud in mien and +royally attired, and bowed before the council. + +'This is the question, princess,' said Cuitlahua. 'Whether this +Teule shall be slain forthwith, or whether he shall be sworn as one +of us, should he be willing to take the oath? The prince Guatemoc +here vouches for him, and he says, moreover, that you will vouch +for him also. A woman can do this in one way only, by taking him +she vouches as her husband. You are already wed to this foreigner +by the rule of religion. Are you willing to marry him according to +the custom of our land, and to answer for his faith with your own +life?' + +'I am willing,' Otomie answered quietly, 'if he is willing.' + +'In truth it is a great honour that you would do this white dog,' +said Cuitlahua. 'Bethink you, you are princess of the Otomie and +one of our master's daughters, it is to you that we look to bring +back the mountain clans of the Otomie, of whom you are +chieftainess, from their unholy alliance with the accursed +Tlascalans, the slaves of the Teules. Is not your life too +precious to be set on such a stake as this foreigner's faith? for +learn, Otomie, if he proves false your rank shall not help you.' + +'I know it all,' she replied quietly. 'Foreigner or not, I love +this man and I will answer for him with my blood. Moreover, I look +to him to assist me to win back the people of the Otomie to their +allegiance. But let him speak for himself, my lord. It may happen +that he has no desire to take me in marriage.' + +Cuitlahua smiled grimly and said, 'When the choice lies between the +breast of death and those fair arms of yours, niece, it is easy to +guess his answer. Still, speak, Teule, and swiftly.' + +'I have little to say, lord. If the princess Otomie is willing to +wed me, I am willing to wed her,' I answered, and thus in the +moment of my danger all my doubts and scruples vanished. As +Cuitlahua had said, it was easy to guess the choice of one set +between death and Otomie. + +She heard and looked at me warningly, saying in a low voice: +'Remember our words, Teule. In such a marriage you renounce your +past and give me your future.' + +'I remember,' I answered, and while I spoke, there came before my +eyes a vision of Lily's face as it had been when I bade her +farewell. This then was the end of the vows that I had sworn. +Cuitlahua looked at me with a glance which seemed to search my +heart and said: + +'I hear your words, Teule. You, a white wanderer, are graciously +willing to take this princess to wife, and by her to be lifted high +among the great lords of this land. But say, how can we trust you? +If you fail us your wife dies indeed, but that may be naught to +you.' + +'I am ready to swear allegiance,' I answered. 'I hate the +Spaniards, and among them is my bitterest enemy whom I followed +across the sea to kill--the man who strove to murder me this very +day. I can say no more, if you doubt my words it were best to make +an end of me. Already I have suffered much at the hands of your +people; it matters little if I die or live.' + +'Boldly spoken, Teule. Now, lords, I ask your judgment. Shall +this man be given to Otomie as husband and be sworn as one of us, +or shall he be killed instantly? You know the matter. If he can +be trusted, as Guatemoc and Otomie believe, he will be worth an +army to us, for he is acquainted with the language, the customs, +the weapons, and the modes of warfare of these white devils whom +the gods have let loose upon us. If on the other hand he is not to +be trusted, and it is hard for us to put faith in one of his blood, +he may do us much injury, for in the end he will escape to the +Teules, and betray our counsels and our strength, or the lack of +it. It is for you to judge, lords.' + +Now the councillors consulted together, and some said one thing and +some another, for they were not by any means of a mind in the +matter. At length growing weary, Cuitlahua called on them to put +the question to the vote, and this they did by a lifting of hands. +First those who were in favour of my death held up their hands, +then those who thought that it would be wise to spare me. There +were twenty-six councillors present, not counting Cuitlahua, and of +these thirteen voted for my execution and thirteen were for saving +me alive. + +'Now it seems that I must give a casting vote,' said Cuitlahua when +the tale had been rendered, and my blood turned cold at his words, +for I had seen that his mind was set against me. Then it was that +Otomie broke in, saying: + +'Your pardon, my uncle, but before you speak I have a word to say. +You need my services, do you not? for if the people of the Otomie +will listen to any and suffer themselves to be led from their evil +path, it is to me. My mother was by birth their chieftainess, the +last of a long line, and I am her only child, moreover my father is +their emperor. Therefore my life is of no small worth now in this +time of trouble, for though I am nothing in myself, yet it may +chance that I can bring thirty thousand warriors to your standard. +The priests knew this on yonder pyramid, and when I claimed my +right to lie at the side of the Teule, they gainsayed me, nor would +they suffer it, though they hungered for the royal blood, till I +called down the vengeance of the gods upon them. Now my uncle, and +you, lords, I tell you this: Slay yonder man if you will, but know +that then you must find another than me to lure the Otomie from +their rebellion, for then I complete what I began to-day, and +follow him to the grave.' + +She ceased and a murmur of amazement went round the chamber, for +none had looked to find such love and courage in this lady's heart. +Only Cuitlahua grew angry. + +'Disloyal girl,' he said; 'do you dare to set your lover before +your country? Shame upon you, shameless daughter of our king. +Why, it is in the blood--as the father is so is the daughter. Did +not Montezuma forsake his people and choose to lie among these +Teules, the false children of Quetzal? And now this Otomie follows +in his path. Tell us how is it, woman, that you and your lover +alone escaped from the teocalli yonder when all the rest were +killed. Are you then in league with these Teules? I say to you, +niece, that if things were otherwise and I had my way, you should +win your desire indeed, for you should be slain at this man's side +and within the hour.' And he ceased for lack of breath, and looked +upon her fiercely. + +But Otomie never quailed; she stood before him pale and quiet, with +folded hands and downcast eyes, and answered: + +'Forbear to reproach me because my love is strong, or reproach me +if you will, I have spoken my last word. Condemn this man to die +and Prince you must seek some other envoy to win back the Otomie to +the cause of Anahuac.' + +Now Cuitlahua pondered, staring into the gloom above him and +pulling at his beard, and the silence was great, for none knew what +his judgment would be. At last he spoke: + +'So be it. We have need of Otomie, my niece, and it is of no avail +to fight against a woman's love. Teule, we give you life, and with +the life honour and wealth, and the greatest of our women in +marriage, and a place in our councils. Take these gifts and her, +but I say to you both, beware how you use them. If you betray us, +nay, if you do but think on treachery, I swear to you that you +shall die a death so slow and horrible that the very name of it +would turn your heart to water; you and your wife, your children +and your servants. Come, let him be sworn!' + +I heard and my head swam, and a mist gathered before my eyes. Once +again I was saved from instant death. + +Presently it cleared, and looking up my eyes met those of the woman +who had saved me, Otomie my wife, who smiled upon me somewhat +sadly. Then the priest came forward bearing a wooden bowl, carved +about with strange signs, and a flint knife, and bade me bare my +arm. He cut my flesh with the knife, so that blood ran from it +into the bowl. Some drops of this blood he emptied on to the +ground, muttering invocations the while. Then he turned and looked +at Cuitlahua as though in question, and Cuitlahua answered with a +bitter laugh: + +'Let him be baptized with the blood of the princess Otomie my +niece, for she is bail for him.' + +'Nay, lord,' said Guatemoc, 'these two have mingled bloods already +upon the stone of sacrifice, and they are man and wife. But I also +have vouched for him, and I offer mine in earnest of my faith.' + +'This Teule has good friends,' said Cuitlahua; 'you honour him +overmuch. But so be it.' + +Then Guatemoc came forward, and when the priest would have cut him +with the knife, he laughed and said, pointing to the bullet wound +upon his neck: + +'No need for that, priest. Blood runs here that was shed by the +Teules. None can be fitter for this purpose.' + +So the priest drew away the bandage and suffered the blood of +Guatemoc to drop into a second smaller bowl. Then he came to me +and dipping his finger into the blood, he drew the sign of a cross +upon my forehead as a Christian priest draws it upon the forehead +of an infant, and said: + +'In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere +and sees all things, I sign you with this blood and make you of +this blood. In the presence and the name of god our lord, who is +everywhere and sees all things, I pour forth your blood upon the +earth!' (here he poured as he spoke). 'As this blood of yours +sinks into the earth, so may the memory of your past life sink and +be forgotten, for you are born again of the people of Anahuac. In +the presence and the name of god our lord, who is everywhere and +sees all things, I mingle these bloods' (here he poured from one +bowl into the other), 'and with them I touch your tongue' (here +dipping his finger into the bowl he touched the tip of my tongue +with it) 'and bid you swear thus: + +'"May every evil to which the flesh of man is subject enter into my +flesh, may I live in misery and die in torment by the dreadful +death, may my soul be rejected from the Houses of the Sun, may it +wander homeless for ever in the darkness that is behind the Stars, +if I depart from this my oath. I, Teule, swear to be faithful to +the people of Anahuac and to their lawful governors. I swear to +wage war upon their foes and to compass their destruction, and more +especially upon the Teules till they are driven into the sea. I +swear to offer no affront to the gods of Anahuac. I swear myself +in marriage to Otomie, princess of the Otomie, the daughter of +Montezuma my lord, for so long as her life shall endure. I swear +to attempt no escape from these shores. I swear to renounce my +father and my mother, and the land where I was born, and to cling +to this land of my new birth; and this my oath shall endure till +the volcan Popo ceases to vomit smoke and fire, till there is no +king in Tenoctitlan, till no priest serves the altars of the gods, +and the people of Anahuac are no more a people." + +'Do you swear these things, one and all?' + +'One and all I swear them,' I answered because I must, though there +was much in the oath that I liked little enough. And yet mark how +strangely things came to pass. Within fifteen years from that +night the volcan Popo had ceased to vomit smoke and fire, the kings +had ceased to reign in Tenoctitlan, the priests had ceased to serve +the altars of the gods, the people of Anahuac were no more a +people, and my vow was null and void. Yet the priests who framed +this form chose these things as examples of what was immortal! + +When I had sworn Guatemoc came forward and embraced me, saying: +'Welcome, Teule, my brother in blood and heart. Now you are one of +us, and we look to you for help and counsel. Come, be seated by +me.' + +I looked towards Cuitlahua doubtfully, but he smiled graciously, +and said: 'Teule, your trial is over. We have accepted you, and +you have sworn the solemn oath of brotherhood, to break which is to +die horribly in this world, and to be tortured through eternity by +demons in the next. Forget all that may have been said in the hour +of your weighing, for the balance is in your favour, and be sure +that if you give us no cause to doubt you, you shall find none to +doubt us. Now as the husband of Otomie, you are a lord among the +lords, having honour and great possessions, and as such be seated +by your brother Guatemoc, and join our council.' + +I did as he bade me, and Otomie withdrew from our presence. Then +Cuitlahua spoke again, no longer of me and my matters, but of the +urgent affairs of state. He spoke in slow words and weighty, and +more than once his voice broke in his sorrow. He told of the +grievous misfortunes that had overcome the country, of the death of +hundreds of its bravest warriors, of the slaughter of the priests +and soldiers that day on the teocalli, and the desecration of his +nation's gods. What was to be done in this extremity? he asked. +Montezuma lay dying, a prisoner in the camp of the Teules, and the +fire that he had nursed with his breath devoured the land. No +efforts of theirs could break the iron strength of these white +devils, armed as they were with strange and terrible weapons. Day +by day disaster overtook the arms of the Aztecs. What wisdom had +they now that the protecting gods were shattered in their very +shrines, when the altars ran red with the blood of their +ministering priests, when the oracles were dumb or answered only in +the accents of despair? + +Then one by one princes and generals arose and gave counsel +according to their lights. At length all had spoken, and Cuitlahua +said, looking towards me: + +'We have a new counsellor among us, who is skilled in the warfare +and customs of the white men, who till an hour ago was himself a +white man. Has he no word of comfort for us?' + +'Speak, my brother?' said Guatemoc. + +Then I spoke. 'Most noble Cuitlahua, and you lords and princes. +You honour me by asking my counsel, and it is this in few words and +brief. You waste your strength by hurling your armies continually +against stone walls and the weapons of the Teules. So you shall +not prevail against them. Your devices must be changed if you +would win victory. The Spaniards are like other men; they are no +gods as the ignorant imagine, and the creatures on which they ride +are not demons but beasts of burden, such as are used for many +purposes in the land where I was born. The Spaniards are men I +say, and do not men hunger and thirst? Cannot men be worn out by +want of sleep, and be killed in many ways? Are not these Teules +already weary to the death? This then is my word of comfort to +you. Cease to attack the Spaniards and invest their camp so +closely that no food can reach them and their allies the +Tlascalans. If this is done, within ten days from now, either they +will surrender or they will strive to break their way back to the +coast. But to do this, first they must win out of the city, and if +dykes are cut through the causeways, that will be no easy matter. +Then when they strive to escape cumbered with the gold they covet +and came here to seek, then I say will be the hour to attack them +and to destroy them utterly.' + +I ceased, and a murmur of applause went round the council. + +'It seems that we came to a wise judgment when we determined to +spare this man's life,' said Cuitlahua, 'for all that he tells us +is true, and I would that we had followed this policy from the +first. Now, lords, I give my voice for acting as our brother +points the way. What say you?' + +'We say with you that our brother's words are good,' answered +Guatemoc presently, 'and now let us follow them to the end.' + +Then, after some further talk, the council broke up and I sought my +chamber well nigh blind with weariness and crushed by the weight of +all that I had suffered on that eventful day. The dawn was flaring +in the eastern sky, and by its glimmer I found my path down the +empty corridors, till at length I came to the curtains of my +sleeping place. I drew them and passed through. There, far up the +room, the faint light gleaming on her snowy dress, her raven hair +and ornaments of gold, stood Otomie my bride. + +I went towards her, and as I came she glided to meet me with +outstretched arms. Presently they were about my neck and her kiss +was on my brow. + +'Now all is done, my love and lord,' she whispered, 'and come good +or ill, or both, we are one till death, for such vows as ours +cannot be broken.' + +'All is done indeed, Otomie, and our oaths are lifelong, though +other oaths have been broken that they might be sworn,' I answered. + + +Thus then I, Thomas Wingfield, was wed to Otomie, princess of the +Otomie, Montezuma's daughter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE NIGHT OF FEAR + + +Long before I awoke that day the commands of the council had been +carried out, and the bridges in the great causeways were broken +down wherever dykes crossed the raised roads that ran through the +waters of the lake. That afternoon also I went dressed as an +Indian warrior with Guatemoc and the other generals, to a parley +which was held with Cortes, who took his stand on the same tower of +the palace that Montezuma had stood on when the arrow of Guatemoc +struck him down. There is little to be said of this parley, and I +remember it chiefly because it was then for the first time since I +had left the Tobascans that I saw Marina close, and heard her sweet +and gentle voice. For now as ever she was by the side of Cortes, +translating his proposals of peace to the Aztecs. Among those +proposals was one which showed me that de Garcia had not been idle. +It asked that the false white man who had been rescued from the +altars of the gods upon the teocalli should be given in exchange +for certain Aztec prisoners, in order that he might be hung +according to his merits as a spy and deserter, a traitor to the +emperor of Spain. I wondered as I heard, if Marina knew when she +spoke the words, that 'the false white man' was none other than the +friend of her Tobascan days. + +'You see that you are fortunate in having found place among us +Aztecs, Teule,' said Guatemoc with a laugh, 'for your own people +would greet you with a rope.' + +Then he answered Cortes, saying nothing of me, but bidding him and +all the Spaniards prepare for death: + +'Many of us have perished,' he said; 'you also must perish, Teules. +You shall perish of hunger and thirst, you shall perish on the +altars of the gods. There is no escape for you Teules; the bridges +are broken.' + +And all the multitude took up the words and thundered out, 'There +is no escape for you Teules; the bridges are broken!' + +Then the shooting of arrows began, and I sought the palace to tell +Otomie my wife what I had gathered of the state of her father +Montezuma, who the Spaniards said still lay dying, and of her two +sisters who were hostages in their quarters. Also I told her how +my surrender had been sought, and she kissed me, and said smiling, +that though my life was now burdened with her, still it was better +so than that I should fall into the hands of the Spaniards. + +Two days later came the news that Montezuma was dead, and shortly +after it his body, which the Spaniards handed over to the Aztecs +for burial, attired in the gorgeous robes of royalty. They laid it +in the hall of the palace, whence it was hurried secretly and at +night to Chapoltepec, and there hidden away with small ceremony, +for it was feared that the people might rend it limb from limb in +their rage. With Otomie weeping at my side, I looked for the last +time on the face of that most unhappy king, whose reign so glorious +in its beginning had ended thus. And while I looked I wondered +what suffering could have equalled his, as fallen from his estate +and hated by the subjects whom he had betrayed, he lay dying, a +prisoner in the power of the foreign wolves who were tearing out +his country's heart. It is little wonder indeed that Montezuma +rent the bandages from his wounds and would not suffer them to tend +his hurts. For the real hurt was in his soul; there the iron had +entered deeply, and no leech could cure it except one called Death. +And yet the fault was not all his, the devils whom he worshipped as +gods were revenged upon him, for they had filled him with the +superstitions of their wicked faith, and because of these the gods +and their high priest must sink into a common ruin. Were it not +for these unsubstantial terrors that haunted him, the Spaniards had +never won a foothold in Tenoctitlan, and the Aztecs would have +remained free for many a year to come. But Providence willed it +otherwise, and this dead and disgraced monarch was but its +instrument. + +Such were the thoughts that passed through my mind as I gazed upon +the body of the great Montezuma. But Otomie, ceasing from her +tears, kissed his clay and cried aloud: + +'O my father, it is well that you are dead, for none who loved you +could desire to see you live on in shame and servitude. May the +gods you worshipped give me strength to avenge you, or if they be +no gods, then may I find it in myself. I swear this, my father, +that while a man is left to me I will not cease from seeking to +avenge you.' + +Then taking my hand, without another word she turned and passed +thence. As will be seen, she kept her oath. + + +On that day and on the morrow there was fighting with the +Spaniards, who sallied out to fill up the gaps in the dykes of the +causeway, a task in which they succeeded, though with some loss. +But it availed them nothing, for so soon as their backs were turned +we opened the dykes again. It was on these days that for the first +time I had experience of war, and armed with my bow made after the +English pattern, I did good service. As it chanced, the very first +arrow that I drew was on my hated foe de Garcia, but here my common +fortune pursued me, for being out of practice, or over-anxious, I +aimed too high, though the mark was an easy one, and the shaft +pierced the iron of his casque, causing him to reel in his saddle, +but doing him no further hurt. Still this marksmanship, poor as it +was, gained me great renown among the Aztecs, who were but feeble +archers, for they had never before seen an arrow pierce through the +Spanish mail. Nor would mine have done so had I not collected the +iron barbs off the crossbow bolts of the Spaniards, and fitted them +to my own shafts. I seldom found the mail that would withstand +arrows made thus, when the range was short and the aim good. + +After the first day's fight I was appointed general over a body of +three thousand archers, and was given a banner to be borne before +me and a gorgeous captain's dress to wear. But what pleased me +better was a chain shirt which came from the body of a Spanish +cavalier. For many years I always wore this shirt beneath my +cotton mail, and it saved my life more than once, for even bullets +would not pierce the two of them. + +I had taken over the command of my archers but forty-eight hours, a +scant time in which to teach them discipline whereof they had +little, though they were brave enough, when the occasion came to +use them in good earnest, and with it the night of disaster that is +still known among the Spaniards as the noche triste. On the +afternoon before that night a council was held in the palace at +which I spoke, saying, I was certain that the Teules thought of +retreat from the city, and in the dark, for otherwise they would +not have been so eager to fill up the canals in the causeway. To +this Cuitlahua, who now that Montezuma was dead would be emperor, +though he was not yet chosen and crowned, answered that it might +well be that the Teules meditated flight, but that they could never +attempt it in the darkness, since in so doing they must become +entangled in the streets and dykes. + +I replied that though it was not the Aztec habit to march and fight +at night, such things were common enough among white men as they +had seen already, and that because the Spaniards knew it was not +their habit, they would be the more likely to attempt escape under +cover of the darkness, when they thought their enemies asleep. +Therefore I counselled that sentries should be set at all the +entrances to every causeway. To this Cuitlahua assented, and +assigned the causeway of Tlacopan to Guatemoc and myself, making us +the guardians of its safety. That night Guatemoc and I, with some +soldiers, went out towards midnight to visit the guard that we had +placed upon the causeway. It was very dark and a fine rain fell, +so that a man could see no further before his eyes than he can at +evening through a Norfolk roke in autumn. We found and relieved +the guard, which reported that all was quiet, and we were returning +towards the great square when of a sudden I heard a dull sound as +of thousands of men tramping. + +'Listen,' I said. + +'It is the Teules who escape,' whispered Guatemoc. + +Quickly we ran to where the street from the great square opens on +to the causeway, and there even through the darkness and rain we +caught the gleam of armour. Then I cried aloud in a great voice, +'To arms! To arms! The Teules escape by the causeway of +Tlacopan.' + +Instantly my words were caught up by the sentries and passed from +post to post till the city rang with them. They were cried in +every street and canal, they echoed from the roofs of houses, and +among the summits of a hundred temples. The city awoke with a +murmur, from the lake came the sound of water beaten by ten +thousand oars, as though myriads of wild-fowl had sprung suddenly +from their reedy beds. Here, there, and everywhere torches flashed +out like falling stars, wild notes were blown on horns and shells, +and above all arose the booming of the snakeskin drum which the +priests upon the teocalli beat furiously. + +Presently the murmur grew to a roar, and from this direction and +from that, armed men poured towards the causeway of Tlacopan. Some +came on foot, but the most of them were in canoes which covered the +waters of the lake further than the ear could hear. Now the +Spaniards to the number of fifteen hundred or so, accompanied by +some six or eight thousand Tlascalans, were emerging on the +causeway in a long thin line. Guatemoc and I rushed before them, +collecting men as we went, till we came to the first canal, where +canoes were already gathering by scores. The head of the Spanish +column reached the canal and the fight began, which so far as the +Aztecs were concerned was a fray without plan or order, for in that +darkness and confusion the captains could not see their men or the +men hear their captains. But they were there in countless numbers +and had only one desire in their breasts, to kill the Teules. A +cannon roared, sending a storm of bullets through us, and by its +flash we saw that the Spaniards carried a timber bridge with them, +which they were placing across the canal. Then we fell on them, +every man fighting for himself. Guatemoc and I were swept over +that bridge by the first rush of the enemy, as leaves are swept in +a gale, and though both of us won through safely we saw each other +no more that night. With us and after us came the long array of +Spaniards and Tlascalans, and from every side the Aztecs poured +upon them, clinging to their struggling line as ants cling to a +wounded worm. + +How can I tell all that came to pass that night? I cannot, for I +saw but little of it. All I know is that for two hours I was +fighting like a madman. The foe crossed the first canal, but when +all were over the bridge was sunk so deep in the mud that it could +not be stirred, and three furlongs on ran a second canal deeper and +wider than the first. Over this they could not cross till it was +bridged with the dead. It seemed as though all hell had broken +loose upon that narrow ridge of ground. The sound of cannons and +of arquebusses, the shrieks of agony and fear, the shouts of the +Spanish soldiers, the war-cries of the Aztecs, the screams of +wounded horses, the wail of women, the hiss of hurtling darts and +arrows, and the dull noise of falling blows went up to heaven in +one hideous hurly-burly. Like a frightened mob of cattle the long +Spanish array swayed this way and that, bellowing as it swayed. +Many rolled down the sides of the causeway to be slaughtered in the +water of the lake, or borne away to sacrifice in the canoes, many +were drowned in the canals, and yet more were trampled to death in +the mud. Hundreds of the Aztecs perished also, for the most part +beneath the weapons of their own friends, who struck and shot not +knowing on whom the blow should fall or in whose breast the arrow +would find its home. + +For my part I fought on with a little band of men who had gathered +about me, till at last the dawn broke and showed an awful sight. +The most of those who were left alive of the Spaniards and their +allies had crossed the second canal upon a bridge made of the dead +bodies of their fellows mixed up with a wreck of baggage, cannon, +and packages of treasure. Now the fight was raging beyond it. A +mob of Spaniards and Tlascalans were still crossing the second +breach, and on these I fell with such men as were with me. I +plunged right into the heart of them, and suddenly before me I saw +the face of de Garcia. With a shout I rushed at him. He heard my +voice and knew me. With an oath he struck at my head. The heavy +sword came down upon my helmet of painted wood, shearing away one +side of it and felling me, but ere I fell I smote him on the breast +with the club I carried, tumbling him to the earth. Now half +stunned and blinded I crept towards him through the press. All +that I could see was a gleam of armour in the mud. I threw myself +upon it, gripping at the wearer's throat, and together we rolled +down the side of the causeway into the shallow water at the edge of +the lake. I was uppermost, and with a fierce joy I dashed the +blood from my eyes that I might see to kill my enemy caught at +last. His body was in the lake but his head lay upon the sloping +bank, and my plan was to hold him beneath the water till he was +drowned, for I had lost my club. + +'At length, de Garcia!' I cried in Spanish as I shifted my grip. + +'For the love of God let me go!' gasped a rough voice beneath me. +'Fool, I am no Indian dog.' + +Now I peered into the man's face bewildered. I had seized de +Garcia, but the voice was not his voice, nor was the face his face, +but that of a rough Spanish soldier. + +'Who are you?' I asked, slackening my hold. 'Where is de Garcia-- +he whom you name Sarceda?' + +'Sarceda? I don't know. A minute ago he was on his back on the +causeway. The fellow pulled me down and rolled behind me. Let me +be I say. I am not Sarceda, and if I were, is this a time to +settle private quarrels? I am your comrade, Bernal Diaz. Holy +Mother! who are you? An Aztec who speaks Castilian?' + +'I am no Aztec,' I answered. 'I am an Englishman and I fight with +the Aztecs that I may slay him whom you name Sarceda. But with you +I have no quarrel, Bernal Diaz. Begone and escape if you can. No, +I will keep the sword with your leave.' + +'Englishman, Spaniard, Aztec, or devil,' grunted the man as he drew +himself from his bed of ooze, 'you are a good fellow, and I promise +you that if I live through this, and it should ever come about that +I get YOU by the throat, I will remember the turn you did me. +Farewell;' and without more ado he rushed up the bank and plunged +into a knot of his flying countrymen, leaving his good sword in my +hand. I strove to follow him that I might find my enemy, who once +more had escaped me by craft, but my strength failed me, for de +Garcia's sword had bitten deep and I bled much. So I must sit +where I was till a canoe came and bore me back to Otomie to be +nursed, and ten days went by before I could walk again. + +This was my share in the victory of the noche triste. Alas! it was +a barren triumph, though more than five hundred of the Spaniards +were slain and thousands of their allies. For there was no warlike +skill or discipline among the Aztecs, and instead of following the +Spaniards till not one of them remained alive, they stayed to +plunder the dead and drag away the living to sacrifice. Also this +day of revenge was a sad one to Otomie, seeing that two of her +brothers, Montezuma's sons whom the Spaniards held in hostage, +perished with them in the fray. + +As for de Garcia I could not learn what had become of him, nor +whether he was dead or living. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE BURYING OF MONTEZUMA'S TREASURE + + +Cuitlahua was crowned Emperor of the Aztecs in succession to his +brother Montezuma, while I lay sick with the wound given me by the +sword of de Garcia, and also with that which I had received on the +altar of sacrifice. This hurt had found no time to heal, and in +the fierce fighting on the Night of Fear it burst open and bled +much. Indeed it gave me trouble for years, and to this hour I feel +it in the autumn season. Otomie, who nursed me tenderly, and so +strange is the heart of woman, even seemed to be consoled in her +sorrow at the loss of her father and nearest kin, because I had +escaped the slaughter and won fame, told me of the ceremony of the +crowning, which was splendid enough. Indeed the Aztecs were almost +mad with rejoicing because the Teules had gone at last. They +forgot, or seemed to forget, the loss of thousands of their bravest +warriors and of the flower of their rank, and as yet, at any rate, +they did not look forward to the future. From house to house and +street to street ran troops of young men and maidens garlanded with +flowers, crying, 'The Teules are gone, rejoice with us; the Teules +are fled!' and woe to them who were not merry, ay, even though +their houses were desolate with death. Also the statues of the +gods were set up again on the great pyramid and their temples +rebuilt, the holy crucifix that the Spaniards had placed there +being served as the idols Huitzel and Tezcat had been served, and +tumbled down the sides of the teocalli, and that after sacrifice of +some Spanish prisoners had been offered in its presence. It was +Guatemoc himself who told me of this sacrilege, but not with any +exultation, for I had taught him something of our faith, and though +he was too sturdy a heathen to change his creed, in secret he +believed that the God of the Christians was a true and mighty God. +Moreover, though he was obliged to countenance them, because of the +power of the priests, like Otomie, Guatemoc never loved the horrid +rites of human sacrifice. + +Now when I heard this tale my anger overcame my reason, and I spoke +fiercely, saying: + +'I am sworn to your cause, Guatemoc, my brother, and I am married +to your blood, but I tell you that from this hour it is an accursed +cause; because of your bloodstained idols and your priests, it is +accursed. That God whom you have desecrated, and those who serve +Him shall come back in power, and He shall sit where your idols sat +and none shall stir Him for ever.' + +Thus I spoke, and my words were true, though I do not know what put +them into my heart, since I spoke at random in my wrath. For to- +day Christ's Church stands upon the site of the place of sacrifice +in Mexico, a sign and a token of His triumph over devils, and there +it shall stand while the world endures. + +'You speak rashly, my brother,' Guatemoc answered, proudly enough, +though I saw him quail at the evil omen of my words. 'I say you +speak rashly, and were you overheard there are those, +notwithstanding the rank we have given you, the honour which you +have won in war and council, and that you have passed the stone of +sacrifice, who might force you to look again upon the faces of the +beings you blaspheme. What worse thing has been done to your +Christian God than has been done again and again to our gods by +your white kindred? But let us talk no more of this matter, and I +pray you, my brother, do not utter such ill-omened words to me +again, lest it should strain our love. Do you then believe that +the Teules will return?' + +'Ay, Guatemoc, so surely as to-morrow's sun shall rise. When you +held Cortes in your hand you let him go, and since then he has won +a victory at Otompan. Is he a man, think you, to sheathe the sword +that he has once drawn, and go down into darkness and dishonour? +Before a year is past the Spaniards will be back at the gates of +Tenoctitlan.' + +'You are no comforter to-night, my brother,' said Guatemoc, 'and +yet I fear that your words are true. Well, if we must fight, let +us strive to win. Now, at least, there is no Montezuma to take the +viper to his breast and nurse it till it stings him.' Then he rose +and went in silence, and I saw that his heart was heavy. + +On the morrow of this talk I could leave my bed, and within a week +I was almost well. Now it was that Guatemoc came to me again, +saying that he had been bidden by Cuitlahua the emperor, to command +me to accompany him, Guatemoc, on a service of trust and secrecy. +And indeed the nature of the service showed how great a confidence +the leaders of the Aztecs now placed in me, for it was none other +than the hiding away of the treasure that had been recaptured from +the Spaniards on the Night of Fear, and with it much more from the +secret stores of the empire. + +At the fall of darkness we started, some of the great lords, +Guatemoc and I, and coming to the water's edge, we found ten large +canoes, each laden with something that was hidden by cotton cloths. +Into these canoes we entered secretly, thinking that none saw us, +three to a canoe, for there were thirty of us in all, and led by +Guatemoc, we paddled for two hours or more across the Lake Tezcuco, +till we reached the further shore at a spot where this prince had a +fair estate. Here we landed, and the cloths were withdrawn from +the cargoes of the canoes, which were great jars and sacks of gold +and jewels, besides many other precious objects, among them a +likeness of the head of Montezuma, fashioned in solid gold, which +was so heavy that it was as much as Guatemoc and I could do to lift +it between us. As for the jars, of which, if my memory serves me, +there were seventeen, six men must carry each of them by the help +of paddles lashed on either side, and then the task was not light. +All this priceless stuff we bore in several journeys to the crest +of a rise some six hundred paces distant from the water, setting it +down by the mouth of a shaft behind the shelter of a mound of +earth. When everything was brought up from the boats, Guatemoc +touched me and another man, a great Aztec noble, born of a +Tlascalan mother, on the shoulder, asking us if we were willing to +descend with him into the hole, and there to dispose of the +treasure. + +'Gladly,' I answered, for I was curious to see the place, but the +noble hesitated awhile, though in the end he came with us, to his +ill-fortune. + +Then Guatemoc took torches in his hand, and was lowered into the +shaft by a rope. Next came my turn, and down I went, hanging to +the cord like a spider to its thread, and the hole was very deep. +At length I found myself standing by the side of Guatemoc at the +foot of the shaft, round which, as I saw by the light of the torch +he carried, an edging of dried bricks was built up to the height of +a man above our heads. Resting on this edging and against the wall +of the shaft, was a massive block of stone sculptured with the +picture writing of the Aztecs. I glanced at the writing, which I +could now read well, and saw that it recorded the burying of the +treasure in the first year of Cuitlahua, Emperor of Mexico, and +also a most fearful curse on him who should dare to steal it. +Beyond us and at right angles to the shaft ran another passage, ten +paces in length and high enough for a man to walk in, which led to +a chamber hollowed in the earth, as large as that wherein I write +to-day at Ditchingham. By the mouth of this chamber were placed +piles of adobe bricks and mortar, much as the blocks of hewn stone +had been placed in that underground vault at Seville where Isabella +de Siguenza was bricked up living. + +'Who dug this place?' I asked. + +'Those who knew not what they dug,' answered Guatemoc. 'But see, +here is our companion. Now, my brother, I charge you be surprised +at nothing which comes to pass, and be assured I have good reason +for anything that I may do.' + +Before I could speak again the Aztec noble was at our side. Then +those above began to lower the jars and sacks of treasure, and as +they reached us one by one, Guatemoc loosed the ropes and checked +them, while the Aztec and I rolled them down the passage into the +chamber, as here in England men roll a cask of ale. For two hours +and more we worked, till at length all were down and the tale was +complete. The last parcel to be lowered was a sack of jewels that +burst open as it came, and descended upon us in a glittering rain +of gems. As it chanced, a great necklace of emeralds of surpassing +size and beauty fell over my head and hung upon my shoulders. + +'Keep it, brother,' laughed Guatemoc, 'in memory of this night,' +and nothing loth, I hid the bauble in my breast. That necklace I +have yet, and it was a stone of it--the smallest save one--that I +gave to our gracious Queen Elizabeth. Otomie wore it for many +years, and for this reason it shall be buried with me, though its +value is priceless, so say those who are skilled in gems. But +priceless or no, it is doomed to lie in the mould of Ditchingham +churchyard, and may that same curse which is graved upon the stone +that hides the treasure of the Aztecs fall upon him who steals it +from my bones. + +Now, leaving the chamber, we three entered the tunnel and began the +work of building the adobe wall. When it was of a height of +between two and three feet, Guatemoc paused from his labour and +bade me hold a torch aloft. I obeyed wondering what he wished to +see. Then he drew back some three paces into the tunnel and spoke +to the Aztec noble, our companion, by name. + +'What is the fate of discovered traitors, friend?' he said in a +voice that, quiet though it was, sounded very terrible; and, as he +spoke, he loosed from his side the war club set with spikes of +glass that hung there by a thong. + +Now the Aztec turned grey beneath his dusky skin and trembled in +his fear. + +'What mean you, lord?' he gasped. + +'You know well what I mean,' answered Guatemoc in the same terrible +voice, and lifted the club. + +Then the doomed man fell upon his knees crying for mercy, and his +wailing sounded so awful in that deep and lonely place that in my +horror I went near to letting the torch fall. + +'To a foe I can give mercy--to a traitor, none,' answered Guatemoc, +and whirling the club aloft, he rushed upon the noble and killed +him with a blow. Then, seizing the body in his strong embrace, he +cast it into the chamber with the treasure, and there it lay still +and dreadful among the gems and gold, the arms, as it chanced, +being wound about two of the great jars as though the dead man +would clasp them to his heart. + +Now I looked at Guatemoc who had slain him, wondering if my hour +was at hand also, for I knew well that when princes bury their +wealth they hold that few should share the secret. + +'Fear not, my brother,' said Guatemoc. 'Listen: this man was a +thief, a dastard, and a traitor. As we know now, he strove twice +to betray us to the Teules. More, it was his plan to show this +nest of wealth to them, should they return again, and to share the +spoil. All this we learned from a woman whom he thought his love, +but who was in truth a spy set to worm herself into the secrets of +his wicked heart. Now let him take his fill of gold; look how he +grips it even in death, a white man could not hug the stuff more +closely to his breast. Ah! Teule, would that the soil of Anahuac +bore naught but corn for bread and flint and copper for the points +of spears and arrows, then had her sons been free for ever. Curses +on yonder dross, for it is the bait that sets these sea sharks +tearing at our throats. Curses on it, I say; may it never glitter +more in the sunshine, may it be lost for ever!' And he fell +fiercely to the work of building up the wall. + +Soon it was almost done; but before we set the last bricks, which +were shaped in squares like the clay lump that we use for the +building of farmeries and hinds' houses in Norfolk, I thrust a +torch through the opening and looked for the last time at the +treasure chamber that was also a dead-house. There lay the +glittering gems; there, stood upon a jar, gleamed the golden head +of Montezuma, of which the emerald eyes seemed to glare at me, and +there, his back resting against this same jar, and his arms +encircling two others to the right and left, was the dead man. But +he was no longer dead, or so it seemed to me; at the least his eyes +that were shut had opened, and they stared at me like the emerald +eyes of the golden statue above him, only more fearfully. + +Very hastily I withdrew the torch, and we finished in silence. +When it was done we withdrew to the end of the passage and looked +up the shaft, and I for one was glad to see the stars shining in +heaven above me. Then we made a double loop in the rope, and at a +signal were hauled up till we hung over the ledge where the black +mass of marble rested, the tombstone of Montezuma's treasure, and +of him who sleeps among it. + +This stone, that was nicely balanced, we pushed with our hands and +feet till presently it fell forward with a heavy sound, and +catching on the ridge of brick which had been prepared to receive +it, shut the treasure shaft in such a fashion that those who would +enter it again must take powder with them. + +Then we were dragged up, and came to the surface of the earth in +safety. + +Now one asked of the Aztec noble who had gone down with us and +returned no more. + +'He has chosen to stay and watch the treasure, like a good and +loyal man, till such time as his king needs it,' answered Guatemoc +grimly, and the listeners nodded, understanding all. + +Then they fell to and filled up the narrow shaft with the earth +that lay ready, working without cease, and the dawn broke before +the task was finished. When at length the hole was full, one of +our companions took seeds from a bag and scattered them on the +naked earth, also he set two young trees that he had brought with +him in the soil of the shaft, though why he did this I do not know, +unless it was to mark the spot. All being done we gathered up the +ropes and tools, and embarking in the canoes, came back to Mexico +in the morning, leaving the canoes at a landing-place outside the +city, and finding our way to our homes by ones and twos, as we +thought unnoticed of any. + +Thus it was that I helped in the burying of Montezuma's treasure, +for the sake of which I was destined to suffer torture in days to +come. Whether any will help to unbury it I do not know, but till I +left the land of Anahuac the secret had been kept, and I think that +then, except myself, all those were dead who laboured with me at +this task. It chanced that I passed the spot as I came down to +Mexico for the last time, and knew it again by the two trees that +were growing tall and strong, and as I went by with Spaniards at my +side, I swore in my heart that they should never finger the gold by +my help. It is for this reason that even now I do not write of the +exact bearings of the place where it lies buried with the bones of +the traitor, though I know them well enough, seeing that in days to +come what I set down here might fall into the hands of one of their +nation. + + +And now, before I go on to speak of the siege of Mexico, I must +tell of one more matter, namely of how I and Otomie my wife went up +among the people of the Otomie, and won a great number of them back +to their allegiance to the Aztec crown. It must be known, if my +tale has not made this clear already, that the Aztec power was not +of one people, but built up of several, and that surrounding it +were many other tribes, some of whom were in alliance with it or +subject to it, and some of whom were its deadly enemies. Such for +instance were the Tlascalans, a small but warlike people living +between Mexico and the coast, by whose help Cortes overcame +Montezuma and Guatemoc. Beyond the Tlascalans and to the west, the +great Otomie race lived or lives among its mountains. They are a +braver nation than the Aztecs, speaking another language, of a +different blood, and made up of many clans. Sometimes they were +subject to the great Aztec empire, sometimes in alliance, and +sometimes at open war with it and in close friendship with the +Tlascalans. It was to draw the tie closer between the Aztecs and +the Otomies, who were to the inhabitants of Anahuac much what the +Scottish clans are to the people of England, that Montezuma took to +wife the daughter and sole legitimate issue of their great chief or +king. This lady died in childbirth, and her child was Otomie my +wife, hereditary princess of the Otomie. But though her rank was +so great among her mother's people, as yet Otomie had visited them +but twice, and then as a child. Still, she was well skilled in +their language and customs, having been brought up by nurses and +tutors of the tribes, from which she drew a great revenue every +year and over whom she exercised many rights of royalty that were +rendered to her far more freely than they had been to Montezuma her +father. + +Now as has been said, some of these Otomie clans had joined the +Tlascalans, and as their allies had taken part in the war on the +side of the Spaniards, therefore it was decided at a solemn council +that Otomie and I her husband should go on an embassy to the chief +town of the nation, that was known as the City of Pines, and strive +to win it back to the Aztec standard. + +Accordingly, heralds having been sent before us, we started upon +our journey, not knowing how we should be received at the end of +it. For eight days we travelled in great pomp and with an ever- +increasing escort, for when the tribes of the Otomie learned that +their princess was come to visit them in person, bringing with her +her husband, a man of the Teules who had espoused the Aztec cause, +they flocked in vast numbers to swell her retinue, so that it came +to pass that before we reached the City of Pines we were +accompanied by an army of at least ten thousand mountaineers, great +men and wild, who made a savage music as we marched. But with them +and with their chiefs as yet we held no converse except by way of +formal greeting, though every morning when we started on our +journey, Otomie in a litter and I on a horse that had been captured +from the Spaniards, they set up shouts of salutation and made the +mountains ring. Ever as we went the land like its people grew +wilder and more beautiful, for now we were passing through forests +clad with oak and pine and with many a lovely plant and fern. +Sometimes we crossed great and sparkling rivers and sometimes we +wended through gorges and passes of the mountains, but every hour +we mounted higher, till at length the climate became like that of +England, only far more bright. At last on the eighth day we passed +through a gorge riven in the red rock, which was so narrow in +places that three horsemen could scarcely have ridden there +abreast. This gorge, that is five miles long, is the high road to +the City of Pines, to which there was no other access except by +secret paths across the mountains, and on either side of it are +sheer and towering cliffs that rise to heights of between one and +two thousand feet. + +'Here is a place where a hundred men might hold an army at bay,' I +said to Otomie, little knowing that it would be my task to do so in +a day to come. + +Presently the gorge took a turn and I reined up amazed, for before +me was the City of Pines in all its beauty. The city lay in a +wheelshaped plain that may measure twelve miles across, and all +around this plain are mountains clad to their summits with forests +of oak and cedar trees. At the back of the city and in the centre +of the ring of mountains is one, however, that is not green with +foliage but black with lava, and above the lava white with snow, +over which again hangs a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of +fire by night. This was the volcan Xaca, or the Queen, and though +it is not so lofty as its sisters Orizaba, Popo, and Ixtac, to my +mind it is the loveliest of them all, both because of its perfect +shape, and of the colours, purple and blue, of the fires that it +sends forth at night or when its heart is troubled. The Otomies +worshipped this mountain as a god, offering human sacrifice to it, +which was not wonderful, for once the lava pouring from its bowels +cut a path through the City of Pines. Also they think it holy and +haunted, so that none dare set foot upon its loftier snows. +Nevertheless I was destined to climb them--I and one other. + +Now in the lap of this ring of mountains and watched over by the +mighty Xaca, clad in its robe of snow, its cap of smoke, and its +crown of fire, lies, or rather lay the City of Pines, for now it is +a ruin, or so I left it. As to the city itself, it was not so +large as some others that I have seen in Anahuac, having only a +population of some five and thirty thousand souls, since the +Otomie, being a race of mountaineers, did not desire to dwell in +cities. But if it was not great, it was the most beautiful of +Indian towns, being laid out in straight streets that met at the +square in its centre. All along these streets were houses each +standing in a garden, and for the most part built of blocks of lava +and roofed with a cement of white lime. In the midst of the square +stood the teocalli or pyramid of worship, crowned with temples that +were garnished with ropes of skulls, while beyond the pyramid and +facing it, was the palace, the home of Otomie's forefathers, a +long, low, and very ancient building having many courts, and +sculptured everywhere with snakes and grinning gods. Both the +palace and the pyramid were cased with a fine white stone that +shone like silver in the sunlight, and contrasted strangely with +the dark-hued houses that were built of lava. + +Such was the City of Pines when I saw it first. When I saw it last +it was but a smoking ruin, and now doubtless it is the home of bats +and jackals; now it is 'a court for owls,' now 'the line of +confusion is stretched out upon it and the stones of emptiness fill +its streets.' + + +Passing from the mouth of the gorge we travelled some miles across +the plain, every foot of which was cultivated with corn, maguey or +aloe, and other crops, till we came to one of the four gates of the +city. Entering it we found the flat roofs on either side of the +wide street crowded with hundreds of women and children who threw +flowers on us as we passed, and cried, 'Welcome, princess! +Welcome, Otomie, princess of the Otomie!' And when at length we +reached the great square, it seemed as though all the men in +Anahuac were gathered there, and they too took up the cry of +'Welcome, Otomie, princess of the Otomie!' till the earth shook +with the sound. Me also they saluted as I passed, by touching the +earth with their right hands and then holding the hand above the +head, but I think that the horse I rode caused them more wonder +than I did, for the most of them had never seen a horse and looked +on it as a monster or a demon. So we went on through the shouting +mass, followed and preceded by thousands of warriors, many of them +decked in glittering feather mail and bearing broidered banners, +till we had passed the pyramid, where I saw the priests at their +cruel work above us, and were come to the palace gates. And here +in a strange chamber sculptured with grinning demons we found rest +for a while. + +On the morrow in the great hall of the palace was held a council of +the chiefs and head men of the Otomie clans, to the number of a +hundred or more. When all were gathered, dressed as an Aztec noble +of the first rank, I came out with Otomie, who wore royal robes and +looked most beautiful in them, and the council rose to greet us. +Otomie bade them be seated and addressed them thus: + +'Hear me, you chiefs and captains of my mother's race, who am your +princess by right of blood, the last of your ancient rulers, and +who am moreover the daughter of Montezuma, Emperor of Anahuac, now +dead to us but living evermore in the Mansions of the Sun. First I +present to you this my husband, the lord Teule, to whom I was given +in marriage when he held the spirit of the god Tezcat, and whom, +when he had passed the altar of the god, being chosen by heaven to +aid us in our war, I wedded anew after the fashion of the earth, +and by the will of my royal brethren. Know, chiefs and captains, +that this lord, my husband, is not of our Indian blood, nor is he +altogether of the blood of the Teules with whom we are at war, but +rather of that of the true children of Quetzal, the dwellers in a +far off northern sea who are foes to the Teules. And as they are +foes, so this my lord is their foe, and as doubtless you have +heard, of all the deeds of arms that were wrought upon the night of +the slaying of the Teules, none were greater than his, and it was +he who first discovered their retreat. + +'Chiefs and captains of the great and ancient people of the Otomie, +I your princess have been sent to you by Cuitlahua, my king and +yours, together with my lord, to plead with you on a certain +matter. Our king has heard, and I also have heard with shame, that +many of the warriors of our blood have joined the Tlascalans, who +were ever foes to the Aztecs, in their unholy alliance with the +Teules. Now for a while the white men are beaten back, but they +have touched the gold they covet, and they will return again like +bees to a half-drained flower. They will return, yet of themselves +they can do nothing against the glory of Tenoctitlan. But how +shall it go if with them come thousands and tens of thousands of +the Indian peoples? I know well that now in this time of trouble, +when kingdoms crumble, when the air is full of portents, and the +very gods seem impotent, there are many who would seize the moment +and turn it to their profit. There are many men and tribes who +remember ancient wars and wrongs, and who cry, "Now is the hour of +vengeance, now we will think on the widows that the Aztec spears +have made, on the tribute which they have wrung from our poverty to +swell their wealth, and on the captives who have decked the altars +of their sacrifice!" + +'Is it not so? Ay, it is so, and I cannot wonder at it. Yet I ask +you to remember this, that the yoke you would help to set upon the +neck of the queen of cities will fit your neck also. O foolish +men, do you think that you shall be spared when by your aid +Tenoctitlan is a ruin and the Aztecs are no more a people? I say +to you never. The sticks that the Teules use to beat out the life +of Tenoctitlan shall by them be broken one by one and cast into the +fire to burn. If the Aztecs fall, then early or late every tribe +within this wide land shall fall. They shall be slain, their +cities shall be stamped flat, their wealth shall be wrung from +them, and their children shall eat the bread of slavery and drink +the water of affliction. Choose, ye people of the Otomie. Will +you stand by the men of your own customs and country, though they +have been your foes at times, or will you throw in your lot with +the stranger? Choose, ye people of the Otomie, and know this, that +on your choice and that of the other men of Anahuac, depends the +fate of Anahuac. I am your princess, and you should obey me, but +to-day I issue no command. I say choose between the alliance of +the Aztec and the yoke of the Teule, and may the god above the +gods, the almighty, the invisible god, direct your choice.' + +Otomie ceased and a murmur of applause went round the hall. Alas, +I can do no justice to the fire of her words, any more than I can +describe the dignity and loveliness of her person as it seemed in +that hour. But they went to the hearts of the rude chieftains who +listened. Many of them despised the Aztecs as a womanish people of +the plains and the lakes, a people of commerce. Many had blood +feuds against them dating back for generations. But still they +knew that their princess spoke truth, and that the triumph of the +Teule in Tenoctitlan would mean his triumph over every city +throughout the land. So then and there they chose, though in after +days, in the stress of defeat and trouble, many went back upon +their choice as is the fashion of men. + +'Otomie,' cried their spokesman, after they had taken counsel +together, 'we have chosen. Princess, your words have conquered us. +We throw in our lot with the Aztecs and will fight to the last for +freedom from the Teule.' + +'Now I see that you are indeed my people, and I am indeed your +ruler,' answered Otomie. 'So the great lords who are gone, my +forefathers, your chieftains, would have spoken in a like case. +May you never regret this choice, my brethren, Men of the Otomie.' + + +And so it came to pass that when we left the City of Pines we took +from it to Cuitlahua the emperor, a promise of an army of twenty +thousand men vowed to serve him to the death in his war against the +Spaniard. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CROWNING OF GUATEMOC + + +Our business with the people of the Otomie being ended for a while, +we returned to the city of Tenoctitlan, which we reached safely, +having been absent a month and a day. It was but a little time, +and yet long enough for fresh sorrows to have fallen on that most +unhappy town. For now the Almighty had added to the burdens which +were laid upon her. She had tasted of death by the sword of the +white man, now death was with her in another shape. For the +Spaniard had brought the foul sicknesses of Europe with him, and +small-pox raged throughout the land. Day by day thousands perished +of it, for these ignorant people treated the plague by pouring cold +water upon the bodies of those smitten, driving the fever inwards +to the vitals, so that within two days the most of them died.* It +was pitiful to see them maddened with suffering, as they wandered +to and fro about the streets, spreading the distemper far and wide. +They were dying in the houses, they lay dead by companies in the +market places awaiting burial, for the sickness took its toll of +every family, the very priests were smitten by it at the altar as +they sacrificed children to appease the anger of the gods. But the +worst is still to tell; Cuitlahua, the emperor, was struck down by +the illness, and when we reached the city he lay dying. Still, he +desired to see us, and sent commands that we should be brought to +his bedside. In vain did I pray Otomie not to obey; she, who was +without fear, laughed at me, saying, 'What, my husband, shall I +shrink from that which you must face? Come, let us go and make +report of our mission. If the sickness takes me and I die, it will +be because my hour has come.' + + +* This treatment is followed among the Indians of Mexico to this +day, but if the writer may believe what he heard in that country, +the patient is frequently cured by it. + + +So we went and were ushered into a chamber where Cuitlahua lay +covered by a sheet, as though he were already dead, and with +incense burning round him in golden censers. When we entered he +was in a stupor, but presently he awoke, and it was announced to +him that we waited. + +'Welcome, niece,' he said, speaking through the sheet and in a +thick voice; 'you find me in an evil case, for my days are +numbered, the pestilence of the Teules slays those whom their +swords spared. Soon another monarch must take my throne, as I took +your father's, and I do not altogether grieve, for on him will rest +the glory and the burden of the last fight of the Aztecs. Your +report, niece; let me hear it swiftly. What say the clans of the +Otomie, your vassals?' + +'My lord,' Otomie answered, speaking humbly and with bowed head, +'may this distemper leave you, and may you live to reign over us +for many years! My lord, my husband Teule and I have won back the +most part of the people of the Otomie to our cause and standard. +An army of twenty thousand mountain men waits upon your word, and +when those are spent there are more to follow.' + +'Well done, daughter of Montezuma, and you, white man,' gasped the +dying king. 'The gods were wise when they refused you both upon +the stone of sacrifice, and I was foolish when I would have slain +you, Teule. To you and all I say be of a steadfast heart, and if +you must die, then die with honour. The fray draws on, but I shall +not share it, and who knows its end?' + +Now he lay silent for a while, then of a sudden, as though an +inspiration had seized him, he cast the sheet from his face and sat +upon his couch, no pleasant sight to see, for the pestilence had +done its worst with him. + +'Alas!' he wailed, 'and alas! I see the streets of Tenoctitlan red +with blood and fire, I see her dead piled up in heaps, and the +horses of the Teules trample them. I see the Spirit of my people, +and her voice is sighing and her neck is heavy with chains. The +children are visited because of the evil of the fathers. Ye are +doomed, people of Anahuac, whom I would have nurtured as an eagle +nurtures her young. Hell yawns for you and Earth refuses you +because of your sins, and the remnant that remains shall be slaves +from generation to generation, till the vengeance is accomplished!' + +Having cried thus with a great voice, Cuitlahua fell back upon the +cushions, and before the frightened leech who tended him could lift +his head, he had passed beyond the troubles of this earth. But the +words which he had spoken remained fixed in the hearts of those who +heard them, though they were told to none except to Guatemoc. + + +Thus then in my presence and in that of Otomie died Cuitlahua, +emperor of the Aztecs, when he had reigned but fifteen weeks. Once +more the nation mourned its king, the chief of many a thousand of +its children whom the pestilence swept with him to the 'Mansions of +the Sun,' or perchance to the 'darkness behind the Stars.' + +But the mourning was not for long, for in the urgency of the times +it was necessary that a new emperor should be crowned to take +command of the armies and rule the nation. Therefore on the morrow +of the burial of Cuitlahua the council of the four electors was +convened, and with them lesser nobles and princes to the number of +three hundred, and I among them in the right of my rank as general, +and as husband of the princess Otomie. There was no great need of +deliberation, indeed, for though the names of several were +mentioned, the princes knew that there was but one man who by +birth, by courage, and nobility of mind, was fitted to cope with +the troubles of the nation. That man was Guatemoc, my friend and +blood brother, the nephew of the two last emperors and the husband +of my wife's sister, Montezuma's daughter, Tecuichpo. All knew it, +I say, except, strangely enough, Guatemoc himself, for as we passed +into the council he named two other princes, saying that without +doubt the choice lay between them. + +It was a splendid and a solemn sight, that gathering of the four +great lords, the electors, dressed in their magnificent robes, and +of the lesser council of confirmation of three hundred lords and +princes, who sat without the circle but in hearing of all that +passed. Very solemn also was the prayer of the high priest, who, +clad in his robes of sable, seemed like a blot of ink dropped on a +glitter of gold. Thus he prayed: + +'O god, thou who art everywhere and seest all, knowest that +Cuitlahua our king is gathered to thee. Thou hast set him beneath +thy footstool and there he rests in his rest. He has travelled +that road which we must travel every one, he has reached the royal +inhabitations of our dead, the home of everlasting shadows. There +where none shall trouble him he is sunk in sleep. His brief +labours are accomplished, and soiled with sin and sorrow, he has +gone to thee. Thou gavest him joys to taste but not to drink; the +glory of empire passed before his eyes like the madness of a dream. +With tears and with prayers to thee he took up his load, with +happiness he laid it down. Where his forefathers went, thither he +has followed, nor can he return to us. Our fire is an ash and our +lamp is darkness. Those who wore his purple before him bequeathed +to him the intolerable weight of rule, and he in his turn bequeaths +it to another. Truly, he should give thee praise, thou king of +kings, master of the stars, that standest alone, who hast lifted +from his shoulders so great a burden, and from his brow this crown +of woes, paying him peace for war and rest for labour. + +'O god our hope, choose now a servant to succeed him, a man after +thine own heart, who shall not fear nor falter, who shall toil and +not be weary, who shall lead thy people as a mother leads her +children. Lord of lords, give grace to Guatemoc thy creature, who +is our choice. Seal him to thy service, and as thy priest let him +sit upon thy earthly throne for his life days. Let thy foes become +his footstool, let him exalt thy glory, proclaim thy worship, and +protect thy kingdom. Thus have I prayed to thee in the name of the +nation. O god, thy will be done!' + +When the high priest had made an end of his prayer, the first of +the four great electors rose, saying: + +'Guatemoc, in the name of god and with the voice of the people of +Anahuac, we summon you to the throne of Anahuac. Long may you live +and justly may you rule, and may the glory be yours of beating back +into the sea those foes who would destroy us. Hail to you, +Guatemoc, Emperor of the Aztecs and of their vassal tribes.' And +all the three hundred of the council of confirmation repeated in a +voice of thunder, 'Hail to you, Guatemoc, Emperor!' + +Now the prince himself stood forward and spoke: + +'You lords of election, and you, princes, generals, nobles and +captains of the council of confirmation, hear me. May the gods be +my witness that when I entered this place I had no thought or +knowledge that I was destined to so high an honour as that which +you would thrust upon me. And may the gods be my witness again +that were my life my own, and not a trust in the hands of this +people, I would say to you, "Seek on and find one worthier to fill +the throne." But my life is not my own. Anahuac calls her son and +I obey the call. War to the death threatens her, and shall I hang +back while my arm has strength to smite and my brain has power to +plan? Not so. Now and henceforth I vow myself to the service of +my country and to war against the Teules. I will make no peace +with them, I will take no rest till they are driven back whence +they came, or till I am dead beneath their swords. None can say +what the gods have in store for us, it may be victory or it may be +destruction, but be it triumph or death, let us swear a great oath +together, my people and my brethren. Let us swear to fight the +Teules and the traitors who abet them, for our cities, our hearths +and our altars; till the cities are a smoking ruin, till the +hearths are cumbered with their dead, and the altars run red with +the blood of their worshippers. So, if we are destined to conquer, +our triumph shall be made sure, and if we are doomed to fail, at +least there will be a story to be told of us. Do you swear, my +people and my brethren?' + +'We swear,' they answered with a shout. + +'It is well,' said Guatemoc. 'And now may everlasting shame +overtake him who breaks this oath.' + + +Thus then was Guatemoc, the last and greatest of the Aztec +emperors, elected to the throne of his forefathers. It was happy +for him that he could not foresee that dreadful day when he, the +noblest of men, must meet a felon's doom at the hand of these very +Teules. Yet so it came about, for the destiny that lay upon the +land smote all alike, indeed the greater the man the more certain +was his fate. + +When all was done I hurried to the palace to tell Otomie what had +come to pass, and found her in our sleeping chamber lying on her +bed. + +'What ails you, Otomie?' I asked. + +'Alas! my husband,' she answered, 'the pestilence has stricken me. +Come not near, I pray you, come not near. Let me be nursed by the +women. You shall not risk your life for me, beloved.' + +'Peace,' I said and came to her. It was too true, I who am a +physician knew the symptoms well. Indeed had it not been for my +skill, Otomie would have died. For three long weeks I fought with +death at her bedside, and in the end I conquered. The fever left +her, and thanks to my treatment, there was no single scar upon her +lovely face. During eight days her mind wandered without ceasing, +and it was then I learned how deep and perfect was her love for me. +For all this while she did nothing but rave of me, and the secret +terror of her heart was disclosed--that I should cease to care for +her, that her beauty and love might pall upon me so that I should +leave her, that 'the flower maid,' for so she named Lily, who dwelt +across the sea should draw me back to her by magic; this was the +burden of her madness. At length her senses returned and she +spoke, saying: + +'How long have I lain ill, husband?' + +I told her and she said, 'And have you nursed me all this while, +and through so foul a sickness?' + +'Yes, Otomie, I have tended you.' + +'What have I done that you should be so good to me?' she murmured. +Then some dreadful thought seemed to strike her, for she moaned as +though in pain, and said, 'A mirror! Swift, bring me a mirror!' + +I gave her one, and rising on her arm, eagerly she scanned her face +in the dim light of the shadowed room, then let the plate of +burnished gold fall, and sank back with a faint and happy cry: + +'I feared,' she said, 'I feared that I had become hideous as those +are whom the pestilence has smitten, and that you would cease to +love me, than which it had been better to die.' + +'For shame,' I said. 'Do you then think that love can be +frightened away by some few scars?' + +'Yes,' Otomie answered, 'that is the love of a man; not such love +as mine, husband. Had I been thus--ah! I shudder to think of it-- +within a year you would have hated me. Perhaps it had not been so +with another, the fair maid of far away, but me you would have +hated. Nay, I know it, though I know this also, that I should not +have lived to feel your hate. Oh! I am thankful, thankful.' + +Then I left her for a while, marvelling at the great love which she +had given me, and wondering also if there was any truth in her +words, and if the heart of man could be so ungrateful and so vile. +Supposing that Otomie was now as many were who walked the streets +of Tenoctitlan that day, a mass of dreadful scars, hairless, and +with blind and whitened eyeballs, should I then have shrunk from +her? I do not know, and I thank heaven that no such trial was put +upon my constancy. But I am sure of this; had I become a leper +even, Otomie would not have shrunk from me. + +So Otomie recovered from her great sickness, and shortly afterwards +the pestilence passed away from Tenoctitlan. And now I had many +other things to think of, for the choosing of Guatemoc--my friend +and blood brother--as emperor meant much advancement to me, who was +made a general of the highest class, and a principal adviser in his +councils. Nor did I spare myself in his service, but laboured by +day and night in the work of preparing the city for siege, and in +the marshalling of the troops, and more especially of that army of +Otomies, who came, as they had promised, to the number of twenty +thousand. The work was hard indeed, for these Indian tribes lacked +discipline and powers of unity, without which their thousands were +of little avail in a war with white men. Also there were great +jealousies between their leaders which must be overcome, and I was +myself an object of jealousy. Moreover, many tribes took this +occasion of the trouble of the Aztecs to throw off their allegiance +or vassalage, and even if they did not join the Spaniards, to +remain neutral watching for the event of the war. Still we +laboured on, dividing the armies into regiments after the fashion +of Europe, and stationing each in its own quarter drilling them to +the better use of arms, provisioning the city for a siege, and +weeding out as many useless mouths as we might; and there was but +one man in Tenoctitlan who toiled at these tasks more heavily than +I, and that was Guatemoc the emperor, who did not rest day or +night. I tried even to make powder with sulphur which was brought +from the throat of the volcan Popo, but, having no knowledge of +that art, I failed. Indeed, it would have availed us little had I +succeeded, for having neither arquebusses nor cannons, and no skill +to cast them, we could only have used it in mining roads and +gateways, and, perhaps, in grenades to be thrown with the hand. + +And so the months went on, till at length spies came in with the +tidings that the Spaniards were advancing in numbers, and with them +countless hosts of allies. + +Now I would have sent Otomie to seek safety among her own people, +but she laughed me to scorn, and said: + +'Where you are, there I will be, husband. What, shall it be +suffered that you face death, perhaps to find him, when I am not at +your side to die with you? If that is the fashion of white women, +I leave it to them, beloved, and here with you I stay.' + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE FALL OF TENOCTITLAN + + +Now shortly after Christmas, having marched from the coast with a +great array of Spaniards, for many had joined his banner from over +sea, and tens of thousands of native allies, Cortes took up his +head quarters at Tezcuco in the valley of Mexico. This town is +situated near the borders of the lake, at a distance of several +leagues from Tenoctitlan, and being on the edge of the territory of +the Tlascalans his allies, it was most suitable to Cortes as a base +of action. And then began one of the most terrible wars that the +world has seen. For eight months it raged, and when it ceased at +length, Tenoctitlan, and with it many other beautiful and populous +towns, were blackened ruins, the most of the Aztecs were dead by +sword and famine, and their nation was crushed for ever. Of all +the details of this war I do not purpose to write, for were I to do +so, there would be no end to this book, and I have my own tale to +tell. These, therefore, I leave to the maker of histories. Let it +be enough to say that the plan of Cortes was to destroy all her +vassal and allied cities and peoples before he grappled with +Mexico, queen of the valley, and this he set himself to do with a +skill, a valour, and a straightness of purpose, such as have +scarcely been shown by a general since the days of Caesar. + +Iztapalapan was the first to fall, and here ten thousand men, +women, and children were put to the sword or burned alive. Then +came the turn of the others; one by one Cortes reduced the cities +till the whole girdle of them was in his hand, and Tenoctitlan +alone remained untouched. Many indeed surrendered, for the nations +of Anahuac being of various blood were but as a bundle of reeds and +not as a tree. Thus when the power of Spain cut the band of empire +that bound them together, they fell this way and that, having no +unity. So it came about that as the power of Guatemoc weakened +that of Cortes increased, for he garnered these loosened reeds into +his basket. And, indeed, now that the people saw that Mexico had +met her match, many an ancient hate and smouldering rivalry broke +into flame, and they fell upon her and tore her, like half-tamed +wolves upon their master when his scourge is broken. It was this +that brought about the fall of Anahuac. Had she remained true to +herself, had she forgotten her feuds and jealousies and stood +against the Spaniards as one man, then Tenoctitlan would never have +fallen, and Cortes with every Teule in his company had been +stretched upon the stone of sacrifice. + +Did I not say when I took up my pen to write this book that every +wrong revenges itself at last upon the man or the people that +wrought it? So it was now. Mexico was destroyed because of the +abomination of the worship of her gods. These feuds between the +allied peoples had their root in the horrible rites of human +sacrifice. At some time in the past, from all these cities +captives have been dragged to the altars of the gods of Mexico, +there to be slaughtered and devoured by the cannibal worshippers. +Now these outrages were remembered, now when the arm of the queen +of the valley was withered, the children of those whom she had +slain rose up to slay her and to drag HER children to their altars. + +By the month of May, strive as we would, and never was a more +gallant fight made, all our allies were crushed or had deserted us, +and the siege of the city began. It began by land and by water, +for with incredible resource Cortes caused thirteen brigantines of +war to be constructed in Tlascala, and conveyed in pieces for +twenty leagues across the mountains to his camp, whence they were +floated into the lake through a canal, which was hollowed out by +the labour of ten thousand Indians, who worked at it without cease +for two months. The bearers of these brigantines were escorted by +an army of twenty thousand Tlascalans, and if I could have had my +way that army should have been attacked in the mountain passes. So +thought Guatemoc also, but there were few troops to spare, for the +most of our force had been despatched to threaten a city named +Chalco, that, though its people were of the Aztec blood, had not +been ashamed to desert the Aztec cause. Still I offered to lead +the twenty thousand Otomies whom I commanded against the Tlascalan +convoy, and the matter was debated hotly at a council of war. But +the most of the council were against the risking of an engagement +with the Spaniards and their allies so far from the city, and thus +the opportunity went by to return no more. It was an evil fortune +like the rest, for in the end these brigantines brought about the +fall of Tenoctitlan by cutting off the supply of food, which was +carried in canoes across the lake. Alas! the bravest can do +nothing against the power of famine. Hunger is a very great man, +as the Indians say. + +Now the Aztecs fighting alone were face to face with their foes and +the last struggle began. First the Spaniards cut the aqueduct +which supplied the city with water from the springs at the royal +house of Chapoltepec, whither I was taken on being brought to +Mexico. Henceforth till the end of the siege, the only water that +we found to drink was the brackish and muddy fluid furnished by the +lake and wells sunk in the soil. Although it might be drunk after +boiling to free it of the salt, it was unwholesome and filthy to +the taste, breeding various painful sicknesses and fevers. It was +on this day of the cutting of the aqueduct that Otomie bore me a +son, our first-born. Already the hardships of the siege were so +great and nourishing food so scarce, that had she been less strong, +or had I possessed less skill in medicine, I think that she would +have died. Still she recovered to my great thankfulness and joy, +and though I am no clerk I baptized the boy into the Christian +Church with my own hand, naming him Thomas after me. + +Now day by day and week by week the fighting went on with varying +success, sometimes in the suburbs of the city, sometimes on the +lake, and sometimes in the very streets. Time on time the +Spaniards were driven back with loss, time on time they advanced +again from their different camps. Once we captured sixty of them +and more than a thousand of their allies. All these were +sacrificed on the altar of Huitzel, and given over to be devoured +by the Aztecs according to the beastlike custom which in Anahuac +enjoined the eating of the bodies of those who were offered to the +gods, not because the Indians love such meat but for a secret +religious reason. + +In vain did I pray Guatemoc to forego this horror. + +'Is this a time for gentleness?' he answered fiercely. 'I cannot +save them from the altar, and I would not if I could. Let the dogs +die according to the custom of the land, and to you, Teule my +brother, I say presume not too far.' + +Alas! the heart of Guatemoc grew ever fiercer as the struggle wore +on, and indeed it was little to be wondered at. + +This was the dreadful plan of Cortes: to destroy the city piecemeal +as he advanced towards its heart, and it was carried out without +mercy. So soon as the Spaniards got footing in a quarter, +thousands of the Tlascalans were set to work to fire the houses and +burn all in them alive. Before the siege was done Tenoctitlan, +queen of the valley, was but a heap of blackened ruins. Cortes +might have cried over Mexico with Isaiah the prophet: 'Thy pomp is +brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is +spread under thee and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen +from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down +to the ground which didst weaken the nations!' + +In all these fights I took my part, though it does not become me to +boast my prowess. Still the Spaniards knew me well and they had +good reason. Whenever they saw me they would greet me with +revilings, calling me 'traitor and renegade,' and 'Guatemoc's white +dog,' and moreover, Cortes set a price upon my head, for he knew +through his spies that some of Guatemoc's most successful attacks +and stratagems had been of my devising. But I took no heed even +when their insults pierced me like arrows, for though many of the +Aztecs were my friends and I hated the Spaniards, it was a shameful +thing that a Christian man should be warring on the side of +cannibals who made human sacrifice. I took no heed, since always I +was seeking for my foe de Garcia. He was there I knew, for I saw +him many times, but I could never come at him. Indeed, if I +watched for him he also watched for me, but with another purpose, +to avoid me. For now as of old de Garcia feared me, now as of old +he believed that I should bring his death upon him. + +It was the custom of warriors in the opposing armies to send +challenges to single combat, one to another, and many such duels +were fought in the sight of all, safe conduct being given to the +combatants and their seconds. Upon a day, despairing of meeting +him face to face in battle, I sent a challenge to de Garcia by a +herald, under his false name of Sarceda. In an hour the herald +returned with this message written on paper in Spanish: + +'Christian men do not fight duels with renegade heathen dogs, white +worshippers of devils and eaters of human flesh. There is but one +weapon which such cannot defile, a rope, and it waits for you, +Thomas Wingfield.' + +I tore the writing to pieces and stamped upon it in my rage, for +now, to all his other crimes against me, de Garcia had added the +blackest insult. But wrath availed me nothing, for I could never +come near him, though once, with ten of my Otomies, I charged into +the heart of the Spanish column after him. + +From that rush I alone escaped alive, the ten Otomies were +sacrificed to my hate. + +How shall I paint the horrors that day by day were heaped upon the +doomed city? Soon all the food was gone, and men, ay, and worse +still, tender women and children, must eat such meat as swine would +have turned from, striving to keep life in them for a little +longer. Grass, the bark of trees, slugs and insects, washed down +with brackish water from the lake, these were their best food, +these and the flesh of captives offered in sacrifice. Now they +began to die by hundreds and by thousands, they died so fast that +none could bury them. Where they perished, there they lay, till at +length their bodies bred a plague, a black and horrible fever that +swept off thousands more, who in turn became the root of +pestilence. For one who was killed by the Spaniards and their +allies, two were swept off by hunger and plague. Think then what +was the number of dead when not less than seventy thousand perished +beneath the sword and by fire alone. Indeed, it is said that forty +thousand died in this manner in a single day, the day before the +last of the siege. + + +One night I came back to the lodging where Otomie dwelt with her +royal sister Tecuichpo, the wife of Guatemoc, for now all the +palaces had been burnt down. I was starving, for I had scarcely +tasted food for forty hours, but all that my wife could set before +me were three little meal cakes, or tortillas, mixed with bark. +She kissed me and bade me eat them, but I discovered that she +herself had touched no food that day, so I would not till she +shared them. Then I noted that she could scarcely swallow the +bitter morsels, and also that she strove to hide tears which ran +down her face. + +'What is it, wife?' I asked. + +Then Otomie broke out into a great and bitter crying and said: + +'This, my beloved: for two days the milk has been dry in my breast-- +hunger has dried it--and our babe is dead! Look, he lies dead!' +and she drew aside a cloth and showed me the tiny body. + +'Hush,' I said, 'he is spared much. Can we then desire that a +child should live to see such days as we have seen, and after all, +to die at last?' + +'He was our son, our first-born,' she cried again. 'Oh! why must +we suffer thus?' + +'We must suffer, Otomie, because we are born to it. Just so much +happiness is given to us as shall save us from madness and no more. +Ask me not why, for I cannot answer you! There is no answer in my +faith or in any other.' + +And then, looking on that dead babe, I wept also. Every hour in +those terrible months it was my lot to see a thousand sights more +awful, and yet this sight of a dead infant moved me the most of all +of them. The child was mine, my firstborn, its mother wept beside +me, and its stiff and tiny fingers seemed to drag at my heart +strings. Seek not the cause, for the Almighty Who gave the heart +its infinite power of pain alone can answer, and to our ears He is +dumb. + +Then I took a mattock and dug a hole outside the house till I came +to water, which in Tenoctitlan is found at a depth of two feet or +so. And, having muttered a prayer over him, there in the water I +laid the body of our child, burying it out of sight. At the least +he was not left for the zapilotes, as the Aztecs call the vultures, +like the rest of them. + +After that we wept ourselves to sleep in each other's arms, Otomie +murmuring from time to time, 'Oh! my husband, I would that we were +asleep and forgotten, we and the babe together.' + +'Rest now,' I answered, 'for death is very near to us.' + +The morrow came, and with it a deadlier fray than any that had gone +before, and after it more morrows and more deaths, but still we +lived on, for Guatemoc gave us of his food. Then Cortes sent his +heralds demanding our surrender, and now three-fourths of the city +was a ruin, and three-fourths of its defenders were dead. The dead +were heaped in the houses like bees stifled in a hive, and in the +streets they lay so thick that we walked upon them. + +The council was summoned--fierce men, haggard with hunger and with +war, and they considered the offer of Cortes. + +'What is your word, Guatemoc?' said their spokesman at last. + +'Am I Montezuma, that you ask me? I swore to defend this city to +the last,' he answered hoarsely, 'and, for my part, I will defend +it. Better that we should all die, than that we should fall living +into the hands of the Teules.' + +'So say we,' they replied, and the war went on. + + +At length there came a day when the Spaniards made a new attack and +gained another portion of the city. There the people were huddled +together like sheep in a pen. We strove to defend them, but our +arms were weak with famine. They fired into us with their pieces, +mowing us down like corn before the sickle. Then the Tlascalans +were loosed upon us, like fierce hounds upon a defenceless buck, +and on this day it is said that there died forty thousand people, +for none were spared. On the morrow, it was the last day of the +siege, came a fresh embassy from Cortes, asking that Guatemoc +should meet him. The answer was the same, for nothing could +conquer that noble spirit. + +'Tell him,' said Guatemoc, 'that I will die where I am, but that I +will hold no parley with him. We are helpless, let Cortes work his +pleasure on us.' + +By now all the city was destroyed, and we who remained alive within +its bounds were gathered on the causeways and behind the ruins of +walls; men, women, and children together. + +Here they attacked us again. The great drum on the teocalli beat +for the last time, and for the last time the wild scream of the +Aztec warriors went up to heaven. We fought our best; I killed +four men that day with my arrows which Otomie, who was at my side, +handed me as I shot. But the most of us had not the strength of a +child, and what could we do? They came among us like seamen among +a flock of seals, and slaughtered us by hundreds. They drove us +into the canals and trod us to death there, till bridges were made +of our bodies. How we escaped I do not know. + +At length a party of us, among whom was Guatemoc with his wife +Tecuichpo, were driven to the shores of the lake where lay canoes, +and into these we entered, scarcely knowing what we did, but +thinking that we might escape, for now all the city was taken. The +brigantines saw us and sailed after us with a favouring wind--the +wind always favoured the foe in that war--and row as we would, one +of them came up with us and began to fire into us. Then Guatemoc +stood up and spoke, saying: + +'I am Guatemoc. Bring me to Malinche. But spare those of my +people who remain alive.' + +'Now,' I said to Otomie at my side, 'my hour has come, for the +Spaniards will surely hang me, and it is in my mind, wife, that I +should do well to kill myself, so that I may be saved from a death +of shame.' + +'Nay, husband,' she answered sadly, 'as I said in bygone days, +while you live there is hope, but the dead come back no more. +Fortune may favour us yet; still, if you think otherwise, I am +ready to die.' + +'That I will not suffer, Otomie.' + +'Then you must hold your hand, husband, for now as always, where +you go, I follow.' + +'Listen,' I whispered; 'do not let it be known that you are my +wife; pass yourself as one of the ladies of Tecuichpo, the queen, +your sister. If we are separated, and if by any chance I escape, I +will try to make my way to the City of Pines. There, among your +own people, we may find refuge.' + +'So be it, beloved,' she answered, smiling sadly. 'But I do not +know how the Otomie will receive me, who have led twenty thousand +of their bravest men to a dreadful death.' + +Now we were on the deck of the brigantine and must stop talking, +and thence, after the Spaniards had quarrelled over us a while, we +were taken ashore and led to the top of a house which still stood, +where Cortes had made ready hurriedly to receive his royal +prisoner. Surrounded by his escort, the Spanish general stood, cap +in hand, and by his side was Marina, grown more lovely than before, +whom I now met for the first time since we had parted in Tobasco. + +Our eyes met and she started, thereby showing that she knew me +again, though it must have been hard for Marina to recognise her +friend Teule in the blood-stained, starving, and tattered wretch +who could scarcely find strength to climb the azotea. But at that +time no words passed between us, for all eyes were bent on the +meeting between Cortes and Guatemoc, between the conqueror and the +conquered. + +Still proud and defiant, though he seemed but a living skeleton, +Guatemoc walked straight to where the Spaniard stood, and spoke, +Marina translating his words. + +'I am Guatemoc, the emperor, Malinche,' he said. 'What a man might +do to defend his people, I have done. Look on the fruits of my +labour,' and he pointed to the blackened ruins of Tenoctitlan that +stretched on every side far as the eye could reach. 'Now I have +come to this pass, for the gods themselves have been against me. +Deal with me as you will, but it will be best that you kill me +now,' and he touched the dagger of Cortes with his hand, 'and thus +rid me swiftly of the misery of life.' + +'Fear not, Guatemoc,' answered Cortes. 'You have fought like a +brave man, and such I honour. With me you are safe, for we +Spaniards love a gallant foe. See, here is food,' and he pointed +to a table spread with such viands as we had not seen for many a +week; 'eat, you and your companions together, for you must need it. +Afterwards we will talk.' + +So we ate, and heartily, I for my part thinking that it would be +well to die upon a full stomach, having faced death so long upon an +empty one, and while we devoured the meat the Spaniards stood on +one side scanning us, not without pity. Presently, Tecuichpo was +brought before Cortes, and with her Otomie and some six other +ladies. He greeted her graciously, and they also were given to +eat. Now, one of the Spaniards who had been watching me whispered +something into the ear of Cortes, and I saw his face darken. + +'Say,' he said to me in Castilian, 'are you that renegade, that +traitor who has aided these Aztecs against us?' + +'I am no renegade and no traitor, general,' I answered boldly, for +the food and wine had put new life into me. 'I am an Englishman, +and I have fought with the Aztecs because I have good cause to hate +you Spaniards.' + +'You shall soon have better, traitor,' he said furiously. 'Here, +lead this man away and hang him on the mast of yonder ship.' + +Now I saw that it was finished, and made ready to go to my death, +when Marina spoke into the ear of Cortes. All she said I could not +catch, but I heard the words 'hidden gold.' He listened, then +hesitated, and spoke aloud: 'Do not hang this man to-day. Let him +be safely guarded. Tomorrow I will inquire into his case.' + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THOMAS IS DOOMED + + +At the words of Cortes two Spaniards came forward, and seizing me +one by either arm, they led me across the roof of the house towards +the stairway. Otomie had heard also, and though she did not +understand the words, she read the face of Cortes, and knew well +that I was being taken to imprisonment or death. As I passed her, +she started forward, a terror shining in her eyes. Fearing that +she was about to throw herself upon my breast, and thus to reveal +herself as my wife, and bring my fate upon her, I glanced at her +warningly, then making pretence to stumble, as though with fear and +exhaustion, I fell at her feet. The soldiers who led me laughed +brutally, and one of them kicked me with his heavy boot. But +Otomie stooped down and held her hand to me to help me rise, and as +I did so, we spoke low and swiftly. + +'Farewell, wife,' I said; 'whatever happens, keep silent.' + +'Farewell,' she answered; 'if you must die, await me in the gates +of death, for I will join you there.' + +'Nay, live on. Time shall bring comfort.' + +'You are my life, beloved. With you time ends for me.' Now I was +on my feet again, and I think that none noted our whispered words, +for all were listening to Cortes, who rated the man that had kicked +me. + +'I bade you guard this traitor, not to kick him,' he said angrily +in Castilian. 'Will you put us to open shame before these savages? +Do so once more, and you shall pay for it smartly. Learn a lesson +in gentleness from that woman; she is starving, yet she leaves her +food to help your prisoner to his feet. Now take him away to the +camp, and see that he comes to no harm, for he can tell me much.' + +Then the soldiers led me away, grumbling as they went, and the last +thing that I saw was the despairing face of Otomie my wife, as she +gazed after me, faint with the secret agony of our parting. But +when I came to the head of the stairway, Guatemoc, who stood near, +took my hand and shook it. + +'Farewell, my brother,' he said with a heavy smile; 'the game we +played together is finished, and now it is time for us to rest. I +thank you for your valour and your aid.' + +'Farewell, Guatemoc,' I answered. 'You are fallen, but let this +comfort you, in your fall you have found immortal fame.' + +'On, on!' growled the soldiers, and I went, little thinking how +Guatemoc and I should meet again. + +They took me to a canoe, and we were paddled across the lake by +Tlascalans, till at length we came to the Spanish camp. All the +journey through, my guards, though they laid no hand on me, fearing +the anger of Cortes, mocked and taunted me, asking me how I liked +the ways of the heathen, and whether I ate the flesh of the +sacrifices raw or cooked; and many another such brutal jest they +made at my expense. For a while I bore it, for I had learned to be +patient from the Indians, but at last I answered them in few words +and bitter. + +'Peace, cowards,' I said; 'remember that I am helpless, and that +were I before you strong and armed, either I should not live to +listen to such words, or you would not live to repeat them.' + +Then they were silent, and I also was silent. + +When we reached their camp I was led through it, followed by a +throng of fierce Tlascalans and others, who would have torn me limb +from limb had they not feared to do so. I saw some Spaniards also, +but the most of these were so drunk with mescal, and with joy at +the tidings that Tenoctitlan had fallen, and their labours were +ended at last, that they took no heed of me. Never did I see such +madness as possessed them, for these poor fools believed that +henceforth they should eat their very bread off plates of gold. It +was for gold that they had followed Cortes; for gold they had +braved the altar of sacrifice and fought in a hundred fights, and +now, as they thought, they had won it. + +The room of the stone house where they prisoned me had a window +secured by bars of wood, and through these bars I could see and +hear the revellings of the soldiers during the time of my +confinement. All day long, when they were not on duty, and most of +the night also, they gambled and drank, staking tens of pesos on a +single throw, which the loser must pay out of his share of the +countless treasures of the Aztecs. Little did they care if they +won or lost, they were so sure of plunder, but played on till drink +overpowered them, and they rolled senseless beneath the tables, or +till they sprang up and danced wildly to and fro, catching at the +sunbeams and screaming 'Gold! gold! gold!' + +Listening at this window also I gathered some of the tidings of the +camp. I learned that Cortes had come back, bringing Guatemoc and +several of the princes with him, together with many of the noble +Aztec ladies. Indeed I saw and heard the soldiers gambling for +these women when they were weary of their play for money, a +description of each of them being written on a piece of paper. One +of these ladies answered well to Otomie, my wife, and she was put +up to auction by the brute who won her in the gamble, and sold to a +common soldier for a hundred pesos. For these men never doubted +but that the women and the gold would be handed over to them. + +Thus things went for several days, during which I sat and slept in +my prison untroubled by any, except the native woman who waited on +me and brought me food in plenty. During those days I ate as I +have never eaten before or since, and I slept much, for my sorrows +could not rid my body of its appetites and commanding need for food +and rest. Indeed I verily believe that at the end of a week, I had +increased in weight by a full half; also my weariness was conquered +at length, and I was strong again. + +But when I was neither sleeping nor eating I watched at my window, +hoping, though in vain, to catch some sight of Otomie or of +Guatemoc. If I might not see my friends, however, at least I saw +my foe, for one evening de Garcia came and stared at my prison. He +could not see me, but I saw him, and the devilish smile that +flickered on his face as he went away like a wolf, made me shiver +with a presage of woes to come. For ten minutes or more he stood +gazing at my window hungrily, as a cat gazes at a caged bird, and I +felt that he was waiting for the door to be opened, and KNEW that +it would soon be opened. + +This happened on the eve of the day upon which I was put to +torture. + +Meanwhile, as time went on, I noticed that a change came over the +temper of the camp. The soldiers ceased to gamble for untold +wealth, they even ceased from drinking to excess and from their +riotous joy, but took to hanging together in knots discussing +fiercely I could not learn of what. On the day when de Garcia came +to look at my prison there was a great gathering in the square +opposite my prison, to which I saw Cortes ride up on a white horse +and richly dressed. The meeting was too far away for me to +overhear what passed, but I noted that several officers addressed +Cortes angrily, and that their speeches were loudly cheered by the +soldiers. At length the great captain answered them at some +length, and they broke up in silence. Next morning after I had +breakfasted, four soldiers came into my prison and ordered me to +accompany them. + +'Whither?' I asked. + +'To the captain, traitor,' their leader answered. + +'It has come at last,' I thought to myself, but I said only: + +'It is well. Any change from this hole is one for the better.' + +'Certainly,' he replied; 'and it is your last shift.' + +Then I knew that the man believed that I was going to my death. In +five minutes I was standing before Cortes in his private house. At +his side was Marina and around him were several of his companions +in arms. The great man looked at me for a while, then spoke. + +'Your name is Wingfield; you are of mixed blood, half English and +half Spanish. You were cast away in the Tobasco River and taken to +Tenoctitlan. There you were doomed to personate the Aztec god +Tezcat, and were rescued by us when we captured the great teocalli. +Subsequently you joined the Aztecs and took part in the attack and +slaughter of the noche triste. You were afterwards the friend and +counsellor of Guatemoc, and assisted him in his defence of +Tenoctitlan. Is this true, prisoner?' + +'It is all true, general,' I answered. + +'Good. You are now our prisoner, and had you a thousand lives, you +have forfeited them all because of your treachery to your race and +blood. Into the circumstances that led you to commit this horrible +treason I cannot enter; the fact remains. You have slain many of +the Spaniards and their allies; that is, being in a state of +treason you have murdered them. Wingfield, your life is forfeit +and I condemn you to die by hanging as a traitor and an apostate.' + +'Then there is nothing more to be said,' I answered quietly, though +a cold fear froze my blood. + +'There is something,' answered Cortes. 'Though your crimes have +been so many, I am ready to give you your life and freedom upon a +condition. I am ready to do more, to find you a passage to Europe +on the first occasion, where you may perchance escape the echoes of +your infamy if God is good to you. The condition is this. We have +reason to believe that you are acquainted with the hiding place of +the gold of Montezuma, which was unlawfully stolen from us on the +night of the noche triste. Nay, we know that this is so, for you +were seen to go with the canoes that were laden with it. Choose +now, apostate, between a shameful death and the revealing to us of +the secret of this treasure.' + +For a moment I wavered. On the one hand was the loss of honour +with life and liberty and the hope of home, on the other a dreadful +end. Then I remembered my oath and Otomie, and what she would +think of me living or dead, if I did this thing, and I wavered no +more. + +'I know nothing of the treasure, general,' I answered coldly. +'Send me to my death.' + +'You mean that you will say nothing of it, traitor. Think again. +If you have sworn any oaths they are broken by God. The empire of +the Aztecs is at an end, their king is my prisoner, their great +city is a ruin. The true God has triumphed over these devils by my +hand. Their wealth is my lawful spoil, and I must have it to pay +my gallant comrades who cannot grow rich on desolation. Think +again.' + +'I know nothing of this treasure, general.' + +'Yet memory sometimes wakens, traitor. I have said that you shall +die if yours should fail you, and so you shall to be sure. But +death is not always swift. There are means, doubtless you who have +lived in Spain have heard of them,' and he arched his brows and +glared at me meaningly, 'by which a man may die and yet live for +many weeks. Now, loth as I am to do it, it seems that if your +memory still sleeps, I must find some such means to rouse it-- +before you die.' + +'I am in your power, general,' I answered. 'You call me traitor +again and again. I am no traitor. I am a subject of the King of +England, not of the King of Spain. I came hither following a +villain who has wrought me and mine bitter wrong, one of your +company named de Garcia or Sarceda. To find him and for other +reasons I joined the Aztecs. They are conquered and I am your +prisoner. At the least deal with me as a brave man deals with a +fallen enemy. I know nothing of the treasure; kill me and make an +end.' + +'As a man I might wish to do this, Wingfield, but I am more than a +man, I am the hand of the Church here in Anahuac. You have +partaken with the worshippers of idols, you have seen your fellow +Christians sacrificed and devoured by your brute comrades. For +this alone you deserve to be tortured eternally, and doubtless that +will be so after we have done with you. As for the hidalgo Don +Sarceda, I know him only as a brave companion in arms, and +certainly I shall not listen to tales told against him by a +wandering apostate. It is, however, unlucky for you,' and here a +gleam of light shot across the face of Cortes, 'that there should +be any old feud between you, seeing that it is to his charge that I +am about to confide you. Now for the last time I say choose. Will +you reveal the hiding place of the treasure and go free, or will +you be handed over to the care of Don Sarceda till such time as he +shall find means to make you speak?' + +Now a great faintness seized me, for I knew that I was condemned to +be tortured, and that de Garcia was to be the torturer. What mercy +had I to expect from his cruel heart when I, his deadliest foe, lay +in his power to wreak his vengeance on? But still my will and my +honour prevailed against my terrors, and I answered: + +'I have told you, general, that I know nothing of this treasure. +Do your worst, and may God forgive you for your cruelty.' + +'Dare not to speak that holy Name, apostate and worshipper of +idols, eater of human flesh. Let Sarceda be summoned.' + +A messenger went out, and for a while there was silence. I caught +Marina's glance and saw pity in her gentle eyes. But she could not +help me here, for Cortes was mad because no gold had been found, +and the clamour of the soldiers for reward had worn him out and +brought him to this shameful remedy, he who was not cruel by +nature. Still she strove to plead for me with him, whispering +earnestly in his ear. For a while Cortes listened, then he pushed +her from him roughly. + +'Peace, Marina,' he said. 'What, shall I spare this English dog +some pangs, when my command, and perchance my very life, hangs upon +the finding of the gold? Nay, he knows well where it lies hid; you +said it yourself when I would have hung him for a traitor, and +certainly he was one of those whom the spy saw go out with it upon +the lake. Our friend was with them also, but he came back no more; +doubtless they murdered him. What is this man to you that you +should plead for him? Cease to trouble me, Marina, am I not +troubled enough already?' and Cortes put his hands to his face and +remained lost in thought. As for Marina, she looked at me sadly +and sighed as though to say, 'I have done my best,' and I thanked +her with my eyes. + +Presently there was a sound of footsteps and I looked up to see de +Garcia standing before me. Time and hardship had touched him +lightly, and the lines of silver in his curling hair and peaked +beard did but add dignity to his noble presence. Indeed, when I +looked at him in his dark Spanish beauty, his rich garments decked +with chains of gold, as he bowed before Cortes hat in hand, I was +fain to confess that I had never seen a more gallant cavalier, or +one whose aspect gave the lie so wholly to the black heart within. +But knowing him for what he was, my very blood quivered with hate +at the sight of him, and when I thought of my own impotence and of +the errand on which he had come, I ground my teeth and cursed the +day that I was born. As for de Garcia, he greeted me with a little +cruel smile, then spoke to Cortes. + +'Your pleasure, general?' + +'Greeting to you, comrade,' answered Cortes. 'You know this +renegade?' + +'But too well, general. Three times he has striven to murder me.' + +'Well, you have escaped and it is your hour now, Sarceda. He says +that he has a quarrel with you; what is it?' + +De Garcia hesitated, stroking his peaked beard, then answered: 'I +am loth to tell it because it is a tale of error for which I have +often sorrowed and done penance. Yet I will speak for fear you +should think worse of me than I deserve. This man has some cause +to mislike me, since to be frank, when I was younger than I am to- +day and given to the follies of youth, it chanced that in England I +met his mother, a beautiful Spanish lady who by ill fortune was +wedded to an Englishman, this man's father and a clown of clowns, +who maltreated her. I will be short; the lady learned to love me +and I worsted her husband in a duel. Hence this traitor's hate of +me.' + +I heard and thought that my heart must burst with fury. To all his +wickedness and offences against me, de Garcia now had added slander +of my dead mother's honour. + +'You lie, murderer,' I gasped, tearing at the ropes that bound me. + +'I must ask you to protect me from such insult, general,' de Garcia +answered coldly. 'Were the prisoner worthy of my sword, I would +ask further that his bonds should be loosed for a little space, but +my honour would be tarnished for ever were I to fight with such as +he.' + +'Dare to speak thus once more to a gentleman of Spain,' said Cortes +coldly, 'and, you heathen dog, your tongue shall be dragged from +you with red-hot pincers. For you, Sarceda, I thank you for your +confidence. If you have no worse crime than a love affair upon +your soul, I think that our good chaplain Olmedo will frank you +through the purgatorial fires. But we waste words and time. This +man has the secret of the treasure of Guatemoc and of Montezuma. +If Guatemoc and his nobles will not tell it, he at least may be +forced to speak, for the torments that an Indian can endure without +a groan will soon bring truth bubbling from the lips of this white +heathen. Take him, Sarceda, and hearken, let him be your especial +care. First let him suffer with the others, and afterwards, should +he prove obdurate, alone. The method I leave to you. Should he +confess, summon me.' + +'Pardon me, general, but this is no task for an hidalgo of Spain. +I have been more wont to pierce my enemies with the sword than to +tear them with pincers,' said de Garcia, but as he spoke I saw a +gleam of triumph shine in his black eyes, and heard the ring of +triumph through the mock anger of his voice. + +'I know it, comrade. But this must be done; though I hate it, it +must be done, there is no other way. The gold is necessary to me-- +by the Mother of God! the knaves say that I have stolen it!--and I +doubt these stubborn Indian dogs will ever speak, however great +their agony. This man knows and I give him over to you because you +are acquainted with his wickedness, and that knowledge will steel +your heart against all pity. Spare not, comrade; remember that he +must be forced to speak.' + +'It is your command, Cortes, and I will obey it, though I love the +task little; with one proviso, however, that you give me your +warrant in writing.' + +'It shall be made out at once,' answered the general. 'And now +away with him.' + +'Where to?' + +'To the prison that he has left. All is ready and there he will +find his comrades.' + +Then a guard was summoned and I was dragged back to my own place, +de Garcia saying as I went that he would be with me presently. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +DE GARCIA SPEAKS HIS MIND + + +At first I was not taken into the chamber that I had left, but +placed in a little room opening out of it where the guard slept. +Here I waited a while, bound hand and foot and watched by two +soldiers with drawn swords. As I waited, torn by rage and fear, I +heard the noise of hammering through the wall, followed by a sound +of groans. At length the suspense came to an end; a door was +opened, and two fierce Tlascalan Indians came through it and seized +me by the hair and ears, dragging me thus into my own chamber. + +'Poor devil!' I heard one of the Spanish soldiers say as I went. +'Apostate or no, I am sorry for him; this is bloody work.' + +Then the door closed and I was in the place of torment. The room +was darkened, for a cloth had been hung in front of the window +bars, but its gloom was relieved by certain fires that burned in +braziers. It was by the light of these fires chiefly that I saw +the sight. On the floor of the chamber were placed three solid +chairs, one of them empty. The other two were filled by none other +than Guatemoc, Emperor of the Aztecs, and by his friend and mine +the cacique of Tacuba. They were bound in the chairs, the burning +braziers were placed at their feet, behind them stood a clerk with +paper and an inkhorn, and around them Indians were busy at some +dreadful task, directed to it by two Spanish soldiers. Near the +third chair stood another Spaniard who as yet took no part in the +play; it was de Garcia. As I looked, an Indian lifted one of the +braziers and seizing the naked foot of the Tacuban prince, thrust +it down upon the glowing coals. For a while there was silence, +then the Tacuban broke into groans. Guatemoc turned his head +towards him and spoke, and as he spoke I saw that his foot also was +resting in the flames of a brazier. 'Why do you complain, friend,' +he said, in a steady voice, 'when I keep silence? Am I then taking +my pleasure in a bed? Follow me now as always, friend, and be +silent beneath your sufferings.' + +The clerk wrote down his words, for I heard the quill scratching on +the paper, and as he wrote, Guatemoc turned his head and saw me. +His face was grey with pain, still he spoke as a hundred times I +had heard him speak at council, slowly and clearly. 'Alas! are you +also here, my friend Teule?' he said; 'I hoped that they had spared +you. See how these Spaniards keep faith. Malinche swore to treat +me with all honour; behold how he honours me, with hot coals for my +feet and pincers for my flesh. They think that we have buried +treasure, Teule, and would wring its secret from us. You know that +it is a lie. If we had treasure would we not give it gladly to our +conquerors, the god-born sons of Quetzal? You know that there is +nothing left except the ruins of our cities and the bones of our +dead.' + +Here he ceased suddenly, for the demon who tormented him struck him +across the mouth saying, 'Silence, dog.' + +But I understood, and I swore in my heart that I would die ere I +revealed my brother's secret. This was the last triumph that +Guatemoc could win, to keep his gold from the grasp of the greedy +Spaniard, and that victory at least he should not lose through me. +So I swore, and very soon my oath must be put to the test, for at a +motion from de Garcia the Tlascalans seized me and bound me to the +third chair. + +Then he spoke into my ear in Castilian: 'Strange are the ways of +Providence, Cousin Wingfield. You have hunted me across the world, +and several times we have met, always to your sorrow. I thought I +had you in the slave ship, I thought that the sharks had you in the +water, but somehow you escaped me whom you came to hunt. When I +knew it I grieved, but now I grieve no more, for I see that you +were reserved for this moment. Cousin Wingfield, it shall go hard +if you escape me this time, and yet I think that we shall spend +some days together before we part. Now I will be courteous with +you. You may have a choice of evils. How shall we begin? The +resources at my command are not all that we could wish, alas! the +Holy Office is not yet here with its unholy armoury, but still I +have done my best. These fellows do not understand their art: hot +coals are their only inspiration. I, you see, have several,' and +he pointed to various instruments of torture. 'Which will you +select?' + +I made no answer, for I had determined that I would speak no word +and utter no cry, do what they might with me. + +'Let me think, let me think,' went on de Garcia, smoothing his +beard. 'Ah, I have it. Here, slaves.' + +Now I will not renew my own agonies, or awake the horror of any who +may chance to read what I have written by describing what befell me +after this. Suffice it to say that for two hours and more this +devil, helped in his task by the Tlascalans, worked his wicked will +upon me. One by one torments were administered to me with a skill +and ingenuity that cannot often have been surpassed, and when at +times I fainted I was recovered by cold water being dashed upon me +and spirits poured down my throat. And yet, I say it with some +pride, during those two dreadful hours I uttered no groan however +great my sufferings, and spoke no word good or bad. + +Nor was it only bodily pain that I must bear, for all this while my +enemy mocked me with bitter words, which tormented my soul as his +instruments and hot coals tormented my body. At length he paused +exhausted, and cursed me for an obstinate pig of an Englishman, and +at that moment Cortes entered the shambles and with him Marina. + +'How goes it?' he said lightly, though his face turned pale at the +sight of horror. + +'The cacique of Tacuba has confessed that gold is buried in his +garden, the other two have said nothing, general,' the clerk +answered, glancing down his paper. + +'Brave men, indeed!' I heard Cortes mutter to himself; then said +aloud, 'Let the cacique be carried to-morrow to the garden of which +he speaks, that he may point out the gold. As for the other two, +cease tormenting them for this day. Perhaps they may find another +mind before to-morrow. I trust so, for their own sakes I trust +so!' + +Then he drew to the corner of the room and consulted with Sarceda +and the other torturers, leaving Marina face to face with Guatemoc +and with me. For a while she stared at the prince as though in +horror, then a strange light came into her beautiful eyes, and she +spoke to him in a low voice, saying in the Aztec tongue: + +'Do you remember how once you rejected me down yonder in Tobasco, +Guatemoc, and what I told you then?--that I should grow great in +spite of you? You see it has all come true and more than true, and +you are brought to this. Are you not sorry, Guatemoc? I am sorry, +though were I as some women are, perchance I might rejoice to see +you thus.' + +'Woman,' the prince answered in a thick voice, 'you have betrayed +your country and you have brought me to shame and torment. Yes, +had it not been for you, these things had never been. I am sorry, +indeed I am sorry--that I did not kill you. For the rest, may your +name be shameful for ever in the ears of honest men and your soul +be everlastingly accursed, and may you yourself, even before you +die, know the bitterness of dishonour and betrayal! Your words +were fulfilled, and so shall mine be also.' + +She heard and turned away trembling, and for a while was silent. +Then her glance fell upon me and she began to weep. + +'Alas! poor man,' she said; 'alas! my friend.' + +'Weep not over me, Marina,' I answered, speaking in Aztec, 'for our +tears are of no worth, but help me if you may.' + +'Ah that I could!' she sobbed, and turning fled from the place, +followed presently by Cortes. + +Now the Spaniards came in again and removed Guatemoc and the +cacique of Tacuba, carrying them in their arms, for they could not +walk, and indeed the cacique was in a swoon. + +'Farewell, Teule,' said Guatemoc as he passed me; 'you are indeed a +true son of Quetzal and a gallant man. May the gods reward you in +times to come for all that you have suffered for me and mine, since +I cannot.' + +Then he was borne out and these were the last words that I ever +heard him utter. + +Now I was left alone with the Tlascalans and de Garcia, who mocked +me as before. + +'A little tired, eh, friend Wingfield?' he said sneering. 'Well, +the play is rough till you get used to it. A night's sleep will +refresh you, and to-morrow you will be a new man. Perhaps you +believe that I have done my worst. Fool, this is but a beginning. +Also you think doubtless that your obstinacy angers me? Wrong +again, my friend, I only pray that you may keep your lips sealed to +the last. Gladly would I give my share of this hidden gold in +payment for two more such days with you. I have still much to pay +you back, and look you, I have found a way to do it. There are +more ways of hurting a man than through his own flesh--for +instance, when I wished to be revenged upon your father, I struck +him through her whom he loved. Now I have touched you and you +wonder what I mean. Well, I will tell you. Perhaps you may know +an Aztec lady of royal blood who is named Otomie?' + +'Otomie, what of her?' I cried, speaking for the first time, since +fear for her stirred me more than all the torments I had borne. + +'A triumph indeed; I have found a way to make you speak at last; +why, then, to-morrow you will be full of words. Only this, Cousin +Wingfield; Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, a very lovely woman by the +way, is your wife according to the Indian customs. Well, I know +all the story and--she is in my power. I will prove it to you, for +she shall be brought here presently and then you can console each +other. For listen, dog, to-morrow she will sit where you are +sitting, and before your eyes she shall be dealt with as you have +been dealt with. Ah! then you will talk fast enough, but perhaps +it will be too late.' + +And now for the first time I broke down and prayed for mercy even +of my foe. + +'Spare her,' I groaned; 'do what you will with me, but spare her! +Surely you must have a heart, even you, for you are human. You can +never do this thing, and Cortes would not suffer it.' + +'As for Cortes,' he answered, 'he will know nothing of it--till it +is done. I have my warrant that charges me to use every means in +my power to force the truth from you. Torture has failed; this +alone is left. And for the rest, you must read me ill. You know +what it is to hate, for you hate me; multiply your hate by ten and +you may find the sum of mine for you. I hate you for your blood, I +hate you because you have your mother's eyes, but much more do I +hate you for yourself, for did you not beat me, a gentleman of +Spain, with a stick as though I were a hound? Shall I then shrink +from such a deed when I can satisfy my hate by it? Also perhaps, +though you are a brave man, at this moment you know what it is to +fear, and are tasting of its agony. Now I will be open with you; +Thomas Wingfield, I fear you. When first I saw you I feared you as +I had reason to do, and that is why I tried to kill you, and as +time has gone by I have feared you more and more, so much indeed, +that at times I cannot rest because of a nameless terror that dogs +me and which has to do with you. Because of you I fled from Spain, +because of you I have played the coward in more frays than one. +The luck has always been mine in this duel between us, and yet I +tell you that even as you are, I fear you still. If I dared I +would kill you at once, only then you would haunt me as your mother +haunts me, and also I must answer for it to Cortes. Fear, Cousin +Wingfield, is the father of cruelty, and mine makes me cruel to +you. Living or dead, I know that you will triumph over me at the +last, but it is my turn now, and while you breathe, or while one +breathes who is dear to you, I will spend my life to bring you and +them to shame and misery and death, as I brought your mother, my +cousin, though she forced me to it to save myself. Why not? There +is no forgiveness for me, I cannot undo the past. You came to take +vengeance on me, and soon or late by you, or through you, it will +be glutted, but till then I triumph, ay, even when I must sink to +this butcher's work to do it,' and suddenly he turned and left the +place. + +Then weakness and suffering overcame me and I swooned away. When I +awoke it was to find that my bonds had been loosed and that I lay +on some sort of bed, while a woman bent over me, tending me with +murmured words of pity and love. The night had fallen, but there +was light in the chamber, and by it I saw that the woman was none +other than Otomie, no longer starved and wretched, but almost as +lovely as before the days of siege and hunger. + +'Otomie! you here!' I gasped through my wounded lips, for with my +senses came the memory of de Garcia's threats. + +'Yes, beloved, it is I,' she murmured; 'they have suffered that I +nurse you, devils though they are. Oh! that I must see you thus +and yet be helpless to avenge you,' and she burst into weeping. + +'Hush,' I said, 'hush. Have we food?' + +'In plenty. A woman brought it from Marina.' + +'Give me to eat, Otomie.' + +Now for a while she fed me and the deadly sickness passed from me, +though my poor flesh burned with a hundred agonies. + +'Listen, Otomie: have you seen de Garcia?' + +'No, husband. Two days since I was separated from my sister +Tecuichpo and the other ladies, but I have been well treated and +have seen no Spaniard except the soldiers who led me here, telling +me that you were sick. Alas! I knew not from what cause,' and +again she began to weep. + +'Still some have seen you and it is reported that you are my wife.' + +'It is likely enough,' she answered, 'for it was known throughout +the Aztec hosts, and such secrets cannot be kept. But why have +they treated you thus? Because you fought against them?' + +'Are we alone?' I asked. + +'The guard is without, but there are none else in the chamber.' + +'Then bend down your head and I will tell you,' and I told her all. + +When I had done so she sprang up with flashing eyes and her hand +pressed upon her breast, and said: + +'Oh! if I loved you before, now I love you more if that is +possible, who could suffer thus horribly and yet be faithful to the +fallen and your oath. Blessed be the day when first I looked upon +your face, O my husband, most true of men. But they who could do +this--what of them? Still it is done with and I will nurse you +back to health. Surely it is done with, or they had not suffered +me to come to you?' + +'Alas! Otomie, I must tell all--it is NOT done with,' and with +faltering voice I went on with the tale, yes, and since I must, I +told her for what purpose she had been brought here. She listened +without a word, though her lips turned pale. + +'Truly,' she said when I had done, 'these Teules far surpass the +pabas of our people, for if the priests torture and sacrifice, it +is to the gods and not for gold and secret hate. Now, husband, +what is your counsel? Surely you have some counsel.' + +'I have none that I dare offer, wife,' I groaned. + +'You are timid as a girl who will not utter the love she burns to +tell,' Otomie answered with a proud and bitter laugh. 'Well, I +will speak it for you. It is in your mind that we must die to- +night.' + +'It is,' I said; 'death now, or shame and agony to-morrow and then +death at last, that is our choice. Since God will not protect us, +we must protect ourselves if we can find the means.' + +'God! there is no God. At times I have doubted the gods of my +people and turned to yours; now I renounce and reject Him. If +there were a God of mercy such as you cling to, could He suffer +that such things be? You are my god, husband, to you and for you I +pray, and you alone. Let us have done now with pleading to those +who are not, or who, if they live, are deaf to our cries and blind +to our misery, and befriend ourselves. Yonder lies rope, that +window has bars, very soon we can be beyond the sun and the cruelty +of Teules, or sound asleep. But there is time yet; let us talk a +while, they will scarcely begin their torments before the dawn, and +ere dawn we shall be far.' + +So we talked as well as my sufferings would allow. We talked of +how we first had met, of how Otomie had been vowed to me as the +wife of Tezcat, Soul of the World, of that day when we had lain +side by side upon the stone of sacrifice, of our true marriage +thereafter, of the siege of Tenoctitlan and the death of our first- +born. Thus we talked till midnight was two hours gone. Then there +came a silence. + +'Husband,' said Otomie at last in a hushed and solemn voice, 'you +are worn with suffering, and I am weary. It is time to do that +which must be done. Sad is our fate, but at least rest is before +us. I thank you, husband, for your gentleness, I thank you more +for your faithfulness to my house and people. Shall I make ready +for our last journey?' + +'Make ready!' I answered. + +Then she rose and soon was busy with the ropes. At length all was +prepared and the moment of death was at hand. + +'You must aid me, Otomie,' I said; 'I cannot walk by myself.' + +She came and lifted me with her strong and tender arms, till I +stood upon a stool beneath the window bars. There she placed the +rope about my throat, then taking her stand by me she fitted the +second rope upon her own. Now we kissed in solemn silence, for +there was nothing more to say. Yet Otomie said something, asking: + +'Of whom do you think in this moment, husband? Of me and of my +dead child, or of that lady who lives far across the sea? Nay, I +will not ask. I have been happy in my love, it is enough. Now +love and life must end together, and it is well for me, but for you +I grieve. Say, shall I thrust away the stool?' + +'Yes, Otomie, since there is no hope but death. I cannot break my +faith with Guatemoc, nor can I live to see you shamed and +tortured.' + +'Then kiss me first and for the last time.' + +We kissed again and then, as she was in the very act of pushing the +stool from beneath us, the door opened and shut, and a veiled woman +stood before us, bearing a torch in one hand and a bundle in the +other. She looked, and seeing us and our dreadful purpose, ran to +us. + +'What do you?' she cried, and I knew the voice for that of Marina. +'Are you then mad, Teule?' + +'Who is this who knows you so well, husband, and will not even +suffer that we die in peace?' asked Otomie. + +'I am Marina,' answered the veiled woman, 'and I come to save you +if I can.' + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE ESCAPE + + +Now Otomie put the rope off her neck, and descending from the +stool, stood before Marina. + +'You are Marina,' she said coldly and proudly, 'and you come to +save us, you who have brought ruin on the land that bore you, and +have given thousands of her children to death, and shame, and +torment. Now, if I had my way, I would have none of your +salvation, nay, I would rather save myself as I was about to do.' + +Thus Otomie spoke, and never had she looked more royal than in this +moment, when she risked her last chance of life that she might pour +out her scorn upon one whom she deemed a traitress, no, one who was +a traitress, for had it not been for Marina's wit and aid, Cortes +would never have conquered Anahuac. I trembled as I heard her +angry words, for, all I suffered notwithstanding, life still seemed +sweet to me, who, ten seconds ago, had stood upon the verge of +death. Surely Marina would depart and leave us to our doom. But +it was not so. Indeed, she shrank and trembled before Otomie's +contempt. They were a strange contrast in their different +loveliness as they stood face to face in the torture den, and it +was strange also to see the spirit of the lady of royal blood, +threatened as she was with a shameful death, or still more shameful +life, triumph over the Indian girl whom to-day fortune had set as +far above her as the stars. + +'Say, royal lady,' asked Marina in her gentle voice, 'for what +cause did you, if tales are true, lie by the side of yonder white +man upon the stone of sacrifice?' + +'Because I love him, Marina.' + +'And for this same cause have I, Marina, laid my honour upon a +different altar, for this same cause I have striven against the +children of my people, because I love another such as he. It is +for love of Cortes that I have aided Cortes, therefore despise me +not, but let your love plead for mine, seeing that, to us women, +love is all. I have sinned, I know, but doubtless in its season my +sin shall find a fitting punishment.' + +'It had need be sharp,' answered Otomie. 'My love has harmed none, +see before you but one grain of the countless harvest of your own. +In yonder chair Guatemoc your king was this day tortured by your +master Cortes, who swore to treat him with all honour. By his side +sat Teule, my husband and your friend; him Cortes gave over to has +private enemy, de Garcia, whom you name Sarceda. See how he has +left him. Nay, do not shudder, gentle lady; look now at his +wounds! Consider to what a pass we are driven when you find us +about to die thus like dogs, he, my husband, that he may not live +to see me handled as he has been, and I with him, because a +princess of the Otomie and of Montezuma's blood cannot submit to +such a shame while death has one door through which to creep. It +is but a single grain of your harvest, outcast and traitress, the +harvest of misery and death that is stored yonder in the ruins of +Tenoctitlan. Had I my will, I tell you that I had sooner die a +score of times than take help from a hand so stained with the blood +of my people and of yours--I--' + +'Oh! cease, lady, cease,' groaned Marina, covering her eyes with +her hand, as though the sight of Otomie were dreadful to her. +'What is done is done; do not add to my remorse. What did you say, +that you, the lady Otomie, were brought here to be tortured?' + +'Even so, and before my husband's eyes. Why should Montezuma's +daughter and the princess of the Otomie escape the fate of the +emperor of the Aztecs? If her womanhood does not protect her, has +she anything to hope of her lost rank?' + +'Cortes knows nothing of this, I swear it,' said Marina. 'To the +rest he has been driven by the clamour of the soldiers, who taunt +him with stealing treasure that he has never found. But of this +last wickedness he is innocent.' + +'Then let him ask his tool Sarceda of it.' + +'As for Sarceda, I promise you, princess, that if I can I will +avenge this threat upon him. But time is short, I am come here +with the knowledge of Cortes, to see if I can win the secret of the +treasure from Teule, your husband, and for my friendship's sake I +am about to betray my trust and help him and you to fly. Do you +refuse my aid?' + +Otomie said nothing, but I spoke for the first time. + +'Nay, Marina, I have no love for this thief's fate if I can escape +it, but how is it to be done?' + +'The chance is poor enough, Teule, but I bethought me that once out +of this prison you might slip away disguised. Few will be stirring +at dawn, and of them the most will not be keen to notice men or +things. See, I have brought you the dress of a Spanish soldier; +your skin is dark, and in the half light you might pass as one; and +for the princess your wife, I have brought another dress, indeed I +am ashamed to offer it, but it is the only one that will not be +noted at this hour; also, Teule, I bring you a sword, that which +was taken from you, though I think that once it had another owner.' + +Now while she spoke Marina undid her bundle, and there in it were +the dresses and the sword, the same that I had taken from the +Spaniard Diaz in the massacre of the noche triste. First she drew +out the woman's robe and handed it to Otomie, and I saw that it was +such a robe as among the Indians is worn by the women who follow +camps, a robe with red and yellow in it. Otomie saw it also and +drew back. + +'Surely, girl, you have brought a garment of your own in error,' +she said quietly, but in such a fashion as showed more of the +savage heart that is native to her race than she often suffered to +be seen; 'at the least I cannot wear such robes.' + +'It seems that I must bear too much,' answered Marina, growing +wroth at last, and striving to keep back the tears that started to +her eyes. 'I will away and leave you;' and she began to roll up +her bundle. + +'Forgive her, Marina,' I said hastily, for the desire to escape +grew on me every minute; 'sorrow has set an edge upon her tongue.' +Then turning to Otomie I added, 'I pray you be more gentle, wife, +for my sake if not for your own. Marina is our only hope.' + +'Would that she had left us to die in peace, husband. Well, so be +it, for your sake I will put on these garments of a drab. But how +shall we escape out of this place and the camp? Will the door be +opened to us, and the guards removed, and if we pass them, can you +walk, husband?' + +'The doors will not be opened, lady,' said Marina, 'for those wait +without, who will see that they are locked when I have passed them. +But there will be nothing to fear from the guard, trust to me for +it. See, the bars of this window are but of wood, that sword will +soon sever them, and if you are seen you must play the part of a +drunken soldier being guided to his quarters by a woman. For the +rest I know nothing, save that I run great risk for your sakes, +since if it is discovered that I have aided you, then I shall find +it hard to soften the rage of Cortes, who, the war being won,' and +she sighed, 'does not need me now so much as once he did.' + +'I can make shift to hop on my right foot,' I said, 'and for the +rest we must trust to fortune. It can give us no worse gifts than +those we have already.' + +'So be it, Teule, and now farewell, for I dare stay no longer. I +can do nothing more. May your good star shine on you and lead you +hence in safety; and Teule, if we never meet again, I pray you +think of me kindly, for there are many in the world who will do +otherwise in the days to come.' + +'Farewell, Marina,' I said, and she was gone. + +We heard the doors close behind her, and the distant voices of +those who bore her litter, then all was silence. Otomie listened +at the window for a while, but the guards seemed to be gone, where +or why I do not know to this hour, and the only sound was that of +distant revelry from the camp. + +'And now to the work,' I said to Otomie. + +'As you wish, husband, but I fear it will be profitless. I do not +trust that woman. Faithless in all, without doubt she betrays us. +Still at the worst you have the sword, and can use it.' + +'It matters little,' I answered. 'Our plight cannot be worse than +it is now; life has no greater evils than torment and death, and +they are with us already.' + +Then I sat upon the stool, and my arms being left sound and strong, +I hacked with the sharp sword at the wooden bars of the window, +severing them one by one till there was a space big enough for us +to creep through. This being done and no one having appeared to +disturb us, Otomie clad me in the clothes of a Spanish soldier +which Marina had brought, for I could not dress myself. What I +suffered in the donning of those garments, and more especially in +the pulling of the long boot on to my burnt foot, can never be +told, but more than once I stopped, pondering whether it would not +be better to die rather than to endure such agonies. At last it +was done, and Otomie must put on the red and yellow robe, a garb of +shame such as many honest Indian women would die sooner than be +seen in, and I think that as she did this, her agony was greater +than mine, though of another sort, for to her proud heart, that +dress was a very shirt of Nessus. Presently she was clad, and +minced before me with savage mockery, saying: + +'Prithee, soldier, do I look my part?' + +'A peace to such fooling,' I answered; 'our lives are at stake, +what does it matter how we disguise ourselves?' + +'It matters much, husband, but how can you understand, who are a +man and a foreigner? Now I will clamber through the window, and +you must follow me if you can, if not I will return to you and we +will end this masquerade.' + +Then she passed through the hole swiftly, for Otomie was agile and +strong as an ocelot, and mounting the stool I made shift to follow +her as well as my hurts would allow. In the end I was able to +throw myself upon the sill of the window, and there I was stretched +out like a dead cat till she drew me across it, and I fell with her +to the ground on the further side, and lay groaning. She lifted me +to my feet, or rather to my foot, for I could use but one of them, +and we stared round us. No one was to be seen, and the sound of +revelry had died away, for the crest of Popo was already red with +the sunlight and the dawn grew in the valley. + +'Where to?' I said. + +Now Otomie had been allowed to walk in the camp with her sister, +the wife of Guatemoc, and other Aztec ladies, and she had this gift +in common with most Indians, that where she had once passed there +she could pass again, even in the darkest night. + +'To the south gate,' she whispered; 'perhaps it is unguarded now +that the war is done, at the least I know the road thither.' + +So we started, I leaning on her shoulder and hopping on my right +foot, and thus very painfully we traversed some three hundred yards +meeting nobody. But now our good luck failed us, for passing round +the corner of some buildings, we came face to face with three +soldiers returning to their huts from a midnight revel, and with +them some native servants. + +'Whom have we here?' said the first of these. 'Your name, +comrade?' + +'Good-night, brother, good-night,' I answered in Spanish, speaking +with the thick voice of drunkenness. + +'Good morning, you mean,' he said, for the dawn was breaking. +'Your name. I don't know your face, though it seems that you have +been in the wars,' and he laughed. + +'You mustn't ask a comrade his name,' I said solemnly and swinging +to and fro. 'The captain might send for me and he's a temperate +man. Your arm, girl; it is time to go to sleep, the sun sets.' + +They laughed, but one of them addressed Otomie, saying: + +'Leave the sot, my pretty, and come and walk with us,' and he +caught her by the arm. But she turned on him with so fierce a look +that he let her go again astonished, and we staggered on till the +corner of another house hid us from their view. Here I sank to the +ground overcome with pain, for while the soldiers were in sight, I +was obliged to use my wounded foot lest they should suspect. But +Otomie pulled me up, saying: + +'Alas! beloved, we must pass on or perish.' + +I rose groaning, and by what efforts I reached the south gate I +cannot describe, though I thought that I must die before I came +there. At last it was before us, and as chance would have it, the +Spanish guard were asleep in the guardhouse. Three Tlascalans only +were crouched over a little fire, their zerapes or blankets about +their heads, for the dawn was chilly. + +'Open the gates, dogs!' I said in a proud voice. + +Seeing a Spanish soldier one of them rose to obey, then paused and +said: + +'Why, and by whose orders?' + +I could not see the man's face because of the blanket, but his +voice sounded familiar to me and I grew afraid. Still I must +speak. + +'Why?--because I am drunk and wish to lie without till I grow +sober. By whose orders? By mine, I am an officer of the day, and +if you disobey I'll have you flogged till you never ask another +question.' + +'Shall I call the Teules within?' said the man sulkily to his +companion. + +'No,' he answered; 'the lord Sarceda is weary and gave orders that +he should not be awakened without good cause. Keep them in or let +them through as you will, but do not wake him.' + +I trembled in every limb; de Garcia was in the guardhouse! What if +he awoke, what if he came out and saw me? More--now I guessed +whose voice it was that I knew again; it was that of one of those +Tlascalans who had aided in tormenting me. What if he should see +my face? He could scarcely fail to know that on which he had left +his mark so recently. I was dumb with fear and could say nothing, +and had it not been for the wit of Otomie, there my story would +have ended. But now she played her part and played it well, plying +the man with the coarse raillery of the camp, till at length she +put him in a good humour, and he opened the gate, bidding her +begone and me with her. Already we had passed the gate when a +sudden faintness seized me, and I stumbled and fell, rolling over +on to my back as I touched the earth. + +'Up, friend, up!' said Otomie, with a harsh laugh. 'If you must +sleep, wait till you find some friendly bush,' and she dragged at +me to lift me. The Tlascalan, still laughing, came forward to help +her, and between them I gained my feet again, but as I rose, my +cap, which fitted me but ill, fell off. He picked it up and gave +it to me and our eyes met, my face being somewhat in the shadow. +Next instant I was hobbling on, but looking back, I saw the +Tlascalan staring after us with a puzzled air, like that of a man +who is not sure of the witness of his senses. + +'He knows me,' I said to Otomie, 'and presently when he has found +his wits, he will follow us.' + +'On, on!' answered Otomie; 'round yonder corner are aloe bushes +where we may hide.' + +'I am spent, I can no more;' and again I began to fall. + +Then Otomie caught me as I fell, and of a sudden she put out her +strength, and lifting me from the ground, as a mother lifts her +child, staggered forward holding me to her breast. For fifty paces +or more she carried me thus, love and despair giving her strength, +till at last we reached the edge of the aloe plants and there we +sank together to the earth. I cast my eyes back over the path +which we had travelled. Round the corner came the Tlascalan, a +spiked club in his hand, seeking us to solve his doubts. + +'It is finished,' I gasped; 'the man comes.' + +For answer Otomie drew my sword from its scabbard and hid it in the +grass. 'Now feign sleep,' she said; 'it is our last chance.' + +I cast my arm over my face and pretended to be asleep. Presently I +heard the sound of a man passing through the bushes, and the +Tlascalan stood over me. + +'What would you?' asked Otomie. 'Can you not see that he sleeps? +Let him sleep.' + +'I must look on his face first, woman,' he answered, dragging aside +my arm. 'By the gods, I thought so! This is that Teule whom we +dealt with yesterday and who escapes.' + +'You are mad,' she said laughing. 'He has escaped from nowhere, +save from a brawl and a drinking bout.' + +'You lie, woman, or if you do not lie, you know nothing. This man +has the secret of Montezuma's treasure, and is worth a king's +ransom,' and he lifted his club. + +'And yet you wish to slay him! Well, I know nothing of him. Take +him back whence he came. He is but a drunken sot and I shall be +well rid of him.' + +'Well said. It would be foolish to kill him, but by bearing him +alive to the lord Sarceda, I shall win honour and reward. Come, +help me.' + +'Help yourself,' she answered sullenly. 'But first search his +pouch; there may be some trifle there which we can divide.' + +'Well said, again,' he answered, and kneeling down he bent over me +and began to fumble at the fastenings of the pouch. + +Otomie was behind him. I saw her face change and a terrible light +came into her eyes, such a light as shines in the eyes of the +priest at sacrifice. Quick as thought she drew the sword from the +grass and smote with all her strength upon the man's bent neck. +Down he fell, making no sound, and she also fell beside him. In a +moment she was on her feet again, staring at him wildly--the naked +sword in her hand. + +'Up,' she said, 'before others come to seek him. Nay, you must.' + +Now, again we were struggling forward through the bushes, my mind +filled with a great wonder that grew slowly to a whirling +nothingness. For a while it seemed to me as though I were lost in +an evil dream and walking on red hot irons in my dream. Then came +a vision of armed men with lifted spears, and of Otomie running +towards them with outstretched arms. + +I knew no more. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +OTOMIE PLEADS WITH HER PEOPLE + + +When I awoke it was to find myself in a cave, where the light shone +very dimly. Otomie leant over me, and not far away a man was +cooking a pot over a fire made of dry aloe leaves. + +'Where am I and what has happened?' I asked. + +'You are safe, beloved,' she answered, 'at least for awhile. When +you have eaten I will tell you more.' + +She brought me broth and food and I ate eagerly, and when I was +satisfied she spoke. + +'You remember how the Tlascalan followed us and how--I was rid of +him?' + +'I remember, Otomie, though how you found strength to kill him I do +not understand.' + +'Love and despair gave it to me, and I pray that I may never have +such another need. Do not speak of it, husband, for this is more +horrible to me than all that has been before. One thing comforts +me, however; I did not kill him, the sword twisted in my hand and I +believe that he was but stunned. Then we fled a little way, and +looking back I saw that two other Tlascalans, companions of the +senseless man, were following us and him. Presently, they came up +to where he lay and stared at him. Then they started on our +tracks, running hard, and very soon they must have caught us, for +now you could scarcely stir, your mind was gone, and I had no more +strength to carry you. Still we stumbled on till presently, when +the pursuers were within fifty paces of us, I saw armed men, eight +of them, rushing at us from the bushes. They were of my own +people, the Otomies, soldiers that had served under you, who +watched the Spanish camp, and seeing a Spaniard alone they came to +slay him. They very nearly did so indeed, for at first I was so +breathless that I could scarcely speak, but at last in few words I +made shift to declare my name and rank, and your sad plight. By +now the two Tlascalans were upon us, and I called to the men of the +Otomie to protect us, and falling on the Tlascalans before they +knew that enemies were there, they killed one of them and took the +other prisoner. Then they made a litter, and placing you on it, +bore you without rest twenty leagues into the mountains, till they +reached this secret hiding place, and here you have lain three days +and nights. The Teules have searched for you far and wide, but +they have searched in vain. Only yesterday two of them with ten +Tlascalans, passed within a hundred paces of this cave and I had +much ado to prevent our people from attacking them. Now they are +gone whence they came, and I think that we are safe for a time. +Soon you will be better and we can go hence.' + +'Where can we go to, Otomie? We are birds without a nest.' + +'We must seek shelter in the City of Pines, or fly across the +water; there is no other choice, husband.' + +'We cannot try the sea, Otomie, for all the ships that come here +are Spanish, and I do not know how they will greet us in the City +of Pines now that our cause is lost, and with it so many thousands +of their warriors.' + +'We must take the risk, husband. There are still true hearts in +Anahuac, who will stand by us in our sorrow and their own. At the +least we have escaped from greater dangers. Now let me dress your +wounds and rest awhile.' + +So for three more days I lay in the cave of the mountains and +Otomie tended me, and at the end of that time my state was such +that I could travel in a litter, though for some weeks I was unable +to set foot to the ground. On the fourth day we started by night, +and I was carried on men's shoulders till at length we passed up +the gorge that leads to the City of Pines. Here we were stopped by +sentries to whom Otomie told our tale, bidding some of them go +forward and repeat it to the captains of the city. We followed the +messengers slowly, for my bearers were weary, and came to the gates +of the beautiful town just as the red rays of sunset struck upon +the snowy pinnacle of Xaca that towers behind it, turning her cap +of smoke to a sullen red, like that of molten iron. + +The news of our coming had spread about, and here and there knots +of people were gathered to watch us pass. For the most part they +stood silent, but now and again some woman whose husband or son had +perished in the siege, would hiss a curse at us. + +Alas! how different was our state this day to what it had been when +not a year before we entered the City of Pines for the first time. +Then we were escorted by an army ten thousand strong, then +musicians had sung before us and our path was strewn with flowers. +And now! Now we came two fugitives from the vengeance of the +Teules, I borne in a litter by four tired soldiers, while Otomie, +the princess of this people, still clad in her wanton's robe, at +which the women mocked, for she had been able to come by no other, +tramped at my side, since there were none to carry her, and the +inhabitants of the place cursed us as the authors of their woes. +Nor did we know if they would stop at words. + +At length we crossed the square beneath the shadow of the teocalli, +and reached the ancient and sculptured palace as the light failed, +and the smoke on Xaca, the holy hill, began to glow with the fire +in its heart. Here small preparation had been made to receive us, +and that night we supped by the light of a torch upon tortillas or +meal cakes and water, like the humblest in the land. Then we crept +to our rest, and as I lay awake because of the pain of my hurts, I +heard Otomie, who thought that I slept, break into low sobbing at +my side. Her proud spirit was humbled at last, and she, whom I had +never known to weep except once, when our firstborn died in the +siege, wept bitterly. + +'Why do you sorrow thus, Otomie?' I asked at length. + +'I did not know that you were awake, husband,' she sobbed in +answer, 'or I would have checked my grief. Husband, I sorrow over +all that has befallen us and my people--also, though these are but +little things, because you are brought low and treated as a man of +no estate, and of the cold comfort that we find here.' + +'You have cause, wife,' I answered. 'Say, what will these Otomies +do with us--kill us, or give us up to the Teules?' + +'I do not know; to-morrow we shall learn, but for my part I will +not be surrendered living.' + +'Nor I, wife. Death is better than the tender mercies of Cortes +and his minister, de Garcia. Is there any hope?' + +'Yes, there is hope, beloved. Now the Otomie are cast down and +they remember that we led the flower of their land to death. But +they are brave and generous at heart, and if I can touch them +there, all may yet be well. Weariness, pain and memory make us +weak, who should be full of courage, having escaped so many ills. +Sleep, my husband, and leave me to think. All shall yet go well, +for even misfortune has an end.' + +So I slept, and woke in the morning somewhat refreshed and with a +happier mind, for who is there that is not bolder when the light +shines on him and he is renewed by rest? + + +When I opened my eyes the sun was already high, but Otomie had +risen with the dawn and she had not been idle during those three +hours. For one thing she had contrived to obtain food and fresh +raiment more befitting to our rank than the rags in which we were +clothed. Also she had brought together certain men of condition +who were friendly and loyal to her in misfortune, and these she +sent about the city, letting it be known that she would address the +people at mid-day from the steps of the palace, for as Otomie knew +well, the heartstrings of a crowd are touched more easily than +those of cold and ancient counsellors. + +'Will they come to listen?' I asked. + +'Have no fear,' she answered. 'The desire to look upon us who have +survived the siege, and to know the truth of what has happened, +will bring them. Moreover, some will be there seeking vengeance on +us.' + +Otomie was right, for as the morning drew on towards mid-day, I saw +the dwellers in the City of Pines gathering in thousands, till the +space between the steps of the palace and the face of the pyramid +was black with them. Now Otomie combed her curling hair and placed +flowers in it, and set a gleaming feather cloak about her +shoulders, so that it hung down over her white robes, and on her +breast that splendid necklace of emeralds which Guatemoc had given +to me in the treasure chamber, and which she had preserved safely +through all our evil fortune, and a golden girdle about her waist. +In her hand also she took a little sceptre of ebony tipped with +gold, that was in the palace, with other ornaments and emblems of +rank, and thus attired, though she was worn with travel and +suffering, and grief had dimmed her beauty for a while, she seemed +the queenliest woman that my eyes have seen. Next she caused me to +be laid upon my rude litter, and when the hour of noon was come, +she commanded those soldiers who had borne me across the mountains +to carry me by her side. Thus we issued from the wide doorway of +the palace and took our stand upon the platform at the head of the +steps. As we came a great cry rose from the thousands of the +people, a fierce cry like that of wild beasts howling for their +prey. Higher and higher it rose, a sound to strike terror into the +bravest heart, and by degrees I caught its purport. + +'Kill them!' said the cry. 'Give the liars to the Teules.' + +Otomie stepped forward to the edge of the platform, and lifting the +ebony sceptre she stood silent, the sunlight beating on her lovely +face and form. But the multitude screamed a thousand taunts and +threats at us, and still the tumult grew. Once they rushed towards +her as though to tear her to pieces, but fell back at the last +stair, as a wave falls from a rock, and once a spear was thrown +that passed between her neck and shoulder. + +Now the soldiers who had carried me, making certain that our death +was at hand, and having no wish to share it, set my litter down +upon the stones and slipped back into the palace, but all this +while Otomie never so much as moved, no, not even when the spear +hissed past her. She stood before them stately and scornful, a +very queen among women, and little by little the majesty of her +presence and the greatness of her courage hushed them to silence. +When there was quiet at length, she spoke in a clear voice that +carried far. + +'Am I among my own people of the Otomie?' she asked bitterly, 'or +have we lost our path and wandered perchance among some savage +Tlascalan tribe? Listen, people of the Otomie. I have but one +voice and none can reason with a multitude. Choose you a tongue to +speak for you, and let him set out the desire of your hearts.' + +Now the tumult began again, for some shouted one name and some +another, but in the end a priest and noble named Maxtla stepped +forward, a man of great power among the Otomie, who, above all had +favoured an alliance with the Spaniards and opposed the sending of +an army to aid Guatemoc in the defence of Tenoctitlan. Nor did he +come alone, for with him were four chiefs, whom by their dress I +knew to be Tlascalans and envoys from Cortes. Then my heart sank, +for it was not difficult to guess the object of their coming. + +'Speak on, Maxtla,' said Otomie, 'for we must hear what there is +for us to answer, and you, people of the Otomie, I pray you keep +silence, that you may judge between us when there is an end of +talking.' + +Now a great silence fell upon the multitude, who pressed together +like sheep in a pen, and strained their ears to catch the words of +Maxtla. + +'My speech with you, princess, and the Teule your outlawed husband, +shall be short and sharp,' he began roughly. 'A while hence you +came hither to seek an army to aid Cuitlahua, Emperor of the +Aztecs, in his struggle with the Teules, the sons of Quetzal. That +army was given you, against the wishes of many of us, for you won +over the council by the honey of your words, and we who urged +caution, or even an alliance with the white men, the children of +god, were overruled. You went hence, and twenty thousand men, the +flower of our people, followed you to Tenoctitlan. Where are they +now? I will tell you. Some two hundred of them have crept back +home, the rest fly to and fro through the air in the gizzards of +the zaphilotes, or crouch on the earth in the bellies of jackals. +Death has them all, and you led them to their deaths. Is it then +much that we should seek the lives of you two in payment for those +of twenty thousand of our sons, our husbands, and our fathers? But +we do not even ask this. Here beside me stand ambassadors from +Malinche, the captain of the Teules, who reached our city but an +hour ago. This is the demand that they bring from Malinche, and in +his own words: + +'"Deliver back to me Otomie, the daughter of Montezuma, and the +renegade her paramour, who is known as Teule, and who has fled from +the justice due to his crimes, and it shall be well with you, +people of the Otomie. Hide them or refuse to deliver them, and the +fate of the City of Pines shall be as the fate of Tenoctitlan, +queen of the valley. Choose then between my love and my wrath, +people of the Otomie. If you obey, the past shall be forgiven and +my yoke will be light upon you; if you refuse, your city shall be +stamped flat and your very name wiped out of the records of the +world." + +'Say, messengers of Malinche, are not these the words of Malinche?' + +'They are his very words, Maxtla,' said the spokesman of the +embassy. + +Now again there was a tumult among the people, and voices cried, +'Give them up, give them to Malinche as a peace offering.' Otomie +stood forward to speak and it died away, for all desired to hear +her words. Then she spoke: + +'It seems, people of the Otomie, that I am on my trial before my +own vassals, and my husband with me. Well, I will plead our cause +as well as a woman may, and having the power, you shall judge +between us and Maxtla and his allies, Malinche and the Tlascalans. +What is our offence? It is that we came hither by the command of +Cuitlahua to seek your aid in his war with the Teules. What did I +tell you then? I told you that if the people of Anahuac would not +stand together against the white men, they must be broken one by +one like the sticks of an unbound faggot, and cast into the flames. +Did I speak lies? Nay, I spoke truth, for through the treason of +her tribes, and chiefly through the treason of the Tlascalans, +Anahuac is fallen, and Tenoctitlan is a ruin sown with dead like a +field with corn.' + +'It is true,' cried a voice. + +'Yes, people of the Otomie, it is true, but I say that had all the +warriors of the nations of Anahuac played the part that your sons +played, the tale had run otherwise. They are dead, and because of +their death you would deliver us to our foes and yours, but I for +one do not mourn them, though among their number are many of my +kin. Nay, be not wroth, but listen. It is better that they should +lie dead in honour, having earned for themselves a wreath of fame, +and an immortal dwelling in the Houses of the Sun, than that they +should live to be slaves, which it seems is your desire, people of +the Otomie. There is no false word in what I said to you. Now the +sticks that Malinche has used to beat out the brains of Guatemoc +shall be broken and burnt to cook the pot of the Teules. Already +these false children are his slaves. Have you not heard his +command, that the tribes his allies shall labour in the quarries +and the streets till the glorious city which he has burned rises +afresh upon the face of the waters? Will you not hasten to take +your share in the work, people of the Otomie, the work that knows +no rest and no reward except the lash of the overseer and the curse +of the Teule? Surely you will hasten, people of the mountains! +Your hands are shaped to the spade and the trowel, not to the bow +and the spear, and it will be sweeter to toil to do the will and +swell the wealth of Malinche in the sun of the valley or the shadow +of the mine, than to bide here free upon your hills where as yet no +foe has set his foot!' + +Again she paused, and a murmur of doubt and unrest went through the +thousands who listened. Maxtla stepped forward and would have +spoken, but the people shouted him down, crying: 'Otomie, Otomie! +Let us hear the words of Otomie.' + +'I thank you, my people,' she said, 'for I have still much to tell +you. Our crime is then, that we drew an army after us to fight +against the Teules. And how did we draw this army? Did I command +you to muster your array? Nay, I set out my case and I said "Now +choose." You chose, and of your own free will you despatched those +glorious companies that now are dead. My crime is therefore that +you chose wrongly as you say, but as I still hold, most rightly, +and because of this crime I and my husband are to be given as a +peace offering to the Teules. Listen: let me tell you something of +those wars in which we have fought before you give us to the Teules +and our mouths are silent for ever. Where shall I begin? I know +not. Stay, I bore a child--had he lived he would have been your +prince to-day. That child I saw starve to death before my eyes, +inch by inch and day by day I saw him starve. But it is nothing; +who am I that I should complain because I have lost my son, when so +many of your sons are dead and their blood is required at my hands? +Listen again:' and she went on to tell in burning words of the +horrors of the siege, of the cruelties of the Spaniards, and of the +bravery of the men of the Otomie whom I had commanded. For a full +hour she spoke thus, while all that vast audience hung upon her +words. Also she told of the part that I played in the struggle, +and of the deeds which I had done, and now and again some soldier +in the crowd who served under me, and who had escaped the famine +and the massacre, cried out: + +'It is true; we saw it with our eyes.' + +'And so,' she said, 'at last it was finished, at last Tenoctitlan +was a ruin and my cousin and my king, the glorious Guatemoc, lay a +prisoner in the hands of Malinche, and with him my husband Teule, +my sister, I myself, and many another. Malinche swore that he +would treat Guatemoc and his following with all honour. Do you +know how he treated him? Within a few days Guatemoc our king was +seated in the chair of torment, while slaves burned him with hot +irons to cause him to declare the hiding place of the treasure of +Montezuma! Ay, you may well cry "Shame upon him," you shall cry it +yet more loudly before I have done, for know that Guatemoc did not +suffer alone, one lies there who suffered with him and spoke no +word, and I also, your princess, was doomed to torment. We escaped +when death was at our door, for I told my husband that the people +of the Otomie had true hearts, and would shelter us in our sorrow, +and for his sake I, Otomie, disguised myself in the robe of a +wanton and fled with him hither. Could I have known what I should +live to see and hear, could I have dreamed that you would receive +us thus, I had died a hundred deaths before I came to stand and +plead for pity at your hands. + +'Oh! my people, my people, I beseech of you, make no terms with the +false Teule, but remain bold and free. Your necks are not fitted +to the yoke of the slave, your sons and daughters are of too high a +blood to serve the foreigner in his needs and pleasures. Defy +Malinche. Some of our race are dead, but many thousands remain. +Here in your mountain nest you can beat back every Teule in +Anahuac, as in bygone years the false Tlascalans beat back the +Aztecs. Then the Tlascalans were free, now they are a race of +serfs. Say, will you share their serfdom? My people, my people, +think not that I plead for myself, or even for the husband who is +more dear to me than aught save honour. Do you indeed dream that +we will suffer you to hand us living to these dogs of Tlascalans, +whom Malinche insults you by sending as his messengers? Look,' and +she walked to where the spear that had been hurled at her lay upon +the pavement and lifted it, 'here is a means of death that some +friend has sent us, and if you will not listen to my pleading you +shall see it used before your eyes. Then, if you will, you may +send our bodies to Malinche as a peace offering. But for your own +sakes I plead with you. Defy Malinche, and if you must die at +last, die as free men and not as the slaves of the Teule. Behold +now his tender mercies, and see the lot that shall be yours if you +take another counsel, the counsel of Maxtla;' and coming to the +litter on which I lay, swiftly Otomie rent my robes from me leaving +me almost naked to the waist, and unwound the bandages from my +wounded limb, then lifted me up so that I rested upon my sound +foot. + +'Look!' she cried in a piercing voice, and pointing to the scars +and unhealed wounds upon my face and leg; 'look on the work of the +Teule and the Tlascalan, see how the foe is dealt with who +surrenders to them. Yield if you will, desert us if you will, but +I say that then your own bodies shall be marked in a like fashion, +till not an ounce of gold is left that can minister to the greed of +the Teule, or a man or a maiden who can labour to satisfy his +indolence.' + +Then she ceased, and letting me sink gently to the ground, for I +could not stand alone, she stood over me, the spear in her hand, as +though waiting to plunge it to my heart should the people still +demand our surrender to the messengers of Cortes. + + +For one instant there was silence, then of a sudden the clamour and +the tumult broke out again ten times more furiously than at first. +But it was no longer aimed at us. Otomie had conquered. Her noble +words, her beauty, the tale of our sorrows and the sight of my +torments, had done their work, and the heart of the people was +filled with fury against the Teules who had destroyed their army, +and the Tlascalans that had aided them. Never did the wit and +eloquence of a woman cause a swifter change. They screamed and +tore their robes and shook their weapons in the air. Maxtla strove +to speak, but they pulled him down and presently he was flying for +his life. Then they turned upon the Tlascalan envoys and beat them +with sticks, crying: + +'This is our answer to Malinche. Run, you dogs, and take it!' till +they were driven from the town. + +Now at length the turmoil ceased, and some of the great chiefs came +forward and, kissing the hand of Otomie, said: + +'Princess, we your children will guard you to the death, for you +have put another heart into us. You are right; it is better to die +free than to live as slaves.' + +'See, my husband,' said Otomie, 'I was not mistaken when I told you +that my people were loyal and true. But now we must make ready for +war, for they have gone too far to turn back, and when this tidings +comes to the ears of Malinche he will be like a puma robbed of her +young. Now, let us rest, I am very weary.' + +'Otomie,' I answered, 'there has lived no greater woman than you +upon this earth.' + +'I cannot tell, husband,' she said, smiling; 'if I have won your +praise and safety, it is enough for me.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE END OF GUATEMOC + + +Now for a while we dwelt in quiet at the City of Pines, and by slow +degrees and with much suffering I recovered from the wounds that +the cruel hand of de Garcia had inflicted upon me. But we knew +that this peace could not last, and the people of the Otomie knew +it also, for had they not scourged the envoys of Malinche out of +the gates of their city? Many of them were now sorry that this had +been done, but it was done, and they must reap as they had sown. + +So they made ready for war, and Otomie was the president of their +councils, in which I shared. At length came news that a force of +fifty Spaniards with five thousand Tlascalan allies were advancing +on the city to destroy us. Then I took command of the tribesmen of +the Otomie--there were ten thousand or more of them, all well-armed +after their own fashion--and advanced out of the city till I was +two-thirds of the way down the gorge which leads to it. But I did +not bring all my army down this gorge, since there was no room for +them to fight there, and I had another plan. I sent some seven +thousand men round the mountains, of which the secret paths were +well known to them, bidding them climb to the crest of the +precipices that bordered either side of the gorge, and there, at +certain places where the cliff is sheer and more than one thousand +feet in height, to make a great provision of stones. + +The rest of my army, excepting five hundred whom I kept with me, I +armed with bows and throwing spears, and stationed them in ambush +in convenient places where the sides of the cliff were broken, and +in such fashion that rocks from above could not be rolled on them. +Then I sent trusty men as spies to warn me of the approach of the +Spaniards, and others whose mission it was to offer themselves to +them as guides. + +Now I thought my plan good, and everything looked well, and yet it +missed failure but by a very little. For Maxtla, our enemy and the +friend of the Spaniards, was in my camp--indeed, I had brought him +with me that I might watch him--and he had not been idle. + +For when the Spaniards were half a day's march from the mouth of +the defile, one of those men whom I had told off to watch their +advance, came to me and made it known that Maxtla had bribed him to +go to the leader of the Spaniards and disclose to him the plan of +the ambuscade. This man had taken the bribe and started on his +errand of treachery, but his heart failed him and, returning, he +told me all. Then I caused Maxtla to be seized, and before +nightfall he had paid the price of his wickedness. + +On the morning after his death the Spanish array entered the pass. +Half-way down it I met them with my five hundred men and engaged +them, but suffered them to drive us back with some loss. As they +followed they grew bolder and we fled faster, till at length we +flew down the defile followed by the Spanish horse. Now, some +three furlongs from its mouth that leads to the City of Pines, this +pass turns and narrows, and here the cliffs are so sheer and high +that a twilight reigns at the foot of them. + +Down the narrow way we ran in seeming rout, and after us came the +Spaniards shouting on their saints and flushed with victory. But +scarcely had we turned the corner when they sang another song, for +those who were watching a thousand feet above us gave the signal, +and down from on high came a rain of stones and boulders that +darkened the air and crashed among them, crushing many of them. On +they struggled, seeing a wider way in front where the cliffs +sloped, and perhaps half of them won through. But here the archers +were waiting, and now, in the place of stones, arrows were hailed +upon them, till at length, utterly bewildered and unable to strike +a blow in their own defence, they turned to fly towards the open +country. This finished the fight, for now we assailed their flank, +and once more the rocks thundered on them from above, and the end +of it was that those who remained of the Spaniards and their Indian +allies were driven in utter rout back to the plain beyond the Pass +of Pines. + +After this battle the Spaniards troubled us no more for many years +except by threats, and my name grew great among the people of the +Otomie. + +One Spaniard I rescued from death and afterwards I gave him his +liberty. From him I inquired of the doings of de Garcia or +Sarceda, and learned that he was still in the service of Cortes, +but that Marina had been true to her word, and had brought disgrace +upon him because he had threatened to put Otomie to the torture. +Moreover Cortes was angry with him because of our escape, the +burden of which Marina had laid upon his shoulders, hinting that he +had taken a bribe to suffer us to pass the gate. + + +Of the fourteen years of my life which followed the defeat of the +Spaniards I can speak briefly, for compared to the time that had +gone before they were years of quiet. In them children were born +to me and Otomie, three sons, and these children were my great joy, +for I loved them dearly and they loved me. Indeed, except for the +strain of their mother's blood, they were English boys and not +Indian, for I christened them all, and taught them our English +tongue and faith, and their mien and eyes were more English than +Indian, though their skins were dark. But I had no luck with these +dear children of mine, any more than I have had with that which +Lily bore me. Two of them died--one from a fever that all my skill +would not avail to cure, and another by a fall from a lofty cedar +tree, which he climbed searching for a kite's nest. Thus of the +three of them--since I do not speak now of that infant, my +firstborn, who perished in the siege--there remained to me only the +eldest and best beloved of whom I must tell hereafter. + +For the rest, jointly with Otomie I was named cacique of the City +of Pines at a great council that was held after I had destroyed the +Spaniards and their allies, and as such we had wide though not +absolute power. By the exercise of this power, in the end I +succeeded in abolishing the horrible rites of human sacrifice, +though, because of this, a large number of the outlying tribes fell +away from our rule, and the enmity of the priests was excited +against me. The last sacrifice, except one only, the most terrible +of them all, of which I will tell afterwards, that was ever +celebrated on the teocalli in front of the palace, took place after +the defeat of the Spaniards in the pass. + +When I had dwelt three years in the City of Pines and two sons had +been born to me there, secret messengers arrived that were sent by +the friends of Guatemoc, who had survived the torture and was still +a prisoner in the hands of Cortes. From these messengers we +learned that Cortes was about to start upon an expedition to the +Gulf of Honduras, across the country that is now known as Yucatan, +taking Guatemoc and other Aztec nobles with him for he feared to +leave them behind. We heard also that there was much murmuring +among the conquered tribes of Anahuac because of the cruelties and +extortions of the Spaniards, and many thought that the hour had +come when a rising against them might be carried to a successful +issue. + +This was the prayer of those who sent the envoys, that I should +raise a force of Otomies and travel with it across the country to +Yucatan, and there with others who would be gathered, wait a +favourable opportunity to throw myself upon the Spaniards when they +were entangled in the forests and swamps, putting them to the sword +and releasing Guatemoc. Such was the first purpose of the plot, +though it had many others of which it is useless to speak, seeing +that they came to nothing. + +When the message had been delivered I shook my head sadly, for I +could see no hope in such a scheme, but the chief of the messengers +rose and led me aside, saying that he had a word for my ear. + +'Guatemoc sends these words,' he said; 'I hear that you, my +brother, are free and safe with my cousin Otomie in the mountains +of the Otomie. I, alas! linger in the prisons of the Teules like a +crippled eagle in a cage. My brother, if it is in your power to +help me, do so I conjure you by the memory of our ancient +friendship, and of all that we have suffered together. Then a time +may still come when I shall rule again in Anahuac, and you shall +sit at my side.' + +I heard and my heart was stirred, for then, as to this hour, I +loved Guatemoc as a brother. + +'Go back,' I said, 'and find means to tell Guatemoc that if I can +save him I will, though I have small hopes that way. Still, let +him look for me in the forests of Yucatan.' + +Now when Otomie heard of this promise of mine she was vexed, for +she said that it was foolish and would only end in my losing my +life. Still, having given it she held with me that it must be +carried out, and the end of it was that I raised five hundred men, +and with them set out upon my long and toilsome march, which I +timed so as to meet Cortes in the passes of Yucatan. At the last +moment Otomie wished to accompany me, but I forbade it, pointing +out that she could leave neither her children nor her people, and +we parted with bitter grief for the first time. + +Of all the hardships that I underwent I will not write. For two +and a half months we struggled on across mountains and rivers and +through swamps and forests, till at last we reached a mighty +deserted city, that is called Palenque by the Indians of those +parts, which has been uninhabited for many generations. This city +is the most marvellous place that I have seen in all my travels, +though much of it is hidden in bush, for wherever the traveller +wanders there he finds vast palaces of marble, carven within and +without, and sculptured teocallis and the huge images of grinning +gods. Often have I wondered what nation was strong enough to build +such a capital, and who were the kings that dwelt in it. But these +are secrets belonging to the past, and they cannot be answered till +some learned man has found the key to the stone symbols and +writings with which the walls of the buildings are covered over. + +In this city I hid with my men, though it was no easy task to +persuade them to take up their habitation among so many ghosts of +the departed, not to speak of the noisome fevers and the wild +beasts and snakes that haunted it, for I had information that the +Spaniards would pass through the swamp that lies between the ruins +and the river, and there I hoped to ambush them. But on the eighth +day of my hiding I learned from spies that Cortes had crossed the +great river higher up, and was cutting his way through the forest, +for of swamps he had passed more than enough. So I hurried also to +the river intending to cross it. But all that day and all that +night it rained as it can rain nowhere else in the world that I +have seen, till at last we waded on our road knee deep in water, +and when we came to the ford of the river it was to find a wide +roaring flood, that no man could pass in anything less frail than a +Yarmouth herring boat. So there on the bank we must stay in +misery, suffering many ills from fever, lack of food, and plenitude +of water, till at length the stream ran down. + +Three days and nights we waited there, and on the fourth morning I +made shift to cross, losing four men by drowning in the passage. +Once over, I hid my force in the bush and reeds, and crept forward +with six men only, to see if I could discover anything of the +whereabouts of the Spaniards. Within an hour I struck the trail +that they had cut through the forest, and followed it cautiously. +Presently we came to a spot where the forest was thin, and here +Cortes had camped, for there was heat left in the ashes of his +fires, and among them lay the body of an Indian who had died from +sickness. Not fifty yards from this camp stood a huge ceiba, a +tree that has a habit of growth not unlike that of our English oak, +though it is soft wooded and white barked, and will increase more +in bulk in twenty years than any oak may in a hundred. Indeed I +never yet saw an oak tree so large as this ceiba of which I write, +either in girth or in its spread of top, unless it be the Kirby oak +or the tree that is called the 'King of Scoto' which grows at +Broome, that is the next parish to this of Ditchingham in Norfolk. +On this ceiba tree many zaphilotes or vultures were perched, and as +we crept towards it I saw what it was they came to seek, for from +the lowest branches of the ceiba three corpses swung in the breeze. +'Here are the Spaniard's footprints,' I said. 'Let us look at +them,' and we passed beneath the shadow of the tree. + +As I came, a zaphilote alighted on the head of the body that hung +nearest to me, and its weight, or the wafting of the fowl's wing, +caused the dead man to turn round so that he came face to face with +me. I looked, started back, then looked again and sank to the +earth groaning. For here was he whom I had come to seek and save, +my friend, my brother, Guatemoc the last emperor of Anahuac. Here +he hung in the dim and desolate forest, dead by the death of a +thief, while the vulture shrieked upon his head. I sat bewildered +and horror-stricken, and as I sat I remembered the proud sign of +Aztec royalty, a bird of prey clasping an adder in its claw. There +before me was the last of the stock, and behold! a bird of prey +gripped his hair in its talons, a fitting emblem indeed of the fall +of Anahuac and the kings of Anahuac. + +I sprang to my feet with an oath, and lifting the bow I held I sent +an arrow through the vulture and it fell to the earth fluttering +and screaming. Then I bade those with me to cut down the corpses +of Guatemoc and of the prince of Tacuba and another noble who hung +with him, and hollow a deep grave beneath the tree. There I laid +them, and there I left them to sleep for ever in its melancholy +shadow, and thus for the last time I saw Guatemoc my brother, whom +I came from far to save and found made ready for burial by the +Spaniard. + +Then I turned my face homewards, for now Anahuac had no king to +rescue, but it chanced that before I went I caught a Tlascalan who +could speak Spanish, and who had deserted from the army of Cortes +because of the hardships that he suffered in their toilsome march. +This man was present at the murder of Guatemoc and his companions, +and heard the Emperor's last words. It seems that some knave had +betrayed to Cortes that an attempt would be made to rescue the +prince, and that thereon Cortes commanded that he should be hung. +It seems also that Guatemoc met his death as he had met the +misfortunes of his life, proudly and without fear. These were his +last words: 'I did ill, Malinche, when I held my hand from taking +my own life before I surrendered myself to you. Then my heart told +me that all your promises were false, and it has not lied to me. I +welcome my death, for I have lived to know shame and defeat and +torture, and to see my people the slaves of the Teule, but still I +say that God will reward you for this deed.' + +Then they murdered him in the midst of a great silence. + + +And so farewell to Guatemoc, the most brave, the best and the +noblest Indian that ever breathed, and may the shadow of his +tormentings and shameful end lie deep upon the fame of Cortes for +so long as the names of both of them are remembered among men! + + +For two more months I journeyed homeward and at length I reached +the City of Pines, well though wearied, and having lost only forty +men by various misadventures of travel, to find Otomie in good +health, and overjoyed to know me safe whom she thought never to see +again. But when I told her what was the end of her cousin Guatemoc +she grieved bitterly, both for his sake and because the last hope +of the Aztec was gone, and she would not be comforted for many +days. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +ISABELLA DE SIGUENZA IS AVENGED + + +For many years after the death of Guatemoc I lived with Otomie at +peace in the City of Pines. Our country was poor and rugged, and +though we defied the Spaniards and paid them no tribute, now that +Cortes had gone back to Spain, they had no heart to attempt our +conquest. Save some few tribes that lived in difficult places like +ourselves, all Anahuac was in their power, and there was little to +gain except hard blows in the bringing of a remnant of the people +of the Otomie beneath their yoke, so they let us be till a more +convenient season. I say of a remnant of the Otomie, for as time +went on many clans submitted to the Spaniards, till at length we +ruled over the City of Pines alone and some leagues of territory +about it. Indeed it was only love for Otomie and respect for the +shadow of her ancient race and name, together with some reverence +for me as one of the unconquerable white men, and for my skill as a +general, that kept our following together. + +And now it may be asked was I happy in those years? I had much to +make me happy--no man could have been blessed with a wife more +beautiful and loving, nor one who had exampled her affection by +more signal deeds of sacrifice. This woman of her own free will +had lain by my side on the stone of slaughter; overriding the +instincts of her sex she had not shrunk from dipping her hands in +blood to secure my safety, her wit had rescued me in many a +trouble, her love had consoled me in many a sorrow: surely +therefore if gratitude can conquer the heart of man, mine should +have been at her feet for ever and a day, and so indeed it was, and +in a sense is still. But can gratitude, can love itself, or any +passion that rules our souls, make a man forget the house where he +was born? Could I, an Indian chief struggling with a fallen people +against an inevitable destiny, forget my youth and all its hopes +and fears, could I forget the valley of the Waveney and that Flower +who dwelt therein, and forsworn though I might be, could I forget +the oath that I once had sworn? Chance had been against me, +circumstances overpowered me, and I think that there are few who, +could they read this story, would not find in it excuse for all +that I had done. Certainly there are very few who, standing where +I stood, surrounded as I was by doubts, difficulties, and dangers, +would not have acted as I did. + +And yet memory would rise up against me, and time upon time I would +lie awake at night, even by the side of Otomie, and remember and +repent, if a man may repent of that over which he has no control. +For I was a stranger in a strange land, and though my home was +there and my children were about me, the longing for my other home +was yet with me, and I could not put away the memory of that Lily +whom I had lost. Her ring was still upon my hand, but nothing else +of her remained to me. I did not know if she were married or +single, living or dead. The gulf between us widened with the +widening years, but still the thought of her went with me like my +shadow; it shone across the stormy love of Otomie, I remembered it +even in my children's kiss. And worst of all I despised myself for +these regrets. Nay, if the worst can have a worse, there was one +here, for though she never spoke of it, I feared that Otomie had +read my mind. + + + Heart to heart, + Though far apart, + + +so ran the writing upon Lily's betrothal ring, and so it was with +me. Far apart we were indeed, so far that no bridge that I might +imagine could join that distance, and yet I could not say that we +had ceased from being 'heart to heart.' Her heart might throb no +more, but mine beat still toward it. Across the land, across the +sea, across the gulf of death--if she were dead--still in secret +must I desire the love that I had forsworn. + +And so the years rolled on, bringing little of change with them, +till I grew sure that here in this far place I should live and die. +But that was not to be my fate. + + +If any should read this, the story of my early life, he will +remember that the tale of the death of a certain Isabella de +Siguenza is pieced into its motley. He will remember how this +Isabella, in the last moments of her life, called down a curse upon +that holy father who added outrage and insult to her torment, +praying that he might also die by the hands of fanatics and in a +worse fashion. If my memory does not play me false, I have said +that this indeed came to pass, and very strangely. For after the +conquest of Anahuac by Cortes, among others this same fiery priest +came from Spain to turn the Indians to the love of God by torment +and by sword. Indeed, of all of those who entered on this mission +of peace, he was the most zealous. The Indian pabas wrought +cruelties enough when, tearing out the victim's heart, they offered +it like incense to Huitzel or to Quetzal, but they at least +dismissed his soul to the Mansions of the Sun. With the Christian +priests the thumb-screw and the stake took the place of the stone +of sacrifice, but the soul which they delivered from its earthly +bondage they consigned to the House of Hell. + +Of these priests a certain Father Pedro was the boldest and the +most cruel. To and fro he passed, marking his path with the +corpses of idolaters, until he earned the name of the 'Christian +Devil.' At length he ventured too far in his holy fervour, and was +seized by a clan of the Otomie that had broken from our rule upon +this very question of human sacrifice, but which was not yet +subjugated by the Spaniards. One day, it was when we had ruled for +some fourteen years in the City of Pines, it came to my knowledge +that the pabas of this clan had captured a Christian priest, and +designed to offer him to the god Tezcat. + +Attended by a small guard only, I passed rapidly across the +mountains, purposing to visit the cacique of this clan with whom, +although he had cast off his allegiance to us, I still kept up a +show of friendship, and if I could, to persuade him to release the +priest. But swiftly as I travelled the vengeance of the pabas had +been more swift, and I arrived at the village only to find the +'Christian Devil' in the act of being led to sacrifice before the +image of a hideous idol that was set upon a stake and surrounded +with piles of skulls. Naked to the waist, his hands bound behind +him, his grizzled locks hanging about his breast, his keen eyes +fixed upon the faces of his heathen foes in menace rather than in +supplication, his thin lips muttering prayers, Father Pedro passed +on to the place of his doom, now and again shaking his head +fiercely to free himself from the torment of the insects which +buzzed about it. + +I looked upon him and wondered. I looked again and knew. Suddenly +there rose before my mind a vision of that gloomy vault in Seville, +of a woman, young and lovely, draped in cerements, and of a thin- +faced black-robed friar who smote her upon the lips with his ivory +crucifix and cursed her for a blaspheming heretic. There before me +was the man. Isabella de Siguenza had prayed that a fate like to +her own fate should befall him, and it was upon him now. Nor +indeed, remembering all that had been, was I minded to avert it, +even if it had been in my power to do so. I stood by and let the +victim pass, but as he passed I spoke to him in Spanish, saying: + +'Remember that which it may well be you have forgotten, holy +father, remember now the dying prayer of Isabella de Siguenza whom +many years ago you did to death in Seville.' + +The man heard me; he turned livid beneath his bronzed skin and +staggered until I thought that he would have fallen. He stared +upon me, with terror in his eye, to see as he believed a common +sight enough, that of an Indian chief rejoicing at the death of one +of his oppressors. + +'What devil are you,' he said hoarsely, 'sent from hell to torment +me at the last?' + +'Remember the dying prayer of Isabella de Siguenza, whom you struck +and cursed,' I answered mocking. 'Seek not to know whence I am, +but remember this only, now and for ever.' + +For a moment he stood still, heedless of the urgings of his +tormentors. Then his courage came to him again, and he cried with +a great voice: 'Get thee behind me, Satan, what have I to fear from +thee? I remember that dead sinner well--may her soul have peace-- +and her curse has fallen upon me. I rejoice that it should be so, +for on the further side of yonder stone the gates of heaven open to +my sight. Get thee behind me, Satan, what have I to fear from +thee?' + +Crying thus he staggered forward saying, 'O God, into Thy hand I +commend my spirit!' May his soul have peace also, for if he was +cruel, at least he was brave, and did not shrink beneath those +torments which he had inflicted on many others. + + +Now this was a little matter, but its results were large. Had I +saved Father Pedro from the hands of the pabas of the Otomie, it is +likely enough that I should not to-day be writing this history here +in the valley of the Waveney. I do not know if I could have saved +him, I only know that I did not try, and that because of his death +great sorrows came upon me. Whether I was right or wrong, who can +say? Those who judge my story may think that in this as in other +matters I was wrong; had they seen Isabella de Siguenza die within +her living tomb, certainly they would hold that I was right. But +for good or ill, matters came about as I have written. + +And it came about also, that the new viceroy sent from Spain was +stirred to anger at the murder of the friar by the rebellious and +heathen people of the Otomie, and set himself to take vengeance on +the tribe that wrought the deed. + +Soon tidings reached me that a great force of Tlascalan and other +Indians were being collected to put an end to us, root and branch, +and that with them marched more than a hundred Spaniards, the +expedition being under the command of none other than the Captain +Bernal Diaz, that same soldier whom I had spared in the slaughter +of the noche triste, and whose sword to this day hung at my side. + +Now we must needs prepare our defence, for our only hope lay in +boldness. Once before the Spaniards had attacked us with thousands +of their allies, and of their number but few had lived to look +again on the camp of Cortes. What had been done could be done a +second time--so said Otomie in the pride of her unconquerable +heart. But alas! in fourteen years things had changed much with +us. Fourteen years ago we held sway over a great district of +mountains, whose rude clans would send up their warriors in +hundreds at our call. Now these clans had broken from our yoke, +which was acknowledged by the people of the City of Pines alone and +those of some adjacent villages. When the Spaniards came down on +me the first time, I was able to muster an army of ten thousand +soldiers to oppose them, now with much toil I could collect no more +than between two and three thousand men, and of these some slipped +away as the hour of danger drew nigh. + +Still I must put a bold face on my necessities, and make what play +I might with such forces as lay at my command, although in my heart +I feared much for the issue. But of my fears I said nothing to +Otomie, and if she felt any she, on her part, buried them in her +breast. In truth I do believe her faith in me was so great, that +she thought my single wit enough to over-match all the armies of +the Spaniards. + +Now at length the enemy drew near, and I set my battle as I had +done fourteen years before, advancing down the pass by which alone +they could approach us with a small portion of my force, and +stationing the remainder in two equal companies upon either brow of +the beetling cliffs that overhung the road, having command to +overwhelm the Spaniards with rocks, hurled upon them from above, so +soon as I should give the signal by flying before them down the +pass. Other measures I took also, for seeing that do what I would +it well might happen that we should be driven back upon the city, I +caused its walls and gates to be set in order, and garrisoned them. +As a last resource too, I stored the lofty summit of the teocalli, +which now that sacrifices were no longer offered there was used as +an arsenal for the material of war, with water and provisions, and +fortified its sides by walls studded with volcanic glass and by +other devices, till it seemed well nigh impossible that any should +be able to force them while a score of men still lived to offer a +defence. + +It was on one night in the early summer, having bid farewell to +Otomie and taking my son with me, for he was now of an age when, +according to the Indian customs, lads are brought face to face with +the dangers of battle, that I despatched the appointed companies to +their stations on the brow of the precipice, and sallied into the +darksome mouth of the pass with the few hundred men who were left +to me. I knew by my spies that the Spaniards who were encamped on +the further side would attempt its passage an hour before the +daylight, trusting to finding me asleep. And sure enough, on the +following morning, so early that the first rays of the sun had not +yet stained the lofty snows of the volcan Xaca that towered behind +us, a distant murmuring which echoed through the silence of the +night told me that the enemy had begun his march. I moved down the +pass to meet him easily enough; there was no stone in it that was +not known to me and my men. But with the Spaniards it was +otherwise, for many of them were mounted, and moreover they dragged +with them two carronades. Time upon time these heavy guns remained +fast in the boulder-strewn roadway, for in the darkness the slaves +who drew them could find no places for the wheels to run on, till +in the end the captains of the army, unwilling to risk a fight at +so great a disadvantage, ordered them to halt until the day broke. + +At length the dawn came, and the light fell dimly down the depths +of the vast gulf, revealing the long ranks of the Spaniards clad in +their bright armour, and the yet more brilliant thousands of their +native allies, gorgeous in their painted helms and their glittering +coats of feathers. They saw us also, and mocking at our poor +array, their column twisted forward like some huge snake in the +crack of a rock, till they came to within a hundred paces of us. +Then the Spaniards raised their battle cry of Saint Peter, and +lance at rest, they charged us with their horse. We met them with +a rain of arrows that checked them a little, but not for long. +Soon they were among us, driving us back at the point of their +lances, and slaying many, for our Indian weapons could work little +harm to men and horses clad in armour. Therefore we must fly, and +indeed, flight was my plan, for by it I hoped to lead the foe to +that part of the defile where the road was narrow and the cliffs +sheer, and they might be crushed by the stones which should hail on +them from above. All went well; we fled, the Spaniards followed +flushed with victory, till they were fairly in the trap. Now a +single boulder came rushing from on high, and falling on a horse, +killed him, then rebounding, carried dismay and wounds to those +behind. Another followed, and yet another, and I grew glad at +heart, for it seemed to me that the danger was over, and that for +the second time my strategy had succeeded. + +But suddenly from above there came a sound other than that of the +rushing rocks, the sound of men joining in battle, that grew and +grew till the air was full of its tumult, then something whirled +down from on high. I looked; it was no stone, but a man, one of my +own men. Indeed he was but as the first rain-drop of a shower. + +Alas! I saw the truth; I had been outwitted. The Spaniards, old in +war, could not be caught twice by such a trick; they advanced down +the pass with the carronades indeed because they must, but first +they sent great bodies of men to climb the mountain under shelter +of the night, by secret paths which had been discovered to them, +and there on its summit to deal with those who would stay their +passage by hurling rocks upon them. And in truth they dealt with +them but too well, for my men of the Otomie, lying on the verge of +the cliff among the scrub of aloes and other prickly plants that +grew there, watching the advance of the foe beneath, and never for +one moment dreaming that foes might be upon their flank, were +utterly surprised. Scarcely had they time to seize their weapons, +which were laid at their sides that they might have the greater +freedom in the rolling of heavy masses of rock, when the enemy, who +outnumbered them by far, were upon them with a yell. Then came a +fight, short but decisive. + +Too late I saw it all, and cursed the folly that had not provided +against such chances, for, indeed, I never thought it possible that +the forces of the Spaniards could find the secret trails upon the +further side of the mountain, forgetting that treason makes most +things possible. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE SIEGE OF THE CITY OF PINES + + +The battle was already lost. From a thousand feet above us swelled +the shouts of victory. The battle was lost, and yet I must fight +on. As swiftly as I could I withdrew those who were left to me to +a certain angle in the path, where a score of desperate men might, +for a while, hold back the advance of an army. Here I called for +some to stand at my side, and many answered to my call. Out of +them I chose fifty men or more, bidding the rest run hard for the +City of Pines, there to warn those who were left in garrison that +the hour of danger was upon them, and, should I fall, to conjure +Otomie my wife to make the best resistance in her power, till, if +it were possible, she could wring from the Spaniards a promise of +safety for herself, her child, and her people. Meanwhile I would +hold the pass so that time might be given to shut the gates and man +the walls. With the main body of those who were left to me I sent +back my son, though he prayed hard to be allowed to stay with me. +But, seeing nothing before me except death, I refused him. + +Presently all were gone, and fearing a snare the Spaniards came +slowly and cautiously round the angle of the rock, and seeing so +few men mustered to meet them halted, for now they were certain +that we had set a trap for them, since they did not think it +possible that such a little band would venture to oppose their +array. Here the ground lay so that only a few of them could come +against us at one time, nor could they bring their heavy pieces to +bear on us, and even their arquebusses helped them but little. +Also the roughness of the road forced them to dismount from their +horses, so that if they would attack at all, it must be on foot. +This in the end they chose to do. Many fell upon either side, +though I myself received no wound, but in the end they drove us +back. Inch by inch they drove us back, or rather those who were +left of us, at the point of their long lances, till at length they +forced us into the mouth of the pass, that is some five furlongs +distant from what was once the wall of the City of Pines. + +To fight further was of no avail, here we must choose between death +and flight, and as may be guessed, for wives' and children's sake +if not for our own, we chose to fly. Across the plain we fled like +deer, and after us came the Spaniards and their allies like hounds. +Happily the ground was rough with stones so that their horses could +not gallop freely, and thus it happened that some of us, perhaps +twenty, gained the gates in safety. Of my army not more than five +hundred in all lived to enter them again, and perchance there were +as many left within the city. + +The heavy gates swung to, and scarcely were they barred with the +massive beams of oak, when the foremost of the Spaniards rode up to +them. My bow was still in my hand and there was one arrow left in +my quiver. I set it on the string, and drawing the bow with my +full strength, I loosed the shaft through the bars of the gate at a +young and gallant looking cavalier who rode the first of all. It +struck him truly between the joint of his helm and neck piece, and +stretching his arms out wide he fell backward over the crupper of +his horse, to move no more. Then they withdrew, but presently one +of their number came forward bearing a flag of truce. He was a +knightly looking man, clad in rich armour, and watching him, it +seemed to me that there was something in his bearing, and in the +careless grace with which he sat his horse, that was familiar to +me. Reining up in front of the gates he raised his visor and began +to speak. + +I knew him at once; before me was de Garcia, my ancient enemy, of +whom I had neither heard nor seen anything for hard upon twelve +years. Time had touched him indeed, which was scarcely to be +wondered at, for now he was a man of sixty or more. His peaked +chestnut-coloured beard was streaked with grey, his cheeks were +hollow, and at that distance his lips seemed like two thin red +lines, but the eyes were as they had always been, bright and +piercing, and the same cold smile played about his mouth. Without +a doubt it was de Garcia, who now, as at every crisis of my life, +appeared to shape my fortunes to some evil end, and I felt as I +looked upon him that the last and greatest struggle between us was +at hand, and that before many days were sped, the ancient and +accumulated hate of one or of both of us would be buried for ever +in the silence of death. How ill had fate dealt with me, now as +always. But a few minutes before, when I set that arrow on the +string, I had wavered for a moment, doubting whether to loose it at +the young cavalier who lay dead, or at the knight who rode next to +him; and see! I had slain one with whom I had no quarrel and left +my enemy unharmed. + +'Ho there!' cried de Garcia in Spanish. 'I desire to speak with +the leader of the rebel Otomie on behalf of the Captain Bernal +Diaz, who commands this army.' + +Now I mounted on the wall by means of a ladder which was at hand, +and answered, 'Speak on, I am the man you seek.' + +'You know Spanish well, friend,' said de Garcia, starting and +looking at me keenly beneath his bent brows. 'Say now, where did +you learn it? And what is your name and lineage?' + +'I learned it, Juan de Garcia, from a certain Donna Luisa, whom you +knew in your days of youth. And my name is Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now de Garcia reeled in his saddle and swore a great oath. + +'Mother of God!' he said, 'years ago I was told that you had taken +up your abode among some savage tribe, but since then I have been +far, to Spain and back indeed, and I deemed that you were dead, +Thomas Wingfield. My luck is good in truth, for it has been one of +the great sorrows of my life that you have so often escaped me, +renegade. Be sure that this time there shall be no escape.' + +'I know well that there will be no escape for one or other of us, +Juan de Garcia,' I answered. 'Now we play the last round of the +game, but do not boast, for God alone knows to whom the victory +shall be given. You have prospered long, but a day may be at hand +when your prosperity shall cease with your breath. To your errand, +Juan de Garcia.' + +For a moment he sat silent, pulling at his pointed beard, and +watching him I thought that I could see the shadow of a half- +forgotten fear creep into his eyes. If so, it was soon gone, for +lifting his head, he spoke boldly and clearly. + +'This is my message to you, Thomas Wingfield, and to such of the +Otomie dogs with whom you herd as we have left alive to-day. The +Captain Bernal Diaz offers you terms on behalf of his Excellency +the viceroy.' + +'What are his terms?' I asked. + +'Merciful enough to such pestilent rebels and heathens,' he +answered sneering. 'Surrender your city without condition, and the +viceroy, in his clemency, will accept the surrender. Nevertheless, +lest you should say afterwards that faith has been broken with you, +be it known to you, that you shall not go unpunished for your many +crimes. This is the punishment that shall be inflicted on you. +All those who had part or parcel in the devilish murder of that +holy saint Father Pedro, shall be burned at the stake, and the eyes +of all those who beheld it shall be put out. Such of the leaders +of the Otomie as the judges may select shall be hanged publicly, +among them yourself, Cousin Wingfield, and more particularly the +woman Otomie, daughter of Montezuma the late king. For the rest, +the dwellers in the City of Pines must surrender their wealth into +the treasury of the viceroy, and they themselves, men, women and +children, shall be led from the city and be distributed according +to the viceroy's pleasure upon the estates of such of the Spanish +settlers as he may select, there to learn the useful arts of +husbandry and mining. These are the conditions of surrender, and I +am commanded to say that an hour is given you in which to decide +whether you accept or reject them.' + +'And if we reject them?' + +'Then the Captain Bernal Diaz has orders to sack and destroy this +city, and having given it over for twelve hours to the mercy of the +Tlascalans and other faithful Indian allies, to collect those who +may be left living within it, and bring them to the city of Mexico, +there to be sold as slaves.' + +'Good,' I said; 'you shall have your answer in an hour.' Now, +leaving the gate guarded, I hurried to the palace, sending +messengers as I went to summon such of the council of the city as +remained alive. At the door of the palace I met Otomie, who +greeted me fondly, for after hearing of our disaster she had hardly +looked to see me again. + +'Come with me to the Hall of Assembly,' I said; 'there I will speak +to you.' + +We went to the hall, where the members of the council were already +gathering. So soon as the most of them were assembled, there were +but eight in all, I repeated to them the words of de Garcia without +comment. Then Otomie spoke, as being the first in rank she had a +right to do. Twice before I had heard her address the people of +the Otomie upon these questions of defence against the Spaniards. +The first time, it may be remembered, was when we came as envoys +from Cuitlahua, Montezuma her father's successor, to pray the aid +of the children of the mountain against Cortes and the Teules. The +second time was when, some fourteen years ago, we had returned to +the City of Pines as fugitives after the fall of Tenoctitlan, and +the populace, moved to fury by the destruction of nearly twenty +thousand of their soldiers, would have delivered us as a peace +offering into the hands of the Spaniards. + +On each of these occasions Otomie had triumphed by her eloquence, +by the greatness of her name and the majesty of her presence. Now +things were far otherwise, and even had she not scorned to use +them, such arts would have availed us nothing in this extremity. +Now her great name was but a shadow, one of many waning shadows +cast by an empire whose glory had gone for ever; now she used no +passionate appeal to the pride and traditions of a doomed race, now +she was no longer young and the first splendour of her womanhood +had departed from her. And yet, as with her son and mine at her +side, she rose to address those seven councillors, who, haggard +with fear and hopeless in the grasp of fate, crouched in silence +before her, their faces buried in their hands, I thought that +Otomie had never seemed more beautiful, and that her words, simple +as they were, had never been more eloquent. + +'Friends,' she said, 'you know the disaster that has overtaken us. +My husband has given you the message of the Teules. Our case is +desperate. We have but a thousand men at most to defend this city, +the home of our forefathers, and we alone of all the peoples of +Anahuac still dare to stand in arms against the white men. Years +ago I said to you, Choose between death with honour and life with +shame! To-day again I say to you, Choose! For me and mine there +is no choice left, since whatever you decide, death must be our +portion. But with you it is otherwise. Will you die fighting, or +will you and your children serve your remaining years as slaves?' + +For a while the seven consulted together, then their spokesman +answered. + +'Otomie, and you, Teule, we have followed your counsels for many +years and they have brought us but little luck. We do not blame +you, for the gods of Anahuac have deserted us as we have deserted +them, and the gods alone stand between men and their evil destiny. +Whatever misfortunes we may have borne, you have shared in them, +and so it is now at the end. Nor will we go back upon our words in +this the last hour of the people of the Otomie. We have chosen; we +have lived free with you, and still free, we will die with you. +For like you we hold that it is better for us and ours to perish as +free men than to drag out our days beneath the yoke of the Teule.' + +'It is well,' said Otomie; 'now nothing remains for us except to +seek a death so glorious that it shall be sung of in after days. +Husband, you have heard the answer of the council. Let the +Spaniards hear it also.' + +So I went back to the wall, a white flag in my hand, and presently +an envoy advanced from the Spanish camp to speak with me--not de +Garcia, but another. I told him in few words that those who +remained alive of the people of the Otomie would die beneath the +ruins of their city like the children of Tenoctitlan before them, +but that while they had a spear to throw and an arm to throw it, +they would never yield to the tender mercies of the Spaniard. + + +The envoy returned to the camp, and within an hour the attack +began. Bringing up their pieces of ordnance, the Spaniards set +them within little more than an hundred paces of the gates, and +began to batter us with iron shot at their leisure, for our spears +and arrows could scarcely harm them at such a distance. Still we +were not idle, for seeing that the wooden gates must soon be down, +we demolished houses on either side of them and filled up the +roadway with stones and rubbish. At the rear of the heap thus +formed I caused a great trench to be dug, which could not be passed +by horsemen and ordnance till it was filled in again. All along +the main street leading to the great square of the teocalli I threw +up other barricades, protected in the front and rear by dykes cut +through the roadway, and in case the Spaniards should try to turn +our flank and force a passage through the narrow and tortuous lanes +to the right and left, I also barricaded the four entrances to the +great square or market place. + +Till nightfall the Spaniards bombarded the shattered remains of the +gates and the earthworks behind them, doing no great damage beyond +the killing of about a score of people by cannon shot and arquebuss +balls. But they attempted no assault that day. At length the +darkness fell and their fire ceased, but not so our labours. Most +of the men must guard the gates and the weak spots in the walls, +and therefore the building of the barricades was left chiefly to +the women, working under my command and that of my captains. +Otomie herself took a share in the toil, an example that was +followed by every lady and indeed by every woman in the city, and +there were many of them, for the women outnumbered the men among +the Otomie, and moreover not a few of them had been made widows on +that same day. + +It was a strange sight to see them in the glare of hundreds of +torches split from the resin pine that gave its name to the city, +as all night long they moved to and fro in lines, each of them +staggering beneath the weight of a basket of earth or a heavy +stone, or dug with wooden spades at the hard soil, or laboured at +the pulling down of houses. They never complained, but worked on +sullenly and despairingly; no groan or tear broke from them, no, +not even from those whose husbands and sons had been hurled that +morning from the precipices of the pass. They knew that resistance +would be useless and that their doom was at hand, but no cry arose +among them of surrender to the Spaniards. Those of them who spoke +of the matter at all said with Otomie, that it was better to die +free than to live as slaves, but the most did not speak; the old +and the young, mother, wife, widow, and maid, they laboured in +silence and the children laboured at their sides. + +Looking at them it came into my mind that these silent patient +women were inspired by some common and desperate purpose, that all +knew of, but which none of them chose to tell. + +'Will you work so hard for your masters the Teules?' cried a man in +bitter mockery, as a file of them toiled past beneath their loads +of stone. + +'Fool!' answered their leader, a young and lovely lady of rank; 'do +the dead labour?' + +'Nay,' said this ill jester, 'but such as you are too fair for the +Teules to kill, and your years of slavery will be many. Say, how +shall you escape them?' + +'Fool!' answered the lady again, 'does fire die from lack of fuel +only, and must every man live till age takes him? We shall escape +them thus,' and casting down the torch she carried, she trod it +into the earth with her sandal, and went on with her load. Then I +was sure that they had some purpose, though I did not guess how +desperate it was, and Otomie would tell me nothing of this woman's +secret. + +'Otomie,' I said to her that night, when we met by chance, 'I have +ill news for you.' + +'It must be bad indeed, husband, to be so named in such an hour,' +she answered. + +'De Garcia is among our foes.' + +'I knew it, husband.' + +'How did you know it?' + +'By the hate written in your eyes,' she answered. + +'It seems that his hour of triumph is at hand,' I said. + +'Nay, beloved, not HIS but YOURS. You shall triumph over de +Garcia, but victory will cost you dear. I know it in my heart; ask +me not how or why. See, the Queen puts on her crown,' and she +pointed to the volcan Xaca, whose snows grew rosy with the dawn, +'and you must go to the gate, for the Spaniards will soon be +stirring.' + +As Otomie spoke I heard a trumpet blare without the walls. +Hurrying to the gates by the first light of day, I could see that +the Spaniards were mustering their forces for attack. They did not +come at once, however, but delayed till the sun was well up. Then +they began to pour a furious fire upon our defences, that reduced +the shattered beams of the gates to powder, and even shook down the +crest of the earthwork beyond them. Suddenly the firing ceased and +again a trumpet called. Now they charged us in column, a thousand +or more Tlascalans leading the van, followed by the Spanish force. +In two minutes I, who awaited them beyond it together with some +three hundred warriors of the Otomie, saw their heads appear over +the crest of the earthwork, and the fight began. Thrice we drove +them back with our spears and arrows, but at the fourth charge the +wave of men swept over our defence, and poured into the dry ditch +beyond. + +Now we were forced to fly to the next earthwork, for we could not +hope to fight so many in the open street, whither, so soon as a +passage had been made for their horse and ordnance, the enemy +followed us. Here the fight was renewed, and this barricade being +very strong, we held it for hard upon two hours with much loss to +ourselves and to the Spanish force. Again we retreated and again +we were assailed, and so the struggle went on throughout the live- +long day. Every hour our numbers grew fewer and our arms fainter, +but still we fought on desperately. At the two last barricades, +hundreds of the women of the Otomie fought by the sides of their +husbands and their brothers. + +The last earthwork was captured by the Spaniards just as the sun +sank, and under the shadow of approaching darkness those of us that +remained alive fled to the refuge which we had prepared upon the +teocalli, nor was there any further fighting during that night. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE + + +Here in the courtyard of the teocalli, by the light of burning +houses, for as they advanced the Spaniards fired the town, we +mustered our array to find that there were left to us in all some +four hundred fighting men, together with a crowd of nearly two +thousand women and many children. Now although this teocalli was +not quite so lofty as that of the great temple of Mexico, its sides +were steeper and everywhere faced with dressed stone, and the open +space upon its summit was almost as great, measuring indeed more +than a hundred paces every way. This area was paved with blocks of +marble, and in its centre stood the temple of the war-god, where +his statue still sat, although no worship had been offered to him +for many years; the stone of sacrifice, the altar of fire, and the +storehouses of the priests. Moreover in front of the temple, and +between it and the stone of sacrifice, was a deep cemented hole the +size of a large room, which once had been used as a place for the +safe keeping of grain in times of famine. This pit I had caused to +be filled with water borne with great toil to the top of the +pyramid, and in the temple itself I stored a great quantity of +food, so that we had no cause to fear present death from thirst or +famine. + +But now we were face to face with a new trouble. Large as was the +summit of the pyramid, it would not give shelter to a half of our +numbers, and if we desired to defend it some of the multitude +herded round its base must seek refuge elsewhere. Calling the +leaders of the people together, I put the matter before them in few +words, leaving them to decide what must be done. They in turn +consulted among themselves, and at length gave me this answer: that +it was agreed that all the wounded and aged there, together with +most of the children, and with them any others who wished to go, +should leave the teocalli that night, to find their way out of the +city if they could, or if not, to trust to the mercy of the +Spaniards. + +I said that it was well, for death was on every side, and it +mattered little which way men turned to meet it. So they were +sorted out, fifteen hundred or more of them, and at midnight the +gates of the courtyard were thrown open, and they left. Oh! it was +dreadful to see the farewells that took place in that hour. Here a +daughter clung to the neck of her aged father, here husbands and +wives bade each other a last farewell, here mothers kissed their +little children, and on every side rose up the sounds of bitter +agony, the agony of those who parted for ever. I buried my face in +my hands, wondering as I had often wondered before, how a God whose +name is Mercy can bear to look upon sights that break the hearts of +sinful men to witness. + +Presently I raised my eyes and spoke to Otomie, who was at my side, +asking her if she would not send our son away with the others, +passing him off as the child of common people. + +'Nay, husband,' she answered, 'it is better for him to die with us, +than to live as a slave of the Spaniards.' + +At length it was over and the gates had shut behind the last of +them. Soon we heard the distant challenge of the Spanish sentries +as they perceived them, and the sounds of some shots followed by +cries. + +'Doubtless the Tlascalans are massacring them,' I said. But it was +not so. When a few had been killed the leaders of the Spaniards +found that they waged war upon an unarmed mob, made up for the most +part of aged people, women and children, and their commander, +Bernal Diaz, a merciful man if a rough one, ordered that the +onslaught should cease. Indeed he did more, for when all the able- +bodied men, together with such children as were sufficiently strong +to bear the fatigues of travel, had been sorted out to be sold as +slaves, he suffered the rest of that melancholy company to depart +whither they would. And so they went, though what became of them I +do not know. + +That night we spent in the courtyard of the teocalli, but before it +was light I caused the women and children who remained with us, +perhaps some six hundred in all, for very few of the former who +were unmarried, or who being married were still young and comely, +had chosen to desert our refuge, to ascend the pyramid, guessing +that the Spaniards would attack us at dawn. I stayed, however, +with the three hundred fighting men that were left to me, a hundred +or more having thrown themselves upon the mercy of the Spaniards, +with the refugees, to await the Spanish onset under shelter of the +walls of the courtyard. At dawn it began, and by midday, do what +we could to stay it, the wall was stormed, and leaving nearly a +hundred dead and wounded behind me, I was driven to the winding way +that led to the summit of the pyramid. Here they assaulted us +again, but the road was steep and narrow, and their numbers gave +them no great advantage on it, so that the end of it was that we +beat them back with loss, and there was no more fighting that day. + +The night which followed we spent upon the summit of the pyramid, +and for my part I was so weary that after I had eaten I never slept +more soundly. Next morning the struggle began anew; and this time +with better success to the Spaniards. Inch by inch under cover of +the heavy fire from their arquebusses and pieces, they forced us +upward and backward. All day long the fight continued upon the +narrow road that wound from stage to stage of the pyramid. At +length, as the sun sank, a company of our foes, their advance +guard, with shouts of victory, emerged upon the flat summit, and +rushed towards the temple in its centre. All this while the women +had been watching, but now one of them sprang up, crying with a +loud voice: + +'Seize them; they are but few.' + +Then with a fearful scream of rage, the mob of women cast +themselves upon the weary Spaniards and Tlascalans, bearing them +down by the weight of their numbers. Many of them were slain +indeed, but in the end the women conquered, ay, and made their +victims captive, fastening them with cords to the rings of copper +that were let into the stones of the pavement, to which in former +days those doomed to sacrifice had been secured, when their numbers +were so great that the priests feared lest they should escape. I +and the soldiers with me watched this sight wondering, then I cried +out: + +'What! men of the Otomie, shall it be said that our women outdid us +in courage?' and without further ado, followed by a hundred or more +of my companions, I rushed desperately down the steep and narrow +path. + +At the first corner we met the main array of Spaniards and their +allies, coming up slowly, for now they were sure of victory, and so +great was the shock of our encounter that many of them were hurled +over the edge of the path, to roll down the steep sides of the +pyramid. Seeing the fate of their comrades, those behind them +halted, then began to retreat. Presently the weight of our rush +struck them also, and they in turn pushed upon those below, till at +length panic seized them, and with a great crying the long line of +men that wound round and round the pyramid from its base almost to +its summit, sought their safety in flight. But some of them found +none, for the rush of those above pressing with ever increasing +force upon their friends below, drove many to their death, since +here on the pyramid there was nothing to cling to, and if once a +man lost his foothold on the path, his fall was broken only when +his body reached the court beneath. Thus in fifteen short minutes +all that the Spaniards had won this day was lost again, for except +the prisoners at its summit, none of them remained alive upon the +teocalli; indeed so great a terror took them, that bearing with +them their dead and wounded, they retreated under cover of the +night to their camp without the walls of the courtyard. + +Now, weary but triumphant, we wended back towards the crest of the +pyramid, but as I turned the corner of the second angle that was +perhaps nearly one hundred feet above the level of the ground, a +thought struck me and I set those with me at a task. Loosening the +blocks of stone that formed the edge of the roadway, we rolled them +down the sides of the pyramid, and so laboured on removing layer +upon layer of stones and of the earth beneath, till where the path +had been, was nothing but a yawning gap thirty feet or more in +width. + +'Now,' I said, surveying our handiwork by the light of the rising +moon, 'that Spaniard who would win our nest must find wings to fly +with.' + +'Ay, Teule,' answered one at my side, 'but say what wings shall WE +find?' + +'The wings of Death,' I said grimly, and went on my upward way. + + +It was near midnight when I reached the temple, for the labour of +levelling the road took many hours and food had been sent to us +from above. As I drew nigh I was amazed to hear the sound of +solemn chanting, and still more was I amazed when I saw that the +doors of the temple of Huitzel were open, and that the sacred fire +which had not shone there for many years once more flared fiercely +upon his altar. I stood still listening. Did my ears trick me, or +did I hear the dreadful song of sacrifice? Nay, again its wild +refrain rang out upon the silence: + + + To Thee we sacrifice! + Save us, O Huitzel, + Huitzel, lord god! + + +I rushed forward, and turning the angle of the temple I found +myself face to face with the past, for there as in bygone years +were the pabas clad in their black robes, their long hair hanging +about their shoulders, the dreadful knife of glass fixed in their +girdles; there to the right of the stone of sacrifice were those +destined to the god, and there being led towards it was the first +victim, a Tlascalan prisoner, his limbs held by men clad in the +dress of priests. Near him, arrayed in the scarlet robe of +sacrifice, stood one of my own captains, who I remembered had once +served as a priest of Tezcat before idolatry was forbidden in the +City of Pines, and around were a wide circle of women that watched, +and from whose lips swelled the awful chant. + +Now I understood it all. In their last despair, maddened by the +loss of fathers, husbands, and children, by their cruel fate, and +standing face to face with certain death, the fire of the old faith +had burnt up in their savage hearts. There was the temple, there +were the stone and implements of sacrifice, and there to their +hands were the victims taken in war. They would glut a last +revenge, they would sacrifice to their fathers' gods as their +fathers had done before them, and the victims should be taken from +their own victorious foes. Ay, they must die, but at the least +they would seek the Mansions of the Sun made holy by the blood of +the accursed Teule. + +I have said that it was the women who sang this chant and glared so +fiercely upon the victims, but I have not yet told all the horror +of what I saw, for in the fore-front of their circle, clad in white +robes, the necklet of great emeralds, Guatemoc's gift, flashing +upon her breast, the plumes of royal green set in her hair, giving +the time of the death chant with a little wand, stood Montezuma's +daughter, Otomie my wife. Never had I seen her look so beautiful +or so dreadful. It was not Otomie whom I saw, for where was the +tender smile and where the gentle eyes? Here before me was a +living Vengeance wearing the shape of woman. In an instant I +guessed the truth, though I did not know it all. Otomie, who +although she was not of it, had ever favoured the Christian faith, +Otomie, who for years had never spoken of these dreadful rites +except with anger, whose every act was love and whose every word +was kindness, was still in her soul an idolater and a savage. She +had hidden this side of her heart from me well through all these +years, perchance she herself had scarcely known its secret, for but +twice had I seen anything of the buried fierceness of her blood. +The first time was when Marina had brought her a certain robe in +which she might escape from the camp of Cortes, and she had spoken +to Marina of that robe; and the second when on this same day she +had played her part to the Tlascalan, and had struck him down with +her own hand as he bent over me. + +All this and much more passed through my mind in that brief moment, +while Otomie marked the time of the death chant, and the pabas +dragged the Tlascalan to his doom. + +The next I was at her side. + +'What passes here?' I asked sternly. + +Otomie looked on me with a cold wonder, and empty eyes as though +she did not know me. + +'Go back, white man,' she answered; 'it is not lawful for strangers +to mingle in our rites.' + +I stood bewildered, not knowing what to do, while the flame burned +and the chant went up before the effigy of Huitzel, of the demon +Huitzel awakened after many years of sleep. + +Again and yet again the solemn chant arose, Otomie beating time +with her little rod of ebony, and again and yet again the cry of +triumph rose to the silent stars. + +Now I awoke from my dream, for as an evil dream it seemed to me, +and drawing my sword I rushed towards the priest at the altar to +cut him down. But though the men stood still the women were too +quick for me. Before I could lift the sword, before I could even +speak a word, they had sprung upon me like the jaguars of their own +forests, and like jaguars they hissed and growled into my ear: + +'Get you gone, Teule,' they said, 'lest we stretch you on the stone +with your brethren.' And still hissing they pushed me thence. + +I drew back and thought for a while in the shadow of the temple. +My eye fell upon the long line of victims awaiting their turn of +sacrifice. There were thirty and one of them still alive, and of +these five were Spaniards. I noted that the Spaniards were chained +the last of all the line. It seemed that the murderers would keep +them till the end of the feast, indeed I discovered that they were +to be offered up at the rising of the sun. How could I save them, +I wondered. My power was gone. The women could not be moved from +their work of vengeance; they were mad with their sufferings. As +well might a man try to snatch her prey from a puma robbed of her +whelps, as to turn them from their purpose. With the men it was +otherwise, however. Some of them mingled in the orgie indeed, but +more stood aloof watching with a fearful joy the spectacle in which +they did not share. Near me was a man, a noble of the Otomie, of +something more than my own age. He had always been my friend, and +after me he commanded the warriors of the tribe. I went to him and +said, 'Friend, for the sake of the honour of your people, help me +to end this.' + +'I cannot, Teule,' he answered, 'and beware how you meddle in the +play, for none will stand by you. Now the women have power, and +you see they use it. They are about to die, but before they die +they will do as their fathers did, for their strait is sore, and +though they have been put aside, the old customs are not +forgotten.' + +'At the least can we not save these Teules?' I answered. + +'Why should you wish to save the Teules? Will they save us some +few days hence, when WE are in their power?' + +'Perhaps not,' I said, 'but if we must die, let us die clean from +this shame.' + +'What then do you wish me to do, Teule?' + +'This: I would have you find some three or four men who are not +fallen into this madness, and with them aid me to loose the Teules, +for we cannot save the others. If this may be done, surely we can +lower them with ropes from that point where the road is broken +away, down to the path beneath, and thus they may escape to their +own people.' + +'I will try,' he answered, shrugging his shoulders, 'not from any +tenderness towards the accursed Teules, whom I could well bear to +see stretched upon the stone, but because it is your wish, and for +the sake of the friendship between us.' + +Then he went, and presently I saw several men place themselves, as +though by chance, between the spot where the last of the line of +Indian prisoners, and the first of the Spaniards were made fast, in +such a fashion as to hide them from the sight of the maddened +women, engrossed as they were in their orgies. + +Now I crept up to the Spaniards. They were squatted upon the +ground, bound by their hands and feet to the copper rings in the +pavement. There they sat silently awaiting the dreadful doom, +their faces grey with terror, and their eyes starting from their +sockets. + +'Hist!' I whispered in Spanish into the ear of the first, an old +man whom I knew as one who had taken part in the wars of Cortes. +'Would you be saved?' + +He looked up quickly, and said in a hoarse voice: + +'Who are you that talk of saving us? Who can save us from these +she devils?' + +'I am Teule, a man of white blood and a Christian, and alas that I +must say it, the captain of this savage people. With the aid of +some few men who are faithful to me, I purpose to cut your bonds, +and afterwards you shall see. Know, Spaniard, that I do this at +great risk, for if we are caught, it is a chance but that I myself +shall have to suffer those things from which I hope to rescue you.' + +'Be assured, Teule,' answered the Spaniard, 'that if we should get +safe away, we shall not forget this service. Save our lives now, +and the time may come when we shall pay you back with yours. But +even if we are loosed, how can we cross the open space in this +moonlight and escape the eyes of those furies?' + +'We must trust to chance for that,' I answered, and as I spoke, +fortune helped us strangely, for by now the Spaniards in their camp +below had perceived what was going forward on the crest of the +teocalli. A yell of horror rose from them and instantly they +opened fire upon us with their pieces and arquebusses, though, +because of the shape of the pyramid and of their position beneath +it, the storm of shot swept over us, doing us little or no hurt. +Also a great company of them poured across the courtyard, hoping to +storm the temple, for they did not know that the road had been +broken away. + +Now, though the rites of sacrifice never ceased, what with the roar +of cannon, the shouts of rage and terror from the Spaniards, the +hiss of musket balls, and the crackling of flames from houses which +they had fired to give them more light, and the sound of chanting, +the turmoil and confusion grew so great as to render the carrying +out of my purpose easier than I had hoped. By this time my friend, +the captain of the Otomie, was at my side, and with him several men +whom he could trust. Stooping down, with a few swift blows of a +knife I cut the ropes which bound the Spaniards. Then we gathered +ourselves into a knot, twelve of us or more, and in the centre of +the knot we set the five Spaniards. This done, I drew my sword and +cried: + +'The Teules storm the temple!' which was true, for already their +long line was rushing up the winding path. 'The Teules storm the +temple, I go to stop them,' and straightway we sped across the open +space. + +None saw us, or if they saw us, none hindered us, for all the +company were intent upon the consummation of a fresh sacrifice; +moreover, the tumult was such, as I afterwards discovered, that we +were scarcely noticed. Two minutes passed, and our feet were set +upon the winding way, and now I breathed again, for we were beyond +the sight of the women. On we rushed swiftly as the cramped limbs +of the Spaniards would carry them, till presently we reached that +angle in the path where the breach began. The attacking Spaniards +had already come to the further side of the gap, for though we +could not see them, we could hear their cries of rage and despair +as they halted helplessly and understood that their comrades were +beyond their aid. + +'Now we are sped,' said the Spaniard with whom I had spoken; 'the +road is gone, and it must be certain death to try the side of the +pyramid.' + +'Not so,' I answered; 'some fifty feet below the path still runs, +and one by one we will lower you to it with this rope.' + +Then we set to work. Making the cord fast beneath the arms of a +soldier we let him down gently, till he came to the path, and was +received there by his comrades as a man returned from the dead. +The last to be lowered was that Spaniard with whom I had spoken. + +'Farewell,' he said, 'and may the blessing of God be on you for +this act of mercy, renegade though you are. Say, now, will you not +come with me? I set my life and honour in pledge for your safety. +You tell me that you are still a Christian man. Is that a place +for Christians?' and he pointed upwards. + +'No, indeed,' I answered, 'but still I cannot come, for my wife and +son are there, and I must return to die with them if need be. If +you bear me any gratitude, strive in return to save their lives, +since for my own I care but little.' + +'That I will,' he said, and then we let him down among his friends, +whom he reached in safety. + +Now we returned to the temple, giving it out that the Spaniards +were in retreat, having failed to cross the breach in the roadway. +Here before the temple the orgie still went on. But two Indians +remained alive; and the priests of sacrifice grew weary. + +'Where are the Teules?' cried a voice. 'Swift! strip them for the +altar.' + +But the Teules were gone, nor, search where they would, could they +find them. + +'Their God has taken them beneath His wing,' I said, speaking from +the shadow and in a feigned voice. 'Huitzel cannot prevail before +the God of the Teules.' + +Then I slipped aside, so that none knew that it was I who had +spoken, but the cry was caught up and echoed far and wide. + +'The God of the Christians has hidden them beneath His wing. Let +us make merry with those whom He rejects,' said the cry, and the +last of the captives were dragged away. + +Now I thought that all was finished, but this was not so. I have +spoken of the secret purpose which I read in the sullen eyes of the +Indian women as they laboured at the barricades, and I was about to +see its execution. Madness still burned in the hearts of these +women; they had accomplished their sacrifice, but their festival +was still to come. They drew themselves away to the further side +of the pyramid, and, heedless of the shots which now and again +pierced the breast of one of them--for here they were exposed to +the Spanish fire--remained a while in preparation. With them went +the priests of sacrifice, but now, as before, the rest of the men +stood in sullen groups, watching what befell, but lifting no hand +or voice to hinder its hellishness. + +One woman did not go with them, and that woman was Otomie my wife. + +She stood by the stone of sacrifice, a piteous sight to see, for +her frenzy or rather her madness had outworn itself, and she was as +she had ever been. There stood Otomie, gazing with wide and +horror-stricken eyes now at the tokens of this unholy rite and now +at her own hands--as though she thought to see them red, and +shuddered at the thought. I drew near to her and touched her on +the shoulder. She turned swiftly, gasping, + +'Husband! husband!' + +'It is I,' I answered, 'but call me husband no more.' + +'Oh! what have I done?' she wailed, and fell senseless in my arms. + + +And here I will add what at the time I knew nothing of, for it was +told me in after years by the Rector of this parish, a very learned +man, though one of narrow mind. Had I known it indeed, I should +have spoken more kindly to Otomie my wife even in that hour, and +thought more gently of her wickedness. It seems, so said my friend +the Rector, that from the most ancient times, those women who have +bent the knee to demon gods, such as were the gods of Anahuac, are +subject at any time to become possessed by them, even after they +have abandoned their worship, and to be driven in their frenzy to +the working of the greatest crimes. Thus, among other instances, +he told me that a Greek poet named Theocritus sets out in one of +his idyls how a woman called Agave, being engaged in a secret +religious orgie in honour of a demon named Dionysus, perceived her +own son Pentheus watching the celebration of the mysteries, and +thereon becoming possessed by the demon she fell on him and +murdered him, being aided by the other women. For this the poet, +who was also a worshipper of Dionysus, gave her great honour and +not reproach, seeing that she did the deed at the behest of this +god, 'a deed not to be blamed.' + +Now I write of this for a reason, though it has nothing to do with +me, for it seems that as Dionysus possessed Agave, driving her to +unnatural murder, so did Huitzel possess Otomie, and indeed she +said as much to me afterwards. For I am sure that if the devils +whom the Greeks worshipped had such power, a still greater strength +was given to those of Anahuac, who among all fiends were the first. +If this be so, as I believe, it was not Otomie that I saw at the +rites of sacrifice, but rather the demon Huitzel whom she had once +worshipped, and who had power, therefore, to enter into her body +for awhile in place of her own spirit. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE SURRENDER + + +Taking Otomie in my arms, I bore her to one of the storehouses +attached to the temple. Here many children had been placed for +safety, among them my own son. + +'What ails our mother, father?' said the boy. 'And why did she +shut me in here with these children when it seems that there is +fighting without?' + +'Your mother has fainted,' I answered, 'and doubtless she placed +you here to keep you safe. Now do you tend her till I return.' + +'I will do so,' answered the boy, 'but surely it would be better +that I, who am almost a man, should be without, fighting the +Spaniards at your side rather than within, nursing sick women.' + +'Do as I bid you, son,' I said, 'and I charge you not to leave this +place until I come for you again.' + +Now I passed out of the storehouse, shutting the door behind me. A +minute later I wished that I had stayed where I was, since on the +platform my eyes were greeted by a sight more dreadful than any +that had gone before. For there, advancing towards us, were the +women divided into four great companies, some of them bearing +infants in their arms. They came singing and leaping, many of them +naked to the middle. Nor was this all, for in front of them ran +the pabas and such of the women themselves as were persons in +authority. These leaders, male and female, ran and leaped and +sang, calling upon the names of their demon-gods, and celebrating +the wickednesses of their forefathers, while after them poured the +howling troops of women. + +To and fro they rushed, now making obeisance to the statue of +Huitzel, now prostrating themselves before his hideous sister, the +goddess of Death, who sat beside him adorned with her carven +necklace of men's skulls and hands, now bowing around the stone of +sacrifice, and now thrusting their bare arms into the flames of the +holy fire. For an hour or more they celebrated this ghastly +carnival, of which even I, versed as I was in the Indian customs, +could not fully understand the meaning, and then, as though some +single impulse had possessed them, they withdrew to the centre of +the open space, and, forming themselves into a double circle, +within which stood the pabas, of a sudden they burst into a chant +so wild and shrill that as I listened my blood curdled in my veins. + +Even now the burden of that chant with the vision of those who sang +it sometimes haunts my sleep at night, but I will not write it +here. Let him who reads imagine all that is most cruel in the +heart of man, and every terror of the evillest dream, adding to +these some horror-ridden tale of murder, ghosts, and inhuman +vengeance; then, if he can, let him shape the whole in words and, +as in a glass darkly, perchance he may mirror the spirit of that +last ancient song of the women of the Otomie, with its sobs, its +cries of triumph, and its death wailings. + +Ever as they sang, step by step they drew backwards, and with them +went the leaders of each company, their eyes fixed upon the statues +of their gods. Now they were but a segment of a circle, for they +did not advance towards the temple; backward and outward they went +with a slow and solemn tramp. There was but one line of them now, +for those in the second ring filled the gaps in the first as it +widened; still they drew on till at length they stood on the sheer +edge of the platform. Then the priests and the women leaders took +their place among them and for a moment there was silence, until at +a signal one and all they bent them backwards. Standing thus, +their long hair waving on the wind, the light of burning houses +flaring upon their breasts and in their maddened eyes, they burst +into the cry of: + +'SAVE US, HUITZEL! RECEIVE US, LORD GOD, OUR HOME!' + +Thrice they cried it, each time more shrilly than before, then +suddenly they were GONE, the women of the Otomie were no more! + +With their own self-slaughter they had consummated the last +celebration of the rites of sacrifice that ever shall be held in +the City of Pines. The devil gods were dead and their worshippers +with them. + + +A low murmur ran round the lips of the men who watched, then one +cried, and his voice rang strangely in the sudden silence: 'May our +wives, the women of the Otomie, rest softly in the Houses of the +Sun, for of a surety they teach us how to die.' + +'Ay,' I answered, 'but not thus. Let women do self-murder, our +foes have swords for the hearts of men.' + +I turned to go, and before me stood Otomie. + +'What has befallen?' she said. 'Where are my sisters? Oh! surely +I have dreamed an evil dream. I dreamed that the gods of my +forefathers were strong once more, and that once more they drank +the blood of men.' + +'Your ill dream has a worse awakening, Otomie,' I answered. 'The +gods of hell are still strong indeed in this accursed land, and +they have taken your sisters into their keeping.' + +'Is it so?' she said softly, 'yet in my dream it seemed to me that +this was their last strength ere they sink into death unending. +Look yonder!' and she pointed toward the snowy crest of the volcan +Xaca. + +I looked, but whether I saw the sight of which I am about to tell +or whether it was but an imagining born of the horrors of that most +hideous night, in truth I cannot say. At the least I seemed to see +this, and afterwards there were some among the Spaniards who swore +that they had witnessed it also. + +On Xaca's lofty summit, now as always stood a pillar of fiery +smoke, and while I gazed, to my vision the smoke and the fire +separated themselves. Out of the fire was fashioned a cross of +flame, that shone like lightning and stretched for many a rod +across the heavens, its base resting on the mountain top. At its +foot rolled the clouds of smoke, and now these too took forms vast +and terrifying, such forms indeed as those that sat in stone within +the temple behind me, but magnified a hundredfold. + +'See,' said Otomie again, 'the cross of your God shines above the +shapes of mine, the lost gods whom to-night I worshipped though not +of my own will.' Then she turned and went. + +For some few moments I stood very much afraid, gazing upon the +vision on Xaca's snow, then suddenly the rays of the rising sun +smote it and it was gone. + + +Now for three days more we held out against the Spaniards, for they +could not come at us and their shot swept over our heads +harmlessly. During these days I had no talk with Otomie, for we +shrank from one another. Hour by hour she would sit in the +storehouse of the temple a very picture of desolation. Twice I +tried to speak with her, my heart being moved to pity by the dumb +torment in her eyes, but she turned her head from me and made no +answer. + +Soon it came to the knowledge of the Spaniards that we had enough +food and water upon the teocalli to enable us to live there for a +month or more, and seeing that there was no hope of capturing the +place by force of arms, they called a parley with us. + +I went down to the breach in the roadway and spoke with their +envoy, who stood upon the path below. At first the terms offered +were that we should surrender at discretion. To this I answered +that sooner than do so we would die where we were. Their reply was +that if we would give over all who had any part in the human +sacrifice, the rest of us might go free. To this I said that the +sacrifice had been carried out by women and some few men, and that +all of these were dead by their own hands. They asked if Otomie +was also dead. I told them no, but that I would never surrender +unless they swore that neither she nor her son should be harmed, +but rather that together with myself they should be given a safe- +conduct to go whither we willed. This was refused, but in the end +I won the day, and a parchment was thrown up to me on the point of +a lance. This parchment, which was signed by the Captain Bernal +Diaz, set out that in consideration of the part that I and some men +of the Otomie had played in rescuing the Spanish captives from +death by sacrifice, a pardon was granted to me, my wife and child, +and all upon the teocalli, with liberty to go whither-soever we +would unharmed, our lands and wealth being however declared forfeit +to the viceroy. + +With these terms I was well content, indeed I had never hoped to +win any that would leave us our lives and liberty. + +And yet for my part death had been almost as welcome, for now +Otomie had built a wall between us that I could never climb, and I +was bound to her, to a woman who, willingly or no, had stained her +hands with sacrifice. Well, my son was left to me and with him I +must be satisfied; at the least he knew nothing of his mother's +shame. Oh! I thought to myself as I climbed the teocalli, oh! that +I could but escape far from this accursed land and bear him with me +to the English shores, ay, and Otomie also, for there she might +forget that once she had been a savage. Alas! it could scarcely +be! + +Coming to the temple, I and those with me told the good tidings to +our companions, who received it silently. Men of a white race +would have rejoiced thus to escape, for when death is near all +other loss seems as nothing. But with these Indian people it is +not so, since when fortune frowns upon them they do not cling to +life. These men of the Otomie had lost their country, their wives, +their wealth, their brethren, and their homes; therefore life, with +freedom to wander whither they would, seemed no great thing to +them. So they met the boon that I had won from the mercy of our +foes, as had matters gone otherwise they would have met the bane, +in sullen silence. + +I came to Otomie, and to her also I told the news. + +'I had hoped to die here where I am,' she answered. 'But so be it; +death is always to be found.' + +Only my son rejoiced, because he knew that God had saved us all +from death by sword or hunger. + +'Father,' he said, 'the Spaniards have given us life, but they take +our country and drive us out of it. Where then shall we go?' + +'I do not know, my son,' I answered. + +'Father,' the lad said again, 'let us leave this land of Anahuac +where there is nothing but Spaniards and sorrow. Let us find a +ship and sail across the seas to England, our own country.' + +The boy spoke my very thought and my heart leapt at his words, +though I had no plan to bring the matter about. I pondered a +moment, looking at Otomie. + +'The thought is good, Teule,' she said, answering my unspoken +question; 'for you and for our son there is no better, but for +myself I will answer in the proverb of my people, "The earth that +bears us lies lightest on our bones."' + +Then she turned, making ready to quit the storehouse of the temple +where we had been lodged during the siege, and no more was said +about the matter. + +Before the sun set a weary throng of men, with some few women and +children, were marching across the courtyard that surrounded the +pyramid, for a bridge of timbers taken from the temple had been +made over the breach in the roadway that wound about its side. + +At the gates the Spaniards were waiting to receive us. Some of +them cursed us, some mocked, but those of the nobler sort said +nothing, for they pitied our plight and respected us for the +courage we had shown in the last struggle. Their Indian allies +were there also, and these grinned like unfed pumas, snarling and +whimpering for our lives, till their masters kicked them to +silence. The last act of the fall of Anahuac was as the first had +been, dog still ate dog, leaving the goodly spoil to the lion who +watched. + +At the gates we were sorted out; the men of small condition, +together with the children, were taken from the ruined city by an +escort and turned loose upon the mountains, while those of note +were brought to the Spanish camp, to be questioned there before +they were set free. I, with my wife and son, was led to the +palace, our old home, there to learn the will of the Captain Diaz. + +It is but a little way to go, and yet there was something to be +seen in the path. For as we walked I looked up, and before me, +standing with folded arms and apart from all men, was de Garcia. I +had scarcely thought of him for some days, so full had my mind been +of other matters, but at the sight of his evil face I remembered +that while this man lived, sorrow and danger must be my bedfellows. + +He watched us pass, taking note of all, then he called to me who +walked last: + +'Farewell, Cousin Wingfield. You have lived through this bout also +and won a free pardon, you, your woman and your brat together. If +the old war-horse who is set over us as a captain had listened to +me you should have been burned at the stake, every one of you, but +so it is. Farewell for a while, friend. I am away to Mexico to +report these matters to the viceroy, who may have a word to say.' + +I made no answer, but asked of our conductor, that same Spaniard +whom I had saved from the sacrifice, what the senor meant by his +words. + +'This, Teule; that there has been a quarrel between our comrade +Sarceda and our captain. The former would have granted you no +terms, or failing this would have decoyed you from your stronghold +with false promises, and then have put you to the sword as infidels +with whom no oath is binding. But the captain would not have it +so, for he said that faith must be kept even with the heathen, and +we whom you had saved cried shame on him. And so words ran high, +and in the end the Senor Sarceda, who is third in command among us, +declared that he would be no party to this peacemaking, but would +be gone to Mexico with his servants, there to report to the +viceroy. Then the Captain Diaz bade him begone to hell if he +wished and report to the devil, saying that he had always believed +that he had escaped thence by mistake, and they parted in wrath +who, since the day of noche triste, never loved each other much; +the end of it being that Sarceda rides for Mexico within an hour, +to make what mischief he can at the viceroy's court, and I think +that you are well rid of him.' + +'Father,' said my son to me, 'who is that Spaniard who looks so +cruelly upon us?' + +'That is he of whom I have told you, son, de Garcia, who has been +the curse of our race for two generations, who betrayed your +grandfather to the Holy Office, and murdered your grandmother, who +put me to torture, and whose ill deeds are not done with yet. +Beware of him, son, now and ever, I beseech you.' + + +Now we were come to the palace, almost the only house that was left +standing in the City of Pines. Here an apartment was given to us +at the end of the long building, and presently a command was +brought to us that I and my wife should wait upon the Spanish +captain Diaz. + +So we went, though Otomie desired to stay behind, leaving our son +alone in the chamber where food had been brought to him. I +remember that I kissed him before I left, though I do not know what +moved me to do so, unless it was because I thought that he might be +asleep when I returned. The Captain Diaz had his quarters at the +other end of the palace, some two hundred paces away. Presently we +stood before him. He was a rough-looking, thick-set man well on in +years, with bright eyes and an ugly honest face, like the face of a +peasant who has toiled a lifetime in all weathers, only the fields +that Diaz tilled were fields of war, and his harvest had been the +lives of men. Just then he was joking with some common soldiers in +a strain scarcely suited to nice ears, but so soon as he saw us he +ceased and came forward. I saluted him after the Indian fashion by +touching the earth with my hand, for what was I but an Indian +captive? + +'Your sword,' he said briefly, as he scanned me with his quick +eyes. + +I unbuckled it from my side and handed it to him, saying in +Spanish: + +'Take it, Captain, for you have conquered, also it does but come +back to its owner.' For this was the same sword that I had +captured from one Bernal Diaz in the fray of the noche triste. + +He looked at it, then swore a great oath and said: + +'I thought that it could be no other man. And so we meet again +thus after so many years. Well, you gave me my life once, and I am +glad that I have lived to pay the debt. Had I not been sure that +it was you, you had not won such easy terms, friend. How are you +named? Nay, I know what the Indians call you.' + +'I am named Wingfield.' + +'Friend Wingfield then. For I tell you that I would have sat +beneath yonder devil's house,' and he nodded towards the teocalli, +'till you starved upon its top. Nay, friend Wingfield, take back +the sword. I suited myself with another many years ago, and you +have used this one gallantly; never have I seen Indians make a +better fight. And so that is Otomie, Montezuma's daughter and your +wife, still handsome and royal, I see. Lord! Lord! it is many +years ago, and yet it seems but yesterday that I saw her father +die, a Christian-hearted man, though no Christian, and one whom we +dealt ill with. May God forgive us all! Well, Madam, none can say +that YOU have a Christian heart. If a certain tale that I have +heard of what passed yonder, some three nights since, is true. But +we will speak no more of it, for the savage blood will show, and +you are pardoned for your husband's sake who saved my comrades from +the sacrifice.' + +To all this Otomie listened, standing still like a statue, but she +never answered a word. Indeed she had spoken very rarely since +that dreadful night of her unspeakable shame. + +'And now, friend Wingfield,' went on the Captain Diaz, 'what is +your purpose? You are free to go where you will, whither then will +you go?' + +'I do not know,' I answered. 'Years ago, when the Aztec emperor +gave me my life and this princess my wife in marriage, I swore to +be faithful to him and his cause, and to fight for them till Popo +ceased to vomit smoke, till there was no king in Tenoctitlan, and +the people of Anahuac were no more a people.' + +'Then you are quit of your oath, friend, for all these things have +come about, and there has been no smoke on Popo for these two +years. Now, if you will be advised by me, you will turn Christian +again and enter the service of Spain. But come, let us to supper, +we can talk of these matters afterwards.' + +So we sat down to eat by the light of torches in the banqueting +hall with Bernal Diaz and some other of the Spaniards. Otomie +would have left us, and though the captain bade her stay she ate +nothing, and presently slipped away from the chamber. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +VENGEANCE + + +During that meal Bernal Diaz spoke of our first meeting on the +causeway, and of how I had gone near to killing him in error, +thinking that he was Sarceda, and then he asked me what was my +quarrel with Sarceda. + +In as few words as possible I told him the story of my life, of all +the evil that de Garcia or Sarceda had worked upon me and mine, and +of how it was through him that I was in this land that day. He +listened amazed. + +'Holy Mother!' he said at length, 'I always knew him for a villain, +but that, if you do not lie, friend Wingfield, he could be such a +man as this, I did not know. Now by my word, had I heard this tale +an hour ago, Sarceda should not have left this camp till he had +answered it or cleared himself by combat with you. But I fear it +is too late; he was to leave for Mexico at the rising of the moon, +to stir up mischief against me because I granted you terms--not +that I fear him there, where his repute is small.' + +'I do not lie indeed,' I answered. 'Much of this tale I can prove +if need be, and I tell you that I would give half the life that is +left to me to stand face to face in open fight with him again. +Ever he has escaped me, and the score between us is long.' + +Now as I spoke thus it seemed to me that a cold and dreadful air +played upon my hands and brow and a warning sense of present evil +crept into my soul, overcoming me so that I could not stir or speak +for a while. + +'Let us go and see if he has gone,' said Diaz presently, and +summoning a guard, he was about to leave the chamber. It was at +this moment that I chanced to look up and see a woman standing in +the doorway. Her hand rested on the doorpost; her head, from which +the long hair streamed, was thrown back, and on her face was a look +of such anguish that at first, so much was she changed, I did not +know her for Otomie. When I knew her, I knew all; one thing only +could conjure up the terror and agony that shone in her deep eyes. + +'What has chanced to our son?' I asked. + +'DEAD, DEAD!' she answered in a whisper that seemed to pierce my +marrow. + +I said nothing, for my heart told me what had happened, but Diaz +asked, 'Dead--why, what has killed him?' + +'De Garcia! I saw him go,' replied Otomie; then she tossed her +arms high, and without another sound fell backwards to the earth. + +In that moment I think that my heart broke--at least I know that +nothing has had the power to move me greatly since, though this +memory moves me day by day and hour by hour, till I die and go to +seek my son. + +'Say, Bernal Diaz,' I cried, with a hoarse laugh, 'did I lie to you +concerning this comrade of yours?' + +Then, springing over Otomie's body I left the chamber, followed by +Bernal Diaz and the others. + +Without the door I turned to the left towards the camp. I had not +gone a hundred paces when, in the moonlight, I saw a small troop of +horsemen riding towards us. It was de Garcia and his servants, and +they headed towards the mountain pass on their road to Mexico. I +was not too late. + +'Halt!' cried Bernal Diaz. + +'Who commands me to halt?' said the voice of de Garcia. + +'I, your captain,' roared Diaz. 'Halt, you devil, you murderer, or +you shall be cut down.' + +I saw him start and turn pale. + +'These are strange manners, senor,' he said. 'Of your grace I ask--' + +At this moment de Garcia caught sight of me for the first time, for +I had broken from the hold of Diaz who clutched my arm, and was +moving towards him. I said nothing, but there was something in my +face which told him that I knew all, and warned him of his doom. +He looked past me, but the narrow road was blocked with men. I +drew near, but he did not wait for me. Once he put his hand on the +hilt of the sword, then suddenly he wheeled his horse round and +fled down the street of Xaca. + +De Garcia fled, and I followed after him, running fast and low like +a hound. At first he gained on me, but soon the road grew rough, +and he could not gallop over it. We were clear of the town now, or +rather of its ruins, and travelling along a little path which the +Indians used to bring down snow from Xaca in the hot weather. +Perhaps there are some five miles of this path before the snow line +is reached, beyond which no Indian dared to set his foot, for the +ground above was holy. Along this path he went, and I was content +to see it, for I knew well that the traveller cannot leave it, +since on either side lie water-courses and cliffs. Mile after mile +de Garcia followed it, looking now to the left, now to the right, +and now ahead at the great dome of snow crowned with fire that +towered above him. But he never looked behind him; he knew what +was there--death in the shape of a man! + +I came on doggedly, saving my strength. I was sure that I must +catch him at last, it did not matter when. + +At length he reached the snow-line where the path ended, and for +the first time he looked back. There I was some two hundred paces +behind him. I, his death, was behind him, and in front of him +shone the snow. For a moment he hesitated, and I heard the heavy +breathing of his horse in the great stillness. Then he turned and +faced the slope, driving his spurs into the brute's sides. The +snow was hard, for here the frost bit sharply, and for a while, +though it was so steep, the horse travelled over it better than he +had done along the pathway. Now, as before, there was only one +road that he could take, for we passed up the crest of a ridge, a +pleat as it were in the garment of the mountain, and on either side +were steeps of snow on which neither horse nor man might keep his +footing. For two hours or more we followed that ridge, and as we +went through the silence of the haunted volcan, and the loneliness +of its eternal snows, it seemed to me that my spirit entered into +the spirit of my quarry, and that with its eyes I saw all that was +passing in his heart. To a man so wronged the dream was pleasant +even if it were not true, for I read there such agony, such black +despair, such haunting memories, such terror of advancing death and +of what lay beyond it, that no revenge of man's could surpass their +torment. And it was true--I knew that it was true; he suffered all +this and more, for if he had no conscience, at least he had fear +and imagination to quicken and multiply the fear. + +Now the snow grew steeper, and the horse was almost spent, for he +could scarcely breathe at so great a height. In vain did de Garcia +drive his spurs into its sides, the gallant beast could do no more. +Suddenly it fell down. Surely, I thought, he will await me now. +But even I had not fathomed the depth of his terrors, for de Garcia +disengaged himself from the fallen horse, looked towards me, then +fled forward on his feet, casting away his armour as he went that +he might travel more lightly. + +By this time we had passed the snow and were come to the edge of +the ice cap that is made by the melting of the snow with the heat +of the inner fires, or perhaps by that of the sun in hot seasons, I +know not, and its freezing in the winter months or in the cold of +the nights. At least there is such a cap on Xaca, measuring nearly +a mile in depth, which lies between the snow and the black rim of +the crater. Up this ice climbed de Garcia, and the task is not of +the easiest, even for one of untroubled mind, for a man must step +from crack to crack or needle to needle of rough ice, that stand +upon the smooth surface like the bristles on a hog's back, and woe +to him if one break or if he slip, for then, as he falls, very +shortly the flesh will be filed from his bones by the thousands of +sword-like points over which he must pass in his descent towards +the snow. Indeed, many times I feared greatly lest this should +chance to de Garcia, for I did not desire to lose my vengeance +thus. Therefore twice when I saw him in danger I shouted to him, +telling him where to put his feet, for now I was within twenty +paces of him, and, strange to say, he obeyed me without question, +forgetting everything in his terror of instant death. But for +myself I had no fear, for I knew that I should not fall, though the +place was one which I had surely shrunk from climbing at any other +time. + +All this while we had been travelling towards Xaca's fiery crest by +the bright moonlight, but now the dawn broke suddenly on the +mountain top, and the flame died away in the heart of the pillar of +smoke. It was wonderful to see the red glory that shone upon the +ice-cap, and on us two men who crept like flies across it, while +the mountain's breast and the world below were plunged in the +shadows of night. + +'Now we have a better light to climb by, comrade!' I called to de +Garcia, and my voice rang strangely among the ice cliffs, where +never a man's voice had echoed before. + +As I spoke the mountain rumbled and bellowed beneath us, shaking +like a wind-tossed tree, as though in wrath at the desecration of +its sacred solitudes. With the rumbling came a shower of grey +ashes that rained down on us, and for a little while hid de Garcia +from my sight. I heard him call out in fear, and was afraid lest +he had fallen; but presently the ashes cleared away, and I saw him +standing safely on the lava rim that surrounds the crater. + +Now, I thought, he will surely make a stand, for could he have +found courage it had been easy for him to kill me with his sword, +which he still wore, as I climbed from the ice to the hot lava. It +seemed that he thought of it, for he turned and glared at me like a +devil, then went on again, leaving me wondering where he believed +that he would find refuge. Some three hundred paces from the edge +of the ice, the smoke and steam of the crater rose into the air, +and between the two was lava so hot that in places it was difficult +to walk upon it. Across this bed, that trembled as I passed over +it, went de Garcia somewhat slowly, for now he was weary, and I +followed him at my ease, getting my breath again. + +Presently I saw that he had come to the edge of the crater, for he +leaned forward and looked over, and I thought that he was about to +destroy himself by plunging into it. But if such thoughts had been +in his mind, he forgot them when he had seen what sort of nest this +was to sleep in, for turning, he came back towards me, sword up, +and we met within a dozen paces of the edge. I say met, but in +truth we did not meet, for he stopped again, well out of reach of +my sword. I sat down upon a block of lava and looked at him; it +seemed to me that I could not feast my eyes enough upon his face. +And what a face it was; that of a more than murderer about to meet +his reward! Would that I could paint to show it, for no words can +tell the fearfulness of those red and sunken eyes, those grinning +teeth and quivering lips. I think that when the enemy of mankind +has cast his last die and won his last soul, he too will look thus +as he passes into doom. + +'At length, de Garcia!' I said. + +'Why do you not kill me and make an end?' he asked hoarsely. + +'Where is the hurry, cousin? For hard on twenty years I have +sought you, shall we then part so soon? Let us talk a while. +Before we part to meet no more, perhaps of your courtesy you will +answer me a question, for I am curious. Why have you wrought these +evils on me and mine? Surely you must have some reason for what +seems to be an empty and foolish wickedness.' + +I spoke to him thus calmly and coldly, feeling no passion, feeling +nothing. For in that strange hour I was no longer Thomas +Wingfield, I was no longer human, I was a force, an instrument; I +could think of my dead son without sorrow, he did not seem dead to +me, for I partook of the nature that he had put on in this change +of death. I could even think of de Garcia without hate, as though +he also were nothing but a tool in some other hand. Moreover, I +KNEW that he was mine, body and mind, and that he must answer and +truly, so surely as he must die when I chose to kill him. He tried +to shut his lips, but they opened of themselves and word by word +the truth was dragged from his black heart as though he stood +already before the judgment seat. + +'I loved your mother, my cousin,' he said, speaking slowly and +painfully; 'from a child I loved her only in the world, as I love +her to this hour, but she hated me because I was wicked and feared +me because I was cruel. Then she saw your father and loved him, +and brought about his escape from the Holy Office, whither I had +delivered him to be tortured and burnt, and fled with him to +England. I was jealous and would have been revenged if I might, +but there was no way. I led an evil life, and when nearly twenty +years had gone by, chance took me to England on a trading journey. +By chance I learned that your father and mother lived near +Yarmouth, and I determined to see her, though at that time I had no +thought of killing her. Fortune favoured me, and we met in the +woodland, and I saw that she was still beautiful and knew that I +loved her more than ever before. I gave her choice to fly with me +or to die, and after a while she died. But as she shrank up the +wooded hillside before my sword, of a sudden she stood still and +said: + +'"Listen before you smite, Juan. I have a death vision. As I have +fled from you, so shall you fly before one of my blood in a place +of fire and rock and snow, and as you drive me to the gates of +heaven, so he shall drive you into the mouth of hell."' + +'In such a place as this, cousin,' I said. + +'In such a place as this,' he whispered, glancing round. + +'Continue.' + +Again he strove to be silent, but again my will mastered him and he +spoke. + +'It was too late to spare her if I wished to escape myself, so I +killed her and fled. But terror entered my heart, terror which has +never left it to this hour, for always before my eyes was the +vision of him of your mother's blood, before whom I should fly as +she fled before me, who shall drive me into the mouth of hell.' + +'That must be yonder, cousin,' I said, pointing with the sword +toward the pit of the crater. + +'It is yonder; I have looked.' + +'But only for the body, cousin, not for the spirit.' + +'Only for the body, not for the spirit,' he repeated after me. + +'Continue,' I said. + +'Afterwards on that same day I met you, Thomas Wingfield. Already +your dead mother's prophecy had taken hold of me, and seeing one of +her blood I strove to kill him lest he should kill me.' + +'As he will do presently, cousin.' + +'As he will do presently,' he repeated like a talking bird. + +'You know what happened and how I escaped. I fled to Spain and +strove to forget. But I could not. One night I saw a face in the +streets of Seville that reminded me of your face. I did not think +that it could be you, yet so strong was my fear that I determined +to fly to the far Indies. You met me on the night of my flight +when I was bidding farewell to a lady.' + +'One Isabella de Siguenza, cousin. I bade farewell to her +afterwards and delivered her dying words to you. Now she waits to +welcome you again, she and her child.' + +He shuddered and went on. 'In the ocean we met again. You rose +out of the sea. I did not dare to kill you at once, I thought that +you must die in the slave-hold and that none could bear witness +against me and hold me guilty of your blood. You did not die, even +the sea could not destroy you. But I thought that you were dead. +I came to Anahuac in the train of Cortes and again we met; that +time you nearly killed me. Afterwards I had my revenge and I +tortured you well; I meant to murder you on the morrow, though +first I would torture you, for terror can be very cruel, but you +escaped me. Long years passed, I wandered hither and thither, to +Spain, back to Mexico, and elsewhere, but wherever I went my fear, +the ghosts of the dead, and my dreams went with me, and I was never +fortunate. Only the other day I joined the company of Diaz as an +adventurer. Not till we reached the City of Pines did I learn that +you were the captain of the Otomie; it was said that you were long +dead. You know the rest.' + +'Why did you murder my son, cousin?' + +'Was he not of your mother's blood, of the blood that should bring +my doom upon me, and did I owe you no reward for all the terrors of +these many years? Moreover he is foolish who strives to slay the +father and spares the son. He is dead and I am glad that I killed +him, though he haunts me now with the others.' + +'And shall haunt you eternally. Now let us make an end. You have +your sword, use it if you can. It will be easier to die fighting.' + +'I cannot,' he groaned; 'my doom is upon me.' + +'As you will,' and I came at him, sword up. + +He ran from before me, moving backwards and keeping his eyes fixed +upon mine, as I have seen a rat do when a snake is about to swallow +it. Now we were upon the edge of the crater, and looking over I +saw an awful sight. For there, some thirty feet beneath us, the +red-hot lava glowing sullenly beneath a shifting pall of smoke, +rolled and spouted like a thing alive. Jets of steam flew upwards +from it with a screaming sound, lines of noxious vapours, many- +coloured, crept and twisted on its surface, and a hot and horrid +stench poisoned the heated air. Here indeed was such a gate as I +could wish for de Garcia to pass through to his own abode. + +I looked, pointed with my sword, and laughed; he looked and +shrieked aloud, for now all his manhood had left him, so great was +his terror of what lay beyond the end. Yes, this proud and haughty +Spaniard screamed and wept and prayed for mercy; he who had done so +many villanies beyond forgiveness, prayed for mercy that he might +find time to repent. I stood and watched him, and so dreadful was +his aspect that horror struck me even through the calm of my frozen +heart. + +'Come, it is time to finish,' I said, and again I lifted my sword, +only to let it fall, for suddenly his brain gave way and de Garcia +went mad before my eyes! + +Of all that followed I will not write. With his madness courage +came back to him, and he began to fight, but not with ME. + +He seemed to perceive me no more, but nevertheless he fought, and +desperately, thrusting at the empty air. It was terrible to see +him thus doing battle with his invisible foes, and to hear his +screams and curses, as inch by inch they drove him back to the edge +of the crater. Here he stood a while, like one who makes a last +stand against overpowering strength, thrusting and striking +furiously. Twice he nearly fell, as though beneath a mortal wound, +but recovering himself, fought on with Nothingness. Then, with a +sharp cry, suddenly he threw his arms wide, as a man does who is +pierced through the heart; his sword dropped from his hand, and he +fell backwards into the pit. + +I turned away my eyes, for I wished to see no more; but often I +have wondered Who or What it was that dealt de Garcia his death +wound. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +OTOMIE'S FAREWELL + + +Thus then did I accomplish the vengeance that I had sworn to my +father I would wreak upon de Garcia, or rather, thus did I witness +its accomplishment, for in the end he died, terribly enough, not by +my hand but by those of his own fears. Since then I have sorrowed +for this, for, when the frozen and unnatural calm passed from my +mind, I hated him as bitterly as ever, and grieved that I let him +die otherwise than by my hand, and to this hour such is my mind +towards him. Doubtless, many may think it wicked, since we are +taught to forgive our enemies, but here I leave the forgiveness to +God, for how can I pardon one who betrayed my father to the +priests, who murdered my mother and my son, who chained me in the +slave-ship and for many hours tortured me with his own hand? +Rather, year by year, do I hate him more. I write of this at some +length, since the matter has been a trouble to me. I never could +say that I was in charity with all men living and dead, and because +of this, some years since, a worthy and learned rector of this +parish took upon himself to refuse me the rites of the church. +Then I went to the bishop and laid the story before him, and it +puzzled him somewhat. + +But he was a man of large mind, and in the end he rebuked the +rector and commanded him to minister to me, for he thought with me +that the Almighty could not ask of an erring man, that he should +forgive one who had wrought such evils on him and his, even though +that enemy were dead and gone to judgment in another place. + +But enough of this question of conscience. + + +When de Garcia was gone into the pit, I turned my steps homewards, +or rather towards the ruined city which I could see beneath me, for +I had no home left. Now I must descend the ice cap, and this I +found less easy than climbing it had been, for, my vengeance being +accomplished, I became as other men are, and a sad and weary one at +that, so sad indeed that I should not have sorrowed greatly if I +had made a false step upon the ice. + +But I made none, and at length I came to the snow where the +travelling was easy. My oath was fulfilled and my vengeance was +accomplished, but as I went I reckoned up the cost. I had lost my +betrothed, the love of my youth; for twenty years I had lived a +savage chief among savages and made acquaintance with every +hardship, wedded to a woman who, although she loved me dearly, and +did not lack nobility of mind, as she had shown the other day, was +still at heart a savage or, at the least, a thrall of demon gods. +The tribe that I ruled was conquered, the beautiful city where I +dwelt was a ruin, I was homeless and a beggar, and my fortune would +be great if in the issue I escaped death or slavery. All this I +could have borne, for I had borne the like before, but the cruel +end of my last surviving son, the one true joy of my desolate life, +I could not bear. The love of those children had become the +passion of my middle age, and as I loved them so they had loved me. +I had trained them from babyhood till their hearts were English and +not Aztec, as were their speech and faith, and thus they were not +only my dear children, but companions of my own race, the only ones +I had. And now by accident, by sickness, and by the sword, they +were dead the three of them, and I was desolate. + +Ah! we think much of the sorrows of our youth, and should a +sweetheart give us the go by we fill the world with moans and swear +that it holds no comfort for us. But when we bend our heads before +the shrouded shape of some lost child, then it is that for the +first time we learn how terrible grief can be. Time, they tell us, +will bring consolation, but it is false, for such sorrows time has +no salves--I say it who am old--as they are so they shall be. +There is no hope but faith, there is no comfort save in the truth +that love which might have withered on the earth grows fastest in +the tomb, to flower gloriously in heaven; that no love indeed can +be perfect till God sanctifies and completes it with His seal of +death. + +I threw myself down there upon the desolate snows of Xaca, that +none had trod before, and wept such tears as a man may weep but +once in his life days. + +'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for +thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!' I cried with the ancient king--I +whose grief was greater than his, for had I not lost three sons +within as many years? Then remembering that as this king had gone +to join his son long centuries ago, so I must one day go to join +mine, and taking such comfort from the thought as may be found in +it, I rose and crept back to the ruined City of Pines. + +It was near sunset when I came thither, for the road was long and I +grew weak. By the palace I met the Captain Diaz and some of his +company, and they lifted their bonnets to me as I went by, for they +had respect for my sorrows. Only Diaz spoke, saying: + +'Is the murderer dead?' + +I nodded and went on. I went on to our chamber, for there I +thought that I should find Otomie. + +She sat in it alone, cold and beautiful as though she had been +fashioned in marble. + +'I have buried him with the bones of his brethren and his +forefathers,' she said, answering the question that my eyes asked. +'It seemed best that you should see him no more, lest your heart +should break.' + +'It is well,' I answered; 'but my heart is broken already.' + +'Is the murderer dead?' she said presently in the very words of +Diaz. + +'He is dead.' + +'How?' + +I told her in few words. + +'You should have slain him yourself; our son's blood is not +avenged.' + +'I should have slain him, but in that hour I did not seek +vengeance, I watched it fall from heaven, and was content. +Perchance it is best so. The seeking of vengeance has brought all +my sorrows upon me; vengeance belongs to God and not to man, as I +have learned too late.' + +'I do not think so,' said Otomie, and the look upon her face was +that look which I had seen when she smote the Tlascalan, when she +taunted Marina, and when she danced upon the pyramid, the leader of +the sacrifice. 'Had I been in your place, I would have killed him +by inches. When I had done with him, then the devils might begin, +not before. But it is of no account; everything is done with, all +are dead, and my heart with them. Now eat, for you are weary.' + +So I ate, and afterwards I cast myself upon the bed and slept. + + +In the darkness I heard the voice of Otomie that said, 'Awake, I +would speak with you,' and there was that about her voice which +stirred me from my heavy sleep. + +'Speak on,' I said. 'Where are you, Otomie?' + +'Seated at your side. I cannot rest, so I am seated here. Listen. +Many, many years ago we met, when you were brought by Guatemoc from +Tobasco. Ah! well do I remember my first sight of you, the Teule, +in the court of my father Montezuma, at Chapoltepec. I loved you +then as I have loved you ever since. At least I have never gone +astray after strange gods,' and she laughed bitterly. + +'Why do you talk of these things, Otomie?' I asked. + +'Because it is my fancy to do so. Cannot you spare me one hour +from your sleep, who have spared you so many? You remember how you +scorned me--oh! I thought I should have died of shame when, after I +had caused myself to be given to you as wife, the wife of Tezcat, +you told me of the maid across the seas, that Lily maid whose token +is still set upon your finger. But I lived through it and I loved +you the better for your honesty, and then you know the rest. I won +you because I was brave and lay at your side upon the stone of +sacrifice, where you kissed me and told me that you loved me. But +you never loved me, not truly, all the while you were thinking of +the Lily maid. I knew it then, as I know it now, though I tried to +deceive myself. I was beautiful in those days and this is +something with a man. I was faithful and that is more, and once or +twice you thought that you loved me. Now I wish that those Teules +had come an hour later, and we had died together there upon the +stone, that is I wish it for my own sake, not for yours. Then we +escaped and the great struggle came. I told you then that I +understood it all. You had kissed me on the stone of sacrifice, +but in that moment you were as one dead; when you came back to +life, it was otherwise. But fortune took the game out of your +hands and you married me, and swore an oath to me, and this oath +you have kept faithfully. You married me but you did not know whom +you married; you thought me beautiful, and sweet, and true, and all +these things I was, but you did not understand that I was far apart +from you, that I was still a savage as my forefathers had been. +You thought that I had learned your ways, perchance even you +thought that I reverenced your God, as for your sake I have striven +to do, but all the while I have followed the ways of my own people +and I could not quite forget my own gods, or at the least they +would not suffer me, their servant, to escape them. For years and +years I put them from me, but at last they were avenged and my +heart mastered me, or rather they mastered me, for I knew nothing +of what I did some few nights since, when I celebrated the +sacrifice to Huitzel and you saw me at the ancient rites. + +'All these years you had been true to me and I had borne you +children whom you loved; but you loved them for their own sake, not +for mine, indeed, at heart you hated the Indian blood that was +mixed in their veins with yours. Me also you loved in a certain +fashion and this half love of yours drove me well nigh mad; such as +it was, it died when you saw me distraught and celebrating the +rites of my forefathers on the teocalli yonder, and you knew me for +what I am, a savage. And now the children who linked us together +are dead--one by one they died in this way and in that, for the +curse which follows my blood descended upon them--and your love for +me is dead with them. I alone remain alive, a monument of past +days, and I die also. + +'Nay, be silent; listen to me, for my time is short. When you bade +me call you "husband" no longer, then I knew that it was finished. +I obey you, I put you from me, you are no more my husband, and soon +I shall cease to be your wife; still, Teule, I pray you listen to +me. Now it seems to you in your sorrow, that your days are done +and that there is no happiness left for you. This is not so. You +are still but a man in the beginning of middle age, and you are yet +strong. You will escape from this ruined land, and when you shake +the dust of it off your feet its curse shall fall from you; you +will return to your own place, and there you will find one who has +awaited your coming for many years. There the savage woman whom +you mated with, the princess of a fallen house, will become but a +fantastic memory to you, and all these strange eventful years will +be as a midnight dream. Only your love for the dead children will +always remain, these you must always love by day and by night, and +the desire of them, that desire for the dead than which there is +nothing more terrible, shall follow you to your grave, and I am +glad that it should be so, for I was their mother and some thought +of me must go with them. This alone the Lily maid has left to me, +and there only I shall prevail against her, for, Teule, no child of +hers shall live to rob your heart of the memory of those I gave +you. + +'Oh! I have watched you by day and by night: I have seen the +longing in your eyes for a face which you have lost and for the +land of your youth. Be happy, you shall gain both, for the +struggle is ended and the Lily maid has been too strong for me. I +grow weak and I have little more to say. We part, and perhaps for +ever, for what is there between us save the souls of those dead +sons of ours? Since you desire me no more, that I may make our +severance perfect, now in the hour of my death I renounce your gods +and I seek my own, though I think that I love yours and hate those +of my people. Is there any communion between them? We part, and +perchance for ever, yet I pray of you to think of me kindly, for I +have loved you and I love you; I was the mother of your children, +whom being Christian, you will meet again. I love you now and for +always. I am glad to have lived because you kissed me on the stone +of sacrifice, and afterwards I bore you sons. They are yours and +not mine; it seems to me now that I only cared for them because +they were yours, and they loved you and not me. Take them--take +their spirits as you have taken everything. You swore that death +alone should sever us, and you have kept your oath in the letter +and in the thought. But now I go to the Houses of the Sun to seek +my own people, and to you, Teule, with whom I have lived many years +and seen much sorrow, but whom I will no longer call husband, since +you forbade me so to do, I say, make no mock of me to the Lily +maid. Speak of me to her as little as you may--be happy and-- +farewell!' + + +Now as she spoke ever more faintly, and I listened bewildered, the +light of dawn grew slowly in the chamber. It gathered on the white +shape of Otomie seated in a chair hard by the bed, and I saw that +her arms hung down and that her head was resting on the back of the +chair. Now I sprang up and peered into her face. It was white and +cold, and I could feel no breath upon her lips. I seized her hand, +that also was cold. I spoke into her ear, I kissed her brow, but +she did not move nor answer. The light grew quickly, and now I saw +all. Otomie was dead, and by her own act. + +This was the manner of her death. She had drunk of a poison of +which the Indians have the secret, a poison that works slowly and +without pain, leaving the mind unclouded to the end. It was while +her life was fading from her that she had spoken to me thus sadly +and bitterly. I sat upon the bed and gazed at her. I did not +weep, for my tears were done, and as I have said, whatever I might +feel nothing could break my calm any more. And as I gazed a great +tenderness and sorrow took hold of me, and I loved Otomie better +now that she was dead before me than ever I had done in her life +days, and this is saying much. I remembered her in the glory of +her youth as she was in the court of her royal father, I remembered +the look which she had given me when she stepped to my side upon +the stone of sacrifice, and that other look when she defied +Cuitlahua the emperor, who would have slain me. Once more I seemed +to hear her cry of bitter sorrow as she uncovered the body of the +dead babe our firstborn, and to see her sword in hand standing over +the Tlascalan. + +Many things came back to me in that sad hour of dawn while I +watched by the corpse of Otomie. There was truth in her words, I +had never forgotten my first love and often I desired to see her +face. But it was not true to say that I had no love for Otomie. I +loved her well and I was faithful in my oath to her, indeed, not +until she was dead did I know how dear she had grown to me. It is +true that there was a great gulf between us which widened with the +years, the gulf of blood and faith, for I knew well that she could +not altogether put away her old beliefs, and it is true that when I +saw her leading the death chant, a great horror took me and for a +while I loathed her. But these things I might have lived to +forgive, for they were part of her blood and nature, moreover, the +last and worst of them was not done by her own will, and when they +were set aside there remained much that I could honour and love in +the memory of this most royal and beautiful woman, who for so many +years was my faithful wife. So I thought in that hour and so I +think to this day. She said that we parted for ever, but I trust +and I believe that this is not so. Surely there is forgiveness for +us all, and a place where those who were near and dear to each +other on the earth may once more renew their fellowship. + +At last I rose with a sigh to seek help, and as I rose I felt that +there was something set about my neck. It was the collar of great +emeralds which Guatemoc had given to me, and that I had given to +Otomie. She had set it there while I slept, and with it a lock of +her long hair. Both shall be buried with me. + + +I laid her in the ancient sepulchre amid the bones of her +forefathers and by the bodies of her children, and two days later I +rode to Mexico in the train of Bernal Diaz. At the mouth of the +pass I turned and looked back upon the ruins of the City of Pines, +where I had lived so many years and where all I loved were buried. +Long and earnestly I gazed, as in his hour of death a man looks +back upon his past life, till at length Diaz laid his hand upon my +shoulder: + +'You are a lonely man now, comrade,' he said; 'what plans have you +for the future?' + +'None,' I answered, 'except to die.' + +'Never talk so,' he said; 'why, you are scarcely forty, and I who +am fifty and more do not speak of dying. Listen; you have friends +in your own country, England?' + +'I had.' + +'Folk live long in those quiet lands. Go seek them, I will find +you a passage to Spain.' + +'I will think of it,' I answered. + +In time we came to Mexico, a new and a strange city to me, for +Cortes had rebuilt it, and where the teocalli had stood, up which I +was led to sacrifice, a cathedral was building, whereof the +foundations were fitly laid with the hideous idols of the Aztecs. +The place was well enough, but it is not so beautiful as the +Tenoctitlan of Montezuma, nor ever will be. The people too were +changed; then they were warriors and free, now they are slaves. + +In Mexico Diaz found me a lodging. None molested me there, for the +pardon that I had received was respected. Also I was a ruined man, +no longer to be feared, the part that I had played in the noche +triste and in the defence of the city was forgotten, and the tale +of my sorrows won me pity even from the Spaniards. I abode in +Mexico ten days, wandering sadly about the city and up to the hill +of Chapoltepec, where Montezuma's pleasure-house had been, and +where I had met Otomie. Nothing was left of its glories except +some of the ancient cedar trees. On the eighth day of my stay an +Indian stopped me in the street, saying that an old friend had +charged him to say that she wished to see me. + +I followed the Indian, wondering who the friend might be, for I had +no friends, and he led me to a fine stone house in a new street. +Here I was seated in a darkened chamber and waited there a while, +till suddenly a sad and sweet voice that seemed familiar to me, +addressed me in the Aztec tongue, saying, 'Welcome, Teule.' + +I looked and there before me, dressed in the Spanish fashion, stood +a lady, an Indian, still beautiful, but very feeble and much worn, +as though with sickness and sorrow. + +'Do you not know Marina, Teule?' she said again, but before the +words had left her lips I knew her. 'Well, I will say this, that I +should scarcely have known YOU, Teule. Trouble and time have done +their work with both of us.' + +I took her hand and kissed it. + +'Where then is Cortes?' I asked. + +Now a great trembling seized her. + +'Cortes is in Spain, pleading his suit. He has wed a new wife +there, Teule. Many years ago he put me away, giving me in marriage +to Don Juan Xaramillo, who took me because of my possessions, for +Cortes dealt liberally with me, his discarded mistress.' And she +began to weep. + +Then by degrees I learned the story, but I will not write it here, +for it is known to the world. When Marina had served his turn and +her wit was of no more service to him, the conqueror discarded her, +leaving her to wither of a broken heart. She told me all the tale +of her anguish when she learned the truth, and of how she had cried +to him that thenceforth he would never prosper. Nor indeed did he +do so. + +For two hours or more we talked, and when I had heard her story I +told her mine, and she wept for me, since with all her faults +Marina's heart was ever gentle. + +Then we parted never to meet again. Before I went she pressed a +gift of money on me, and I was not ashamed to take it who had none. + +This then was the history of Marina, who betrayed her country for +her love's sake, and this the reward of her treason and her love. +But I shall always hold her memory sacred, for she was a good +friend to me, and twice she saved my life, nor would she desert me, +even when Otomie taunted her so cruelly. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THOMAS COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD + + +Now on the morrow of my visit to Marina, the Captain Diaz came to +see me and told me that a friend of his was in command of a carak +which was due to sail from the port of Vera Cruz for Cadiz within +ten days, and that this friend was willing to give me a passage if +I wished to leave Mexico. I thought for a while and said that I +would go, and that very night, having bid farewell to the Captain +Diaz, whom may God prosper, for he was a good man among many bad +ones, I set out from the city for the last time in the company of +some merchants. A week's journey took us safely down the mountains +to Vera Cruz, a hot unhealthy town with an indifferent anchorage, +much exposed to the fierce northerly winds. Here I presented my +letters of recommendation to the commander of the carak, who gave +me passage without question, I laying in a stock of food for the +journey. + +Three nights later we set sail with a fair wind, and on the +following morning at daybreak all that was left in sight of the +land of Anahuac was the snowy crest of the volcan Orizaba. +Presently that vanished into the clouds, and thus did I bid +farewell to the far country where so many things had happened to +me, and which according to my reckoning I had first sighted on this +very day eighteen years before. + +Of my journey to Spain I have nothing of note to tell. It was more +prosperous than such voyages often are, and within ten weeks of the +date of our lifting anchor at Vera Cruz, we let it drop in the +harbour of Cadiz. Here I sojourned but two days, for as it chanced +there was an English ship in the harbour trading to London, and in +her I took a passage, though I was obliged to sell the smallest of +the emeralds from the necklace to find the means to do so, the +money that Marina gave me being spent. This emerald sold for a +great sum, however, with part of which I purchased clothing +suitable to a person of rank, taking the rest of the gold with me. +I grieved to part with the stone indeed, though it was but a +pendant to the pendant of the collar, but necessity knows no law. +The pendant stone itself, a fine gem though flawed, I gave in after +years to her gracious majesty Queen Elizabeth. + +On board the English ship they thought me a Spanish adventurer who +had made moneys in the Indies, and I did not undeceive them, since +I would be left to my own company for a while that I might prepare +my mind to return to ways of thought and life that it had long +forgotten. Therefore I sat apart like some proud don, saying +little but listening much, and learning all I could of what had +chanced in England since I left it some twenty years before. + + +At length our voyage came to an end, and on a certain twelfth of +June I found myself in the mighty city of London that I had never +yet visited, and kneeling down in the chamber of my inn, I thanked +God that after enduring so many dangers and hardships, it had +pleased Him to preserve me to set foot again on English soil. +Indeed to this hour I count it nothing short of marvellous that +this frail body of a man should survive all the sorrows and risks +of death by sickness, hunger, battle, murder, drowning, wild +beasts, and the cruelty of men, to which mine had been exposed for +many years. + +In London I bought a good horse, through the kind offices of the +host of my inn, and on the morrow at daybreak I set out upon the +Ipswich road. That very morning my last adventure befell me, for +as I jogged along musing of the beauty of the English landscape and +drinking in the sweet air of June, a cowardly thief fired a pistol +at me from behind a hedge, purposing to plunder me if I fell. The +bullet passed through my hat, grazing the skull, but before I could +do anything the rascal fled, seeing that he had missed his mark, +and I went on my journey, thinking to myself that it would indeed +have been strange, if after passing such great dangers in safety, I +had died at last by the hand of a miserable foot-pad within five +miles of London town. + +I rode hard all that day and the next, and my horse being stout and +swift, by half-past seven o'clock of the evening I pulled up upon +the little hill whence I had looked my last on Bungay, when I rode +thence for Yarmouth with my father. Below me lay the red roofs of +the town; there to the right were the oaks of Ditchingham and the +beautiful tower of St. Mary's Church, yonder the stream of Waveney +wandered, and before me stretched the meadow lands, purple and +golden with marsh weeds in bloom. All was as it had been, I could +see no change at all, the only change was in myself. I dismounted, +and going to a pool of water near the roadway I looked at the +reflection of my own face. I was changed indeed, scarcely should I +have known it for that of the lad who had ridden up this hill some +twenty years ago. Now, alas! the eyes were sunken and very +sorrowful, the features were sharp, and there was more grey than +black in the beard and hair. I should scarcely have known it +myself, would any others know it, I wondered? Would there be any +to know it indeed? In twenty years many die and others pass out of +sight; should I find a friend at all among the living? Since I +read the letters which Captain Bell of the 'Adventuress' had +brought me before I sailed for Hispaniola, I had heard no tidings +from my home, and what tidings awaited me now? Above all what of +Lily, was she dead or married or gone? + +Mounting my horse I pushed on again at a canter, taking the road +past Waingford Mills through the fords and Pirnhow town, leaving +Bungay upon my left. In ten minutes I was at the gate of the +bridle path that runs from the Norwich road for half a mile or more +beneath the steep and wooded bank under the shelter of which stands +the Lodge at Ditchingham. By the gate a man loitered in the last +rays of the sun. I looked at him and knew him; it was Billy Minns, +that same fool who had loosed de Garcia when I left him bound that +I might run to meet my sweetheart. He was an old man now and his +white hair hung about his withered face, moreover he was unclean +and dressed in rags, but I could have fallen on his neck and +embraced him, so rejoiced was I to look once more on one whom I had +known in youth. + +Seeing me come he hobbled on his stick to the gate to open it for +me, whining a prayer for alms. + +'Does Mr. Wingfield live here?' I said, pointing up the path, and +my breath came quick as I asked. + +'Mr. Wingfield, sir, Mr. Wingfield, which of them?' he answered. +'The old gentleman he's been dead nigh upon twenty years. I helped +to dig his grave in the chancel of yonder church I did, we laid him +by his wife--her that was murdered. Then there's Mr. Geoffrey.' + +'What of him?' I asked. + +'He's dead, too, twelve year gone or more; he drank hisself to dead +he did. And Mr. Thomas, he's dead, drowned over seas they say, +many a winter back; they're all dead, all dead! Ah! he was a rare +one, Mr. Thomas was; I mind me well how when I let the furriner go--' +and he rambled off into the tale of how he had set de Garcia on +his horse after I had beaten him, nor could I bring him back from +it. + +Casting him a piece of money, I set spurs to my weary horse and +cantered up the bridle path, leaving the Mill House on my left, and +as I went, the beat of his hoofs seemed to echo the old man's +words, 'All dead, all dead!' Doubtless Lily was dead also, or if +she was not dead, when the tidings came that I had been drowned at +sea, she would have married. Being so fair and sweet she would +surely not have lacked for suitors, nor could it be believed that +she had worn her life away mourning over the lost love of her +youth. + +Now the Lodge was before me; it had changed no whit except that the +ivy and creepers on its front had grown higher, to the roof indeed, +and I could see that people lived in the house, for it was well +kept, and smoke hung above the chimneys. The gate was locked, and +there were no serving men about, for night fell fast, and all had +ceased from their labour. Leaving the house on the right I passed +round it to the stables that are at the back near the hillside +garden, but here the gate was locked also, and I dismounted not +knowing what to do. Indeed I was so unmanned with fear and doubt +that for a while I seemed bewildered, and leaving the horse to crop +the grass where he stood, I wandered to the foot of the church path +and gazed up the hill as though I waited for the coming of one whom +I should meet. + +'What if they were all dead, what if SHE were dead and gone?' I +buried my face in my hands and prayed to the Almighty who had +protected me through so many years, to spare me this last +bitterness. I was crushed with sorrow, and I felt that I could +bear no more. If Lily were lost to me also, then I thought that it +would be best that I should die, since there was nothing left for +which I cared to live. + +Thus I prayed for some while, trembling like a leaf, and when I +looked up again, ere I turned to seek tidings from those that dwelt +in the house, whoever they might be, the twilight had fallen +completely, and lo! nightingales sang both far and near. I +listened to their song, and as I listened, some troubled memory +came back to me that at first I could not grasp. Then suddenly +there rose up in my mind a vision of the splendid chamber in +Montezuma's palace in Tenoctitlan, and of myself sleeping on a +golden bed, and dreaming on that bed. I knew it now, I was the god +Tezcat, and on the morrow I must be sacrificed, and I slept in +misery, and as I slept I dreamed. I dreamed that I stood where I +stood this night, that the scent of the English flowers was in my +nostrils as it was this night, and that the sweet song of the +nightingales rang in my ears as at this present hour. I dreamed +that as I mused and listened the moon came up over the green ash +and oaks, and lo! there she shone. I dreamed that I heard a sound +of singing on the hill-- + +But now I awoke from this vision of the past and of a long lost +dream, for as I stood the sweet voice of a woman began to sing +yonder on the brow of the slope; I was not mad, I heard it clearly, +and the sound grew ever nearer as the singer drew down the steep +hillside. It was so near now that I could catch the very words of +that sad song which to this day I remember. + +Now I could see the woman's shape in the moonlight; it was tall and +stately and clad in a white robe. Presently she lifted her head to +watch the flitter of a bat and the moonlight lit upon her face. It +was the face of Lily Bozard, my lost love, beautiful as of yore, +though grown older and stamped with the seal of some great sorrow. +I saw, and so deeply was I stirred at the sight, that had it not +been for the low paling to which I clung, I must have fallen to the +earth, and a deep groan broke from my lips. + +She heard the groan and ceased her song, then catching sight of the +figure of a man, she stopped and turned as though to fly. I stood +quite still, and wonder overcoming her fear, she drew nearer and +spoke in the sweet low voice that I remembered well, saying, 'Who +wanders here so late? Is it you, John?' + +Now when I heard her speak thus a new fear took me. Doubtless she +was married and 'John' was her husband. I had found her but to +lose her more completely. Of a sudden it came into my mind that I +would not discover myself till I knew the truth. I advanced a +pace, but not so far as to pass from the shadow of the shrubs which +grow here, and taking my stand in such a fashion that the moonlight +did not strike upon my face, I bowed low in the courtly Spanish +fashion, and disguising my voice spoke as a Spaniard might in +broken English which I will spare to write down. + +'Madam,' I said, 'have I the honour to speak to one who in bygone +years was named the Senora Lily Bozard?' + +'That was my name,' she answered. 'What is your errand with me, +sir?' + +Now I trembled afresh, but spoke on boldly. + +'Before I answer, Madam, forgive me if I ask another question. Is +this still your name?' + +'It is still my name, I am no married woman,' she answered, and for +a moment the sky seemed to reel above me and the ground to heave +beneath my feet like the lava crust of Xaca. But as yet I did not +reveal myself, for I wished to learn if she still loved my memory. + +'Senora,' I said, 'I am a Spaniard who served in the Indian wars of +Cortes, of which perhaps you have heard.' + +She bowed her head and I went on. 'In those wars I met a man who +was named Teule, but who had another name in former days, so he +told me on his deathbed some two years ago.' + +'What name?' she asked in a low voice. + +'Thomas Wingfield.' + +Now Lily moaned aloud, and in her turn caught at the pales to save +herself from falling. + +'I deemed him dead these eighteen years,' she gasped; 'drowned in +the Indian seas where his vessel foundered.' + +'I have heard say that he was shipwrecked in those seas, senora, +but he escaped death and fell among the Indians, who made a god of +him and gave him the daughter of their king in marriage,' and I +paused. + +She shivered, then said in a hard voice, 'Continue, sir; I listen +to you.' + +'My friend Teule took the part of the Indians in the wars, as being +the husband of one of their princesses he must do in honour, and +fought bravely for them for many years. At length the town that he +defended was captured, his one remaining child was murdered, his +wife the princess slew herself for sorrow, and he himself was taken +into captivity, where he languished and died.' + +'A sad tale, sir,' she said with a little laugh--a mournful laugh +that was half choked by tears. + +'A very sad tale, senora, but one which is not finished. While he +lay dying, my friend told me that in his early life he had plighted +troth with a certain English maid, named--' + +'I know the name--continue.' + +'He told me that though he had been wedded, and loved his wife the +princess, who was a very royal woman, that many times had risked +her life for his, ay, even to lying at his side upon the stone of +sacrifice and of her own free will, yet the memory of this maiden +to whom he was once betrothed had companioned him through life and +was strong upon him now at its close. Therefore he prayed me for +our friendship's sake to seek her out when I returned to Europe, +should she still live, and to give her a message from him, and to +make a prayer to her on his behalf.' + +'What message and what prayer?' Lily whispered. + +'This: that he loved her at the end of his life as he had loved her +at its beginning; that he humbly prayed her forgiveness because he +had broken the troth which they two swore beneath the beech at +Ditchingham.' + +'Sir,' she cried, 'what do you know of that?' + +'Only what my friend told me, senora.' + +'Your friendship must have been close and your memory must be +good,' she murmured. + +'Which he had done,' I went on, 'under strange circumstances, so +strange indeed that he dared to hope that his broken troth might be +renewed in some better world than this. His last prayer was that +she should say to me, his messenger, that she forgave him and still +loved him, as to his death he loved her.' + +'And how can such forgiveness or such an avowal advantage a dead +man?' Lily asked, watching me keenly through the shadows. 'Have +the dead then eyes to see and ears to hear?' + +'How can I know, senora? I do but execute my mission.' + +'And how can I know that you are a true messenger. It chanced that +I had sure tidings of the drowning of Thomas Wingfield many years +ago, and this tale of Indians and princesses is wondrous strange, +more like those that happen in romances than in this plain world. +Have you no token of your good faith, sir?' + +'I have such a token, senora, but the light is too faint for you to +see it.' + +'Then follow me to the house, there we will get light. Stay,' and +once more going to the stable gate, she called 'John.' + +An old man answered her, and I knew the voice for that of one of my +father's serving men. To him she spoke in low tones, then led the +way by the garden path to the front door of the house, which she +opened with a key from her girdle, motioning to me to pass in +before her. I did so, and thinking little of such matters at the +moment, turned by habit into the doorway of the sitting-room which +I knew so well, lifting my feet to avoid stumbling on its step, and +passing into the room found my way through the gloom to the wide +fireplace where I took my stand. Lily watched me enter, then +following me, she lit a taper at the fire which smouldered on the +hearth, and placed it upon the table in the window in such fashion +that though I was now obliged to take off my hat, my face was still +in shadow. + +'Now, sir, your token if it pleases you.' + +Then I drew the posy ring from my finger and gave it to her, and +she sat down by the table and examined it in the light of the +candle, and as she sat thus, I saw how beautiful she was still, and +how little time had touched her, except for the sadness of her +face, though now she had seen eight-and-thirty winters. I saw also +that though she kept control of her features as she looked upon the +ring, her breast heaved quickly and her hand shook. + +'The token is a true one,' she said at length. 'I know the ring, +though it is somewhat worn since last I saw it, it was my mother's; +and many years ago I gave it as a love gage to a youth to whom I +promised myself in marriage. Doubtless all your tale is true also, +sir, and I thank you for your courtesy in bringing it so far. It +is a sad tale, a very sad tale. And now, sir, as I may not ask you +to stay in this house where I live alone, and there is no inn near, +I propose to send serving men to conduct you to my brother's +dwelling that is something more than a mile away, if indeed,' she +added slowly, 'you do not already know the path! There you will +find entertainment, and there the sister of your dead companion, +Mary Bozard, will be glad to learn the story of his strange +adventures from your lips.' + +I bowed my head and answered, 'First, senora, I would pray your +answer to my friend's dying prayer and message.' + +'It is childish to send answers to the dead.' + +'Still I pray for them as I was charged to do.' + +'How reads the writing within this ring, sir?' + + + 'Heart to heart, + Though far apart,' + + +I said glibly, and next instant I could have bitten out my tongue. + +'Ah! you know that also, but doubtless you have carried the ring +for many months and learned the writing. Well, sir, though we were +far apart, and though perchance I cherished the memory of him who +wore this ring, and for his sake remained unwed, it seems that his +heart went a straying--to the breast indeed of some savage woman +whom he married, and who bore him children. That being so, my +answer to the prayer of your dead friend is that I forgive him +indeed, but I must needs take back the vows which I swore to him +for this life and for ever, since he has broken them, and as best I +may, strive to cast out the love I bore him since he rejected and +dishonoured it,' and standing up Lily made as though she tore at +her breast and threw something from her, and at the same time she +let fall the ring upon the floor. + +I heard and my heart stood still. So this was the end of it. +Well, she had the right of me, though now I began to wish that I +had been less honest, for sometimes women can forgive a lie sooner +than such frankness. I said nothing, my tongue was tied, but a +great misery and weariness entered into me. Stooping down I found +the ring, and replacing it on my finger, I turned to seek the door +with a last glance at the woman who refused me. Halfway thither I +paused for one second, wondering if I should do well to declare +myself, then bethought me that if she would not abate her anger +toward me dead, her pity for me living would be small. Nay, I was +dead to her, and dead I would remain. + +Now I was at the door and my foot was on its step, when suddenly a +voice, Lily's voice, sounded in my ears and it was sweet and kind. + +'Thomas,' said the voice, 'Thomas, before you go, will you not take +count of the gold and goods and land that you placed in my +keeping?' + +Now I turned amazed, and lo! Lily came towards me slowly and with +outstretched arms. + +'Oh! foolish man,' she whispered low, 'did you think to deceive a +woman's heart thus clumsily? You who talked of the beech in the +Hall garden, you who found your way so well to this dark chamber, +and spoke the writing in the ring with the very voice of one who +has been dead so long. Listen: I forgive that friend of yours his +broken troth, for he was honest in the telling of his fault and it +is hard for man to live alone so many years, and in strange +countries come strange adventures; moreover, I will say it, I still +love him as it seems that he loves me, though in truth I grow +somewhat old for love, who have lingered long waiting to find it +beyond my grave.' + +Thus Lily spoke, sobbing as she spoke, then my arms closed round +her and she said no more. And yet as our lips met I thought of +Otomie, remembering her words, and remembering also that she had +died by her own hand on this very day a year ago. + +Let us pray that the dead have no vision of the living! + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AMEN + + +And now there is little left for me to tell and my tale draws to +its end, for which I am thankful, for I am very old and writing is +a weariness to me, so great a weariness indeed that many a time +during the past winter I have been near to abandoning the task. + +For a while Lily and I sat almost silent in this same room where I +write to-day, for our great joy and many another emotion that was +mixed with it, clogged our tongues. Then as though moved by one +impulse, we knelt down and offered our humble thanks to heaven that +had preserved us both to this strange meeting. Scarcely had we +risen from our knees when there was a stir without the house, and +presently a buxom dame entered, followed by a gallant gentleman, a +lad, and a maiden. These were my sister Mary, her husband Wilfred +Bozard, Lily's brother, and their two surviving children, Roger and +Joan. When she guessed that it was I come home again and no other, +Lily had sent them tidings by the servant man John, that one was +with her whom she believed they would be glad to see, and they had +hurried hither, not knowing whom they should find. Nor were they +much the wiser at first, for I was much changed and the light in +the room shone dim, but stood perplexed, wondering who this +stranger might be. + +'Mary,' I said at length, 'Mary, do you not remember me, my +sister?' + +Then she cried aloud, and throwing herself into my arms, she wept +there a while, as would any of us were our beloved dead suddenly to +appear before our eyes, alive and well, and her husband clasped me +by the hand and swore heartily in his amazement, as is the fashion +of some men when they are moved. But the children stood staring +blankly till I called the girl to me, who now was much what her +mother had been when we parted, and kissing her, told her that I +was that uncle of whom perhaps she had heard as dead many years +ago. + +Then my horse, that all this while had been forgotten, having been +caught and stabled, we went to supper and it was a strange meal to +me, and after meat I asked for tidings. Now I learned that the +fortune which my old master Fonseca had left to me came home in +safety, and that it had prospered exceedingly under Lily's care, +for she had spent but very little of it for her maintenance, +looking on it always as a trust rather than as her own. When my +death seemed certain my sister Mary had entered on her share of my +possessions, however, and with it had purchased some outlying lands +in Earsham and Hedenham, and the wood and manor of Tyndale Hall in +Ditchingham and Broome. These lands I made haste to say she might +keep as a gift from me, since it seemed that I had greater riches +than I could need without them, and this saying of mine pleased her +husband Wilfred Bozard not a little, seeing that it is hard for a +man to give up what he has held for many years. + +Then I heard the rest of the story; of my father's sudden death, of +how the coming of the gold had saved Lily from being forced into +marriage with my brother Geoffrey, who afterwards had taken to evil +courses which ended in his decease at the age of thirty-one; of the +end of Squire Bozard, Lily's father and my old enemy, from an +apoplexy which took him in a sudden fit of anger. After this it +seemed, her brother being married to my sister Mary, Lily had moved +down to the Lodge, having paid off the charges that my brother +Geoffrey had heaped upon his heritage, and bought out my sister's +rights to it. And here at the Lodge she had lived ever since, a +sad and lonely woman, and yet not altogether an unhappy one, for +she gave much of her time to good works. Indeed she told me that +had it not been for the wide lands and moneys which she must manage +as my heiress, she would have betaken herself to a sisterhood, +there to wear her life away in peace, since I being lost to her, +and indeed dead, as she was assured,--for the news of the wreck of +the carak found its way to Ditchingham,--she no longer thought of +marriage, though more than one gentleman of condition had sought +her hand. This, with some minor matters, such as the birth and +death of children, and the story of the great storm and flood that +smote Bungay, and indeed the length of the vale of Waveney in those +days, was all the tale that they had to tell who had grown from +youth to middle age in quiet. For of the crowning and end of kings +and of matters politic, such as the downfall of the power of the +Pope of Rome and the sacking of the religious houses which was +still in progress, I make no mention here. + +But now they called for mine, and I began it at the beginning, and +it was strange to see their faces as they listened. All night +long, till the thrushes sang down the nightingales, and the dawn +shone in the east, I sat at Lily's side telling them my story, and +then it was not finished. So we slept in the chambers that had +been made ready for us, and on the morrow I took it up again, +showing them the sword that had belonged to Bernal Diaz, the great +necklace of emeralds which Guatemoc had given to me, and certain +scars and wounds in witness of its truth. Never did I see folk so +much amazed, and when I came to speak of the last sacrifice of the +women of the Otomie, and of the horrid end of de Garcia who died +fighting with his own shadow, or rather with the shadows of his own +wickedness, they cried aloud with fear, as they wept when I told of +the deaths of Isabella de Siguenza and of Guatemoc, and of the loss +of my sons. + +But I did not tell all the story to this company, for some of it +was for Lily's ear alone, and to her I spoke of my dealings with +Otomie as a man might speak with a man, for I felt that if I kept +anything back now there would never be complete faith between us. +Therefore I set out all my doubts and troublings, nor did I hide +that I had learned to love Otomie, and that her beauty and +sweetness had drawn me from the first moment when I saw her in the +court of Montezuma, or that which had passed between us on the +stone of sacrifice. + +When I had done Lily thanked me for my honesty and said it seemed +that in such matters men differed from women, seeing that SHE had +never felt the need to be delivered from the temptation of strange +loves. Still we were as God and Nature had made us, and therefore +had little right to reproach each other, or even to set that down +as virtue which was but lack of leaning. Moreover, this Otomie, +her sin of heathenism notwithstanding, had been a great-hearted +woman and one who might well dazzle the wandering eyes of man, +daring more for her love's sake than ever she, Lily, could have +dared; and to end with, it was clear that at last I must choose +between wedding her and a speedy death, and having sworn so great +an oath to her I should have been perjured indeed if I had left her +when my dangers were gone by. Therefore she, Lily, was minded to +let all this matter rest, nor should she be jealous if I still +thought of this dead wife of mine with tenderness. + +Thus she spoke most sweetly, looking at me the while with her clear +and earnest eyes, that I ever fancied must be such as adorn the +shining faces of angels. Ay, and those same eyes of hers were +filled with tears when I told her my bitter grief over the death of +my firstborn and of my other bereavements. For it was not till +some years afterwards, when she had abandoned further hope of +children, that Lily grew jealous of those dead sons of mine and of +my ever present love for them. + + +Now the tidings of my return and of my strange adventures among the +nations of the Indies were noised abroad far and wide, and people +came from miles round, ay, even from Norwich and Yarmouth, to see +me and I was pressed to tell my tale till I grew weary of it. Also +a service of thanksgiving for my safe deliverance from many dangers +by land and sea was held in the church of St. Mary's here in +Ditchingham, which service was no longer celebrated after the rites +of the Romish faith, for while I had sojourned afar, the saints +were fallen like the Aztec gods; the yoke of Rome had been broken +from off the neck of England, and though all do not think with me, +I for one rejoiced at it heartily who had seen enough of +priestcraft and its cruelties. + +When that ceremony was over and all people had gone to their homes, +I came back again to the empty church from the Hall, where I abode +a while as the guest of my sister and her husband, till Lily and I +were wed. + +And there in the quiet light of the June evening I knelt in the +chancel upon the rushes that strewed the grave of my father and my +mother, and sent my spirit up towards them in the place of their +eternal rest, and to the God who guards them. A great calm came +upon me as I knelt thus, and I felt how mad had been that oath of +mine that as a lad I had sworn to be avenged upon de Garcia, and I +saw how as a tree from a seed, all my sorrows had grown from it. +But even then I could not do other than hate de Garcia, no, nor can +I to this hour, and after all it was natural that I should desire +vengeance on the murderer of my mother though the wreaking of it +had best been left in another Hand. + +Without the little chancel door I met Lily, who was lingering there +knowing me to be within, and we spoke together. + +'Lily,' I said, 'I would ask you something. After all that has +been, will you still take me for your husband, unworthy as I am?' + +'I promised so to do many a year ago, Thomas,' she answered, +speaking very low, and blushing like the wild rose that bloomed +upon a grave beside her, 'and I have never changed my mind. Indeed +for many years I have looked upon you as my husband, though I +thought you dead.' + +'Perhaps it is more than I deserve,' I said. 'But if it is to be, +say when it shall be, for youth has left us and we have little time +to lose.' + +'When you will, Thomas,' she answered, placing her hand in mine. + +Within a week from that evening we were wed. + + +And now my tale is done. God who gave me so sad and troublous a +youth and early manhood, has blessed me beyond measure in my middle +age and eld. All these events of which I have written at such +length were done with many a day ago: the hornbeam sapling that I +set beneath these windows in the year when we were married is now a +goodly tree of shade and still I live to look on it. Here in the +happy valley of the Waveney, save for my bitter memories and that +longing for the dead which no time can so much as dull, year after +year has rolled over my silvering hairs in perfect health and peace +and rest, and year by year have I rejoiced more deeply in the true +love of a wife such as few have known. For it would seem as though +the heart-ache and despair of youth had but sweetened that most +noble nature till it grew well nigh divine. But one sorrow came to +us, the death of our infant child--for it was fated that I should +die childless--and in that sorrow, as I have told, Lily shewed that +she was still a woman. For the rest no shadow lay between us. +Hand in hand we passed down the hill of life, till at length in the +fulness of her days my wife was taken from me. One Christmas night +she lay down to sleep at my side, in the morning she was dead. I +grieved indeed and bitterly, but the sorrow was not as the sorrows +of my youth had been, since age and use dull the edge of mortal +griefs and I knew and know that we are no long space apart. Very +soon I shall join Lily where she is, and I do not fear that +journey. For the dread of death has left me at length, as it +departs from all who live long enough and strive to repent them of +their sins, and I am well content to leave my safety at the Gates +and my heavenly comfort in the Almighty Hand that saved me from the +stone of sacrifice and has guided me through so many perils upon +this troubled earth. + +And now to God my Father, Who holds me, Thomas Wingfield, and all I +have loved and love in His holy keeping, be thanks and glory and +praise! Amen. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard + diff --git a/old/mzdtr10.zip b/old/mzdtr10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c45171f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mzdtr10.zip |